Comparison of divided versus loop sigmoid colostomy in the management of anorectal malformation

Introduction: Anorectal malformation (ARM) is a birth defect of the digestive tract in which the anus and rectum are not normally developed. Surgical procedure such as colostomy (loop or divided) is suggested as the initial treatment for high variety ARM. Our objective was to compare frequency of stoma related complications of loop sigmoid colostomy versus divided sigmoid colostomy for high variety anorectal malformations.Materials and Methods: A randomized controlled trial was carried out at children’s hospital and the institute of child health Lahore. A total of 180 patients were divided into two groups randomly using lottery method loop sigmoid colostomy (group-A) and divided sigmoid colostomy (group-B). After surgeries patients were followed weekly up till 4 weeks. Stoma related complications were noted.Results: The mean age in group A and group B were 3.22 ± 1.26 days and 3.36 ± 0.97 days respectively. In group A there were 77 male & 13 were female, in group B there were 67 male & 23 female patients. In group A 24.5% patients had complications: 3.4% patients had retraction, 11.1% had prolapse, 2.2% had Obstruction, parastomal hernia was seen in 5.6%, stoma necrosis were seen in 2.2%. In group B 20% patients had different complications: 2.2% patients had retraction, 2.2% had prolapse, 5.6% had obstruction, parastomal hernia were seen in 2.2% and stoma necrosis were seen in 7.8%. The complications in group A were higher when compared to group B but were not significant, p-value > 0.05.Conclusion: Divided sigmoid colostomy can be adopted to avoid stoma related complications in future

Mortality from gastrointestinal congenital anomalies at 264 hospitals in 74 low-income, middle-income, and high-income countries: a multicentre, international, prospective cohort study

Summary Background Congenital anomalies are the fifth leading cause of mortality in children younger than 5 years globally. Many gastrointestinal congenital anomalies are fatal without timely access to neonatal surgical care, but few studies have been done on these conditions in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs). We compared outcomes of the seven most common gastrointestinal congenital anomalies in low-income, middle-income, and high-income countries globally, and identified factors associated with mortality. Methods We did a multicentre, international prospective cohort study of patients younger than 16 years, presenting to hospital for the first time with oesophageal atresia, congenital diaphragmatic hernia, intestinal atresia, gastroschisis, exomphalos, anorectal malformation, and Hirschsprung’s disease. Recruitment was of consecutive patients for a minimum of 1 month between October, 2018, and April, 2019. We collected data on patient demographics, clinical status, interventions, and outcomes using the REDCap platform. Patients were followed up for 30 days after primary intervention, or 30 days after admission if they did not receive an intervention. The primary outcome was all-cause, in-hospital mortality for all conditions combined and each condition individually, stratified by country income status. We did a complete case analysis. Findings We included 3849 patients with 3975 study conditions (560 with oesophageal atresia, 448 with congenital diaphragmatic hernia, 681 with intestinal atresia, 453 with gastroschisis, 325 with exomphalos, 991 with anorectal malformation, and 517 with Hirschsprung’s disease) from 264 hospitals (89 in high-income countries, 166 in middleincome countries, and nine in low-income countries) in 74 countries. Of the 3849 patients, 2231 (58·0%) were male. Median gestational age at birth was 38 weeks (IQR 36–39) and median bodyweight at presentation was 2·8 kg (2·3–3·3). Mortality among all patients was 37 (39·8%) of 93 in low-income countries, 583 (20·4%) of 2860 in middle-income countries, and 50 (5·6%) of 896 in high-income countries (p<0·0001 between all country income groups). Gastroschisis had the greatest difference in mortality between country income strata (nine [90·0%] of ten in lowincome countries, 97 [31·9%] of 304 in middle-income countries, and two [1·4%] of 139 in high-income countries; p≤0·0001 between all country income groups). Factors significantly associated with higher mortality for all patients combined included country income status (low-income vs high-income countries, risk ratio 2·78 [95% CI 1·88–4·11], p<0·0001; middle-income vs high-income countries, 2·11 [1·59–2·79], p<0·0001), sepsis at presentation (1·20 [1·04–1·40], p=0·016), higher American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) score at primary intervention (ASA 4–5 vs ASA 1–2, 1·82 [1·40–2·35], p<0·0001; ASA 3 vs ASA 1–2, 1·58, [1·30–1·92], p<0·0001]), surgical safety checklist not used (1·39 [1·02–1·90], p=0·035), and ventilation or parenteral nutrition unavailable when needed (ventilation 1·96, [1·41–2·71], p=0·0001; parenteral nutrition 1·35, [1·05–1·74], p=0·018). Administration of parenteral nutrition (0·61, [0·47–0·79], p=0·0002) and use of a peripherally inserted central catheter (0·65 [0·50–0·86], p=0·0024) or percutaneous central line (0·69 [0·48–1·00], p=0·049) were associated with lower mortality. Interpretation Unacceptable differences in mortality exist for gastrointestinal congenital anomalies between lowincome, middle-income, and high-income countries. Improving access to quality neonatal surgical care in LMICs will be vital to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 3.2 of ending preventable deaths in neonates and children younger than 5 years by 2030

