The Sacra Infermeria since 1800 : a historical survey

This article describes the historical aspect and the ordeals of the Sacra Infermeria as a hospital beginning from its construction in 1574 by the Knights of the Hospitaller Order of St. John of Jerusalem, through the two-year French interlude between 1798 and 1980, the years under the British rule, and on until the end of World War II, when the building was taken over by the Education Department. This paper is a result of extensive historical research in European archives especially the Vatican Library for the period of the Knights, the Public Record Office in London for the post-1800 years and the National Archives for both periods.peer-reviewe

Dexterous actuation

Methods that have been developed for actuation system evaluation are normally generic, and primarily intended to facilitate actuator selection. Here, we address specifically those engineering devices that exhibit multiple-degree-of-freedom motions under space and weight constraints, and focus on the evaluation of the total actuation solution. We suggest a new measure that we provisionally call ‘Actuation Dexterity’, which interrogates the effectiveness of this total solution and serves as a design support tool. The new concept is developed in the context of artificial hands, and the approach is based on the review and analysis of thirty-six different artificial hand projects described in the literature. We have identified forty-eight unique evaluation criteria that are relevant to the actuation of devices of this type, and have devised a scoring method that permits the quantification of the actuation dexterity of a given device. We have tested this approach by evaluating and quantifying the actuation dexterity of five different artificial hands from the literature. Finally, we discuss the implications of this approach to the design process, and the portability of the approach between different device types.peer-reviewe

Composites with needle-like inclusions exhibiting negative thermal expansion : a preliminary investigation

In this work a simple cylindrical structure with a stiff needle-like inclusion embedded within a much softer matrix is presented and analysed with the aim of obtaining a system with tunable thermal expansion properties. It is shown that by the correct combination of the thermal and mechanical properties of the matrix and inclusion, it is possible to design a system which can be tailor-made to exhibit particular values of the coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) in the radial direction and also negative thermal expansion (NTE). In particular an analytical model to quantify the radial strain with changes in temperature is derived and verified through finite element analysis. The model is used to find correct property combinations which lead to particular values of thermal expansion which could also be negative or zero.peer-reviewe

Neurological associations of COVID-19

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic, caused by SARS-CoV-2, is of a scale not seen since the 1918 influenza pandemic. Although the predominant clinical presentation is with respiratory disease, neurological manifestations are being recognised increasingly. Based on knowledge of other coronaviruses, especially those that caused the SARS and MERS epidemics, we might expect to see rare cases of central nervous system (CNS) and peripheral nervous system (PNS) disease caused by SARS-CoV-2.Recent developments: A growing number of case reports and series describe a wide array of neurological manifestations, but many lack detail, reflecting the challenge of studying such patients. Encephalopathy is relatively common, being reported for 93 patients in total, including 16 (7.5%) of 214 hospitalised COVID-19 patients in Wuhan, China, and 40 (69%) of 58 in intensive care with COVID-19 in France. Encephalitis has been described in 8 patients to date, and Guillain-Barré syndrome in 19 patients. SARS-CoV-2 is detected in the cerebrospinal fluid of some patients. Anosmia and ageusia are common and may occur in the absence of other clinical features. Unexpectedly, acute cerebrovascular disease is also emerging as an important complication, with cohort studies reporting stroke in 1.6-6% of hospitalised COVID-19 cases. So far, 88 patients have been described, mostly with ischaemic stroke, who frequently have vascular events in the context of a pro-inflammatory hypercoagulable state with elevated CRP, D-dimer, and ferritin.Where next?: Careful clinical, diagnostic and epidemiological studies are needed to help define the manifestations and burden of neurological disease caused by SARS-CoV-2. Precise case definitions must be used to distinguish non-specific complications of severe disease, such as hypoxic encephalopathy and critical care neuropathy, from those caused directly or indirectly by the virus; these include infectious, para- and post-infectious encephalitis, hypercoagulable states leading to stroke, and acute neuropathies such as Guillain-Barré syndrome. Recognising SARS-CoV-2 neurological disease in patients whose respiratory infection is mild or asymptomatic may prove challenging, especially if the primary COVID-19 illness occurred weeks earlier. The proportion of infections leading to neurological disease will remain small. However, these patients may be left with severe neurological sequelae. With so much of the population infected, the overall number of neurological patients, and their associated health, social and economic costs, may be large. Healthcare planners and policymakers must prepare for this eventuality. The many ongoing studies investigating the neurological association will increase our knowledge base.<br

Comparative analysis of artificial hands : the need for reporting and test standards

Comparative analysis is for several reasons an important aspect of research. In robotic hands, such an exercise may become very difficult or even unworkable due to various reasons. This paper is emphasizing that, in addition to their complex nature, continuous technological advancements, and other reasons found in the literature, the approach to testing and reporting is one of the sources of this problem. The level of reporting of common, artificial hand characteristics, as encountered in a small but varied sample of publications on artificial hands, has been analyzed and the findings are presented. A fresh attempt to highlight the necessity of an appropriate verification process and the benefits artificial hand research stands to gain through the implementation of a standardized test and report system, despite different project goals and fields of application, is carried out. Finally, a general discussion and some practical proposals regarding known and potential standard performance indicators are presented.peer-reviewe

Defining causality in COVID-19 and neurological disorders.

When faced with acute neurological presentations in a patient with COVID-19, how confident can one be that SARS-CoV2 is causal

The grit in the oyster: using energy biographies to question socio-technical imaginaries of ‘smartness’

It has been argued that responsible research and innovation (RRI) requires critique of the ‘worlds’ implicated in the future imaginaries associated with new technologies. Qualitative social science research can aid deliberation on imaginaries by exploring the meanings of technologies within everyday practices, as demonstrated by Yolande Strengers’ work on imaginaries of ‘smartness’. In this paper, we show how a novel combination of narrative interviews and multimodal methods can help explore future imaginaries of smartness through the lens of biographical experiences of socio-technical changes in domestic energy use. In particular, this approach can open up a critical space around socio-technical imaginaries by exploring the investments that individuals have in different forms of engagement with the world. The paper works with a psychosocial conceptual framework that draws on theoretical resources from science and technology studies to explain how valued forms of subjectivity may be conceptualised as emerging out of the ‘friction’ of engagement with the world. Using this framework, we show how biographical narratives of engagement with technologies from the Energy Biographies project can extend into critical deliberation on future imaginaries. The paper demonstrates the value of ‘thick’ data relating to the affective dimensions of subjective experience for RRI

A clinical approach to the investigation and management of long COVID associated neuropathic pain

COVID–19 has been associated with a wide range of ongoing symptoms following recovery from the acute SARS-CoV-2 infection. Around one in three people with COVID-19 develop neurological symptoms with many reporting neuropathic pain and associated symptoms, including paraesthesia, numbness, and dysesthesia. Whilst the pathophysiology of long COVID-19-associated neuropathic pain remains unclear, it is likely to be multifactorial. Early identification, exclusion of common alternative causes, and a biopsychosocial approach to the management of the symptoms can help in relieving the burden of disease and improving the quality of life for patients