Influence of Biological Sex and Congenital Iron Deficiency on Neonatal Cytokine Responses.

Background/objectives: Stimulated cord blood mononuclear cell (CBMC) cytokine responses were previously shown to predict the risk of childhood atopic disease. Iron deficiency (ID) at birth may also program atopic disease. Males are at a higher risk of pediatric atopic disease, but it is not known whether congenital ID impacts CBMC immune responses differentially by sex.

Tumor seeding across specialties: a systematic review.

Background: Understanding shared characteristics underlying reported tumor seeding episodes can reveal when tumor seeding is most likely to occur and guide clinical decision making. Our goal was to systematically review tumor seeding across specialties and determine what types of instrumentation and primary tumor histology are associated with tumor seeding.

Methods: A systematic review was conducted using PubMed and Web of Science, per PRISMA guidelines.

Cases and Controversies in Spine Trauma.

Spinal fractures, spinal cord injuries, and nerve root injuries are commonly encountered entities for spine surgeon. While many cases have well-researched presentations, outcomes, and standards of care there are many patients for which the appropriate clinical management is less clear. Other patients present with injuries with clear treatment preferences that are impossible to implement based on comorbidities or preference.

A Critical Review of Endoscopic Spine Surgery.

This is a critical review of the data supporting current endoscopic surgical techniques for the spine, limitations, economic barriers to adoption, and the future of the field. Endoscopic spine approaches can be applied to all levels of the spine, with many robust trials supporting its clinical outcomes. Although financial limitations with starting an endoscopic program can be justified by its cost effectiveness and positive societal impact, challenges facing its widespread adoption are present and more endoscopic spine programs are needed.

Comparing scissors and scalpels to a novel surgical instrument: a biomechanical sectioning study.

Background: This study introduces a novel surgical instrument to reduce iatrogenic nerve injuries during procedures such as carpal tunnel and ulnar nerve decompression surgery. These injuries often result from direct damage to surrounding tissues by surgical instruments, whose designs have remained largely unchanged over the past decades. The novel device is a modified surgical forceps that has a deployable surgical scalpel that runs along a groove on the forceps.

Targeted Therapies in Pancreatic Cancer: A New Era of Precision Medicine.

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), a leading cause of cancer mortality in the United States, presents significant treatment challenges due to its late diagnosis and poor prognosis. Despite advances, the five-year survival rates remain dismally low, with only a fraction of patients eligible for potentially curative surgical interventions. This review aims to comprehensively examine the current landscape of targeted therapies in PDAC, focusing on recent developments in precision medicine approaches.

The Boston Declaration 2025: Plan and Pledges for Progress in Global Neurosurgery.

Global Neurosurgery has been described as the clinical and public health practice of neurosurgery with the primary purpose of ensuring timely, safe, and affordable neurosurgical care to all who need it. Global Neurosurgery activities in the form of mission trips, educational partnerships, and research collaborations have been in place for decades. Still, there have been no central organizing efforts to improve the harmonization of these endeavors until recently.

Providing a Safe Pregnancy Experience for Surgeons: A Review.

Importance: Childbearing has been a particular barrier to successful recruitment and retention of women in surgery. Pregnant surgeons are more likely to have major pregnancy complications, such as preterm delivery, intrauterine growth restriction, infertility, and miscarriage, compared with nonsurgeons. The average obstetric complication rate for surgeons ranges between 25% and 82% in the literature and is considerably higher than that in the general US population at 5% to 15%.

Evaluation of Morphometric Measurements on Preoperative CT Angiograms to Determine Risk of Abdominal Donor Site Complications-A Retrospective Review of 174 Patients.

Autologous breast reconstruction remains a popular surgical option following mastectomy; however, it is not without complications. Preoperative CT angiograms (CTAs) are often obtained for surgical planning, and morphometric data such as fat and muscle distribution can be measured. This study aimed to assess if CTA morphometric data predicts abdominal donor site complications in patients undergoing abdominally based autologous breast reconstruction.

Intravenous push lacosamide: Successful implementation and patient outcomes across a health system.

Purpose: Intravenous administration of the antiseizure medication lacosamide can be delayed given operational challenges related to short beyond-use-dating and controlled substance requirements. The purpose of this study was to describe the steps required to successfully transition from intravenous piggyback administration to intravenous push administration and demonstrate that workflow changes improved time to administration without compromising patient safety.

Methods: This multicenter study had 2 components; the first portion was a prospective description of the implementation and operationalization process, while the second was a retrospective cohort analysis comparing patients who received intravenous piggyback and intravenous push lacosamide.

Characteristics and Habits of Psychiatrists and Neurologists With High Occupational Well-Being: A Mixed Methods Study.

Objective: To identify the characteristics that distinguish occupationally well outliers (OWO), a subset of academic psychiatrists and neurologists with consistently high professional fulfillment and low burnout, from their counterparts with lower levels of occupational well-being.

Participants And Methods: Participants included faculty physicians practicing psychiatry and neurology in academic medical centers affiliated with the Professional Well-being Academic Consortium. In this prospective, longitudinal study, a mixed qualitative and quantitative approach was used.

Conservative Management of Occipital Neuralgia Supported by Physical Therapy: A Review of Available Research and Mechanistic Rationale to Guide Treatment.

Purpose Of Review: Conservative management is consistently recommended as a first line intervention for occipital neuralgia (ON); however, there is limited clinical research regarding conservative intervention for ON. This lack of research may lead to underutilization or unwarranted variability in conservative treatment. This article provides mechanism-based guidance for conservative management of ON as a component of a multimodal treatment approach, and discusses the role of the physical therapist in the care team.

Cascade screening for familial hypercholesterolemia from pediatric index cases diagnosed through universal screening.

Heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia (HeFH) is an autosomal dominant disorder causing elevated low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and premature atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. Universal cholesterol screening in childhood leads to children serving as the index case for their family, but efficacy of cascade screening and genetic counseling in this population is not well understood. The institutional pediatric lipid clinic database was queried from 2011 to 2022 for subjects <18 years who met clinical HeFH diagnostic criteria (N = 256).

Gα-independent and -dependent Improvements With EPA Supplementation on the Early Type 1 Diabetes Phenotype of NOD Mice.

Prostaglandin E (PGE) is a key mediator of inflammation and is derived from the omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acid, arachidonic acid (AA). In the β-cell, the PGE receptor, Prostaglandin EP3 receptor (EP3), is coupled to the unique heterotrimeric G protein alpha subunit, Gɑ to reduce the production of cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP), a key signaling molecule that activates β-cell function, proliferation, and survival pathways. Nonobese diabetic (NOD) mice are a strong model of type 1 diabetes (T1D), and NOD mice lacking Gɑ are protected from hyperglycemia.

Depth over RGB: automatic evaluation of open surgery skills using depth camera.

Purpose: In this paper, we present a novel approach to the automatic evaluation of open surgery skills using depth cameras. This work is intended to show that depth cameras achieve similar results to RGB cameras, which is the common method in the automatic evaluation of open surgery skills. Moreover, depth cameras offer advantages such as robustness to lighting variations, camera positioning, simplified data compression, and enhanced privacy, making them a promising alternative to RGB cameras.

Clavicular window for brachial plexus schwannoma removal.

Background: Schwannomas are benign nerve sheath tumors that can either be sporadic or part of neurofibromatosis type 2 (NF2). Tumors of the brachial plexus (BP) with both supra- and infraclavicular components are uncommon and represent a challenge to complete surgical resection. There are few reports on single clavicular osteotomies for BP exposure; however, there are currently no reports of utilization of a clavicular window for a large schwannoma resection.