Retinal image registration method for myopia development.

OBJECTIVE: The development of myopia is usually accompanied by changes in retinal vessels, optic disc, optic cup, fovea, and other retinal structures as well as the length of the ocular axis. And the accurate registration of retinal images is very important for the extraction and analysis of retinal structural changes. However, the registration of retinal images with myopia development faces a series of challenges, due to the unique curved surface of the retina, as well as the changes in fundus curvature caused by ocular axis elongation. Therefore, our goal is to improve the registration accuracy of the retinal images with myopia development. METHOD: In this study, we propose a 3D spatial model for the pair of retinal images with myopia development. In this model, we introduce a novel myopia development model that simulates the changes in the length of ocular axis and fundus curvature due to the development of myopia. We also consider the distortion model of the fundus camera during the imaging process. Based on the 3D spatial model, we further implement a registration framework, which utilizes corresponding points in the pair of retinal images to achieve registration in the way of 3D pose estimation. RESULTS: The proposed method is quantitatively evaluated on the publicly available dataset without myopia development and our Fundus Image Myopia Development (FIMD) dataset. The proposed method is shown to perform more accurate and stable registration than state-of-the-art methods, especially for retinal images with myopia development. SIGNIFICANCE: To the best of our knowledge, this is the first retinal image registration method for the study of myopia development. This method significantly improves the registration accuracy of retinal images which have myopia development. The FIMD dataset we constructed has been made publicly available to promote the study in related fields.

Investigating the Combined Effects of Fascial Distortion Model Manual Therapy and Balance-Strength Training in Individuals with Chronic Ankle Instability.

BACKGROUND: The Fascial Distortion Model (FDM) is a relatively new manual therapy approach in the field of musculoskeletal physical therapy, and its potential effectiveness in treating chronic ankle instability (CAI) remains unexplored. METHODS: A randomized controlled trial with 23 participants was conducted. Patients were randomly assigned to either the FDM + balance-strength training (BST) group (n = 8), receiving extra FDM sessions weekly in addition to two sessions of BST, or the BST group (n = 7). Healthy controls (n = 8) did not receive any treatment and participated only in pre- and post-test measurements. Objective measurements including Y-Balance Test Lower Quarter (YBT-LQ), Flamingo Balance Test (FBT), Weight-Bearing Lunge Test (WBLT), ankle joint range of motion (ROM), and Cumberland Ankle Instability Tool (CAIT) were recorded at baseline and the end of the intervention. The results demonstrated significant differences between the FDM + BST and BST groups for supination ROM (p = 0.008) and similarly for WBLT (p = 0.041), FBT (p = 0.40), YBT-LQ (p = 0.023), and CAIT score (p = 0.008). Moreover, while both groups demonstrated significant improvement at the post-test compared with their pre-test for plantarflexion and pronation ROM, WBLT, and CAIT score, the FDM + BST group demonstrated significant improvements in supination ROM, FBT, and YBT-LQ. CONCLUSION: Our study suggests that the addition of FDM concepts to a BST may lead to enhanced improvements in ankle ROM, static and dynamic balance, and self-reported outcomes in individuals with CAI compared to BST.

Comparison of immediate effects of myofascial release and fascial distortion model on the range of motion, pain pressure threshold, and balance in healthy adults.

BACKGROUND: Many fascial therapies have been demonstrated to positively affect the range of motion, pain sensitivity, balance, daily functioning, and participation in social activities. Among these therapies, myofascial release has been extensively studied and widely used in clinical trials. The fascial distortion model was recently introduced, and it has received much attention due to its rapid onset of action and ease of application. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to compare the effects of myofascial release and the fascial distortion model on range of motion, pain sensitivity, and balance, with the goal of helping therapists select the most appropriate treatment. METHODS: Sixteen healthy adults were included in a prospective, randomized, single-blind study. The subjects were randomly assigned to either the myofascial release or fascial distortion model groups. The outcome measures were functional reach test, pain pressure threshold, straight leg-raising test angle, and finger floor distance. RESULTS: The myofascial release and fascial distortion model groups showed significantly increased straight leg-raising angle and finger floor distance, but no between-group differences were observed (p > .05). The fascial distortion model group demonstrated significantly better pain control (p < .05), which was also better than in the myofascial release group (p < .05). The myofascial release group showed significantly improved balance control (p < .05); however, there was no difference between the two groups (p > .05). CONCLUSIONS: Either myofascial release or fascial distortion model can be chosen to improve the range of motion. However, if pain sensitivity is the goal, it is expected that the fascial distortion model will be more effective.

