Degenerative cervical myelopathy (DCM) is a common aging condition caused by spinal cord compression. Individuals with DCM often presented with residual balance and functional impairments postoperatively. Perturbation-based balance training (PBT) has been shown to have positive effects on populations with neurological disorders but has yet to be investigated in DCM. The objective of this study was therefore to evaluate the effects of PBT on balance and functional performance in postoperative individuals with DCM. Fifteen postoperative individuals with DCM (DCM group) and 14 healthy adults (healthy control group) were recruited. The DCM group received a 4-weeks PBT using a perturbation treadmill. The outcome measures included mean velocity of center of pressure (COP) during quiet standing; center of mass (COM) variance and reaction time to balance perturbation during standing with forward and backward perturbation; gait speed during level ground walking; Timed Up and Go Test (TUG) and disability questionnaire scores including Visual Analog Scale, Neck Disability Index, and Lower Extremity Function of Japanese Orthopaedic Association Cervical Myelopathy Evaluation Questionnaire. The assessments were conducted preand post-training postoperatively for the DCM group but only once for the healthy control group. Significant improvements were observed in the mean velocity of COP, COM variance, reaction time, gait speed, and TUG in the DCM group. Disability questionnaire scores were not significantly different after training in DCM group. For between-group comparisons, significant differences that were observed pre-training were not observed post-training. The 4-weeks PBT is a potential rehabilitation strategy for addressing balance and functional impairment in postoperative individuals with DCM. In addition, the post-training performance in the DCM group exhibited trends comparable to those Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology | www.frontiersin.org 1 February 2020 | Volume 8 | Article 108Cheng et al.Perturbation Training in Cervical Myelopathy of age-matched healthy controls. Furthermore, the training regimens offer a practical reference for future studies on populations with balance disorders. Future studies complemented with neurophysiological assessments could reveal more information of the underlying mechanisms of PBT.
In recent years, depth cameras have become commodity hardware already in many households. That trend allows for an action-driven facial animator system to become commonly available. In this paper, we layout the methods involved in driving high quality CG facial animations by capturing and matching human actions at realtime speeds. We explore two important sub-problems for this issue: (i) head motion tracking and (ii) animation creation for virtual characters. For head motion tracking, we present a 3D template matching framework, achieving real-time performance and yielding results more accurate than current state-of-the-art motion tracking methods. For animation creation, we provide a 3D animation retrieval system that allows artists to easily retrieve and reuse desired animations from an existing database of already rigged facial animations.
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