Sex differences in sociodemographic, clinical, and laboratory variables in childhood asthma: A birth cohort study.

BACKGROUND: There are marked sex differences in the prevalence and severity of asthma, both during childhood and adulthood. There is a relative lack of comprehensive studies exploring sex differences in pediatric asthma cohorts. OBJECTIVE: To identify the most relevant sex differences in sociodemographic, clinical, and laboratory variables in a well-characterized large pediatric asthma cohort. METHODS: We performed a cross-sectional analysis of the Mayo Clinic Olmsted County Birth Cohort. In the full birth cohort, we employed a natural language processing algorithm based on the Predetermined Asthma Criteria for asthma ascertainment. In a stratified random sample of 300 children, we obtained additional pulmonary function tests and laboratory data. We identified the significant sex differences among available sociodemographic, clinical, and laboratory variables. RESULTS: Boys were more commonly diagnosed with asthma than girls and were younger at the time of asthma diagnosis. There were no sex differences in relation to socioeconomic status. We identified a male predominance in the presence of a tympanostomy tube and a female predominance in the history of pneumonia. A higher percentage of boys had an FEV1/FVC ratio <0.85. Blood eosinophilia and atopic sensitization were also more common in boys. Finally, boys had higher levels of serum periostin than girls. CONCLUSION: This study describes significant sex differences in a large pediatric asthma cohort. Overall, boys had earlier and more severe asthma than girls. Differences in blood eosinophilia and serum periostin provide insights into possible mechanisms of the sex bias in childhood asthma.

Automated design of bone-preserving, insertable, and shape-matching patient-specific acetabular components.

Effective treatment of large acetabular defects remains among the most challenging aspects of revision total hip arthroplasty (THA), due to the deficiency of healthy bone stock and degradation of the support columns. Generic uncemented components, which are favored in primary THA, are often unsuitable in revision cases, where the bone-implant contact may be insufficient for fixation, without significant reaming of the limited residual bone. This study presents a computational design strategy for automatically generating patient-specific implants that simultaneously maximize the bone-implant contact area, and minimize bone reaming while ensuring insertability. These components can be manufactured using the same additive manufacturing methods as porous components and may reduce cost and operating-time, compared to existing patient-specific systems. This study compares the performance of implants generated via the proposed method to optimally fitted hemispherical implants, in terms of the achievable bone-implant contact surface, and the volume of reamed bone. Computer-simulated results based on the reconstruction of a set of 15 severe pelvic defects (Paprosky 2A-3B) suggest that the patient-specific components increase bone-implant contact by 63% (median: 63%; SD: 44%; 95% CI: 52.3%-74.0%; RMSD: 42%), and reduce the volume of reamed bone stock by 97% (median: 98%; SD: 4%; 95% CI: 95.9%-97.4%; RMSD: 3.7%).

Electrically mediated self-assembly and manipulation of drops at an interface.

The fluid-fluid interface is a complex environment for a floating object where the statics and dynamics may be governed by capillarity, gravity, inertia, and other external body forces. Yet, the alignment of these forces in intricate ways may result in beautiful pattern formation and self-assembly of these objects, as in the case of crystalline order observed with bubble rafts or colloidal particles. While interfacial self-assembly has been explored widely, controlled manipulation of floating objects, e.g. drops, at the fluid-fluid interface still remains a challenge largely unexplored. In this work, we reveal the self-assembly and manipulation of water drops floating at an oil-air interface. We show that the assembly occurs due to electrostatic interactions between the drops and their environment. We highlight the role of the boundary surrounding the system by showing that even drops with a net zero electric charge can self-assemble under certain conditions. Using experiments and theory, we show that the depth of the oil bath plays an important role in setting the distance between the self-assembled drops. Furthermore, we demonstrate ways to manipulate the drops actively and passively at the interface.

Surveillance of Health Care-Associated Violence Using Natural Language Processing.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Patient and family violent outbursts toward staff, caregivers, or through self-harm, have increased during the ongoing behavioral health crisis. These health care-associated violence (HAV) episodes are likely under-reported. We sought to assess the feasibility of using nursing notes to identify under-reported HAV episodes. METHODS: We extracted nursing notes across inpatient units at 2 hospitals for 2019: a pediatric tertiary care center and a community-based hospital. We used a workflow for narrative data processing using a natural language processing (NLP) assisted manual review process performed by domain experts (a nurse and a physician). We trained the NLP models on the tertiary care center data and validated it on the community hospital data. Finally, we applied these surveillance methods to real-time data for 2022 to assess reporting completeness of new cases. RESULTS: We used 70 981 notes from the tertiary care center for model building and internal validation and 19 332 notes from the community hospital for external validation. The final community hospital model sensitivity was 96.8% (95% CI 90.6% to 100%) and a specificity of 47.1% (39.6% to 54.6%) compared with manual review. We identified 31 HAV episodes in July to December 2022, of which 26 were reportable in accordance with the hospital internal criteria. Only 7 of 26 cases were reported by employees using the self-reporting system, all of which were identified by our surveillance process. CONCLUSIONS: NLP-assisted review is a feasible method for surveillance of under-reported HAV episodes, with implementation and usability that can be achieved even at a low information technology-resourced hospital setting.

