Remote Vascular Interventional Surgery Robotics: A Literature Review

Interventional doctors are exposed to radiation hazards during the operation and endure high work intensity. Remote vascular interventional surgery robotics is a hot research field that can not only protect the health of interventional doctors, but also improve accuracy and efficiency of surgeries. However, the current vascular interventional robots still have many shortcomings to be improved. This article introduces the mechanical structure characteristics of various fields of vascular interventional therapy surgical robots, discusses the current key features of vascular interventional surgical robotics in force sensing, haptic feedback, and control methods, summarizes current frontiers about autonomous surgery, long geographic distances remote surgery and MRI-compatible structures. Finally, combined with the current research status of vascular interventional surgery robots, this article analyzes the development directions and puts forward a vision for the future vascular interventional surgery robots.

Remote Vascular Interventional Surgery Robotics: A Review

Interventional doctors are exposed to radiation hazards during the operation and endure high work intensity. Remote vascular interventional surgery robotics is a hot research field that can not only protect the health of interventional doctors, but also improve accuracy and efficiency of surgeries. However, the current vascular interventional robots still have many shortcomings to be improved. This article introduces the mechanical structure characteristics of various fields of vascular interventional therapy surgical robots, discusses the current key features of vascular interventional surgical robotics in force sensing, haptic feedback, and control methods, summarizes current frontiers about autonomous surgery, long geographic distances remote surgery and MRI-compatible structures. Finally, combined with the current research status of vascular interventional surgery robots, this article analyzes the development directions and puts forward a vision for the future vascular interventional surgery robots.

A Proposed Application for Controlling Overweight and Obesity within the Framework of the Internet of Things

Currently, overweight and obesity are two problems for global health that affect people’s quality of life. The Internet of Things (IoT) has raised the possibility of digital interaction taken to another level. This paper proposes design requirements to develop a mobile application that contributes to the control of overweight or obesity under the IoT approach, focusing on some approaches that currently exist in home-oriented health with the help of existing mobile applications. The idea of this concept is the presence of the environment of various interconnected things or objects with sensors, networking, and processing technologies integrating and working together to provide an environment in which smart services are taken to the end users. The IoT allows monitoring people in real time and analyzing information provided by mobile applications and smart devices (wearables) they have, through techniques of artificial intelligence that allow the identification of variables criticism and the generation of medical recommendations. The medical assistance model will change from the existing hospital-centric model that we commonly know to a totally home-centred health one, in which there will be less work intensity and operational cost. The home health service allows the use of IoT technology, very often called Internet of Healthcare Things (IoHT).

Rebar Worker Analysis Using a 3-Axis Accelerometer

The purpose of the present study is to grasp the situation of construction sites easily by distinguishing the movements of construction workers at construction sites from the accelerometer data attached to their waists. For the construction manager to accurately perceive the active or inactive state of his workers, their movements were classified into three distinct categories: walking, standing, and sitting. We tracked and observed two rebar workers for 5 days at a large building construction site. Their movements were classified by two-axis plots of (1) the difference between the maximum and minimum absolute values and (2) the value of acceleration at each second, and visualized by a heatmap among others for this trial. The results showed that despite the difficulty in distinguishing rebar work without a total body movement while sitting, the accuracy of discrimination was 60–80% in walking and sitting. From this analysis, we were able to identify repetitive tasks and the differences between morning and afternoon tasks. Furthermore, by applying simple visualization, we could concisely represent changes in work intensity over a relatively long period.

Changes in Job Quality as People Work Beyond Pensionable Age in Sweden

This paper uses data from the biennial Swedish Longitudinal Occupational Survey of Health to examine changes in job quality among older workers, controlling for work intensity and employment characteristics. Job quality outcomes included job satisfaction and physical (dangerous, strenuous or unpleasant work) and psychosocial (job strain, effort-reward imbalance, work time control) working conditions. First difference estimation was used to analyze within-individual changes in job quality, as well as changes in hours, employment characteristics (shifting to a non-permanent contract, the private sector and self-employment) and health. Individuals who worked beyond pensionable age experienced statistically significant improvements in job quality, with larger improvements among those who reduced working hours and shifted from permanent to non-permanent contracts, from the public into the private sector, and from wage-and-salary to self-employment. We conclude that work beyond pensionable age is a distinctive period characterized by employment that becomes more flexible and rewarding and less stressful.

