Influence of pharmaceutical marketing on Medicare prescriptions in the District of Columbia.

Importance: Gifts from pharmaceutical companies are believed to influence prescribing behavior, but few studies have addressed the association between industry gifts to physicians and drug costs, prescription volume, or preference for generic drugs. Even less research addresses the effect of gifts on the prescribing behavior of nurse practitioners (NPs), physician assistants (PAs), and podiatrists.

Objective: To analyze the association between gifts provided by pharmaceutical companies to individual prescribers in Washington DC and the number of prescriptions, cost of prescriptions, and proportion of branded prescriptions for each prescriber.

Closed-Suction Drains After Subcutaneous Mastectomy for Gynecomastia: Do They Reduce Complications?

Background: In cases of refractory gynecomastia, surgical excision of excess glandular breast tissue is often warranted. Closed-suction drain placement is commonplace; however, the effect of drains on preventing complications after male breast surgery has not been fully elucidated in the literature.

Objective: To investigate the effect of drains on reducing seroma and hematoma after subcutaneous mastectomy for gynecomastia.

Columellar Reconstruction After Nasal Continuous Positive Airway Pressure Associated Necrosis.

Though a life-saving modality in neonatal intensive care units, nasal continuous positive airway pressure (nCPAP) carries a small risk of irreversible ischemia and necrosis of the columella due to the configuration of the pressure delivery system. Iatrogenic injuries to the columella after nCPAP use result in a spectrum of disfigurement and functional airway obstruction. The authors performed a retrospective review of patients evaluated for nCPAP-related columellar deformities by the Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at the authors' institution over a 10-year period to assess reconstructive outcomes.

The "Double" Tessier 7 Cleft: An Unusual Presentation of a Transverse Facial Cleft.

Congenital macrostomia, or Tessier number 7 cleft, is a rare craniofacial anomaly. We present a unique patient with bilateral macrostomia that consisted of a "double" transverse cleft on the left side and a single transverse cleft on the right side. A staged reconstructive approach was used to repair the "double" left-sided clefts.