Imaging of Biliary Tree Abnormalities.

Pathologic conditions of the biliary system, although common, can be difficult to diagnose clinically. Challenges in biliary imaging include anatomic variants and the dynamic nature of the biliary tract, which can change with age and intervention, blurring the boundaries of normal and abnormal. Choledochal cysts can have numerous appearances and are important to diagnose given the risk of cholangiocarcinoma potentially requiring surgical resection. Choledocholithiasis, the most common cause of biliary dilatation, can be difficult to detect at US and CT, with MRI having the highest sensitivity. However, knowledge of the imaging pitfalls of MRI and MR cholangiopancreatography is crucial to avoid misinterpretation. Newer concepts in biliary tract malignancy include intraductal papillary biliary neoplasms that may develop into cholangiocarcinoma. New paradigms in the classification of cholangiocarcinoma correspond to the wide range of imaging appearances of the disease and have implications for prognosis. Accurately staging cholangiocarcinoma is imperative, given expanding curative options including transplant and more aggressive surgical options. Infections of the biliary tree include acute cholangitis or recurrent pyogenic cholangitis, characterized by obstruction, strictures, and central biliary dilatation. Inflammatory conditions include primary sclerosing cholangitis, which features strictures and fibrosis but can be difficult to differentiate from secondary causes of sclerosing cholangitis, including more recently described entities such as immunoglobulin G4-related sclerosing cholangitis and COVID-19 secondary sclerosing cholangitis. The authors describe a wide variety of benign and malignant biliary tract abnormalities, highlight differentiating features of the cholangitides, provide an approach to interpretation based on the pattern of imaging findings, and discuss pearls and pitfalls of imaging to facilitate accurate diagnosis. ©RSNA, 2024 Supplemental material is available for this article.

Reconstructive Septorhinoplasty for Surgical Correction of Tessier's No. 0 Cleft in Adult Patients.

BACKGROUND: Tessier No. 0 cleft, characterized by a bifid nose, significantly impacts facial development, imposing significant psychological and financial burdens on patients. Correction lacks consensus due to varied presentations and limited documentation of surgical treatments, notably in adults. SOLUTION: Loco-regional soft tissue flaps can address minor deformities, but establishing a robust skeletal framework is often crucial for permanent correction. INNOVATION: This article introduces a novel and effective approach through reconstructive septorhinoplasty for addressing this anomaly.

Risk Factors for Progression of Cervical Congenital Scoliosis and Associated Compensatory Curve Behavior.

Background: This study investigated risk factors for progression of deformity in pediatric congenital cervical scoliosis (CCS) and evaluated the correlation between congenital cervical curves and compensatory thoracic and lumbar curves. Methods: Medical records were retrospectively reviewed for 38 pediatric patients with CCS with a minimum 2-year follow-up. Curve progression was defined as >10° increase in cervical coronal curve angle between presentation and last follow-up. Results: A total of 38 patients (16 girls, 22 boys) with a mean age at presentation of 5.6 ± 4.1 years met the inclusion criteria. Sixteen patients (42%) had curve progression with a mean follow-up of 3.1 ± 3.0 years. At presentation, T1 slope was significantly larger among children with progressive deformities (p = 0.041). A total of 18 of the 38 patients with strictly cervical spine deformity were then selected for subanalysis to evaluate the progression of compensatory curves. Cervical major coronal curves were found to significantly correlate with lumbar major coronal curves (r = 0.409), C2 central sacral vertical line (CSVL) (r = 0.407), and C7-CSVL (r = 0.403) (p < 0.05). Thoracic major coronal curves did not significantly correlate with cervical major coronal curves (r = 0.218) (p > 0.05). Conclusion: In conclusion, 42% of osseous CCS curves progressed over time in the overall cohort, and high initial T1 slope was found to be most highly correlated with progression of cervical deformity. Cervical major coronal curves significantly correlated with lumbar curve magnitude but not with thoracic curve size in isolated CCS, possibly due to the increased flexibility of the lumbar spine which may allow greater compensatory balance and thus have a greater correlation with cervical curve magnitude and possibly progression.

