Publications by authors named "J HELLER"
Background And Objectives: A few studies have compared the value (outcomes per dollar spent) provided by transforaminal endoscopic discectomy (TED) vs microdiscectomy (MD) for lumbar disc herniations. Here, we attempt to address this gap using a novel Operative Value Index (OVI), which combines a procedure-specific patient-reported outcome with intraoperative cost data based on time-driven activity-based costing.
Methods: MD (n = 95) and TED (n = 23) performed by neurosurgeons at our institution from 2017 to 2022 were retrospectively identified.
Joint acoustic emissions (JAEs) have been used as a non-invasive sensing modality of joint health for different conditions such as acute injuries, osteoarthritis (OA), and rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Recent hardware improvements for sensing JAEs have made at-home sensing to supplement clinical visits a possibility. To complement these advances, models must be improved for JAEs to function as generalizable predictors of joint health.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFArticle Synopsis
- Total disc replacement (TDR) is an alternative to anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF), and this study compares their costs as we shift towards value-based healthcare.
- Using time-driven activity-based costing (TDABC), researchers reviewed the costs of both procedures, analyzing direct and indirect costs through observation and data collection from various departments.
- The results showed that TDRs had significantly higher total intraoperative costs ($12,026) compared to ACDFs ($6,776), with the majority of the cost difference attributed to more expensive supply items, particularly implants.
Constructing tests for skill assessment with competence-based test development.
Br J Math Stat Psychol
November 2024
Competence-based test development is a recent and innovative method for the construction of tests that are as informative as possible about the competence state (the set of skills an individual has available) underlying the observed item responses. It finds application in different contexts, including the development of tests from scratch, and the improvement or shortening of existing tests. Given a fixed collection of competence states existing in a population of individuals and a fixed collection of competencies (each of which being the subset of skills that allow for solving an item), the competency deletion procedure results in tests that differ from each other in the competencies but are all equally informative about individuals' competence states.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFArticle Synopsis
- Neuropathic pain (NP) is a challenging condition that can occur after spinal cord injury (SCI), and this study investigates the brain area called the periaqueductal gray (PAG) and how it relates to NP development using resting-state functional MRI (rsfMRI).
- The research involved 20 participants: 10 SCI patients (with and without NP) and 10 healthy controls, examining differences in functional connectivity (FC) between the PAG and other brain regions.
- Findings revealed decreased FC in SCI patients with NP compared to healthy controls and increased FC in other areas when compared to SCI patients without NP, suggesting significant brain connectivity alterations linked to neuropathic pain after spinal cord injury.