A comparative case study of the accommodation of students with disabilities in online and in-person degree programs.

Fully online degree programs are an increasingly important part of the higher education ecosystem. Among the many challenges raised by the growth of fully online courses and degree programs is the question: Are institutions providing online students with disabilities accommodations that are comparable to those provided to students in traditional in-person degree programs? To explore this question, we compared students in a fully online biology degree program to students in the equivalent in-person degree program at a large research university. For each group, we assessed the frequency with which students register with the disability resource center, the range of specific accommodations provided, and course grades. Results show that students in the in-person program were nearly 30% more likely to be enrolled with the disability resource center, and that students in the online program were offered a narrower range of accommodations. However, in relative terms (i.e., compared to students without disabilities in their degree program), online students with disabilities perform better than in-person students with disabilities.

Tibial fixation of bone-patellar tendon-bone grafts in anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction: a cadaveric study of bovine bone screw and biodegradable interference screw.

BACKGROUND: The use of interference screw fixation for bone-patellar tendon-bone grafts in anterior cruciate ligament fixation is well established. No previous study has compared bovine bone screws and biodegradable interference screws or demonstrated their efficacy for requirements associated with early rehabilitation. HYPOTHESIS: There is no difference in tension loss and pull-out strength between bovine bone screws and biodegradable interference screws. STUDY DESIGN: Controlled laboratory study. METHODS: Anterior cruciate ligament reconstructions with bone-patellar tendon-bone allografts were performed in 40 human tibiae from 20 donors. A bovine bone screw and a polylevolactide interference screw were used for tibial fixation in each pair. A cyclic testing protocol with varying magnitude and orientation of the graft loading was developed. Cyclic tests were performed at 1 Hz for 5000 cycles with a peak force of 200 N applied to the graft. Survival rate and postcyclic-test pull-out strength were compared. RESULTS: Fifteen of 20 reconstructions fixed with bovine bone screws and 17 of 20 fixed with biodegradable screws reached 5000 cycles. Graft tension drop after the 5000 cycles averaged 19.7 N ( +/- 12.9) for bovine bone screws and 18.9 N ( +/- 16.3) for biodegradable screws. There were no significant differences in tension loss and pull-out strength between the 2 types of screws. CONCLUSION: Bovine bone screws are comparable to biodegradable interference screws in providing stable tibial fixation in anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction using bone-patellar tendon-bone allografts. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: The use of bovine bone screws may be comparable to the popular biodegradable interference screws used for anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction in postsurgery rehabilitation.