Workplace Hazards in Orthopaedic Surgery Training: A Nationwide Resident Survey Involving Sharps-related Injuries.

Introduction: Surgical specialties are at an increased risk for occupational hazards, including sharps-related injuries. The objective of this study was to report the frequency of sharps injuries and evaluate which characteristics influence the number of injuries and reporting behaviors.

Methods: A web-based, anonymous survey was available for 10 weeks to 46 US orthopaedic surgery residency programs (1,207 potential residents) participating in an education research collaborative.

Acute Workplace Hazards in Orthopedic Surgery: Resident Survey Regarding Splash and Workplace Violence Events.

Introduction: Orthopedic surgery residents are at risk for daily work-related hazards and exposures. Hazards related specific to this specialty includes radiation exposure, smoke inhalation (from electrocautery), and disease transmission through contact with surgical instruments or sharps during procedures. However, minimal research has been focused on other occupational hazard risks in orthopedic surgery including surgical splash events and workplace violence.

What Leads to Lead: Results of a Nationwide Survey Exploring Attitudes and Practices of Orthopaedic Surgery Residents Regarding Radiation Safety.

Background: Excessive radiation to health-care providers has been linked to risks of cancer and cataracts, but its negative effects can be substantially reduced by lead aprons, thyroid shields, and leaded glasses. Hospitals are required to provide education and proper personal protective equipment, yet discrepancies exist between recommendations and compliance. This article presents the results of a survey of U.

Two pole air gap electrospinning: Fabrication of highly aligned, three-dimensional scaffolds for nerve reconstruction.

We describe the structural and functional properties of three-dimensional (3D) nerve guides fabricated from poly-ε-caprolactone (PCL) using the air gap electrospinning process. This process makes it possible to deposit nano-to-micron diameter fibers into linear bundles that are aligned in parallel with the long axis of a cylindrical construct. By varying starting electrospinning conditions it is possible to modulate scaffold material properties and void space volume.

The long term immunological response of swine after two exposures to a salmon thrombin and fibrinogen hemostatic bandage.

Experimental salmon thrombin/fibrinogen dressings have been shown to provide effective hemostasis in severe hemorrhage situations. The hypothesis for this study was that swine would still remain healthy without coagulopathy six months after exposure to salmon thrombin/fibrinogen dressings. Initial exposure was by insertion of the salmon dressing into the peritoneal cavity.

Regulation of material properties in electrospun scaffolds: Role of cross-linking and fiber tertiary structure.

We cross-linked scaffolds of electrospun collagen to varying degrees with glutaraldehyde using an ethanol-based solvent system and subsequently defined how the percentage of cross-linking impacts bulk and microscale material properties and fiber structure. At hydration, electrospun fibers underwent coiling; the extent of coiling was proportional to the percentage of cross-linking introduced into the samples and was largely suppressed as cross-linking approached saturation. These data suggest that electrospun collagen fibers are not deposited in a minimal energy state; fiber coiling may reflect a molecular reorganization.

Measuring fiber alignment in electrospun scaffolds: a user's guide to the 2D fast Fourier transform approach.

In this study we describe how to use a two-dimensional fast Fourier transform (2D FFT) approach to measure fiber alignment in electrospun materials. This image processing function can be coupled with a variety of imaging modalities to assign an objective numerical value to scaffold anisotropy. A data image of an electrospun scaffold is composed of pixels that depict the spatial organization of the constituent fibers.

Electrospun nitrocellulose and nylon: design and fabrication of novel high performance platforms for protein blotting applications.

Background: Electrospinning is a non-mechanical processing strategy that can be used to process a variety of native and synthetic polymers into highly porous materials composed of nano-scale to micron-scale diameter fibers. By nature, electrospun materials exhibit an extensive surface area and highly interconnected pore spaces. In this study we adopted a biological engineering approach to ask how the specific unique advantages of the electrospinning process might be exploited to produce a new class of research/diagnostic tools.