Body Posture Correction and Hand Gesture Detection Using Federated Learning and Mediapipe

In today's post-covid culture, where everyone works from home, there is a huge possibility of serious long-term health problems. A lot of people have started taking up exercises at home and if done incorrectly, they can have major negative effects. Another one of the main contributors to these health issues is bad sitting posture, which is only exacerbated when working for hours on end. Hand gesture detection has many useful applications in elderly healthcare, automating actions and gesture-based presentations and games. To help users with these actions, our paper proposes pinpointing the points of the error to the user in real-time and in a lightweight manner for yoga posture correction. The incorrect positions shall be shown in real-time on top of the user's video feed to help them correct it properly. The user shall be told about when they are sitting in a bad position, and the overall bad posture time will also be shown for the session, which will provide the required information to the user. To further help users in a useful manner, our paper looks to augment the hand gesture detection feature with federated learning and personalization to avoid the common pitfall of privacy concerns, while still allowing users to customize their experience. The proposed library for the implementation of these tasks is the MediaPipe library. This library is one of the key components that makes the features lightweight and easy to use. The aforementioned library also looks to implement the features in real time with no lag while keeping the resource requirements as low as possible. © 2023 IEEE.

Bariatric surgeons' experiences of working in the first year of the pandemic

BackgroundThe first year of the Covid-19 pandemic saw drastic changes to bariatric surgical practice, including postponement of procedures, altered patient care and impacting on the role of bariatric surgeons. The consequences of this both personally and professionally amongst bariatric surgeons has not as yet been explored. AimsThe aim of this research was to understand bariatric surgeons' perspectives of working during the first year of the pandemic to explore the self-reported personal and professional impact. MethodsUsing a retrospective, two phased, study design with global participants recruited from closed, bariatric surgical units. The first phase used a qualitative thematic analytic framework to identify salient areas of importance to surgeons. Themes informed the construction of an on-line, confidential survey to test the potential generalizability of the interview findings with a larger representative population from the global bariatric surgical community. FindingsFindings of the study revealed that the first year of the pandemic had a detrimental effect on bariatric surgeons both personally and professionally globally. ConclusionThis study has identified the need to build resilience of bariatric surgeons so that the practice of self-care and the encouragement of help-seeking behaviors can potentially be normalized, which will in turn increase levels of mental health and wellbeing.

Tackling a post-COVID-19 cholecystectomy waiting list, are we meeting the challenge?

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a tremendous backlog in elective surgical activity, with over six million people on waiting lists and only 64% of patients meeting the 18-week elective standard. Our Hospital Trust adopted an innovative approach to dealing with elective waiting times for cholecystectomy during the recovery phase from COVID-19. This study aimed to evaluate trends in overall cholecystectomy activity and the effect on waiting times. Method(s): A prospective observational study was undertaken investigating patients who received a cholecystectomy at large UK hospital Trust, between February 2021 and February 2022. There were multiple phased strategies to tackle a 533 patient waiting list: Private sector, multiple sites including emergency operating, mobile theatre, and seven-day working. An additional 364 patients were added and 145 removed, for multiple reasons, from the list during the study period. Correlation of determination (R2) and Kruskal-Wallis analysis were used to evaluate trends in waiting times across the study period. Result(s): 657 patients underwent a procedure, of which 628 (95.6%) were completed electively. The median age was 49 years, 602 (91.6%) patients had an ASA of 1-2, and 494 (75.2%) were female. Thirty (4.6%) patients were listed post gallstone pancreatitis, 380 (57.8%) for cholelithiasis, and 228 (34.7%) for cholecystitis. The median length of stay was zero days (IQR 0-1), with 30-day complication (C-D >=3, 1.8%), readmission (3.0%) and mortality (0.0%) rates noted. The current waiting list includes 95 patients, with median waiting times reduced from 428 days (IQR 373-508) to 49 (IQR 34-96), R2=0.654, p<0.001. For pancreatitis specifically, waiting times have dropped from a median of 218 days (IQR 139-239) to 28 (IQR 24-40), R2=0.613, p<0.001. Conclusion(s):We have safely and effectively tackled the cholecystectomy waiting list locally utilising a number of phased strategies. Significant progress is being made towards once again meeting the gold-standard target for gallstone pancreatitis patients. The approach utilised here has potential to be adapted to other units, or other operation types in order to reduce elective waiting times.We have safely and effectively tackled the cholecystectomy waiting list locally utilising a number of phased strategies. Significant progress is being made towards once again meeting the gold-standard target for gallstone pancreatitis patients. The approach utilised here has potential to be adapted to other units, or other operation types in order to reduce elective waiting times.

