Time for a New Medical Liability Debate

No abstract available

Assessing morbidity in patients with greater trochanteric pain syndrome (GTPS)

Introduction: Greater trochanteric pain syndrome (GTPS) continues to be a challenge among orthopedics to rid discomfort for their patients, especially since there are few studies on characterization of GTPS morbidity. Objective: The purpose of this study is to characterize the morbidity of GTPS in order to aid orthopedics in providing an early diagnosis and better treatment/care options for their patients. Methods: A total of 156 patients were included from January of 2016 to July of 2020. Refer to Figure 1 for a visual of inclusion criteria. All patient information was taken from first appointment notes, operative notes, chart reviews, and REDCap, an institutional database. Patient demographics and history of present illness were recorded. Patient’s hips were evaluated for activity, pain, general health using the UCLA Activity Score, modified Harris Hip Score (HHS), Hip Outcome Score (HOS), Hip disability and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (HOOS), SF-12 and iHOT12. Patients were then matched with osteoarthritis patients, who were characterized by Tonnis grade of 2 or 3. Results: Patient report outcomes were analyzed. UCLA Activity Score average of 4.89, HOS average is 55.16, HOOS quality of life average is 31.91. SF-12 averages ranged as low as 41.31 for general health to as high as 81.14 for emotional role. iHOT12 score averaged 42.73. Discussion: Knowledge of the anatomy, patient profiles, differential diagnoses, and imaging can aid in appropriate diagnosis of lateral hip pain (2). This study was useful in characterizing GTPS in order to aid in diagnosis and treatment. Based on the findings, patient reports on varying hip scores and surveys are just as important as physical exams and imaging. Characterizing GTPS based on patients level of pain, activity, mental wellness all has an effect on better outcomes (1). There were a few limitations to this study. The majority of our patient population is older and female, in which their baseline function could be decreased (3). Missing values were another limitation. Lastly, this study is a retrospective case series without a control group, which makes it susceptible to various biases, such as selection bias. However, selection bias was diminished through our inclusion criteria. Clinical Relevance: Future studies can focus on incorporating patient reports and creating personalized treatment based off of those reports. In addition, future studies could also stage or phase GTPS based on symptoms, imaging, and patient reports in order to better characterize progression of the disease

Voice-Activated Bionic Hand

The goal of this project is to design and build an inexpensive, voice-controlled prosthetic hand. Because precise electromyographic technology is often costly, our design utilizes speech recognition to move all five fingers of our bionic hand independently. This allows the user to command multiple different grips without the cumbersome and expensive equipment needed to detect individual finger movements. Speech recognition is carried out by a hardware module, which can detect up to five unique voice commands at a time. To eliminate the chance of an inaccurately identified command, we installed an easy-access power button. In addition, an OLED (a digital screen) displays pertinent information about voice command sets and steps the user through re-training the speech module. Various buttons are installed to allow user input for this process. The bionic hand is controlled by an STM32 Blue Pill, which receives translated voice commands from the speech hardware module. To prevent servo damage when an object is grasped, pressure sensors made from a conductive material are attached to each finger on the prosthetic. The bionic hand and all circuit components are attached to a 3D printed socket, which can be molded to fit each user’s arm. This entire system is designed with both cost and precision in mind. All components are inexpensive and easily replaceable, providing the user with an affordable prosthetic hand. However, while the parts are inexpensive, the system accurately detects voice commands in a consistent manner. In addition, the user interface is designed to be intuitive, allowing any user to easily train and use their own bionic hand

Variation in functional pelvic tilt in patients undergoing total hip arthroplasty with acetabular dysplasia

Purpose: It is important to clarify the link between acetabular dysplasia and pelvic tilt to optimize surgical planning and postoperative outcomes. We sought to investigate functional pelvic tilt in patients undergoing total hip arthroplasty with acetabular dysplasia. Materials & Methods: From 2014 to 2020, pre-operative AP Pelvis X-rays, CT scans, and other patient-specific data such as pelvic tilt, lumbar lordotic angle, etc were collected as part of surgical planning for total hip arthroplasty. From this database, we investigated 678 female patients under the age of 50 that had undergone preoperative standing AP pelvis X-rays. Analysis was performed by investigating how many patients whose hips are dysplastic displayed anterior pelvic tilt. Anterior pelvic tilt was defined in three different positions, sitting/supine/standing. Correlation between the severity of the dysplasia and anterior pelvic tilt was also investigated. Results: Out of the 678 patients, 80.7% had a dysplastic hip. 70.7% displayed an anterior standing pelvic tilt, 89.2% displayed an anterior supine pelvic tilt, and 98.3% displayed a seated anterior pelvic tilt. An observed 81.3% of the patients who have an anterior pelvic tilt have a unilaterally or a bilaterally dysplastic hip. Out of the anterior pelvic tilt group, 63.9% were bilaterally dysplastic hip patients. Conclusion: The majority of the pre-operative patients displayed an anterior pelvic tilt in all 3 positions (standing, supine, seated). Unilaterally or bilaterally dysplastic patients were also more likely to display an anterior pelvic tilt. Within the dysplastic group, bilateral patients were more likely to display anterior pelvic tilt

