Stony Brook

Acral melanoma commonly occurs on weight-bearing areas of the sole. Reconstruction of such areas presents a surgical challenge due to limited availability and mobility of local skin. Thus, we aimed to compare the scar outcome of full-thickness skin graft (FTSG) and punch grafting in the reconstruction of plantar defects after melanoma surgery. We retrospectively reviewed six patients who underwent both FTSG for nonweight-bearing areas and punch grafting for weight-bearing areas. We compared results of FTSG and punch grafting within the same patient...

INTRODUCTION: Endotoxin is a key driver of sepsis, which frequently causes acute kidney injury (AKI). However, endotoxins may also be found in non-bacteremic critically ill patients, likely from intestinal translocation. Preclinical models show that endotoxins can directly injure the kidneys, and in COVID-19 patients, endotoxemia correlated with AKI. We sought to determine correlations between endotoxemia and kidney and hospital outcomes in a broad group of critically ill patients. METHODS: In this single-center, serial prospective study, 124 predominantly Caucasian adult patients were recruited within 48 h of admission to Stony Brook University Hospital Intensive Care Unit (ICU)...

Since the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic in 2020, the global community has faced ongoing challenges in controlling and mitigating the transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, as well as its evolving subvariants and recombinants. A significant challenge during the pandemic has not only been the accurate detection of positive cases but also the efficient prediction of risks associated with complications and patient survival probabilities. These tasks entail considerable clinical resource allocation and attention...

OBJECTIVES: Sex and gender have profound effects on disease prevalence, presentation, and outcome, but these issues are not covered in depth in standard medical school curricula. To improve understanding of women's health, an intensive 1-month class was offered to fourth-year medical students. METHODS: The class combined background lectures on the biological and social determinants of women's health with presentations on specific medical conditions by practicing clinicians and students...

BACKGROUND: Alar base reduction (ABR) surgery is one of the rhinoplasty techniques used to reduce alar flaring, nasal base width, or both. It is crucial for rhinoplasty surgeons to understand and analyze the type of nasal base deformity to achieve satisfactory results and avoid complications. OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study is to describe a novel technique of ABR that addresses alar flaring while avoiding violation of the nostril marginal rim. METHODS: This prospective cohort study included patients with alar flaring who underwent rhinoplasty or septorhinoplasty with ABR using our modified technique...

Corals are under siege by both local and global threats, creating a worldwide reef crisis. Cryopreservation is an important intervention measure and a vital component of the modern coral conservation toolkit, but preservation techniques are currently limited to sensitive reproductive materials that can only be obtained a few nights per year during spawning. Here, we report the successful cryopreservation and revival of cm-scale coral fragments via mL-scale isochoric vitrification. We demonstrate coral viability at 24 h post-thaw using a calibrated oxygen-uptake respirometry technique, and further show that the method can be applied in a passive, electronics-free configuration...

INSTITUTIONS: STONY BROOK MEDICAL CENTERRATIONALE: Lung Cancer screening for the high-risk smoking population has been proven to save lives. However, in 2022, 20% of newly diagnosed lung cancers (47,300) were in nonsmokers. These patients were found to be diagnosed at later stages. This may be at least partly due to not meeting criteria for and participating in current lung cancer screening. This study aims to describe characteristics of a never smoker patient population to help identify common risk factors which might merit inclusion in lung cancer screening and thus improve patient outcomes...

Background: Surgical repair of inguinal hernia is among the most commonly performed surgical interventions in general surgery clinics, with minimal postoperative complications, less pain, and maximum cosmetic results. The aim of this study is to compare the outcomes of patients who underwent Lichtenstein repair (LR), which is currently the most commonly used open surgical procedure to repair inguinal hernias, and laparoscopic totally extraperitoneal (TEP) repair with regard to postoperative cosmesis, patient satisfaction, pain, and inflammatory response...

Diode lasers are increasingly being utilized as an alternative to conventional soft tissue surgery. While originally diode lasers referred to wavelengths ranging from 810 through 980 nm, a visible diode laser with a 445-nm wavelength has emerged as an additional wavelength for soft tissue surgery. The goal of this case series was to demonstrate the clinical results of both visible and near infrared (NIR) wavelengths when utilized for second stage implant surgery. Ten patients with 23 implants were treated at Stony Brook University, Department of Periodontology for implant uncovering using both visible and nonvisible (NIR) diode lasers...

Cefiderocol is a novel cephalosporin recently approved by the FDA to aid clinicians in the fight against multidrug-resistant (including carbapenem-resistant) gram-negative organisms. The primary objective of this study is to evaluate the 14- and 28-day mortality associated with cefiderocol. We performed a retrospective chart review of all adult patients admitted at Stony Brook University Hospital between October 2020 and December 2021 and received cefiderocol for at least 3 days. Patients were excluded if they received more than one course of cefiderocol therapy or remained hospitalized at the time of this study...

