Star Tribune
An MRI capable of house calls? University of Minnesota testing concept
A portable MRI diagnostic scanner that can fit in a pickup truck bed and run on a hardware store generator is nearing reality at the University of Minnesota.
Researcher Michael Garwood and colleagues have been scanning lemons and water bottles with the device they invented. The resulting images are as clear as those from fixed MRIs using magnets that weigh several tons. Human trials could start as early as this summer if the scanner passes safety testing.
“There’s no reason, no physics, that I can think of that says it’s unsafe, but we have to go through that process because it’s such a radically different kind of scanner,” said Garwood, associate director of the U’s Center for Magnetic Resonance Research.
The goal is to expand access to a diagnostic technology that has become essential but remains unavailable to people in remote or rural locations worldwide, he said. “We take it to the people rather than the people coming to the large medical centers.”
MRI technology has existed for nearly a half-century, using powerful magnets that stimulate molecules in the body and radio waves to generate precise images. MRIs identify tumors, injuries and abnormalities in the brain and other parts of the body that help doctors decide on surgeries or other courses of treatment.
Typical MRI machines are large because of their power needs and the size of the magnets needed to generate strong magnetic fields. When Mayo Clinic installed the nation’s first 7-tesla MRI scanner in 2017, it needed multiple trucks and a crane to drop the cylindrical device through a hole in the Rochester hospital’s roof. (Tesla is a measure of magnetic field strength. An even larger 14-tesla scanner is under development in Europe.)
While some researchers are making MRI technology stronger and sharper, others are making it leaner. The typical scanner is a large, thick doughnut with a hole in the middle for patients. Recent innovations include thinner doughnut-shaped scanners that aren’t as claustrophobic and mobile MRIs that can be moved around on semitrailer-truck trailers.
Other solutions include scanners that can be smaller because they focus on body parts. An Australian firm, Magnetica, is developing a machine the size of a household oven with a small hole for scanning arms or legs.
Garwood at first studied a smaller MRI for breast cancer screening, but abandoned the project because it was unlikely to replace low-cost mammograms in clinical care. Funding through former President Barack Obama’s $5 billion brain initiative allowed the U research team to pivot toward a scanner that focused on the head.
The traditional MRI approach involves creation of a stable magnetic field with a large magnet, allowing for radio waves on a single frequency to map out human anatomy. A smaller magnet produces an unstable magnetic field by comparison, but Garwood’s innovation is to use a cascade of multiple radio frequencies to produce the same imaging results.
Collaborators include imaging experts at Harvard, Yale and Columbia, electronic component experts in Brazil, and electrical superconductor experts in New Zealand. Their prototype looks like a throne with a half-dome magnet on top. The device sits on wheels and can roll through doorways — at least when the 800-pound magnet is detached and moved separately.
The approach involves complex and costly engineering, but theoretically this form of MRI could one day be cheaper in clinical care, Garwood said. The U’s MRI prototype doesn’t need as much power or the use of costly and increasingly rare liquid helium to cool down larger magnets.
Once safety standards are met, U researchers plan to work with underserved populations to test the benefits of the new MRI technology for diagnosis and brain research.
A 20-year-old St. Paul man is now facing three murder charges in separate killings in Minneapolis in recent years.
Albert Jerome Lucas was charged Wednesday in Hennepin County District Court in connection with the killing of 20-year-old Antonio Vernon Harper, of Minneapolis, on Nov. 6, 2023, in Minneapolis in the 3300 block of Dupont Avenue N.
Lucas, who has been jailed since May and remains held in lieu of $2 million bail, is scheduled to appear in court early Thursday afternoon. He does not yet have an attorney listed in court records for this latest charge.
According to Wednesday’s criminal complaint, which charges Lucas with one count of second-degree murder and two counts of attempted second-degree murder:
Officers arrived to the scene and saw Harper on the ground suffering from a fatal gunshot wound to the chest.
A witness told police that she saw three males “hugging” the side of home and looking toward Harper and two of his friends. Gunfire from Lucas erupted, hitting Harper, and the suspects fled in a car. One of Harper’s friends shared with officers that the shooting was gang-related.
Officers saw the vehicle two days later and determined it had been stolen in St. Paul. The driver fled police, but officers soon found the vehicle. DNA on a cigar wrapper inside the vehicle was tested and came back as a match for Lucas.
Star Tribune
Palestinian officials say an Israeli strike on a school-turned-shelter in northern Gaza killed 15
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — An Israeli strike on a school sheltering the displaced in northern Gaza on Thursday killed at least 15 people, including five children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
The Israeli military said the strike targeted dozens of Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants who had gathered at the Abu Hussein school in Jabaliya, an urban refugee camp in northern Gaza where Israel has been waging a major air and ground operation for more than a week.
Fares Abu Hamza, head of the ministry’s emergency unit in northern Gaza, confirmed the toll and said dozens of people were wounded. He said the nearby Kamal Adwan Hospital was struggling to treat the casualties.
“Many women and children are in critical condition,” he said.
The Israeli military said it targeted a command center run by both militant groups inside the school. It provided a list of around a dozen names of people it identified as militants who were present when the strike was called in. It was not immediately possible to verify the names.
Israel has repeatedly struck tent camps and schools sheltering displaced people in Gaza. The Israeli military says it carries out precise strikes on militants and tries to avoid harming civilians, but its strikes often kill women and children.
Hamas-led militants triggered the war when they stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting around 250 others. Some 100 captives are still inside Gaza, about a third of whom are believed to be dead.
Israel’s offensive has killed over 42,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. It does not differentiate between civilians and combatants but says women and children make up a little more than half of the fatalities.
Twin Amur tigers born at Como Zoo in August now have names — Marisa and Maks.
Two long-time volunteers who have worked with zookeepers to care for and teach the public about the zoo’s big cats came up with the names, the first to be born at the St. Paul zoo in more than 40 years.
Marisa, a name that the volunteers found to mean “spirited and tenacious,” call that a perfect reflection of her personality. The name also carries special significance for the Como Zoo community, as it honors a retired zookeeper of the same name who was instrumental in the care of large cats during her 43 years at the zoo, Como Zoo and Conservatory Director Michelle Furrer said.
The male cub has been named Maks, which is associated with meanings like “the greatest” or “strength and leadership.” The volunteers felt this was an apt description of the male cub’s confident demeanor and growing sense of leadership, Furrer said.
“Marisa and Maks aren’t just names; they’re a fun reminder of the passion and care that keep us committed to protecting wildlife every day,” Furrer said.
The newborns and their first-time mother, 7-year-old Bernadette, remain off view to allow for more bonding time, zoo officials said. The cubs’ father, 11-year-old Tsar, has been a Como resident since February 2019 and remains on view.
Fewer than 500 Amur tigers — also known as Siberian tigers — remain in the wild as they face critical threats from habitat loss, poaching and human-wildlife conflict, the zoo said.
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