This retrospective cohort study of 336 lateral cephalometric radiographs from 62 children (34 males and 28 females) with non-syndromic complete unilateral cleft lip and palate from the Hospital for Sick Children and 50 non-cleft children (25 females and 25 males) from the Burlington Growth Centre. Cervical vertebral maturation stages at age 10, 12 and 14 were determined. The cervical vertebral maturation (CVM) was established using the 6-stage method described by Baccetti and coworkers. The reproducibility of classifying CVM stages was high, with an inter-rater reliability (ICC) with the standard (Baccetti et al, 2005) of 80% and intra-rater reliability of 85%. The Cervical vertebral maturation stage for both males and females with UCLP was significantly later than children without a cleft at age 10, 12 and 14. The results suggest that patients with UCLP show delayed skeletal maturation in comparison to non-cleft patients.

Mobility of the vertebral column is important for many ecological aspects of vertebrates, especially in the cervical series, which connects the head to the main body. Thus, fusion within the cervical series is hypothesized to have ecological and behavioural implications. Fused, anterior cervical vertebrae have evolved independently over 20 times in ecologically disparate amniotes, most commonly in pelagic, ricochetal, and fossorial taxa, suggesting an adaptive function for the ‘syncervical.’ Fusion may help increase out-force during head-lift digging or prevent anteroposteriorly shortened vertebrae from mechanically failing during locomotion, but no hypothesis for syncervical function has been tested. The syncervical of neoceratopsian dinosaurs is hypothesized to support large heads or aid in intraspecific combat. Tests of correlated character evolution within a ceratopsian phylogeny falsify these hypotheses, as the syncervical evolves before large heads and cranial weaponry. Alternative functional hypotheses may involve ancestral burrowing behaviour or unique feeding ecology in early neoceratopsians.

Mobility of the vertebral column is important for many ecological aspects of vertebrates, especially in the cervical series, which connects the head to the main body. Thus, fusion within the cervical series is hypothesized to have ecological and behavioural implications. Fused, anterior cervical vertebrae have evolved independently over 20 times in ecologically disparate amniotes, most commonly in pelagic, ricochetal, and fossorial taxa, suggesting an adaptive function for the ‘syncervical.’ Fusion may help increase out-force during head-lift digging or prevent anteroposteriorly shortened vertebrae from mechanically failing during locomotion, but no hypothesis for syncervical function has been tested. The syncervical of neoceratopsian dinosaurs is hypothesized to support large heads or aid in intraspecific combat. Tests of correlated character evolution within a ceratopsian phylogeny falsify these hypotheses, as the syncervical evolves before large heads and cranial weaponry. Alternative functional hypotheses may involve ancestral burrowing behaviour or unique feeding ecology in early neoceratopsians.

Thesis (MAppSc in Physiotherapy) -- University of South Australia, 1993

Thesis (MPhysio)--University of South Australia, 1998

Thesis (MAppSc) -- University of South Australia, 1998

Thesis (M.S.)--Missouri University of Science and Technology, 2008. / Degree granted by Missouri University of Science and Technology, formerly known as University of Missouri--Rolla. Vita. The entire thesis text is included in file. Title from title screen of thesis/dissertation PDF file (viewed March 24, 2008) Includes bibliographical references (p. 87-88).

Thesis (M.S.)--California Polytechnic State University, 2009. / Mode of access: Internet. Title from PDF title page, viewed on March 26, 2009. Major professor: Trevor Harding, Ph.D. "Presented to the Electrical Engineering Department Faculty of California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo." "In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree [of] Master of Science in Engineering, with Specializations in Materials Engineering." "January, 2009." Includes bibliographical references (p. 68-70). Will also be available on microfiche.

