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Surgical robots have been extensively researched for a wide range of surgical procedures due to the advantages of improved precision, sensing capabilities, motion scaling, and tremor reduction, to name a few. Though the underlying disease condition or pathology may be the same across patients, the intervention approach to treat the condition can vary significantly across patients. This is especially true for endovascular interventions, where each case brings forth its own challenges. Hence it is critical to develop patient-specific surgical robotic systems to maximize the benefits of robot-assisted surgery. Manufacturing patient-specific robots can be challenging for complex procedures and furthermore the time required to build them can be a challenge. To overcome this challenge, additive manufacturing, namely 3D-printing, is a promising solution. 3D-printing enables fabrication of complex parts precisely and efficiently. Although 3D-printing techniques have been researched for general medical applications, patient-specific surgical robots are currently in their infancy. After reviewing the state-of-the-art in 3D-printed surgical robots, this paper discusses 3D-printing techniques that could potentially satisfy the stringent requirements for surgical interventions. We also present the accomplishments in our group in developing 3D-printed surgical robots for neurosurgical and cardiovascular interventions. Finally, we discuss the challenges in developing 3D-printed surgical robots and provide our perspectives on future research directions.

We present a modular sensing system to measure the deflection of a minimally invasive neurosurgical intracranial robot: MINIR-II. The MINIR-II robot is a tendon-driven continuum robot comprised of multiple spring backbone segments, which has been developed in our prior work. Due to the flexibility of the spring backbone and unique tendon routing configuration, each segment of MINIR-II can bend up to a large curvature (≥100 m-1) in multiple directions. However, the shape measurement of the robot based on tendon displacement is not precise due to friction and unknown external load/disturbance. In this regard, we propose a bending sensor module comprised of a fiber Bragg grating (FBG) fiber, a Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) cylinder, and a superelastic spring. The grating segment of the FBG fiber is enclosed inside a PDMS cylinder (1 mm in diameter), and the PDMS cylinder is bonded with the superelastic spring in series. The deflection or bending of the robot backbone segment is translated into an axial loading in the superelastic spring, which applies tension to the FBG; therefore, by measuring the peak wavelength shift of the FBG, the bending angle can be estimated. This paper describes the design, fabrication, and kinematic aspects of the sensor module in detail. To evaluate the proposed concept, one such sensor module has been tested and evaluated on the MINIR-II robot.

With the unexpected onset of COVID-19, governments across the world responded with a range of preventive measures, including the imposition of lockdowns. To mitigate the adverse effects of lockdowns arising from supply chain shocks and employment loss, governments worldwide chose to implement policies to stimulate their economies and keep them working. This study assesses the impact and effectiveness of four of these packages in Bangladesh, employing a mixed-method approach. These packages include "salary support for workers in export-oriented RMG industries", "working capital loans for affected industries and service sectors", "working capital loans for cottage, micro, small, and medium enterprises", and initiatives for "revitalizing the rural economy and job creation". Each package was examined individually because of their differences in beneficiary groups, implementation methods, and individual objectives. Quantitative analysis involved propensity score matching (PSM), the difference in difference model (DID), and structural equation modelling (SEM). Stakeholders, including policy implementers, Bangladesh Bank officials, policy analysts, academics, workers, and beneficiaries, contributed to the qualitative analysis through extensive key-informant interviews, providing a comprehensive assessment of intervention outcomes. Ultimately, the results show that the packages achieved their socio-economic relief objectives for beneficiaries. The research examined both positive impacts and challenges in their implementation. It suggests that all four packages successfully achieved their goals, such as providing social and economic support, sustaining livelihoods, addressing marginalized groups' needs, ensuring survival for large industries and small businesses, and promoting employment. In order to better address future shocks, establishing a beneficiary database integrated with the national system is recommended for smoother policy rollout. Despite acknowledged limitations, including challenges in beneficiary identification, data availability, and time constraints, the study's unbiased estimations provide valuable insights to guide future policy directions in similar situations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This cross-sectional study has been conducted in the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University Gynaecology and Obstetrics Division on 72 patients who have been admitted from December 2018 to March 2019, in order to find out the percentage of pregnancy-induced high blood pressure among pregnant mothers. Of the 72 patients, 25(34.7%) have been diagnosed with pre-eclamptictoxaemia 27(37.1%) induced pregnancy and 20(27.8%) with eclampsia. Most people were 21-25 years old and their average age was 25.3 years old. Of the 72 patients, 38 were primipara (52.8 percent). 20 (27.8%) of newborns were delivered before 37 weeks, while 52 (72,2%) were delivered before 37 weeks. A cesarean section was available in 37 of all patients (51 percent). The cesarean portion in PIH & PET was higher. Of the 72 newborn patients 16(22.2%) were low in birth weight, and patients with ecclampsy were more likely to experience low birth weight. 35 of 72 patients had poor fetal results, including 1.4 percent perinatal and 33.3 percent asphyxiated infants. Only 5 (6.5 percent) had complications in maternal outcomes such as strokes, renal eclampsia. All participants in this study are women who are pregnant and receive prenatal care. WHO normally recommends patients with an antecedent of antenatal treatment less than 4 times eclampsia. In patients with eclampsia it is more common to see low birth weight, pre-term delivery and the complication for prenatal mortality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under five child mortality is one of the serious public health issues in all over the world especially in South Asian region. Significant achievements have been made in last ten decades to reduce child mortality globally, but South Asian region still has one of the highest child mortalities in the world (51 deaths per 1000 live births). Out of ten child deaths, three occur in South Asian region. Various risk factors influence this high mortality rate, however, some of the risk factors show similarities and other varies time to time across countries in the South Asian region. Parents literacy, occupation, household wealth, health care accessibility and utilization, poverty and inadequate food intake, poor access to information, mother’s age and several socio-cultural factors contributes mostly to the high number of mortalities in young children. However, it is imperative to study the country specific reasons and useful comparison of contexts might be useful to address the immediate, underlying and basic causes of child malnutrition. There, this paper aimed to study the difference in under five child mortality in different South Asian countries and determine whether the associated risk factors are similar or different across those eight countries. For increasing the under-five child survival and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, South Asian regional countries needs to give serious efforts on maternal and child health sector as it affects national development. Country specific strategies and interventions should be based on most prevalent risk factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mitral valve repair or replacement is important in the treatment of mitral regurgitation. For valve replacement, a transcatheter approach had the possibility of decrease the invasiveness of the procedure while retaining the benefit of replacement over repair. However, fluoroscopy images acquired during the procedure provide no anatomical information regarding the placement of the probe tip once the catheter has entered a cardiac chamber. By using 3D ultrasound and registering the 3D ultrasound images to the fluoroscopy images, a physician can gain a greater understanding of the mitral valve region during transcatheter mitral valve replacement surgery. In this work, we present a graphical user interface which allows the registration of two co-planar X-ray images with 3D ultrasound during mitral valve replacement surgery.