Objective: Occult pneumothoraces (OPTXs) are defined by air within the pleural space that is not visible on conventional chest radiographs (CXR). The aim of this study was to understand how frequently the Extended Focused Assessment with Sonography for Trauma (eFAST) examination identifies occult PTX in a pediatric blunt trauma population as compared with a criterion standard of chest computed tomography (CCT).
Methods: This study is a secondary analysis of blunt trauma patients younger than 18 years who underwent CCT at Los Angeles County +USC Medical Center Emergency Department from October 2015 to April 2017.
Primary hyperparathyroidism is most commonly caused by adenoma formation in one of the 4 parathyroid glands. The presence of ectopic parathyroid tissue is relatively common and can lead to difficulties in identification and treatment if affected by adenoma. This report describes the case of a 45-year-old female who presented 10 years status post thyroidectomy with symptomatic hyperparathyroidism and found to have ectopic parathyroid adenoma in the anterior mediastinum.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate localized muscle fatigue responses at three upper-extremity ergonomics threshold limit value (TLV) duty cycles.
Background: Recently, a TLV equation was published to help mitigate excessive development of localized muscle fatigue in repetitive upper limb tasks. This equation predicts acceptable levels of maximal voluntary contraction (% MVC) for a given duty cycle (DC).
While metastatic disease to the breast has been documented from many primary neoplasms with incidence ranging from 0.2% to approximately 2.7% among reported clinical cases, breast cancer metastases resulting from a primary lung neoplasm is significantly less commonly reported in the literature.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFForearm rotation (supination/pronation) alters corticospinal excitability to the biceps brachii, but it is unclear whether corticospinal excitability is influenced by joint angle, muscle length, or both. Thus the purpose of this study was to separately examine elbow joint angle and muscle length on corticospinal excitability. Corticospinal excitability to the biceps and triceps brachii was measured using motor evoked potentials (MEPs) elicited via transcranial magnetic stimulation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: To determine the radiation risk to a child undergoing trauma evaluation with chest computed tomography (CCT) for every clinically actionable injury identified.
Study Design: This observational, cross-sectional study included all blunt trauma patients under 18 years of age undergoing CCT in a single urban emergency department. Via a retrospective chart review, therapeutic interventions done exclusively for chest injuries identified on CCT scan were identified.