A colostomy for large bowel obstruction at the end of life: What do patients gain from palliative surgery?

OBJECTIVES: Malignant large bowel obstruction (LBO) is a frequent complication affecting women with gynecologic cancers and is an indication for emergent surgery. However, the life expectancy and subsequent medical care utilization are unknown. We sought to estimate overall survival (OS) following colostomy and describe subsequent healthcare utilization among patients with advanced gynecologic malignancies. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective analysis of patients with advanced gynecologic cancers who underwent colostomy with palliative intent due to LBO at our institution between March 2014 and January 2023. Summary statistics were used to describe the clinical and demographic characteristics of the study population. OS was estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method, and we defined healthcare utilization at the end-of-life using criteria published by the National Quality Forum. RESULTS: A total of 78 patients were included. The median age at the time of surgery was 61 (range: 34-83), and most patients had recurrent ovarian, fallopian tube, or primary peritoneal cancer (n = 51, 65.4%), followed by cervical cancer (n = 16, 20.5%), and uterine cancer (n = 10, 12.8%). The median Charlson comorbidity index was 3 and median postoperative length of stay was five days (range: 1-26). The median follow-up for all patients was 4.5 months (range: 0.07-46.2), and the median OS was 4.5 months (95% CI: 2.9-6.0), including 12 patients (15.4%) with <30-day OS and 21 (26.9%) with <60-day OS. In the last 30 days of life, 62.7% of patients were re-admitted to the hospital, 53.0% were seen in the emergency department, and 18.5% were admitted to an intensive care unit. CONCLUSIONS: A significant proportion of patients died within 60 days of surgery, and many had high healthcare utilization at the end of life.

High Velocity Passive Stretching Mimics Eccentric Exercise in Cerebral Palsy and May Be Used to Increase Spastic Muscle Fascicle Length.

Muscle fascicles are shorter and stiffer than normal in spastic Cerebral Palsy (CP). Increasing fascicle length (FL) has been attempted in CP, the outcomes of which have been unsatisfactory. In healthy muscles, FL can be increased using eccentric exercise at high velocities (ECC). Three conditions are possibly met during such ECC: muscle micro-damage, positive fascicle strain, and momentary muscle deactivation during lengthening. Participants with and without CP underwent a single bout of passive stretching at (appropriately) high velocities using isokinetic dynamometry, during which we examined muscle and fascicle behaviour. Vastus lateralis (VL) FL change was measured using ultrasonography and showed positive fascicle strain. Measures of muscle creatine kinase were used to establish whether micro-damage occurred in response to stretching, but the results did not confirm damage in either group. Vastus medialis (VM) and biceps femoris muscle activity were measured using electromyography in those with CP. Results supported momentary spastic muscle deactivation during lengthening: all participants experienced at least one epoch (60 ms) of increased activation followed by activation inhibition/deactivation of the VM during knee flexion. We argue that high-velocity passive stretching in CP provides a movement context which mimics ECC and could be used to increase spastic FL with training.

From Alpha to Omicron and Beyond: Associations Between SARS-CoV-2 Variants and Surgical Outcomes.

INTRODUCTION: The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly influenced surgical practices, with SARS-CoV-2 variants presenting unique pathologic profiles and potential impacts on perioperative outcomes. This study explores associations between Alpha, Delta, and Omicron variants of SARS-CoV-2 and surgical outcomes. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective analysis using the National COVID Cohort Collaborative database, which included patients who underwent selected major inpatient surgeries within eight weeks post-SARS-CoV-2 infection from January 2020 to April 2023. The viral variant was determined by the predominant strain at the time of the patient's infection. Multivariable logistic regression models explored the association between viral variants, COVID-19 severity, and 30-d major morbidity or mortality. RESULTS: The study included 10,617 surgical patients with preoperative COVID-19, infected by the Alpha (4456), Delta (1539), and Omicron (4622) variants. Patients infected with Omicron had the highest vaccination rates, most mild disease, and lowest 30-d morbidity and mortality rates. Multivariable logistic regression demonstrated that Omicron was linked to a reduced likelihood of adverse outcomes compared to Alpha, while Delta showed odds comparable to Alpha. Inclusion of COVID-19 severity in the model rendered the odds of major morbidity or mortality equal across all three variants. CONCLUSIONS: Our study examines the associations between the clinical and pathological characteristics of SARS-CoV-2 variants and surgical outcomes. As novel SARS-CoV-2 variants emerge, this research supports COVID-19-related surgical policy that assesses the severity of disease to estimate surgical outcomes.

