bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Assessment of Unused Opioids Following Ambulatory Surgery
Authors: Dixit Anjali A. , Chen Catherine L. , Inglis-Arkell Christina , Manuel Solmaz P.
Published: July 2020

Background

Surgery is a risk factor for opioid initiation and subsequent abuse. Discharge opioid prescription patterns after surgery are often varied and not evidence based, which may lead to unnecessary prescription of opioids. We aimed to assess opioid prescribing and unused opioid prescriptions in ambulatory surgery patients at our academic hospital.

Methods

We conducted a retrospective observational study based on phone survey and electronic medical records. Adult patients who underwent ambulatory surgery at our large, multisite, tertiary-care hospital system were asked whether they were using the opioids that were prescribed at discharge. Our main outcomes were opioid prescription (defined as being prescribed an opioid on discharge) and unused opioid prescription (defined as being prescribed an opioid but not taking any opioids on postoperative day 1). We evaluated predictors of opioid prescription and unused opioid prescription through univariable and multivariable analyses. We also stratified outcomes by surgical service.

Results

Of 4248 adult patients who underwent ambulatory surgical procedures, 3279 (77.2%) responded to the survey. Of all responders, 2146 (65.4%) were prescribed postoperative opioids, and 1240 (57.8%) reported not taking them on postoperative day 1. The highest rates of unused opioid prescriptions were for patients whose primary service were orthopedic surgery (65%) and plastic surgery (62%).

Discussion

Opioid prescribing and unused opioid prescriptions are prevalent in our hospital’s ambulatory surgical population. Patients undergoing selected ambulatory surgical procedures may not require as much opioid as is currently being prescribed.
Unmet Emotional Support Needs Among Diverse Patients with Colorectal Cancer
Authors: Kapadia Muneera R. , Veenstra Christine M. , Davis Rachel E. , Hawley Sarah T. , Morris Arden M.
Published: July 2020

Background

Social support, which is partly emotional support, is associated with adherence to colorectal cancer (CRC) treatment, quality of life, and survival. We hypothesized that the needs, sources, and availability of emotional support would vary by race and income among CRC patients and sought to quantify the emotional support and the perceived adequacy of support reported by patients.

Methods

We surveyed CRC patients from Detroit and Georgia Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results registries about the quantity and quality of emotional support received from different sources. We tested differences using the chi-square test, t-tests, and logistic regression.

Results

There were 1909 patients who met inclusion criteria and 1301 (68%) completed surveys. Among respondents, 68% were white, 25% black, and 7% other. Black patients were more likely to be female and younger and reported lower annual income and education. Patients reported high support from several sources. Among those with a spouse/partner (58%), 95% reported high levels of support; however, older, black, female, or lower income patients were less likely to have spouses/partners ( P < .001). Patients also endorsed high support from family (88.6%), important others (82.9%), and clinicians (71.3%). Black patients were less likely than white patients to report support that was “just right” ( P < .001).

Discussion

Most patients reported high emotional support from at least 1 source. Black patients were most at risk for low support or unmet support needs. Spouse/partner support was important but only available to 58% of respondents. Patients at risk for unmet emotional support needs may benefit from additional support resources.
Emergency Management of Blunt Splenic Injury in Hypotensive Patients
Authors: Guinto Robyn , Greenberg Patricia , Ahmed Nasim
Published: July 2020

Objectives

The purpose of this study is to examine the outcomes of splenic angioembolization (SAE) as the first modality for nonoperative management (NOM) in hypotensive patients with high-grade splenic injuries.

Methods

Data were collected from the 2007-2010 National Trauma Data Bank data sets of the United States. The data included patients with massive blunt splenic injuries with an Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS) of 4 or 5, initial systolic blood pressure ≤90, and who underwent either a total splenectomy or SAE (Group 1 and Group 2, respectively) within 4 hours of hospital arrival. The outcomes of interest are in-hospital mortality and complications.

Results

Of the 1052 patients analyzed, 996 (94.7%) underwent total splenectomy while 56 (5.3%) underwent SAE. There were significant differences regarding injury mechanism ( P = .01) and the proportion of patients with an AIS of 5 (57.6% vs 39.3% respectively, P = .01). A significantly higher number of patients, however, developed organ space infections (3.9% vs 11.6%, P = .02) in Group 2. The multivariate logistic regression model for mortality, which accounted for demography, Glasgow Coma Scale Motor (GCSM) score, Injury Severity Score (ISS), AIS, time to procedure, and procedure type showed the procedure type was not a contributing factor to patient mortality, but higher age, ISS, and lower GCSM score were strong predictors of mortality.

