Medical Central: Ultrasound

I read more on Medical Imaging. Today covered another familiar subject (also veering away from radiation): Ultrasound!

Ultrasound
We all know how bats get around: echolocation. They let loose super-high-pitched sounds, and wait for the echo to come back to their super-sensitive ears. They measure how long the sound took to echo back, and then figure out where the object that the sound bounced off is. According to the book, this is how they find bugs.
In the same way, doctors have been using a very similar technique to see inside the body. They use ultrasound (another name for super-high-pitched sound waves) probes to send ultrasound into the body. Ultrasound, despite being too high for humans to hear, is still vibrations and a type of sound. Ultrasound bounces off certain organs it can't pass through, like a fetus (still-developing and unborn baby), and comes back to the probe. A computer then measures the come-back times, does measurements and computing, and makes images. This was originally developed by a pair of Australian brothers, and, of course, has developed and upgraded over time.
The most common, and well-known version, of ultrasound use is to check the fetus in pregnant woman. A pregnant woman has an ultrasound scan at early development, and one later on. Sometimes, if it is what the book calls an "at risk pregnancy", which can be older woman, problems in the fetus whether genetic or otherwise, or more than one fetus, the woman has more. Ultrasound can also be used to check for cancers, fibiary (sp?) growths on ovaries (what it was used for at first before fetus-detecting was discovered), and checking the liquid the fetus is in (using a hollow needle in this procedure according to book). In fact, for the "growth-on-ovary" thing, a scientist working on ultrasound once used this to save a woman's life when other procedures couldn't detect the growth and helped pump up ultrasound in the medical world!
According to the book, the development of sonar (SOund Navigation and Ranging) and ultrasound flaw detector in WWII helped in the development of the ultrasound for medical purposes. A scientist figured he could use an adjusted ultrasound flaw detector, which used ultrasound to check for tears and stuff that could weaken metal vehicles according to the book, to check inside the body. Then came the "growth-on-ovary" incident described above. But people still weren't sure on ultrasound, since they didn't develop such great pictures back in the day. But the book says that it was discovered the using X-Rays on fetuses caused blood and other types of cancer, and then ultrasound became popular.
Ultrasound has gotten better, of course. The book says that they can now make 3D images, which comes into use in certain surgeries where the doctors put their tools through small cuts in the body ("keyhole" surgeries), and watch an ultrasound 3D image and work using that. Book mentions, however, that a lot more wires is needed to make a 3D ultrasound to a probe the same size as an old one which could make 2D images.
The book mentions that two Japanese scientists figured out a way to use the Doppler effect with ultrasound to see whether or not blood is flowing to or away from the probe. It goes to say that the Doppler affect is when the frequencies of a sound are heard differently if the sound-maker is going away from you or towards you (higher if towards, and lower if going away from). Then the book says the Doppler ultrasound sees if the echoes are higher than the first sound, meaning blood is flowing towards the probe, or if it's lower than the first sound, meaning it's flowing away. This can be used to diagnose many problems, like arteries hardening (in older people usually) or different heart (cardiac) problems or heart-valve (which control blood flow) problems, according to the book.
Ultrasound, with its modern 300x higher than highest frequency humans can hear sound releaser (sp?)(according to book), isn't just for checking stuff either. Ultrasound can be used for treatment as well! Ultrasound causes vibrations, which causes heat, and that can help join problems, according to the book. The book says that ultrasound treatment can help with kidney and bladder stone problems. Books says that these stones can be made in the kidney or bladder, and it's painful when they are passing through. But then the book says that ultrasound can shake these little stones apart, and then they can just go through the bloodstream.

Extra
Got some interesting animal facts from Magic School Bus yesterday, when the younger sibs were watching. We all know that animals live in cities when they're in zoos. But did you know that some animals (show uses racoons, foxes, opposums [sp?], and falcons [probably peregine]) live in the city and aren't in zoos?
What do they eat? A ton of stuff... primarily, our garbage! Talk about recycling! And there's a ton of hiding spots for them to use... the show used an old shed with a crack in it as an example. And buildings make great "cliffs" for falcons to perch on. And those birds eat other birds that fly through and have snacks in the city (show used some eating moths under light). And these animals are small enough to live in the city... bigger animals, like bears, not so much. Not only do they cause panic, they have to continually move in order to avoid people! Not enough time to survive in the end. The smaller animals, however, can have families in the city and live there. Some people now this already, in fact. Momma racoons are overprotective of their families, and do some nasty hisses if someone comes near during their active time--night (though show showed one eating worms from toppled pot during day)!
We all have heard of  the sea anonome (sp?)/clown fish partnership. But many more exist... and a good deal in the coral reef! Some sea anonmes (sp?) have a partnership with hermit crabs! The plant's spines protect the crab when the crab puts it on its back (show used octopus as enemy/eater), and the plants get a free ride!
There's a partnership between Gobi fish and certain shrimp too in the coral reef. The shrimp are great diggers, but can't see well. The Gobi fish use the holes to hide, and repay the shrimp by warning them of danger. And, in the coral reef where it's an all-you-can-eat-buffet in a way, there's a lot. Sharks and remora (sp?) have a partnership too... remora (sp?) get a free ride like the sea anonome (sp?), and they eat little creatures that are annoying and "ichty" (show says) to the shark. And not all partnerships are win-win for both. A certain crab hides under a black spiny sea-plant to protect itself, but the plant gets nothing out of it.
But get this... the coral reef is a partnership! We know coral reefs are alive (mostly, some parts are skeletons of dead coral). Polops (sp?) make the coral reef, and certain algae stick onto them. Algae makes food, since they're plants, and the polops (sp?) give the algae a place to live. A safe one in the "Danger Zone" of the coral reef (not many fish live in deep sea since it has barely any food and not many hiding spots, but coral reefs give plenty of both).
Coral reefs can get sick, believe-it-or-not! When the water is polluted, polops (sp?) get rid of the algae. This can make the reef sick, and drain it of its color too (in show, copper was polluting water, believe it or not!). If the pollution is removed, the reef does have a chance, since the algae comes back too, but can take a ton of years (according to show).