Barriers to Participation in a Structured Quality Improvement Initiative to Reduce Avoidable Emergency Department Visits-A Qualitative Study.

INTRODUCTION: Barriers to quality improvement (QI) initiatives in multi-institutional hospital settings are understudied. Here we describe a qualitative investigation of factors negatively affecting a QI initiative focused on reducing avoidable emergency department (ED) visits after bariatric surgery across 17 hospitals. Our goal was to explore participant perspectives and identify themes describing why the program was not effectively implemented or why the program may have been ineffective when correctly implemented. METHODS: We performed semistructured group interviews with 17 sites (42 interviews) participating in a statewide bariatric QI program. We used descriptive content analysis to identify challenges, facilitators, and barriers to implementation of the QI program. All analyses were conducted using MAXQDA software. RESULTS: Results revealed barriers across hospitals related to four themes: buy-in, provider accessibility, resources at participating hospitals, and patient barriers to care. In particular, the initiative faced difficulty if it was not well-matched to the factors driving increasing ED visits at a particular site, such as lack of patient access to outpatient or primary care. Additional challenges occurred if the initiative was not adapted and customized to the working systems in place at each site, involving employees, surgeons, support staff, and leadership. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, findings can direct future focused efforts aimed at site-specific interventions to reduce unnecessary postoperative ED visits. Results demonstrated a need for a nuanced approach that can be adapted based on facility needs and resources.

Immunotherapy in locally advanced cervical cancer: Integrating KEYNOTE-A18 into management strategies.

In locally advanced cervical cancer (LACC), the benefit of PD-1 blockade was unknown. In KEYNOTE-A18, Lorusso et al.1 compared the efficacy and safety of adding pembrolizumab to chemoradiation in LACC and demonstrated favorable outcomes. Given multiple approved indications of pembrolizumab in cervical cancer, strategies for optimal integration into management will be needed to maximize overall survival.

Effect of open vs. closed kinetic chain exercises in ACL rehabilitation on knee joint pain, laxity, extensor muscles strength, and function: a systematic review with meta-analysis.

Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries are common among physically active individuals, often requiring ACL reconstruction (ACLR) for recovery. Rehabilitating these injuries involves determining the appropriate timing for initiating open kinetic chain (OKC) exercises. Although OKC exercises are effective post-ACLR, their use in rehabilitation remains a subject of debate. Therefore, this study aims to conduct a systematic review to determine whether OKC or closed kinetic chain (CKC) exercises result in differences in laxity, strength of the knee extensor muscle group, function, and functional performance in ACL rehabilitation. Five electronic databases were searched for randomized controlled between-group trials (RCTs). Two reviewers independently evaluated the risk of bias using the PEDro scale. We performed a meta-analysis using a random-effects model or calculated mean differences (fixed-effect) where appropriate. Certainty of evidence was judged using the GRADE approach. The systematic literature search yielded 480 articles, of which 9 met the inclusion criteria. The evidence for all outcomes ranged from very low to low certainty. Across all comparisons, inconsistent results were found in outcome measures related to knee function between OKC and CKC exercises post-ACLR. A significant increase in quadriceps isokinetic strength was found in post-ACLR and ACL-deficient knees in favor of OKC exercises at 3 (p = 0.03) and 4 (p = 0.008) months, respectively. A significant decrease in knee laxity was observed in ACL-deficient knees in favor of OKC at 10 weeks (p = 0.01), although inconsistency was noted at 4 months. Finally, a significant decrease in pain was found in favor of early OKC compared to late OKC (p < 0.003). Additionally, in ACL-deficient knees, low load resistance training (LLRT) OKC showed no significant laxity difference compared to controls (p > 0.05). In contrast, high load resistance training (HLRT) OKC had less laxity than controls at 6 weeks (p = 0.02) but not at 12 weeks (p > 0.05). OKC exercises appear to be superior to CKC for improving quadriceps strength 3-4 months post-injury, whether as a part of conservative or post-surgery rehabilitation. On the other hand, OKC exercises seem to be either superior or equally effective to CKC for improving knee laxity, thus presenting their importance in being included in a rehabilitation protocol from the initial phase. Systematic Review Registration: PROSPERO [CRD42023475230].

