• Popular
    • Medicine
    • Radiology
    • Cardiology
    • Surgery
    • Nanomedicine
    • Military Medicine
    • Rehab
  • Categories
    • Exclusive
    • A-D
      • Anesthesiology
      • Art
      • Cardiac Surgery
      • Cardiology
      • Critical Care
      • Dentistry
      • Dermatology
      • Diagnostics
    • E-I
      • Emergency Medicine
      • ENT
      • Genetics
      • Geriatrics
      • GI
      • Informatics
    • M-N
      • Medicine
      • Military Medicine
      • Nanomedicine
      • Net News
      • Neurology
      • Neurosurgery
      • Nuclear Medicine
    • O-P
      • Ob/Gyn
      • Oncology
      • Ophthalmology
      • Orthopedic Surgery
      • Pathology
      • Pediatrics
      • Plastic Surgery
      • Psychiatry
      • Public Health
    • R-V
      • Radiation Oncology
      • Radiology
      • Rehab
      • Reproductive Medicine
      • Space Medicine
      • Sports Medicine
      • Surgery
      • Thoracic Surgery
      • Urology
      • Vascular Surgery
  • SUBSCRIBE
  • Submit PR
  • About
  • Follow
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Linkedin
    • Youtube
    • Instagram
    • RSS
  • Submit PR
  • Log in
Medgadget
Medgadget
  • Popular
    • Medicine
      Flexible Sensors Detect Heavy Metals in Sweat

      Flexible Sensors Detect Heavy Metals in Sweat

      Nanopore Sensor to Study Protein Aggregation in Neurodegeneration

      Nanopore Sensor to Study Protein Aggregation in Neurodegeneration

      Biobots Use Optogenetic Muscle Actuators for Movement

      Biobots Use Optogenetic Muscle Actuators for Movement

      Exciting Medtech at the Healthcareᐩ Expo Taiwan

      Exciting Medtech at the Healthcareᐩ Expo Taiwan

    • Radiology
      Ultrasound Tornado Rapidly Disrupts Blood Clots

      Ultrasound Tornado Rapidly Disrupts Blood Clots

      Exciting Medtech at the Healthcareᐩ Expo Taiwan

      Exciting Medtech at the Healthcareᐩ Expo Taiwan

      Fluorescence Imaging System Illuminates Tumor Depth

      Fluorescence Imaging System Illuminates Tumor Depth

      Soft Robot Grows Like a Plant to Travel Through Tight Spaces

      Soft Robot Grows Like a Plant to Travel Through Tight Spaces

    • Cardiology
      Belt Monitors Heart Failure Patients

      Belt Monitors Heart Failure Patients

      Camera Measures Blood Pressure with Quick Look

      Camera Measures Blood Pressure with Quick Look

      Monitoring Congestive Heart Failure Through Speech: Interview with Tamir Tal, CEO of Cordio Medical

      Monitoring Congestive Heart Failure Through Speech: Interview with Tamir Tal, CEO of Cordio Medical

      Device Measures Hemoglobin More Accurately in Dark Skin

      Device Measures Hemoglobin More Accurately in Dark Skin

    • Surgery
      Microneedle Bandage for Hemostatic Control

      Microneedle Bandage for Hemostatic Control

      Biobots Use Optogenetic Muscle Actuators for Movement

      Biobots Use Optogenetic Muscle Actuators for Movement

      Implantable Device Adheres to Muscle, Treats Atrophy

      Implantable Device Adheres to Muscle, Treats Atrophy

      Device Measures Hemoglobin More Accurately in Dark Skin

      Device Measures Hemoglobin More Accurately in Dark Skin

    • Nanomedicine
      Extra Hot Nanoparticles for Cancer Therapy

      Extra Hot Nanoparticles for Cancer Therapy

      Making Tumors Tastier for the Immune System

      Making Tumors Tastier for the Immune System

      Improved Membrane Coating for Anti-Cancer Nanoparticles

      Improved Membrane Coating for Anti-Cancer Nanoparticles

      Magnetic Bacteria Target Tumors

      Magnetic Bacteria Target Tumors

    • Military Medicine
      Device Measures Hemoglobin More Accurately in Dark Skin

