Early ambulation after fibular free flap surgery is associated with reduced length of stay, increased mobility independence, and discharge to home.

Background: Fibula free flaps (FFF) are one of the most common bony flaps utilized. This paper describes a quality improvement project aimed at increasing early ambulation.

Methods: A review of FFF patients at an academic hospital was completed (2014-2023).

Smartphone Use for Patient Photography by Plastic Surgery Trainees.

Medical photography has become essential to patient care, trainee education, and research in highly visual specialties such as plastic surgery. As smartphone technology advances, plastic surgeons and trainees are using their personal smartphones to take medical photographs prompting ethical and legal concerns about patient consent and privacy. This study aims to determine the prevalence of personal smartphone use for patient photography among plastic surgery trainees, evaluate encryption practices, and establish understanding of current guidelines.

Success of Implantable Doppler Probes for Monitoring Buried Free Flaps.

Objective: The objective of this study is to describe the operative success of completely buried free flaps and to determine the safety/reliability of using implantable dopplers for postoperative monitoring in completely buried free flaps.

Study Design: A retrospective chart review was conducted from 2014 to 2020. Patients were included who had implantable dopplers placed for monitoring a completely buried free flap without a visible skin paddle.

A protein quality control pathway at the mitochondrial outer membrane.

Maintaining the essential functions of mitochondria requires mechanisms to recognize and remove misfolded proteins. However, quality control (QC) pathways for misfolded mitochondrial proteins remain poorly defined. Here, we establish temperature-sensitive (ts-) peripheral mitochondrial outer membrane (MOM) proteins as novel model QC substrates in .

Surgical Management of Vestibular Schwannoma: Practice Pattern Analysis via NSQIP.

Objective: Characterize current perspectives in the surgical management of vestibular schwannoma (VS) to guide otolaryngologists in understanding United States practice patterns.

Methods: A retrospective analysis of ACS-NSQIP database was performed to abstract all patients from 2008 to 2016 who underwent VS resection using ICD-9/10 codes 225.1 and D33.

Sinonasal Disease in Total Laryngectomy Patients.

Objective: Total laryngectomy (TL) results in complete abolition of nasal airflow, with notable pathologic alterations of the intranasal mucosa, mucociliary clearance, and nasal cycle. Despite these observed morphological changes, it remains unclear whether this subpopulation of patients experiences clinically significant sinonasal disease. The goal of this study was to identify rhinosinusitis in TL patients using radiographic imaging.

Individual Patient-reported Activity Levels Before and After Joint Arthroplasty Are Neither Accurate nor Reproducible.

Background: Patients often are asked to report walking distances before joint arthroplasty and when discussing their results after surgery, but little evidence demonstrates whether patient responses accurately represent their activity.

Questions/purposes: Are patients accurate in reporting distance walked, when compared with distance measured by an accelerometer, within a 50% margin of error?

Methods: Patients undergoing THA or TKA were recruited over a 16-month period. One hundred twenty-one patients were screened and 66 patients (55%) were enrolled.

Proteomic Analysis of Early Diabetic Retinopathy Reveals Mediators of Neurodegenerative Brain Diseases.

Purpose: Current evidence suggests that retinal neurodegeneration is an early event in the pathogenesis of diabetic retinopathy. Our main goal was to examine whether, in the diabetic human retina, common proteins and pathways are shared with brain neurodegenerative diseases.

Methods: A proteomic analysis was performed on three groups of postmortem retinas matched by age: nondiabetic control retinas (n = 5), diabetic retinas without glial activation (n = 5), and diabetic retinas with glial activation (n = 5).

The Ubiquitin Ligase (E3) Psh1p Is Required for Proper Segregation of both Centromeric and Two-Micron Plasmids in .

Protein degradation by the ubiquitin-proteasome system is essential to many processes. We sought to assess its involvement in the turnover of mitochondrial proteins in We find that deletion of a specific ubiquitin ligase (E3), Psh1p, increases the abundance of a temperature-sensitive mitochondrial protein, mia40-4pHA, when it is expressed from a centromeric plasmid. Deletion of Psh1p unexpectedly elevates the levels of other proteins expressed from centromeric plasmids.

Dynamics of the human gut microbiome in inflammatory bowel disease.

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is characterized by flares of inflammation with a periodic need for increased medication and sometimes even surgery. The aetiology of IBD is partly attributed to a deregulated immune response to gut microbiome dysbiosis. Cross-sectional studies have revealed microbial signatures for different IBD subtypes, including ulcerative colitis, colonic Crohn's disease and ileal Crohn's disease.