Experience with FiberWire for pectus bar attachment.

Background: Minimally invasive repair of pectus excavatum has become an established method for repair of pectus excavatum. Bar displacement or rotation remains the most common complication of this repair requiring return to the operating room.

Methods: Retrospective review of all patients at a single institution who underwent repair of pectus excavatum using FiberWire for bar stabilization between December 2009 and March 2013 was undertaken.

Do all patients with left costal margin injuries require radiographic evaluation for intraabdominal injury?

Study Objective: We determine whether all patients with pain or tenderness to the left lower ribs after blunt traumatic injury require abdominal computed tomography (CT) scanning for the detection of splenic injury.

Methods: This was a prospective, observational cohort of all blunt-trauma patients who had pain or tenderness to the left lower ribs and presented to the emergency department (ED) of a Level I trauma center. Patients were enrolled if they had a Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) score greater than 13 and pain or tenderness to the left lower ribs (ribs 7 to 12).

Halotolerant aerobic heterotrophic bacteria from the Great Salt Plains of Oklahoma.

The Salt Plains National Wildlife Refuge (SPNWR) near Cherokee, Oklahoma, contains a barren salt flat where Permian brine rises to the surface and evaporates under dry conditions to leave a crust of white salt. Rainfall events dissolve the salt crust and create ephemeral streams and ponds. The rapidly changing salinity and high surface temperatures, salinity, and UV exposure make this an extreme environment.

Tacrolimus dose requirement in renal transplant recipients is significantly higher when used in combination with corticosteroids.

Aims: To evaluate the effect of corticosteroids on tacrolimus pharmacokinetics.

Methods: In a randomized trial, kidney transplant recipients were treated with tacrolimus and mycophenolate mofetil with either daclizumab (n = 31) or 3 months of prednisone (n = 34). Tacrolimus dose-adjusted predose concentrations (C0) at month 1-6 were compared between both groups and within the corticosteroid group before and after prednisone withdrawal.