Patterns of Marijuana Use and Nicotine Exposure in Patients Seeking Elective Aesthetic Procedures.

Background: With the increasing legalization and popularity of marijuana, it is frequently and sometimes unintentionally combined with nicotine-containing products. As a consequence, patients may fail to accurately report usage during preoperative examinations or remain unaware of the inclusion of nicotine. This poses a challenge for clinicians in identifying preoperative nicotine exposure.

Racial disparities in the utilization of invasive neuromodulation devices for the treatment of drug-resistant focal epilepsy.

Racial disparities affect multiple dimensions of epilepsy care including epilepsy surgery. This study aims to further explore these disparities by determining the utilization of invasive neuromodulation devices according to race and ethnicity in a multicenter study of patients living with focal drug-resistant epilepsy (DRE). We performed a post hoc analysis of the Human Epilepsy Project 2 (HEP2) data.

The Impact of Marijuana Use on Postoperative Outcomes in Abdominal-based Free Flap Breast Reconstruction.

Background:  There is an increasing prevalence of marijuana use in the general population yet clinical studies on marijuana's effect on surgical outcomes remain limited. Marijuana's effect on wound healing, venous thromboembolism (VTE) due to endothelial inflammation, and bleeding due to inhibited platelet function have been cited based on animal models but have not been evaluated clinically in patients undergoing microsurgical reconstruction.

Methods:  Retrospective chart review was performed on all patients who underwent abdominal-based free flap breast reconstruction in a single institute from August 2018 to December 2022.

Postoperative Magnesium Sulfate Repletion Decreases Narcotic Use in Abdominal-Based Free Flap Breast Reconstruction.

Background:  Microsurgical breast reconstruction after mastectomy is now the standard of care for breast cancer patients. However, the costs and resources involved in free flap reconstruction can vary across different medical settings. To enhance patient outcomes in a cost-effective manner, we investigated the effect of intravenous magnesium sulfate (IV Mg) on postoperative opioid usage in this context.

Hepatocyte-specific regulation of autophagy and inflammasome activation via MyD88 during lethal infection.

Hepatocytes play a crucial role in host response to infection. is an obligate intracellular bacterium that causes potentially life-threatening human monocytic ehrlichiosis (HME) characterized by an initial liver injury followed by sepsis and multi-organ failure. We previously showed that infection with highly virulent () induces liver damage and fatal ehrlichiosis in mice via deleterious MyD88-dependent activation of CASP11 and inhibition of autophagy in macrophage.

Peripheral T cell activation, not thymic selection, expands the T follicular helper repertoire in a lupus-prone murine model.

Many autoimmune diseases are characterized by the activation of autoreactive T cells. The T cell repertoire is established in the thymus; it remains uncertain whether the presence of disease-associated autoreactive T cells reflects abnormal T cell selection in the thymus or aberrant T cell activation in the periphery. Here, we describe T cell selection, activation, and T cell repertoire diversity in female mice deficient for B lymphocyte-induced maturation protein (BLIMP)-1 in dendritic cells (DCs) (Prdm1 CKO).

Pediatric Surgery Firearm Injury Collaborative Symposium.

Injury from a firearm is now the leading cause of death of children and youth under age 19 in the United States (U.S.) [1] and the incidence of these deaths continues to increase each year [2].

COVID-lateral Damage: Impact of the Post-COVID-19 Era on Procedural Training in Emergency Medicine Residency.

Hospitalizations during the coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic peaked in New York in March-April 2020. In the months following, emergency department (ED) volumes declined. Our objective in this study was to examine the effect of this decline on the procedural experience of emergency medicine (EM) residents compared to the pre-pandemic period.

Classifications of hydrocephalus based on Walter Dandy and his paradigm.

Purpose: The purpose of this review is to assess the early work of Walter Dandy leading to a paradigm or model that led to the first classification of hydrocephalus and resulted in the development of treatments.

Methods: The modern understanding of hydrocephalus begins with the works of Walter Dandy. The purpose of this review is to discuss what was changed in the second decade of the 20th century and how the outcome is useful today.

Treatment of High-Risk Neuroblastoma.

High-risk neuroblastoma is a highly aggressive solid tumor that most commonly presents in early childhood. Advances in treatment through decades of clinical trials and research have led to improved outcomes. This review provides an overview of the current state of treatment for high-risk neuroblastoma.

Does a dedicated "Scoliosis Team" and surgical standardization improve outcomes in adolescent idiopathic scoliosis surgery and is it reproducible?

Purpose: The objective of this study was to determine if standardization improves adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) surgery outcomes and whether it is transferrable between institutions.

Methods: A retrospective review was conducted of AIS patients operated between 2009 and 2021 at two institutions (IA and IB). Each institution consisted of a non-standardized (NST) and standardized group (ST).

The Brain Tumor Segmentation - Metastases (BraTS-METS) Challenge 2023: Brain Metastasis Segmentation on Pre-treatment MRI.

The translation of AI-generated brain metastases (BM) segmentation into clinical practice relies heavily on diverse, high-quality annotated medical imaging datasets. The BraTS-METS 2023 challenge has gained momentum for testing and benchmarking algorithms using rigorously annotated internationally compiled real-world datasets. This study presents the results of the segmentation challenge and characterizes the challenging cases that impacted the performance of the winning algorithms.

Development of an Approach to Assessing Pediatric Fellows' Transport Medical Control Skills.

Background And Objective: Pediatric interfacility transport teams facilitate access to subspecialty care, and physicians often guide management remotely as transport medical control (TMC). Pediatric subspecialty fellows frequently perform TMC duties, but tools assessing competency are lacking. Our objective was to develop content validity for the items required to assess pediatric subspecialty fellows' TMC skills.