Scientists at the University of Glasgow are to investigate ways of improving the quality of digital camera images through the manipulation of tiny particles. Taking advantage of plasmon resonance, the team aims to create a microchip for cameras and other imaging equipment that will produce sharper, more colourful images.

Plasmon resonance refers to an interaction produced when light waves fall on a metal surface, or in this case, the thin metal film used on microchip image sensors (CMOS – complimentary metal-oxide semiconductor) in digital cameras which detect light waves and convert them into digital signals.

When light shines on the metal film, electrons on the surface absorb the energy of the light waves and begin oscillating, or shaking in groups. The resultant combined waves are called plasmons and they modify the light distribution around the metal. The CMOS then measures the light and assigns it a digital value which is then used to build up the bigger picture.

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A new imaging technique that takes high quality colour photographs of the whole retina could change the way eye diseases that can cause blindness are monitored and treated.

Using a new technique called Topical Endoscopic Fundal Imaging (TEFI), a team from the University of Bristol, monitored changes in mice retina over time, without distress to the animals, and without the need for anaesthesia.

The study focused on a condition in mice similar to human posterior uveitis, an inflammation that affects the back of the eye and which can be difficult to monitor using existing techniques. TEFI allowed the researchers to see changes to the eye that were previously undetectable.

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A new imaging system that highlights cancerous tissue makes it easier for surgeons to detect and remove tumours without harming surrounding healthy tissue, according to American researchers.

Currently, cancer surgeons have no clear way to determine in real-time whether they’ve removed all of a cancer patient’s cancerous tissue.

The fluorescence-assisted resection and exploration, or FLARE system, consists of a near-infrared (NIR) imaging system, a video monitor and a computer. It shows particular promise for improving surgery for breast, prostate and lung cancers. In advanced stages, the boundaries of these cancers can be difficult to define. FLARE may also help cancer surgeons avoid cutting important structures such as blood vessels and nerves.

Patients are injected with special dyes (NIR fluorphores) that target specific structures such as cancer cells. When exposed to NIR light, the dyes light up the cancer cells which appear on a video monitor.

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In collaboration with engineers from the manufacturer Given Imaging, the Israelite Hospital in Hamburg and the Royal Imperial College in London, researchers from the Fraunhofer Institute for Biomedical Engineering in Sankt Ingbert have developed the first-ever control system for the camera pill.

Currently images of the inside of the intestine can be obtained via a tiny camera swallowed by the patient. It makes its way through the intestine and transmits images of the intestinal villi to an external receiver which the patient carries on a belt. This device stores the data that can later be analysed by a doctor. The camera is not very suitable for examinations of the esophagus and the stomach because it only takes about three or four seconds to make its way through the esophagus – producing two to four images per second – and once it reaches the stomach, its roughly five-gram weight causes it to drop very quickly to the lower wall of the stomach. In other words, it is too fast to deliver usable images. For examinations of the esophagus and the stomach patients still have to swallow a thick endoscope.

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