Abdominal Oblique and Rectus Muscle Injuries in Major and Minor League Baseball Players: An Updated Epidemiological Review.

Background: Abdominal musculature injuries comprise the third most prevalent time-loss injury across professional baseball. Despite increased awareness and prevention attempts in the recent decade, the trends of these abdominal injury numbers in Major League Baseball (MLB) are not fully understood.

Purposes: To update the trends in oblique and intercostal injuries, analyze the impact of these injuries based on time out of play, and identify factors that correlate with increased injury severity to help with recovery time prognostication for the sports medicine community.

Beyond guesswork: how accurate are surgeons at determining the degree of glenoid bone loss in instability surgery?

Background: Accurate measurement of glenoid bone loss (GBL) is critical to preoperative planning in cases of recurrent shoulder instability. The concept of critical bone loss has been established with a value of GBL >13.5% being associated with higher failure rate following arthroscopic Bankart Repair.

Correlation of Rehabilitation and Throwing Program Milestones With Outcomes After Ulnar Collateral Ligament Reconstruction: An Analysis of 717 Professional Baseball Pitchers.

Background: There remains room for improvement in surgical outcomes after medial ulnar collateral ligament reconstruction (MUCLR) in professional pitchers. The role and influence of postoperative rehabilitation on the outcomes of MUCLR are unknown. There is a paucity of clinical data in the current literature comparing the success of various postsurgical rehabilitation protocols after MUCLR.

The role for vaginal cuff brachytherapy boost after external beam radiation therapy in endometrial cancer.

Purpose: To evaluate the role and technique of a vaginal cuff brachytherapy (VB) boost to adjuvant external beam (EB) radiation for endometrial cancer through a systematic review.

Methods And Materials: Relevant trials were identified through a systematic search of the literature.

Results: A total of 21 prospective and retrospective studies which had a patient cohort undergoing EB + VB was identified to evaluate for rates of vaginal and pelvic recurrences, overall survival, and toxicity.

Successful Performance After Ulnar Collateral Ligament Reconstruction: An Analysis of 88 Drafted Professional Baseball Pitchers With a Matched Comparison Cohort.

Background: Analysis of pitchers entering the Major League Baseball (MLB) draft after ulnar collateral ligament reconstruction (UCLR) is challenging for team physicians.

Purpose: (1) To define the characteristics of pitchers drafted after UCLR associated with placement in AAA and MLB professional levels and completion of a career of at least 3 years, (2) to define characteristics placing pitchers at risk for reinjury after surgery, (3) to compare the professional-level placement and career duration of the UCLR cohort with a matched control group, and (4) to evaluate the accuracy of team physician predraft risk assessments to predict elbow reinjury in pitchers with a history of UCLR.

Study Design: Cohort study; Level of evidence, 3.

Revision Ulnar Collateral Ligament Reconstruction in Professional Baseball: Current Trends, Surgical Techniques, and Outcomes.

Background: Ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) reconstruction of the elbow is commonly performed on professional baseball pitchers. Recent reports have suggested that revision rates are on the rise and may be higher than previously thought.

Purpose: To provide a comprehensive report on current trends, surgical techniques, and outcomes of revision UCL reconstructions performed on professional baseball pitchers between 2010 and 2016.

Comparison of Outcomes Based on Graft Type and Tunnel Configuration for Primary Ulnar Collateral Ligament Reconstruction in Professional Baseball Pitchers.

Background: Professional baseball pitchers are at high risk for tears of the ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) of the elbow, often requiring surgical reconstruction. Despite acceptable published return-to-play outcomes, multiple techniques and graft types have been described.

Purpose: This study compares UCL reconstruction (UCLR) outcomes based on tunnel configuration and graft type.

Challenges of Medical Care Delivery in Professional Sports: Lessons From Professional Baseball.

Team medical management for professional sports teams is a demanding and high-risk activity. Every different sport has unique features and the stresses athletes place on themselves, be it from collisions or repetitive stress, result in specific challenges for the medical team and team organization in general. Injuries in professional sports are costly both to the player and organization.

Imaging in Congenital and Hereditary Abnormalities of the Interventricular Septum: Clinical Anatomy and Diagnostic Clues.