Conclusion

The treatment of approximately 95% of hypotensive patients with massive splenic injury was total splenectomy. However, if the interventional radiology resources are immediately available, SAE can be used as a first intervention without an increased risk of mortality.
US Rural Surgeon Responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic: Leadership in a Time of Crisis
Authors: Sarap Michael , Conyers Julie , Cunningham Crystal , Deutchman Adam , Levine Glenn , Long Sue , Molt Patrick , Rossi Matt , Welsh David , Hughes Dorothy
Published: July 2020

Nine surgeons from rural and remote communities in the United States share early experiences preparing for the COVID-19 pandemic. Relating experiences remarkably different from health care providers in urban areas in America most affected by the first stages of the outbreak, they tell the challenges of organizing resources in facilities already struggling with poverty-stricken communities far from established health care resources and supplies. From Alaska to Appalachia and the Navajo Nation to the rural midwest, they show the leadership and professionalism that exemplify rural surgery.
“I Was Wrong”: A Surgeon’s First-Person Account of His COVID-19 Illness
Authors: Stanford Jon L.
Published: July 2020

A surgeon failed to heed his own misgivings on taking a family vacation cruise. Despite scrupulous hand-washing and antiseptic precautions with anything within reach, he contracts COVID-19. His anxiety increased as his condition became increasingly serious: uncontrollable dry coughing spells, spiking fevers, and his worst symptom, progressive dyspnea and chest pain. From what he knew about the disease, he feared admission to the intensive care unit, a step that portended a significantly worse prognosis. After a week-and-a-half of illness, misery, and fear, he began to improve: first, his fevers diminished, breathing came more easily, and coughing spells occurred less frequently, if still unpredictably. Now with his strength slowly returning, he contemplated returning to work but was frustrated when tests showed he was still shedding active virions. Under quarantine and with time to reflect, he cautions against complacency with regard to the infectiousness of COVID-19. His own denial led to the loss of his health and livelihood. At home but still separated from his wife and children in a basement bedroom, the bittersweet circumstances of his reunion with them is a reminder of the preciousness of life and love of family.
The Coronavirus Pandemic: Experience From a Rural West Virginia Tertiary Care Hospital
Authors: Richmond Bryan K.
Published: July 2020

The coronavirus epidemic has taken the world by storm and has overwhelmed health systems in a number of first world countries. As a consequence, individual communities in the United States and the world have had to develop response plans to meet this extreme challenge. In these circumstances and in an effort to best prepare for the community’s needs, it becomes necessary to critically analyze the specific and unique aspects of individual regions, their population characteristics and demographics, and the geography of the area. Once assessed, these data may be applied to formulating best practices for a given community and resource pool. The following manuscript describes how this challenge was met in a large tertiary care teaching hospital located in rural West Virginia.
Environmentally specific transformational leadership and team pro-environmental behaviors: The roles of pro-environmental goal clarity, pro-environmental harmonious passion, and power distance
Authors: Peng Jian , Chen Xiao , Zou Yanchun , Nie Qi
Published: July 2020

Does environmentally specific transformational leadership promote team pro-environmental behaviors? If so, why and when? Using the cognitive-affective processing system framework, we explore the idea that environmentally specific transformational leadership facilitates team pro-environmental behaviors via team pro-environmental goal clarity and team pro-environmental harmonious passion separately and that such indirect relationships are stronger when the team power distance is high. We used three waves of data from 113 teams in six Chinese manufacturing organizations to test our theoretical predictions. The results of regression analyses show that environmentally specific transformational leadership is positively related to team pro-environmental behaviors; this relationship is parallel mediated by team pro-environmental goal clarity and team pro-environmental harmonious passion. Furthermore, the team power distance strengthens the above parallel mediation effects such that in teams with high levels of power distance, environmentally specific transformational leadership strongly provokes team members’ pro-environmental goal clarity, pro-environmental harmonious passion, and subsequent pro-environmental behaviors. These findings suggest that environmentally specific transformational leadership is an effective approach for organizations to improve their teams’ pro-environmental behaviors, particularly in the context of strong power distance.
Neuro-fuzzy control of sit-to-stand motion using head position tracking
Authors: Rafique Samina , Najam-ul-Islam M , Shafique M , Mahmood A
Published: July 2020

