Establishing Age- and Sex-Specific Norms for Pediatric Return-to-Sports Physical Performance Testing.

Background: Graft tears and contralateral anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tears are common in pediatric athletes after ACL reconstruction. Use of objective return-to-sports (RTS) criteria, in particular physical performance tests (PPTs), is believed to reduce the incidence of secondary injury; however, pediatric norms for these tests are unknown.

Purpose: To establish a proof of concept for the creation of age- and sex-based norms for commonly used RTS PPTs in healthy pediatric athletes, allowing the creation of growth curves for clinical referencing.

Healthy Pediatric Athletes Have Significant Baseline Limb Asymmetries on Common Return-to-Sport Physical Performance Tests.

Background: Return to sport (RTS) after anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction in children is associated with a much higher risk (∼30%) of subsequent ACL injury than in adults. Most RTS testing protocols use a limb symmetry index (LSI) ≥90% on physical performance tests (PPTs) to assess an athlete's readiness for sport. This assumes that, in a healthy state, the physical performances across both lower extremities are and should be equal.

Development of Concise Physical Performance Test Batteries in Young Athletes.

Purpose: This study aimed 1) to define the principal components of physical function assessed by 10 common lower extremity physical performance tests and 2) to derive a reduced-item set of physical performance tests that efficiently and accurately measures raw performance and limb symmetry on each underlying component in pediatric and adolescent athletes.

Methods: This study included healthy, uninjured volunteers (n = 100) between the ages 6 and 18 yr (mean age = 11.7 ± 3.

Which criteria are used to clear patients to return to sport after primary ACL reconstruction? A scoping review.

Objective: To describe the criteria used to clear athletes to return to sport (RTS) following primary ACL reconstruction.

Design: Scoping review.

Data Sources: MEDLINE, Embase, CINAHL and SPORTDiscus electronic databases were searched using keywords related to ACL and RTS.

Bilateral Continuous Automated Distraction Osteogenesis: Proof of Principle.

The purpose of this study was to demonstrate that automated, continuous, curvilinear distraction osteogenesis (DO) in a minipig model is effective when performed bilaterally, at rates up to 3 mm/day, to achieve clinically relevant lengthening. A Yucatan minipig in the mixed dentition phase underwent bilaterally, at a continuous DO at a rate of 2 mm/day at the center of rotation; 1.0 and 3.

Impact of a Telepsychiatry Program at Emergency Departments Statewide on the Quality, Utilization, and Costs of Mental Health Services.

Objective: This study estimated the impact of a statewide, centralized telepsychiatry service provided in nonpsychiatric emergency departments (EDs) on use of mental health services.

Methods: Individuals treated via telepsychiatry were compared with a matched control group of individuals with mental health diagnoses who were treated in nonparticipating hospitals. Bivariate and two-part and generalized linear regression models were used to assess differences between the two groups in outpatient follow-up, hospital admission following the ED visit, length of hospital stay if admitted, and inpatient and total costs.

Assessment of the OsteoMark-Navigation System for Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery.

Purpose: To assess the accuracy of a novel navigation system for maxillofacial surgery using human cadavers and a live minipig model.

Materials And Methods: We tested an electromagnetic tracking system (OsteoMark-Navigation) that uses simple sensors to determine the position and orientation of a hand-held pencil-like marking device. The device can translate 3-dimensional computed tomographic data intraoperatively to allow the surgeon to localize and draw a proposed osteotomy or the resection margins of a tumor on bone.

Hand scanning optical coherence tomography imaging using encoder feedback.

We present a new method for generating micron-scale OCT images of interstitial tissue with a hand scanning probe and a linear optical encoder that senses probe movement relative to a fixed reference point, i.e., tissue surface.

Skeletal and soft tissue response to automated, continuous, curvilinear distraction osteogenesis.

Purpose: To document the bone formation and soft tissue changes in response to automated, continuous, curvilinear distraction osteogenesis (DO) at rates greater than 1 mm/day in a minipig model.

