Interpersonal Violence-Related Trauma Among South African Children.

Introduction: Injuries account for a major portion of disability-adjusted life years in children globally, and low-and middle-income countries are disproportionally affected. While injuries due to motor vehicle collisions and self-harm have been well-characterized in pediatric populations in South Africa, injuries related to interpersonal violence (IPV) are less understood. Our study aims to characterize patterns of injury, management, and outcomes for pediatric patients presenting with IPV-related injuries in a South African trauma center.

A decade long overview of damage control laparotomy for abdominal gunshot wounds.

Purpose: Over the last three decades, damage control laparotomy (DCL) has become important in the management of abdominal gunshot wounds (GSW). This paper reviews the experience of a single institution over a decade with the use of DCL for GSW of the abdomen.

Methods: Longitudinal data (2013-2022) was collected from the Hybrid Electronic Medical Registry database to identify all patients with an abdominal GSW over the study period.

Point of care ultrasound and sub-xiphoid window reduce uncertainty in the management of potential dual-cavity injuries in patients with torso stab wounds.

Introduction: This paper reviews our experiences with the management of patients with torso stab wounds and potential injuries in both the chest and abdomen over the last decade. The aim of the project is to clarify our approach and provide an evidence base for clinical algorithms. We hypothesize that there is room for our clinical algorithms to be further refined in order to address the diverse, life threatening injuries that can result from stab wounds to the torso.

AAST grade of liver injury is not the single most important consideration in decision making for liver trauma.

Background: The liver is one of the most injured organs in both blunt and penetrating trauma. The aim of this study was to identify whether the AAST liver injury grade is predictive of need for intervention, risk of complications and mortality in our patient population, and whether this differs between blunt and penetrating-trauma mechanisms.

Methods: Retrospective review of all liver injuries from a single high-volume metropolitan trauma centre in South Africa from December 2012 to January 2022.

Risk Factors Associated with Chemotherapy-Induced Nausea and Vomiting Among Women with Breast Cancer Receiving Highly Emetogenic Chemotherapy: Individual Patient-Based Analysis of Three Prospective Antiemetic Trials.

Purpose: Although risk factors related to chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting (CINV) have been identified in previous studies, only a few studies have evaluated the risk factors associated with contemporary antiemetic prophylaxis, including olanzapine/aprepitant- or NEPA-containing regimens. This study aimed to identify the risk factors associated with CINV development in Chinese breast cancer patients receiving doxorubicin and cyclophosphamide chemotherapy.

Methods: Data from 304 patients enrolled in 3 previously reported prospective antiemetic studies were included.

Management of thoracoabdominal gunshot wounds - Experience from a major trauma centre in South Africa.

Introduction: The management of thoracoabdominal (TA) gunshot wounds (GSW) remains challenging. This study reviewed our experience with treating such injuries over a decade.

Materials And Methods: A retrospective study was conducted at a major trauma centre in South Africa over a ten-year period from December 2012 to January 2022.

The "weekend effect" does not impact on outcome of trauma laparotomy - Experience from a level 1 trauma centre in New Zealand.

Purpose: Trauma centres have been proven to provide better outcomes in developed countries for overall trauma, but there is limited literature on the systematic factors that describe any discrepancies in outcomes for trauma laparotomies in these centres. This study was conducted to examine and interrogate the effect of systematic factors on patients undergoing a trauma laparotomy in a developed country, intending to identify potential discrepancies in the outcome.

Methods: This was a retrospective study of all laparotomies performed for trauma at a level 1 trauma centre in New Zealand.

Penetrating buttock trauma is morbid but rarely fatal - A South African experience.

Background: Penetrating injuries to the buttock are relatively rare but are associated with significant morbidity. This study aimed to review our experience in managing penetrating trauma to the buttocks to contextualize the injury, document the most common associated injuries, and generate an algorithm to assist with the management of these patients.

Methods: A retrospective study was conducted at a major trauma center in South Africa over 8 years (January 2012 to January 2020).

Double Jeopardy Injuries: Improved Clinical Outcomes With FAST Imaging and Subxiphoid Pericardial Window for Combined Cardiac and Abdominal Stab Wounds.

Background: This study reviews our experience with combined cardiac and abdominal stab wounds over 12 years and reviews how changes in technology and clinical approaches have impacted our management of these patients.

Materials And Methods: A retrospective cohort study was conducted from January 2008 to January 2020 at a major trauma centre in South Africa. All patients with concurrent SWs to the chest and the abdomen and required both a thoracotomy for cardiac injury and a laparotomy for an intra-abdominal injury at the same setting were included.

Foley Catheter Balloon Tamponade for Actively Bleeding Wounds Following Penetrating Neck Injury is an Effective Technique for Controlling Non-Compressible Junctional External Haemorrhage.

Background: The foley catheter balloon tamponade (FCBT) has been widely employed in the management of trauma. This study reviews our cumulative experience with the use of FCBT in the management of patients presenting with a penetrating neck injury (PNI).

Methods: A retrospective study was conducted at a major trauma centre in South Africa over a 9-year period from January 2012 to December 2020.

The Management of Penetrating Neck Injury With Retained Knife: 15-Year Experience From a Major Trauma Center in South Africa.

Background: This study reviews our cumulative experience with the management of patients presenting with a retained knife following a penetrating neck injury (PNI).

Methods: A retrospective cohort study was conducted at a major trauma center in South Africa over a 15-year period from July 2006 to December 2020. All patients who presented with a retained knife in the neck following a stab wound (SW) were included.

HDP-101, an Anti-BCMA Antibody-Drug Conjugate, Safely Delivers Amanitin to Induce Cell Death in Proliferating and Resting Multiple Myeloma Cells.