Based on the clinical evidence that head position measured by the multisensory system contributes to motion control, this study suggests a biomechanical human-central nervous system modeling and control framework for sit-to-stand motion synthesis. Motivated by the evidence for a task-oriented encoding of motion by the central nervous system, we propose a framework to synthesize and control sit-to-stand motion using only head position trajectory in the high-level-task-control environment. First, we design a generalized analytical framework comprising a human biomechanical model and an adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system to emulate central nervous system. We introduce task-space training algorithm for adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system training. The adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system controller is optimized in the number of membership functions and training cycles to avoid over-fitting. Next, we develop custom human models based on anthropometric data of real subjects. Using the weighting coefficient method, we estimate body segment parameter. The subject-specific body segment parameter values are used (1) to scale human model for real subjects and (2) in task-space training to train custom adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system controllers. To validate our modeling and control scheme, we perform extensive motion capture experiments of sit-to-stand transfer by real subjects. We compare the synthesized and experimental motions using kinematic analyses. Our analytical modeling-control scheme proves to be scalable to real subjects’ body segment parameter and the task-space training algorithm provides a means to customize adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system efficiently. The customized adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system gives 68%–98% improvement over general adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system. This study has a broader scope in the fields of rehabilitation, humanoid robotics, and virtual characters’ motion planning based on high-level-task-control scheme.
Predictors of employment in people with moderate to severe mental illness participating in a randomized controlled trial of Individual Placement and Support (IPS)
Authors: Fyhn Tonje , Øverland Simon , Reme Silje E
Published: July 2020

Background:

Many people with moderate to severe mental illness have a desire to obtain ordinary employment. To aid further development of health and social services for this group, the aim of this study was to examine candidate modifiable and prognostic markers of employment, and moderating effects of group allocation in a clinical trial.

Method:

The sample consists of 327 patients in treatment for mental illness, randomized to Individual Placement and Support (IPS) or treatment as usual (TAU) as part of a clinical trial. Psychosocial and demographic baseline characteristics were included as predictors in log binary regression analyses with employment 18 months after inclusion as the outcome, and group allocation as the moderator (IPS or TAU).

Results:

Directive emotional support and non-directive instrumental support seemed to positively predict employment, but effects were small. Involuntary hospitalization seemed to be a strong negative predictor of employment. Group allocation did not moderate any main effects.

Conclusion:

Interpretation of the findings suggest that attention should be given to certain aspects of health and social services provided to this target group, and in particular the effect of receiving appropriate types of social support. The findings are novel because social support and involuntary hospitalization do not seem to have been included in previous predictor studies. The results from this study identify new topics for research on employment outcomes for this population.
The Determinants of China-ROK Relations, 1993–2018: An Empirical Analysis Using Event Data
Authors: Chung Alec
Published: July 2020

This article seeks to explore the determinants of China-ROK relations during the period 1993–2018, employing event data and statistical analysis. The analysis found that China’s trade dependence on ROK, and vice versa, had a positive effect on China-ROK relations. The relations were also positively affected by China’s economic development. In contrast, the relations were negatively affected as China’s population aged and while conservative administrations governed ROK. The empirical findings of this article provide essential insights, identifying the factors that promote or hinder the development of cooperative China-ROK relations, suggesting guidelines to policymakers on both sides.
Colonial monuments, postcolonial selves: History, trauma and silence in Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor’s Dust
Authors: Njovane Thando
Published: July 2020

Yvonne Adhiambo Owour’s remarkable debut novel Dust (2014) made its entrance in the literary scene at a time when cultural discourse on the purpose and meaning of monuments to brutality had increasingly become contentious. As a novel which concerns itself with British colonial heritage in Kenya, the Mau Mau War, and the private losses suffered by the Oganda family, Dust is centrally placed as an intervening voice in any thinking about how colonial monuments affect subjective and social coherence in the postcolonial imagination. The colonial mansion, Wouth Ogik, stands at the center of the novel as a symbol of colonial violence, war, death, and, finally, potential. This article explores the rhetorical significance of the house which, together with the disillusionment which accompanied Kenya’s nationalist project following its independence, suggests possible ways of transcending an otherwise bleak postcolonial present.
Russian Intervention in Syria: Exploring the Nexus between Regime Consolidation and Energy Transnationalisation
Authors: Maher David , Pieper Moritz
Published: July 2020

