February 6th, 2007 by misvan
This seems too good to be true, but if they can make it happen, it’s going to be a huge breakthrough in scientific visualization.
PROVIDENCE, R.I., Feb. 5, 2007 — A new technology is being created that will allow doctors and scientists to do the seemingly impossible: See inside living humans and animals and watch their bones move in three dimensions as they run, fly, jump, swim and slither. This high-resolution, high-speed imaging system will contribute to better treatments for knee, shoulder, wrist and back injuries and help scientists understand the evolution of complex movements, from the flight of birds to the leap of frogs.
“This will be like having x-ray vision — you’ll be able to see through skin and muscle and watch a skeleton move in 3-D,” said Elizabeth Brainerd, the Brown University biology professor overseeing development of the new system. “Imagine animated x-ray movies of flying bats or flexing knees. It’s very cool technology that is also very important from a biomedical standpoint.”
The new system, dubbed CTX, will combine the 3-D capability of CT scanners and the real-time movement tracking of cinefluoroscopy. CTX technology is expected to deliver images with exceptional precision and detail. Researchers will be able to track 3-D skeletal movements with 0.1-mm accuracy and see the equivalent of 1000 CT images per second. The result will be a powerful tool with applications for basic and applied research: testing new theories of biomechanics, such as muscle-tendon interactions; studying the evolution of bodies and how they move, such as birds’ multijointed wings; planning orthopedic surgeries and comparing the effectiveness of different approaches; creating better treatments for shoulder, wrist, knee and back injuries; and driving innovations in computer graphics and scientific visualization.
Here’s a still of what a real-time animation would look like
Click to see a movie of a real-time animation of the foot bones of a pig while walking.
Click here to read the original article from photonics.com
January 16th, 2007 by misvan
Dying to know what a topoisomerase looks like? Need to illustrate that p53 tumor suppressor initiating apoptosis? Then take a look at the molecular graphics program called PyMOL, by DeLano Scientific LLC.
It produces high-quality molecular images and animations, so you can see your molecule of choice in real-time. It even allows you to import and edit files from the Protein Data Bank (PDB). The program uses ray-tracing to make those high quality molecular images. You can see the difference between a regular molecular image and one produced with ray-tracing below.
PyMOL is an open source visualization program. It’s one of the few out there that is freely available and of good quality. Definitely worth downloading. Use it to study, use it learn, use it to visualize and illustrate, or just use it to play with molecules…if you’re into that sort of thing.
PyMOL does use a scripting language that can be difficult to learn at first, but it just takes practice. There are a lot of tutorials available online. It runs on Linux, Mac OS, and Windows. Check it out.
January 13th, 2007 by misvan
By now you’ve heard the hype surrounding the unveiling of Apple’s new iPhone. While it won’t be available until June, there is plenty of media coverage to make you salivate over this phone. Take a look at the video highlighting the many capabilities of the iPhone.
Here’s the quick synopsis from apple.com.
iPhone combines three products — a revolutionary mobile phone, a widescreen iPod with touch controls, and a breakthrough Internet communications device with desktop-class email, web browsing, maps, and searching — into one small and lightweight handheld device.
iPhone also introduces an entirely new user interface based on a large multi-touch display and pioneering new software, letting you control everything with just your fingers.
So it ushers in an era of software power and sophistication never before seen in a mobile device, completely redefining what you can do on a mobile phone.
It’s no wonder Cingular Wireless made a deal with Apple two years ago without even seeing a prototype of the iPhone. With Apple’s reputation who wouldn’t trust them to design such a revolutionary phone?
With Apple’s successful breakthrough and dominance of the mobile music world, their step into the science and research realm, their popularity in the design world, and now their attempt at revolutionizing the mobile phone industry, it begs the question; where else can Apple go? How about a smart Apple iRefrigerator, iStove, or iCar? Don’t scoff, it could happen.
In my previous post on OsiriX, I spoke about how medical images are being transported and viewed on iPods. The iPhone, with its mini version of Mac OS X and its high-resolution 3.5in screen seems perfectly suited for viewing medical images. Imagine the benefit for medical professionals. Instead of carrying around two devices, their iPod and cell phone, they can simply have once device capable of handling all of their needs. This is how I envision it below.
While Apple CEO Steve Jobs stated that the iPhone will not be open to outside developers, I think that will change in the future. The potential in this phone is just too great.
January 13th, 2007 by misvan
Let’s talk about what’s happening in the world of medical imaging, since it’s having such an impact on medical illustration. First, take a look at this Quicktime fly-thru.
If you haven’t already heard of the groundbreaking image processing software, OsiriX, then please take a look the website and familiarize yourself. I suggest you jump immediately to the screenshots, just to give an overview of what OsiriX can offer. You can also find more fabulous movies, like the one above, there.
OsiriX is DICOM image-viewing software. DICOM (Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine) is a comprehensive set of standards for handling, storing and transmitting information in medical imaging. These medical images can come from medical imaging modalities such as MRI, CT, PET scans, etc.
What makes OsiriX so incredible is that it is changing the way medical professionals view and share medical images. It is also seamlessly tied into the Mac OS X platform. Images can easily be shared using iChat AV, can be easily stored to iDisk, and can become mobile using iPods.
iPods are no longer simply used for music. With an iPod, you’re carrying around 20 to 40 GB of space, something comparable to the disk space on a laptop. Think about the value of that space for transporting medical images, which can take up huge amounts of space on a regular computer. Radiologists are already using iPods to view and share medical images. Carry the iPod in your pocket, hook it up to a computer or tv, view, share, and discuss. Very simple.
So why is this type of software so important to medical illustrators?
While it may seem that the incredible 3D medical images produced with the OsiriX software could put an end to medical illustration, just remember one thing. Medical images are still raw images. Like photos, they can contain too much information. Our goal as medical illustrators is to extract the important details and leave out the extraneous. The medical professionals using OsiriX, such as physicians and radiologists, are using the images for diagnostic purposes. Medical illustrators can use these highly detailed images for educational purposes. Most importantly, we can use them to create the most accurate illustrations possible. In the past, the only access to seeing anatomy was through dissection of human cadavers, through low resolution x-rays, and slices from MRI and CT scans. Now we can get 3D and even 4D renderings of these medical images through programs like OsiriX that can compile the data and reconstruct it in a useful, highly visual way.
It will be students in the near future that will get the most benefits from programs like OsiriX. They’ll be the ones who will get the most accurate representations of the human body yet. And it’s up to medical illustrators to make sure that the medical images used by medical professionals be translated into educational material.
To learn more about OsiriX, visit these links:
OsiriX Homepage
iPod Helps Radiologists Manage Medical Images
iPod Imaging
OsiriX Combines Open Source with Key Apple Technologies
