Radical overlapping intravelar veloplasty during primary cleft palate repair results in decreased secondary speech surgery.

Background: There is growing evidence that performing a radical intravelar veloplasty (IVV) improves speech outcomes. The aim of this study was to determine the impact of a radical IVV during primary palatoplasty on the rate of secondary speech surgery.

Methods: This is a retrospective review of primary palatoplasty using an IVV performed by a single surgeon from the year 2000 to 2023.

Assessment of Harms Reporting Quality in Randomized Controlled Trials of Aesthetic Rhinoplasty: A Systematic Review.

Background: Rhinoplasty is one of the most common aesthetic plastic surgery procedures. Complications can lead to both aesthetic and functional impairments. The Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials (CONSORT) Harms statement was developed to promote improved reporting of harm across randomized controlled trials (RCTs).

Development and Preliminary Evaluation of A Soft Tissue Microtia Simulator.

Surgical simulation has been used extensively for learning microtia reconstruction and has almost exclusively involved framework creation. However, soft tissue reconstruction in microtia is equally challenging and would benefit from a simulation platform. This study aimed to describe the development and preliminary evaluation of a high-fidelity soft tissue microtia simulator.

Evaluation of a high-fidelity cleft alveolar bone graft simulator.

Introduction: Cleft alveolar bone graft surgery is technically challenging to perform as well as difficult to learn and teach. A high-fidelity cleft alveolar bone graft simulator was previously developed. However, further evaluation of the simulator is necessary to assess its efficacy.

Bilateral Cleft lip Simulation.

Objective: To evaluate the features, anatomic accuracy, and educational value of a high-fidelity bilateral cleft lip simulator.

Design: Evaluation of the simulator by expert cleft surgeons after performing a simulated bilateral cleft lip repair.

Setting: The simulator was evaluated by the surgeons during the Latin American Craniofacial Association meeting.

The First Alveolar Bone Graft Simulator.

Alveolar bone graft (ABG) surgery in cleft patients is technically challenging. The procedure requires design, dissection and release of soft tissue flaps to create a seal around the bone graft. In addition, visualization during the procedure is challenging within the confines of the cleft.

Structured Resident Training in Robotic Surgery: Recommendations of the Robotic Surgery Education Working Group.

Objective: A universal resident robotic surgery training pathway that maximizes proficiency and safety has not been defined by a consensus of surgical educators or by surgical societies. The objective of the Robotic Surgery Education Working Group was to develop a universal curriculum pathway and leverage digital tools to support resident education.

Design: The two lead authors (JP and YN) contacted potential members of the Working Group.

Development and Evaluation of a High-Fidelity Rhinoplasty Simulator.

Rhinoplasty is a challenging procedure with a steep learning curve. Surgical simulators provide a safe platform to gain hands-on experience without compromising patient outcomes. Therefore, rhinoplasty is an ideal procedure to benefit from an effective surgical simulator.

Multiscale dynamical symmetries and selection rules in nonlinear optics.

Symmetries and their associated selection rules are extremely useful in many fields of science. For systems of electromagnetic (EM) fields interacting with matter, the symmetries of matter and the EM fields' time-dependent polarization determine the properties of the nonlinear responses, and they can be facilitated for controlling light emission and enabling ultrafast symmetry breaking spectroscopy of various properties. Here, we formulate a general theory that describes the macroscopic and microscopic dynamical symmetries (including quasicrystal-like symmetries) of EM vector fields, revealing many previously unidentified symmetries and selection rules in light-matter interactions.

Understanding How Experts Do It: A Conceptual Framework for the Open Transversus Abdominis Release Procedure.

Background: The safe and effective performance of a posterior component separation via a transversus abdominis release (TAR) requires intraoperative judgement and decision-making skills that are difficult to define, standardize, and teach. We herein present the first qualitative study which builds a framework upon which training and objective evaluation of a TAR can be based.

Methods: Hierarchical and cognitive task analyses for a TAR procedure were performed using semistructured interviews of hernia experts to describe the thoughts and behaviors that exemplify optimal performance.

Topological Order in an Antiferromagnetic Tetratic Phase.

We study lattice melting in two-dimensional systems of spinful particles that interact antiferromagnetically. We argue that, for strong spin interactions, single lattice dislocations are forbidden by magnetic frustration. This leads to a melting scenario in which a tetratic phase, containing free dislocation pairs and bound disclinations, separates the solid from the liquid.

Resonantly enhanced polariton wave mixing and parametric instability in a Floquet medium.

We introduce a new theoretical approach for analyzing pump and probe experiments in non-linear systems of optical phonons. In our approach, the effect of coherently pumped polaritons is modeled as providing time-periodic modulation of the system parameters. Within this framework, propagation of the probe pulse is described by the Floquet version of Maxwell's equations and leads to phenomena such as frequency mixing and resonant parametric production of polariton pairs.