Computational studies of Brønsted acid-catalyzed transannular cycloadditions of cycloalkenone hydrazones.

The contribution to the energy barrier of a series of tethers in transannular cycloadditions of cycloalkenes with hydrazones has been computationally studied by using DFT. The Houk's distortion model has been employed to evaluate the influence of the tether in the cycloaddition reaction. That model has been extended to determine the contribution of each tether and, more importantly, the effect exerted between them. In addition to the distortion induced by the tethers, the entropy effects caused by them has also been studied. The analysis of the evolution of the electron localization function along the reaction revealed the highly concerted character of the reaction.

A hybrid generative adversarial network for weakly-supervised cloud detection in multispectral images.

Cloud detection is a crucial step in the optical satellite image processing pipeline for Earth observation. Clouds in optical remote sensing images seriously affect the visibility of the background and greatly reduce the usability of images for land applications. Traditional methods based on thresholding, multi-temporal or multi-spectral information are often specific to a particular satellite sensor. Convolutional Neural Networks for cloud detection often require labeled cloud masks for training that are very time-consuming and expensive to obtain. To overcome these challenges, this paper presents a hybrid cloud detection method based on the synergistic combination of generative adversarial networks (GAN) and a physics-based cloud distortion model (CDM). The proposed weakly-supervised GAN-CDM method (available online https://github.com/Neooolee/GANCDM) only requires patch-level labels for training, and can produce cloud masks at pixel-level in both training and testing stages. GAN-CDM is trained on a new globally distributed Landsat 8 dataset (WHUL8-CDb, available online doi:https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6420027) including image blocks and corresponding block-level labels. Experimental results show that the proposed GAN-CDM method trained on Landsat 8 image blocks achieves much higher cloud detection accuracy than baseline deep learning-based methods, not only in Landsat 8 images (L8 Biome dataset, 90.20% versus 72.09%) but also in Sentinel-2 images ("S2 Cloud Mask Catalogue" dataset, 92.54% versus 77.00%). This suggests that the proposed method provides accurate cloud detection in Landsat images, has good transferability to Sentinel-2 images, and can quickly be adapted for different optical satellite sensors.

Low-Complexity Adaptive Sampling of Block Compressed Sensing Based on Distortion Minimization.

Block compressed sensing (BCS) is suitable for image sampling and compression in resource-constrained applications. Adaptive sampling methods can effectively improve the rate-distortion performance of BCS. However, adaptive sampling methods bring high computational complexity to the encoder, which loses the superiority of BCS. In this paper, we focus on improving the adaptive sampling performance at the cost of low computational complexity. Firstly, we analyze the additional computational complexity of the existing adaptive sampling methods for BCS. Secondly, the adaptive sampling problem of BCS is modeled as a distortion minimization problem. We present three distortion models to reveal the relationship between block sampling rate and block distortion and use a simple neural network to predict the model parameters from several measurements. Finally, a fast estimation method is proposed to allocate block sampling rates based on distortion minimization. The results demonstrate that the proposed estimation method of block sampling rates is effective. Two of the three proposed distortion models can make the proposed estimation method have better performance than the existing adaptive sampling methods of BCS. Compared with the calculation of BCS at the sampling rate of 0.1, the additional calculation of the proposed adaptive sampling method is less than 1.9%.

Manual Therapy Informed by the Fascial Distortion Model for Plantar Heel Pain: Results of a Single-Arm Prospective Effectiveness Study.