Bariatric surgeons' experiences of working in the first year of the pandemic

Background: The first year of the Covid-19 pandemic saw drastic changes to bariatric surgical practice, including postponement of procedures, altered patient care and impacting on the role of bariatric surgeons. The consequences of this both personally and professionally amongst bariatric surgeons has not as yet been explored. Aim(s): The aim of this research was to understand bariatric surgeons' perspectives of working during the first year of the pandemic to explore the self-reported personal and professional impact. Method(s): Using a retrospective, two phased, study design with global participants recruited from closed, bariatric surgical units. The first phase used a qualitative thematic analytic framework to identify salient areas of importance to surgeons. Themes informed the construction of an on-line, confidential survey to test the potential generalizability of the interview findings with a larger representative population from the global bariatric surgical community. Finding(s): Findings of the study revealed that the first year of the pandemic had a detrimental effect on bariatric surgeons both personally and professionally globally. Conclusion(s): This study has identified the need to build resilience of bariatric surgeons so that the practice of self-care and the encouragement of help-seeking behaviors can potentially be normalized, which will in turn increase levels of mental health and wellbeing. Copyright © 2022 The Authors. Obesity Science & Practice published by World Obesity and The Obesity Society and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Safety of Bariatric Surgery in the Older Patients during the CoVID-19 Pandemic

Background: The progressive growth of The older patients with obesity represents a challenge to The weight management teams. Although initially, old age was a relative contraindication to The surgical option, current advances in laparoscopic techniques and perioperative optimization protocols have changed The old notion. However, The performance of bariatric procedures in The older patients during The ongoing CoVID-19 pandemic carries a potential risk. This study aimed to assess The safety of bariatric surgery (BS) in older patients during The pandemic. Method(s): We conducted a prospective international study of patients who underwent BS between 1/05/2020 and 31/10/2020. Patients were divided into two groups-older patients >65-year-old (group I) and young < 65-year-old (group II). Two groups were compared for 30-day morbidity and mortality. Result(s): We included 7084 patients, The mean age was 40.35+/-11.9 years, and 5197 (73.4%) were females. The mean preoperative weight and BMI were 119.49+/-24.4 Kgs and 43.03+/-6.9 Kg/m2, respectively. The overall comorbidities were significantly higher in group I, p= <0.001. In group II, 14.8% were current smokers, compared to 7.4% of group I. The complications in group I were significantly higher (11.4%) compared to group II (6.6%), p= 0.022. However, The mortality rate and CoVID-19 infection within 30 days were not significantly different between The two groups. Conclusion(s): Bariatric surgery during The CoVID-19 pandemic in The older patients (>65 years old) is associated with a higher complication rate than The younger age group. However, The mortality and postoperative CoVID-19 infection rates are comparable to The younger age group.

The Primacy of Moringa (Moringa oleiferaLam.) in Boosting Nutrition Statusand Immunity Defence Amidst the COVID-19 Catastrophe: A Perspective br

A severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) led novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19)outbreak spread through China has become the biggest global public health challenge today. The virus upon sev-eral mutations has led to the resurgence of more infectious and lethal variants infecting over 298 million peoplewith more than 5.46 million deaths worldwide by the end of December, 2021. Though vaccines are available, var-ious preventive measures particularly a high body immunity is still extremely important which determines thelikelihood of disease severity and subsequent recovery in the current and future pandemics. This review acknowl-edges the potentiality of miraculousMoringa oleiferaLam. against recently evolved novel coronavirus and accom-panying health complications. Moringa a well-proven super-food, densely packed with an abundant quantity of92 minerals, several vitamins, 46 antioxidants, and numerous bioactive compounds, thus own a massive thera-peutic potential for healing all levels of nutritional deficiencies and poor immunities and cure above 300 diseases.Moringa acts as anti-asthmatic, anti-cancerous, anti-diabetic, anti-inflammatory, hypotensive, hepatic, renal andcardio-protective, and anti-viral in nature. Thus it may reduce the severity of COVID-19 infections and associatedserious medical emergencies. In addition, self-isolation at home or the workplace has put people at increased riskof physical and mental sicknesses, which could be simply addressed by integrating this wonderful plant intoeveryday diet. Furthermore, the immune-modulatory properties and viral inhibiting nature of moringa contributeto reduced risk of COVID-19 infection and quicker recovery from its symptoms. As per the existing pieces of literature, it is a great time to harness the esteemed moringa for safeguarding people from the terrible ongoingCOVID-19 situation and other future pandemics

