Objective As the number of female medical students and surgical residents increases, the increasing number of female academic surgeons has been disproportionate. The purpose of this brief report is to evaluate the AAMC data from 1969 to 2018 to compare the level of female academic faculty representation for surgical specialties over the past four decades. Design The number of women as a percentage of the total surgeons per year were recorded for each year from 1969–2018, the most recent year available. Descriptive statistics were performed. Poisson regression examined the percentage of women in each field as the outcome of interest with the year and specialty (using general surgery as a reference) as two predictor variables. Setting Data from the American Association of Medical Colleges (AAMC). Participants All full-time academic faculty physicians in the specialties of obstetrics and gynecology (OB/GYN), general surgery, ophthalmology, otolaryngology (ENT), plastic surgery, plastic surgery, urology, neurosurgery, orthopaedic surgery and cardiothoracic surgery as per AAMC records. Results The percentage of women in surgery for all specialties evaluated increased from 1969 to 2018 (OR 1.04, p<0.001). Compared with general surgery, the rate of yearly percentage change increased more slowly in neurosurgery (OR 0.84; P = .004), orthopaedic surgery (OR 0.82; P = .002), urology (OR 0.59; P < .001), and cardiothoracic surgery (OR 0.38; P < .001). There was no significant difference in the rate of yearly percentage change for plastic surgery (OR 1.01; P = .840). The rate of yearly percentage change increased more rapidly in OB/GYN (OR 2.86; P < .001), ophthalmology (OR 1.79; P < .001) and ENT (OR 1.70; P < .001). Conclusions Representation of women in academic surgery is increasing overall but is increasing more slowly in orthopaedic surgery, neurosurgery, cardiothoracic surgery and urology compared with that in general surgery. These data may be used to inform and further the discussion of how mentorship and sponsorship of female students and trainees interested in surgical careers may improve gender equity in the future.
Gene therapy approaches have been difficult to implement due to pre-existing immunity against the virus used for delivery. To circumvent this problem, a cell-based approach was developed that avoided the use of free virus within the animal. However, even cells transduced in vitro with E1- to E3-deleted adenovirus encoding bone morphogenetic protein 2 (AdBMP2) resulted in the production of virus-neutralizing antibodies in mice. Furthermore, when mice received an intramuscular injection of nonencoding adenovirus (AdEmpty)-transduced cells, AdBMP2-transduced cells were unable to launch bone formation when an intramuscular injection of these BMP2-producing cells was delivered 1 week later. This phenomenon was not observed in NOD/SCID mice, and could be overcome in C57BL/6 mice by encapsulating the adenovirus-transduced cells in a nondegradable hydrogel poly(ethylene glycol) diacrylate (PEGDA). Data collectively suggest that PEGDA hydrogel encapsulation of AdBMP2-transduced cells prevents pre-existing immunity from suppressing BMP2-induced bone formation.
Haglund’s deformity is a common cause of foot pain, with high success rates of surgical intervention. Because early weightbearing rehabilitation correlates with better surgical results, the integrity of anchors employed in these surgeries needs to be evaluated for proper fixation strength, leading to improved postoperative outcomes. The ultrasonically interdigitated anchor is a biodegradable suture anchor that is melted into bony trabeculae using ultrasound, leaving a small biological footprint and less interference on computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging scans, without loss of fixation strength. We performed a review of 44 patients aged 26 to 84 years treated with either ultrasonically interdigitated anchors or fully threaded titanium anchors during Haglund’s deformity excision. Overall, 7 of 14 patients who received an ultrasonically interdigitated anchor reported raw PROMIS (Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System) scores averaging 14.3, with an average return to ambulation time of 4.2 weeks. Fifteen of 30 patients receiving a fully threaded titanium anchor reported raw PROMIS scores averaging 9.7, with an average return to ambulation time of 3.5 weeks. We found little difference between the outcomes between the 2 anchors and no massive failures or infections in either group, implying that ultrasonically interdigitated anchors are a viable option for Achilles tendon reattachment during Haglund’s deformity repair surgery. Levels of Evidence: Level III: Case control study
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