Dear AuntMinnie Member,
It's a fact of life that certain people are driven about certain things. This week we bring you the story of a University of Washington researcher with a unique ambition: to create a comprehensive, open-access online database consisting of CT scans of fish.
Adam Summers, PhD, has been scanning fish for the past couple decades, but things really kicked into high gear in the past year, after he got his first micro-CT scanner. From a lab on San Juan Island north of Seattle, he has scanned hundreds of species so far, often in bundles of 10 or 15 that he calls a "burrito."
He uses postprocessing software to render the data into beautiful 3D images, or occasionally creates models of his fishy subjects using a 3D printer. Learn more about the project by clicking here, or visit our Advanced Visualization Community at av.auntminnie.com.
DTI-MRI of youth football players
Concerns have been rising about brain injury related to head impacts sustained by those playing contact sports such as American football. A new study published this week in Radiology indicates that just one season of play is enough to cause brain changes in youth football players.
Researchers from multiple institutions used diffusion-tensor MRI (DTI-MRI) to examine players before and after the season. This was correlated with data from a telemetry system affixed to the players' helmets that measured head impacts.
The data indicated that players with greater head impacts also had reduced fractional anisotropy values -- basically, the movement of water in the brain -- as measured by DTI-MRI. Learn more by clicking here, or visit our MRI Community at mri.auntminnie.com.
A modest proposal from the PACSman
RSNA 2016 is just over four weeks away -- yikes! As you get ready for the meeting, visit our Imaging Informatics Community for a modest proposal from the PACSman, PACS consultant Michael J. Cannavo, on what could be done to make the meeting more useful for attendees who want to focus exclusively on imaging informatics technology. Find out what he has to say by clicking here, or go to informatics.auntminnie.com.