Effect of an Ayurvedic Intervention (Ayush-64) as a Stand-Alone Treatment in Mild to Moderate COVID-19: An Exploratory Prospective Single-Arm Clinical Trial

An Ayurvedic polyherbal formulation (Ayush-64) was repurposed for use in mild to moderate COVID-19 cases based on the supportive evidence obtained from a pilot study on its effect on Influenza like illness (ILI) and molecular docking study which revealed that several compounds isolated from Ayush-64 demonstrated antiviral activity. The study aims at evaluating the effect of an Ayurvedic intervention (Ayush-64) in mild to moderate COVID-19 patients. A prospective single arm, pilot study in mild to moderate COVID-19 patients. The study was conducted at Chaudhary Brahm Prakash Ayurved Charak Sansthan (CBPACS), New Delhi, India. A total of 37 COVID-19 participants confirmed through RT-PCR were included in the study. The proportion of participants with negative SARS-CoV-2 on nasal or throat swab in a 2-day consecutive real-time RT-PCR test was evaluated as the secondary outcome. In the study, 86.1% of participants demonstrated clinical recovery with 14 days of use of Ayush-64 as stand-alone treatment without any other conventional medicines, out of which 75% clinically recovered within 8 days. Further, 69.4% of participants turned negative by the 15th day, out of which 50% became COVID-19 negative on the 8th day. No AE/ ADR was observed during the study. Ayush-64 may significantly facilitate clinical improvement in terms of duration for clinical recovery and attaining negative conversion in mild to moderate COVID-19 cases.

Direct Numerical Simulation of a Moist Cough Flow using Eulerian Approximation for Liquid Droplets

The COVID-19 pandemic has inspired several studies on the fluid dynamics of respiratory events. Here, we propose a computational approach in which respiratory droplets are coarse-grained into an Eulerian liquid field advected by the fluid streamlines. A direct numerical simulation is carried out for a moist cough using a closure model for space-time dependence of the evaporation time scale. Stokes-number estimates are provided, for the initial droplet size of 10 mu m, which are found to be MUCH LESS-THAN1, thereby justifying the neglect of droplet inertia, over the duration of the simulation. Several important features of the moist-cough flow reported in the literature using Lagrangian tracking methods have been accurately captured using our scheme. Some new results are presented, including the evaporation time for a 'mild' cough, a saturation-temperature diagram and a favourable correlation between the vorticity and liquid fields. The present approach can be extended for studying the long-range transmission of virus-laden droplets.

POSB193 COVID-19 Vaccine Development Pipeline: 2021

Objectives: The COVID-19 pandemic caused by the novel coronavirus strain SARS-CoV-2 had a catastrophic consequence in global physical and psychological health, as well as economic recession. Development of vaccines can be the most prominent approach to prevent the virus to cause COVID-19 and hence will play a vital role in controlling the spread of the virus and reducing mortality. This study was conducted to review the current pipeline of vaccines in clinical trials for the COVID-19. Methods: We conducted a review of clinical trials of vaccines for COVID-19 using trial data obtained from the and World Health Organisation (WHO) registries and performed an analysis. We also assessed active vaccine development projects that had completed one clinical phase but were yet to start the next. Results: A total of 125 vaccines in 365 trials assessing the efficacy and safety for COVID-19: 36 vaccines in phase III, 49 in phase II, and 35 in phase I. As of June, 2021, there were 18 vaccines approved for COVID-19. Of these, seven approved by WHO, three by US FDA, and four by EMA. Among the approved vaccines, eight were inactivated, five were non-replicating viral vector, three were RNA, and two were protein subunit. Among the top five vaccines approved in most number of countries, Oxford/AstraZeneca AZD1222 approved in 115 countries, followed by Pfizer/BioNTech BNT162b2 in 89 countries, Gamaleya Sputnik V in 68 countries, Moderna mRNA-1273 in 53 countries), Janssen (Johnson & Johnson) Ad26.COV2.S in 52 countries, and Sinopharm (Beijing) BBIBP-CorV in 53 countries. Conclusions: Emerging COVID-19 will continue to pose significant challenges to the global community. This pipeline analysis shows that we have a strong pipeline of new vaccines in late stage development. Till date, 18 received approval and several additional promising vaccines are being evaluated in later stage clinical trials.

