The FDA published a rule July 29 in the Federal Register announcing the re-establishment of the Medical Imaging Drugs Advisory Committee in FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research.

18F-FDG PET may provide a quantitative measure to detect progression from mild cognitive impairment (MCI) to Alzheimer's disease (AD), and could offer a mechanism to streamline clinical trials, according to a study published in this month's Journal of Nuclear Medicine.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a final rule July 29, which increases Medicare payment rates for more than 1,200 inpatient rehabilitation facilities (IRFs) by 2.2 percent in fiscal year 2012. CMS projects an increase of $150 million in payments during the first year as a result of the rule, which would also institute new reporting requirements for the facilities.

The x-ray market in India, valued at $56.3 million in 2010, is forecasted to reach $94.5 million in 2017, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8 percent. Meanwhile, the Indian mammography market is projected to grow 22 percent in the same time period, according to the "India X-Ray Systems and Mammography Market Briefing to 2017," published by GlobalData.

The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) awarded an $84 million seven-year grant to the New York University Langone Medical Center to compare the effectiveness of two initial management strategies for patients with stable ischemic heart disease (SIHD) and substantial ischemia.

The Ralph Schlaeger Charitable Foundation has donated $1.5 million to the Research and Education (R&E) Foundation of the RSNA to endow research grant awards.

While corporate General Electric announced an increase in 2011 second quarter operating earnings from continuing operations of $3.7 billion, up 18 percent from the second quarter of 2010, the revenues were $35.6 billion for the quarter, down 4 percent from a year ago. However, GE Healthcares segment revenues increased 10 percent.

The American Society of Echocardiography (ASE) has developed a mobile device application, iASE, which provides summaries of the societys most popular guidelines.