Interpretations of Russia’s military intervention in Syria overwhelmingly focus on Russia’s political motivations. An alternative view foregrounds Russia’s economic motivations, namely, the construction of a multi-billion-dollar gas pipeline traversing Iran, Iraq and Syria. This article examines the salience of Russia’s economic motivations and considers two related aspects: First, if Russian intervention aims to secure areas of strategic importance for the proposed pipeline. Second, if Russian intervention realises longer term political and commercial interests that include proposed future pipeline projects. The evidence suggests Russian military policies towards Syria are unlikely to be motivated primarily by the prospect of a proposed gas pipeline, but that regime consolidation is a more immediate policy goal. This article then posits that Russian intervention has a distinct ‘dual logic’ aimed at integrating the interests of key regional actors into a transnational energy network, while stabilising Russia’s regional dominance within this network.
The financialisation of housing and the rise of the investor-activist
Authors: Cook Nicole , Ruming Kristian
Published: July 2020

The financialisation of housing is seen to undermine tenants’ rights, affordable housing and planning controls in order to make housing and homes more amenable to profit extraction. However, the extent to which owner-occupiers themselves seek to influence urban development and planning processes to protect their housing assets has been less well-considered. Through an online survey of 1122 owner-occupiers in Australia, this article redresses this gap. By identifying the financial values participants attach to their home, and their inclinations to join resident action groups, we reveal that those with the strongest investment values are also most inclined to join resident action groups. Expanding conceptualisations of investors beyond institutional investors, the article reveals the agency of financialised owner-occupiers who, as investor-activists, seek to influence planning processes to secure the profitability of their own housing assets. The article thus reconceptualises resident action as a financial strategy to protect long- and short-term housing investments and, in doing so, charts the urban implications of financialised home ownership and investor subjectivities.
The uses of useful knowledge and the languages of vernacular science: Perspectives from southwest India
Authors: Gurevitch Eric Moses
Published: July 2020

In the first half of the eleventh century, a group of scholars in southwest India did something new. They began composing systematic texts about everyday life in a register of language sometimes called New Kannada. While looking back toward earlier texts composed in Sanskrit – and even translating portions of them – these scholars centered their poetic ability and their personal experiences as opposed to prior authoritative texts. They described themselves as authoring “worldly sciences” that were “useful to the people of the world,” and they provided extensive reflections on the systematics of knowledge. Epistemic, linguistic, and political concerns were significantly renegotiated in this moment as local context was turned into a virtue for the production of technical treatises. This article uses this moment to interrogate recent discussions of useful knowledge and vernacular science. Usefulness can mean different things at different times and vernacular sciences change according to their language. This article argues for a usage of both terms that is more attuned to historical particulars. A history of useful knowledge from a place that now appears under the double effacement of the non-modern and non-West offers an opportunity to think through central concepts of the history of science without relying on economic or utilitarian discourses. This paper presents one possible example of what a more global history of useful knowledge might look like.
Google’s lens: computational photography and platform capitalism
Authors: Taffel Sy
Published: July 2020

Computational photography is currently altering the representational and social functions of photographic imaging. A range of heavily automated computational processing techniques produce images that remediate digital photography to circumvent physical limitations associated with the size of smartphones, emulating the aesthetics associated with larger format digital cameras and professional photographic workflows and practices. These processes include automated compositing where images seen by users are constituted of up to 15 individual frames, the simulation of a shallow depth-of-field, automated facial retouching and even providing automated assistance to suggest alternative frames within the image stream to serve as the base image. This article explores these emerging techniques and accompanying claims that such processes are radically transforming photographic practice. While the extent and modes of automation and algorithmic processing depart from prior practices, contextualising them within the histories of photographic compositing and the algorithmic malleability of digital photography suggests the intensification of existing trends rather than an epistemic break. Furthermore, exploring the representational politics of automated facial retouching and the datafication of images situates these changes within the broader social context of dataveillance and platform capitalism.
The experience of young people transitioning between youth offending services to probation services
Authors: Price Jayne
Published: July 2020

This article explores the experience of transitioning from youth offending services to adult probation services upon turning age 18 years while incarcerated. The significant differences in the level of provision have been described as a ‘cliff-edge’ (Transition to Adulthood Alliance (2009). Drawing upon interviews with young people held in institutions, stakeholders, and survey data from Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Prisons, it is argued that the drop in support is exacerbated by poor communication between institutions and services which has harmful implications for young people during this crucial period of developmental maturity and beyond custody.
Delivering desistance-focused probation in community hubs: Five key ingredients
Authors: Phillips Jake , Albertson Kathy , Collinson Beth , Fowler Andrew
Published: July 2020

