Publications by authors named "Luke Pumiglia"

Article Synopsis
  • - Foreign body ingestion, especially of superabsorbent polymer water beads (like Orbeez), is common in children and can lead to serious issues like bowel obstruction, often requiring surgery for removal.
  • - In a study testing various solutions, water beads placed in gastrografin showed a significant reduction in size compared to those in water or a water-gastrografin mix, indicating that gastrografin helps shrink the beads.
  • - The findings suggest gastrografin could be a non-surgical treatment option for water bead ingestion, but more research is needed to confirm its effectiveness in clinical settings.
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Introduction: The association between hypothermia, coagulopathy, and acidosis in trauma is well described. Hypothermia mitigation starts in the prehospital setting; however, it is often a secondary focus after other life-saving interventions. The deployed environment further compounds the problem due to prolonged evacuation times in rotary wing aircraft, resource limitations, and competing priorities.

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Article Synopsis
  • * Treatment for nonfulminant colitis typically involves oral fidaxomicin, with a high risk of recurrence that is also managed with fidaxomicin and possibly bezlotoxumab for at-risk patients.
  • * Effective antibiotic stewardship is essential to prevent the occurrence of C difficile colitis in hospital settings.
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Introduction: Mortality rates among hypotensive civilian patients requiring emergent laparotomy exceed 40%. Damage control (DCR) principles were incorporated into the military's Clinical Practice Guidelines (CPG) in 2008. We examined combat casualties requiring emergent laparotomy to characterize how mortality rates compare to hypotensive civilian trauma patients.

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Introduction: Efforts to improve surgical resident well-being could be accelerated with an improved understanding of resident job demands and resources. In this study, we sought to obtain a clearer picture of surgery resident job demands by assessing how residents distribute their time both inside and outside of the hospital. Furthermore, we aimed to elucidate residents' perceptions about current duty hour regulations.

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Xenograft and other biologic dressings have been an integral part of burn care for many years. Porcine graft is both inexpensive and, for partial thickness burns, provides the additional benefit of avoiding painful dressing changes when compared with topical agents. In this case, we discuss a patient suffering from deep partial thickness burns for whom xenograft was used for initial wound coverage.

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This cross-sectional study investigates the association between operative autonomy and perceived race among general surgery residents.

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Article Synopsis
  • - Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a serious health issue with no effective cytoprotective treatments, but the drug valproic acid (VPA) shows promise in enhancing recovery following TBI.
  • - In a study using swine, researchers applied TBI and treated the animals with VPA, then analyzed their brain tissue to identify changes in protein expression and biological processes.
  • - The analysis revealed significant alterations in proteins related to injury response and cellular functions, suggesting that VPA may help in the recovery of brain tissue after TBI.
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In the past year, we have become aware of a new mechanism of severe electrical injury ascribed to fractal wood art. This type of art has become increasingly popular and deadly due to exponential popularity in the use of Youtube type video teaching. This manuscript is one of the initial descriptions of the injury mode, presentation, treatment, and outcomes from four such cases treated at our institution.

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Article Synopsis
  • The COVID-19 pandemic has created significant challenges for medical education, forcing administrators, students, and governing bodies to make tough decisions due to public health concerns.
  • Rising fourth-year medical students aim to highlight the efforts of medical leaders while expressing concerns about the impact of the pandemic on residency applications.
  • Suggested solutions to mitigate these challenges include implementing virtual rotations, delaying application openings, decentralizing clinical skills evaluations, and modifying graduation requirements.
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