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This study quantified the incidental dose to the first axillary level (L1) in locoregional treatment plan for breast cancer. Eighteen radiotherapy centres contoured L1-L4 on three different patients (P1,2,3), created the L2-L4 planning target volume (single centre planning target volume, SC-PTV) and elaborated a locoregional treatment plan. The L2-L4 gold standard clinical target volume (CTV) along with the gold standard L1 contour (GS-L1) were created by an expert consensus. The SC-PTV was then replaced by the GS-PTV and the incidental dose to GS-L1 was measured. Dosimetric data were analysed with Kruskal-Wallis test. Plans were intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT)-based. P3 with 90° arm setup had statistically significant higher L1 dose across the board than P1 and P2, with the mean dose (Dmean) reaching clinical significance. Dmean of P1 and P2 was consistent with the literature (77.4% and 74.7%, respectively). The incidental dose depended mostly on L1 proportion included in the breast fields, underlining the importance of the setup, even in case of IMRT.

This report aims to illustrate how to perform a venous access to a COVID-19 patient at the bedside. The decision on the type of venous access, the selection of the material necessary to perform the procedure, and the preparation of the operators are described. The described approach can reduce costs, speed up execution times, and make the operator’s work safer. Furthermore, these precautions may help control the spread of COVID-19 within the healthcare facility.

In this article, we present a control architecture for a robotic manipulator finally aimed at helping people with severe motion disabilities in performing daily life operations, such as manipulating objects or drinking. The proposed solution allows the user to focus the attention only on the operational tasks, while all the safety-related issues are automatically handled by the developed control architecture. The user commands the manipulator sending high-level commands via a P300-based brain–computer interface. A perception module, relying on an RGB-D sensor, continuously detects and localizes the objects in the scene, tracking the position of the user and monitoring the environment for identifying static and dynamic obstacles, e.g., a person entering in the scene. A lightweight manipulator is controlled relying on a task-priority inverse kinematics algorithm that handles task hierarchies composed of equality-based and set-based tasks, including obstacle avoidance and joint mechanical limits. This article describes the overall architecture and the integration of the implemented software modules, that are based on common frameworks and software libraries, such as the robotic operating system (ROS), BCI2000, OpenCV, and PCL. The experimental results on a use case scenario using a Kinova 7DOFs Jaco2 robot helping a user to perform drinking and manipulation tasks show the effectiveness of the developed control architecture.

The paper addresses the design of a control strategy for a quadrotor autonomous aerial vehicle to land on a target marine surface vehicle. In particular, a Nonlinear Model Predictive Control law that takes into account the marine vehicle trajectory and the sea state has been designed to let the quadrotor land on the target vehicle when this reaches a wave peak. The sea state has been modeled using monochromatic sinusoidal waves, and the maximum wave height and period are taken into account by the quadrotor control law to compute the position and the timing of the next vertical peak in the target vehicle trajectory. The results of numerical simulations performed in ROS/Gazebo environment are shown to validate the control strategy effectiveness.

