Management of Chronic Fracture-Related Infection.

Chronic fracture-related infection is a complex, costly clinical problem with a wide spectrum of clinical presentations. The goals of treatment are infection control with a healed fracture covered by well-vascularized soft tissue and improvement of patient pain and function. Management is both medical, with culture-targeted antimicrobial agents, and surgical, requiring meticulous irrigation and débridement.

Association between opioid utilization and patient-reported outcome measures following lumbar spine surgery.

Background Context: The patient-reported outcomes measurement information system (PROMIS), created by the National institute of Health, is a reliable and valid survey for patients with lumbar spine pathology. Preoperative opioid use has been shown to be an important predictor variable of self-reported health status in legacy patient-reported outcome measures.

Purpose: To investigate the impact of chronic preoperative opiate use on PROMIS survey scores.

Can We Predict Imbalance in Patients? Analysis of the CDC National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.

Understanding global body balance can optimize the postoperative course for patients undergoing spinal or lower limb surgical realignment. This observational cohort study aimed to characterize patients with reported imbalance and identify predictors. The CDC establishes a representative sample annually via the NHANES.

Effect of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs on fracture healing in children: A systematic review.

Background: Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are among the most commonly prescribed medications in the United States. Although they are safe and effective means of analgesia for children with broken bones, there is considerable variation in their clinical use due to persistent concerns about their potentially adverse effect on fracture healing.

Aim: To assess whether NSAID exposure is a risk factor for fracture nonunion in children.

Survival of Patients With Primary Osseous Malignancies of the Mobile Spine Is Associated With Access to "Standard Treatment" Protocols.

Introduction: Malignancies of the mobile spine carry high morbidity and mortality. This study sought to examine factors associated with receipt of "standard" treatment and survival for patients with primary mobile spine tumors in the California Cancer Registry (CCR).

Methods: The CCR (1988 to 2016) data were obtained for patients with primary tumors of the mobile spine and at least 1-year follow-up.

Characterizing Hand Infections in an Underserved Population: The Role of Diabetic Status in Antibiotic Choice and Infection Location.

Patients with diabetes mellitus (DM) in underserved communities are at greater risk for hand infections. We aimed to describe the features of hand infections presenting to an urban hospital via laboratories, microbiology, and antibiotic choice with respect to diabetic status. Patients presenting with any hand infection were reviewed and stratified by DM status and infection location.

Acute Delirium Induced by Ciprofloxacin in a Patient With Chronic Kidney Disease: A Case Report.

Case: Ciprofloxacin is increasingly used as oral suppressive therapy for musculoskeletal infections. Delirium and acute hypoglycemia are little-known, severe potential adverse drug reactions. We report here on a patient who experienced both complications.

Comparing Predictors of Complications After Anterior Cervical Diskectomy and Fusion, Total Disk Arthroplasty, and Combined Anterior Cervical Diskectomy and Fusion-Total Disk Arthroplasty With a Minimum 2-Year Follow-Up.

Introduction: Outcomes after anterior cervical diskectomy and fusion (ACDF) and cervical total disk arthroplasty (TDA) are satisfactory, but related morbidity and revision surgery rates are notable. This study sought to determine complication variations among ACDF, TDA, and combined ACDF-TDA as well as predictors of postoperative complications.

Methods: Patients undergoing 1- to 2-level ACDF and/or TDA with at least a 2-year follow-up from 2009 to 2011 were identified from the Statewide Planning and Research Cooperative System database.

Radial Nerve Sensory Branch Anatomical Variant: A Case Report and Literature Review.

Case: Two patients sustained comminuted extra-articular distal humerus fractures. One patient was neurovascularly intact preoperatively. The other patient had a complete radial motor palsy with preserved sensation.

Total hip arthroplasty in Parkinson's disease patients: a propensity score-matched analysis with minimum 2-year surveillance.

Introduction: Parkinson's disease (PD) patients experience chronic pain related to osteoarthritis at comparable rates to the general population. While total hip arthroplasty (THA) effectively improves pain, functionality, and quality of life in PD patients, long-term outcomes following THA are under-reported. This study sought to investigate whether PD patients have an increased risk of complications and revision following THA in comparison to the general population.

Total shoulder arthroplasty in octogenarians: Is there a higher risk of adverse outcomes?

This study used the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program to evaluate octogenarians who underwent total shoulder arthroplasty (TSA). Specifically, we evaluated: (1) patient demographics; (2) perioperative factors; and (3) 30-day postoperative complications. Compared to controls, the octogenarians had more females, white patients, lower BMIs, fewer smokers, less functionally independent, higher ASA scores, shorter operative times, and longer LOS.

New alternate bearing surfaces in total hip arthroplasty: A review of the current literature.

As indications for total hip arthroplasty (THA) have expanded, the incidence of THA has increased among younger patients, who live longer and tend to place more strain on implants via higher activity levels. This demographical shift accentuates the importance of advancing innovation to ensure implant longevity for younger and more active patients. Future innovation, as it pertains to THA components, is likely to focus on modifying implant designs and tribology in conjunction with identification and application of newer biomaterials.

Recurrent Bacteremia in a Patient With Leukemia.

species are a commensal flora of the human gastrointestinal and the female genitourinary tract. especially the species, are common components of commercial probiotics. They are rarely associated with pathology in immunocompetent people, but they have been known to cause dental caries, bacteremia, and endocarditis in patients with suppressed immune function.

Dual colorimetric and luminescent assay for dipicolinate, a biomarker of bacterial spores.

A binary mixture of Tb(3+) and pyrocatechol violet (PV) forms a 1 : 1 Tb(3+)/PV complex that can be used in a dye displacement assay. Addition of dipicolinate (DPA) to the Tb(3+)/DPA complex simultaneously produces a PV color change from blue to yellow and luminescence emission from the newly formed Tb(3+)/DPA complex.

The maintenance and disambiguation of object representations depend upon feature contrast within and between objects.

The brain processes many aspects of the visual world separately and in parallel, yet we perceive a unified world populated by objects. In order to create such a "bound" percept, the visual system must construct object-centered representations out of separate features and then maintain the representations across changes in space and time. Here, we examine the role of features themselves in maintaining and disambiguating the representations of the objects to which they belong.

Dworkin and Casey on abortion.

This article responds to two important recent treatments of abortion rights. I will mainly discuss Ronald Dworkin's recent writings concerning abortion: his article "Unenumerated rights: whether and how Roe should be overruled," and his book Life's Dominion. In these writings Dworkin presents a novel view of what the constitutional and moral argument surronding abortion is really about.