Osteoarthritis (OA) is progressive joint disease characterized by joint inflammation and a reparative bone response and is one of the top five most disabling conditions that affects more than one-third of persons > 65 years of age, with an average estimation of about 30 million Americans currently affected by this disease. Global estimates reveal more than 100 million people are affected by OA. The financial expenditures for the care of persons with OA are estimated at a total annual national cost estimate of $15.5-$28.6 billion per year. As the number of people >65 years increases, so does the prevalence of OA and the need for cost-effective treatment and care. Developing a treatment strategy which encompasses the underlying physiology of degenerative joint disease is crucial, but it should be considerate to the different age ranges and different population needs. This paper focuses on different exercise and treatment protocols (pharmacological and non-pharmacological), the outcomes of a rehabilitation center, clinician-directed program versus an at home directed individual program to view what parameters are best at reducing pain, increasing functional independence, and reducing cost for persons diagnosed with knee OA.

Spastic cerebral palsy (CP) is the one of most common neurological disorders occurring due to damage to the immature brain or any other brain lesion at the time of birth. To aid in making the life of the CP patient meaningful, several interventions such as medical, surgical and rehabilitation have been employed to date. Besides these, recently repetitive Transcranial magnetic stimulation (r-TMS) is a new found approach which is being employed for treating various neurological and psychological conditions. The aim of this study was to observe the effects of r-TMS on muscle spasticity in CP patients by stimulating the motor cortex area of the brain, which is responsible for muscle movements. In this study, 20 subjects diagnosed with CP were recruited and 10 each were placed in two groups, namely the research group (RG) (mean age, height and weight were 7.99 (SD = 4.66) years, 116.7 (SD = 23.57) cm and 21.40 (SD = 10.95) kg, respectively) and the control group (CG) (mean age, height and weight were 8.41 (SD = 4.32) years, 107.9 (SD = 26.33) cm, 21.40 (SD = 12.63) kg, respectively). r-TMS frequencies of 5 Hz and 10 Hz were administered for 15 min daily to patients in RG followed by standard therapy (ST) of 1 h duration daily for 20 days. Moreover, the patients in the control group (CG) were given only standard therapy (ST) of 1 h duration for 20 days. Modified Ashworth Scale (MAS) was used as an outcome measure to determine the level of muscle spasticity. A pre- assessment of MAS score was performed on both RG and CG to determine the level of spasticity prior to starting therapy; and similarly post-assessment after 20 days was done to observe the changes post-therapy. Statistical analysis of pre vs post MAS scores showed that few muscles showed reduction in muscle tightness after administering only ST in the CG. On the contrary, the RG that underwent r-TMS therapy combined with ST showed a significant decrease (p < 0.05) in muscle tightness for all the muscles selected for the therapy.

In December 2019, a new disease with pneumonia-like symptoms was spreading throughout Wuhan in China which was entitled as novel coronavirus disease or COVID -19 caused by the virus SARS CoV-2. Within a span of a few days, this disease became a global threat and was termed as a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) on March 11, 2020, since then the disease has affected more than 1.5 crore people worldwide and around 6.9 lakh people in India as of July 5, 2020. The origin of the COVID-19 disease has been traced back to the bats, but the intermediary contact is unknown. The disease spreads by respiratory droplets and contaminated surfaces. In most cases, the virus shows mild symptoms like fever, fatigue, dyspnea, cough, etc. which may become severe if appropriate precautions are not adhered to. For people with comorbidities (usually elderly) the disease may turn deadly and cause pneumonia, Acute Respiratory Disease Syndrome (ARDS), and multi-organ failure, thereby affecting a person's ability to breathe leading to being put on the ventilator support. The reproduction number (Rℴ) of COVID-19 is much higher than its predecessors and genetically similar diseases like SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV. This paper discusses the epidemiological characteristics of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, its phylogenetic relationship with the previous pandemic causing viruses such as SARS-CoV-1 and MERS-CoV and analyzes the various responses to this global pandemic worldwide, focusing on the actions taken by India and their outcomes.

