Four-Year Follow-Up of the World's First Pediatric Bilateral Hand-Forearm Transplants: Do They Grow as Expected?

Background: In 2015, the first bilateral pediatric hand-forearm transplant was performed in an 8-year-old boy. The growth rate of the transplanted upper extremities was unknown at the time.

Methods: Forearm and hand radiographs were obtained annually.

Are You Thinking About Going Back to School? An Analysis of Plastic Surgery Residents, Alumni, Faculty, and Program Leaders With Advanced Degrees.

Background: The number of adults with master's, professional, and doctoral degrees has doubled since 2000. The relevance of advanced degrees in plastic surgery has not been explored.

Methods: Faculty, residents, and recent alumni with advanced degrees from the United States plastic surgery training programs were identified.

An evaluation of monthly maintenance therapy among patients receiving intravesical combination gemcitabine/docetaxel for nonmuscle-invasive bladder cancer.

Purpose: To report our experience with sequential maintenance intravesical gemcitabine/docetaxel (GEM/DOCE) for patients with nonmuscle-invasive bladder cancer.

Materials And Methods: Fifty-nine patients who received full GEM/DOCE for nonmuscle-invasive bladder cancer between 2013 and 2018, per the protocol adapted from University of Iowa, were identified and characterized. Patients were treated with 6 weekly instillations of GEM/DOCE and subsequent monthly maintenance installations for those with no evidence of disease at the first surveillance.

Impact of intravesical therapy for non-muscle invasive bladder cancer on the accuracy of urine cytology.

Purpose: Urine cytology remains an essential diagnostic tool in the surveillance of patients with non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC). The correlation of urine cytology with biopsy specimens to determine its accuracy following induction intravesical therapy has not been investigated.

Methods: A retrospective review was performed of patients who underwent intravesical therapy for biopsy-proven non-muscle invasive disease between 2013 and 2016 at our institution.

Oncological Outcomes of Sequential Intravesical Gemcitabine and Docetaxel in Patients with Non-Muscle Invasive Bladder Cancer.

Background: Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) unresponsive/relapsing patients with non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) who prefer bladder preservation over radical cystectomy (RC) or those who do not qualify for surgery may be offered intravesical therapies. Gemcitabine (GEM) combined with Docetaxel (DOCE) has been offered at Johns Hopkins Hospital (JHH).

Objective: To evaluate experience with GEM/DOCE, to confirm safety of the regimen, to identify populations that may benefit most, and to consider the appropriate endpoints for judging efficacy of second line therapies.

Hospital Charges and Length of Stay Following Radical Cystectomy in the Enhanced Recovery After Surgery Era.

Objective: To report our center's experience with enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) pathway for radical cystectomy (RC), specifically evaluating complications, LOS, 30- and 90-day readmissions, and hospital charges. Pathways of this type have been shown to decrease the length of stay (LOS) and postoperative ileus. However, concerns persist that ERAS is costly and increases readmissions.

Medical student healthcare consulting groups: A novel way to train the next generation of physician-executives.

Meeting the challenges of the evolving healthcare environment requires leadership of physicians well-trained in clinical medicine and healthcare management. However, many physicians lack training in business and leadership. While some residency programs have management tracks, training at the medical school level is currently lacking.

High dose-rate Intra-Operative Radiation Therapy During High Risk Genitourinary Surgery: Initial Observations and a Proposal for its Study in Bladder Cancer.

Background: High dose-rate Intra-Operative Radiation Therapy (HD-IORT) is used to provide effective local control for patients with high-risk locally advanced or recurrent tumors. However, the utility of HD-IORT for patients with bladder cancer has not been studied.

Objective: To characterize our institutional experience with HD-IORT in patients with cancer requiring genitourinary surgery, in an effort to identify patients with bladder cancer that may benefit from HD-IORT.

Interdomain communication in the endonuclease/motor subunit of type I restriction-modification enzyme EcoR124I.

Restriction-modification systems protect bacteria from foreign DNA. Type I restriction-modification enzymes are multifunctional heteromeric complexes with DNA-cleavage and ATP-dependent DNA translocation activities located on endonuclease/motor subunit HsdR. The recent structure of the first intact motor subunit of the type I restriction enzyme from plasmid EcoR124I suggested a mechanism by which stalled translocation triggers DNA cleavage via a lysine residue on the endonuclease domain that contacts ATP bound between the two helicase domains.