An international team of scientists led by Dr. John Mazziotta of UCLA Medical School have produced a computerized atlas of the brain, which should help doctors to diagnose patients. The atlas, which is available online at http://www.loni.ucla.edu/ICBM, consists of more than 7,000 digital images of brains of healthy people and of those with numerous diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease, autism, schizophrenia, and fetal alcohol syndrome from. As well as providing anatomical maps of the brain, doctors can also see animations of brain functions such as memory, emotion, language, and speech. The idea behind the project is that doctors will be able to compare a patient’s brain with that of those contained within the atlas, thus aiding diagnosis.
SOURCE/REFERENCE: Reported by www.reutershealth.com on the 8th August 2003.
