Elective time during dermatology residency: A survey of residents and program directors.

Elective time during residency training provides residents with exposure to different subspecialties. This opportunity gives residents the chance tonurture growth in particular areas of interest and broaden their knowledge base in certain topics in dermatology by having the chance to work withexperts in the field. The purpose of this study was to assess the views of residency program directors and dermatology residents on the value of elective time through a cross sectional survey. An eight-questionIRB exempt survey was sent out to 113 residency program directors via email through the American Professors of Dermatology (APD) program director listserv. Program directors were asked to forward a separate set of 9 questions to their residents. The majority of programs that responded allowed for some elective time within their schedule, often duringthe PGY 4 (3rd year of dermatology training), but the amount of time allowed widely varied among many residency programs. Overall, residents and program directors agree that elective is important in residencytraining, but no standardization is established across programs.

Dynamic electromyography after cruciate-retaining total knee arthroplasty revealed a threefold quadriceps demand compared with the contralateral normal knee.

Quadriceps functional impairment accounts for a considerable amount of morbidity after knee replacement. Cruciate-retaining total knee arthroplasty (CR-TKA) may predispose to increased quadriceps demand. We compared bilateral relative quadriceps effort in seven patients with successful unilateral CR-TKA at least 2years after surgery. Dynamic electromyography (EMG) recorded quadriceps activity during walking recorded simultaneously with gait analysis using IDEEA. There was greater EMG activity for the operated knees, both in amplitude (43.08±26.47 vs. 16.02±5.38, P=.0355), and the area under the curve (7231.1±3869.8 vs. 2547.3±1007.9, P=.0267). The onset and duration of muscle activity were similar for both knees (P=.74). CR-TKA demonstrated threefold EMG activity and muscle effort during normal walking. The study suggested that quadriceps functional deficiency is associated with CR-TKA.