Objectives: Plantar heel pain (PHP) is the most common cause of heel pain and can be debilitating; 20% of patients are refractory to standard of care. The Fascial Distortion Model (FDM), a novel manual diagnostic and treatment strategy, is purported to be effective for chronic pain; however, no rigorous studies document its effectiveness. We assessed the FDM for care of PHP. Design: Single arm prospective effectiveness study. Settings/Location: Outpatient primary care clinic; Fort Gordon, GA. Subjects: Outpatient adults. Interventions: Participants received an FDM-informed diagnostic and treatment strategy to identify fascial "distortions" at the foot based on patient-reported pain patterns and palpatory examination and then to provide distortion-specific manual therapy at baseline and 1 week. Outcome Measures: Primary outcome measure (0, 1, and 16 weeks): the Foot Pain subscale on the validated Foot Health Status Questionnaire (FHSQ; 0-100 points on each of eight separate subscales); secondary outcome measures (0, 1, and 16 weeks): the seven remaining subscales on the FHSQ, visual analog pain scale (VAS, 0-100 points), and plantar fascia thickness of the most effected foot assessed by ultrasound (0 and 16 weeks). Analysis was performed per protocol using repeated-measures analysis of variance. Results: One hundred and ninety-seven participants were screened; 33 were enrolled. Twenty-eight participants received two FDM procedures. Compared with baseline, improvement on the FHSQ Foot Pain (33.8-23.6 points) and Foot Function (23.9-19.8 points) subscales and VAS (44.7-27.7 points) at 16 weeks was statistically significant (all p's < 0.001) and clinically important representing large effect sizes. Relative to baseline, 16-week ultrasound demonstrated reduced average plantar fascia thickness (0.6-0.9 mm [p = 0.001]). Demographic characteristics were unrelated to response. Satisfaction was high. There were no serious adverse events; side effects included consistent mild-to-moderate self-limited pain. Conclusions: Participants with PHP who received FDM-informed care reported significant and sustained improvement on validated foot pain and foot function measures; additional findings included decreased plantar fascial thickness. These results require corroboration in a larger randomized controlled study. Clinical Trial Registration No: DDEAMC17005.

A comparison of the effects of static stretching and the fascial distortion model (FDM) on hamstring flexibility.

BACKGROUND: Hamstring flexibility plays a significant role in physiotherapy. Various stretching studies have been conducted to increase hamstring flexibility, but the effects of the Fascial Distortion Model (FDM) on hamstring flexibility have not yet been investigated. Moreover, no studies have compared the effects of FDM and static stretching. OBJECTIVES: To investigate the effects of the FDM on hamstring flexibility compared with static stretching. METHODS: Thirthy healthy adults were divided into two groups: static stretching and FDM groups. Static stretching was performed to hamstring in the supine position. The FDM was performed using trigger band techniques that followed the hamstring in a longitudinal direction. Hamstring flexibility was measured using the active knee extension angle (KEA), passive straight leg raising (SLR), sit-and-reach (SR), and finger-floor distance (FFD) tests. A paired t-test and an independent t-test were performed to compare the hamstring flexibility measurements. RESULTS: Both groups showed significant differences (p< 0.05) in KEA, SLR, SR, and FFD before and after. However, no significant difference (p> 0.05) was found between the two groups. CONCLUSIONS: There was no difference in the effects of FDM and static stretching on hamstring flexibility.

Progressive rehabilitation of the sprained ankle: A novel treatment method.

OBJECTIVES: This randomised, single blinded cohort study was designed to assess the immediate effect of manual fascial manipulation on walking pain and the range of ankle dorsiflexion within the first 4 days after ankle trauma. METHODS: Measurements were taken from 19 subjects, 5 female and 14 male, who presented with grade I-III ankle sprains. Ankle dorsiflexion was photographed in a standardised position and calculated by means of the Dartfish® Advanced Video Analysis Software and SPSS® (version 17) was used to compare the pre- and post-treatment data. RESULTS: After one treatment session 13 of the 19 subjects were walking pain free and 3 of the 19 where walking with only little pain. The highly significant (p<0.001) mean improvement of ankle dorsiflexion was 7.9° (±5.8°). All, apart from one subject, whom were walking pain free after treatment showed a minimum of 4° increased dorsiflexion. CONCLUSION: Early fascia work around the injured ankle improves ankle dorsiflexion and reduces walking pain. It may reduce the delay of tissue healing and, thus, optimise further rehabilitation of the sprained ankle which may also reduce socio-economic costs.

