The Utilization of Osteoarticular Transfer System in the Treatment of Distal Femur Osteoid Osteoma: A Case Report

We describe a technique for excision of subchondral epiphyseal bone lesions in the distal femur in skeletally immature patients that mitigates risk of complications associated with physeal injury, incomplete tumor resection, and iatrogenic injury to the overlying cartilage

Unions, Dynamism and economic performance

This paper explores the relationship between economic performance and US unionism, focusing first on what we do and do not know based on empirical research handicapped by limited data on establishment and firm level collective bargaining coverage. Evidence on the relationship of unions with wages, productivity, profitability, investment, debt, employment growth, and business failures are all relevant in assessing the future of unions and public policy with respect to unions. A reasonably coherent story emerges from the empirical literature, albeit one that rests heavily on evidence that is dated and (arguably) unable to identify truly causal effects. The paper's principal thesis is that union decline has been tied fundamentally to competitive forces and economic dynamism. Implications of these findings for labor law policy and the future of worker voice institutions is discussed briefly in a final section

A VERITAS/Breakthrough Listen Search for Optical Technosignatures

The Breakthrough Listen Initiative is conducting a program using multiple telescopes around the world to search for "technosignatures": artificial transmitters of extraterrestrial origin from beyond our solar system. The VERITAS Collaboration joined this program in 2018, and provides the capability to search for one particular technosignature: optical pulses of a few nanoseconds duration detectable over interstellar distances. We report here on the analysis and results of dedicated VERITAS observations of Breakthrough Listen targets conducted in 2019 and 2020 and of archival VERITAS data collected since 2012. Thirty hours of dedicated observations of 136 targets and 249 archival observations of 140 targets were analyzed and did not reveal any signals consistent with a technosignature. The results are used to place limits on the fraction of stars hosting transmitting civilizations. We also discuss the minimum-pulse sensitivity of our observations and present VERITAS observations of CALIOP: a space-based pulsed laser onboard the CALIPSO satellite. The detection of these pulses with VERITAS, using the analysis techniques developed for our technosignature search, allows a test of our analysis efficiency and serves as an important proof-of-principle.Comment: 15 pages, 7 figure

Sex Determination:Why So Many Ways of Doing It?

Sexual reproduction is an ancient feature of life on earth, and the familiar X and Y chromosomes in humans and other model species have led to the impression that sex determination mechanisms are old and conserved. In fact, males and females are determined by diverse mechanisms that evolve rapidly in many taxa. Yet this diversity in primary sex-determining signals is coupled with conserved molecular pathways that trigger male or female development. Conflicting selection on different parts of the genome and on the two sexes may drive many of these transitions, but few systems with rapid turnover of sex determination mechanisms have been rigorously studied. Here we survey our current understanding of how and why sex determination evolves in animals and plants and identify important gaps in our knowledge that present exciting research opportunities to characterize the evolutionary forces and molecular pathways underlying the evolution of sex determination

Hypertensive patients show delayed wound healing following total hip arthroplasty.

BACKGROUND: Prolonged wound-discharge following total hip arthroplasty (THA) is associated with an increased risk of infection. However, the potential role of hypertension in prolonging the duration of wound healing in this population has not yet been investigated. The aim of the present study was to compare healing in this population that has not yet been investigated. The aim of the present study was to compare hypertensive and normotensive THA patients in terms of the length of time required to achieve a dry wound and the length of stay in the hospital. METHODS: One hundred and twenty primary THA patients were evaluated. Pre-operative clinical history and physical examination revealed that 29 were hypertensive and 91 were normotensive. The two groups were statistically matched using optimal propensity score matching. The outcomes of interest were the number of days until a dry wound was observed and the duration of hospital stay. RESULTS: The average systolic blood pressures were 150.1 mmHg and 120.3 mmHg for the hypertensive and normotensive groups, respectively. The mean number of days until the wound was dry was 3.79 for the hypertensive group and 2.03 for the normotensive group. Hypertensive patients required more days for their wounds to dry than normotensive patients (odds ratio  =  1.65, p<0.05). No significant difference in the duration of hospital stay was found between the two groups. CONCLUSIONS: Hypertensive patients had a higher risk of prolonged wound discharge after THA than their normotensive counterparts. Patients with prolonged wound drainage are at greater risk for infection. Clinicians should pay particular attention to infection-prevention strategies in hypertensive THA patients

The Utilization of Osteoarticular Transfer System in the Treatment of Distal Femur Osteoid Osteoma: A Case Report

Introduction: Tumor excision of the subchondral bone of the distal femur epiphysis is technically challenging particularly in skeletally-immature patients due to the open physis above and articular surface below. Preservation of the physis, maintenance of structural support to, and integrity of, the cartilage, and conservation of joint kinematics must all be considered and are often threatened by current percutaneous or open surgical treatment options. Materials and Methods: We present a case of a 16-year-old male athlete with a distal femur epiphyseal bone lesion. He underwent transarticular en bloc excision and autograft reconstruction using Osteoarticular Transfer System (OATS) technique. Results: Final pathology revealed complete excision of an osteoid osteoma. The patient had regained full strength and range of motion at 3 months postoperatively, and at 21 months postoperatively was free of disease and back to full level of athletic participation. Conclusions: This article describes a technique for excision of subchondral epiphyseal bone lesions in the distal femur in skeletally immature patients that mitigates risk of complications associated with physeal injury, incomplete tumor resection, and iatrogenic injury to the overlying cartilage

Distribution of the study population.

<p>Density as a function of systolic blood pressure levels. The average pressures were 120.6 mmHg, and 122.8 mmHg, for the normotensive group before matching, and after matching, respectively; and 152.2 mmHg for the hypertensive group.</p

Blood pressure groups and days to dry wound.

<p>Density as a function of the number of days until a dry wound is observed. The mean number of days was 1.57, and 1.72 for the normal blood pressure group before matching, and after matching, respectively; and 4.32 for the hypertensive group.</p