Sound

American Medical Association Issues New CPT Code for Use of Seno Medical’s Opto-acoustic Technology in Breast Cancer Diagnosis

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, February 13, 2024

San Antonio, TX, Feb. 13, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The American Medical Association (AMA) has issued a new Category III Current Procedural Terminology (CPT*) code for the use of Imagio® (OA/US) Breast Imaging System, a new modality in breast cancer imaging and diagnosis by Seno Medical.

Key Points: 
  • San Antonio, TX, Feb. 13, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The American Medical Association (AMA) has issued a new Category III Current Procedural Terminology (CPT*) code for the use of Imagio® (OA/US) Breast Imaging System, a new modality in breast cancer imaging and diagnosis by Seno Medical.
  • The Category III code, 0857T (Under Opto-Acoustic Imaging Procedures), issued late 2023 and effective January 1, 2024, provides physicians, facilities, and other qualified healthcare providers a means to seek coverage and reimbursement for utilizing opto-acoustic technology to diagnose breast cancer.
  • This new modality, Imagio® OA/US technology combines laser optics, sound, and artificial intelligence to offer functional and anatomical breast imaging.
  • The opto-acoustic images provide a unique blood map in and around breast masses, while the ultrasound provides a traditional anatomical image.

Chrysler Halcyon Concept Pushes Innovative Boundaries, Offers Forward-looking Vision of Brand's All-electric Future

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, February 13, 2024

"The Chrysler Halcyon Concept creates a level of serenity that fully represents the Halcyon name.

Key Points: 
  • "The Chrysler Halcyon Concept creates a level of serenity that fully represents the Halcyon name.
  • The Chrysler Halcyon Concept is the latest in a steady progression of futuristic concepts representing the brand's electrification transformation.
  • Previously, the brand revealed the Chrysler Portal Concept in 2017, the Chrysler Airflow Concept in 2022 and the Chrysler Synthesis Cockpit Demonstrator in 2023.
  • The Chrysler Halcyon Concept, designed on the STLA Large platform, offers an aerodynamic, streamlined and uncompromising vision of the Chrysler brand's future exterior character.

Philip R. Lane: Euro area international financial flows: analytical insights and measurement challenges

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, February 13, 2024

We document how gas price fluctuations have a heterogeneous pass-through to euro area prices depending on the underlying shock driving them.

Key Points: 
  • We document how gas price fluctuations have a heterogeneous pass-through to euro area prices depending on the underlying shock driving them.
  • Supply shocks, moreover, are found to pass through to all components of euro area inflation – producer prices, wages and core inflation, which has implications for monetary policy.

Florida Panhandle Peninsula being offered at auction

Retrieved on: 
Monday, February 12, 2024

Timber Island Plantation, a 35-acre peninsula on Florida’s gulf coast, is being offered at auction, with Seven Hills Auctions and SVN Saunders Ralston Dantzler managing the event.

Key Points: 
  • Timber Island Plantation, a 35-acre peninsula on Florida’s gulf coast, is being offered at auction, with Seven Hills Auctions and SVN Saunders Ralston Dantzler managing the event.
  • The land is located where the mouth of the Carrabelle River meets Saint George Sound and the Gulf of Mexico.
  • The peninsula is located near many beaches, historical fishing villages, shops and restaurants,” said Austin Fisher, regional managing director of SVN Saunders Ralston Dantzler.
  • SVN Saunders Ralston Dantzler, based in Lakeland, Florida is a premier real estate brokerage firm with offices located across Florida and Georgia.

Press release - Deal on EU economic governance reform

Retrieved on: 
Sunday, February 11, 2024

EU co-legislators on Saturday provisionally agreed a revamp of EU economic governance making it clearer, investment friendly, more tailored to each country’s situation, and more flexible.Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs Source : © European Union, 2024 - EP

Key Points: 


EU co-legislators on Saturday provisionally agreed a revamp of EU economic governance making it clearer, investment friendly, more tailored to each country’s situation, and more flexible.Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs Source : © European Union, 2024 - EP

The Advanced Imaging Society Announces Winners of 14th Annual Lumiere Awards

Retrieved on: 
Saturday, February 10, 2024

The Advanced Imaging Society’s Lumiere Awards handed out statuettes for distinguished creative and technical achievement during its 14th annual awards luncheon today at the Beverly Hills Hotel.

