We are reminded each year to get vaccinated against the influenza virus. The severity of the annual outbreak is not known with certainty in advance, but a major pandemic is bound to occur sooner or later. Mathematical models play an indispensable role in understanding and managing infectious diseases. Models vary in sophistication from the simple SIR model with just three variables to highly complex simulation models with millions of variables [TM134 or search for “thatsmaths” at irishtimes.com]. Continue reading ‘Reducing R-naught to stem the spread of Epidemics’
Posts Tagged 'medicine'
Reducing R-naught to stem the spread of Epidemics
Published March 1, 2018 Irish Times ClosedTags: Epidemiology, medicine
The Heart of Mathematics
Published January 18, 2018 Irish Times ClosedTags: biology, Fluid Dynamics, medicine
At five litres per minute the average human heart pumps nearly 200 megalitres of blood through the body in a lifetime. Heart disease causes 40 percent of deaths in the EU and costs hundreds of billions of Euros every year. Mathematics can help to improve our knowledge of heart disease and our understanding of cardiac malfunction [TM131 or search for “thatsmaths” at irishtimes.com].
Modern science is big: the gravitational wave detector (LIGO) cost over a billion dollars, and the large hadron collider (LHC) in Geneva took decades to build and cost almost five billion euros. It may seem that scientific advances require enormous financial investment. So, it is refreshing to read in Nature Biomedical Engineering (Vol 1, Article 9) about the development of an ultra-cheap centrifuge that costs only a few cents to manufacture [TM111 or search for “thatsmaths” at irishtimes.com].
Whirligig, made from a plastic disk and handles and some string
That’s Maths in The Irish Times this week (TM049, or Search for “thatsmaths” at irishtimes.com) is about applications of computer aided design and computer aided manufacture to making dental crowns.
![High-precision digitally-driven mill carving a dental crown from a solid ceramic block [photo from www.sirona.com].](https://thatsmaths.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/cerec-mill-detail.jpg)
High-precision digitally-driven mill carving a dental crown from a solid ceramic block
[photo from www.sirona.com].
CT Scans and the Radon Transform
Published March 7, 2013 Irish Times ClosedTags: Algorithms, medicine
Last December, Dublin’s Tallaght Hosptal acquired a new CT scanner, a Toshiba Aquilon Prime, the first of its type in the country. The state-of-the-art scanner is housed in a room with a ‘sky ceiling’ that allows patients to enjoy an attractive outdoor image during the scanning process.
This equipment, which cost €600,000 will undoubtedly result in timely treatment of patients and the saving of lives. The process of generating images from CT scans is described in the latest That’s Maths column (TM016) in the Irish Times.
ThatsMaths 