What Happens After Discharge? A 2+ Year Follow-Up After Laparoscopic Subtotal Fenestrating and Reconstituting Cholecystectomy.

Laparoscopic subtotal cholecystectomy (LSC) is utilized to prevent complications in the difficult cholecystectomy. Medium-term outcomes are poorly studied for fenestrating and reconstituting operative techniques. A single-institution retrospective review was undertaken of all LSCs.

Warren B. Davis and the Birth of Plastic Surgery in Philadelphia: A Historical Vignette.

The field of plastic surgery, formally organized in 1931 with the founding of the American Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, was shaped in many ways by a small practice of Philadelphia physicians. At the center of the practice was Warren B. Davis, a Philadelphia otolaryngologist and plastics pioneer whose innovations in cleft palate surgery would lead to significant improvements in functional and cosmetic outcomes in his time.

Implementation of a Structured Surgery Mentorship Program and Success in the Surgical Residency Match.

Introduction: General Surgery residency programs remain competitive, with over a quarter of US MD seniors failing to match into a categorical program each year. While previous literature has shown the role of mentorship in attracting medical students to surgery, there is a dearth of information demonstrating the role of mentorship in successfully matching those students to surgery programs.

Methods: We implemented a structured mentorship program for medical students interested in applying to general surgery or integrated plastics, vascular, or cardiothoracic residencies over the course of one year, consisting of seven standardized meetings and events spanning the students' MS3 and MS4 years.

Joseph Murray: Pioneering Plastic Surgeon and Father of the First Organ Transplant.

Dr. Joseph Murray was a plastic surgeon who is best known for performing the first successful human organ transplant. After graduating from Harvard Medical School and completing a surgical internship at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital, Murray enlisted in the US Army Medical Corp and spent 5 years at Valley Forge General Hospital treating World War II soldiers injured in combat.

What We Owe the World Wars: Challenges That Fueled Surgical Innovation.

War has the unique ability to intensify obstacles that surgeons face daily in civilian hospitals. After a brief overview of the historical context of the first and second world wars, this article will focus on how those daily challenges, namely limited skill, bleeding, and infection, led to an era of surgical innovation and standardization of surgical education.

Evolving application of minimally invasive cancer operations at a tertiary cancer center.

Background: Patients and providers are increasingly interested in the utilization, safety, and efficacy of minimally invasive surgery (MIS). We reviewed 11 years of MIS resections (laparoscopic and robotic) for intra-abdominal malignancies.

Methods: Patients who underwent gastrectomy, distal pancreatectomy, hepatic resection, and colorectal resection between 2004 and 2014 were identified.

MUC1 Promoter-Driven DTA as a Targeted Therapeutic Strategy against Pancreatic Cancer.

Unlabelled: Mucin1 (MUC1) is overexpressed in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDA) and is associated with tumor aggressiveness, suggesting that MUC1 is a promising therapeutic target for promoter-driven diphtheria toxin A (DTA). Endogenous MUC1 transcript levels were analyzed by quantitative PCR (qPCR) in multiple PDA cells (Capan1, HPAFII, Su.86.

Incidence and severity of pancreatogenic diabetes after pancreatic resection.

Background: While many patients experience prolonged survival after pancreatic resection for benign or malignant disease, the long-term risk of pancreatogenic diabetes mellitus (DM) remains poorly characterized.

Methods: One thousand one hundred seven patients underwent pancreatectomy at Thomas Jefferson University between 2006 and 2013. Attempts were made to contact all living patients by telephone and a DM-focused questionnaire was administered.

Grit: a marker of residents at risk for attrition?

Background: Attrition from general surgery residency remains constant at approximately 20% despite nearly a decade of work-hour reform and studies aiming to identify common risk factors. High rates of attrition from training have a wide impact, from the overall quality of trainees produced to implications on public health and the broader surgical work force. We set out to evaluate a novel character trait, grit, defined as passion and perseverance for long-term goals, as a marker and potential risk factor for resident attrition.

Targeting PARP-1 allosteric regulation offers therapeutic potential against cancer.

PARP-1 is a nuclear protein that has important roles in maintenance of genomic integrity. During genotoxic stress, PARP-1 recruits to sites of DNA damage where PARP-1 domain architecture initiates catalytic activation and subsequent poly(ADP-ribose)-dependent DNA repair. PARP-1 inhibition is a promising new way to selectively target cancers harboring DNA repair deficiencies.

Mitoxantrone targets human ubiquitin-specific peptidase 11 (USP11) and is a potent inhibitor of pancreatic cancer cell survival.

Unlabelled: Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDA) is the fourth leading cause of cancer-related death in the United States, with a 95% five-year mortality rate. For over a decade, gemcitabine (GEM) has been the established first-line treatment for this disease despite suboptimal response rates. The development of PARP inhibitors that target the DNA damage repair (DDR) system in PDA cells has generated encouraging results.