University creates iPhone medical apps

SALT LAKE CITY, Oct. 8 (UPI) -- University of Utah researchers say they have created three iPhone applications that are designed to assist scientists, students, doctors and patients.

The researchers said their programs can display and manipulate 3D images of medical scans and can be used to study the human body, evaluate medical problems and analyze other 3D images.

-- AnatomyLab allows students to conduct a virtual dissection by providing images of a real human cadaver during 40 separate stages of dissection. The software, which sells for $9.99, was designed by biology Professor Mark Nielsen and two University of Utah students, including his son.

-- My Body, a scaled-down version of AnatomyLab, sells for $1.99 and is intended for the general public, including "anyone curious about what their body looks like," Nielsen said.

-- ImageVis3D Mobile is based on similar software for desktop and laptop computers. It performs "3-D volume visualization" or "volume rendering," creating realistic 3-D pictures from medical images and other scientific and engineering data.

The three iPhone apps are available via Apple Inc.'s online iTunes App Store at http://www.apple.com/iphone/iphone-3gs/app-store.html.