Regional and experiential differences in surgeon preference for the treatment of cervical facet injuries: a case study survey with the AO Spine Cervical Classification Validation Group

Purpose: The management of cervical facet dislocation injuries remains controversial. The main purpose of this investigation was to identify whether a surgeon’s geographic location or years in practice influences their preferred management of traumatic cervical facet dislocation injuries. Methods: A survey was sent to 272 AO Spine members across all geographic regions and with a variety of practice experience. The survey included clinical case scenarios of cervical facet dislocation injuries and asked responders to select preferences among various diagnostic and management options. Results: A total of 189 complete responses were received. Over 50% of responding surgeons in each region elected to initiate management of cervical facet dislocation injuries with an MRI, with 6 case exceptions. Overall, there was considerable agreement between American and European responders regarding management of these injuries, with only 3 cases exhibiting a significant difference. Additionally, results also exhibited considerable management agreement between those with ≤ 10 and > 10 years of practice experience, with only 2 case exceptions noted. Conclusion: More than half of responders, regardless of geographical location or practice experience, identified MRI as a screening imaging modality when managing cervical facet dislocation injuries, regardless of the status of the spinal cord and prior to any additional intervention. Additionally, a majority of surgeons would elect an anterior approach for the surgical management of these injuries. The study found overall agreement in management preferences of cervical facet dislocation injuries around the globe

Machine learning-based augmented reality for improved surgical scene understanding.

In orthopedic and trauma surgery, AR technology can support surgeons in the challenging task of understanding the spatial relationships between the anatomy, the implants and their tools. In this context, we propose a novel augmented visualization of the surgical scene that mixes intelligently the different sources of information provided by a mobile C-arm combined with a Kinect RGB-Depth sensor. Therefore, we introduce a learning-based paradigm that aims at (1) identifying the relevant objects or anatomy in both Kinect and X-ray data, and (2) creating an object-specific pixel-wise alpha map that permits relevance-based fusion of the video and the X-ray images within one single view. In 12 simulated surgeries, we show very promising results aiming at providing for surgeons a better surgical scene understanding as well as an improved depth perception

Varying family planning strategies across age categories: differences in factors associated with current modern contraceptive use among youth and adult women in Luanda, Angola

Ndola Prata,1 Suzanne Bell,1 Karen Weidert,1 Benjamin Nieto-Andrade,2 Adelaide Carvalho,3 Isilda Neves3 1Bixby Center for Population, Health and Sustainability, School of Public Health, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA; 2Population Services International Angola, 3National Directorate of Public Health, Ministry of Health, Luanda, Angola Background: The objective of this study is to identify factors associated with current modern contraceptive use among Angolan women. By differentiating according to age groups (15–24 and 25–49 years), this study aimed to help family planning program planners better tailor interventions to improve utilization of modern contraception.Methods: A household survey was used to collect data from 1,545 women of reproductive age living in Luanda Province, Angola. Data on sociodemographic characteristics, reproductive behavior and intentions, contraceptive knowledge and use, and attitudes and beliefs regarding contraception and abortion were collected. The analyses were stratified based on age: 15–24 years (youth) and 25–49 years (adult). Multivariate logistic regression models were built for each age group, adding different subsets of variables in groups to see how relationships changed across the models.Results: Common factors associated with modern contraceptive use among all ages include education level, perceived contraceptive accessibility, contraceptive knowledge, communication with partner about family planning in last year, and self-efficacy. Exposure to family planning information in the media in the last few months, perceived partner approval of family planning, and marital status were all positively associated with current modern contraceptive use among women aged 15–24 years. Meanwhile, receiving information about family planning from a pharmacy in the last year was uniquely associated with current modern contraceptive use among women aged 25–49 years.Conclusion: Young women in Luanda, Angola seem to have a unique set of factors affecting their contraceptive use. These findings highlight the need for family planning programs to cater services and messages toward specific age groups. Keywords: contraceptive uptake, contraceptive access, contraceptive self-efficacy, partner communicatio