Despite major treatment advances in recent years, patients with multiple myeloma inevitably relapse. The RNA polymerase II complex has been identified as a promising therapeutic target in both proliferating and dormant cancer cells. Alpha-amanitin, a toxin so far without clinical application due to high liver toxicity, specifically inhibits this complex.

Resting Borg score as a predictor of safe discharge of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease from the emergency department observation unit.

Background: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease exacerbations (eCOPD) can be life-threatening and costly. Emergency department (ED) observation units (ED-Obs) offer short-term care to safely reduce preventable hospitalizations. Accurately identifying eCOPD patients who can be discharged safely will improve outcomes.

Lossy wavefront sensing and correction of distorted laser beams.

The art of rectifying a laser beam carrying amplitude and phase distortions has been demonstrated through several competing methods. Both wavefront sensor and wavefront sensor-less approaches show that the closed-loop correction of a laser beam can be accomplished by exploiting high-resolution sampling of the beam distortion in its spatial or time domain, respectively. Moreover, machine-learning-based wavefront sensing has emerged recently, and uses training data on an arbitrary sensing architecture to map observed data to reasonable wavefront reconstructions.

COPD Care Bundle in Emergency Department Observation Unit Reduces Emergency Department Revisits.

Background: COPD exacerbations lead to accelerated decline in lung function, poor quality of life, and increased mortality and cost. Emergency department (ED) observation units provide short-term care to reduce hospitalizations and cost. Strategies to improve outcomes in ED observation units following COPD exacerbations are needed.

Pragmatic Challenge of Sustainability: Long-Term Adherence to COPD Care Bundle Maintains Lower Readmission Rate.

Unlabelled: Long-term sustainability of successful improvement initiatives remains a pragmatic challenge with limited literature guidance. A chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) care bundle was developed and implemented to mitigate care-delivery failures and unmet patient needs at University of Cincinnati Medical Center that led to a 35% reduction in 30-day all-cause readmissions. Here, two-year outcomes and the method of achieving sustainability are presented.

Bioresorbable pressure sensors protected with thermally grown silicon dioxide for the monitoring of chronic diseases and healing processes.

Pressures in the intracranial, intraocular and intravascular spaces are clinically useful for the diagnosis and management of traumatic brain injury, glaucoma and hypertension, respectively. Conventional devices for measuring these pressures require surgical extraction after a relevant operational time frame. Bioresorbable sensors, by contrast, eliminate this requirement, thereby minimizing the risk of infection, decreasing the costs of care and reducing distress and pain for the patient.

Phase and amplitude beam shaping with two deformable mirrors implementing input plane and Fourier plane phase modifications.

We find that ideas in optical image encryption can be very useful for adaptive optics in achieving simultaneous phase and amplitude shaping of a laser beam. An adaptive optics system with simultaneous phase and amplitude shaping ability is very desirable for atmospheric turbulence compensation. Atmospheric turbulence-induced beam distortions can jeopardize the effectiveness of optical power delivery for directed-energy systems and optical information delivery for free-space optical communication systems.

Using turbulence scintillation to assist object ranging from a single camera viewpoint.

Image distortions caused by atmospheric turbulence are often treated as unwanted noise or errors in many image processing studies. Our study, however, shows that in certain scenarios the turbulence distortion can be very helpful in enhancing image processing results. This paper describes a novel approach that uses the scintillation traits recorded on a video clip to perform object ranging with reasonable accuracy from a single camera viewpoint.

Multi-aperture laser transmissometer system for long-path aerosol extinction rate measurement.

We present the theory, design, simulation, and experimental evaluations of a new laser transmissometer system for aerosol extinction rate measurement over long paths. The transmitter emits an ON/OFF modulated Gaussian beam that does not require strict collimation. The receiver uses multiple point detectors to sample the sub-aperture irradiance of the arriving beam.

Reliable adherence to a COPD care bundle mitigates system-level failures and reduces COPD readmissions: a system redesign using improvement science.

Background: Readmissions of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) have devastating effects on patient quality-of-life, disease progression and healthcare cost. Effective interventions to reduce COPD readmissions are needed.

Objectives: Reduce 30-day all-cause readmissions by (1) creating a COPD care bundle that addresses care delivery failures, (2) using improvement science to achieve 90% bundle adherence.

Comparison of the plenoptic sensor and the Shack-Hartmann sensor.

Adaptive optics has been successfully used for decades in the field of astronomy to correct for atmospheric turbulence. A well-developed example involves sensing the slightly distorted wavefronts with a Shack-Hartmann sensor and then correcting them with a phase conjugate device. While the Shack-Hartmann sensor has proven effective for astronomical purposes, it has been less successful for use in deep turbulence conditions often found in ground-to-ground-based optical systems.

Plenoptic mapping for imaging and retrieval of the complex field amplitude of a laser beam.

The plenoptic sensor has been developed to sample complicated beam distortions produced by turbulence in the low atmosphere (deep turbulence or strong turbulence) with high density data samples. In contrast with the conventional Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor, which utilizes all the pixels under each lenslet of a micro-lens array (MLA) to obtain one data sample indicating sub-aperture phase gradient and photon intensity, the plenoptic sensor uses each illuminated pixel (with significant pixel value) under each MLA lenslet as a data point for local phase gradient and intensity. To characterize the working principle of a plenoptic sensor, we propose the concept of plenoptic mapping and its inverse mapping to describe the imaging and reconstruction process respectively.

Using a plenoptic sensor to reconstruct vortex phase structures.

A branch point problem and its solution commonly involve recognizing and reconstructing a vortex phase structure around a singular point. In laser beam propagation through random media, the destructive phase contributions from various parts of a vortex phase structure will cause a dark area in the center of the beam's intensity profile. This null of intensity can, in turn, prevent the vortex phase structure from being recognized.