Operative Treatment of Distal Tibial Fractures in Children Managed With Epiphyseal Screws: A Comparison of Outcomes When Screws Are Retained Versus Removed Following Fracture Union.

Background: Fractures of the distal tibial epiphysis in children are often accompanied by articular surface disruption. With increased displacement, internal fixation is frequently performed with an epiphyseal screw to close the fracture gap. Despite limited, high-level clinical evidence to support implant removal, epiphyseal screws are commonly removed after fracture healing due to potentially increased contact forces on the tibiotalar joint.

Decreased Posterior Tibial Slope and Its Association With Pediatric Posterior Cruciate Ligament Injury.

Background: Recent adult studies have demonstrated that decreased posterior tibial slope angle (PTSA) may be a risk factor for posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) injury. However, there is no study investigating this phenomenon in a pediatric population. Understanding risk factors for PCL injuries among a pediatric population is important given the recent rise in athletic competition/specialization and sports-related injuries.

Group C MAP kinases phosphorylate MBD10 to regulate ABA-induced leaf senescence in Arabidopsis.

Abscisic acid (ABA) is a phytohormone that promotes leaf senescence in response to environmental stress. We previously identified methyl CpG-binding domain 10 (MBD10) as a phosphoprotein that becomes differentially phosphorylated after ABA treatment in Arabidopsis. ABA-induced leaf senescence was delayed in mbd10 knockout plants but accelerated in MBD10-overexpressing plants, suggesting that MBD10 positively regulates ABA-induced leaf senescence.

The Anterior Modified San Diego Acetabuloplasty Does Not Increase Superior-Anterior Coverage in Patient-Specific 3D-Printed Models.

Background: Patients with developmental dysplasia of the hip may require pelvic osteotomies to improve acetabular coverage. The purpose of this study was to compare the changes in acetabular version, tilt, and regional coverage angles following the San Diego acetabuloplasty (SDA), the modified San Diego acetabuloplasty (mSDA), and the Pemberton acetabuloplasty (PA).

Methods: Fourteen patients with developmental dysplasia of the hip and computed tomography (CT) imaging were identified.

Comparison of Outcomes in Pediatric and Adolescent Posterior Cruciate Ligament Injuries With and Without Meniscal Tears: Operative Versus Nonoperative Management.

Background: Despite the posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) being an essential stabilizer of the knee, there is a paucity of data regarding injury management in pediatric patients.

Purpose/hypothesis: The purpose of this study was to evaluate differences in outcomes after operative (OP) versus nonoperative (NOP) management of pediatric isolated (single-ligament) PCL tears. It was hypothesized that managing PCL tears operatively would lead to improved functional outcomes compared with NOP management, especially in the setting of an associated meniscal tear.

Pancreatic Cancer Action Network's SPARK: A Cloud-Based Patient Health Data and Analytics Platform for Pancreatic Cancer.

Purpose: Pancreatic cancer currently holds the position of third deadliest cancer in the United States and the 5-year survival rate is among the lowest for major cancers at just 12%. Thus, continued research efforts to better understand the clinical and molecular underpinnings of pancreatic cancer are critical to developing both early detection methodologies as well as improved therapeutic options. This study introduces Pancreatic Cancer Action Network's (PanCAN's) SPARK, a cloud-based data and analytics platform that integrates patient health data from the PanCAN's research initiatives and aims to accelerate pancreatic cancer research by making real-world patient health data and analysis tools easier to access and use.

Indocyanine green fluorescence guided resection of parathyroid adenoma of the carotid sheath: a case report and review of the literature.

Background: Ectopic parathyroid tissue can pose difficulties in diagnosis, management, and resection of adenomas in patients with hyperparathyroidism. The use of multimodal pre-operative imaging is recommended due to the diverse anatomic presentation of parathyroid adenomas and the potential presence of multiple adenomas. Resection failure still can occur, however, indocyanine green (ICG) fluorescence imaging is an intraoperative tool that has potential to help address this challenge.

A comparison of cone beam computed tomography, standard computed tomography and plain radiographs in the evaluation of medial epicondyle humerus fractures.