Determinants of Electrical and Thermal Energy Consumption in Hospitals According to Climate Zones in Poland

Energy use in hospitals is higher than in other public buildings, so improving energy efficiency in healthcare buildings is a significant challenge in this sector of engineering. For this, it is necessary to know the various determinants of energy consumption. Until now, the main factor affecting energy consumption in healthcare facilities studied in the literature was hospital capacity. However, the commonly used variables connected with hospital size and the number of beds do not take into account the medical activities carried out in these buildings. Assuming that energy consumption in hospitals is multiple and shaped by many factors that overlap, not only on an individual level but also on a higher scale level, this study devises a more integrated approach to its determinants. This study aims to investigate the determinants of electrical energy costs (EEC) and thermal energy costs (TEC) in Polish hospitals with regard to factors related to their size, work intensity and climate zones. The analysis was carried out using financial and resource data from all Polish hospitals for the years 2010–2019. The study used a multivariate backward stepwise regression analysis. In order to use climate as a moderating variable, a sample of Polish hospitals from 16 Polish NUTS 2 was divided into four climate zones. This article provides new empirical evidence on the determinants of electricity consumption in Polish hospitals related to their size and medical activity, taking into account climate zone as a moderating variable. The results of the analysis show that both electricity and heat consumption in hospitals are positively related to the number of doctors, beds and the number of medical operations performed. As expected, larger hospitals seem to use more energy. Moreover, there is regional heterogeneity in energy consumption in hospitals related to the climatic zone in which they operate. The conducted analysis shows that Polish hospitals located in the warmest climatic zone are characterized by higher energy consumption than hospitals in the coldest zone. It especially regards EEC in surgery hospitals. The warmer the climate zones, the higher intensity in terms of the number of surgeries, the higher EEC. In terms of nonsurgical hospitals, the influence of climate zone on EEC was not observed. Knowing the factors influencing energy consumption in hospitals can facilitate the correct adoption of an energy-saving strategy in the health sector, which is a reasonable response to climate change and supports a healthy and sustainable future.

Research on modular implementation method of six-degree-of-freedom robotic arm

Single-joint modular design can reduce the work intensity of designers, and also can broaden the combination form of multi-degree-of-freedom robotic arm. In order to adapt to the changes of multiple degrees of freedom and multiple loads, this paper designs a series of standard modules with similar components and the same standard interface, but with different sizes only, and chooses different drive components according to the load when designing the size, and then designs the size of other parts according to the size of the drive components. The final combination of this series of modules into different degrees of freedom robotic arm, such as three degrees of freedom robotic arm, four degrees of freedom robotic arm or even six degrees of freedom robotic arm. In this paper, the most widely used six-degree-of-freedom robotic arm is used as an example, and a detailed design form is proposed.