Unraveling a rare presentation of bivalvular infective endocarditis using POCUS

Key Clinical Message Infective endocarditis (IE) is rare, and involvement of two valves is rarer yet. We present a case of a 22‐year‐old male with liver failure who was found to have bivalvular IE. This case sheds light on the association between bivalvular IE and seemingly unrelated symptoms, emphasizing the need for early recognition

Oxygen targets following cardiac arrest: A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

Introduction: The appropriate oxygen target post-resuscitation in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) patients is uncertain. We sought to compare lower versus higher oxygen targets in patients following OHCA. Methods: We searched MEDLINE, Embase, the Cochrane Library, and ClinicalTrials.gov until January 2023 to include all randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that evaluated conservative vs. liberal oxygen therapy in OHCA patients. Our primary outcome was all-cause mortality at 90 days while our secondary outcomes were the level of neuron-specific enolase (NSE) at 48 h, ICU length of stay (LOS), and favorable neurological outcome (the proportion of patients with Cerebral Performance Category scores of 1–2 at end of follow-up). We used RevMan 5.4 to pool risk ratios (RRs) and mean differences (MDs). Results: Nine trials with 1971 patients were included in our review. There was no significant difference between the conservative and liberal oxygen target groups regarding the rate of all-cause mortality (RR 0.95, 95% CI: 0.80 to 1.13; I2 = 55%). There were no significant differences between the two groups when assessing favorable neurological outcome (RR 1.01, 95% CI: 0.92 to 1.10; I2 = 4%), NSE at 48 h (MD 0.04, 95% CI: −0.67 to 0.76; I2 = 0%), and ICU length of stay (MD −2.86 days, 95% CI: −8.00 to 2.29 days; I2 = 0%). Conclusions: Conservative oxygen therapy did not decrease mortality, improve neurologic recovery, or decrease ICU LOS as compared to a liberal oxygen regimen. Future large-scale RCTs comparing homogenous oxygen targets are needed to confirm these findings

Students&rsquo; Awareness of the Role of Phonetics in Construction of Removable Dental Prostheses: A Questionnaire-Based Cross-Sectional Study

Phonetics plays a major role in the fabrication of prostheses. This study aimed to assess the knowledge of students regarding the role of phonetics in denture fabrication and to improve the educational process and the clinical application. The study was conducted at the College of Dentistry, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, and involved a survey of 344 dental students and interns. The questionnaire contained 20 questions and was divided into three sections: general knowledge, clinical correlations, and clinical evaluations. The data were collected and analyzed statistically using independent t-tests, one-way ANOVA, and Tukey&rsquo;s post hoc tests. The response rate was 100%. Male and female students only differed significantly in terms of their scores for answers to general knowledge questions, with females achieving better results (p = 0.023). General knowledge varied significantly between fourth-year students and all other levels (p &lt; 0.001), and fifth-year students and interns (p = 0.027). The clinical correlations varied significantly between fourth-year students and interns (p = 0.01), whereas the clinical evaluations varied between all the academic years and interns (fourth-year, p &lt; 0.001; fifth-year, p = 0.003; and sixth-year, p = 0.017). The interns obtained the highest scores in all sections. There was a lack of awareness among dental students of some aspects of the role of phonetics in denture fabrication. The study highlights the deficiencies that need to be addressed and the need for adjustments to the curriculum related to removable prosthodontics in order to improve the knowledge of students regarding the role of speech in denture fabrication

