Technological advances have enabled new paradigms for skill training using virtual reality and robotics. We present three recent research advances in the field of virtual reality and human-robot interaction for training. First, skill assessment in these systems is discussed, with an emphasis on the derivation of meaningful and objective quantitative performance metrics from motion data acquired...

Liver transplantation is one of the most spectacular of surgical achievements. It is a demanding and expensive procedure, requiring great surgical skill and a great depth of supporting services. Precisely because it is a procedure at the leading edge of medicine, more and more units in developed countries are pressing to be allowed to carry it out. But there are many moral and ethical problems,...

BACKGROUND Surgical interventions are complex, which complicates their rigorous assessment through randomised clinical trials. An important component of complexity relates to surgeon experience and the rate at which the required level of skill is achieved, known as the learning curve. There is considerable evidence that operator performance for surgical innovations will change with increasing e...

BACKGROUND Drug abuse is now-a-days one of the gravest social harms. Recent years have experienced a drastic rise in drug abuse among school and university students. Thus, the need for special attention to the issue is deemed important. The present study was conducted with the aim of assessing the impact of life skills training on promotion of drug abuse preventive behaviors. METHODS This fie...

INTRODUCTION There is paucity in the research on transfer validity of arthroscopic simulator training. The aim of this article is to determine whether skills derived from arthroscopic simulation are transferrable to the operating theatre and retained over time. METHODS A systematic review with rigorous criteria to identify the highest level of evidence available was carried out. The studies w...

INTRODUCTION The widespread growth of robotic minimally invasive surgery has led to the need for a standardized training curriculum. Toward that end, the Institute for Surgical Excellence is conducting the Fundamentals of Robotic Surgery (FRS) validation trial. This multi-site study is testing both novice and experienced surgeons using Intuitive Surgical da Vinci robots and robot simulators. Wh...

Herein we describe a standardized approach to teach endoscopic injection therapy to repair vesicoureteral reflux utilizing the CEVL method, an internet-accessed platform. The content was developed through collaboration of the authors' clinical and computer expertises. This application provides personnel training, examination, and procedure skill documentation through the use of online text with...

With this PCell wrapper, MGEN layout generators appear like usual SKILL based PCells within DF II. A wrapper PCell must be created for each layout generator. The wrapper PCells just differ in the parameters declarations and the corresponding construction of the layout generator command line. The MGEN environment creates the wrapper PCells automatically. mgenlayoutcds mostran model=nreg w=1u l=1...

Improvements in motor sequence learning come about via goal-based learning of the sequence of visual stimuli and muscle-based learning of the sequence of movement responses. In young adults, consolidation of goal-based learning is observed after intervals of sleep but not following wake, whereas consolidation of muscle-based learning is greater following intervals with wake compared to sleep. W...