Consonant voicing in the Buckeye corpus.

Many claims about the prevalence of phonetic voicing in English obstruents have been made in the literature over the decades, particularly concerning the stops and affricate [b, d, ɡ, ʤ]. An examination of this literature reveals that many of these claims are based on a paucity of speech data and measurements. For the present study, voiced consonants in the Buckeye corpus of American English (39 speakers) have been measured to determine the percentage of their duration that shows vocal cord vibrations.

Mental rehearsal: A useful simulation adjunct to surgical training.

Background: Simulation is an effective adjunct to surgical training. There is increasing interest in the use of mental rehearsal as a form of cognitive simulation. The mental visualisation of a motor skill is recognised to enhance performance; a concept not novel to surgeons.

Negative pressure therapy for stoma closure sites-a nonrandomised case control study.

Aim: The PICO (Smith & Nephew, UK) dressing is a single use negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT) system that is designed to be used for up to 7 days for closed wounds. We aimed to assess its use for stoma closure wounds.

Method: We conducted a retrospective analysis of stoma reversal wounds from April 2018 to June 2019.

Sensitivity and specificity of phospho-Ser129 α-synuclein monoclonal antibodies.

α-Synuclein (α-syn) is an abundant presynaptic protein that is the primary constituent of inclusions that define Lewy body diseases (LBDs). In these inclusions, α-syn is phosphorylated at the serine-129 residue. Antibodies directed to this phosphorylation site are used to measure inclusion abundance and stage disease progression in preclinical models as well as in postmortem tissues in LBDs.

Reduction in hospital reattendance due to improved preoperative patient education following hemorrhoidectomy.

Introduction: To improve quality of healthcare, patient information must be thorough and easy to understand. This is important in day surgery where patients are seen less often by health practitioners. We looked at the impact of improving patient information in the setting of day-case hemorrhoidectomy in terms of patient satisfaction and whether medical attention was sought after the operation.

Key attributes of a modern surgical trainer: perspectives from consultants and trainees in the United kingdom.

Objective: This study identifies key attributes of a modern surgical trainer as defined by individual trainees and consultant training faculty members.

Design: Using a collaborative inquiry process, we conducted focus groups and semistructured interviews with 32 trainees and 10 consultant trainers in general surgery. This study was undertaken in a single postgraduate deanery in the United Kingdom.

Myocutaneous flap reconstruction of the pelvis after abdominoperineal excision.

Objective: Perineal wound complications after abdominoperineal excision (APE) for anorectal cancer represent a considerable source of morbidity for patients. Strategies to improve wound healing include reconstruction with myocutaneous flaps. This is an evidence-based review of reconstruction of pelvic defects after APE, using rectus abdominus (RAM), gracilis and gluteus maximus flaps.

Breast screening: PERFORMS identifies key mammographic training needs.

The UK Breast Screening Programme has recently expanded the age range for invitation in the prevalent round to 70 years. In contrast, fewer radiologists now choose to specialise in the area of breast cancer screening. In response to this depletion in film-reading personnel, an increasing number of radiographers have been trained as advanced practitioners in order to film-read alongside the current radiologists.

Jass staging is a predictor of outcome following "curative" resection of Dukes' B colorectal carcinoma.

Background And Aims: We have sought to determine if the addition of the Jass pathological classification to Dukes' staging would provide improved prognostic information for patients undergoing curative surgery for Dukes' B colorectal carcinoma.

Patients And Methods: One hundred and eighty three patients who underwent curative surgery for Dukes' B colorectal cancers between December 1988 and January 1998 were identified. An assessment of Jass scoring was made at the time of initial histological staging.

Differential effects of SOCS2 on neuronal differentiation and morphology.

Neuronal differentiation of neural progenitor cells is regulated by a variety of growth and transcription factors, that not only regulate cell fate of the progenitor cells but that can also regulate neuronal morphology. Suppressor of cytokine signaling-2 (SOCS2) is an intracellular regulator of Growth Hormone (GH) signaling that is expressed in neural stem cells and neurons during development and is required to overcome the inhibitory effects of GH on neuronal differentiation. SOCS2 also promotes neurite outgrowth, however, whether the mechanism by which SOCS2 regulates neuronal differentiation and neurite outgrowth is the same is not clear.

