Investigating the demographics, comorbidities, and postoperative complications and impact of a history of cocaine use in patients undergoing total knee arthroplasty.

Introduction: Cocaine is a commonly abused stimulant that can affect surgical outcomes. The purpose of our study is to better understand the associations and effects of a reported history of cocaine use in patients undergoing total knee arthroplasty (TKA) compared to patients with no prior cocaine use.

Methods: 558,371 TKA patients were identified from 2016 to 2019 in the National Inpatient Sample (NIS) database using ICD-10 CM/PCS codes.

Link between depression and bone mineral density in Cooper Center Longitudinal Study: Indirect effects of vitamin D, inflammation, and physical activity.

Background: To examine the effect of depressive symptom severity on bone mineral density (BMD) and the potential mediators of the relationship.

Method: This study used data from n = 7273 participants in the Cooper Center Longitudinal Study at the Cooper Clinic in Dallas. Participants were included if they had data for all study variables, including left and right femoral neck (BMD), age, sex, body mass index, smoking status, antidepressant (SSRI/SNRI) use, standard alcoholic drinks consumed per week, and depressive symptom severity as measured with the Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression (CESD)-10.

Scoring Tool to Predict Need for Early Video-Assisted Thoracoscopic Surgery (VATS) After Pediatric Trauma.

Background: No widely used stratification tool exists to predict which pediatric trauma patients may require a video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS). We sought to develop a novel VATS-In-Pediatrics (VIP) score to predict the need for early VATS (within 72 h of admission) for pediatric trauma patients.

Methods: The pediatric 2017-2020 Trauma Quality Improvement Program database was used and divided into two sets (derivation set using 2017-2019 data and validation set using 2020 data).

Financing Benefits and Barriers to Routine HIV Screening in Clinical Settings in the United States: A Scoping Review.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends everyone between 13-64 years be tested for HIV at least once as a routine procedure. Routine HIV screening is reimbursable by Medicare, Medicaid, expanded Medicaid, and most commercial insurance plans. Yet, scaling-up HIV routine screening remains a challenge.

Repeated mild traumatic brain injuries in mice cause age- and sex-specific alterations in dendritic spine density.

Mild traumatic brain injuries (mTBI) plague the human population and their prevalence is increasing annually. More so, repeated mTBIs (RmTBI) are known to manifest and compound neurological deficits in vulnerable populations. Age at injury and sex are two important factors influencing RmTBI pathophysiology, but we continue to know little about the specific effects of RmTBI in youth and females.

Multimodal Pain Management Protocol to Decrease Opioid Use and to Improve Pain Control After Thoracic Surgery.

Background: Opioid addiction continues to be a devastating problem in our communities, and up to 40% of patients begin their addiction with legally prescribed opioids after injury or surgical procedure. An opioid-free multimodal pain regimen was developed with the goal of decreasing opioid exposure while maintaining adequate pain control.

Methods: A retrospective single-institution study was conducted of 313 consecutive patients undergoing minimally invasive lobectomy before (n = 211) and after (n = 102) implementation of an opioid-free protocol from 2016 to 2020.

Pathways to Care: How Help-Seeking Behaviors Relate to Duration of Untreated Psychosis and Treatment Engagement.

While much research has focused on the relationship between duration of untreated psychosis (DUP) and clinical outcomes in the first episode psychosis (FEP) patient population, little is known about the individual help-seeking episodes (HSE) that patients undergo before receiving appropriate care. The purpose of this project is to better understand how early referral to FEP-specific care and support system differences affect patients' DUP and engagement with treatment. Data from 50 patients was analyzed at the Early Psychosis Intervention Clinic of New Orleans (EPIC-NOLA) using a modified version of the Pathways to Care Assessments and data captured during clinical care.

Nasal dorsal augmentation with freeze-dried allograft bone.

Background: Properly prepared freeze-dried bone has been used with impunity by orthopedic surgeons since 1992 without a single report of disease transmission. The aim of this study was to evaluate freeze-dried cortical allograft bone for nasal dorsal augmentation.

Methods: Freeze-dried human cortical bone was obtained from DCI Donor Services, Nashville, Tennessee.