New Frontiers in Wide-Awake Surgery.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES: After studying this article, the participant should be able to: 1. Explain the most important benefits of wide-awake surgery to patients. 2. Tumesce large parts of the body with minimal pain local anesthesia injection technique to eliminate the need for sedation for many operations. 3. Apply tourniquet-free surgery to upper and lower limb operations to avoid the sedation required to tolerate tourniquet pain. 4. Move many procedures out of the main operating room to minor procedure rooms with no increase in infection rates to decrease unnecessary cost and solid waste in surgery. SUMMARY: Three disruptive innovations are changing the landscape of surgery: (1) minimally painful injection of large-volume, low-concentration tumescent local anesthesia eliminates the need for sedation for many procedures over the entire body; (2) epinephrine vasoconstriction in tumescent local anesthesia is a good alternative to the tourniquet and proximal nerve blocks in extremity surgery (sedation for tourniquet pain is no longer required for many procedures); and (3) evidence-based sterility and the elimination of sedation enable many larger procedures to move out of the main operating room into minor procedure rooms with no increase in infection rates. This continuing medical education article explores some of the new frontiers in which these changes affect surgery all over the body.

Quantitative radiomics and qualitative LI-RADS imaging descriptors for non-invasive assessment of ß-catenin mutation status in hepatocellular carcinoma.

PURPOSE: Gain-of-function mutations in CTNNB1, gene encoding for ß-catenin, are observed in 25-30% of hepatocellular carcinomas (HCCs). Recent studies have shown ß-catenin activation to have distinct roles in HCC susceptibility to mTOR inhibitors and resistance to immunotherapy. Our goal was to develop and test a computational imaging-based model to non-invasively assess ß-catenin activation in HCC, since liver biopsies are often not done due to risk of complications. METHODS: This IRB-approved retrospective study included 134 subjects with pathologically proven HCC and available ß-catenin activation status, who also had either CT or MR imaging of the liver performed within 1 year of histological assessment. For qualitative descriptors, experienced radiologists assessed the presence of imaging features listed in LI-RADS v2018. For quantitative analysis, a single biopsy proven tumor underwent a 3D segmentation and radiomics features were extracted. We developed prediction models to assess the ß-catenin activation in HCC using both qualitative and quantitative descriptors. RESULTS: There were 41 cases (31%) with ß-catenin mutation and 93 cases (69%) without. The model's AUC was 0.70 (95% CI 0.60, 0.79) using radiomics features and 0.64 (0.52, 0.74; p = 0.468) using qualitative descriptors. However, when combined, the AUC increased to 0.88 (0.80, 0.92; p = 0.009). Among the LI-RADS descriptors, the presence of a nodule-in-nodule showed a significant association with ß-catenin mutations (p = 0.015). Additionally, 88 radiomics features exhibited a significant association (p < 0.05) with ß-catenin mutations. CONCLUSION: Combination of LI-RADS descriptors and CT/MRI-derived radiomics determine ß-catenin activation status in HCC with high confidence, making precision medicine a possibility.

Conversion of sleeve gastrectomy to Roux-en-Y gastric bypass: impact on reflux and weight loss.

BACKGROUND: Sleeve gastrectomy (SG) is the most commonly performed weight loss operation, and its 2 most common complications are postoperative reflux and weight recurrence. There is limited evidence to guide decision-making in treating these conditions. OBJECTIVES: To determine the efficacy of conversion of SG to Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB) for GERD management and weight loss. SETTING: Forty-one hospitals in Michigan. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective cohort study examining patients who underwent conversion of SG to RYGB from 2014 to 2022. The primary outcomes were changes in GERD-HRQL scores, anti-reflux medication use, and weight from baseline to 1 year after conversion. Secondary outcomes included 30-day postoperative complications and resource utilization. RESULTS: Among 2133 patients undergoing conversion, 279 (13%) patients had baseline and 1-year GERD-HRQL survey data and anti-reflux medication data. GERD-HRQL scores decreased significantly from 24.6 to 6.6 (P < .01). Among these, 207 patients (74%) required anti-reflux medication at baseline, with only 76 patients (27%) requiring anti-reflux medication at 1 year postoperatively (P < .01). Of the 380 patients (18%) with weight loss data, mean weight decreased by 68.4lbs, with a 24.3% decline in total body weight and 51.5% decline in excess body weight. In terms of 30-day complications, 308 (14%) patients experienced any complication and 89 (4%) experienced a serious complication, but there were no leaks, perforations, or deaths. Three-hundred and fifty-five (17%) patients presented to the emergency department and 64 (3%) patients underwent reoperation. CONCLUSIONS: This study represents the largest reported experience with conversion from SG to RYGB. We found that conversion to RYGB is associated with significant improvement in GERD symptoms, reduction in anti-reflux medication use, and significant weight loss and is therefore an effective treatment for GERD and weight regain after SG. However, the risks and benefits of conversion surgery should be carefully considered, especially in patients with significant comorbidity burden.