Patient-specific risk factors are predictive for postoperative adverse events in colorectal surgery: an American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program-based analysis.

Background: Pay-for-performance measures incorporate surgical site infection rates into reimbursement algorithms without accounting for patient-specific risk factors predictive for surgical site infections and other adverse postoperative outcomes.

Methods: Using American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program data of 67,445 colorectal patients, multivariable logistic regression was performed to determine independent risk factors associated with various measures of adverse postoperative outcomes.

Results: Notable patient-specific factors included (number of models containing predictor variable; range of odds ratios [ORs] from all models): American Society of Anesthesiologists class 3, 4, or 5 (7 of 7 models; OR 1.

Unique risks for mortality in patients with end-stage renal disease undergoing nonemergent colorectal surgery.

Background: The aim of this study was to identify unique risk factors for mortality in patients with end-stage renal disease undergoing nonemergent colorectal surgery.

Methods: A multivariate logistic regression model predicting 30-day mortality was constructed for patients with end-stage renal disease undergoing nonemergent colorectal procedures. Data were obtained from the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (2005-2010).

Unconstrained three-dimensional reaching in rhesus monkeys.

To better understand normative behavior for quantitative evaluation of motor recovery after injury, we studied arm movements by non-injured rhesus monkeys during a food-retrieval task. While seated, monkeys reached, grasped, and retrieved food items. We recorded three-dimensional kinematics and muscle activity, and used inverse dynamics to calculate joint moments due to gravity, segmental interactions, and to the muscles and tissues of the arm.

Piwil2 is expressed in various stages of breast cancers and has the potential to be used as a novel biomarker.

Piwil2, a member of AGO/PIWI family of proteins, has been reported to be expressed in precancerous stem cells (pCSCs), tumor cell lines and various types of human cancers. However, the significance of piwil2 expression in breast cancer has not been investigated. In this study, archival formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded breast cancer specimens at various developmental stages were prepared as tissue microarrays (TMAs) and examined for the expressions of piwil2, estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR) and a cell proliferation marker Ki67 by immunohistochemical (IHC) staining and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH).

Barbed suture for gastrointestinal closure: a randomized control trial.

In an effort to make laparoscopic suturing more efficient, the V-Loc advanced wound closure device (Covidien, Mansfield, MA) has been produced. This device is a self-anchoring barbed suture that obviates the need for knot tying. The goal of this initial feasibility study was to investigate the use of the barbed suture in gastrointestinal enterotomy closure.