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Study Design. Clinical case series.Objective. The aim of this study was to determine the effectiveness of the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS NSQIP) surgical risk calculator in the prediction of complications after anterior lumbar interbody fusion (ALIF). Summary of Background Data. Identifying at-risk patients may aid in the prevention of complications after spine procedures. The ACS NSQIP surgical risk calculator was developed to predict 30-day postoperative complications for a variety of operative procedures. Methods. Medical records of patients undergoing ALIF at our institution from 2009 to 2019 were retrospectively reviewed. Demographic and comorbidity variables were entered into the ACS NSQIP surgical risk calculator to generate percentage predictions for complication incidence within 30 days postoperatively. The observed incidences of these complications were also abstracted from the medical record. The predictive ability of the ACS NSQIP surgical risk calculator was assessed in comparison to the observed incidence of complications using area under the curve (AUC) analyses. Results. Two hundred fifty-three (253) patients were analyzed. The ACS NSQIP surgical risk calculator was a fair predictor of discharge to non-home facility (AUC 0.71) and surgical site infection (AUC 0.70). The ACS NSQIP surgical risk calculator was a good predictor of acute kidney injury/progressive renal insufficiency (AUC 0.81). The ACS NSQIP surgical risk calculator was not an adequate predictive tool for any other category, including: pneumonia, urinary tract infections, venous thromboembolism, readmission, reoperations, and aggregate complications (AUC < 0.70). Conclusion.The ACS NSQIP surgical risk calculator is an adequate predictive tool for a subset of complications after ALIF including acute kidney injury/progressive renal insufficiency, surgical site infections, and discharge to non-home facilities. However, it is a poor predictor for all other complication groups. The reliability of the ACS NSQIP surgical risk calculator is limited, and further identification of models for risk stratification is necessary for patients undergoing ALIF.

Dopamine β-hydroxylase (DBH) converts dopamine (DA) to norepinephrine (NE) in noradrenergic/adrenergic cells. DBH deficiency prevents NE production and causes sympathetic failure, hypotension and ptosis in humans and mice; DBH knockout (Dbh -/-) mice reveal other NE deficiency phenotypes including embryonic lethality, delayed growth, and behavioral defects. Furthermore, a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in the human DBH gene promoter (-970C>T; rs1611115) is associated with variation in serum DBH activity and with several neurological- and neuropsychiatric-related disorders, although its impact on DBH expression is controversial. Phenotypes associated with DBH deficiency are typically treated with L-3,4-dihydroxyphenylserine (DOPS), which can be converted to NE by aromatic acid decarboxylase (AADC) in the absence of DBH. In this study, we generated transgenic mice carrying a human bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) encompassing the DBH coding locus as well as ~45 kb of upstream and ~107 kb of downstream sequence to address two issues. First, we characterized the neuroanatomical, neurochemical, physiological, and behavioral transgenic rescue of DBH deficiency by crossing the BAC onto a Dbh -/- background. Second, we compared human DBH mRNA abundance between transgenic lines carrying either a “C” or a “T” at position -970. The BAC transgene drove human DBH mRNA expression in a pattern indistinguishable from the endogenous gene, restored normal catecholamine levels to the peripheral organs and brain of Dbh -/- mice, and fully rescued embryonic lethality, delayed growth, ptosis, reduced exploratory activity, and seizure susceptibility. In some cases, transgenic rescue was superior to DOPS. However, allelic variation at the rs1611115 SNP had no impact on mRNA levels in any tissue. These results indicate that the human BAC contains all of the genetic information required for tissue-specific, functional expression of DBH and can rescue all measured Dbh deficiency phenotypes, but did not reveal an impact of the rs11115 variant on DBH expression in mice.

