Michelle R. Quayle

TL;DR: 3D printing offers many advantages over plastination as it allows rapid production of multiple copies of any dissected specimen, at any size scale and should be suitable for any teaching facility in any country, thereby avoiding some of the cultural and ethical issues associated with cadaver specimens either in an embalmed or plastinated form.

TL;DR: The biomechanics of the crocodilian mandible are largely consistent with beam theory and can be predicted from simple morphological measurements, suggesting that crocodilians are a useful model for investigating the palaeobiomechanic of other aquatic tetrapods.

TL;DR: This paper explains how 3-d figures can be created using the S2PLOT graphics library, exported to Product Representation Compact (PRC) format, and included as fully interactive, 3-D figures in PDF files using the movie15 LaTeX package.

TL;DR: A novel means of creating high-resolution reproductions of prosected human cadaver orbits suitable for education and training is developed, suitable for use in the office, home, laboratory or clinical setting in any part of the world for patient and doctor education.

Abstract: Background The teaching of human head, neck and orbital anatomy forms a critical part of undergraduate and postgraduate medical and allied health professional training, including optometry. While still largely grounded in cadaveric dissection, this method of instruction is constrained in some countries and regional areas by access to real human cadavers, costs of cadaver bequest programmes, health and safety of students and staff and the shortage of adequate time in modern curricula. Many candidates choosing a postgraduate pathway in ophthalmological training, such as those accepted into the Royal Colleges of Ophthalmology in the UK, Australia and New Zealand programmes and the American Academy of Ophthalmologists in the USA, are compelled as adult learners to revise or revisit human orbital anatomy, ocular anatomy and select areas of head and neck anatomy. These candidates are often then faced with the issue of accessing facilities with dissected human cadaveric material. Methods In light of these difficulties, we developed a novel means of creating high-resolution reproductions of prosected human cadaver orbits suitable for education and training. Results 3D printed copies of cadaveric orbital dissections (superior, lateral and medial views) showing a range of anatomical features were created. Discussion These 3D prints offer many advantages over plastinated specimens as they are suitable for rapid reproduction and as they are not human tissue they avoid cultural and ethical issues associated with viewing cadaver specimens. In addition, they are suitable for use in the office, home, laboratory or clinical setting in any part of the world for patient and doctor education.