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  • Schaefer Hughes posted an update 2 days, 17 hours ago

    Dysvascular patients account for >80% of major amputations in the US. We sought to determine if early mobilization and discharge disposition decreased post-operative hospital length of stay (PO-LOS) and expedited independent ambulation.

    A retrospective review of dysvascular patients undergoing major amputations was performed. Primary outcomes included PO-LOS, discharge disposition, and days to ambulation.

    130 patients were included. Patients evaluated by Physical Therapy (PT) within 1 day of formal amputation had decreased PO-LOS (5.6 vs 6.5 days, p=0.029). Patients discharged to rehab had a shorter PO-LOS (4 days) than those discharged to SNF or home (8 and 5 days, respectively; p=0.008). check details Time to ambulation was shorter for patients discharged to rehab (109 days vs home=153 days; SNF=175 days; p=0.033).

    Modifiable factors, including early PT and rehab placement, decreased PO-LOS and expedited time to ambulation. A need exists for a standardized multidisciplinary team approach to improve outcomes.

    Modifiable factors, including early PT and rehab placement, decreased PO-LOS and expedited time to ambulation. A need exists for a standardized multidisciplinary team approach to improve outcomes.

    Although volume-outcome literature supports regionalization for complex procedures, travel may be burdensome. We assessed the relationship between overall survival and travel distance for patients undergoing pancreatic resection for adenocarcinoma.

    We analyzed the Fall 2018 National Cancer Database Public Use File. We defined distance traveled as a categorical variable (<12.5 miles, 12.5-50mi, and >50mi). We analyzed overall survival (OS) as a function of distance traveled using the log rank test and Cox proportional hazards models; we estimated stratified models to assess for interaction between distance and other relevant covariates.

    In adjusted analysis of 39,089 patients, greater distance was associated with decreased OS (p=0.0029). We found interactions between distance and center type, comorbidities, and age. Distance traveled was a negative factor for patients treated at low-volume academic centers (but not high-volume academic or non-academic centers). Additionally, distance traveled was a negative factor for OS in young, healthy patients but not geriatric, ill patients.

    Traveling more than 12.5 miles for pancreatic resection was associated with worse OS. Prior to regionalization, evaluation of local resources may be necessary.

    Traveling more than 12.5 miles for pancreatic resection was associated with worse OS. Prior to regionalization, evaluation of local resources may be necessary.Smartphones are state-of-the-art devices with several interesting features which make them promising for analytical purposes. After modification to a spectrophotometer (smart spectrophotometer), they can be utilized for the quantitative or qualitative applications. Although smartphones have widely been applied for sensing∖biosensing purposes, the error structure/type of their outputs remained unexplored. Error structure information values the objects/channels in a given data set and variables have the same importance when the noise has identical independent distribution (i.i.d). Otherwise, error structure weights them for further data analysis. In this contribution, a smartphone-based spectrophotometer was constructed integrating simple optical elements-a tungsten lamp as source and a piece of digital versatile disc (DVD) as a reflecting diffraction grating to investigate the error sources of the smartphone-spectrophotometer. For this purpose, error covariance matrices (ECMs) were calculated using a series of replication capturing error information. Afterwards, PCA and MCR-ALS were employed for the decomposition of the ECMs and resolved profiles were translated to the error types. Finally, proportional error as a heteroscedastic noise was highlighted as the most important source of variation in the error structure of the smartphone-based spectrophotometer.A magnetic porous carbon (Fe3O4@PC) was successfully fabricated based on combustion combined with solvothermal method, and then used as magnetic solid-phase extraction absorbent for the determination of four triazole fungicides. The porous carbon was fabricated by imperfect combustion of filter paper loaded with zinc nitrate hexahydrate, which possessed extremely abundant pores, high specific surface area (908.05 m2 g-1) and large pore volume. Due to the introduction of solvothermal method used to prepare Fe3O4@PC, homogeneously distributed magnetic nanoparticles and high saturation magnetization were obtained. Compared with another magnetic porous carbon (Fe3O4@C), Fe3O4@PC obviously enhanced enrichment factors and extraction recoveries. Several key parameters influencing extraction efficiency were optimized. The satisfactory enrichment factors, low limits of detection of the method and good linearities were achieved under the optimal conditions. The relative recoveries ranged from 82.8% to 113.2% in three spiked real samples with relative standard deviations lower than 6.2%. The results indicated the great potential of the novel Fe3O4@PC as adsorbent for the extraction of triazole fungicides from complex real samples.The activity of individual biotransformation products cannot be measured in multicomponent mixtures by the current status-quo assays. A prior separation and tedious isolation of compounds is required, and often in addition, a concentration step into a solvent suitable for the cell-/enzyme-based assay. Hence, the metabolizing S9 system, mimicking the complex biotransformation reactions in the liver, was aimed to be integrated into two orthogonal methods for analysis of the acetylcholinesterase (AChE) inhibition. For the microtiter plate assay method, the evaluation of the generated fluorescence signal was impaired by the incorporated S9 system. In contrast, the metabolic activator (S9 mixture) was successfully incorporated into the high-performance thin-layer chromatography (HPTLC) method. As proof of principle, four reference AChE inhibitors were studied in complex samples with and without metabolic activation. In addition to the neurotoxic carbamate eserine and the organophosphate insecticides chlorpyrifos, quinalphos and parathion, the tris(nonylphenyl) phosphite and nonylphenol, both originating from food contact materials, were tested in isolation but also in food packaging migrate and extract.