Cartilage is the tissue which covers articular surfaces in the joints providing a smooth, low friction surface and cushioning for the subchondral bone. It has remarkable mechanical properties in its healthy state, but can, if damaged, lead to painful and disabling diseases like osteoarthritis.

Atherosclerosis is a disease which attacks the blood vessels. The disease is characterized by the formation of a plaque in the vessel wall, which is a pathological modification of the vessel wall structure. These plaques can have different sizes, shapes and morphological structures.

Breast cancer is a disease with a quite high incidence rate. Succesfull screening programs have fortunately led to a quite high chance of successful treatment following diagnosis. However, there is still room for enhancing diagnosis and disease stratifcation to schedule the patient for appropriate treatment.

The valves of the heart prevent blood from flowing in the wrong direction between the ventricle and the atria. Sometimes these valves do not function exactly like they should. These problems can be visualized by ultrasound. However, to assess what is wrong, mechanical models of the valves are needed to understand the ultrasound images.