Blue Sky Recycling Programme

Blue Sky Recycling provides livelihoods for 1,500 families throughout informal settlements in Cape Town, South Africa. BSR pays pickers for collectables, then sorts and resells them to distributors. Our project aimed to discover opportunities in process improvement and financial sustainability. Methods involved interviews, observations, and collective planning with liaisons. Outcomes included mechanical hoist plans, an application for data entry, market rebranding, community education, an updated website, and digitized financial spreadsheets. We collaboratively enhanced BSR’s business model to establish efficiency through quicker pickups, better working conditions, and increased publicity

CAROM Air -- Vehicle Localization and Traffic Scene Reconstruction from Aerial Videos

Road traffic scene reconstruction from videos has been desirable by road safety regulators, city planners, researchers, and autonomous driving technology developers. However, it is expensive and unnecessary to cover every mile of the road with cameras mounted on the road infrastructure. This paper presents a method that can process aerial videos to vehicle trajectory data so that a traffic scene can be automatically reconstructed and accurately re-simulated using computers. On average, the vehicle localization error is about 0.1 m to 0.3 m using a consumer-grade drone flying at 120 meters. This project also compiles a dataset of 50 reconstructed road traffic scenes from about 100 hours of aerial videos to enable various downstream traffic analysis applications and facilitate further road traffic related research. The dataset is available at https://github.com/duolu/CAROM.Comment: Accepted to IEEE ICRA 202

Treatment of Community-Acquired Pneumonia in Immunocompromised Adults:A Consensus Statement Regarding Initial Strategies

Background Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) guidelines have improved the treatment and outcomes of patients with CAP, primarily by standardization of initial empirical therapy. But current society-published guidelines exclude immunocompromised patients. Research Question There is no consensus regarding the initial treatment of immunocompromised patients with suspected CAP. Study Design and Methods This consensus document was created by a multidisciplinary panel of 45 physicians with experience in the treatment of CAP in immunocompromised patients. The Delphi survey methodology was used to reach consensus. Results The panel focused on 21 questions addressing initial management strategies. The panel achieved consensus in defining the population, site of care, likely pathogens, microbiologic workup, general principles of empirical therapy, and empirical therapy for specific pathogens. Interpretation This document offers general suggestions for the initial treatment of the immunocompromised patient who arrives at the hospital with pneumonia

CAROM -- Vehicle Localization and Traffic Scene Reconstruction from Monocular Cameras on Road Infrastructures

Traffic monitoring cameras are powerful tools for traffic management and essential components of intelligent road infrastructure systems. In this paper, we present a vehicle localization and traffic scene reconstruction framework using these cameras, dubbed as CAROM, i.e., "CARs On the Map". CAROM processes traffic monitoring videos and converts them to anonymous data structures of vehicle type, 3D shape, position, and velocity for traffic scene reconstruction and replay. Through collaborating with a local department of transportation in the United States, we constructed a benchmarking dataset containing GPS data, roadside camera videos, and drone videos to validate the vehicle tracking results. On average, the localization error is approximately 0.8 m and 1.7 m within the range of 50 m and 120 m from the cameras, respectively.Comment: 7 pages, 9 figures, accepted by ICRA 202

Elderly Adults With Isolated Hip Fractures- Orthogeriatric Care Versus Standard Care: A Practice Management Guideline From the Eastern Association for the Surgery of Trauma

BACKGROUND: Elderly patients commonly suffer isolated hip fractures, causing significant morbidity and mortality. The use of orthogeriatrics (OG) management services, in which geriatric specialists primarily manage or co-manage patients after admission, may improve outcomes. We sought to provide recommendations regarding the role of OG services. METHODS: Using GRADE methodology with meta-analyses, the Practice Management Guidelines Committee of the Eastern Association for the Surgery of Trauma conducted a systematic review of the literature from January 1, 1900 to August 31, 2017. A single PICO question was generated with multiple outcomes: Should geriatric trauma patients aged 65+ with isolated hip fracture receive routine OG management, compared to no routine OG management, to decrease mortality, improve discharge disposition, improve functional outcomes, decrease in-hospital medical complications, and decrease hospital length of stay. RESULTS: Forty-five manuscripts were evaluated. Six randomized controlled trials and seven retrospective case-control studies (RCCS) met criteria for quantitative analysis. For critical outcomes, RCCS demonstrated a 30-day mortality benefit with OG (OR 0.78[0.67, 0.90]), but this was not demonstrated prospectively or at one year. Functional outcomes were superior with OG, specifically improved score on the Short Physical Performance Battery at four months (MD 0.78 [0.28, 1.29]), and improved score on the Mini Mental Status Exam with OG at 12 months (MD 1.57 [0.40, 2.73]). Execution of activities of daily living was improved with OG as measured by two separate tests at four and twelve months. There was no difference in discharge disposition. Among important outcomes, the OG group had fewer hospital-acquired pressure ulcers (OR 0.30 [0.15, 0.60]). There was no difference in other complications or length of stay. Overall quality of evidence was low. CONCLUSIONS: In geriatric patients with isolated hip fracture, we conditionally recommend an OG care model to improve patient outcomes. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Level III evidenceSystematic Review/Meta-Analysis

Practice management guidelines for the screening of thoracolumbar spine fracture.

