Publications by authors named "Nihar Shah"

Objectives: Individuals with pelvic and acetabular fractures are at high risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE). The purpose of this study was to determine whether serum markers for thrombophilia and rapid thromboelastography (r-TEG) values correlate with increased VTE risk among patients with pelvic and acetabular fractures.

Design: Prospective observational study.

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Background: Pain is multifactorial, and pain intensity has been shown to be influenced by patients' thoughts. The Negative Pain Thoughts Questionnaire Short Form (NPTQ-SF) can be used to quantify unhelpful negative cognitive biases about pain, but the relationship between negative pain thoughts and orthopaedic surgery outcomes is not known.

Purpose: To evaluate the prevalence of negative pain thoughts in patients undergoing arthroscopic meniscectomy using the NPTQ-SF survey and assess the relationship these thoughts have to knee function, general health, pain, and satisfaction before and after surgery.

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Background: Determine the effect of a novel acellular cannulated dermal allograft on tendon-to-bone healing, retear rates, and clinical outcomes over a 12-month period.

Methods: This was a single surgeon prospective nonrandomized case series. Patients with medium sized full-thickness superior and posterosuperior rotator cuff tears, as confirmed by magnetic resonance imaging, were consented.

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Article Synopsis
  • This study aimed to create and evaluate a new survey, the Preoperative Rank of Expectations for Shoulder Surgery (PRESS), to assess patient expectations for shoulder surgeries in a more clinically applicable way.
  • The PRESS survey was developed using feedback from 100 patients and included 8 key expectations, along with a scale for anticipated pain relief and improved range of motion.
  • When tested on 316 patients undergoing various shoulder surgeries, key findings indicated that improvement in range of motion was the top expectation, with different subgroups prioritizing different expectations related to their specific conditions.
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Background: Pain and pain perception are influenced by patients' thoughts. The short form Negative Pain Thoughts Questionnaire (NPTQ-SF) can be used to quantify unhelpful negative cognitive biases about pain, but the relationship between NPTQ-SF scores and orthopaedic surgery outcomes is not known.

Purpose/hypothesis: The purpose was to assess the relationship between negative pain thoughts, as measured by the NPTQ-SF, and patient-reported outcomes in patients undergoing arthroscopic rotator cuff repair, as well as to compare NPTQ-SF scores and outcomes between patients with and without a history of chronic pain and psychiatric history.

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How do author perceptions match up to the outcomes of the peer-review process and perceptions of others? In a top-tier computer science conference (NeurIPS 2021) with more than 23,000 submitting authors and 9,000 submitted papers, we surveyed the authors on three questions: (i) their predicted probability of acceptance for each of their papers, (ii) their perceived ranking of their own papers based on scientific contribution, and (iii) the change in their perception about their own papers after seeing the reviews. The salient results are: (1) Authors had roughly a three-fold overestimate of the acceptance probability of their papers: The median prediction was 70% for an approximately 25% acceptance rate. (2) Female authors exhibited a marginally higher (statistically significant) miscalibration than male authors; predictions of authors invited to serve as meta-reviewers or reviewers were similarly calibrated, but better than authors who were not invited to review.

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Background: Serotonin toxicity is a well-described phenomenon that is commonly attributed to a variety of drug-drug combinations. Some unregulated herbal supplements have been implicated in the onset of serotonin toxicity, however, there is currently minimal literature available on the potential for black cohosh to contribute to rhabdomyolysis and serotonin toxicity, in spite of its known serotonergic properties.

Case Report: A middle-aged woman presented to the emergency department with serotonin toxicity and rhabdomyolysis shortly after taking black cohosh supplements in the setting of long-term dual antidepressant use.

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Background: The objective of this study is to investigate the incidence of unplanned reoperation, nonunion and infection following open femoral shaft fractures treated with an intramedullary nail and correlate these occurrences with patient variables and injury characteristics.

Methods: A retrospective review of open femur fractures from a level 1 trauma center between 2012 and 2020 was performed. Ninety-five patients who sustained an open femur fracture, were treated definitively with an intramedullary nail, and had at least 3 months of follow-up were included in the analysis for surgical site infection.

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Introduction: The objective of this study was to determine factors that may affect transfusion rates for patients requiring an anterior intrapelvic (AIP) approach for an acetabulum fracture.

Methods: This was a multicenter retrospective comparison study (3 trauma centers at two urban academic centers). Patients who had an AIP approach for an acetabulum fracture without other notable same-day procedures (irrigation and débridement and/or external fixation were only other allowed procedures) were included.

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Introduction: Health care workers (HCWs) are at heightened risk of adverse mental health events (AMHEs) and burnout with resultant impact on health care staffing, outcomes, and costs. We piloted a telehealth-enabled mental health screening and support platform among HCWs in the intensive care unit (ICU) setting at a tertiary care center.

Methods: A survey consisting of validated screening tools was electronically disseminated to a potential cohort of 178 ICU HCWs.

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Objective: The objective of this study was to determine whether time from hospital admission to surgery for acetabular fractures using an anterior intrapelvic (AIP) approach affected blood loss.

