Declining US dental amalgam restorations in US Food and Drug Administration-identified populations: 2017-2023.

Background: In light of the Minamata Convention on Mercury and efforts to phase down dental amalgam use, tracking dental amalgam proportions across US Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-identified at-risk populations is of interest to optimize material selection aligned with patient needs.

Methods: A retrospective observational study of Epic's Cosmos electronic health records data set was conducted to calculate the rates of dental amalgam restorations from 2017 through 2023 and stratified using the social vulnerability index (quartile 4 indicates the highest social vulnerability and quartile 1 indicates the lowest) and payer type (Medicare, Medicaid, self-pay, miscellaneous or other). The authors included the following FDA-identified at-risk populations: pregnant people, children younger than 6 years, people with preexisting neurologic conditions, and people with impaired kidney function (n = 1,897,976).

Comparison of methodologies for craniofacial soft-tissue cephalometrics: The value of virtual reality.

Background: Myriad options are available for plastic surgeons to perform soft-tissue analysis, which is vital to perioperative evaluation and research. Our objective is to compare the accuracy, precision, and efficiency of the available cephalometric modalities for conducting facial soft-tissue measurements.

Methods: Twenty soft-tissue facial measurements were performed by 5 measurers with varying experiences on 5 adult subjects, using 6 methods-manual calipers, cone-beam CT, virtual reality (VR), 3D stereophotogrammetry, iPad-based 3D photogrammetry, and 2-dimensional photographs.

Developing the Aesthetic Postoperative Complication Score (APeCS) for Detecting Major Morbidity in Facial Aesthetic Surgery.

Background: Facial aesthetic surgery encompasses a variety of procedures with complication rates that are difficult to estimate due to a lack of published data.

Objectives: We sought to estimate major complication rates in patients undergoing facial aesthetic procedures and develop a risk assessment tool to stratify patients.

Methods: We utilized the Tracking Operation and Outcomes for Plastic Surgeons (TOPS) database from 2003-2018.

Implementation of Intraoperative Frozen Section During Radical Prostatectomy: Short-term Results from a German Tertiary-care Center.

Background: Neurovascular bundle (NVB) preservation (NVBP) and surgical margin status are the main intraoperative factors influencing functional and oncologic outcomes in patients with prostate cancer undergoing radical prostatectomy (RP).

Objective: To test the impact of implementing the intraoperative frozen section technique (IFST) during NVBP on the frequency of NVB procedures and its effect on positive surgical margins (PSMs).

Design, Setting, And Participants: We relied on an institutional tertiary-care center database to identify patients who underwent RP (January 2014-October 2018).

microRNA Expression Profiles in the Ventral Hippocampus during Pubertal Development and the Impact of Peri-Pubertal Binge Alcohol Exposure.

Adolescence is hallmarked by two parallel processes of sexual maturation and adult patterning of the brain. Therefore, adolescence represents a vulnerable postnatal period for neurodevelopment where exogenous factors can negatively impact adult brain function. For example, alcohol exposure during pubertal development can lead to long-term and widespread neurobiological dysfunction and these effects have been shown to persist even in the absence of future alcohol exposure.