List of Looking closer resource items

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  Can you die from ventricular fibrillation? – Article

  When a normal heart’s contractions become disorganised, it is called ventricular fibrillation because the lower chambers (the ventricles) flutter rather than beat.

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  Cancer risk factors – Article

  There is no one cause of cancer, but scientists have identified a number of factors that can increase (risk factors) or decrease (protective factors) the chances of getting cancer.

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  Does blood have magnetic properties? – Article

  The structure of the haemoglobin molecule in blood changes slightly depending on whether it is carrying oxygen or not, so oxygenated and de-oxygenated blood has different magnetic properties.

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  Does medical imaging improve healthcare? – Article

  Medical imaging is an area that is continuing to develop and grow in healthcare, but it has disadvantages along with its advantages.

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  How do people find out that they have cancer? – Article

  A range of tests are used to diagnose cancer, including screening programmes and biopsy.

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  How is cancer treated? – Article

  Treatment of cancer can include surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy or newer therapies such as using monoclonal antibodies.

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  Imaging skin moles – Article

  SIAscopy^TM is being used in the detection of melanoma in New Zealand – our pakeha population has the highest incidence of melanoma in the world.

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  Looking inside your body – Article

  The human body is made up of about 200 different cell types, and different cell characteristics are important when considering the type of medical imaging technique to use.

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  What is cancer? – Article

  When abnormal cells don’t die off, but multiply and divide instead, tumours can form. There are many different forms of cancer, depending on the type of cells that go out of control.

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  What is a heart attack? – Article

  A heart attack occurs when an artery taking oxygenated blood to the heart muscle becomes blocked, preventing oxygen from reaching the heart muscle.

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  Who decides what is normal? – Article

  When researching new methods for detecting and diagnosing disease, it is important to be able to distinguish relatively accurately between normal and abnormal.