In Brief ----------------------------------------------------------------- Virtual reality can treat orthopedic problems Hopkins scientists are using virtual reality technology to guide treatment from the operating room to rehabilitation exercises for a range of muscle and skeletal disorders. Using computer-based animation to create realistic images of what will happen to the body's musculoskeletal system under various conditions, virtual reality is a safe and powerful tool for patient care, research and education, investigators say. Edmund Chao, professor of orthopedic surgery, and his colleagues in the Hopkins orthopedic biomechanics laboratory, presented a scientific exhibit on their latest findings Feb. 22 to 25 at the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons' annual meeting in Atlanta. "Virtual reality models can help to plan surgeries, rehabilitation exercises and even correct baseball pitchers' throwing injuries," said Chao, the study's lead author. To create the virtual images, scientists took magnetic resonance images and computerized tomography scans of a cadaver with no orthopedic problems to create computer-based models. Then researchers added data on stress, force, motion, contact in the joints, pressure on the joints and other factors to generate three-dimensional computer images. The images simulate how the muscles, bones and connective tissue that make up the body's joints would respond under different conditions. The images, in video or still pictures, are brightly colored and easily interpreted by orthopedic surgeons. By seeing what will happen before it happens through computer-aided predictions, doctors can decide on the most effective surgery or other therapy, the researchers said. ----------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------- Hopkins physicians cited among nation's best In the March "Best Doctors in America" issue of American Health magazine, Hopkins medical specialists are the most frequently cited physicians from any single institution. The magazine is currently on newsstands. Forty-one specialists were selected--14 in pediatrics and 27 in adult specialties--out of a total 1,019 nominated nationwide by 3,200 physicians in 350 medical centers. Behind Hopkins, in rank order, were Columbia-Presbyterian, New York University, Mt. Sinai, Memorial Sloan-Kettering, the Mayo Clinic and the University of California at San Francisco (tie), Stanford University, Mass. General and UCLA. ----------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------- Balmy Bologna feels effect of Blizzard of '96 In the Jan. 22 issue of The Gazette, a photo spread featured Hopkins embraced by the Blizzard of '96. In our cut line, we wondered, somewhat whimsically, if classes were canceled in balmy, sun-drenched Bologna, site of the Nitze School of Advanced International Studies' Bologna Center. Center director Robert H. Evans provided the answer: "Yes, Bologna was affected by the record January snowfall in Baltimore and Washington. While classes weren't canceled, exams were. Because the Washington and Baltimore academic programs are closely coordinated, comprehensive and core exams are given on the same dates in both places. When the exams were postponed in Washington ... they were also deferred in Italy. Well prepared and eager as they were, our students did not complain about the delay." ----------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------- Sociology, Chemistry raise cash, spirits for 2-year-old It's a parent's worst nightmare. A seemingly perfect child is suddenly struck with a life-threatening disease. And a maelstrom of fear and hope is set into dizzying motion. It happened to Michele Trieb, a senior program analyst in the Department of Sociology. In July, her 2-year-old daughter Missy, a twin to brother Zachary and little sister to 5-year-old Hannah, was diagnosed with neuroblastoma, a rare childhood cancer. Trieb and her husband, a contractor with AT&T, took leave from their respective jobs to be with Missy as she underwent months of chemotherapy and surgery, which eliminated 95 percent of the tumor. Missy is now at Hopkins Children's Center taking another, more aggressive course of chemotherapy. But the time off cost her husband his job. And although Trieb has a job to return to, she has not drawn a regular paycheck in months. Trieb's office mates were sympathetic and supportive. And they felt helpless, said Anna Stoll, a staff member in the department. They decided to do something to contribute to the crushing costs resulting from Missy's illness. "We're basically running on empty," Trieb admitted. So, on Valentine's Day, her department held a bake sale. "We wanted to let them know we were behind them," Stoll said. Trieb's colleagues set up a table in front of the bookstore in Gilman Hall, set out with homemade cookies and candies and cakes. "We have some excellent bakers among our students and staff," Stoll says, "so we had some very good items to sell." Most of the department contributed several pieces to the sale. Trieb's friends in the Chemistry Department, organized by Rosalie Elder, also contributed baked goods and posted notices of the sale. They also raffled off a bottle of champagne, a teddy bear, a box of homemade chocolates and a basket of junk food. "People started to buy things before we even finished setting up," Stoll says. "We sold out." They even sold the only uncut item offered, a chocolate cheesecake, which was bought by an undergraduate for $20. When it was all over three hours later, Stoll was elated by the results, raising more than $550 from the sale and an additional $1,000 in cash donations. Stoll said people who found out about the sale after it ended are still sending checks. Trieb was moved by her friends' efforts. "I could melt," she says of the contributions. "I just love the people in the department who organized this, and the generosity of the people who don't even know Missy is just unbelievable." Now the members of her department, her friends, can only pray, Stoll says. And that's a lot of what Trieb and her family are doing. "We have prayers going in every synagogue and church we can think of," she said. Although hopeful, Trieb admits that Missy's prognosis is fair to poor. "We have found out through the Internet and other cancer resources that there are kids who have grown into adulthood with the same prognosis Missy has. There are children who slip through the cracks, and we are hoping our child is one of them." To complicate matters, Missy was rushed to Hopkins Hospital's intensive care unit a week ago with pneumonia. "We thought we were going to lose her last week," Trieb said. But Missy is battling back, her mother said, and she is hopeful that once her daughter recovers from this setback, she will be back on schedule to return home in a few weeks to begin radiation therapy--30 seconds a day--as an outpatient. Trieb hopes the family can enjoy some sense of normalcy before the final step of her treatment: a bone marrow transplant scheduled for April. Trieb says the painful procedure has a high rate of success because surgeons will be able to use Missy's own tissue. "Right now, Missy's spirits are pretty good," Trieb said, "although she is cognitively aware that she has been a very sick little girl." -----------------------------------------------------------------