Assessing the Shift: Increasing Rates of Immediate Breast Reconstruction by Non-Plastic Surgeons - Insights from a Nationwide Analysis.

Background: Breast reconstruction techniques have advanced significantly over the last 50 years and are some of the most common services plastic surgeons provide in the United States. A growing perception exists that these procedures are increasingly performed by non-plastic surgeons, but the validity of this trend and its underlying drivers remain unknown.

Methods: A national insurance database was queried to identify patients who underwent partial and total mastectomy between 2010-2021.

Impact of Preoperative CT-Measured Sarcopenia on Clinical, Pathological, and Oncological Outcomes After Elective Rectal Cancer Surgery.

Patients with rectal cancer may be exposed to a loss of muscle strength and quality. This study aimed to assess the role of preoperative CT-based sarcopenia on postoperative clinical, pathological, and oncological outcomes after rectal cancer surgery. This retrospective monocentric study included patients who underwent elective oncologic resection for rectal adenocarcinoma between 01/2014 and 03/2022.

Assessing the Linking Between the Orthopaedic In-Training Examination and the American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery Part I Certification Examination.

Introduction: Since 2020, the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) and American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery (ABOS) have collaborated to link the AAOS Orthopaedic In-Training Examination (OITE) and the ABOS part I Certification Examination, allowing the identification of a minimum score on each annual OITE that corresponds to a minimum passing part I score. The purpose of this study is to assess the performance of this examination linking over these past 3 years.

Methods: From 2020 to 2022, the AAOS provided each graduating resident's OITE score; from 2021 to 2023, the ABOS provided each examinee's ABOS part I pass-fail result.

Prevalence of ocular Chlamydia trachomatis infection and antibodies within districts persistently endemic for trachoma, Amhara, Ethiopia.

Background: Persistent trachoma is increasingly recognized as a serious concern for the global trachoma program. Persistent trachoma is defined as those districts that have had two or more trachoma impact surveys in which the trachomatous inflammation-follicular (TF) prevalence has never been <5%, the elimination threshold for TF. Enhanced tools such as infection and serological monitoring elucidate long-term transmission patterns within persistent districts.

Activin A activation of Smad3 mitigates innate inflammation in mouse models of psoriasis and sepsis.

Phosphorylation of Smad3 is a critical mediator of TGF-β signaling, which plays an important role in regulating innate immune responses. However, whether Smad3 activation can be regulated in innate immune cells in TGF-β-independent contexts remains poorly understood. Here, we show that Smad3 is activated through the phosphorylation of its C-terminal residues (pSmad3C) in murine and human macrophages in response to bacterial and viral ligands, which is mediated by Activin A in a TGF-β independent manner.