Predicting failed access in unstented ureteroscopy.

The risk of failed access (FA) in unstented ureteroscopy ranges from 7.7 to 16%, with young females and those with prior ipsilateral stone surgery, narrow ureteral anatomy, and proximal ureteral stone location carrying higher risk. We aim to determine the rate of failed access at our institution and analyze demographic, clinical, and operative variables associated with FA.

Does trocar puncture of the bladder during midurethral sling impact postoperative urinary storage and voiding symptoms?

Introduction And Hypothesis: The incidence of trocar bladder puncture during midurethral sling (MUS) surgery varies widely. We aim to further characterize risk factors for bladder puncture and examine its long-term impact on storage and emptying.

Methods: This is an Institutional Review Board-approved, retrospective chart review of women who underwent MUS surgery at our institution from 2004 to 2018 with ≥12 months of follow-up.

The Effect of Core Stabilization Training on Improving Gait and Self-Perceived Function in Patients with Knee Osteoarthritis: A Single-Arm Clinical Trial.

The treatment of patients with knee osteoarthritis is typically focused on the involved lower extremity. There is a gap in the literature concerning the effectiveness of core stabilization training on the treatment of patients with knee osteoarthritis. This investigation aimed to determine whether core stabilization improved the gait and functional ability of patients with knee osteoarthritis.

Abdominal versus robotic sacral colpopexy: A detailed analysis of outcomes.

Aims: Although abdominal sacrocolpopexy (ASC) is considered the gold standard for surgical repair of vaginal vault prolapse, the open surgical approach has significant morbidity. We aim to compare anatomic and functional outcomes in women receiving either robotic-assisted sacral colpopexy (RSC) or ASC for post-hysterectomy prolapse.

Methods: We present a retrospective chart review of all women who underwent ASC and RSC at our institution and had 12-month follow-up (FU).

Impact of preoperative pelvic floor muscle training (pretraining) on urinary storage and emptying symptoms in women undergoing sling surgery.

Introduction And Hypothesis: Although pelvic floor muscle training (PFMT) is an option for female mixed incontinence (MUI), the role of PFMT prior to midurethral sling (MUS) surgery is not well defined. We hypothesize that preoperative PFMT (pretraining) positively impacts urinary storage and voiding symptoms prior to retropubic MUS.

Methods: We carried out an institutional review board-approved, retrospective chart review of women with stress-predominant MUI undergoing a retropubic MUS.

Transversus abdominis activation does not alter gait impairments in patients with and without knee osteoarthritis.

Background: Knee osteoarthritis accounts for more years of disability than all other forms of osteoarthritis combined. Gait kinetic and kinematic changes, in addition to reduced gait speed, are commonly observed. This study investigates whether core activation, which modifies lower extremity movement in young, active populations, can alter the gait and baseline core activation of those with knee osteoarthritis as compared to controls, and alter osteoarthritic knee pain.

Long-term outcomes of transobturator midurethral slings: A critical evaluation of a real-world population.

Aims: The American Urological Association/Society of Urodynamics, Female Pelvic Medicine and Urogenital Reconstruction stress urinary incontinence (SUI) guidelines strongly recommend the midurethral sling (MUS) for the index female patient with SUI. While numerous studies report long-term outcomes and complications for the retropubic MUS, these are largely absent for the transobturator MUS and are assessed in this study.

Methods: This is an Institutional Review Board approved retrospective chart review of all women who underwent a transobturator MUS at a single institution from 2004 to 2010.

Focal epilepsy caused by single cerebral cavernous malformation (CCM) is associated with regional and global resting state functional connectivity (FC) disruption.

Epilepsy, including the type with focal onset, is increasingly viewed as a disorder of the brain network. Here we employed the functional connectivity (FC) metrics estimated from the resting state functional MRI (rsfMRI) to investigate the changes of brain network associated with focal epilepsy caused by single cerebral cavernous malformation (CCM). Eight CCM subjects and 21 age and gender matched controls were enrolled in the study.