The ideal technique to measure medial epicondyle humerus fracture displacement minimizes radiation exposure while maximizing measurement accuracy and reliability. This study compares the radiation exposure and accuracy of displacement measurements of the four-view X-ray examination (XR), computed tomography (CT) and in-clinic cone-beam CT (CBCT). A cadaveric humerus underwent medial epicondyle osteotomy.

Alterations in Electroencephalography Theta as Candidate Biomarkers of Acute Cannabis Intoxication.

The trend toward cannabis legalization in the United States over the past two decades has unsurprisingly been accompanied by an increase in the number of cannabis users and use patterns that potentially pose wider risks to the public like driving under the influence. As such, it is becoming increasingly important to develop methods to accurately quantify cannabis intoxication and its associated impairments on cognitive and motor function. Electroencephalography (EEG) offers a non-invasive method for quantitatively assessing neurophysiological biomarkers of intoxication and impairment with a high degree of temporal resolution.

Elevated Inter-Brain Coherence Between Subjects With Concordant Stances During Discussion of Social Issues.

Social media platforms offer convenient, instantaneous social sharing on a mass scale with tremendous impact on public perceptions, opinions, and behavior. There is a need to understand why information spreads including the human motivations, cognitive processes, and neural dynamics of large-scale sharing. This study introduces a novel approach for investigating the effect social media messaging and in-person discussion has on the inter-brain dynamics within small groups of participants.

EEG event related potentials in sustained, focused and divided attention tasks: Potential biomarkers for cognitive impairment in HIV patients.

Objectives: The objective of this study was to assess the usability of event-related-potentials (ERPs) during sustained, focused, and divided attention tasks as biomarkers for cognitive decline in HIV patients.

Methods: EEG was acquired using a mobile/wireless 9-channel system in 39 persons with HIV, with well-controlled immune function and 63 healthy control participants (HCs) during three ERP tasks: sustained attention, focused attention, and divided attention.

Results: The HIV-group evidenced smaller late positive potential (LPP) and larger P200 amplitudes across the tasks compared to the HC group.

Resting state EEG biomarkers of cognitive decline associated with Alzheimer's disease and mild cognitive impairment.

In this paper, we explore the utility of resting-state EEG measures as potential biomarkers for the detection and assessment of cognitive decline in mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and Alzheimer's disease (AD). Neurophysiological biomarkers of AD derived from EEG and FDG-PET, once characterized and validated, would expand the set of existing diagnostic molecular biomarkers of AD pathology with associated biomarkers of disease progression and neural dysfunction. Since symptoms of AD often begin to appear later in life, successful identification of EEG-based biomarkers must account for age-related neurophysiological changes that occur even in healthy individuals.

EEG biomarkers acquired during a short, straight-line simulated drive to predict impairment from cannabis intoxication.

Objective: As cannabis use becomes more widely accepted, there is growing interest in its effects on brain function, specifically how it may impact daily functional activities such as driving, operating machinery, and other safety-related tasks. There are currently no validated methods for quantifying impairment from acute cannabis intoxication. The objective of this study was to identify neurophysiological correlates associated with driving simulator performance in subjects who were acutely intoxicated with cannabis.

Correlation of EEG biomarkers of cannabis with measured driving impairment.

The objective of this study was to use electroencephalogram (EEG) biomarkers derived from a short, easily administered neurocognitive testbed to determine acute cannabis intoxication and its effect on driving performance in a driving simulator. The data analyzed were from a study examining the relationship between psychomotor task performance, EEG data, and driving performance in a simulator. EEG data were collected using a STAT® X-24 EEG Wireless Sensor Headset, which was worn during the psychomotor and driving tasks.

Transcranial Impedance Changes during Sleep: A Rheoencephalography Study.

Objective: To demonstrate the utility of rheoencephalography (REG) for measuring cerebral blood flow and fluid dynamics during different stages of sleep.

Methods: Anteroposterior cranial electrical impedance was measured with concurrent polysomnography in a group of healthy subjects during sleep. Transcranial electrical impedance was characterized by measuring the peak-to-trough and envelope of the filtered pulsative REG signal as well as its frequency.

