A simple visual navigation system for an UAV

We present a simple and robust monocular camera-based navigation system for an autonomous quadcopter. The method does not require any additional infrastructure like radio beacons, artificial landmarks or GPS and can be easily combined with other navigation methods and algorithms. Its computational complexity is independent of the environment size and it works even when sensing only one landmark at a time, allowing its operation in landmark poor environments. We also describe an FPGA based embedded realization of the method’s most computationally demanding phase

Relieving chronic breathlessness is a human right

Copyright © Via Medica. Chronic breathlessness, defined as breathlessness that persists despite optimising the treatment of underlying causes, is recognised by recent international consensus as a distinct clinical syndrome. Across our communities, population-based studies of chronic breathlessness expose an enormous burden from this. Among the palliative care population, one in four people die with severe breathlessness despite treatment from a palliative care service. Recently, the relief of breathlessness was claimed to be a human right, particularly when there are treatments available to alleviate the unnecessary suffering caused by chronic breathlessness. The timely recognition of, and response to chronic breathlessness is a crucial clinical skill

Funding models in palliative care: lessons from international experience

Background:Funding models influence provision and development of palliative care services. As palliative care integrates into mainstream health care provision, opportunities to develop funding mechanisms arise. However, little has been reported on what funding models exist or how we can learn from them.Aim:To assess national models and methods for financing and reimbursing palliative care.Design:Initial literature scoping yielded limited evidence on the subject as national policy documents are difficult to identify, access and interpret. We undertook expert consultations to appraise national models of palliative care financing in England, Germany, Hungary, Republic of Ireland, New Zealand, The Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United States and Wales. These represent different levels of service development and a variety of funding mechanisms.Results:Funding mechanisms reflect country-specific context and local variations in care provision. Patterns emerging include the following:Provider payment is rarely linked to population need and often perpetuates existing inequitable patterns in service provision.Funding is frequently characterised as a mixed system of charitable, public and private payers.The basis on which providers are paid for services rarely reflects individual care input or patient needs.Conclusion:Funding mechanisms need to be well understood and used with caution to ensure best practice and minimise perverse incentives. Before we can conduct cross-national comparisons of costs and impact of palliative care, we need to understand the funding and policy context for palliative care in each country of interest

Is Neuropathic Pain a Good Marker of Peripheral Neuropathy in Hospice Patients with Advanced Cancer? The Single Center Pilot Study

Neuropathic pain (NP) affects approximately 30% of patients with advanced cancer. The prevalence of neuropathic pain related to peripheral neuropathy (NP-RPN) in these patients is not known. The aim of the study was to evaluate NP-RPN prevalence in hospice patients and to find out whether the absence of this pain is sufficient to rule out peripheral neuropathy. The study included a total of 76 patients with advanced cancer who were cared for at inpatient hospices. All patients were asked about shooting or burning pain (of the feet and hands), were examined systematically for sensory deficits and had a nerve conduction study performed. NP-RPN was found in 29% of the patients. Electrophysiologically-diagnosed peripheral neuropathy was found in 79% of patients, and the diagnostic electrophysiological criteria for neuropathy were met by one half of the patients without NP-RPN. The severity of NP-RPN was correlated with the clinically assessed severity of sensory neuropathy and the Karnofsky score, but was not correlated with the intensity of the clinical signs of motor neuropathy. The presence of NP-RPN did not reflect greater prevalence of motor and sensory abnormalities in neurological and electrophysiological examinations. The absence of NP-RPN did not rule out polyneuropathy in hospice patients

System for deployment of groups of unmanned micro aerial vehicles in GPS-denied environments using onboard visual relative localization

A complex system for control of swarms of micro aerial vehicles (MAV), in literature also called as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) or unmanned aerial systems (UAS), stabilized via an onboard visual relative localization is described in this paper. The main purpose of this work is to verify the possibility of self-stabilization of multi-MAV groups without an external global positioning system. This approach enables the deployment of MAV swarms outside laboratory conditions, and it may be considered an enabling technique for utilizing fleets of MAVs in real-world scenarios. The proposed visual-based stabilization approach has been designed for numerous different multi-UAV robotic applications (leader-follower UAV formation stabilization, UAV swarm stabilization and deployment in surveillance scenarios, cooperative UAV sensory measurement) in this paper. Deployment of the system in real-world scenarios truthfully verifies its operational constraints, given by limited onboard sensing suites and processing capabilities. The performance of the presented approach (MAV control, motion planning, MAV stabilization, and trajectory planning) in multi-MAV applications has been validated by experimental results in indoor as well as in challenging outdoor environments (e.g., in windy conditions and in a former pit mine)

End‑of‑life care for patients with advanced lung cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: Survey among Polish pulmonologists