Key Points: 
  • The Advanced Imaging Society’s Lumiere Awards handed out statuettes for distinguished creative and technical achievement during its 14th annual awards luncheon today at the Beverly Hills Hotel.
  • The Lumiere winners of this year have notably expanded the boundaries of technology in filmmaking, enriching storytelling in remarkable ways."
  • Voters praised Oppenheimer for its sheer ambition, monumental visual achievement and its commitment to uncompromising imaging quality.
  • The Lumiere Awards have been presented to the industry’s most respected creative and technical leaders over the last decade.

UT Health San Antonio School of Dentistry opens dental clinic for special-needs children, adults

Retrieved on: 
Friday, February 9, 2024

SAN ANTONIO, Feb. 9, 2024 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- The UT Health San Antonio School of Dentistry has opened a special-care dental clinic, the first of its kind in an academic setting in South Texas that will serve people of all ages with intellectual, developmental, cognitive or physical disabilities.

Key Points: 
  • SAN ANTONIO, Feb. 9, 2024 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- The UT Health San Antonio School of Dentistry has opened a special-care dental clinic, the first of its kind in an academic setting in South Texas that will serve people of all ages with intellectual, developmental, cognitive or physical disabilities.
  • "Dental education institutions are the vital link in building a clinician base that will deliver services to this significantly underserved population," said Peter M. Loomer, DDS, PhD, MBA, dean of the UT Health San Antonio School of Dentistry.
  • "We provide a full range of preventive, routine and comprehensive dental care for all ages and dental needs," said Micaela Gibbs, DDS, MHA, clinical associate professor and chief dental officer of the UT Health San Antonio School of Dentistry.
  • The UT Health San Antonio School of Dentistry offers 18 degrees and programs in both dentistry and dental hygiene, world-renown faculty educators, a diverse student population, state-of-the-art clinical facilities and a distinguished research enterprise.

Harry Potter and the Disenchanted Wildlife: how light and sound shows can harm nocturnal animals

Retrieved on: 
Thursday, February 8, 2024

Light and sound shows in parks can enthral crowds with their colour, music and storytelling.

Key Points: 
  • Light and sound shows in parks can enthral crowds with their colour, music and storytelling.
  • But unless they are well-located, the shows can also harm wildlife.
  • Research shows artificial light, sound and the presence of lots of people at night can harm wildlife.

A history of community opposition

  • While they often take place along existing walking trails, they attract huge crowds at a time when animals usually have the place to themselves.
  • Most of Australia’s mammals and frogs and many bird and reptile species are nocturnal, or active at night.
  • Light shows proposed for other wildlife conservation areas have also faced community opposition.

Light, sounds, action!

  • For example, it can change their hormone levels, and the numbers and health of their offspring.
  • Light also interferes with the ability of many species to navigate.
  • It masks the natural soundscape, making it harder for animals to find mates or hear the calls of their young.
  • It can also mask smells vital for an animal’s survival, such as that of food and predators.

Long-term harm

  • This cuts in half the time animals have to go about their life-sustaining activities and exposes them to greater risks when they do go out.
  • Light and sound shows are usually temporary – but can have major long-term impacts.
  • For example, males of the genus Antechinus (small marsupials) live long enough for just one short breeding season.

Find a better location

  • Organisers may have minimised impacts where they can, but evidence suggests the impact on wildlife will still be extensive.
  • Finding genuinely suitable locations should be done with care – and should avoid wildlife conservation areas altogether.
  • Euan Ritchie receives funding from the Australian Research Council and the Department of Energy, Environment, and Climate Action.
  • Therésa Jones receives funding from the Australian Research Council and is affiliated with NERAL (Network for Ecological Research on Artificial Light).

Love a good light and sound show? Spare a thought for the animals whose homes you’re invading

Retrieved on: 
Thursday, February 8, 2024

But unless they are well-located, the shows can also harm wildlife.