Correction to: Ultrasound localization of lacerated flexor tendon ends in the hand: a cadaveric study.

In the results section of the abstract, it states "99.0% (n = 05/96 tendons)" when it should state "99.0% (n = 95/96 tendons)".

Ultrasound localization of lacerated flexor tendon ends in the hand: a cadaveric study.

Objective: Flexor tendon repair currently requires extensive exposure to locate and repair tendons. Ultrasound (US) has been used to identify lacerated tendon ends with little information on accuracy. This study was designed to measure the accuracy of US to localize tendon ends in zone II flexor tendon lacerations in a cadaveric model.

An original method for staging sleep based on dynamical analysis of a single EEG signal.

Background: The dynamical complexity of brain electrical activity manifested in the EEG is quantifiable using recurrence analysis (RA). Employing RA, we described and validated an originative method for automatically classifying epochs of sleep that is conceptually and instrumentally distinct from the existing method.

New Method: Complexity in single overnight EEGs was characterized second-by-second using four RA variables that were each averaged over consecutive 30-sec epochs to form four-component vectors.

The Fingerprint of Rapid Eye Movement: Its Algorithmic Detection in the Sleep Electroencephalogram Using a Single Derivation.

The strong associations of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep with dreaming and memory consolidation imply the existence of REM-specific brain electrical activity, notwithstanding the visual similarity of the electroencephalograms (EEGs) in REM and wake states. Our goal was to detect REM sleep by means of algorithmic analysis of the EEG. We postulated that novel depth and fragmentation variables, defined in relation to temporal changes in the signal (recurrences), could be statistically combined to allow disambiguation of REM epochs.

The impact of obesity on outcomes and complications after top-down retropubic midurethral sling.

Aims: Obese women (BMI ≥ 30 kg/m ) have been considered at higher risk for postoperative complications and failure in efficacy after SUI surgery. We compare the outcomes in this population with non-obese women (BMI < 30 kg/m ) undergoing top-down retropubic polypropylene midurethral sling (RPM).

Methods: We retrospectively identified 328 non-obese women and 294 obese women who underwent RPM.

Outcomes of three sling procedures at the time of abdominal sacral colpopexy.

Introduction: A sling at time of sacral colpopexy (SCP) for apical pelvic organ prolapse (POP) is valuable in the treatment of overt, urodynamic, and occult stress urinary incontinence (SUI). As there is no current agreement regarding the optimal choice of sling in these women, we compare the outcomes of three sling procedures in this population: autologous rectus fascia bladder neck sling (ARF), retropubic midurethral sling (RPM), and transobturator midurethral sling (TOM).

Methods: We performed a retrospective single institution, single-surgeon review of data identifying women with minimum follow-up of 12 months who underwent a concomitant sling and SCP following urodynamics with and without POP reduction.

A retrospective study of the effects of clostridial collagenase ointment and negative pressure wound therapy for the treatment of chronic pressure ulcers.

Unlabelled: Nonhealing, chronic pressure ulcers present a continuous challenge in the global health care venue, with decreased mobility and the effects of aging on skin placing the elderly at particular risk. Debridement is an important process to decrease risk of infection and promote healing. Enzymatic debridement with, for example, clostridial collagenase ointment (CCO) has been shown to assist with the achievement and maintenance of a clean wound bed in preparation for closure.

Recurrence analysis of the EEG during sleep accurately identifies subjects with mental health symptoms.

Analysis of brain recurrence (ABR) is a novel computational method that uses two variables for sleep depth and two for sleep fragmentation to quantify temporal changes in non-random brain electrical activity. We postulated that ABR of the sleep-staged EEG could identify an EEG signature specific for the presence of mental health symptoms. Using the Mental Health Inventory Questionnaire (MHI-5) as ground truth, psychological distress was assessed in a study cohort obtained from the Sleep Heart Health Study.

Two-group classification of patients with obstructive sleep apnea based on analysis of brain recurrence.

Objective: To demonstrate that the severity of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) could be predicted algorithmically by means of recurrence analysis of the sleep-staged electroencephalogram (EEG).