INTRODUCTION: The report examined reciprocal within-person associations among maternal depressive symptoms and offspring depressive, anxiety and irritability symptoms from early childhood to adolescence using a random intercept cross-lagged panel model (RI-CLPM). METHOD: Participants were 609 mother-child dyads participating in the Stony Brook Temperament Study. Child and maternal internalizing symptoms were assessed every 3 years from ages 3 to 15 using maternal report on the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) and Diagnostic Inventory for Depression, respectively...

The purpose of the current study was to assess the quality of facial linear scars. The Stony Brook Scar Evaluation Scale (SBSES) was developed and validated as a tool to assess postoperative scars. Postoperative facial scars were rated using high-quality macrophotographs and SBSES by three independent raters at baseline and three months thereafter. Percentage agreement (PA) and intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) were used to measure interrater and intrarater reliability. Scar outcomes ranging from 0 (worst) to 5 (best) were evaluated against age and gender...

PURPOSE: The aim of the study is to compare the functional and esthetic results of two lip splitting approaches-McGregor incision and stepladder Z plasty for surgical resection of primary Oral Squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). METHOD: Prospective study involved 24 patients who had modified radical neck dissection for OSCC between 2018 and 2020. Predictor variables were drawn from demographic characteristics (age and gender), primary site, extent of the primary lesion...

BACKGROUND: Hypertension (HTN) is associated with severe COVID-19 infection; however, it remains unknown if the level of blood pressure (BP) predicts mortality. We tested whether the initial BP in the emergency department of hospitalized patients portends mortality in COVID-19 positive(+) patients. METHODS: Data from COVID-19(+) and negative (-) hospitalized patients at Stony Brook University Hospital from March to July 2020 were included. The initial mean arterial BPs (MABPs) were categorized into tertiles (T) of MABP (65-85 [T1], 86-97 [T2] and ≥98 [T3] mmHg)...

This invited Team Profile was created by the Tiwary group, University of Maryland, College Park (USA) and the Seeliger group, Stony Brook University, New York (USA). They recently published an article on the previously made observation through in-cell screening that the blockbuster cancer drug Gleevec has the same binding affinity, yet different dissociation kinetics against wild-type and N368S-mutated Abl kinase. Through all-atom enhanced molecular dynamics simulations guided by statistical mechanics and information theory, they were able to explain the mechanistic basis of this perplexing observation...

INTRODUCTION: Most initial COVID-19 research focused on hospitalized patients. Presenting symptomatology in the outpatient setting was poorly characterized, making it difficult for primary care physicians to predict which patients would require hospitalization. The purpose of this study was to characterize the presenting symptoms of COVID-19 infection and baseline patient characteristics and evaluate for correlation with disease severity, duration, and chronicity in the outpatient setting...

With marine heat waves increasing in intensity and frequency due to climate change, it is important to understand how thermal disturbances will alter coral reef ecosystems since stony corals are highly susceptible to mortality from thermally-induced, mass bleaching events. In Moorea, French Polynesia, we evaluated the response and fate of coral following a major thermal stress event in 2019 that caused a substantial amount of branching coral (predominantly Pocillopora) to bleach and die. We investigated whether Pocillopora colonies that occurred within territorial gardens protected by the farmerfish Stegastes nigricans were less susceptible to or survived bleaching better than Pocillopora on adjacent, undefended substrate...

This study explored the effect of perioperative use of low-dose dexamethasone on inflammatory factors in drainage fluid and wound healing after thyroid surgery. In the prospective, double-blinded, randomised controlled study, adults who underwent elective thyroidectomy received 0.1 mg/kg of intravenous dexamethasone or a matching volume of placebo (saline) after induction of general anaesthesia. The primary outcome was IL6 and IL10 concentration in drainage at 24 hours postoperative. The secondary endpoint was the SBSES (modified Stony Brook Scar Evaluation Scale) total score at 1 week postoperative...

BACKGROUND: Currently, there is a paucity of recommendations in regards to dressing selection within the enhanced recovery after surgery protocol. We devised a new dressing system to accelerate the recovery after total hip arthroplasty (THA). We aimed to present our experience with this new dressing system as an adjunct to wound management in THA and to evaluate its performance. METHODS: From September 2020 to August 2021, we prospectively enrolled 124 patients who underwent a primary THA...

PURPOSE: Scar assessment tools can be utilized during the post-operative period to monitor scar progress. The primary aim of this systematic review was to evaluate current subjective scar assessment scales utilized in orthopaedic surgery. The secondary aim was to identify determinants of patients' satisfaction with their scars and evaluate current measurement scales. METHODS: The preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses checklist was followed...