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Purpose: To report on the safety and efficacy of the 256-channel Intelligent Micro Implant Eye epiretinal prosthesis system (IMIE 256)., Methods: The IMIE 256 implants were implanted in the right eyes of five subjects with end-stage retinitis pigmentosa. Following implantation, the subjects underwent visual rehabilitation training for 90 days, and their visual performance was evaluated using the grating visual acuity test, Tumbling E visual acuity test, direction of motion, square localization, and orientation and mobility test. To evaluate the safety of the IMIE 256, all adverse events were recorded., Results: Subjects performed significantly better on all evaluations with the IMIE 256 system on as compared with the performance at baseline or with the system off. There was a steady improvement in performance at each observation interval, indicating that the training and/or practice helped the subjects use the IMIE 256. There were two serious adverse events-electrode array movement and low intraocular pressure in one subject, which resolved with surgery. There were no other adverse events observed except those expected in the course of postoperative healing., Conclusions: These results show an improved safety and efficacy profile compared with that of the Argus II implant. Further clinical trials are needed to confirm these results in a larger number of subjects and over longer durations., Translational Relevance: To our knowledge, this study reports the first in-human data from a high-density (256 electrodes) epiretinal implant to restore sight to a subset of blind patients.

Background: Application of virtual reality (VR) to rehabilitation is relatively recent with clinical implementation very rapidly following technological advancement and scientific discovery. Implementation is often so rapid that demonstrating intervention efficacy and establishing research priorities is more reactive than proactive. This study used analytical tools from information science to examine whether application of VR to rehabilitation has evolved as a distinct field of research or is primarily a methodology in core disciplines such as biomedical engineering, medicine and psychology., Methods: The analysis was performed in three-stages: 1) a bibliographic search in the ISI Web of Science database created an initial corpus of publications, 2) the corpus was refined through topic modeling, and 3) themes dominating the corpus from the refined search results were identified by topic modeling and network analytics. This was applied separately to each of three time periods: 1996 to 2005 (418 publications), 2006 to 2014 (1454 publications), and 2015 to mid-2018 (1269 publications)., Results: Publication rates have continuously increased across time periods with principal topics shifting from an emphasis on computer science and psychology to rehabilitation and public health. No terminology specific to the field of VR-based rehabilitation emerged; rather a range of central concepts including "virtual reality", "virtual gaming", "virtual environments", "simulated environments" continue to be used. Communities engaged in research or clinical application of VR form assemblages distinguished by a focus on physical or psychological rehabilitation; these appear to be weakly linked through tele-rehabilitation., Conclusions: Varying terms exemplify the main corpus of VR-based rehabilitation and terms are not consistent across the many scientific domains. Numerous distinguishable areas of research and clinical foci (e.g., Tele-rehabilitation, Gait & Balance, Cognitive Rehabilitation, Gaming) define the agenda. We conclude that VR-based rehabilitation consists of a network of scientific communities with a shared interest in the methodology rather than a directed and focused research field. An interlinked team approach is important to maintain scientific rigor and technological validity within this diverse group. Future studies should examine how these interdisciplinary communities individually define themselves with the goals of gathering knowledge and working collectively toward disseminating information essential to associated research communities.

Most treatment practices for urban runoff capture pollutants such as phosphorus by either settling or filtration while dissolved phosphorus, typically as phosphates, is untreated. Dissolved phosphorus, however, represents an average 45% of total phosphorus in stormwater runoff and can be more than 95%. In this study, a new stormwater treatment technology to capture phosphate, called the Minnesota Filter, is introduced. The filter comprises iron filings mixed with sand and is tested for phosphate removal from synthetic stormwater. Results indicate that sand mixed with 5% iron filings captures an average of 88% phosphate for at least 200 m of treated depth, which is significantly greater than a sand filter without iron filings. Neither incorporation of iron filings into a sand filter nor capture of phosphates onto iron filings in column experiments had a significant effect on the hydraulic conductivity of the filter at mixtures of 5% or less iron by weight. Field applications with up to 10.7% iron were operated over 1 year without detrimental effects upon hydraulic conductivity. A model is applied and fit to column studies to predict the field performance of iron-enhanced sand filters. The model predictions are verified through the predicted performance of the filters in removing phosphates in field applications. Practical applications of the technology, both existing and proposed, are presented so stormwater managers can begin implementation., (Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The objective of this study was to investigate the potential of using a low-cost video-capture virtual reality (VR) platform, the Sony PlayStation II EyeToy, for the rehabilitation of older adults with disabilities. This article presents three studies that were carried out to provide information about the EyeToy's potential for use in rehabilitation. The first study included the testing of healthy young adults (N = 34) and compared their experiences using the EyeToy with those using GestureTek's IREX VR system in terms of a sense of presence, level of enjoyment, control, success, and perceived exertion. The second study aimed to characterize the VR experience of healthy older adults (N = 10) and to determine the suitability and usability of the EyeToy for this population and the third study aimed to determine the feasibility of the EyeToy for use by individuals (N = 12) with stroke at different stages. The implications of these three studies for applying the system to rehabilitation are discussed.

New technologies are rapidly having a great impact on the development of novel rehabilitation interventions. One of the more popular of these technological advances is virtual reality. The wide range of applications of this technology, from immersive environments to tele-rehabilitation equipment and care, lends versatility to its use as a rehabilitation intervention. But increasing access to this technology requires that we further our understanding about its impact on a performer. The International Workshop on Virtual Reality in Rehabilitation (IWVR), now known as Virtual Rehabilitation 2007, is a conference that emerged from the need to discover how virtual reality could be applied to rehabilitation practice. Individuals from multiple disciplines concerned with the development, transmission, and evaluation of virtual reality as a technology applied to rehabilitation attend this meeting to share their work. In this special issue of the Journal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation we are sharing some of the papers presented at the 2006 meeting of IWVR with the objective of offering a description of the state of the art in this research field. A perusal of these papers will provide a good cross-section of the emerging work in this area as well as inform the reader about new findings relevant to research and practice in rehabilitation.