The Emergence of CKD After COVID-19 Related AKI

Background: Acute kidney injury (AKI) can eventually progress into chronic kidney disease (CKD) and end-stage kidney disease (ESKD). COVID-19 is a multisystemic disorder that often causes AKI. The purpose of this study is to assess the frequency and association of clinical variables in patients who developed CKD and ESKD after COVID-19-related AKI. Method(s): We performed a one-year follow-up study with 182 survivor patients admitted to the ward and intensive care unit (ICU) with COVID-19 between April 2020 and March 2021 at Hospital Sao Paulo, Brazil. Patients aged >= 18 years with COVID-19 confirmed on RT-PCR were included. Patients with ESKD before hospitalization were excluded. AKI and CKD were defined according to the KDIGO criteria. We evaluated the frequency of AKI. After it, we compared some clinical variables and outcomes in two subgroups: CKD after CoV-AKI, and non-CKD after COVID-19. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed. Result(s): 137 (75.3%) patients developed AKI. Of these, 56 (30.8%) needed kidney replacement terapy (KRT) in-hospital. There were higher frequencies of diabetes and hypertension with lower eGFR (84.2+/-24.9, 94.4+/-29.9 ml/min;p=0.08) and mean arterial pressure (74.9+/-9.6, 79.1+/-7.7 mmHg;p=0.03) at baseline in CKD after CoV-AKI group. Hypertension was independently associated with CKD in binary logistic regression [OR: 4.472, 95% CI:1356-13886;p=0.001]. We further observed that all patients who progressed to ESKD (n=7;3.9%) had non-dialytic CKD exacerbated by COVID-19 requiring KRT. Conclusion(s): Hypertension was the independent clinical factor associated with progression to CKD after COVID-19-related AKI. All patients who progressed to ESKD had CKD exacerbated by COVID-19 requiring KRT.

Double Hybrid Tailsitter Unmanned Aerial Vehicle with Vertical Takeoff and Landing

We propose a new concept and architectural design for a double hybrid tailsitter unmanned aerial vehicle with vertical takeoff and landing capability. Basically, it consists of a modified flying wing with a single combustion powertrain set and a multirotor with 2 powertrain sets with electric motors. To this end, we have designed, built, and tested a prototype that spends less energy on vertical taking off and landing and also on horizontal flight, for maximizing flight endurance and distance.With electric propellers fixed at the leading wing edge, the tailsitter has two standard surfaces for elevation control and two vertical stabilizers that are used to give the necessary direction on vertical takeoff and landing. Experiments and results show the versatility of our hybrid tailsitter for operations in a restricted field. We performed several tests starting with the aircraft on the ground in vertical positioning. These tests include executing vertical takeoffs and landing, transitions from vertical to horizontal flight modes and transitions back from horizontal to vertical flight modes, and hovering, which were carried out successfully. Transition fourth and back from combustion to multirotor modes are inherent to some of those flight mode transitions, which have been performed smoothly.We also performed tests (in bench) to estimate the flight endurance. Final autonomous flight adjustments were not performed due to the Covid-19 pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2. To this end the proposed and currently built prototype has proven to be functional as an effective hybrid UAV system. Author

Internet of Things Assisted Monitoring based on a Ultrasound-based Gesture Recognition Contactless System

In the last decade, we have seen an increase in the use cases of digital technologies in our daily lives, including advanced systems such as our mobile applications, smart digital kiosks for intelligent retailing, touch screens for ordering food, or simple implementations such as the ticket machines in the butchers. However, from the perspective of interaction design, those sensing systems suffer from a range of limitations like low usability and poor hygiene. For example, the elderly or the disabled normally have huge difficulties when interacting with these types of digital systems. Moreover, the recent SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has made us to rethink the contact manner for interaction with the digital devices. Hence, in this paper, we have presented a novel solution for digital interaction through a contactless manner. Such a system can provide human gesture recognition and therefore it can be integrated into others to achieve contactless control. We have implemented a prototype based on cost efficient sensors to validate the idea’s feasibility. A sequence of real world experiments has also been conducted to evaluate its performance. This system is composed with 1) piece of hardware–a grid of ultrasound sensors to capture the distance information from a human body;2) a piece of software to analyse the data for gesture predictions. The analysis results then will be transformed into control commands to interact with the attached system. The experimental results have shown that the proposed system is capable of providing a contactless Human Computer Interaction (HCI), and also has a great opportunity to replace existing touching interaction manner with a remote control scheme. CCBY

Mental health and burden in mothers of children with congenital Zika syndrome during COVID-19 pandemic. (Special issue.)

Objectives: to evaluate burden, frequency of anxiety and signs and symptoms of depression in mothers of children with congenital Zika syndrome (CZS) during the COVID-19 pandemic and the social isolation period.