Return to performance

(1) Background : Total knee arthroplasty (TKA) performed on working-age patients significantly affects the participation of such patients in social life. A retrospective study was conducted to determine the return to work (RTW) rate after TKA. The goal of this study was to provide reference data for the Polish population and identify the factors impacting patients' decisions to return to or resign from work, relative to their functional performance. (2) Methods : This retrospective study involved 48 patients...

The management of giant inguinoscrotal hernias remains a challenge as a result of the loss of the intra-abdominal domain from long-standing hernia contents within the scrotum. Multiple techniques have been described for abdominal wall relaxation and augmentation to allow the safe return of viscera from the scrotum to the intraperitoneal cavity without adversely affecting cardiorespiratory physiology. Preoperative progressive pneumoperitoneum, phrenectomy, and component separation are but a few common techniques previously described as adjuncts to the management of these massively large hernias...

Introduction : The combination therapy of platinum and pembrolizumab looks like a promising treatment in advanced non-small-cell lung cancer. However, both platinum-based chemotherapy and pembrolizumab can lead to AKI. AKI can occur due to acute tubular necrosis or interstitial nephritis. It is essential to identify the drug responsible for renal damage. For this purpose, we used new immunohistochemistry markers (p53 and anti-PD1 analysis). Case Description : A 77-year-old female patient with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer received the PD-1 inhibitor pembrolizumab and platinum-based chemotherapy carboplatin...

In this work, the performance of the TEROS 12 electromagnetic sensor, which measures volumetric soil water content (θ), bulk soil electrical conductivity (σb ), and temperature, is examined for a number of different soils, different θ and different levels of the electrical conductivity of the soil solution (ECW ) under laboratory conditions. For the above reason, a prototype device was developed including a low-cost microcontroller and suitable adaptation circuits for the aforementioned sensor...

BACKGROUND: Equine herpesvirus myeloencephalopathy (EHM) has severe impact on the sport horse population. OBJECTIVE: Study the influence of EHM on the likelihood of affected horses to return to their previous performance and investigate the association of clinical variables with prognosis. ANIMALS: Twenty-six horses positive for equine herpesvirus type 1 (EHV-1) were admitted to a veterinary teaching hospital (VTH) during a natural EHM outbreak at an international jumping event...

OBJECTIVE: Unplanned returns to the operating room (RORs) constitute an important quality metric in surgical practice. In this study, the authors present a methodology to compare a department's unplanned ROR rates with national benchmarks in the context of large-scale quality of care surveillance. METHODS: The authors identified unplanned RORs within 30 days from the initial surgery at their institution during the period 2014-2018 using an institutional documentation platform that facilitates the collection of reoperation information by providers in the clinical setting...

OBJECTIVE: Preservation of visual function is important in surgery for suprasellar tumors. Visual evoked potentials (VEPs) are expected to play an important role in monitoring visual function during surgery. Given the lack of information in this field, the authors aimed to investigate the effects of optic nerve compression caused by suprasellar tumors to understand the possible usefulness of VEP monitoring using off-response (OFR) VEP. METHODS: Eleven healthy volunteers who underwent surgery for standard record confirmation and 32 patients with optic chiasm lesions who underwent surgery were examined...

BACKGROUND: Value-based healthcare delivery focuses on optimizing care provided by measuring the healthcare outcomes which are most important to the clients relative to the total care costs. However, the understanding of what adds value for clients during work disability assessment is lacking. OBJECTIVE: To explore what medical examiners (MEs) perceive as valuable during the work disability assessment process, by exploring possible: 1) facilitators, 2) barriers and 3) opportunities to add value for the client during the work disability assessment...

BACKGROUND: Strong interactions between art and health are well-known. While advances in brain surgery resulted in an improved preservation of sensorimotor, visuospatial, language and cognitive functions, creative abilities received less attention. However, creativity may represent a critical issue to resume an optimal quality of life, especially in artists. Here, a unique case of sudden change in creative style in a painter who underwent glioma resection is described. This prompts to explore further creative thinking and its clinical implications in routine practice...

BACKGROUND: The goal of anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACLR) is to restore the preinjury level of knee function to return to play (RTP). However, even after completing the rehabilitation programme, some patients may have persistent quadriceps muscle weakness affecting knee function which ultimately leads to a failure in returning to play. Vitamin D has been long recognized for its musculoskeletal effects. Vitamin D deficiency may impair muscle strength recovery after ACLR...

