More is less: image enhancement technology reduces radiation exposure during anterior lumber interbody fusion.

Background Context: Fluoroscopy and radiation exposure occur during anterior lumbar interbody fusion (ALIF). Image enhancement technology is available that can potentially reduce radiation exposure.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to evaluate radiation exposure and fluoroscopy times comparing standard fluoroscopy (FL) with a low dose image enhancement platform (LD).

Venous stent patency is independent of total stented length in nonthrombotic iliac vein and post-thrombotic venous stenoses.

Objective: Venous stenting has become the preferred treatment of symptomatic outflow obstruction due to nonthrombotic iliac vein lesions (NIVLs) and post-thrombotic venous stenoses (PTs). A paucity of data exists regarding the effect of stent length on patency rates after intervention. We evaluated the association between stent length and patency in patients treated for iliofemoral venous outflow obstruction.

Novel therapy for recanalization of chronic iliocaval venous occlusion using radiofrequency.

Objective: Chronic venous disease of the lower extremities is one of the most common diseases in the United States. The sequelae of this disease process are the source of a significant amount of morbidity, and its prevalence is expected to increase in the coming decades. Interventional therapy is warranted for relief of patients with CEAP C3-C6 disease.

Antibody response to Raboral VR-G® oral rabies vaccine in captive and free-ranging black-backed jackals (Canis mesomelas).

Rabies is a zoonotic disease that remains endemic in large parts of southern Africa because of its persistence in wildlife and domestic dog vectors. The black-backed jackals (Canis mesomelas) is primarily the wildlife vector responsible for rabies outbreaks in northern parts of South Africa. Two trials were carried out to investigate antibody responses to the oral rabies vaccine Raboral V-RG® in black-backed jackals under captive and free-ranging conditions.

Technical success and short-term results from mechanical thrombectomy for lower extremity iliofemoral deep vein thrombosis using a computer aided mechanical aspiration thrombectomy device.

Background: The symptoms of deep vein thrombosis (DVT) include severe pain and swelling, and the complications can include post-thrombotic syndrome and recurrent venous thromboembolism. Aspiration thrombectomy (AT) treats arterial and venous disease by removing acute thrombus without reliance on thrombolytic agents but also has the potential to remove fresh blood. Intelligent aspiration is designed to minimize blood loss during AT by aspirating continuously in the thrombus but only intermittently when in a patent vascular segment with active flow.

Comparison of aspiration thrombectomy to other endovascular therapies for proximal upper extremity deep venous thrombosis.

Objective: Catheter-directed thrombolysis (CDT) provides an effective method for clearing deep venous thrombosis (DVT). Unfortunately, CDT is associated with hemorrhagic complications. This study evaluated the technical success of the various endovascular therapies including a new mechanical aspiration thrombectomy (AT) device for the treatment of acute upper extremity DVT (UEDVT).

Duplex Ultrasound Surveillance after Transcarotid Artery Revascularization (TCAR) in Clinical Practice.

Background: To propose a protocol for the routine clinical use of duplex ultrasound (DUS) assessment after transcarotid artery revascularization (TCAR) procedures, with its specific point of vascular access, based on DUS data from routine clinical practice.

Methods: DUS data were retrospectively collected at 2 centers from a total of 97 patients who underwent a TCAR procedure with at least 30-day and up to 12-month follow-up. Peak systolic velocity (PSV), end diastolic velocity (EDV), and the internal carotid artery (ICA)/common carotid artery (CCA) PSV ratio were collected at baseline (≤30 days after the procedure) and compared with subsequent measurements.

Intravascular Lithotripsy for Treatment of Calcified Lesions During Carotid Artery Stenting.

Purpose: To report the use of intravascular lithotripsy (IVL) in the treatment of calcified carotid artery lesions.

Materials And Methods: The records of 21 high-surgical-risk patients (mean age 75.1±8.

Transcarotid repair of carotid artery pseudoaneurysm after carotid artery endarterectomy with tandem distal internal carotid artery stenosis.

Pseudoaneurysm development after carotid endarterectomy is a rare occurrence. Even rarer is pseudoaneurysm formation associated with a distal carotid artery stenosis. We report the case of stent grafting of a carotid artery pseudoaneurysm and tandem high-grade distal stenosis through a transcarotid approach with active flow reversal.

New fossil remains of from the Lesedi Chamber, South Africa.

