Pain is unavoidable. It alerts sufferers to very real threats via injury and disease and is invaluable for that reason, but it is also vague and imprecise and sometimes just mysterious, especially in cases of chronic pain disorders. Stanford scientists sought to develop a biomarker that could visualize the molecular changes that signal pain generation and potentially use it to gauge wound healing and to assist in drug trials. 

Presurgical scanning for metastatic non-small cell lung cancer appears to lower incidence of unnecessary surgeries, according to an analysis published Jan. 21 in the Journal of Nuclear Medicine.

The combination of higher estrogen levels and a diabetes diagnosis is associated with 14 times the risk of developing dementia for older women, according to a study published Jan. 29 in Neurology.

The makers of F-18 florbetapir, also known as Amyvid, declared an 2 percent drop in global revenues in the final quarter of 2013 to just over $5.8 billion, though revenues for the full year reflected a 2 percent increase to slightly more than $23.1 billion.

Higher serum levels of pesticides could be contributing to a higher risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease, according to a study published online Jan. 27 in JAMA Neurology.

The largest biomedical optics conference in the world is set to meet Feb. 1-6 at Moscone Center in San Francisco as part of the larger Photonics West exposition, presenting a total of 4,600 papers, 93 conferences, 17 plenary sessions and two technical exhibitions.

The industry for medical sensors, which includes diagnostic imaging and disease monitoring, was valued at $10.1 billion in 2012 and is expected to grow significantly by 2019, according to an industry sector report published Dec. 5 by Transparency Market Research.

A sweep of more than 550 articles from the medical literature on Alzheimer’s disease diagnosis left reviewers questioning the utility of a positive beta-amyloid scan, according to a meta-analysis published in the January issue of JAMA Internal Medicine.