Failure on the American Board of Surgery Examinations of General Surgery Residency Graduates Correlates Positively with States' Malpractice Risk.

It has been suggested that in environments where there is greater fear of litigation, resident autonomy and education is compromised. Our aim was to examine failure rates on American Board of Surgery (ABS) examinations in comparison with medical malpractice payments in 47 US states/territories that have general surgery residency programs. We hypothesized higher ABS examination failure rates for general surgery residents who graduate from residencies in states with higher malpractice risk.

The American Board of Surgery examinations: how are the Southwestern Surgical Congress programs performing compared to the rest of the United States?

Background: Our aim was to study pass rates of the American Board of Surgery (ABS) examinations for examinees from programs in the Southwestern Surgical Congress (SWSC) compared with the rest of the United States (Non-SWSC).

Methods: A retrospective review of pass rates of ABS Qualifying Examination (QE), Certifying Examination (CE), and QE/CE index from 2005 to 2015 was conducted.

Results: From 2005 to 2010, SWSC outperformed Non-SWSC in QE (88% vs 85%, P < .

Predicting Success of Preliminary Surgical Residents: A Multi-Institutional Study.

Objective: A nondesignated preliminary surgery (NDPS) position encompasses 1 year of training provided by many general surgery residencies. Our aim was to assess factors predicting success and provide evidence for program directors to support career guidance to preliminary residents.

Methods: Retrospective cohort study of 221 NDPS residents who entered 5 university-based institutions were identified from 2009 to 2013.

A systematic analysis of cell cycle regulators in yeast reveals that most factors act independently of cell size to control initiation of division.

Upstream events that trigger initiation of cell division, at a point called START in yeast, determine the overall rates of cell proliferation. The identity and complete sequence of those events remain unknown. Previous studies relied mainly on cell size changes to identify systematically genes required for the timely completion of START.