The Rising Star cave system has produced abundant fossil hominin remains within the Dinaledi Chamber, representing a minimum of 15 individuals attributed to . Further exploration led to the discovery of hominin material, now comprising 131 hominin specimens, within a second chamber, the Lesedi Chamber. The Lesedi Chamber is far separated from the Dinaledi Chamber within the Rising Star cave system, and represents a second depositional context for hominin remains.

Fossil Carder Bee's Nest from the Hominin Locality of Taung, South Africa.

The Buxton-Norlim Limeworks southwest of Taung, South Africa, is renowned for the discovery of the first Australopithecus africanus fossil, the 'Taung Child'. The hominin was recovered from a distinctive pink calcrete that contains an abundance of invertebrate ichnofauna belonging to the Coprinisphaera ichnofacies. Here we describe the first fossil bee's nest, attributed to the ichnogenus Celliforma, from the Plio-Pleistocene of Africa.

Initial Experiences with Endovascular Management of Submassive Pulmonary Embolism: Is It Safe?

Background: Interventional strategies for massive and submassive pulmonary embolism (smPE) have historically included either systematic intravenous thrombolytic alteplase or surgical embolectomy, both of which are associated with significant morbidity and mortality. However, with the advent of endovascular techniques, recent studies have suggested that an endovascular approach to the treatment of acute smPE may be both safe and effective with excellent outcomes. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the outcomes of patients who have undergone catheter-directed thrombolysis (CDT) for smPE at our institution in an effort to determine the safety of the procedure.

Venous duplex and pathologic differences in thrombus characteristics between de novo deep vein thrombi and endovenous heat-induced thrombi.

Objective: Superficial venous reflux disease has been treated with endovenous ablation techniques for more than 15 years. Thrombi discovered in the postoperative period are referred to as endovenous heat-induced thrombi (EHIT). In spite of the few studies of the ultrasound differentiation between EHIT and deep vein thrombi (DVT), there remains a paucity of literature regarding the evaluation of ultrasound examination and pathologic differentiation.

Initial experience with HARMONIC FOCUS® inguinal exposure in endovascular aortic aneurysm repair.

Background: An inguinal exposure provides adequate access to the femoral vessels, but with it comes risk of wound complications. Ultrasonic shears and blades have been shown to decrease complications in other anatomic dissections. There remains a paucity of literature on the usage of ultrasonic harmonic dissection techniques in the vascular surgery realm.

Brief communication: beyond the South African cave paradigm--Australopithecus africanus from Plio-Pleistocene paleosol deposits at Taung.

Following the discovery of the "Taung Child" (Australopithecus africanus) in 1924 in the Buxton-Norlim Limeworks near Taung, the fossil-bearing deposits associated with the Dart and Hrdlička pinnacles have been interpreted as the mined remnants of cave sediments that formed within the Plio-Pleistocene Thabaseek Tufa: either as a younger cave-fill or as contemporaneous carapace caves. When combined with the Plio-Pleistocene dolomitic cave deposits from the "Cradle of Humankind," a rather restricted view emerges that South African early hominins derived from cave deposits, whereas those of east and central Africa are derived from fluvio-lacustrine and paleosol deposits. We undertook a sedimentological and paleomagnetic analysis of the pink-colored deposit (PCS) from which the "Taung Child" is purported to have derived and demonstrate that it is a calcrete, a carbonate-rich pedogenic sediment, which formed on the paleo-land surface.

Carnivoran remains from the Malapa hominin site, South Africa.

Recent discoveries at the new hominin-bearing deposits of Malapa, South Africa, have yielded a rich faunal assemblage associated with the newly described hominin taxon Australopithecus sediba. Dating of this deposit using U-Pb and palaeomagnetic methods has provided an age of 1.977 Ma, being one of the most accurately dated, time constrained deposits in the Plio-Pleistocene of southern Africa.

Geological setting and age of Australopithecus sediba from southern Africa.

We describe the geological, geochronological, geomorphological, and faunal context of the Malapa site and the fossils of Australopithecus sediba. The hominins occur with a macrofauna assemblage that existed in Africa between 2.36 and 1.

Deep Snow Immersion Deaths.

In brief Three snowboarders died in separate but nearly identical accidents after becoming buried head down in deep snow. After extricating each patient, the ski patrol immediately began cardiopulmonary resuscitation. On arrival at the emergency department, each patient was asystolic, apneic, cold, and stiff.