Bariatric surgery is safe during COVID-19 pandemic

Background: The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has massively affected bariatric surgical practises across the world. Aim: This report aims to show the effects of the pandemic on bariatric practices in the UK during the early phase of the pandemic. Methods: Bariatric surgeons in United Kingdom (UK) were contacted;seven bariatric units and 20 collaborators agreed to participate in this project. The data includes patients' demographics, type and number of operations, bariatric endoscopic procedures, management of complications, emergency and revisional bariatric surgery. Statistical analysis was used to assess the differences among the categories and to compare the data to the 6th report outcomes provided by British Obesity and the Metabolic Surgery Society 2017-2018 (NBSR). Further analysis of mortality between pre pandemic era and June 2020-June 2021 was performed. Results: A total of 430 bariatric procedures were conducted from 1 January 2020 to 31 March 2020 in seven hospitals in UK. The mean age of the patients was 43.3 years. The mean body mass index was 46.75 kg/m2. 314 (73%) of the patients were women and 116 (27%) were men. The following procedures were performed: 118 (27.4%) Laparoscopic Sleeve Gastrectomy (LSG), 114 (26.5%) One Anastomosis Gastric Bypass (OAGB), 76 (17.6%) Roux En-Y Gastric Bypass (RYGB), 61 (14.18%) Gastric Balloon and 15 (3.5%) Adjustable Gastric Band. 176 bariatric endoscopy procedures were performed for different indications. 26 (6.04%) revisional surgeries and 20 (4.6%) emergency bariatric surgeries were performed. 24 (5.58%) patients had Grade I-IV Clavien-Dindo complications. No mortality was reported. There was a significant difference in the number of operations for each of LSG, RYGB and OAGB in these seven hospitals compared to the data provided by the British Obesity and Metabolic Surgery Society (BOMSS) 2017-2018 .Only one patient was diagnosed with COVID-19, who was successfully treated and discharged home. Only one mortality was reported during June 2020 untill June 2021.There was no significant difference in moratlity between pre and post pandemic, p>0.5. Conclusions: This data reveals safe bariatric practices during the early phase of COVID-19. Copyright © Celsius Publishing House.

Outcomes of hospitalized patients with coronavirus 19 pneumonia and respiratory failure based in d-dimer levels

Rationale: Corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19) related pneumonia carries high morbidity and mortality, especially in patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). The goal of this study was to evaluate the outcomes of patients admitted with COVID-19 pneumonia who required additional oxygen supplementation for hypoxia. We compared patients with and without ARDS based in their initial D-Dimer levels. Methods: Retrospective study conducted at BronxCare Hospital. Included all adult patients admitted with COVID-19 pneumonia requiring supplemental oxygen for hypoxia during the period of March to May 2020. Patients were classified in two groups based in the presence or absence of ARDS;then they were sub-classified based in their initial D-dimer levels, D-dimer levels ≥ 4 times upper limit of normal (ULN) compared with patients with D-dimer levels ≤ 4 times ULN. Primary outcome was mortality and secondary outcomes were length of stay (LOS), mechanical ventilation, shock, acute renal failure and thrombotic complications. Results: We identified 1242 patients. There were no differences for age, gender, race or comorbidities among the groups except for BMI. Mean age was 62.8 with 61% been males. There were 254(20.4%) patients in the ARDS and 988(79.5%) in the non-ARDS group. Hospital and ICU LOS was higher in patients with ARDS with D-dimer levels ≤ 4 times ULN. 33% of patients received mechanical ventilation, mainly in the ARDS group. Overall mortality was 36.6%. Mortality rate was higher in ARDS with D-dimer levels ≥ 4 ULN (81.4%) followed by patients with ARDS with D-dimer levels ≤ 4 times ULN (70.1%), non ARDS with D-dimer levels ≥ 4 ULN (35.7%) and non ARDS with D-dimer levels ≤ 4 times ULN (21.1%) (p< 0.0001). On logistic regression analysis, higher mortality was seen in patients with ARDS irrespective of D-dimer levels, older age, history of asthma and presence of acute renal failure. Female sex and use of ascorbic acid showed decrease in mortality. Conclusions: Our study confirms prior findings in COVID-19 pneumonia. Patient with non-ARDS requiring supplemental oxygen despite lower levels of D-dimer have a significant mortality. Use of readily available data on admission can assist the clinicians for admission triage decisions and have implications on discharge planning and follow up. Closely monitor patients with Covid-19 associated acute respiratory failure for the need for mechanical ventilation, shock, acute renal failure and thrombotic complications. (Table Presented).