Key Points: 
  • But unless they are well-located, the shows can also harm wildlife.
  • A planned production at a wildlife sanctuary in outer Melbourne has brought these concerns to the fore.
  • Research shows artificial light, sound and the presence of lots of people at night can harm wildlife.

A history of community opposition

  • While they often take place along existing walking trails, they attract huge crowds at a time when animals usually have the place to themselves.
  • Most of Australia’s mammals and frogs and many bird and reptile species are nocturnal, or active at night.
  • Light shows proposed for other wildlife conservation areas have also faced community opposition.

Light, sounds, action!

  • For example, it can change their hormone levels, and the numbers and health of their offspring.
  • Light also interferes with the ability of many species to navigate.
  • It masks the natural soundscape, making it harder for animals to find mates or hear the calls of their young.
  • It can also mask smells vital for an animal’s survival, such as that of food and predators.

Long-term harm

  • This cuts in half the time animals have to go about their life-sustaining activities and exposes them to greater risks when they do go out.
  • Light and sound shows are usually temporary – but can have major long-term impacts.
  • For example, males of the genus Antechinus (small marsupials) live long enough for just one short breeding season.

Find a better location

  • Organisers may have minimised impacts where they can, but evidence suggests the impact on wildlife will still be extensive.
  • Finding genuinely suitable locations should be done with care – and should avoid wildlife conservation areas altogether.
  • Euan Ritchie receives funding from the Australian Research Council and the Department of Energy, Environment, and Climate Action.
  • Therésa Jones receives funding from the Australian Research Council and is affiliated with NERAL (Network for Ecological Research on Artificial Light).

A new generation of spaceplanes is taking advantage of the latest in technology

Retrieved on: 
Thursday, February 8, 2024

However, the US space agency’s replacement for this vehicle, Orion, returned to the conical capsule design familiar from the Apollo missions.

Key Points: 
  • However, the US space agency’s replacement for this vehicle, Orion, returned to the conical capsule design familiar from the Apollo missions.
  • This was because Nasa intended that this newer craft be used for exploring targets in deep space, such as the Moon.
  • A runway also allows ground support crews and infrastructure to be ready at the landing location.

Cost and complexity


But spaceplanes are more complex and heavier than an equivalent capsule. The winged body shape poses a particular challenge for designing thermal protection systems (TPS) – the heat-resistant materials that protect the craft from scorching temperatures on re-entry. These additional costs mean it’s impractical to design a spaceplane for a single flight. They need to be used again and again to be viable.

  • A military spaceplane project called Dyna-Soar was started in the US in 1957, then cancelled just after construction started.
  • Other space agencies invested in the 1980s and 1990s, in Europe, with the Hermes spaceplane, and Japan, with the HOPE vehicle.
  • Both programmes were cancelled in large part because of cost.

Feeling the heat

  • Spaceplanes have specific requirements for the final part of their journeys – as they return from space.
  • A blunt nose design (where the edge of the spacecraft is rounded) is an ideal shape because it reduces build-up of heat at the foremost part of the vehicle.
  • The space shuttle TPS included ceramic tiles that were especially heat resistant and a reinforced carbon-carbon matrix that was capable of withstanding temperatures as high as 2400°C.
  • This resulted from a piece of insulating foam flying off the shuttle’s external tank during Columbia’s launch and hitting the wing.

Current vehicles

  • Little information is available on China’s Shenlong, but the US military’s X-37B is better known.
  • The ability to return comparatively fragile cargo to the surface because of a softer landing is a key capability.

Future developments

  • However, concepts such as the Skylon vehicle are leading to technical developments that could eventually support development of an SSTO craft.
  • For the foreseeable future, spaceplanes look promising for the following reasons: new design techniques, improved materials for the TPS, advanced computer modelling and simulation tools for optimising different aspects of design and flight parameters and continuous improvements in propulsion systems.
  • Given that several governments, space agencies, and private companies worldwide are investing heavily in spaceplane research and development, we could see a future where flights with these vehicles become routine.


The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.