The Visible Body Launched By Argosy Publishing

Main Category: IT / Internet / E-mail
Also Included In: Medical Students / Training;  Biology / Biochemistry
Article Date: 09 Mar 2008 - 2:00 PDT

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Argosy Publishing, an award-winning interactive, visual content developer, has officially launched The Visible BodyTM (www.visiblebody.com), the first free, Web-based 3-D interactive model of the human body.

Initially developed for educators, and health and medical professionals, The Visible Body is a next-generation, professional-grade platform that demonstrates how the human body works. It will also be of interest to individuals with a deep appreciation for the human anatomy and science. The Visible Body allows all users to visualize the human body and quickly and easily explore areas of interest to see how more than 1,700 anatomical structures - including major organs and systems - work together.

"It can be very hard to explain a specific injury or pathology to a patient or students using the illustrations and descriptions available in the medical text books," said Edward G. Buckley, MD, Professor Ophthalmology and Pediatrics and Interim Vice Dean for Medical Education, Duke University Medical School. "The unique 3-D approach used by The Visible Body gives physicians and educators the ability to visually demonstrate and explain how the body works to their patients or students in a way that is easily understandable."

Developed by a team with decades of experience in medical illustration and biomedical visualization, The Visible Body consists of highly detailed, anatomically accurate, 3-D models of all human body systems. The models were developed by a team with decades of experience in medical illustration and biomedical visualization. The Visible Body features a clean and simple user interface which allows physicians, health and medical professionals and educators to:

* explore different anatomical structures to enhance clarity and to better understand interdependencies between different body parts by adding or removing adjacent structures and isolating specific structures of the body;

* share a perspective with colleagues, students or patients;

* explain an injury;

* examine the location and detail of a specific body part or organ in a 3-D, 360-degree view;

* rotate the body model in any direction, zoom in and out of it and move through it with a few mouse clicks.

"The Visible Body breaks new ground in helping physicians and educators to fully articulate the complex interrelationships of various anatomical structures," said Andrew Bowditch, President and CEO of Argosy Publishing. "Physicians, professors and graduate students at several prestigious medical institutions who have used The Visible Body say they love it and have seen nothing comparable. We expect it to become the Internet's most popular destination for accurate, life-like representation of the human anatomy."

Widespread Early Adoption

The Visible Body has quickly become a popular destination for thousands of students and medical professionals. Since an initial trial release period, more than 150,000 users worldwide have registered for The Visible Body. In addition, The Visible Body continues to experience high traffic volumes, including more than three million page views per month, with a significant number of repeat visitors.

Ad-supported Site

The Visible Body is currently a free site. The Visible Body's medical visualization and search capabilities provide a platform for pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical device and other healthcare firms - through content appropriate advertisements - to market their services to health educators and their students, as well as medical professionals and their patients, who are exploring the human anatomy and physiology.

"Our next steps are to expand The Visible Body by adding different human models, medical pathology and therapy information, so that consumers can get a deeper understanding of their conditions and available treatments," added Bowditch.

Technical Requirements

The Visible Body is free and accessible to anyone with an Internet connection. It can be easily downloaded using Internet Explorer with Macromedia Flash™ and Anark Client™ plug-ins. Both plug-ins are automatically downloaded and installed.

Language Support

The Visible Body is currently available in English. Additional language support is expected later this year.

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Article adapted by Medical News Today from original press release.
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About Argosy Publishing

Founded in 1990, Argosy Publishing is an award-winning interactive, visual content developer, with clients concentrated in healthcare - Pfizer, Novartis, Eli Lilly, Abbott Labs - and educational publishing - Thomson, Pearson, McGraw-Hill, Houghton Mifflin and Reed Elsevier. Argosy's books and electronic content educate and inform tens of millions of people on thousands of different topics. For more information, visit http://www.argosypublishing.com/.

NOTE: VisibleBody.com™ is a trademark of Argosy Publishing. All other trademarks belong to their respective owners.

Web site: http://www.visiblebody.com/

Web site: http://www.argosypublishing.com/

Source: Andrew Soucy
Argosy Publishing