Copyright by Medycyna Praktyczna, Kraków 2019 INTRODUCTION There is evidence that people with nonmalignant disease receive poorer end‑of‑life (EOL) care compared with people with cancer. OBJECTIVES The aim of the study was to assess the selected aspects of symptomatic treatment and communication between physicians and patients diagnosed with either advanced chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) or lung cancer. METHODS A questionnaire survey was conducted online among members of the Polish Respiratory Society. RESULTS Properly completed questionnaires were returned by 174 respondents (27.2% of those proved to be contacted by email). In COPD, 32% of respondents always or often used opioids in chronic breathlessness and 18.3% always or often referred patients to a palliative care (PC) specialist. Nearly 80% of the respondents claimed that bedside discussions on EOL issues with people with COPD are essential, although only 20% would always or often initiate them. In people with lung cancer, opioids were routinely used for relief of chronic breathlessness by 80% of physicians; 81.7% referred patients to a PC specialist. More than half of the respondents always or often discussed EOL issues only with the patient’s caregivers or relatives. Younger physicians, those at an earlier stage of their career, those caring for higher numbers of patients with lung cancer, and those who were better acquainted with Polish Respiratory Society recommendations for PC in chronic lung diseases seemed to provide better EOL care for COPD patients. CONCLUSIONS Patients with COPD, as compared with patients with lung cancer, were less frequently treated with opioids to relieve chronic breathlessness or referred for a PC consultation. Discussing the EOL issues with a patient was generally found challenging by physicians, and most often pursued with caregivers instead. The COPD recommendations on PC may prove helpful in providing better EOL care by pulmonologists

A Novel and More Efficient Way to Grind Punching Tools

ABSTRACT A simulation model of punch grinding has been developed which calculates the instantaneous material-removal rate, arc length of contact and temperature based on the kinematic relationships between wheel and workiece and determines the optimum machine parameters to reduce cycle time and achieve a constant-temperature no-burn situation. Two basic outputs of the simulation model include arc length of contact and specific material-removal rate. A thermal model is included in the simulation to calculate maximum grinding zone temperature rise. A novel method is developed to constrain this temperature rise in the simulation. The thermal model inputs a constant value of specific grinding energy and the energy partition, which represents the fraction of the grinding energy conducted as heat to the workpiece. The simulation-based optimization can lead to a drastic reduction of grinding cycle time. Moreover, the limitation of maximum grinding zone temperature rise below the transitional temperature can help to avoid generation of workpiece thermal damage, which includes thermal softening, residual tensile stress, and rehardening burn. The grindability of high speed steel (HSS) is also discussed in terms of power consumption, specific grinding energy and undeformed chip thickness

Do guidelines influence breathlessness management in advanced lung diseases? A multinational survey of respiratory medicine and palliative care physicians

Background: Respiratory medicine (RM) and palliative care (PC) physicians’ management of chronic breathlessness in advanced chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), fibrotic interstitial lung disease (fILD) and lung cancer (LC), and the influence of practice guidelines was explored via an online survey. Methods: A voluntary, online survey was distributed to RM and PC physicians via society newsletter mailing lists. Results: 450 evaluable questionnaires (348 (77%) RM and 102 (23%) PC) were analysed. Significantly more PC physicians indicated routine use (often/always) of opioids across conditions (COPD: 92% vs. 39%, fILD: 83% vs. 36%, LC: 95% vs. 76%; all p &lt; 0.001) and significantly more PC physicians indicated routine use of benzodiazepines for COPD (33% vs. 10%) and fILD (25% vs. 12%) (both p &lt; 0.001). Significantly more RM physicians reported routine use of a breathlessness score (62% vs. 13%, p &lt; 0.001) and prioritised exercise training/rehabilitation for COPD (49% vs. 7%) and fILD (30% vs. 18%) (both p &lt; 0.001). Overall, 40% of all respondents reported reading non-cancer palliative care guidelines (either carefully or looked at them briefly). Respondents who reported reading these guidelines were more likely to: routinely use a breathlessness score (χ 2 = 13.8; p &lt; 0.001), use opioids (χ 2 = 12.58, p &lt; 0.001) and refer to pulmonary rehabilitation (χ 2 = 6.41, p = 0.011) in COPD; use antidepressants (χ 2 = 6.25; p = 0.044) and refer to PC (χ 2 = 5.83; p = 0.016) in fILD; and use a handheld fan in COPD (χ 2 = 8.75, p = 0.003), fILD (χ 2 = 4.85, p = 0.028) and LC (χ 2 = 5.63; p = 0.018). Conclusions: These findings suggest a need for improved dissemination and uptake of jointly developed breathlessness management guidelines in order to encourage appropriate use of existing, evidence-based therapies. The lack of opioid use by RM, and continued benzodiazepine use in PC, suggest that a wider range of acceptable therapies need to be developed and trialled. </p