Editor’s perspective November 2021
Joseph W.Y. Lau · International Journal of Surgery · 2021
In the October 2021 issue of Editor’s Perspective. I talked on the three central types of automation: fixed automation, programmable automation and flexible automation. However, most of us are more interested in how automation is affecting our life, rather than knowing about the types of automation which can be used. I shall try to summarize how automation is affecting our current and future life by looking at its current and emerging applications [1]: 1. Daily life 1.1. Home Home automation, also called domotics, is a system built to monitor and control attributes to make the home into a smart home. A home automatic system typically connects controlled devices to a central smart home hub (also called a gateway). Such attributes usually include lighting, climate, entertainment systems, but may also include home security such as access control and alarm systems. The increased comfort of these automation attributes is remarkable. 1.2. Workplace For business, automation can enable restructuring of labour resources and improve on areas including marketing, sales workflow and contain costs. For an individual working in an office, automation can help to increase service quality and improve service delivery. For persons working in laboratories, automation has been extensively used and autosamplers are common devices used in laboratory automation. 2. Society 2.1. Power production Solar power panels and wind turbines, together with smart grids, micro-grids and battery storage, are now common technologies used in developed counties as renewable energy sources for automate power production. 2.2. Highway system The demands for safety and mobility in modern traffic have led to the development of automated vehicles and highways. Full automation is defined as requiring no or very little control by the driver. Fully controlled driving would theoretically allow closer vehicle spacing and better speeds, thus enhancing traffic capacity in some special regions, and would also enhance road safety by reducing driver error. An automated traffic system can lead to improved air quality and increased fuel economy as a result of improved traffic flows. 2.3. Retail Supermarkets and even small stores are increasingly using self-checkout systems to improve on their efficiency with less employed workers. Online shopping is a form of automated retail as the payment and checkout are through an automated transaction processing system. The food and drink retail industry has used automation to the ordering process by using mobile and tablet “apps” to make the ordering process more efficient. 2.4. Video surveillance Automated video surveillance monitors people and vehicles in real time. The monitoring can be indoor, outdoor or airborne using stationery or mobile camera. The purpose is to record properties and trajectories of objects in a given area, generate warnings and notify the designated authorities in cases of occurrence of particular events. 2.5. Construction Automation in construction involves a combination of methods, processes and systems that allow for greater machine autonomy in construction activities. The aims are to reduce jobsite injuries, decrease construction completion times with improved quality control and quality assurance. This can also solve the problem of increasing skilled labour shortages in some countries. 2.6. Mining The main aim is to decrease the demand on human labour from the mining process, with improved safety to the mining industry. 2.7. Waste management Automated waste collection systems decrease the need for many workers, and to ease the level of labour required to provide this unpleasant service. 3. Industry Industry automation deals primarily with the automatic of manufacturing, quality control and material handling processes. There have been increased uses of machine vision to provide automatic inspection and in robots in the manufacturing processes. 4. Logistics Logistics automation is the application of computer softwares or automated machinery to improve the efficiency of logistics operations. Logistics are now commonly used in online shopping, operations in a warehouse or distribution center, or by supply chain engineering systems and enterprise resources planning systems. 5. Space Space exploration missions require complex vehicles, habitats, robots and self-sufficient spacecraft systems which can adapt to complex and rapidly changing environments. Thus, ground and flight operations must include automated planning, scheduling and execution to increase the safety of these missions and reduce their costs. I shall talk more on the advantages and disadvantages of automation in the coming issue of Editor’s perspective. In this November Issue of International Journal of Surgery, there is a very interesting article comparing the Orthopaedic surgical training programmes in 10 countries, with a focus on the structures and fellowship requirements. This is an important article to read for those who are interested in surgical training, especially in orthopedic surgical training. There are five systematic review articles, and two of these articles are systematic reviews and meta-analyses. The first systematic review and meta-analysis is on “Minimally invasive versus open donor right hepatectomy”. The authors concluded that the minimally invasive approach resulted in significantly less intraoperative bleeding, postoperation hospital stay and overall complications in donors carried out in experienced centers. However, this approach had a higher incidence of biliary complications. The second systematic review and meta-analysis is on “Changes in appendicitis treatment during the COVID-19 pandemic”. This study concluded that the COVID-19 pandemic had major impacts on the incidences and treatment strategies of acute appendicitis, and the results of this meta-analysis gave support to surgeons who are using antibiotic therapy to treat acute uncomplicated appendicitis. Of the three systematic reviews, one is on “The current status of interventions for type II endoleak after EVAR for abdominal aortic aneurysms”; the second is on “Surgical site infection prevention through bundled interventions in hip replacement surgery”; and the third one is on “artificial intelligence in robotic assisted surgery”. These systematic reviews are interesting articles to go through for those clinicians who are interested in these topics. These three systematic reviews all concluded that better designed studies are required in the future in these areas. There is a randomized controlled trial on “Effectiveness of local anesthetic application methods in postoperative pain control in laparoscopic cholecystectomies”. The author concluded that the various perioperative local administrative methods were effective in preventing pain after laparoscopic cholecystectomy when compared with the control group of patients who were not given any local anesthetic treatment. There are three cohort studies. The first study is a prospective cross-sectional study from a high-volume center which found self-expanding metal ureteral stents for ureteral strictures to be safe and effective. The second study is a health economic evaluation on “Return to work and productivity loss after surgery”. This is a very important article for healthcare administrators and decision – makers on resources allocation and healthcare planning. The third study is a retrospective study on “Robotic-assisted nipple-sparing mastectomy followed by immediate microsurgical free flap reconstruction”. The article concluded that the operation had technical difficulties, but it was safe and produced better cosmetic results than conventional surgical treatment. Finally there is an experimental study on “Bioinformatics analysis identifies CSF1R as an essential gene mediating neuropathic pain”. It is exceptional that International Journal of Surgery accepts to publish articles on basic researches, but this article is important because the results of this study showed CSFIR to play a very important role in neuropathic pain, a type of chronic pain very commonly encountered clinically. There are three Letters to Editor of which two are related to the COVID-19 pandemic, with one letter on “Medical Student engagement with surgery and research during the pandemic, and in supporting the future workforce for post-surgery-pandemic surgical recovery”; and the other letter is “A personal experience of COVID-19 vaccination in pregnancy”. The third letter is on “Assessing the appropriateness of urgent GP referrals to breast clinics in the West Kent region”. There are 8 commentaries on the various articles which have been published in our Journal, and there is one Authors’ response to the commentary made on their published article. I am very impressed about the good qualities of the articles in this issue of the Journal. I hope our readers will share with me that we are now publishing high quality articles which are a joy to read.