BACKGROUND: Fractures to the thoracolumbar spine (TLS) commonly occur because of major trauma mechanisms. In one series, 4.4% of all patients arriving at a Level I trauma center were diagnosed as having TLS fracture. Approximately 19% to 50% of these fractures in the TLS region will be associated with neurologic damage to the spinal cord. To date there are no randomized studies and only a few prospective studies specifically addressing the subject. The Eastern Association for the Surgery of Trauma organization Practice Management Guidelines committee set out to develop an EBM guideline for the diagnosis of TLS fractures. METHODS: A computerized search of the National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health MEDLINE database was undertaken using the PubMed Entrez (www.pubmed.gov) interface. The primary search strategy was developed to retrieve English language articles focusing on diagnostic examination of potential TLS injury published between 1995 and March 2005. Articles were screened based on the following questions. (1) Does a patient who is awake, nonintoxicated, without distracting injuries require radiographic workup or a clinical examination only? (2) Does a patient with a distracting injury, altered mental status, or pain require radiographic examination? (3) Does the obtunded patient require radiographic examination? RESULTS: Sixty-nine articles were identified after the initial screening process, all of which dealt with blunt injury to the TLS, along with clinical, radiographic, fluoroscopic, and magnetic resonance imaging evaluation. From this group, 32 articles were selected. The reviewers identified 27 articles that dealt with the initial evaluation of TLS injury after trauma. CONCLUSION: Computed tomography (CT) scan imaging of the bony spine has advanced with helical and currently multidetector images to allow reformatted axial collimation of images into two-dimensional and three-dimensional images. As a result, bony injuries to the TLS are commonly being identified. Most blunt trauma patients require CT to screen for other injuries. This has allowed the single admitting series of CT scans to also include screening for bony spine injuries. However, all of the publications fail to clearly define the criteria used to decide who gets radiographs or CT scans. No study has carefully conducted long-term follow-up on all of their trauma patients to identify all cases of TLS injury missed in the acute setting

Non-Surgical Management and Analgesia Strategies for Older Adults with Multiple Rib Fractures: a Systematic Review, Meta-Analysis, and Practice Management Guideline from the Eastern Association for the Surgery of Trauma.

BACKGROUND: Chest wall injury in older adults is a significant cause of morbidity and mortality. Optimal nonsurgical management strategies for these patients have not been fully defined regarding level of care, incentive spirometry, noninvasive positive pressure ventilation, and the use of ketamine, epidural and other locoregional approaches to analgesia. METHODS: Relevant questions regarding older patients with significant chest wall injury with patient Population(s), Intervention(s), Comparison(s), and appropriate selected Outcomes (PICO) were chosen. These focused on ICU admission, incentive spirometry, noninvasive positive pressure ventilation, and analgesia including ketamine, epidural analgesia, and locoregional nerve blocks. A systematic literature search and review was conducted, and our data were analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively and the quality of evidence assessed per the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) methodology. No funding was utilized. RESULTS: Our literature review (PROSPERO 2020-CRD42020201241,MEDLINE,EMBASE, Cochrane,Web of Science,1/15/2020) resulted in 151 studies. ICU admission was qualitatively not superior for any defined cohort other than by clinical assessment. Poor incentive spirometry performance was associated with prolonged hospital length of stay, pulmonary complications, and unplanned ICU admission. Noninvasive positive pressure ventilation was associated with 85% reduction in odds of pneumonia (p \u3c 0.0001) and 81% reduction in odds of mortality (p = 0.03) in suitable patients without risk of airway loss. Ketamine use demonstrated no significant reduction in pain score but a trend toward reduced opioid use. Epidural and other locoregional analgesia techniques did not affect pneumonia, length of mechanical ventilation, hospital length of stay or mortality. CONCLUSION: We do not recommend for or against routine ICU admission. We recommend use of incentive spirometry to inform ICU status and conditionally recommend use of noninvasive positive pressure ventilation in patients without risk of airway loss. We offer no recommendation for or against ketamine, epidural or other locoregional analgesia. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Guideline; systematic review/meta-analysis, level IV