[Leslie Toldo, abclocal.go.com]

We’ve all seen 3D being used in the movies and on TV, and it can be just as cool in the operating room.

Even when they can’t get to the water, David Kuncas and his son still make time to practice the fundamentals of fishing. David had to put his hobby on hiatus after being hit with constant back pain, sleep apnea and carpal tunnel. His weight fluctuated 60 pounds.

“I was exhausted. I had no energy. Everything was just falling apart in my life,” Kunca said.

The doctor diagnosed him with a rare disease known as acromegaly, the same disease that caused wrestling star Andre the Giant to grow. Doctors found 16 times the normal amount of growth hormone in David’s body, caused by a pea-sized tumor in his pituitary gland.

“Tiny little thing was killing me,” Kunca said.

Neurosurgeons at the University of Pennsylvania were able to help David by using a new procedure called three-dimensional endoscopic brain surgery.

“The 3D helps me to be safer with resection around critical structures,” said Dr. John Y.K. Lee, neurosurgeon from the University of Pennsylvania hospital system.

Using the same technology that helped Avatars jump through the screen at the movies, surgeons insert a 3D endoscope through a patient’s nose. Then, when they put on polarized glasses, they see a 3D view of the brain.

“We don’t have monsters jumping out at us during surgery, but it is a very similar technology,” Lee said.

Surgeons were able to remove the tumor without damaging the brain or the optic nerves. Now, Dave Kuncas is getting better every day and looking forward to a little spring fishing.

“I’m going to have this boat, and I’m going to be taking this little guy out,” Kuncas said.

Dr. Lee said he has heard reports of surgeons becoming slightly dizzy during a 3D operation, but he and his colleagues have not had any negative effects during training or during actual operations.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT: Cathy Malloy, Surgery Coordinator Office of Dr. John Y.K. Lee University of Pennsylvania Health System (215) 829-5189 Catherine.Malloy@uphs.upenn.edu

See the original story here: http://abclocal.go.com/wjrt/story?section=news/health&id=8034611

DARPA designed the holographic display system to help military leaders plan initiatives in urban areas and other complex terrain.

[By Elizabeth Montalbano InformationWeek]

The Air Force and Army will receive new 3D holographic technology to assist military leaders in battle planning and design, thanks to a newly completed program by the Department of Defense’s research arm.

Through a five-year program called the Urban Phototonic Sandtable Display (UPSD), the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) created a real-time, 360-degree, 3D holographic display to help military commanders and mission planners better visualize and plan battles.

The technology is intended to replace the military’s current most-advanced technology for this activity, which features two-dimensional HD flat-panel color displays, according to DARPA.

One Air Force and two Army research centers are the first to use and apply UPSD, which allows up to 20 participants to simultaneously view holographic images that can be manipulated in various ways on the screen. Austin, Texas-based Zebra Imaging researched and developed the technology for DARPA through a contract awarded in 2005.

The idea behind the project was to make the ability to visualize conditions in urban areas, where today’s conflicts often happen, easier for military battle planners, according to DARPA.

Special 3D goggles or glasses are not needed to use the technology, which places planners in front of a large-format, interactive 3D display that enables full visual-depth capability up to 12 inches, the agency said. UPSD also produces two-dimensional printouts of the 3D imagery rendered onscreen so troops can use them in the field as guides.

UPSD is a complement to ongoing work DARPA has been doing to leverage 3D in advanced military technologies, particularly for planning missions in complex terrain.

DARPA recently demonstrated 3D mapping capability through its High Altitude LIDAR Operations Experiment (HALOE) project. The project collects high-resolution 3D data faster than traditional methods, giving U.S. military forces in Afghanistan access to it to plan military activities in both mountainous and urban terrain, according to DARPA.

Military planners can use UPSD’s 3D display in conjunction with technology from the HALOE project to provide an even more detailed view of mission-planning operations, the agency added.

Federal agencies must transition from static cybersecurity defenses to automated, real-time monitoring and response. This report will show you how IT security teams can get started. Download the report. (Free registration required.)

See the original story here: http://www.informationweek.com/news/government/enterprise-apps/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229400334&cid=RSSfeed_IWK_All