This note presents a discrete-time distributed fault diagnosis and accommodation scheme for homogeneous teams of cooperative autonomous agents. Each agent estimates, via a local observer, the overall state of the team; such an estimate is used to compute both the control input to the agent itself and a set of residual vectors, sensitive to faults occurring on anyone of the teammates. The occurrence of a fault in an agent is recognized by each of the teammates, even if they are not in direct communication with each other, when the corresponding residual exceeds a suitable adaptive threshold. A recovery strategy, based on the estimate of the maximum detection time, is then applied to remove the faulty agent and to rearrange the mission. The approach is validated via numerical simulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tumor ablation is included in several major cancer therapy guidelines. One technical challenge of percutaneous ablation is targeting and verification of complete treatment, which is prone to operator variabilities and human imperfections and are directly related to successful outcomes, risk for residual unablated tumor and local progression. The use of “Prediction Ablation Volume Software” may help the operating Interventional Radiologist to better plan, deliver, and verify before the ablation, via virtual treatment zones fused to target tumor. Fused and superimposed images provide 3-dimensional information from different timepoints, just when that information is most useful. The aim of this study is to evaluate the technical success and efficacy of an ablation treatment flowchart provided by a cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) “Prediction Ablation Volume Software.” This is a single-center retrospective study. From April 2021 to January 2022, 29 nonconsecutive evaluable patients with 32 lesions underwent liver ablation with Prediction Ablation Volume Software. Each patient was discussed in a multidisciplinary tumor board and underwent an enhanced computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging approximately 1 month before the procedure, as well as ∼1 month after. Technical success was defined as treatment of the tumor according to the protocol, covered completely by the Prediction Ablation Volume. Technical efficacy was defined as assessment of complete ablation of the target tumor at imaging follow up (∼1 month). Technical success, technical efficacy, and procedural factors were studied. Technical success was achieved in 30 of 32 liver lesions (94%), measuring 20 mm mean maximum diameter. The antenna was repositioned in 16 of 30 (53%) evaluable target lesions. Residual tumor was detected at 1 month imaging follow up in only 4 of 30 (13%) of the treated lesion. Technical efficacy was of 87% in this retrospective description of our process. The implementation of a CBCT Prediction Ablation Volume Software and flowchart for the treatment of liver malignancies altered the procedure, and demonstrated high technical success and efficacy. Such tools are potentially useful for procedural prediction and verification of ablation.

The Widely scalable Mobile Underwater Sonar Technology (WiMUST) project is an H2020 Research and Innovation Action funded by the European Commission. The action’s main goal is to develop robotic technologies exploiting Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) for geotechnical surveying and geophysical exploration. The paper briefly describes the project and its state of the art after the first year of activities.

The paper deals with the problem of estimating the shape of a streamer of hydrophones for acoustic geoseismic survey when towed by an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV). The considered problem arises in the framework of a H2020 European Project, named WiMUST, aimed at using a team of AUVs, each one towing a streamer of hydrophones, to perform geoseismic survey missions that are traditionally performed using streamers towed by a single manned surface vessel. The replacement of the towing system of the vessel with a team of AUVs introduces several issues in the localization of the hydrophones, needed to allow the processing of the acoustic data, since they are no more on the sea surface. In this paper we want to study the solvability of the streamer shape estimation problem depending on the possibly available measurements and information that can be collected via the hydrophones, the AUVs on board sensors, and relying on acoustic communication.

We herein report on a case of synchronous bilateral breast cancer patient undergoing adjuvant intensity-modulated whole breast with static angle tomotherapy (TomoDirect). The patient was treated with a hypofractionated schedule employing a simultaneous integrated boost approach. Radiotherapy schedule was 45 Gy/20 fractions (2.25 Gy daily) to the bilateral whole breast and 50 Gy/20 fractions (2.5 Gy daily) to the 2 lumpectomy cavities. Treatment was delivered over 4 weeks. Dosimetric results were robust with consistent target coverage and adequate normal tissue avoidance. Treatment was generally well-tolerated and acute toxicity profile was mild. The present report highlights the promising clinical feasibility of TomoDirect for bilateral breast irradiation.

Aims and background To present the Italian state-of-the-art contribution to radiobiology of external beam radiotherapy, brachytherapy, and radionuclide radiotherapy.Methods and study design A survey of the literature was carried out, using PubMed, by some independent researchers of the Italian group of radiobiology. Each paper was reviewed by researchers of centers not comprising its authors. The survey was limited to papers in English published over the last 20 years, written by Italian investigators or in Italian institutions, excluding review articles.Results A total of 135 papers have been published in journals with an impact factor, with an increase in the number of published papers over time, for external beam radiotherapy rather than radionuclide radiotherapy. The quantity and quality of the papers researched constitutes a proof of the enduring interest in clinical radiobiology among Italian investigators.Conclusions The survey could be useful to individuate expert partners for an Italian network on clinical radiobiology, addressing future collaborative investigations.