Sanitary and hygienic assessment of working conditions of civil aviation pilots

Introduction. The analysis of working conditions of pilots of civil aviation aircraft has been carried out according to the data of sanitary and hygienic characteristics (SHC). The non-compliances with hygiene standards for several factors have been established at the same time in all SHC. Materials and methods. The 220 SHC of pilots, who had been examined in the clinic of FSBSI RIOH due to suspicion of occupation disease from 2015 to 2019, conducting flights by plane (49%) and helicopter (51%) were analyzed. The methods of account of acoustic load, hygiene assessment and classification of working conditions, peer review methods, and statistical treatment methods have been used. Results. The working conditions, according to the criteria of the Guide R 2.2.2006-05, are assigned to the following classes: 3.2 - in 26%; 3.3 - in 41%; 3.4 - in 33%. Exceeding the permissible equivalent noise levels was recorded at 92% of workplaces. According to SHC, the exceedances were from 1.2 dB to 34.5 dB (class 3.1-3.4). In assessing the work intensity in 83% of cases from 5 to 11 indicators of class 3.2 were recorded. It has determined class 3.3 of work intensity. The levels of general vibration exceeded hygiene standards in 48% of cases (class 3.1- 3.2), local vibration - in 8% (class 3.1-3.2), microclimate parameters - in 67% (class 3.1-3.2), labour severity - in 22% (class 3.1-3.3), less often there were discrepancies in light (6%) and chemical factor (2%). Conclusion. According to a combination of factors, the overall assessment of working conditions of the pilots of civil aviation aircraft in 74% of cases is assigned to classes 3.3-3.4. However, the disadvantages and errors in filling out the SHC can underestimate the degree of harmfulness of the work. To improve the procedure of establishing the connection between the disease, and the profession it is necessary to amend the legislative framework to obtain objective information about the levels of factors affecting pilots, develop a separate form of SHC of working conditions of pilots, detailed instructions about the rules of filling out SHC.

Off-the-job embeddedness moderates work intensity on employee stress

PurposeWork intensity causes employee stress. This paper demonstrates that off-the-job embeddedness (OffJE), a potential source of social support resources, buffers the negative effect of work intensity on employee stress.Design/methodology/approachGuided by conservation of resources (COR) and job embeddedness theory (JET), this paper reports on the moderated regression analysis of the survey responses of 385 adult employees from a variety of industries in Queensland, Australia, using a student-recruited sampling strategy.FindingsHigher levels of work intensity were found to be associated with higher levels of employee stress. However, this effect was weaker for employees who had higher OffJE. In this sample, work intensity has no relationship with stress for employees who report OffJE beyond the 70th percentile.Originality/valueThis paper demonstrates the positive role of outside workplace relationships embodied in OffJE on workplace employee experience, justifies employer work-life balance initiatives and community involvement, demonstrates the potential positive return for employer involvement in helping employees manage the experience of work intensity and contributes to the social support, COR and job embeddedness literature studies.

Life Course of Physical Activity and Risk and Prognosis of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis in a German ALS Registry

Background and Objectives:Whether physical activity (PA) is a risk factor for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is controversial since data on life-long PA are rare. The main objective of this study is to provide insight in PA as a potential risk factor for ALS, reporting data on cumulative PA, leisure time PA and occupational PA. This study also aims at gathering evidence on the role of PA as a prognostic factor in disease course.Methods:Lifetime PA values collected by questionnaires addressing work and leisure time were quantified into metabolic equivalents (MET). A population-based case-control study embedded in the ALS Registry Swabia served to calculate odds ratio (OR) of ALS by PA in different time intervals and prognosis.Results:In ALS cases (393 cases, 791 age- and sex-matched controls), we observed reduced total PA at interview and up to 5 years before interview compared to controls. Total PA was not associated with ALS risk 5-55 years before interview. Heavy occupational work intensity was associated with increased ALS risk (OR=1.97, 95%-CI (1.34, 2.89)). Total PA levels were associated with survival in a nonlinear manner: inactive patients and highest activity levels (25 METh/week) revealed the worst survival time of 15.4/19.3 months, respectively. Best median survival with 29.8 months was seen at 10.5 METh/week after adjusting for other prognostic factors.Discussion:Lifetime combined PA sharply decreased several years before disease onset compared to controls. The risk of developing ALS was not associated with former total PA levels 5-55 years before interview in contrast to occupational PA, probably reflecting work associated exposures. We found a strong nonlinear association of current and pre-diagnostic PA level and survival in ALS cases with the best survival with moderate PA. PA intensity may be a disease modifying factor with an unfavourable outcome in sedentary and hyperactive behaviour.Classification of evidence:This study provides Class III evidence that physical activity was not associated with the development of ALS.