The Frontiers of Smart Healthcare Systems.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is poised to revolutionize numerous aspects of human life, with healthcare among the most critical fields set to benefit from this transformation. Medicine remains one of the most challenging, expensive, and impactful sectors, with challenges such as information retrieval, data organization, diagnostic accuracy, and cost reduction. AI is uniquely suited to address these challenges, ultimately improving the quality of life and reducing healthcare costs for patients worldwide.

A New Method to Evaluate Pressure Distribution Using a 3D-Printed C2-C3 Cervical Spine Model with an Embedded Sensor Array.

Cervical degenerative disc diseases such as myelopathy and radiculopathy often require conventional treatments like artificial cervical disc replacement or anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF). When designing a medical device, like the stand-alone cage, there are many design inputs to consider. However, the precise biomechanics of the force between the vertebrae and implanted devices under certain conditions require further investigation.

Feeling the beat: a smart hand exoskeleton for learning to play musical instruments.

Individuals who have suffered neurotrauma like a stroke or brachial plexus injury often experience reduced limb functionality. Soft robotic exoskeletons have been successful in assisting rehabilitative treatment and improving activities of daily life but restoring dexterity for tasks such as playing musical instruments has proven challenging. This research presents a soft robotic hand exoskeleton coupled with machine learning algorithms to aid in relearning how to play the piano by 'feeling' the difference between correct and incorrect versions of the same song.

A Review of Finite Element Modeling for Anterior Cervical Discectomy and Fusion.

The cervical spine poses many complex challenges that require complex solutions. Anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF) has been one such technique often employed to address such issues. In order to address the problems with ACDF and assess the modifications that have been made to the technique over time, finite element analyses (FEA) have proven to be an effective tool.

The Impact of Facial Personal Protective Equipment on Speech Intensity.

Importance: Facial personal protective equipment (FPPE) filters small particles in the operating room (OR) but also affects speech production, diminishing the effective transfer of information among OR team members.

Objective: The aim of the study is to assess the attenuating effects of different combinations of layered FPPE on speech intensity, including potential differences in the effect of talkers with varying backgrounds and speaking volumes.

Study Design: We recruited 30 speakers from health and nonhealth occupations with English as either their first or second language.

Human-Caused Sound Distractors and their Impact on Operating Room Team Function.

Background: Patient safety in the Operating Room (OR) depends on unobstructed team communication. Yet the typical OR is loud, containing numerous sounds from surgical machinery overlayed with human-caused sounds. Our objective was to compare machine vs human-caused sounds for their loudness and distraction, and potential impact on team communication.

Biomechanical Study of Cervical Endplate Removal on Subsidence and Migration in Multilevel Anterior Cervical Discectomy and Fusion.

Study Design: This study compares four cervical endplate removal procedures, validated by finite element models.

Purpose: To characterize the effect of biomechanical strength and increased contact area on the maximum von Mises stress, migration, and subsidence between the cancellous bone, endplate, and implanted cage.

Overview Of Literature: Anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF) has been widely used for treating patients with degenerative spondylosis.

Hierarchical Tactile Sensation Integration from Prosthetic Fingertips Enables Multi-Texture Surface Recognition.

Multifunctional flexible tactile sensors could be useful to improve the control of prosthetic hands. To that end, highly stretchable liquid metal tactile sensors (LMS) were designed, manufactured via photolithography, and incorporated into the fingertips of a prosthetic hand. Three novel contributions were made with the LMS.