Phytoplankton biomass and composition in a well-flushed, sub-tropical estuary: The contrasting effects of hydrology, nutrient loads and allochthonous influences.

The primary objective of this study was to examine trends in phytoplankton biomass and species composition under varying nutrient load and hydrologic regimes in the Guana Tolomato Matanzas estuary (GTM), a well-flushed sub-tropical estuary located on the northeast coast of Florida. The GTM contains both regions of significant human influence and pristine areas with only modest development, providing a test case for comparing and contrasting phytoplankton community dynamics under varying degrees of nutrient load. Water temperature, salinity, Secchi disk depth, nutrient concentrations and chlorophyll concentrations were determined on a monthly basis from 2002 to 2012 at three representative sampling sites in the GTM.

Patient-specific cases for an ultrasound training simulator.

We present a laptop-based ultrasound training simulator and a novel method for creation of patient-specific training datasets. The simulator consists of a laptop computer, a peripheral probe interface device with an embedded three-degree-of-freedom orientation sensor, a virtual US probe, a virtual patient model, a simulated US brightness scan (B-scan). Simulated B-scans are rendered from US volumes, which are synthesized using volume reconstruction methods from two-dimensional US imagery captured in a data acquisition stage from clinical patients.

The FMA database browser: a key component of an interactive image visualization pipeline.

University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) Center for Advanced Surgical and Interventional Technology (CASIT) researchers are developing an interactive image visualization pipeline with the ability to rapidly visualize and efficiently interact with patient-specific image datasets. The pipeline enables patient-specific image datasets acquired in a Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) format to be converted into a three-dimensional (3D) deformable format that facilitates future simulation-based interactivity. UCLA CASIT researchers have developed a standalone FMA database browser which provides manual assignment of Foundation Model of Anatomy (FMA) identification codes (IDCs) to surfaces generated from patient-specific DICOM format data and to the reference 3D model.