Design: Retrospective review.

Setting: Three level 1 trauma centers at 2 academic institutions.

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Peer review is the backbone of academia and humans constitute a cornerstone of this process, being responsible for reviewing submissions and making the final acceptance/rejection decisions. Given that human decision-making is known to be susceptible to various cognitive biases, it is important to understand which (if any) biases are present in the peer-review process, and design the pipeline such that the impact of these biases is minimized. In this work, we focus on the dynamics of discussions between reviewers and investigate the presence of herding behaviour therein.

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Citations play an important role in researchers' careers as a key factor in evaluation of scientific impact. Many anecdotes advice authors to exploit this fact and cite prospective reviewers to try obtaining a more positive evaluation for their submission. In this work, we investigate if such a citation bias actually exists: Does the citation of a reviewer's own work in a submission cause them to be positively biased towards the submission? In conjunction with the review process of two flagship conferences in machine learning and algorithmic economics, we execute an observational study to test for citation bias in peer review.

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There is widespread debate on whether to anonymize author identities in peer review. The key argument for anonymization is to mitigate bias, whereas arguments against anonymization posit various uses of author identities in the review process. The Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science (ITCS) 2023 conference adopted a middle ground by initially anonymizing the author identities from reviewers, revealing them after the reviewer had submitted their initial reviews, and allowing the reviewer to change their review subsequently.

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Objectives: To evaluate the efficacy of an intraoperative, postfixation fracture hematoma block on postoperative pain control and opioid consumption in patients with acute femoral shaft fractures.

Design: Prospective, double-blinded, randomized controlled trial.

Setting: Academic Level I Trauma Center.

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Objectives: To evaluate the injury, patient, and microbiological characteristics that place patients at risk for recalcitrant fracture-related infection and osteomyelitis despite appropriate initial treatment.

Design: Retrospective chart review.

Setting: Three level I trauma centers.

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Objectives: To apply the recently developed fracture-related infection criteria to patients presenting for repair of fracture nonunion and determine the incidence and associated organisms of occult infection in these patients.

Design: Retrospective study.

Setting: Tertiary referral trauma center.

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Several techniques for patellar fixation for reconstruction of the medial patellofemoral ligament (MPFL) have been described in the literature. Despite the success of MPFL reconstruction reported in the literature, there is insufficient evidence to recommend a standard method of patellar fixation. A hybrid 2-point fixation technique allows for increased contact area and contact pressure between the insertion of the graft and the patella and offers a broad insertion of the graft onto the width of the patella, thus allowing for a more native attachment site to be re-created.

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Background: An AP knee radiograph is considered adequate if the patella is centred between the femoral condyles. Our previous studies demonstrated a tendency for lateral patellar deviation on an AP view orthogonal to the posterior femoral condyles. However, findings were based on cadaveric samples limited by the lack of soft tissue effects on patellar positioning.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study aimed to assess the mechanical treatment failures of distal femoral locking plates (DFLPs) in patients with distal femur fractures across eight trauma centers from 2010 to 2017.
  • A total of 101 patients were analyzed, with findings revealing an overall mechanical failure rate of 9.3% and different failure modes based on the type of plates used (stainless steel vs. titanium).
  • The results indicated that failures occurred at varying times and locations, with important differences in the failure rates of specific types of plates, and the study concluded that nonunion and mechanical failures were significant concerns in this patient group.
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Gastro-esophageal reflux disorder (GERD) is the most common gastrointestinal tract disorder with high morbidity and heavy economic burden. Despite being treated with high-dose proton-pump inhibitors or H2 receptor blockers, a considerable percentage of patients have GERD that is only partially controlled or refractory. The majority of these patients forego surgical treatment for fear of adverse outcomes, putting them at a financial disadvantage and causing loss of productivity.

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Introduction: The system described by Matta for rating acetabular fracture quality of reduction following ORIF has been used extensively throughout the literature. However, the reliability of this system remains to be validated. We sought to determine the interobserver and intraobserver reliability of this system when used by fellowship-trained pelvic and acetabular surgeons to evaluate intraoperative fluoroscopy.

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We report a 45-year-old man who presented with a rotator cuff tear and scapular dyskinesis of his left shoulder and underwent a pectoralis major split transfer with an allograft to the inferior border of his scapula. The patient reported significant improvement in shoulder function and decreased severity of his scapular dyskinesis. Combined arthroscopic rotator cuff repair and allograft scapula stabilization is a novel technique for the unusual clinical presentation reported in this case report.

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Introduction: Although reverse total shoulder arthroplasty (RTSA) has been shown to be effective for the treatment of cuff tear arthropathy (CTA), the patient's inability to accurately recall their preoperative shoulder condition could skew their perception of the effectiveness of the procedure. Identifying patients who are susceptible to notable recall bias before surgery can help surgeons counsel patients regarding expectations after surgery. The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether patients who undergo RTSA are susceptible to recall bias and, if so, which factors are associated with poor recollection.

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