Soccer players who ‘head’ the ball with high frequency demonstrate poorer performance on memory tests and have brain abnormalities similar to those found in traumatic brain injury patients, according to a study published online in the journal Radiology.

Alzheimer’s disease has been linked in many studies to amyloid plaque buildup in the brain, but new research is finding a common thread between amyloid burden and lower energy levels, or metabolism, of neurons in certain areas of the brain associated with Alzheimer’s disease — even for people with no sign of cognitive decline. This is a new development in the understanding of Alzheimer’s pathology, say neuroscientists presenting the research at the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging’s 2013 Annual Meeting.

Researchers have yet again been sent back to the drawing board in the development of the much-sought-after vaccination for smokers, which would hypothetically inhibit the action of nicotine and its pleasure-producing chemical response in the brain. One of the newest studies of a proposed vaccine shows mixed results for patients after molecular imaging revealed no desirable effect and potentially allowed even more nicotine accumulation in the brain in some cases due to variations in immune response, say neuroscientists at the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging’s 2013 Annual Meeting.

By targeting both bone cell activity and immune response and improving imaging data interpretation, doctors can better distinguish diabetic foot infection from another common foot condition that often requires an additional bone-marrow scan for definitive diagnosis, say researchers presenting a study at the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging’s 2013 Annual Meeting.

One of the biggest hurdles of hybrid positron emission tomography and magnetic resonance (PET/MR) imaging is the prevalence of motion artifacts—blurring and ghostly visual anomalies caused by patient motion on the table during imaging. An MR technology has now been designed for PET/MR that employs tiny radiofrequency solenoids—metal coils integrated into hardware placed on the body—to track motion from those who do not or cannot stay put. Special software can then use the additional information provided by the coils to optimize the image, according to research being revealed at SNMMI’s 2013 Annual Meeting.