Impact of the physical therapy-managed spinal orthoses program on cost of care in the hospital setting: a retrospective interrupted time-series study.

Background: The physical therapy (PT) department at a level 1 trauma center identified vendor delivery delays of off-the-shelf (OTS) spinal orthoses that delayed patient mobilization.

Objective: This study aimed to identify improvements in mobilization times, discharge times and reduction in the cost of care after centralizing the management of orthoses within the therapy department.

Method: The centralized management of OTS spinal orthoses included stocking three adjustable lumbosacral and thoraco-lumbosacral orthosis sizes and ensuring that all personnel received training to appropriately fit the orthoses to patients.

Deep-sea plastisphere: Long-term colonization by plastic-associated bacterial and archaeal communities in the Southwest Atlantic Ocean.

Marine plastic pollution is a global concern because of continuous release into the oceans over the last several decades. Although recent studies have made efforts to characterize the so-called plastisphere, or microbial community inhabiting plastic substrates, it is not clear whether the plastisphere is defined as a core community or as a random attachment of microbial cells. Likewise, little is known about the influence of the deep-sea environment on the plastisphere.

Marginal coral reefs show high susceptibility to phase shift.

Phase shift, resulting from coral reef degradation, has been frequently recorded on reefs in optimal conditions, while marginal reefs were considered more resistant due to few records. Noting the lack of marginal reef phase shift studies, we quantitatively assessed their geographic extent in the Southwest Atlantic. Using metadata and a calculated phase shift index, we identified phase shifts from corals to both zoanthid and macroalgal dominance.

Comparative Study of Prepectoral and Subpectoral Expander-Based Breast Reconstruction and Clavien IIIb Score Outcomes.

Unlabelled: Prepectoral breast reconstruction is increasingly popular. This study compares complications between 2 subpectoral and 1 prepectoral breast reconstruction technique.

Methods: Between 2008 and 2015, 294 two-staged expander breast reconstructions in 213 patients were performed with 1 of 3 surgical techniques: (1) Prepectoral, (2) subpectoral with acellular dermal matrix (ADM) sling ("Classic"), or (3) subpectoral/subserratus expander placement without ADM ("No ADM").

Efficacy of preoperative erythropoietin administration in pediatric neuromuscular scoliosis patients.

Study Design: This is a retrospective cohort study examining 61 patients with neurogenic scoliosis who underwent anterior and/or posterior spinal instrumentation at the age of 18 and younger.

Objective: The purpose of this study is to investigate this finding further by analyzing the effect of recombinant human erythropoietin (rhEPO) on hematocrit, transfusion and complication rates, and the length of intensive care unit (ICU) days in patients with neurogenic scoliosis.

Summary Of Background Data: The preoperative use of rhEPO has been shown to decrease perioperative transfusion requirements in many adult and pediatric patients.