Show, Attend and Interact: Perceivable Human-Robot Social Interaction through Neural Attention Q-Network

For a safe, natural and effective human-robot social interaction, it is essential to develop a system that allows a robot to demonstrate the perceivable responsive behaviors to complex human behaviors. We introduce the Multimodal Deep Attention Recurrent Q-Network using which the robot exhibits human-like social interaction skills after 14 days of interacting with people in an uncontrolled real world. Each and every day during the 14 days, the system gathered robot interaction experiences with people through a hit-and-trial method and then trained the MDARQN on these experiences using end-to-end reinforcement learning approach. The results of interaction based learning indicate that the robot has learned to respond to complex human behaviors in a perceivable and socially acceptable manner.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures, accepted by IEEE-RAS ICRA'1

Effectiveness of plain X-ray in detection of fish and chicken bone foreign body in upper aerodigestive tract

Abstract OBJECTIVE: To assess the use of plain film radiology in the detection of fish and chicken bones in the upper aerodigestive tract. METHODS: This retrospective chart review was conducted at the Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi, and comprised medical charts of patients who had undergone oesophagoscopy for removal of fish and chicken bone from 1990 to 2015.SPSS 19 was used for data analysis. RESULTS: Of the 24 patients, foreign body was detected on X-ray in 7(29.2%) and through fibre optic laryngoscopy in 13(54.2%).All the patients underwent surgical intervention for removal of the foreign body. Also, 19(79.2%) patients underwent direct laryngoscopy and 5(16.7%) required oesophagoscopy. The sensitivity with X-ray was 15% and specificity was zero. The sensitivity of fibre optic laryngoscopy in comparison to intra-operative findings was 65% and the specificity was 100%. CONCLUSIONS: X-ray was not found to be an ideal modality to diagnose fish or chicken bone impaction in the upper aerodigestive tract

Does obesity affects early infection after total knee arthroplasty. a comparison of obese vs non obese patients

Abstract Surgical site infection (SSI) is a disastrous complication after total knee arthroplasty (TKA) which can cause prosthesis loosening and may end up in septicaemia. The incidence of infection reported to be in the range of 0.3-12.4% for primary TKA. Significantly higher infection rate is found in the morbidly obese patients. The current study compared the immediate rate of post-total knee replacement wound infection in the obese versus non-obese population. The cross-sectional study was conducted at Aga Khan University Hospital (AKUH) and comprised patients undergoing TKA for primary knee osteoarthritis. Surgical outcome was measured by the Southampton wound infection score at 1-month follow-up. Out of 142 enrolled patients with a mean age of 67.8±56 years, infection was confirmed in 3(2.11%) patients who needed surgical management. All the patients who developed SSIs were females

Success Rate of Endoscopic Third Ventriculostomy (ETV) in Non-Communicating Hydrocephalus in Pediatric Age Group

Objective:  To evaluate success rate of the endoscopic third Ventriculostomy (ETV) in non-communicating type of hydrocephalus in pediatric age group. Material and Methods:  This study was carried in the department of neurosurgery at Liaquat university hospital, Jamshoro in which an endoscopic third Ventriculostomy procedure was performed in patients (n = 55) with non-communicating hydrocephalus from October 2016 to April 2017. Post-operative follow-up was done on the 15th day post-operative to assess clinical and radiological improvement. Results:  55 patients were included in this study, 26 (47.27%) males and 29 (52.73%) females. The mean age was 3.96 years. The most common etiology was aqueductal stenosis 28 (50.90%) patients followed by posterior fossa tumors in 18 (32.72%) patients. The operative technique was successful in 41 (74.55%) patients. Out of 41 successful patients, 34 (82.92%) patients had clinical as well as radiological improvement whereas 7 (17.07%) patients had clinical improvement only. Conclusion:  The success rate of ETV was 74.55% in the non-communicating hydrocephalus in the pediatric age group in our study. Endoscopic third Ventriculostomy is an effective treatment for non-Communicating hydrocephalus in pediatric age groups by diversion of CSF intracranially. This procedure provides shunt freedom and can be used alternative to shunts in pediatric age groups with non-communicating hydrocephalus

Effects of bomb blast injury on the ears: The Aga Khan University Hospital experience

Abstract Objective: To evaluate the frequency and effects of blast-related otologic injuries. Methods: This retrospective study was conducted at the Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi, and comprised charts of patients who were victims of bomb explosions between January 2011 and July 2013. Frequency and percentages were reported using cross tabulation with size of bomb, distance of person from blast and the presence of victim in open or closed space. Association of associated variables were also analysed. Results: Of the 100 patients, 81(81%) were men and 19(19%) were women. Besides, 68(68%) patients were aged \u3c30 years. Also, 78(78%) subjects were exposed to \u3c 80kg of explosives and 68(68%) were at a distance of\u3e10m. Furthermore, 61(61%) patients were exposed to explosion in openspace. The prevalence of ear injuries was 21(21%). The odds of experiencing various symptoms of ears was high in those who were exposed to \u3e80 kg of explosives (odds ratio: 3.38; 95% confidence interval, 1.16, 9.91). The odds of hearing loss in those who were within 10m was 8.62 (95% confidence interval: 2.72, 27.28) times than those who were \u3e10 m from the site of explosion. Conclusion: Otologic injuries were frequently associated with large blasts