Background: Repetitive TMS (rTMS), a non-invasive neuro-stimulation tool based on the principle of electromagnetic induction is recently being employed both for investigational and interventional purposes. The stimulating effect of rTMS on motor cortex areas of the brain leads to increased motor activity and decreased muscle tone in spastic cerebral palsy (CP) patients. Objective: This modulatory effect of rTMS is used in this study to evaluate its effect on motor function and spasticity by increasing the number of therapy session and keeping frequency of 10Hz and pulse train of 2500 constant. Methods: Total thirty spastic CP patients participated in this study after written informed consent from their parents/guardians. The participants were equally divided into three groups, namely, S-20, S-30 and S-40 depending on the number of therapy sessions. The mean age±SD of participants in different groups were 8.9±3.6, 9.5±2.9 and 8.4±3.5 in S-20, S-30 and S-40 respectively. Participants in S-20, S-30 and S-40 were provided 20, 30 and 40 sessions of rTMS therapy respectively followed by physical therapy of 30 minutes daily. Each rTMS session was of 25 minutes duration and was administered once daily for 5 days a week. Prior to start and after completion of the therapy, pre and post assessment of gross motor function measure (GMFM) for motor function and modified Ashworth scale (MAS) for muscle spasticity was performed on all the participants. Outcomes: The result of pre-versus-post GMFM score showed that 4.27%, 3.12% and 2.36% motor gain was obtained after 40, 30 and 20 sessions of therapy respectively. In addition, significant reduction in spasticity in both upper and limb muscles was also observed in all the three groups.

Objective The global health crisis in the form of COVID-19 has forced people to shift their routine activities into a remote environment with the help of technology. The outbreak of the COVID-19 has caused several organizations to be shut down and forced them to initiate work from home employing technology. Now more than ever, it's important for people and institutions to understand the impact of excessive use of mobile phone technology and electronic gadgets on human health, cognition, and behavior. It is important to understand their perspective and how individuals are coping with this challenge in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The investigation is an effort to answer the research question: whether dependency on technology during lockdown has more effects on human health in comparison to normal times. Methods The study included participants from India (n = 122). A questionnaire was framed and the mode of conducting the survey chosen was online to maintain social distancing during the time of the Pandemic. The gathered data was statistically analysed employing RStudio and multiple regression techniques. Results The statistical analysis confirms that lockdown scenarios have led to an increase in the usage of mobile phone technology which has been confirmed by around 90% of participants. Moreover, 95% of the participants perceive an increased risk of developing certain health problems due to excessive usage of mobile phones and technology. It has been evaluated that participants under the age group 15–30 years are highly affected (45.9%) during lockdown due to excessive dependence on technology. And, amongst different professions, participants involved in online teaching-learning are the most affected (42.6%). Conclusion The findings indicate that dependency on technology during lockdown has more health effects as compared to normal times. So, it is suggested that as more waves of pandemics are being predicted, strategies should be planned to decrease the psychological and physiological effects of the overuse of technology during lockdown due to pandemics. As the lockdown situation unfolds, people and organization functioning styles should be rolled back to the limited dependency on technology.

Recently, significant advances over the past decade have been made in robotics, artificial intelligence and other cognitive related fields, allowing development of highly sophisticated bio-mimetic robotics systems. In addition, enormous number of robots have been designed and assembled by explicitly realising their biological oriented behaviours. To enhance skill behaviours and adequate grasping abilities in these devices, a new phase of dexterous hands has been developed recently with bio-mimetically oriented and bio-inspired functionalities. The aim in writing this review paper is to present a detailed insight towards the development of the bio-mimetic based dexterous robotic multi-fingered artificial hand. An "ideal" upper limb prosthesis should be perceived as a part of their natural body by the amputee and should replicate sensory-motor capabilities of the amputated limb. Upper-limb amputations are most often the result of sudden trauma to the body, although they also can be caused by malignancy, congenital deficiencies and vascular diseases. This paper discusses the different bio-mimetic approaches using a framework that permits for a common description of biological and technical based hand manipulation behaviour. In particular, the review focuses on a number of developments in the inspired robotic systems. In conclusion, the study found that a huge amount of research efforts in terms of kinematics, dynamics, modelling and control methodologies are being put in to improve the present hand technology, thereby providing more functionality to the prosthetic limb of the amputee. This would improve their quality-of-life and help in performing activities of daily living (ADL) tasks with comparative ease in the near future.

Abstract-A novel scheme to control upper-limb prosthesis with toe gesture sensing system is presented in this paper. In the proposed system, copper/polymer stack capacitive touch sensors fabricated on a flexible substrate, interfaced with electronics and wireless transmitters forms a smart sensing insole. The scheme takes advantage of the user making various gestures with their left and right hallux digits in the form of a Morse code. The touch results in change in capacitance of the sensors from 56±2 pF to 75±3 pF, which is readout by an interface circuitry. This is transmitted wirelessly to a computing system attached to the prosthetic hand, which controls it resulting in various upperlimb prosthetic gestures or grasp patterns depending on the corresponding mapped Morse code. The differential current at the output of the capacitor is converted into voltage through an integrator based capacitance-voltage converter(CVC), fabricated with 0.18-μm CMOS technology. The CVC is interfaced with offthe-shelf components. Details of the sensor, sensor interface and system's design, fabrication, validation, and overall functional assessment are presented in this work to show the potential of using toe gestures for upper-limb prosthetic control.

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