A study on the routes of referral for patients with colorectal cancer and its affect on the time to surgery and pathological stage.

Objective: Firstly, to determine the proportion of colorectal cancer (CRC) patients seen within an established two week rule (TWR) system and to observe other routes of referral for CRC patients. Secondly to determine if referral route affects the interval to, and cancer stage at, definitive treatment.

Patients And Methods: GP referrals of patients with CRC were divided into direct surgical outpatient referrals (group 1) and indirect referrals to accident and emergency and medical outpatients (group 2).

Vaginal melanoma: a current review.

Vaginal melanoma is rare, accounting for less than 3% of primary vaginal tumours. It principally affects postmenopausal women, however no risk factors have been identified. Patients frequently present with vaginal bleeding, but the tumour is locally advanced at presentation.

SOCS2 induces neurite outgrowth by regulation of epidermal growth factor receptor activation.

Suppressor of cytokine signaling (SOCS) 2 is a negative regulator of growth hormone (GH) signaling that regulates body growth postnatally and neuronal differentiation during development. SOCS2 binds to the GH receptor and inhibits GH signaling, including attenuation of STAT5 activation. Here we describe a new function and mechanism of action for SOCS2.

Diagnostic lessons learnt from a series of enterovesical fistulae.

Objective: An enterovesical fistula (EVF) is an uncommon condition requiring careful and sometimes extensive preoperative investigation. Our experience over a 10-year period has been reviewed with emphasis on the diagnostic investigations performed.

Patients And Method: Forty-two patients (30 male) have been studied.

Inflammatory bowel disease and pregnancy.

The peak age ranges for pregnancy and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) coincide, and many women develop IBD during their reproductive years. This contribution reviews the major studies on the subject, and is sub-divided into two broad considerations: the effects of the disease on fertility, pregnancy and other factors related to the puerperium, and, conversely, the effects of pregnancy and childbirth on the disease: its natural history and recent surgical treatment options, namely pouch anatomy and function. A systematic review of the literature from 1950 to the present was undertaken using Medline and the keywords inflammatory bowel disease and pregnancy.

Treatment of persistent pruritus ani in a combined colorectal and dermatological clinic.

Background: Pruritus ani is a common and socially embarrassing condition which is often poorly managed. It is often classified as idiopathic where the symptoms are usually transitory or secondary when a more persistent itch is experienced. The aim of this study was to establish the cause of pruritus ani in a group of patients referred to a combined colorectal and dermatological clinic, and to determine the most appropriate treatment.

The use of laparoscopy in a case of appendiceal cystadenoma presenting as pseudomyxoma peritonei in an inguinal hernial sac.

A case is reported of a patient with a benign appendiceal neoplasm presenting incidentally with mucin in an inguinal hernial sac. Only one such case of a benign tumour, and one such case of cystadenocarcinoma, have previously been reported. In neither of these cases was laparoscopy used in diagnosis or staging of the disease.

Perforated diverticulitis following extra-abdominal surgery.

The peritonitis of perforated diverticular disease is a life-threatening condition. We report three cases where it occurred following unrelated extra-abdominal surgery and where surgical intervention proved to be the correct course of management. All cases were treated with a Hartmann's procedure; this is probably the safest option for purulent peritonitis in patients who are a high operative risk and have recently undergone major surgery.

Short-term low dose intracoronary diltiazem administered at the onset of reperfusion reduces myocardial infarct size.

Background: Currently, controversy exists regarding the use of calcium-channel blockers in the treatment of acute myocardial infarction (AMI), due to apparent conflicting results from clinical trials and animal models. One hypothesis to explain such a discrepancy proposes that the timing and duration of drug administration might influence its cardioprotective effect. Pretreatment with calcium-channel blockers or their administration during coronary artery occlusion is associated with the diminished infarct size in animal models.

Evaluation of surgery for perianal Crohn's fistulas.

Purpose: This study was designed to evaluate the operative treatments performed on patients with perianal Crohn's disease at a tertiary referral colorectal university hospital and to determine the efficacy of management by assessing patient satisfaction.

Methods: A retrospective survey included 59 patients with perianal Crohn's disease who had undergone surgery during the period of 1991 to 1993, inclusive.

Results: Twenty-seven patients were treated by laying the fistula open (81 percent successful), and another 27 cases were treated with a loose seton (85 percent successful).