M.Ing. / Automatic classification of images has always been an important part of pattern recognition. The segmentation and classification of MRI images has always been a challenge. A segmented image is often a very important input to the classification process. Many classification techniques use segmented images as input to the classification process. Certain segments or areas of an image serve as important features that will be used for classification. Important information can be derived from the features that are present in the segmented image. Sometimes there might be a need to extract a certain object from an image to do classification on the object. In the case of MRI images, certain structures of the human body like organs and tissue can be isolated by the segmentation process. These objects of interest (001) can give vital information for the identification of medical abnormalities (anomalies) and diseases. Segmented objects can play an important role to assist medical practitioners in the diagnosis and treatment of medical problems. I would like to test the performance of the watershed segmentation algorithm on MRI images of the cervical (C) spine. Much work has been done on the segmentation and classification of MRI images. Various techniques have been generated and tested over the past decades. Segmentation techniques like thresholding, convolution, pyramid segmentation and morphological segmentation have been utilised. All these techniques have their advantages and disadvantages. The pre-processing of an image plays a very important role in the success of the segmentation process. Histogram manipulation, filtering, thresholding and edge detection are important pre-processing techniques to yield good segmentation results. Many segmentation and classification techniques have been implemented on MRI images. The latest techniques include support vector machines (SVMs), neural networks (NNs), statistical methods, threshold techniques and normalised cuts. Segmentation of bony structures plays an important role in image guided surgery of the spine [1]. Physicians have commonly relied on computed tomography (CT) images to support their decisions in the diagnosis, treatment, and surgery of different pathologies of the spine due to the high resolution and good visualization of bone offered by this medical imaging modality. CT relies on the use of ionizing radiation, and does not depict soft tissue pathology, unlike magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) [1]. While the segmentation of vertebral bodies from CT images Segmentation Of C-Spine MRI Images Using The Watershed Transform Page 6 University of Johannesburg of the spine has commonly been accomplished with seed growing segmentation techniques [1], this task is more difficult in MRI, with variations in soft tissue contrast, and with the RF inhomogeneities, which increase the level of complexity. The primary goal of this project is to develop segmentation techniques for C-spine MRI images. This method will also be compared against other methods like pyramid segmentation and morphological segmentation. The watershed segmentation will be implemented and tested as the final step of the segmentation process. This project will try to use a combination of techniques, rather than to implement and evaluate one single method. It has been learned from literature and also from experience that the pre-processing of the raw data plays a crucial role in the quality of the segmentation process. Therefore, some attention will be given to the pre-processing of the images as part of the segmentation process.

M.Tech. / It has been reported that the sympathetic nerve fibres coursing with the vertebral arteries may potentially be irritated by cervical pathology such as cervical dysfunction causing vasoconstriction of the vertebro-basilar arterial system leading to an ischaemic state in particular areas in the brain (Wingfield and Gorman, 2000). This arterial insufficiency to the brain has been shown to effect higher level complex brain functions (Terrett, 1995). The purpose of this research was to determine whether atlanto-occipital joint as well as atlanto-axial joint adjustments had an immediate effect on mental rotation ability in individuals with asymptomatic cervical facet joint dysfunction. Sixty male and female asymptomatic patients took part in this study. These patients were recruited by means of word of mouth and through the use of advertisements placed in the University of Johannesburg Chiropractic Day Clinic, Doornfontein Campus. Inclusion criteria required for patients to participate in the study included the patients (both male or female) be between the ages of 18 and 30 years, they presented with an asymptomatic cervical facet joint dysfunction at the atlantooccipital and or atlanto-axial joints, not have had either Chiropractic or any other form of treatment to the cervical spine for at least six days prior to involvement in the study, had normal or corrected to normal vision and no contraindications to cervical adjustments. vi Objective data was collected by means of a mental rotation reaction time test installed on a laptop computer which measured the patients mental rotation reaction time ability in both accuracy and time to complete each test. The objective results demonstrated that there was no statistically significant increase in mental rotation ability following the Chiropractic adjustments. In conclusion, it was shown that Chiropractic adjustments performed on patients presenting with asymptomatic cervical facet joint dysfunction at the atlantooccipital and/or the atlanto-axial joint complexes brought about no improvement in mental rotation ability.