Methods: A randomly selected cohort of 20 sleep-staged patients with OSA (apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) 5-30) was divided into mild and moderate sub-cohorts (AHI 5-15, 16-30, respectively), and the sleep EEG (C3) was analyzed using analysis of brain recurrence (ABR) (LSU cohort). Twenty distinct but related markers for sleep depth and fragmentation were computed from four ABR variables, and a marker function capable of classifying each patient into one of the two sub-cohorts was determined by linear discriminant analysis.

EEG recurrence markers and sleep quality.

Objectives: To show that EEG markers formed using the variable percent recurrence reliably quantified two related aspects of sleep quality, sleep depth and sleep fragmentation. As hypotheses, the depth marker would increase and the fragmentation marker decrease in patients where improved sleep quality occurred when assessed by polysomnography.

Methods: The patients (N=20) had been diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea during diagnostic polysomnography (dPSG), and had exhibited increased REM sleep (clinical indication of improved sleep quality) during subsequent polysomnography to titrate the pressure of a treatment device (cPSG).

Long-term follow-up of porcine dermis pubovaginal slings.

Introduction And Hypothesis: Outcomes of xenografts in incontinence surgery are uncommon. Our objective was to report long-term outcomes of women after porcine dermis (PD) bladder neck sling.

Methods: Seventy women completed a mean follow-up of 62.

Continuous EEG-based dynamic markers for sleep depth and phasic events.

Sleep architecture is characterized by classifying polysomnographic epochs into mutually exclusive stages. Notwithstanding the clinical importance of staging, it has the drawback of representing sleep as a discrete process. Metrics based on the electroencephalogram (EEG) are needed to supplement conventional sleep staging by allowing a description of sleep in terms of unitary, continuous markers.

Increased determinism in brain electrical activity occurs in association with multiple sclerosis.

Objective: Increased determinism (decreased complexity) of brain electrical activity has been associated with some brain diseases. Our objective was to determine whether a similar association occurred for multiple sclerosis (MS).

Methods: Ten subjects with a relapsing-remitting course of MS who were in remission were studied; the controls were age- and gender-matched clinically normal subjects.

Electromagnetic hypersensitivity: evidence for a novel neurological syndrome.

Objective: We sought direct evidence that acute exposure to environmental-strength electromagnetic fields (EMFs) could induce somatic reactions (EMF hypersensitivity).

Methods: The subject, a female physician self-diagnosed with EMF hypersensitivity, was exposed to an average (over the head) 60-Hz electric field of 300 V/m (comparable with typical environmental-strength EMFs) during controlled provocation and behavioral studies.

Results: In a double-blinded EMF provocation procedure specifically designed to minimize unintentional sensory cues, the subject developed temporal pain, headache, muscle twitching, and skipped heartbeats within 100 s after initiation of EMF exposure (p < .

Transient and steady-state magnetic fields induce increased fluorodeoxyglucose uptake in the rat hindbrain.

We inquired into the biophysical basis of the ability of weak electromagnetic fields (EMFs) to trigger onset and offset evoked potentials, and to produce steady-state changes in the electroencephalogram (EEG). Rats were exposed to a 2.5-G, 60-Hz magnetic field and the neuroanatomical region of glucose activation associated with the effect of the field on the EEG was identified by positron emission tomography (PET) using fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG).

Simulated MR magnetic field induces steady-state changes in brain dynamics: Implications for interpretation of functional MR studies.

We examined whether a magnetic field comparable to one of the fields produced during MRI induced steady-state changes in brain electrical activity while the field was applied (called a presence effect to distinguish it from evoked potentials). The electroencephalogram was measured from standard scalp locations in the presence and absence of 100-200 microT, 60 Hz, and the effect of the field was evaluated by nonlinear (recurrence analysis) and linear techniques; individual subjects served as their own controls. Using recurrence analysis, changes in brain activity lasting 1 sec (the longest interval considered) were found in 21 of 22 subjects (P < 0.