Pancreatic resection in Veterans Affairs and selected university medical centers: results of the patient safety in surgery study.

Background: Pancreatectomy is a high-risk, technically demanding operation associated with substantial perioperative morbidity and mortality. This study aims to describe the 30-day morbidity and mortality for pancreatectomy and to compare outcomes between private-sector and Veterans Affairs hospitals using multiinstitutional data.

Study Design: This is a retrospective review of patients who underwent pancreatic resection for neoplasia at private-sector (PS) and Veterans Affairs (VA) hospitals participating in the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program Patient Safety in Surgery Study in fiscal years 2002 to 2004.

Anti-inflammatory effects of PPAR-gamma agonists directly correlate with PPAR-gamma expression during acute pancreatitis.

Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors (PPARs) are ligand-inducible transcription factors that regulate cellular energy and lipid metabolism. PPAR-gamma agonists also have potent anti-inflammatory properties through down-regulation of early inflammatory response genes. The role of PPAR-gamma in acute pancreatitis has not been adequately examined.

Trends in research support and productivity in the changing environment of academic surgery.

Background: We hypothesized that the changing environment of academic surgery has resulted in a decrease in surgical research funding and basic surgical research productivity of academic departments of surgery.

Materials And Methods: Trends in National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants to Departments of Medicine and Surgery were analyzed from 1992 to 1999. To assess trends in research productivity, selected basic science journals were screened from 1988 to 1999 for the number of basic research publications where authors cited affiliation with a Department of Medicine or Surgery.