EEG-Based Neurocognitive Metrics May Predict Simulated and On-Road Driving Performance in Older Drivers.

The number of older drivers is steadily increasing, and advancing age is associated with a high rate of automobile crashes and fatalities. This can be attributed to a combination of factors including decline in sensory, motor, and cognitive functions due to natural aging or neurodegenerative diseases such as HIV-Associated Neurocognitive Disorder (HAND). Current clinical assessment methods only modestly predict impaired driving.

In Situ Impedance Analysis of Oxygen Exchange on Growing LaSrCoO Thin Films.

The further development of solid oxide fuel and electrolysis cells (SOFC/SOEC) strongly relies on research activities dealing with electrode materials. Recent studies showed that under operating conditions many perovskite-type oxide electrodes are prone to changes of their surface composition, leading to severe changes of their electrochemical performance. This results in a large scatter of data in literature and complicates comparison of materials.

How To Get Mechanistic Information from Partial Pressure-Dependent Current-Voltage Measurements of Oxygen Exchange on Mixed Conducting Electrodes.

The oxygen incorporation and evolution reaction on mixed conducting electrodes of solid oxide fuel or electrolysis cells involves gas molecules as well as ionic and electronic point defects in the electrode. The defect concentrations depend on the gas phase and can be modified by the overpotential. These interrelationships make a mechanistic analysis of partial pressure-dependent current-voltage experiments challenging.

Voltage and partial pressure dependent defect chemistry in (La,Sr)FeO thin films investigated by chemical capacitance measurements.

La0.6Sr0.4FeO3-δ (LSF) thin films of different thickness were prepared by pulsed laser deposition on yttria stabilized zirconia (YSZ) and characterized by using three electrode impedance spectroscopy.

The Chemical Evolution of the LaSrCoO Surface Under SOFC Operating Conditions and Its Implications for Electrochemical Oxygen Exchange Activity.

Owing to its extraordinary high activity for catalysing the oxygen exchange reaction, strontium doped LaCoO (LSC) is one of the most promising materials for solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) cathodes. However, under SOFC operating conditions this material suffers from performance degradation. This loss of electrochemical activity has been extensively studied in the past and an accumulation of strontium at the LSC surface has been shown to be responsible for most of the degradation effects.

Real-time impedance monitoring of oxygen reduction during surface modification of thin film cathodes.

Improvement of solid oxide fuel cells strongly relies on the development of cathode materials with high catalytic activity for the oxygen reduction reaction. Excellent activity was found for perovskite-type oxides such as LaSrCoO (LSC), but performance degradation, probably caused by surface composition changes, hinders exploitation of the full potential of LSC. This study reveals that the potentially very high activity of the LSC surface can be traced back to few very active sites.

Thermotolerant coliform loadings to coastal areas of Santa Catarina (Brazil) evidence the effect of growing urbanisation and insufficient provision of sewerage infrastructure.

Thermotolerant coliform (TC) loadings were quantified for 49 catchments draining into the North and South Bays of Santa Catarina (SC, southeastern Brazil), an area known for its tourism and aquaculture. TC loadings were calculated based on flow measurements taken in 26 rivers. TC concentrations ere quantified based on surface water samples collected at 49 catchment outlets in 2012 and 2013.

The Chemical Capacitance as a Fingerprint of Defect Chemistry in Mixed Conducting Oxides.

The oxygen stoichiometry of mixed conducting oxides depends on the oxygen chemical potential and thus on the oxygen partial pressure in the gas phase. Also voltages may change the local oxygen stoichiometry and the amount to which such changes take place is quantified by the chemical capacitance of the sample. Impedance spectroscopy can be used to probe this chemical capacitance.

Impact of Anterior vs Posterior Approach for Total Hip Arthroplasty on Post-Acute Care Service Utilization.

Background: Controversy exists as to which surgical approach is best for total hip arthroplasty (THA). Previous studies suggested that the tissue-sparing anterior approach should result in a more rapid recovery requiring fewer postacute services, ultimately decreasing overall episodic cost. The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to determine if any significant differences exist between the anterior vs posterior approaches on postacute care service utilization, readmissions, or episodic cost.