Chiropractic manipulative therapy and stripping massage of the sternocleidomastoid for the treatment of chronic mechanical neck pain and its effect on head repositioning accuracy

M.Tech. (Chiropractic)The aim of this study was to compare the effects of chiropractic manipulative therapy with and without stripping massage of the sternocleidomastoid, with regards to pain, disability, cervical range of motion and head repositioning accuracy in the treatment of chronic mechanical neck pain. The aim was determined by using the Vernon-Mior Neck Pain and Disability Index, Numerical Pain Rating Scale and the Cervical Range of Motion measuring instrument (CROM).The study consisted of thirty participants that had an equal male to female distribution. An age range was set and individuals had to be between eighteen and fourty. Participants were chosen according to inclusion and exclusion criteria that were set before the study commenced. Treatment received by the participants was dependent on which group they were allocated to. Group One received just chiropractic manipulative therapy to three restricted segments of the cervical spine. Group Two also received chiropractic manipulative therapy to three restricted cervical segments and had stripping massage of both sternocleidomastoid muscles.Treatment consisted of six treatments sessions and with the seventh visit only readings were taken. Treatments were carried out twice weekly so that the treatment time period fell over a three week study period. Participants were asked to complete the subjective data before the first, fourth and seventh visit. Subjective data was gathered by using the following: Numerical Pain Rating Scale and a Vernon-Mior Neck and Pain Disability Index Questionnaire. The objective data that was recorded by the researcher consisted of the cervical range of motion that was gathered by using the Cervical Range of Motion (CROM) machine and the head repositioning accuracy. Participants then received either chiropractic manipulative therapy to the restricted cervical spinal segments or a combination of stripping massage to the sternocleidomastoid muscles as well as chiropractic manipulative therapy, depending on their groupallocation. All data gathered by the researcher and then analysed by a statistician at the University of Johannesburg..

Recasting & Rethinking Education 01... in South Africa: Imperatives for making education more relevant, responsive, and authentic

The aim of this lead article is the setting of the frame of the Special Issue containing selected papers presented at the 2018 SAERA (South African Education Research Association) Annual Conference, with the theme “Education 01? In search of a new operating system: making education more relevant, responsive and authentic”. The article commences with an overview of the societal changes defining the early 21st century. It is suggested that, in light of these changes, education praxis, Education scholarship, and teacher education need to be re-designed, with relevance, responsiveness, and authenticity describing the critical changes required

Exposure Render: An Interactive Photo-Realistic Volume Rendering Framework

The field of volume visualization has undergone rapid development during the past years, both due to advances in suitable computing hardware and due to the increasing availability of large volume datasets. Recent work has focused on increasing the visual realism in Direct Volume Rendering (DVR) by integrating a number of visually plausible but often effect-specific rendering techniques, for instance modeling of light occlusion and depth of field. Besides yielding more attractive renderings, especially the more realistic lighting has a positive effect on perceptual tasks. Although these new rendering techniques yield impressive results, they exhibit limitations in terms of their exibility and their performance. Monte Carlo ray tracing (MCRT), coupled with physically based light transport, is the de-facto standard for synthesizing highly realistic images in the graphics domain, although usually not from volumetric data. Due to the stochastic sampling of MCRT algorithms, numerous effects can be achieved in a relatively straight-forward fashion. For this reason, we have developed a practical framework that applies MCRT techniques also to direct volume rendering (DVR). With this work, we demonstrate that a host of realistic effects, including physically based lighting, can be simulated in a generic and flexible fashion, leading to interactive DVR with improved realism. In the hope that this improved approach to DVR will see more use in practice, we have made available our framework under a permissive open source license

Pre-operative Planning and Intra-operative Guidance for Shoulder Replacement Surgery

Shoulder joint replacement, or arthroplasty, is indicated in cases where arthritis or trauma has resulted in severe joint damage that in turn causes increased pain and decreased function. However, shoulder arthroplasty is less successful than hip and knee replacement, mostly due to the complexity of the shoulder joint and the resultant complexity of the replacement operation. In this paper we present a complete visualization-oriented pre-operative planning and intra-operative guidance approach for shoulder joint replacement. Our system assists the surgeon by allowing a virtual arthroplasty procedure whilst giving feedback, primarily via patient- and procedure-specific joint range of motion (ROM) simulation and visualization. After a successful planning, our system automatically generates a 3D model of a patient-specific mechanical guidance device that is then produced by a rapid prototyping machine and can be used during the operation. In this way, a computer-based guidance system is not required in the operating room