Background: Tranexamic acid (TXA) is an antifibrinolytic agent shown to reduce perioperative blood loss in patients undergoing total knee arthroplasty (TKA), but there are limited data regarding the efficacy of intravenous (IV) in comparison to oral (PO) TXA. Objective: The purpose of this research was to compare the effects of IV and PO TXA on perioperative hemoglobin (Hgb) levels in patients who have undergone TKA. Methods: In this single-center, retrospective chart review, patients at least 18 years of age who received IV or PO TXA following medical center protocol from 1 of 3 orthopedic surgeons were included. The primary outcome was the change in Hgb within 24 hours following TKA. Secondary outcomes included comparisons of postsurgical complications and hospital length of stay. Results: The IV TXA group contained 62 participants, and the PO TXA group contained 61 participants. Patients receiving PO therapy had a larger decrease in Hgb compared with the IV TXA group (−2.382 vs −1.908, P = 0.02), but there were no statistically significant differences in mean length of stay (3.13 vs 2.95, P = 0.27), venous thromboembolism (VTE) occurrence (0 vs 0, P = 1), or requirement for transfusions (6 vs 5, P = 0.76). Conclusions and Relevance: IV and PO TXA may not be equivalent in outcomes for patients undergoing TKA. This study found a statistically significant decrease in the mean change of Hgb in patients receiving PO TXA compared with IV TXA. However, the rate of transfusions, mean length of stay, and rate of VTE were similar between groups.

This article describes how job analysis, a method commonly used in personnel research and organizational psychology, provides a systematic method for documenting program staffing and service delivery that can improve evaluators' knowledge about program operations. Job analysis data can be used to increase evaluators' insight into how staffs administer programs and provide program services, interpretation of outcome data, make comparisons across programs, and assessment of programs' transferability and replication potential. Because of the central role that staffs play in the delivery of client services and client experiences, job analysis has particular promise for evaluating human services and social welfare programs. This article posits that with little added effort, job analysis can be integrated into traditional evaluation activities and the benefits of this addition will be significant. A basic job analysis methodology is described using an example of its application as part of an evaluation of a prisoner reentry program.

Objectives: To quantify radiographic outcomes and to identify predictors of late displacement in the nonoperative treatment of lateral compression type II (LC-2) pelvic ring injuries.Design: Retrospective review.Setting: Two Level 1 trauma centers.Patients/Participants: Thirty eight patients 18 years of age or older with LC-2 pelvic ring injuries were included in the study.Intervention: Nonoperative treatment.Main Outcome Measurements: Crescent fracture displacement (CFD) was measured on initial axial computed tomography scan. Change in pelvic ring alignment was measured by the deformity index, simple ratio, and inlet and outlet ratios on successive plain radiographs.Results: Patients in this study had minimally displaced LC-2 pelvic ring injuries, with median initial CFD of 2 mm and median initial deformity index of 2%. No patients had a change of more than or equal to 10 percentage points in deformity index over the treatment period, but small amounts of displacement were seen on the other ratios. No patients initially selected for nonoperative treatment converted to operative treatment. No radiographic predictors of late displacement were identified. Bilateral pubic rami fractures and the presence of a complete sacral fracture ipsilateral to the crescent fracture were not associated with late displacement.Conclusions: A spectrum of injury severity and stability exists in the LC-2 pattern. Nonoperative treatment of LC-2 injuries with low initial deformity and CFD results in minimal subsequent displacement.

Web-based personalized predictive tools in orthopedic surgery are becoming more widely available. Despite rising numbers of these tools, many orthopedic surgeons may not know what tools are available, how these tools were developed, and how they can be utilized. The aim of this scoping review is to compile and synthesize the profile of existing web-based orthopedic tools. We conducted two separate PubMed searches—one a broad search and the second a more targeted one involving high impact journals—with the aim of comprehensively identifying all existing tools. These articles were then screened for functional tool URLs, methods regarding the tool’s creation, and general inputs and outputs required for the tool to function. We identified 57 articles, which yielded 31 unique web-based tools. These tools involved various orthopedic conditions (e.g., fractures, osteoarthritis, musculoskeletal neoplasias); interventions (e.g., fracture fixation, total joint arthroplasty); outcomes (e.g., mortality, clinical outcomes). This scoping review highlights the availability and utility of a vast array of web-based personalized predictive tools for orthopedic surgeons. Increased awareness and access to these tools may allow for better decision support, surgical planning, post-operative expectation management, and improved shared decision-making.