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There have been over 481 million cases of Coronavirus Disease-19 (COVID-19), caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide since December 2019 [1]. One of the hallmark features of acute COVID-19 pneumonia is pulmonary vascular involvement, most commonly manifesting as pulmonary artery thrombosis (PAT) [2, 3]. Post-mortem data in ten patients with COVID-19 pneumonia shows their central pulmonary arteries were free of thrombosis but all patients had small, firm thrombi in the peripheral parenchyma [4]. These findings raise the possibility that the CT finding of isolated subsegmental PAT may reflect “the tip of the iceberg”; that small segmental thrombi may reflect downstream in situ thrombosis in the microvasculature. In patients with severe COVID-19 pneumonitis, Dual-Energy CTPA (DECTPA) has been used to demonstrate reduced pulmonary perfusion in the absence of any visible central thromboembolism [5, 6], further supporting the view that microscopic PAT is prevalent [6].

Specifying leg placement is a key element for legged robot control, however current methods for specifying individual leg motions with human-robot interfaces require mental concentration and the use of both arm muscles. In this paper, a new control interface is discussed to specify leg placement for hexapod robot by using finger motions. Two mapping methods are proposed and tested with lab staff, Joint Angle Mapping (JAM) and Tip Position Mapping (TPM). The TPM method was shown to be more efficient. Then a manual controlled gait based on TPM is compared with fixed gait and camera-based autonomous gait in a Webots simulation to test the obstacle avoidance performance on 2D terrain. Number of Contacts (NOC) for each gait are recorded during the tests. The results show that both the camera-based autonomous gait and the TPM are effective methods in adjusting step size to avoid obstacles. In high obstacle density environments, TPM reduces the number of contacts to 25% of the fixed gaits, which is even better than some of the autonomous gaits with longer step size. This shows that TPM has potential in environments and situations where autonomous footfall planning fails or is unavailable. In future work, this approach can be improved by combining with haptic feedback, additional degrees of freedom and artificial intelligence.

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Background: Chronic sinusitis (CRS) includes all inflammatory diseases of the nose and paranasal sinuses with a minimum duration of 12 weeks. Physical examination (anterior rhinoscopy, endoscopy) and/or radiography, ideally from sinus computed tomography, can provide objective proof of the same. After failure of conservative treatment, functional endoscopic sinus surgery (FESS) is the preferred modality for chronic rhinosinusitis that has been frequently used over the past years. Methods: The present prospective study aimed to assess the quality of life (QOL), the nasal endoscopy scores- before and after FESS in 60 patients aged more than 18 years suffering from chronic rhinosinusitis. QOL was assessed using SNOT-20 questionnaire and endoscopy was quantified using Lund-Kennedy sinonasal endoscopy scoring system. Results: QOL scores were significantly higher (p<0.001) before surgery (41.28±15.30) than after FESS (6.83±5.96) indicating improvement in QOL. Lund-Kennedy endoscopy scores of patients suffering from chronic rhinosinusitis before and after surgery was also significantly reduced (p<0.001). Conclusions: This study concludes that there is significant improvement in the QOL and reduction in the severity of symptoms in patients suffering from chronic rhinosinusitis after FESS.