      Device Measures Hemoglobin More Accurately in Dark Skin

      Fingertip Sensor Measures Lithium Levels in Sweat

      Fingertip Sensor Measures Lithium Levels in Sweat

      Fabric Makes Electricity from Movement to Power Wearables

      Fabric Makes Electricity from Movement to Power Wearables

      Wearable Uses Microneedles to Track Metabolism

      Wearable Uses Microneedles to Track Metabolism

    • Rehab
      Smart Walking Stick for Visually Impaired People

      Smart Walking Stick for Visually Impaired People

      Implantable Device Adheres to Muscle, Treats Atrophy

      Implantable Device Adheres to Muscle, Treats Atrophy

      Non-Invasive Spinal Modulation for Cerebral Palsy

      Non-Invasive Spinal Modulation for Cerebral Palsy

      Implanted Magnets for Prosthetic Control

      Implanted Magnets for Prosthetic Control

  • Categories
    • Exclusive
    • A-D
      • Anesthesiology
      • Art
      • Cardiac Surgery
      • Cardiology
      • Critical Care
      • Dentistry
      • Dermatology
      • Diagnostics
    • E-I
      • Emergency Medicine
      • ENT
      • Genetics
      • Geriatrics
      • GI
      • Informatics
    • M-N
      • Medicine
      • Military Medicine
      • Nanomedicine
      • Net News
      • Neurology
      • Neurosurgery
      • Nuclear Medicine
    • O-P
      • Ob/Gyn
      • Oncology
      • Ophthalmology
      • Orthopedic Surgery
      • Pathology
      • Pediatrics
      • Plastic Surgery
      • Psychiatry
      • Public Health
    • R-V
      • Radiation Oncology
      • Radiology
      • Rehab
      • Reproductive Medicine
      • Space Medicine
      • Sports Medicine
      • Surgery
      • Thoracic Surgery
      • Urology
      • Vascular Surgery
  • SUBSCRIBE
  • Submit PR
  • About
  • Log in
  • Submit PR
  • Follow
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Linkedin
    • Youtube
    • Instagram
    • RSS

New Algorithm for Sudoku Puzzles, X-Ray Microscopy

March 7th, 2006 Medgadget Editors News

A new algorithm, designed by Cornell physicist Veit Elser to do X-ray diffraction microscopy analysis, can also solve unlimited Sudoku puzzles:

The so-called difference-map algorithm, which Elser says could have applications from productivity optimization to nanofabrication, tackles problems for which the solution must meet two independent constraints. In the case of Sudoku, the constraints are simple: Each of nine numbers, considered alone, appears nine times in the grid so that there is only one per row and column. And all nine numbers appear within each of the nine blocks.
In X-ray diffraction microscopy, the constraints are more complex. But the beauty of the algorithm, as Elser demonstrates, is that complexity doesn’t matter. By applying the algorithm to the jumble of raw data from such an experiment, researchers can now reconstruct from it a clear, detailed image.
The result, shown in images published with a recent article in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) with lead author David Shapiro of the State University of New York at Stony Brook and other colleagues, is a richly detailed image of a specimen as small as a single yeast cell — taken without staining, sectioning or otherwise damaging the specimen.
Unlike optical microscopes, which use a lens to focus light on a target (and are therefore only useful for specimens larger than the wavelength of visible light), imaging methods based on X-rays and electrons take advantage of the finer wavelengths provided by these forms of illumination.
But some of these methods can damage the specimen with harmful radiation, require that a specimen be stained or otherwise altered or lack the penetrating power necessary for three-dimensional reconstructions. X-ray diffraction microscopy, which uses “soft” X-rays and measures the resulting diffraction pattern, is often the method of choice because it gives a detail-rich image and leaves the specimen relatively unscathed.
The tricky part comes in using the diffraction pattern to reconstruct an image of the specimen. Instead of directly measuring the pixel-by-pixel contrast within the specimen, researchers are left with data that represents the object broken down into its constituent waves: a vast number of them, of different frequencies and amplitudes, waiting to be added up in a process called a Fourier synthesis to reconstruct the image.
“But if it were just combining waves with a definite oscillation and adding them up, that would be a piece of cake for a computer to do,” says Elser.
The challenge is in the waves’ phases, which are critical in reconstructing an image from the diffraction data. Without attention to that piece of the puzzle, the resulting image is reduced to noise.
“People used to say that’s an impossible problem,” Elser says. “Then people got to thinking about the fact that there are going to be constraints coming from some rather mundane facts — that in principle will make the problem of deducing the phase like the solution of a solvable puzzle.”
The mundane fact, in this case, was a basic premise of the X-ray diffraction experiment: that the object in view have a clearly defined boundary (i.e., that all pixel values outside that boundary be set to zero).
“If I set up waves with known amplitudes and synthesize them, I’ll find that for essentially all random combinations of phases, the thing I get is an object not confined,” Elser says. “It takes a very clever combination of the phases of all those waves to add up to something in only one region; and cancel out everywhere else.”
For the second constraint, the researchers required that the wave amplitudes used in the Fourier synthesis matched those measured by the experiment.
With the two constraints in place, the difference-map algorithm completes the job.