Effect of Fascial Distortion Model on the Cobb's Angle in Adolescents with Idiopathic Scoliosis

PURPOSE: This study examined the effects of the fascial distortion model (FDM) method on Cobb's angle. METHODS: Fourteen subjects participated in this study. The idiopathic scoliosis group performed FDM treatments eight times in four weeks. A Shapiro-Wilks test was used to verify the normality of a group of idiopathic scoliosis patients. A paired t-test was performed to determine the satisfaction with the normality. RESULTS: The difference in Cobb's angle was reduced significantly (p<0.05) by an average of 5.72°±2.24 from 15.51°±1.81 before the experiment. CONCLUSION: This study found that the use of the FDM method was effective in improving the Cobb's angle. The application of a FDM treatment appears to stabilize the fascia with decreased ability to adapt physiologically. The application of the CD and TB method of FDM treatment improved the asymmetry spine by dispersing moisture in fascia and improving the contraction and relaxation ability. The results suggest that the Cobb's angle is reduced when FDM is applied, thereby preventing the progression of curvature and avoiding psychological and physical problems that can arise from improving patients with scoliosis.

Effect of Fascial Distortion Model on the Pain and Movement of Neck Patient

PURPOSE: This study compared the effectiveness of three methods, fascial distortion model (FDM), myofascial release (MFR), self-myofascial release (SMR), on the neck range of motion and pain. METHODS: In this study, the collected data were processed statistically using SPSS version 22.0 for Windows. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the general characteristics of the subjects. Repeated measure ANOVA was conducted to analyze the range of motion of the neck of the group and VAS, and Contras was used to see the difference in significance over time. One-way ANOVA was used to compare the differences among the groups and a post-hoc test was used. The significance level (α) was 0.05. RESULTS: In the range of motion, the flexion and extension of the neck, right rotation, and left rotation were significantly different in the SMR, FDM, and MFR groups. The right lateral flexion showed significant differences in the FDM, MFR, and SMR groups. The VAS was similar in the groups at 2 and 4 weeks, but there was a significant difference among the FDM, MFR, and SMR groups at 6 weeks. CONCLUSION: In this study, MFR and MSR as well as FDM were effective in controlling the range of motion and pain control of the neck. Further studies will be needed to determine the effects of long-lasting treatments other than pain control. These studies and the present study will be used as a basis for ongoing research into the duration and method of application for musculoskeletal therapies.

A fundamental critique of the fascial distortion model and its application in clinical practice.

INTRODUCTION: The therapeutic techniques used in the fascial distortion model (FDM) have become increasingly popular among manual therapists and physical therapists. The reasons for this trend remain to be empirically explored. Therefore this paper pursues two goals: first, to investigate the historical and theoretical background of FDM, and second, to discuss seven problems associated with the theory and practice of FDM. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The objectives of this paper are based on a review of the literature. The research mainly focuses on clinical proofs of concept for FDM treatment techniques in musculoskeletal medicine. RESULTS: FDM as a treatment method was founded and developed in the early 1990s by Stephen Typaldos. It is based on the concept that all musculoskeletal complaints can be traced back to three-dimensional deformations or distortions of the fasciae. The concept is that these distortions can be undone through direct application of certain manual techniques. A literature review found no clinical trials or basic research studies to support the empirical foundations of the FDM contentions. DISCUSSION: Based on the absence of proof of concept for FDM treatment techniques along with certain theoretical considerations, seven problems emerge, the most striking of which include (1) diagnostic criteria for FDM, (2) the biological implausibility of the model, (3) the reduction of all such disorders to a single common denominator: the fasciae, (4) the role of FDM research, and (5) potentially harmful consequences related to FDM treatment. CONCLUSION: The above problems can only be invalidated through high-quality clinical trials. Allegations that clinical experience is sufficient to validate therapeutic results have been abundantly refuted in the literature.