Optimized Clinical Feature Analysis for Improved Cardiovascular Disease Risk Screening.

To develop a clinical decision support tool that can predict cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk with high accuracy while requiring minimal clinical feature input, thus reducing the time and effort required by clinicians to manually enter data prior to obtaining patient risk assessment. In this study, we propose a robust feature selection approach that identifies five key features strongly associated with CVD risk, which have been found to be consistent across various models. The machine learning model developed using this optimized feature set achieved state-of-the-art results, with an AUROC of 91.

Determining Which Combinatorial Combat-Relevant Factors Contribute to Heterotopic Ossification Formation in an Ovine Model.

Traumatic heterotopic ossification (HO) is frequently observed in Service Members following combat-related trauma. Estimates suggest that ~65% of wounded warriors who suffer limb loss or major extremity trauma will experience some type of HO formation. The development of HO delays rehabilitation and can prevent the use of a prosthetic.

Articular fragment restoration is critical to mitigate post-traumatic osteoarthritis in a porcine pilon fracture model.

Objective: During articular fracture reconstruction, orthopedic surgeons are frequently faced with the dilemma of retaining small articular fragments versus discarding these fragments. The purpose of this study was to compare post-traumatic osteoarthritis (PTOA) development between tibial plafond fractures and plafond fractures with a missing articular fragment (MF) in a porcine model.

Design: High-energy tibial plafond fractures in skeletally mature Yucatan mini pigs (n ​= ​12) were created.

Developing a combat-relevant translatable large animal model of heterotopic ossification.

Heterotopic ossification (HO) refers to ectopic bone formation, typically in residual limbs following trauma and injury. A review of injuries from Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) indicated that approximately 70% of war wounds involved the musculoskeletal system, largely in part from the use of improvised explosive devices (IED) and rocket-propelled grenades (RPG). HO is reported to occur in approximately 63%-65% of wounded warriors from OIF and OEF.