Advanced Technologies and the Future of Medicine and Surgery

Technology has become a major driver of the future direction of healthcare and surgery. Likewise, the speed of change has accelerated beyond comprehension, with a number of revolutions occurring during a surgeon's career. Being an agent of change or rapidly adapting to change has become the hallmark of the gifted surgeon. The fundamental challenges to a future surgeon are addressed from a technological viewpoint, with emphasis on the impact upon healthcare

Tests of some specific effect substances in duck nutrition. Translation from: Biologisace a chemisaze vyzivy svirat 5, 43-48, 1969.]

There is a constantly increasing collection of manufactured substances, whose effectiveness in the sustenance of ducks is under investigation. The author examines the effects of some substances already previously tested and also there were examined substances which had not hitherto been studied. The use of different supplements for late autumn fattening is studied through various experiments

Columbus's First Voyage: Profit Or Loss From A Historical Accountant's Perspective

Determining the cost of Columbus's first voyage to the new world is very difficult to do with any degree of accuracy.  The primary reasons for this is that the complete set of records does not exist and may not have ever existed.  As a result, scholars have proposed a wide variety of figures supposedly representing the costs of Columbus's first voyage. Because of the conflicting information associated with this voyage, a three-step decision-making model approach was developed and used when deciding between conflicting accounting figures. In addition, several historical events, such as the sinking of the Santa Maria and the lifetime finder's fee annuity for being the first to spot land in the new world was reviewed for their possible effect on the accounting for this voyage. Overall, the purpose of this paper is to prepare a pro-forma financial statement in order to determine whether or not Columbus's first voyage was profitable or not.&nbsp

Notes on N.O.T.E.S.: It is about the Journey, not the Destination.

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Extraversion-Introversion Personality Traits Of Local Firm CPAs Who Previously Worked For A National CPA Firm: An Empirical Study

Prior research on the personality types of CPAs has focused on which personality types were most attracted to national or local public accounting firms. Previous studies indicate that national-firm CPAs are twice as likely to be extraverts whereas local-firm CPAs are twice as likely to be introverts. No prior studies have evaluated the extraversion-introversion personality types of those who first started with a national firm before working for a local firm. This study postulates that for extraversion-introversion, CPAs who worked for a national firm before working for a local firm are statistically similar to those who have only worked for a local firm and statistically different from those who have only worked for a national firm.  With respect to extraversion-introversion for those who first started work for a national firm before working for a local CPA firm, this study supports the hypothesis that they would be different from those who had only worked for a national firm and does not support their similarity with those who had only worked for a local CPA firm.  &nbsp

Robot-Assisted Minimally Invasive Surgery-Surgical Robotics in the Data Age

Telesurgical robotics, as a technical solution for robot-assisted minimally invasive surgery (RAMIS), has become the first domain within medicosurgical robotics that achieved a true global clinical adoption. Its relative success (still at a low single-digit percentile total market penetration) roots in the particular human-in-the-loop control, in which the trained surgeon is always kept responsible for the clinical outcome achieved by the robot-actuated invasive tools. Nowadays, this paradigm is challenged by the need for improved surgical performance, traceability, and safety reaching beyond the human capabilities. Partially due to the technical complexity and the financial burden, the adoption of telesurgical robotics has not reached its full potential, by far. Apart from the absolutely market-dominating da Vinci surgical system, there are already 60+ emerging RAMIS robot types, out of which 15 have already achieved some form of regulatory clearance. This article aims to connect the technological advancement with the principles of commercialization, particularly looking at engineering components that are under development and have the potential to bring significant advantages to the clinical practice. Current RAMIS robots often do not exceed the functionalities deriving from their mechatronics, due to the lack of data-driven assistance and smart human–machine collaboration. Computer assistance is gradually gaining more significance within emerging RAMIS systems. Enhanced manipulation capabilities, refined sensors, advanced vision, task-level automation, smart safety features, and data integration mark together the inception of a new era in telesurgical robotics, infiltrated by machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) solutions. Observing other domains, it is definite that a key requirement of a robust AI is the good quality data, derived from proper data acquisition and sharing to allow building solutions in real time based on ML. Emerging RAMIS technologies are reviewed both in a historical and a future perspective

Do Basic Psychomotor Skills Transfer Between Different Image-based Procedures?

Background - Surgical techniques that draw from multiple types of image-based procedures (IBP) are increasing, such as Natural Orifice Transluminal Endoscopic Surgery, fusing laparoscopy and flexible endoscopy. However, little is known about the relation between psychomotor skills for performing different types of IBP. For example, do basic psychomotor colonoscopy and laparoscopy skills interact? Methods - Following a cross-over study design, 29 naïve endoscopists were trained on the Simbionix GI Mentor and the SimSurgery SEP simulators. Group C (n = 15) commenced with a laparoscopy session, followed by four colonoscopy sessions and a second laparoscopy session. Group L (n = 14) started with a colonoscopy session, followed by four laparoscopy sessions and a second colonoscopy session. Results - No significant differences were found between the performances of group L and group C in their first training sessions on either technique. With additional colonoscopy training, group C outperformed group L in the second laparoscopy training session on the camera navigation task. Conclusions - Overall, training in the basic colonoscopy tasks does not affect performance of basic laparoscopy tasks (and vice versa). However, to limited extent, training of basic psychomotor skills for colonoscopy do appear to contribute to the performance of angled laparoscope navigation tasks. Thus, training and assessment of IBP typespecific skills should focus on each type of tasks independently. Future research should further investigate the influence of psychometric abilities on the performance of IBP and the transfer of skills for physicians who are experienced in one IBP type and would like to become proficient in another type of IBP.Industrial DesignIndustrial Design Engineerin