Defining the Safe Zone for the Low Medial Horizontal Cut in the Sagittal Split Osteotomy.

Purpose: A recent modification of the sagittal split osteotomy (SSO) utilizes a medial cut placed at the level of the mandibular occlusal plane (low) and terminating anterior to the retrolingular fossa (short). The purpose of this work was to evaluate the position of the inferior alveolar nerve (IAN) relative to the medial mandibular ramus cortex in patients undergoing SSO utilizing a low medial cut.

Methods: This was a retrospective, cross-sectional evaluation of patients evaluated at a tertiary-care center for facial skeletal deformities who were candidates for mandibular orthognathic surgery.

Frontal Sinus Fractures.

Management of frontal sinus fractures is controversial with no universally accepted treatment protocol. Goals of management are to correct aesthetic deformity, preserve sinus function when it is deemed salvageable, prevent sequela related to the injury, and minimize complications associated with intervention. Studies suggest that frontal sinus injuries, including disruption of the nasofrontal outflow tract (NFOT), can be managed nonoperatively in many cases.

Current practices in complex abdominal wall reconstruction in the Americas: need for national guidelines?

Background: Component separation (CS) procedures have become an important part of surgeons' armamentarium. However, the exact criteria for training, procedure/mesh choice, as well as patient selection for CS remains undefined. Herein we aimed to identify trends in CS utilization between various cohorts of practicing surgeons.

Fatal COVID-19 in an MS patient on natalizumab: A case report.

We report a fatal case of COVID-19 in a 51-year-old African American woman with multiple sclerosis on natalizumab. She had multiple risk factors for severe COVID-19 disease including race, obesity, hypertension, and elevated inflammatory markers, but the contribution of natalizumab to her poor outcome remains unknown. We consider whether altered dynamics of peripheral immune cells in the context of natalizumab treatment could worsen the cytokine storm syndrome associated with severe COVID-19.

Identification new potential multidrug resistance proteins of Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

ABC (ATP-binding cassette) proteins can transport metabolic molecules and removes metabolic products and xenobiotics from the cell. The important problem is to study activity and search inhibitors of ABC proteins. There is a problem that ABC-proteins can transport hydrophobic drugs across the cell membrane due to their high substrate specificity.

Assessing Performance in Simulated Cleft Palate Repair Using a Novel Video Recording Setup.

Objective: To test the feasibility of implementing a high-fidelity cleft palate simulator during a workshop in Santiago, Chile, using a novel video endoscope to assess technical performance.

Design: Sixteen cleft surgeons from South America participated in a 2-day cleft training workshop. All 16 participants performed a simulated repair, and 13 of them performed a second simulated repair.

Robotic-Assisted Transabdominal Preperitoneal Ventral Hernia Repair.

Ventral hernia repair is one of the most common operations performed by surgeons worldwide. The widespread adoption of laparoscopic surgery has significantly reduced complications related to traditional open approaches. The most common approach in laparoscopic ventral hernia repair is the intraperitoneal onlay mesh (IPOM) approach.

Robotic Inguinal Hernia Repair.

Robotic inguinal hernia repair represents the natural progression of minimally invasive inguinal hernia surgery. This article highlights all aspects of a robotic transabdominal preperitoneal (rTAPP) inguinal hernia repair with mesh, starting with preoperative planning and patient selection, key technical steps, and common postoperative complications and recovery. The most recent published data on robotic inguinal hernia repair are comprehensively reviewed, confirming that rTAPP is a safe and effective option for the repair of unilateral and bilateral inguinal hernias.

Commentary on the Benefits of US Pharmacopeial Standards: A Generic Pharmaceutical Industry Survey.

Pharmacopeial quality standards for medicines are associated with ensuring quality, but they can also facilitate innovation and competition in pharmaceutical markets. Unpublished data suggest that pharmacopeial quality standards, while not associated with increasing the likelihood of a first generic entrant in the market, are associated with increasing the overall number of generic entrants. This commentary describes an online survey of finished-dose generic drug manufacturers in the United States and India that explores whether using pharmacopeial documentary standards and physical reference standards (RSs) such as those developed by the US Pharmacopeial Convention, accelerate generic drug development and reduce the duration, cost, and risk involved in bringing generic drugs to the US market.

Suitability of Using the Hamate for Reconstruction of the Finger Middle Phalanx Base: An Assessment of Cartilage Thickness.

Background: Osteochondral grafts are indicated for reconstructing the finger middle phalanx base when there is greater than 50% involvement of the articular surface and significant comminution. This study aims to compare the cartilage thickness of the distal surface of the hamate to the finger middle phalanx base to assess its suitability as an osteochondral graft.

Methods: A 3-dimensional laser scanner and computer modelling techniques were utilized to determine the cartilage thickness of the distal surface of the hamate, and finger middle phalanx base using cadaver specimens.