BACKGROUND An increased rate of pseudarthrosis has been documented following posterolateral lumbar spine grafting in patients who smoke. This same relationship has been assumed for anterior cervical interbody grafting, but to our knowledge it has never been proven. This study compared the long-term radiographic and clinical results of smokers and nonsmokers who had undergone arthrodesis with au...

Standing on Solid Ground?: Reassessing the Role of Incomplete Strut Apposition in Drug-Eluting Stents Antonios Karanasos, MD; Evelyn Regar, MD, PhD · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · 6 Living in the Readmission Era Karl E. Minges, MPH; Jeptha P. Curtis, MD · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · ·...

Drug-eluting stents reside in a dynamic fluid environment where the extent to which drugs are distributed within the arterial wall is critically modulated by the blood flowing through the arterial lumen. Yet several factors associated with the pulsatile nature of blood flow and their impact on arterial drug deposition have not been fully investigated. We employed an integrated framework compris...

Fig. 1: Maps of the deviatoric strain of the B2 austenite along the vertical y axis (εyy) from x-ray diffraction analysis. The global displacements for these maps are shown in the upper left corner of each image. The dark lines illustrate the approximate location of the edges of the diamond strut. The red color indicates tensile strain whereas blue indicates compressive strain; note also the pr...

Infilled frame structures are commonly used in buildings. Masonry infilled RC frames are the most common type of structures used for multi-storeyed constructions in the developing countries, even in those which are located in seismically active regions also. Masonry infill walls are mainly used to increase initial stiffness and strength of reinforced concrete (RC) frame buildings. In the presen...

The effect of stent design parameters such as porosity, pore density, number of strands, and strut angle to the artery were studied in vitro using particle image velocimetry (PIV). Five mesh stents were implanted into a sidewall aneurysm model. The flow features in a sidewall aneurysm silicone phantom model were investigated at a Reynolds number of 300. It was found that the lowest porosity ste...

This compares outcome measures of current pectus excavatum (PEx) treatments, namely the Nuss and Ravitch procedures, in pediatric and adult patients. Original investigations that stratified PEx patients based on current treatment and age (pediatric=0-21; adult 17-99) were considered for inclusion. Outcome measures were: operation duration, analgesia duration, blood loss, length of stay (LOS), o...

A 56-year-old woman presented to the Emergency Department of Parkland Memorial Hospital complaining of chest pain. She had a remote history of a hemorrhagic cerebrovascular accident complicated by pulmonary embolism, for which a Gunther-Tulip inferior vena cava (IVC) filter had been placed 6 years previously. In the triage area, the patient collapsed and was found to be hypotensive. An ECG show...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the vascular response at 9 months after zotarolimus-eluting stent (ZES; Endeavor) implantation using optical coherence tomography (OCT). These findings were compared with those after implantation of a sirolimus-eluting stent (SES; Cypher Select). DESIGN Cross-sectional observational study with prospective OCT registry. SETTING Nine months after ZES or SES implantation....

AIMS We sought to investigate the impact of the self-apposing, sirolimus-eluting STENTYS stent on midterm and long-term stent apposition and strut coverage compared with a zotarolimus-eluting balloon-expandable stent in ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) patients undergoing primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PPCI). METHODS AND RESULTS In the APPOSITION IV trial, 152 S...