BACKGROUND: The incidence of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is increasing among young and middle-aged people, and such patients need to be reemployed after AMI events from the individual and society perspectives. However, the situation of employment after AMI was not ideal. Early identification of patients vulnerable to decreased work ability and provided targeted intervention may be beneficial. OBJECTIVE: To identify the profiles and associated factors of work ability in young and middle-aged AMI patients...

MOTIVATION: The Oxford Nanopore Technologies (ONT) ReadUntil API enables selective sequencing, which aims to selectively favor interesting over uninteresting reads, e.g., to deplete or enrich certain genomic regions. The performance gain depends on the selective sequencing decision-making algorithm (SSDA) which decides whether to reject a read, stop receiving a read, or wait for more data. Since real runs are time-consuming and costly, simulating the ONT sequencer with support for the ReadUntil API is highly beneficial for comparing and optimizing new SSDAs...

This article examines mediated performances of emotions by Chinese international students in their transnational journeys returning to China during the COVID-19 pandemic with a focus on the role of mobile media in helping students cope with their cross-border (im)mobility and symbolic immobility. By thematically analyzing 36 self-representational videos produced by returning Chinese students on a burgeoning mobile media platform Douyin, we identify 5 overarching themes of emotional performance: fear, pride, gratitude, shame, and solidarity...

Modern machine learning approaches have led to performant diagnostic models for a variety of health conditions. Several machine learning approaches, such as decision trees and deep neural networks, can, in principle, approximate any function. However, this power can be considered to be both a gift and a curse, as the propensity toward overfitting is magnified when the input data are heterogeneous and high dimensional and the output class is highly nonlinear. This issue can especially plague diagnostic systems that predict behavioral and psychiatric conditions that are diagnosed with subjective criteria...

The relationships between maternal exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) and congenital heart diseases (CHD) are not elucidated yet. The exposure levels of EDCs are generally estimated based on self-reported questionnaires or occupational exposure evaluations in the literature. Therefore, a study based on epidemiological data from human biospecimens is required to provide stronger evidence between maternal exposure to EDC and CHD. Embase, Pubmed, Scopus, and the Cochrane Library databases were searched for related research which provided risk estimates regarding the relationships between maternal EDC exposure and CHD in human offspring...

INTRODUCTION: Acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF) is associated with increased mortality and morbidity in patients with biliary atresia (BA). Data on impact of ACLF on postoperative outcomes, however, are sparse. METHOD: We performed a retrospective analysis of patients with BA aged <18 years who underwent LT between 2011 and 2021 at our institution. ACLF was defined using the pediatric ACLF criteria: ≥1 extra-hepatic organ failure in children with decompensated cirrhosis...

BACKGROUND: Stroke survivors are one of the largest consumer groups of rehabilitation services. Despite improvement in daily activities while in inpatient rehabilitation, many have difficulty performing daily activities at home after discharge. The difference in performance between a standard clinical context and at home is poorly understood. OBJECTIVE: To better understand differences in activity performance during transition from inpatient rehabilitation facility (IRF) to home, we examined daily activity performance scores from 2 different environments (IRF and home) at the same time point (discharge)...

Microbial electrochemical systems are a highly versatile platform technology with a particular focus on the interplay of chemical and electrical energy conversion and offer immense potential for a sustainable bioeconomy. The industrial realization of this potential requires a critical focus on biofilm optimization if performance is to be controlled over a long period of time. Moreover, the aspect and influence of cooperativity has to be addressed as many applied anodic bioelectrochemical systems will most likely be operated with a diversity of interacting microbial species...

Heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) is considered to be the dominant cause of dyspnea and pulmonary hypertension (PH) in elderly patients with preserved left ventricular systolic function and cardiovascular comorbidities. However, it is important to keep in mind that left ventricular diastolic dysfunction is not the only possible cause of PH in cases of late-onset clinical manifestation. A multiparametric approach is essential for accurate diagnosis and therapeutic decision-making. A 74-year-old patient was admitted due to progressive dyspnea and suspicion of PH...

PURPOSE: A mouse model of irradiation (IR)-induced heart injury was established to investigate the early changes in cardiac function after radiation and the role of cardiac macrophages in this process. METHODS: Cardiac function was evaluated by heart-to-tibia ratio, lung-to-heart ratio and echocardiography. Immunofluorescence staining and flow cytometry analysis were used to evaluate the changes of macrophages in the heart. Immune cells from heart tissues were sorted by magnetic beads for single-cell RNA sequencing, and the subsets of macrophages were identified and analyzed...