Technologies

The Johns Hopkins Atlas of Pancreatic Pathology

Invention novelty:The invention is a software app developed for Apple iPad platform as an educational tool for learning about the pathology of human pancreas.

Value Proposition

With the advent of improved mobile display and gesture-based user interface, several educational tools are being developed on mobile operating systems such as the iOS and Android. The Johns Hopkins Atlas of Pancreatic Pathology is a one of a kind software app developed on the Apple iPad enhancing learning of medical concepts through interactive exposure to a broad range of examples.
Technical Details

Johns Hopkins researchers have developed an educational software application for the Apple iPad called 'The Johns Hopkins Atlas of Pancreatic Pathology'. It serves as an educational tool for medical practitioners and medical students for the pathology of the human pancreas. The software application consists of three modules namely an interactive teaching algorithm, a searchable image atlas and an image-based quiz. The teaching module consists of series of usually dichotomous decision points, such that the user can view atlas images with relevant features at each branch point. The teaching algorithm is enriched with 26 original medical illustrations and links to six instructional animations streaming from YouTube. The modules share a single database which contains 1481 images and 115 diagnostic entities. The application effectively exploits the iPad's intuitive and gesture-based user interface. The application was programmed using the Objective-C language, Xcode4 IDE and iOS SDK version 4.3. The app's atlas and quiz data were authored in Microsoft Access 2010 and imported into an SQLite3 database on the iPad. Teaching algorithm data were stored in property list files using extensible markup language (XML). Use of XML as a data source allows the application content to be developed and managed independently outside of the application runtime environment.

Publication(s)/Associated Cases:“Not at this time”