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In this paper, we present a method for reconstructing a surface mesh animation sequence from point cloud animation data. We mainly focus on the articulated body of a subject -- the motion of which can be roughly described by its internal skeletal structure. The point cloud data is assumed to be captured independently without any inter-frame correspondence information. Using a template model that resembles the given subject, our basic idea for reconstructing the mesh animation is to deform the template model to fit to the point cloud (on a frame-by-frame basis) while maintaining inter-frame coherence. We first estimate the skeletal motion from the point cloud data. After applying the skeletal motion to the template surface, we refine it to fit to the point cloud data. We demonstrate the viability of the method by applying it to reconstruct a fast dancing motion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An acute upper airway obstruction can be caused by symptomatic postintubation or tracheostomy tracheal stenosis, and this serious condition often requires surgery, interventional bronchoscopy therapy (such as balloon dilatation), laser therapy, electrocautery, and stent placement. However, these treatments may not be feasible due to severe hypoxemia, ventilator failure, or shock and cardiac arrest, necessitating an advanced plan to establish airway patency, especially in an emergency department (ED) setting. Previous reports have demonstrated the feasibility and efficacy of using extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) for acute upper airway obstruction from various etiologies. Here, we report on a case of a 69-year-old woman with a history of repeated tracheal stent placement for postintubation tracheal stenosis who developed an acute tracheal obstruction from bloody clots after tracheostomy tube change, which was further complicated by severe bronchospasm. Oxygenation and ventilation were achieved via ED-initiated ECMO support. This case demonstrates how the rapid deployment of ECMO can be viable rescue therapy in the ED for a patient with acute tracheal obstruction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Acute pulmonary embolism (PE) is one of the major causes of inhospital cardiac arrest as well as out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. Bedside diagnosis of acute PE in the emergency department (ED) can be challenging, especially in a cardiac arrest setting. Even if the early diagnosis of an acute massive PE had been made, hemodynamic instability may be worsened unless obstructive shock gets resolved. We present a case of a 46-year-old woman who developed pulseless electrical activity (PEA) after complaining of weakness and dyspnea in an ambulance, presumptively diagnosed as acute PE by bedside focused echocardiography. She received thrombolytic therapy and was rescued by extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation for recurrent PEA arrest in the ED. Focused bedside echocardiography provides a rapid diagnostic adjunct, and extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation can be a valuable rescue therapy for PEA arrest from massive PE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]