We report on a patient with breast cancer undergoing adjuvant intensity-modulated whole breast and lymph node irradiation with static angle tomotherapy (TomoDirect), who experienced a traumatic ipsilateral humeral fracture and was able to continue radiotherapy with helical tomotherapy and daily dosimetric monitoring by means of the Planned Adaptive module.

The paper presents a fault tolerance control strategy for distributed multi-robot systems. The proposed approach is based on a distributed controller-observer architecture that allows each robot to estimate the global system state using local communication. We derive residual dynamics that allows each robot to detect and isolate faults of other robots, even if they are not directly connected. Then, maximum time values to detect the faults are used to implement a fault tolerant control strategy that, in case of fault of one of the robots, allows to reconfigure the team. Numerical simulation results are provided to validate the approach.

In this technical note a decentralized controller-observer scheme for a multi-agent system is presented. The key idea is to develop, for each agent, an observer of the collective system's state and a motion controller. The observer is updated using only information from the agent itself and from its neighbors; the motion controller is designed in order to allow the team's weighted centroid to track an assigned time-varying reference. Convergence of the overall scheme is proven for directed and undirected communication graphs; moreover the extensions to the case of switching communication topologies and to the presence of saturation in the control input are discussed. Finally, numerical simulations are illustrated to validate the approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents an overview on the use of a behavior-based approach, namely the Null-Space-based Behavioral (NSB) approach, to control multi-robot systems in a wide application domain. The NSB approach has been recently developed to control the motion of generic robotic systems; it uses a projection mechanism to combine the multiple, prioritized, behaviors that compose the robotic mission so that the lower priority behaviors do not effect the higher priority ones. In this paper we describe how the NSB approach has been used to control different multi-robot systems (e.g., composed of wheeled and marine robots) to achieve missions such as formation control, entrapping/escorting of targets, control of mobile ad-hoc networks, flocking, border patrol and cooperative caging.

This paper investigates the implementation of a wireless mobile ad hoc network to guarantee that an autonomous agent (an autonomously driven mobile vehicle or a human), remains connected to a fixed base station while performing its own mission. To this purpose, the use of a platoon of mobile robots is proposed to carry a number of repeater antennas; these are suitably moved to dynamically ensure a multi hop communication link to the moving agent, hence extending and adapting the area covered by the sole base station. Self-configuration of the robots' platoon is achieved by a singularity-robust task-priority inverse kinematics algorithm via the definition of suitable task functions. The obtained simulation results show the effectiveness of the proposed approach.

First, to test the validity of self-reported quality of care and treatment measures compared with medical records and administrative data for: eye examinations, hemoglobin A1C tests, and use of insulin and oral agents for adult patients with diabetes; and secondly to assess the consistency between medical record information and administrative data for the same measures plus microalbumin testing.

Background. Baroreflex sensitivity provides useful prognostic information in patients after acute myocardial infarction. However, no data are available about the effects of converting enzyme inhibition on this variable.

Standard deviation of the histogram of left ventricular phase distribution (SDP-LV) obtained by radionuclide angiography (RNA) was studied in 75 acute myocardial infarction (AMI) patients, 37 with anterior or anteroseptal (Group A) and 38 with inferior, inferolateral or posterior necrosis (Group I). In order to evaluate sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of SDP-LV compared to ejection fraction (EF) and peak filling rate (PFR), 16 controls and 29 patients with coronary artery disease with normal kinesis proved by angiogaphy were studied. Patients were also compared according to normal or abnormal EF and PFR.

The effects of captopril and digoxin treatment on left ventricular remodeling and function after anterior myocardial infarction were evaluated in a randomized unblinded trial. Fifty-two patients with a first transmural anterior myocardial infarction and a radionuclide left ventricular ejection fraction <40% were randomly assigned to treatment with captopril (Group A) or digoxin (Group B). The two groups had similar baseline hemodynamic, coronary angiographic, echocardiographic and radionuclide angiographic variables.