Impact of geography and surgical approach on recurrence in global pilonidal sinus disease.

Pilonidal sinus disease (PSD) is increasing globally. A recent meta-analysis and merged-data analysis showed that recurrence rates in PSD depend essentially on follow-up time and specific surgical procedures. However, the global distribution of surgical approaches and respective recurrence rates have never been studied in PSD.

Relative validation of a food frequency questionnaire to estimate food intake in an adult population.

: Scientifically valid descriptions of dietary intake at population level are crucial for investigating diet effects on health and disease. Food frequency questionnaires (FFQs) are the most common dietary tools used in large epidemiological studies. : To examine the relative validity of a newly developed FFQ to be used as dietary assessment tool in epidemiological studies.

Implications of Perioperative Team Setups for Operating Room Management Decisions.

Background: Team performance has been studied extensively in the perioperative setting, but the managerial impact of interprofessional team performance remains unclear. We hypothesized that the interplay between anesthesiologists and surgeons would affect operating room turnaround times, and teams that worked together over time would become more efficient.

Methods: We analyzed 13,632 surgical cases at our hospital that involved 64 surgeons and 48 anesthesiologists.

Impact of spinal versus general anesthesia on postoperative pain and long term recurrence after surgery for pilonidal disease.

Study Objective: To assess the effect of the kind of anesthesia on postoperative pain and long term recurrence rate in pilonidal sinus disease.

Design: Retrospective study.

Setting: Surgical departments of German Armed Forces Hospitals in Hamburg, Bad Zwischenahn and Hamm.

Teaching Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS): A nationwide retrospective analysis of 8202 lessons taught in Germany.

Objective: To examine whether faculty who teach the Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS) course would improve with experience and, correspondingly, ratings from course evaluations would increase.

Design: Retrospective analysis of student evaluations of 262 ATLS courses held between 2008 and 2012.

Setting: All ATLS courses held between 2008 and 2012 nationwide in Germany.

Implications of Patient Age and ASA Physical Status for Operating Room Management Decisions.

Background: In elderly, high-risk patients, operating room (OR) turnaround times are especially difficult to estimate, and the managerial implications of patient age and ASA physical status for OR management decisions remain unclear. We hypothesized that evaluating patient age and ASA physical status in the right model would improve accuracy of turnaround time estimates and, thus, would have decisive implications for OR management.

Methods: By using various multivariate techniques, we modeled turnaround times of 13,632 OR procedures with respect to multiple variables including surgical list, age, ASA physical status, duration of the procedure, and duration of the preceding procedure.

Development of a quantitative PCR assay for rapid detection of Lactobacillus plantarum and Lactobacillus fermentum in cocoa bean fermentation.

To monitor dominant species of lactic acid bacteria during cocoa bean fermentation, i.e. Lactobacillus plantarum and Lactobacillus fermentum, a fast and reliable culture-independent qPCR assay was developed.

Recurrence-free survival, but not surgical therapy per se, determines 583 patients' long-term satisfaction following primary pilonidal sinus surgery.

Purpose: With pilonidal sinus disease (PSD) incidence increasing and patients freely choosing their surgeon, patients' interest issues have been brought forward estimating patient satisfaction following pilonidal sinus surgery. The influence of wound healing time and long-term recurrence rate on patient satisfaction in primary PSD surgery has not been investigated yet.

Methods: Five hundred eighty-three patients (German military cohort) were interviewed, compiling wound healing time, aesthetic satisfaction, long-term recurrence-free survival and patient satisfaction having undergone primary open (PO) treatment, marsupialization (MARS) or primary midline closure (PMC) treatment.