Junior Recital: Joel Cruickshank, saxophone

This recital is presented in partial fulfillment of requirements for the degree Bachelor of Music in Performance. Mr. Cruickshank studies saxophone with Sam Skelton.https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/musicprograms/1473/thumbnail.jp

Changes in Severity of Pelvic Floor Dysfunction after Hip Surgery

Introduction: Despite growing evidence that suggests an association between hip pathology and pelvic floor disorder (PFD), the comprehensive effects of hip surgery on PFD symptoms are not well understood. The primary purpose of this study was to report the role of surgical hip procedures on the severity of PFD symptoms. Methods: A prospective database of demographic and outcome data for all female patients that were operated on between 2019-2020 at a single institution was queried. The PDFI-20 was used to assess symptom severity, and cases with both pre and postoperative surveys were included (n=62). MCID was used to determine significance of change in PDFI-20 score. Results: All patients were female and mean age was 50.1 years. 40 patients had a THA, 10 had a PAO, 9 had a hip arthroscopy, 2 had a surgical hip dislocation, and one had abductor repair and reconstruction. The pre- and postoperative PFDI-20 scores for patients who underwent THA were 40.4±40.1 and 31.5±35.8. The pre- and post-operative PFDI-20 scores for patients who underwent PAO were 10.6±16.9 and 5.3±12.4. The pre- and post-operative PFDI-20 scores for patients who underwent hip arthroscopy were 7.2±12 and 15.2±25.9. The pre- and post-operative PFDI-20 scores for patients who underwent surgical hip dislocation were 41.7±58.9 and 39.1±55.2. The pre- and post-operative PFDI-20 scores for patients who underwent abductor repair and reconstruction were 33.3±0 and 113.5±0. Conclusion: A subset of patients undergoing hip surgery do have baseline pelvic floor dysfunction. We did not find a significant improvement from pre and post op in our patient population. Mean PFDI-20 scores improved in patients who underwent THA, PAO, and surgical hip dislocation. This study demonstrates that the impact of hip surgery on PFD symptoms in patients with hip pathology should be considered, with further research required to fully characterize this relationship

Earthquake networks based on similar activity patterns

Earthquakes are a complex spatiotemporal phenomenon, the underlying mechanism for which is still not fully understood despite decades of research and analysis. We propose and develop a network approach to earthquake events. In this network, a node represents a spatial location while a link between two nodes represents similar activity patterns in the two different locations. The strength of a link is proportional to the strength of the cross-correlation in activities of two nodes joined by the link. We apply our network approach to a Japanese earthquake catalog spanning the 14-year period 1985-1998. We find strong links representing large correlations between patterns in locations separated by more than 1000 km, corroborating prior observations that earthquake interactions have no characteristic length scale. We find network characteristics not attributable to chance alone, including a large number of network links, high node assortativity, and strong stability over time.Comment: 8 pages text, 9 figures. Updated from previous versio

Analysis of methods

Information is one of an organization's most important assets. For this reason the development and maintenance of an integrated information system environment is one of the most important functions within a large organization. The Integrated Information Systems Evolution Environment (IISEE) project has as one of its primary goals a computerized solution to the difficulties involved in the development of integrated information systems. To develop such an environment a thorough understanding of the enterprise's information needs and requirements is of paramount importance. This document is the current release of the research performed by the Integrated Development Support Environment (IDSE) Research Team in support of the IISEE project. Research indicates that an integral part of any information system environment would be multiple modeling methods to support the management of the organization's information. Automated tool support for these methods is necessary to facilitate their use in an integrated environment. An integrated environment makes it necessary to maintain an integrated database which contains the different kinds of models developed under the various methodologies. In addition, to speed the process of development of models, a procedure or technique is needed to allow automatic translation from one methodology's representation to another while maintaining the integrity of both. The purpose for the analysis of the modeling methods included in this document is to examine these methods with the goal being to include them in an integrated development support environment. To accomplish this and to develop a method for allowing intra-methodology and inter-methodology model element reuse, a thorough understanding of multiple modeling methodologies is necessary. Currently the IDSE Research Team is investigating the family of Integrated Computer Aided Manufacturing (ICAM) DEFinition (IDEF) languages IDEF(0), IDEF(1), and IDEF(1x), as well as ENALIM, Entity Relationship, Data Flow Diagrams, and Structure Charts, for inclusion in an integrated development support environment