[ti:Brain Imaging Comes to Children in Africa] [ar:Jonathan Evans] [al:Technology Report] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]From VOA Learning English, this is the Technology Report. [00:05.01]Brain imaging was once thought to be too costly [00:14.58]and difficult for widespread use in the developing world. [00:18.94]But the technology soon may be available in poor countries. [00:24.27]Brain imaging creates pictures of brain activity. [00:28.66]It uses infrared light -- [00:31.50]similar to the light produced by a television remote control. [00:36.29]Brain imaging can identify the first signs of cognitive delays, [00:42.17] mental problems, in newborns and young children. [00:46.40]Such children could be suffering from malnutrition ¨C [00:50.89]a poor diet. [00:52.64]The technology has a long name -- [00:56.17]functional near-infrared spectroscopy, or f-N-I-R-S. [01:04.32]It involves placing an extremely small, [01:09.36]soft helmet around a baby's head. [01:12.24]Infrared light is sent through the bone protecting the brain. [01:17.62]It helps to show whether babies [01:20.68]are developing normally for their age. [01:23.42]f-N-I-R-S is considered safer than other imaging methods, [01:29.99]including MRI or PET scan. [01:33.69]And it also can be easily moved. [01:37.02]The brain scanner equipment can be loaded into a vehicle. [01:42.30]Health workers can drive it from village to village. [01:46.72]Clare Elwell is a professor of medical physics [01:51.66]at University College London. [01:54.50]She helped develop the relatively low-cost, [01:58.34]non-invasive imaging technology. [02:01.37]She says the device measures oxygen in the blood [02:05.86]to learn how babies' brains are developing. [02:09.39]"And as you use different areas of your brain, [02:13.17]you direct oxygen to those different brain areas. [02:16.02]And so if we look at the change in the distribution [02:19.01]of the oxygen in your brain, [02:21.46]we can work out how active your brain is [02:24.60]and what your brain is actually processing." [02:26.45]Clare Elwell led a study of the testing method in rural Gambia. [02:31.91]The babies involved were between four and eight months old. [02:37.35]They were examined three times over 15 months. [02:41.97]Researchers noted the babies' reactions [02:45.31]to different images and sounds. [02:48.30]"So if we present the babies with visual or auditory stimuli, [02:52.98]then we expect certain brain areas to light up, essentially. [02:57.22]We expect the oxygen to be diverted to certain brain regions." [03:00.32]She says that shows if those brain areas [03:03.51]are fully developed or mature. [03:06.51]And, she says, it shows if they are performing normally. [03:11.73]The babies looked at pictures of objects and people. [03:17.87]Human speech and non-human sounds such as running water [03:23.50]and bells tested the babies' hearing. [03:26.87]And their brain recognition was compared [03:31.11]to those of British children. [03:33.02]Clare Elwell says poor nutrition and childhood diseases [03:38.60]threaten the African children. [03:41.24]She says the goal is to identify babies [03:44.57]needing to be better fed or treated for health problems [03:48.91]that can harm brain development. [03:51.80]And that's the Technology Report from VOA Learning English. [03:56.78]I'm Jonathan Evans.