Visualization of sliding and deformation of orbital fat during eye rotation

PURPOSE: Little is known about the way orbital fat slides and/or deforms during eye movements. We compared two deformation algorithms from a sequence of MRI volumes to visualize this complex behavior. METHODS: Time-dependent deformation data were derived from motion-MRI volumes using Lucas and Kanade Optical Flow (LK3D) and nonrigid registration (B-splines) deformation algorithms. We compared how these two algorithms performed regarding sliding and deformation in three critical areas: the sclera-fat interface, how the optic nerve moves through the fat, and how the fat is squeezed out under the tendon of a relaxing rectus muscle. The efficacy was validated using identified tissue markers such as the lens and blood vessels in the fat. RESULTS: Fat immediately behind the eye followed eye rotation by approximately one-half. This was best visualized using the B-splines technique as it showed less ripping of tissue and less distortion. Orbital fat flowed around the optic nerve during eye rotation. In this case, LK3D provided better visualization as it allowed orbital fat tissue to split. The resolution was insufficient to visualize fat being squeezed out between tendon and sclera. CONCLUSION: B-splines performs better in tracking structures such as the lens, while LK3D allows fat tissue to split as should happen as the optic nerve slides through the fat. Orbital fat follows eye rotation by one-half and flows around the optic nerve during eye rotation. TRANSLATIONAL RELEVANCE: Visualizing orbital fat deformation and sliding offers the opportunity to accurately locate a region of cicatrization and permit an individualized surgical plan

Digitisation and 3D reconstruction of 30 year old microscopic sections of human embryo, foetus and orbit

A collection of 2200 microscopic sections was recently recovered at the Netherlands Ophthalmic Research Institute and the Department of Anatomy and Embryology of the Academic Medical Centre in Amsterdam. The sections were created thirty years ago and constitute the largest and most detailed study of human orbital anatomy to date. In order to preserve the collection, it was digitised. This paper documents a practical approach to the automatic reconstruction of a 3- D representation of the original objects from the digitised sections. To illustrate the results of our approach, we show a multi-planar reconstruction and a 3-D direct volume rendering of a reconstructed foetal head

Human rights in diverse education contexts

The focus of this publication is on answering the central research question: How can Human Rights be advanced with regard to different kinds of diversities, and in different educational settings? The publication pays special attention to the advancement of human rights in a variety of education-related contexts, in keeping with human rights as a declared national priority for both society at large and the education system. One strategic priority of the Faculty of Education is research based on market requirements and needs. This book strives towards meeting this expectation by directly aiming at building human rights and social justice in the South African society, public schools and higher education institutions. Adjudication in the education context of the constitutional values of dignity, equality and freedom focusses regularly on learners. The book highlights the value of education for full-fledged citizenship by delineating what schooling should entail to inspire learners towards both claiming equal freedoms and rights and taking accountability for the responsibilities attached to citizenship

Mri-based visualisation of orbital fat deformation during eye motion

Summary. Orbital fat, or the fat behind the eye, plays an important role in eye movements. In order to gain a better understanding of orbital fat mobility during eye motion, MRI datasets of the eyes of two healthy subjects were acquired respectively in seven and fourteen different directions of gaze. After semi-automatic rigid registration, the Demons deformable registration algorithm was used to derive timedependent three-dimensional deformation vector fields from these datasets. Visualisation techniques were applied to these datasets in order to investigate fat mobility in specific regions of interest in the first subject. A qualitative analysis of the first subject showed that in two of the three regions of interest, fat moved half as much as the embedded structures. In other words, when the muscles and the optic nerve that are embedded in the fat move, the fat partly moves along with these structures and partly flows around them. In the second subject, a quantitative analysis was performed which showed a relation between the distance behind the sclera and the extent to which fat moves along with the optic nerve