Early identification of congenital heart diseases, specifically those affecting the structural integrity and function of the interventricular septum, in childhood is important toward decreasing the morbidity and mortality of those affected. We review the pertinent clinical and imaging manifestations for those with ventricular septal defects, ventricular septal aneurysms, tetralogy of Fallot, and hypertrophic (obstructive) cardiomyopathy, in addition to discussing first-line imaging studies, including echocardiography, and indications for advanced imaging.

Elbow Injuries in the Adolescent Thrower.

Purpose Of Review: With an increasing rate of adolescent elbow injuries, especially in throwing athletes, the purpose of this review is to investigate the current literature regarding the diagnosis, treatment, and non-operative and operative outcomes of medial epicondyle fractures, ulnar collateral ligament repair, osteochondritis dissecans of the elbow, and olecranon stress fractures.

Recent Findings: Acceptable outcomes with both non-operative and operative treatments of medial epicondyle fractures have been reported, with surgical indications continuing to evolve. Unstable osteochondritis dissecans lesions, especially in patients with closed growth plates, require operative fixation, and emerging open and arthroscopic techniques including lesion debridement, marrow stimulation, autograft transfer, and allograft transplantation are described with good outcomes.

Distribution of Force in the Medial Collateral Ligament Complex During Simulated Clinical Tests of Knee Stability.

Background: Pivot-shift injury commonly results in combined anterior cruciate ligament (ACL)/medial collateral ligament (MCL) injury, yet the contribution of the components of the MCL complex to restraining multiplanar rotatory loads forming critical subcomponents of the pivot shift is not well understood.

Purpose: To quantify the role of the MCL complex in restraining multiplanar rotatory loads.

Study Design: Controlled laboratory study.

Glenoid Bone-Grafting in Revision to a Reverse Total Shoulder Arthroplasty.

Background: Revision of a shoulder arthroplasty to a reverse shoulder arthroplasty in the presence of glenoid bone loss is especially challenging. The purpose of the present study was to determine the complications and results of glenoid bone-grafting in revision to a reverse shoulder arthroplasty.

Methods: Between 2005 and 2010, 143 consecutive reverse shoulder arthroplasties performed as revision procedures were performed at our institution.

Limited therapeutic benefits of intra-articular cortisone injection for patients with femoro-acetabular impingement and labral tear.

Purpose: Intra-articular (IA) hip cortisone injection is commonly performed as a therapeutic modality in patients with femoral acetabular impingement (FAI). To our knowledge, there is no published data evaluating the clinical benefit of these injections. The purpose of this study was to assess the efficacy of therapeutic IA cortisone injection in these patients.

Outcomes of repeat revision anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction.

Background: As anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction is performed increasingly in the United States, the rate of revision ACL reconstruction continues to rise. A paucity of literature exists with respect to repeat ACL revision surgery.

Purpose: To evaluate the functional outcomes of patients who had undergone at least 2 revision ACL reconstructions.

Field-based insights to the evolution of specialization: plasticity and fitness across habitats in a specialist/generalist species pair.

Factors promoting the evolution of specialists versus generalists have been little studied in ecological context. In a large-scale comparative field experiment, we studied genotypes from naturally evolved populations of a closely related generalist/specialist species pair (Polygonum persicaria and P. hydropiper), reciprocally transplanting replicates of multiple lines into open and partially shaded sites where the species naturally co-occur.

Is evolution necessary for range expansion? Manipulating reproductive timing of a weedy annual transplanted beyond its range.

Ecologists often consider how environmental factors limit a species' geographic range. However, recent models suggest that geographic distribution also may be determined by a species' ability to adapt to novel environmental conditions. In this study, we empirically tested whether further evolution would be necessary for northern expansion of the weedy annual cocklebur (Xanthium strumarium) in its native North American range.

Shade tolerance plasticity in response to neutral vs green shade cues in Polygonum species of contrasting ecological breadth.

Here we examined species differences in perception and response to two distinct types of shade cue, reduced photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) with and without reduced red : far red ratio (R : FR), in Polygonum persicaria and Polygonum hydropiper, two closely related annuals of contrasting ecological breadth. We compared plasticity data for light-gathering traits from glasshouse experiments at equivalently reduced PAR under neutral shade (R : FR 1.03) and green shade (R : FR 0.