Go ahead and click on the link below to try to solve the puzzle: Cornell is to publish the solution later this month
More from the Cornell News Service…

Medgadget Editors

Medical technologies transform the world! Join us and see the progress in real time. At Medgadget, we report the latest technology news, interview leaders in the field, and file dispatches from medical events around the world since 2004.

Sponsored
C-mo Medical Solutions extends seed investment round to €4.8 million to transform cough monitoring

C-mo Medical Solutions extends seed investment round to €4.8 million to transform cough monitoring

New Clarius Power Fan HD3 Delivers a First for Handheld Ultrasound: Continuous Scanning

New Clarius Power Fan HD3 Delivers a First for Handheld Ultrasound: Continuous Scanning

Fluidx Unveils New Embolic for Neurovascular Use

Fluidx Unveils New Embolic for Neurovascular Use

Annalise.ai and Nuance Communications (a Microsoft Company) Announce Key Partnership to Improve Patient Outcomes with Workflow-Integrated AI

Annalise.ai and Nuance Communications (a Microsoft Company) Announce Key Partnership to Improve Patient Outcomes with Workflow-Integrated AI

PT Genie Unveils New Brand Identity Reflecting Company’s Transformation and Focus on the Global Future of AI and Machine Learning in Digital Healthcare

interviews & reviews
Balance Boards to Stay Active in the Offfice: Interview with Joel Heath, CEO of FluidStance 

Balance Boards to Stay Active in the Offfice: Interview with Joel Heath, CEO of FluidStance 

Exciting Medtech at the Healthcareᐩ Expo Taiwan

Exciting Medtech at the Healthcareᐩ Expo Taiwan

Medgadget Visits Healthcareᐩ Expo Taiwan

Medgadget Visits Healthcareᐩ Expo Taiwan

Diabetes Management Tech for Type II patients: Interview with Jeffrey Brewer, CEO of Bigfoot Biomedical

Diabetes Management Tech for Type II patients: Interview with Jeffrey Brewer, CEO of Bigfoot Biomedical

Monitoring Congestive Heart Failure Through Speech: Interview with Tamir Tal, CEO of Cordio Medical

Monitoring Congestive Heart Failure Through Speech: Interview with Tamir Tal, CEO of Cordio Medical

In-Office Pediatric Ear Tube Procedures: Interview with Preceptis Medical's Greg Mielke

In-Office Pediatric Ear Tube Procedures: Interview with Preceptis Medical's Greg Mielke

Symani Microsurgical Robotic System: Interview with Mark Toland, CEO of Medical Microinstruments

Symani Microsurgical Robotic System: Interview with Mark Toland, CEO of Medical Microinstruments

  • Subscribe
  • Contact us
  • Submit
  • About
  • Back to top
Medgadget

Medical technologies transform the world! Join us and see the progress in real time. At Medgadget, we report the latest technology news, interview leaders in the field, and file dispatches from medical events around the world since 2004.

  • About
  • Editorial policies
  • Contact
  • Terms of Service
  • Privacy
  • Submit press release
  • Advertise
© Medgadget, Inc. All rights reserved. | The Medical Revolution Will Be Blogged.
Please support this website by adding us to your whitelist in your ad blocker. Ads are what helps us bring you premium content! Thank you!
Posting....
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Reddit
  • Email