Implications of Medicare procedure volumes on resident education.

Background: Preparation of future general surgeons requires the ongoing assessment of projected case experience.

Methods: Surgical procedures (2005-2008) were abstracted from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services inpatient National Claims History Part A 100% Nearline File for all general surgeons. The most frequent Medicare surgical procedures and physician caseloads were compared by practice population.

Differential IL-7 responses in developing human thymocytes.

Interleukin (IL)-7 is a factor essential for mouse and human thymopoiesis. Mouse thymocytes have altered sensitivities to IL-7 at different developmental stages. CD4/CD8 double positive (DP) mouse thymocytes are shielded from the influence of IL-7 because of loss of CD127 (IL-7Ralpha).

Brachial vein transposition arteriovenous fistulas for hemodialysis access.

Background: An arteriovenous fistula (AVF) is the preferred vascular access for hemodialysis, offering lower morbidity, mortality, and cost compared with grafts or catheters. Patients with a difficult access extremity have often lost all superficial veins, and even basilic veins may be obliterated. We have used brachial vein transposition AVFs (BVT-AVFs) in these challenging patients and review our experience in this report.

Creating radiocephalic arteriovenous fistulas: technical and functional success.

Background: The radiocephalic arteriovenous fistula (RC-AVF) at the wrist is the recommended first choice for hemodialysis access. Several authors have reported early thrombosis or failure of RC-AVFs to mature in up to 20% to 57% of patients. We report a consecutive series of individuals in whom physical and ultrasonography (US) examinations predicted success with RC-AVFs.