There is a lack of consensus on what the critical outcomes in replantation are and how best to measure them. This review aims to identify all reported outcomes and respective outcome measures used in digital replantation. Randomized controlled trials, cohort studies, and single-arm observational studies of adults undergoing replantation with at least one well-described outcome or outcome measure were identified.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: Comparison between studies assessing outcomes after surgical treatment of cubital tunnel syndrome (CuTS) has proven to be difficult owing to variations in outcome reporting. This study aimed to identify outcomes and outcome measures used to evaluate postoperative results for CuTS.
Methods: We performed computerized database searches of MEDLINE and EMBASE.
Introduction Breast hypertrophy is a common condition that is often treated with breast reduction surgery. A large percentage of breast hypertrophy patients have notable asymmetry between breasts. Methods The purpose of this study was to investigate a method of measuring breast asymmetry, one that allows patients to determine the asymmetry of their own breasts at home with ease, and to assess its accuracy and role in a surgical practice.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Reduction mammaplasty remains critical to the treatment of breast hypertrophy. No technique has been shown to be superior; however, comparison between studies is difficult due to variation in outcome reporting.
Objectives: The authors sought to identify a comprehensive list of outcomes and outcome measures in reduction mammaplasty.
Background: Current guidelines for randomized controlled trial reporting do not require authors to justify their choice of time horizon. This is concerning, as the time horizon when an outcome is assessed has important implications for the interpretation of study results, and resources allocated to an investigation. Therefore, this study seeks to examine the standards of time horizon reporting in the plastic surgery literature.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA well-planned randomized controlled trial (RCT) is the most optimal study design to determine if a novel surgical intervention is any different than a prevailing one. Traditionally, when we want to show that a new surgical intervention is superior to a standard one, we analyze data from an RCT to see if the null hypothesis of "no difference" can be rejected (i.e.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Gynecomastia is a common deformity of the male breast, where certain cases warrant surgical management. There are several surgical options, which vary depending on the breast characteristics. To guide surgical management, several classification systems for gynecomastia have been proposed.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFYou are a new plastic surgeon in the community and you are referred a patient interested in breast reconstruction. The patient is a 35-year-old female school teacher who had a bilateral prophylactic mastectomy 2 years earlier, as she was a BRCA gene carrier. Since she is of a petite build with very little subcutaneous tissue or extra skin in the lower abdomen, you decide that she is not a suitable candidate for an abdomen-based autologous tissue reconstruction.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Post-mastectomy pain syndrome (PMPS) is a frequent complication of breast surgery. There is currently no standard definition for this chronic pain syndrome. The purpose of this review was to establish a consensus for defining PMPS by identifying the various elements included in the definitions and how they vary across the literature, determining how these definitions affect the methodological components therein, and proposing a definition that appropriately encompasses all of the appropriate elements.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: To determine the level of agreement between non-eye care trainees and a trainer (ophthalmologist) in a vision screening program.
Design: Prospective, observational study carried out in 3 phases (Phase I-III).
Participants: Study population included 1228 children, aged 6-14 years, at 5 elementary schools in the city of Hamilton.
The article "Users" guide to the surgical literature: how to perform a "literature search" was published in 2003, but the continuing technological developments in databases and search filters have rendered that guide out of date. The present guide fills an existing gap in this area; it provides the reader with strategies for developing a searchable clinical question, creating an efficient search strategy,accessing appropriate databases, and skillfully retrieving the best evidence to address the research question.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Chlamydia spp. are believed to use a conserved virulence factor called type III secretion (T3S) to facilitate the delivery of effector proteins from the bacterial pathogen to the host cell. Important early effector proteins of the type III secretion system (T3SS) are a class of proteins called the translocators.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPathogenic Gram-negative bacteria use type III secretion (T3S) to inject effector proteins into the host cell to create appropriate conditions for infection and intracellular replication. Chlamydia spp. are believed to use T3S to infect their host cell, and the translocator proteins are an essential component of this system.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Rapid isothermal amplification methods have recently been introduced and they offer significant advantages over PCR.
Objective: To develop a rapid and sensitive M-LAMP assay for the detection of influenza A (H1 and H3) and B that does not require RNA extraction.
Study Design: We designed six primers targeting the matrix genes of influenza H1 and H3 and the NS1 gene of influenza B and developed a M-LAMP assay using a commercially available Master Mix and a real time fluorometer (Genie II, Optigene, UK) that displays real time amplification, time to positivity and amplicon annealing temperature (Tm).
Rapid isothermal amplification methods have recently been introduced, and some of these methods offer significant advantages over PCR. The objective of this study was to develop a rapid and sensitive multiplex loop-mediated isothermal amplification (M-LAMP) assay for the detection of respiratory syncytial virus subgroups A and B (RSV A and B). We designed six primers each for the matrix gene of RSV A and the polymerase gene of RSV B and developed an M-LAMP assay by using a commercially available master mix and a real-time fluorometer (Genie II; Optigene, United Kingdom) that displays real-time amplification, time to positivity, and amplicon annealing temperature (Tm).
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