This paper discusses how present scanning technologies are being applied to automatic lumber grading. The presentation focuses on 1) what sensing and scanning devices are needed to measure information for accurate grading feature detection, 2) the hardware and software needed to efficiently process this information, and 3) specific issues related to softwood lumber grading and hardwood lumber g...

Over the past few years significant progress has been made in developing a computer vision system for locating and identifying defects on surfaced hardwood lumber. Unfortunately, until September of 1988 little research had gone into developing methods for analyzing rough lumber. This task is arguably more complex than the analysis of surfaced lumber. The prime motivation for developing such a s...

It was recently seen that puncture of an intervertebral disc in the rat induced disc hernia-like nodules over the puncture site and that the presence of nucleus pulposus was necessary to produce such nodules. Since TNF from the nucleus pulposus have been found to be involved in pain production the aim was to see if also TNF was involved in the formation of such nodules. Two TNF-inhibitors, infl...

We present two cases of disc herniation associated with juvenile intervertebral disc calcification, a rare, self-limiting process which typically resolves with conservative treatment. Recognition of this entity prevents unnecessary diagnostic workup and possible surgical intervention. A review of the literature for this rare entity is discussed.

Proximal junctional disease is a well-recognized postoperative phenomenon in adults who are undergoing long thoracolumbar fusion and instrumentation, and is attributed to increased a junctional stress concentration. In general, the onset of symptoms in these patients is insidious and the disease progresses slowly. We report on a contrary case of rapidly progressing paraplegia secondary to acute...

We aim to identify factors predicting patient dissatisfaction 2 years after discectomy for lumbar disc herniation (LDH) in a Chinese older cohort. Preoperative and 2-year follow-up data for 843 patients were analyzed. After 2 years of discectomy, the patients rated their satisfaction by Patient Satisfaction Index (PSI), with response of 1 or 2 defining satisfaction and a PSI response of 3 or 4 ...

Intradural disc herniation (IDH) is a rare type of intervertebral disc herniation. It is more common in lumbar region (>90%), however, it has also been known to occur in cervical spine, accounting for less than five percent of cases [1]. The first published case of cervical IDH dates back to 1959 by Morega [2]. To our best knowledge, 35 total cases of cervical are reported following database se...

The aim of this study was to determine whether early rehabilitation from the first postoperative day after lumbar disc herniation surgery improved functional status of patients compared to the rehabilitation that started 3 weeks after surgery. Oswestry index was used for functional status assessment before surgery and after rehabilitation in 60 patients divided in 2 groups, i.e., early and cont...