VizWorld.com

SIGGRAPH news today is abuzz with the benefits of 3d modeling in the health field.

LiveScience | 3D Brain Model Could Revolutionize Neurology

A new project aims to produce a Google Maps-like guide of the brain’s labyrinthine structure At a presentation here at the SIGGRAPH interactive technology and computer graphics conference, researchers highlighted how a complete 3-D model of the brain could spark a new era in neurological research.

Called The Whole Brain Catalog, the project compiles data from across the research spectrum, in a variety of forms. It takes MRI data, pictures of stained neurons and theoretical diagrams of brain circuitry and presents them in a way that scientists, doctors and 3-D animators can digest in a unified way. Those users then contribute back to the site, wiki-style, to produce an increasingly full model of the brain at every scale, down to the molecular level.

TechNews Daily |  3D Models To Aid In Mending Broken Bones

Surgically cutting a patient open is sometimes necessary to expose the break and allow a surgeon to manipulate the bone so it fits together accurately. To ease these surgeries, researchers seek to combine state of the art of 3-D imaging, pattern recognition and robotics.

CT scans of healthy and fractured joints will be used to work out the mathematical algorithm for the exact displacement and rotation of each bone fragment. Using this information, a 3-D model of the broken bone will be made on software from the United Kingdom-based company Simpleware that lets doctors better see how to mend the bone during surgery.

Whole Brain Project

Science 3d modeling, health, medicine, neurosciene

Visual Economics has posted a huge infographic giving a time-line of the new health-care bill. The graphic provides key provisions of the bill, along with a time-line of when other events take place.

via : Timeline Of The New Healthcare Bill

Graphics health, infographic, timeline

Tableau has another great graphic showing the distribution of votes in the recently passes Healthcare bill.  Up top you see their geographic map showing the distribution of uninsured patients and voting delegation, and below that is a collection of graphs adding in information on campaign contributions.

After much deliberation, fighting, infighting and some rather intense partisan antics, the House passed the health care reform bill Sunday. It is hard to think of a subject more controversial in American society today and the voting behind the bill proves it. If you have any interest in the subject, you can download the workbook and use the data to see the story from your own point of view.

See the chart after the break.

via Healthcare bill will most benefit those who did not vote for it | Tableau Software.
Read more…

Science health, interactive, tableau

… researchers from the University of Missouri have a 3D printer that could one day recreate human organs by using a cocktail made from human cells. If your liver was failing, for instance, cells from your liver could be used to print a healthy one, or cells from your heart could be used to create a new heart, and so on.

Right now, all of that is still a long way off. What has been done, however, is recreate a human vein using “bio-ink,” or the liquid sludge that’s produced using human cells and printed onto “bio-paper.” This paper slowly dissolves as the layers of ink bind and start to take on the shape us humans would recognize.

Inhabitat | Scientists Use 3D Printer To Create First “Printed” Human Vein
DVICE | 3D printer uses bio-ink to create the first ‘printed’ human veins

Hardware 3d, health

The House is still debating the new Health Care reform bill, and the Washington Post has created an interactive infographic showing how it’s going.  They first show how the individual representatives voted in the earlier November 7th vote, and then show how they are standing for this week’s vote.  They combine this with data about their campaign contributions from the healthcare industry and the amount of their constituency that is uninsured.

It’s a massive amount of information, but if you haven’t been following it closely then it’s a great way to see how your own representatives are standing.

Who’s in play: House health-care vote washingtonpost.com.

PS: I know any post about healthcare is going to bring out spammers & protestors/supporters, so please keep it civil and focused on the Infographic, not necessarily the bill.

Science health, political, washingtonpost

OnlineSchools.com aims to bring important information in a wide variety of subjects to the masses, based on Gandhi’s famous quote “Learn as if you were to Live Forever”.  In their “Life and Health” category, they have a new shameless infographic showing 15 interesting and important facts about Breasts. As a fan myself, I thought I would share.  Some tidbits:

• The average breast weighs 1.1lbs
• Average size (in the US) is a 36C
• In 2008, 307,230 Breast Enlargements were performed, the #1 cosmetic procedure
• The average surgery costs $3,700

Unfortunately, the graphic seems skewed towards the cosmetic surgery angle, leaving out anything to do with breast cancer.

See a larger version after the break.

Read more…

Graphics health, infographic