Prevalence of Post-Heart Transplant Malignancies: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

The prevalence of different cancers after heart transplant (HT) is unclear due to small and conflicting prior studies. Herein, we report a systematic review and meta-analysis to highlight the prevalence and pattern of malignancies post-HT. We conducted an extensive literature search on PubMed, Scopus, Cochrane databases for prospective or retrospective studies reporting malignancies after HT. The proportions from each study were subjected to random effects model that yielded the pooled estimate with 95% confidence intervals (CI). Fifty-five studies comprising 60,684 HT recipients reported 7759 total cancers during a mean follow-up of 9.8 ± 5.9 years, with an overall incidence of 15.3% (95% CI = 12.7%-18.1%). Mean time from HT to cancer diagnosis was 5.1 ± 4 years. The most frequent cancers were gastrointestinal (7.6%), skin (5.7%), and hematologic/blood (2.5%). Meta-regression showed no association between incidence of cancer and mean age at HT (coeff: -0.008; P = 0.25), percentage of male recipients (coeff: -0.001; P = 0.81), donor age (coeff: -0.011; P = 0.44), 5-year (coeff: 0.003; P = 0.12) and 10-year (coeff: 0.02; P = 0.68) post-transplant survival. There is a substantial risk of malignancies in HT recipients, most marked for gastrointestinal, skin, and hematologic. Despite their occurrence, survival is not significantly impacted

Color Stability and Surface Properties of PMMA/ZrO2 Nanocomposite Denture Base Material after Using Denture Cleanser

Statement of Problem. Novel polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) containing zirconium dioxide nanoparticles (nano-ZrO2) was suggested as a denture base material but there is a lack of information regarding denture cleanser effects. Objectives. This study aimed to evaluate denture cleanser effects on color stability, surface roughness, and hardness of PMMA denture base resin reinforced with nano-ZrO2. Materials and Methods. A total of 420 specimens were fabricated of unreinforced and nano-ZrO2 reinforced acrylic resin at 2.5% and 5%, resulting in 3 main groups. These groups were further subdivided (n = 10) according to immersion solution (distilled water, Corega, sodium hypochlorite, and Renew) and immersion duration. Surface roughness, hardness, and color were measured at baseline (2 days-T0) in distilled water and then after 180 and 365 days of immersion (T1 & T2) in water or denture cleansing solutions. Data was collected and analyzed using two-way ANOVA followed by Bonferroni post hoc test (α = 0.05). Results. Surface roughness increased significantly after denture cleanser immersion of unmodified and nano-ZrO2-modified PMMA materials while hardness decreased (P<0.001). The denture cleansers significantly affected the color of both PMMA denture bases (P<0.001). The immersion time in denture cleansers significantly affected all tested properties (P<0.001). Within denture cleansers, NaOCl showed the highest adverse effects (P<0.05) while Renew showed the least adverse effects. Conclusion. Denture cleansers can significantly result in color change and alter the surface roughness and hardness of denture base resin even with ZrO2 nanoparticles addition. Therefore, they should be carefully used

Dynamic S-Box Design Using a Novel Square Polynomial Transformation and Permutation

New era ciphers employ substitution boxes (S-boxes) which assist in the provision of security for the plaintext in the encryption phase and transforming the ciphertext on the receiver side into original plaintext in the decryption phase. The overall security of a given cipher engaging an S-box greatly depends on the cryptographic forte of the respective S-box. Consequently, many researchers have used different innovative approaches to construct robust S-Boxes. In this article, an innovative and modest square polynomial transformation, the very first time, along with a novel affine transformation and a pioneering permutation approach to construct dynamic S-boxes is proposed. The proposed method has the capability to erect a huge number of robust S-boxes by applying minute changes in the parameters of transformation and permutation processes. An example S-Box is generated, and its recital analysis has been done using typical criteria including bijectivity, strict avalanche criterion, nonlinearity, bit independence criterion, linear probability, differential probability, and fixed-point analysis to check its cryptographic forte. This performance of the proposed S-box is placed side by side against state-of-the-art S-boxes to prove its strength. The performance and comparative analyses authenticate that the projected S-box possesses the true competence for its application in modern-day ciphers