Materials And Methods: Two groups of Yucatan minipigs underwent automated, continuous, curvilinear DO of the right mandible: group A, 1.5 mm/day (n = 5); and group B, 3.

A mathematical model of pulse-coded hormone signal responses in pituitary gonadotroph cells.

Cells in the pituitary that synthesize luteinizing and follicle-stimulating hormones regulate the relative production of these two key reproductive hormones in response to signals from the hypothalamus. These signals are encoded in the frequency of gonadotrophin-releasing-hormone pulses. In vitro experiments with a murine-derived cell line have identified key elements of the processes that decode the signal to regulate transcription of the subunits encoding these hormones.

Continuous mandibular distraction osteogenesis: novel device and preliminary results in minipigs.

Purpose: To develop and test a novel, hydraulic, continuous, automated distraction device capable of 3D movements for treatment of mandibular deformities.

Materials And Methods: We used 2 cadaveric and 5 live female Yucatan minipigs to test the distractor. The 3 components (miniature buried distractor, external power and control box, and user interface on handheld computer) operate on a closed loop in which the hydraulic pulse strength correlates with the resistance of the bone and soft tissue.

Automated continuous distraction osteogenesis may allow faster distraction rates: a preliminary study.

Purpose: To determine if automated continuous distraction osteogenesis (DO) at rates faster than 1 mm/day results in bone formation by clinical and radiographic criteria, in a minipig model.

Materials And Methods: An automated, continuous, curvilinear distraction device was placed across a mandibular osteotomy in 10 minipigs. After 12 mm of distraction and 24 days of fixation, the animals were sacrificed and bone healing was evaluated.

A novel actuator for simulation of epidural anesthesia and other needle insertion procedures.

Introduction: When navigating a needle from skin to epidural space, a skilled clinician maintains a mental model of the anatomy and uses the various forms of haptic and visual feedback to track the location of the needle tip. Simulating the procedure requires an actuator that can produce the feel of tissue layers even as the needle direction changes from the ideal path.

Methods: A new actuator and algorithm architecture simulate forces associated with passing a needle through varying tissue layers.

Automating skeletal expansion: An implant for distraction osteogenesis of the mandible.

BACKGROUND: Distraction osteogenesis (DO) is a technique of bone lengthening that makes use of the body's natural healing capacity. An osteotomy is created and a rigid distraction device is attached to the bone. After a latency period, the device is activated 2-4 times per day for a total of 1 mm/day of bone lengthening.

Active retinal tracker for clinical optical coherence tomography systems.

An active, hardware-based retinal tracker is integrated with a clinical optical coherence tomography (OCT) system to investigate the effects of stabilization on acquisition of high-resolution retinal sections. The prototype retinal tracker locks onto common fundus features, detects transverse eye motion via changes in feature reflectance, and positions the OCT diagnostic beam to fixed coordinates on the retina with mirrors driven by a feedback control loop. The system is tested in a full clinical protocol on subjects with normal and glaucomatous eyes.

Compact scanning laser ophthalmoscope with high-speed retinal tracker.

The effectiveness of image stabilization with a retinal tracker in a multifunction, compact scanning laser ophthalmoscope (TSLO) was demonstrated in initial human subject tests. The retinal tracking system uses a co confocal reflectometer with a closed-loop optical servo system to lock onto features in the fundus. The system is multifarious and modular to allow configuration for many research a clinical applications.

Image stabilization for scanning laser ophthalmoscopy.

A scanning laser ophthalmoscope with an integrated retinal tracker (TSLO) was designed, constructed, and tested in human subjects without mydriasis. The TSLO collected infrared images at a wavelength of780 nm while compensating for all transverse eye movements. An active, high-speed, hardware-based tracker was able to lock onto many common features in the fundus, including the optic nerve head, blood vessel junctions, hypopigmentation, and the foveal pit.