This article argues that probation is well placed to facilitate desistance when delivered in community hubs – community-based offices where probation services are co-located with other community-based provision. However, we highlight that hubs need to include certain key factors to maximise the potential for desistance. Using data collected through a piece of empirical research in six community hubs in England and Wales, we identify what factors make for a ‘good’ community hub as perceived by staff who work in them, those subject to supervision via a hub, and managers with strategic responsibility for commissioning hub services. We consider what it is about those factors which facilitate desistance-focused practice as outlined in McNeill et al.’s (2012) eight principles of desistance-focused practice. The five key factors identified in this study are the location of a hub, the hub’s physical environment, the extent to which services are co-located/produced, the cultural context of the hub, and the need for leaders to be innovative in the way services are commissioned. The article concludes with a discussion of the implications for the National Probation Service as it takes over the work of Community Rehabilitation Companies in the coming years.
Severe aortic valve regurgitation requiring mechanical aortic valve replacement following Impella device implantation
Authors: Vila Pierre , de Vere Felicity , Simon André , Walker Christopher
Published: July 2020

Introduction:

We describe a patient who developed severe aortic regurgitation following Impella left ventricular assist device implantation requiring aortic valve replacement.

Case report:

A previously healthy 34-year-old female presented with chest pain and flu-like symptoms. Electrocardiogram showed widespread ST elevation and serum troponin was raised, consistent with myocarditis. Coronary angiography was normal but the right coronary artery dissected. Subsequent cardiogenic shock required veno-arterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation and Impella implantation. Myocardial function recovered, but upon removal of the Impella, severe aortic regurgitation was present and she underwent aortic valve replacement, making a full recovery.

Discussion:

Aortic regurgitation is a rare complication of Impella implantation, and to our knowledge, this is the first reported case successfully treated with aortic valve replacement. Veno-arterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation and Impella used in tandem are relatively novel, and may add synergistic benefit to strategies for acute cardiogenic shock.

Conclusion:

Echocardiography must include frequent assessment of both valvular and myocardial function after Impella removal.
“Squandered in Real Time”: How Public Management Theory Underestimated the Public Administration–Politics Dichotomy
Authors: Young Sarah L. , Wiley Kimberly K. , Searing Elizabeth A. M.
Published: July 2020

The United States places great emphasis on the public administration–politics dichotomy, but what happens to public management when the dichotomy breaks down? The authors critically evaluate the public management frameworks, New Public Management and New Public Governance, in the context of two major public management failures: the U.S. State of Illinois Budget Impasse during 2015–2017 and the COVID-19 Pandemic. A definition of public management failure is proffered, and both public management frameworks are found to have polarized and opposing views on whether process or outcome should have priority in crisis. We question whether the two major seminal theories in our field are still generalizable when their assumptions about the dichotomy and political neutrality are challenged in times of crises. The polarized perspectives were found to contribute to the public management failures. Ultimately, both frameworks were found to minimize the political influences that public administration and public management operate under, leaving a need for a more holistic and realistic framework.
How the United States Flunked the COVID-19 Test: Some Observations and Several Lessons
Authors: Xu H. Daniel , Basu Rashmita
Published: July 2020

The unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic has already caused enormous economic and human life losses in the United States and it is still ravaging the country. In this article, the authors argue that the pandemic has exposed key issues of concern in several areas of the American government system ranging from federalist intergovernmental relations to public health system and to health care policy. These issues of concern include the strained federal-state relations in emergency management, inadequate data collection and data reporting for disease surveillance and control, politicization and diminished role of science and evidence in administrative decision making, and underinvestment in public health programs especially in minority health. Based on their analysis, the authors admonish that it is critically important for the U.S. government to learn from the failed response to the pandemic and offer several recommendations for improving its response to future public health emergencies and research in public administration.
Medical Supply Acquisition in Italy and the United States in the Era of COVID-19: The Case for Strategic Procurement and Public–Private Partnerships
Authors: Vecchi Veronica , Cusumano Niccolò , Boyer Eric J.
Published: July 2020

The article analyzes contracting challenges faced by Italian health care authorities and U.S. procurement officials in the immediate aftermath of the COVID-19 crisis, and it provides practitioner-derived lessons for improving procurement in times of disaster. The lessons we have learned so far emphasize (a) the need to recognize the strategic role of procurement, (b) empowering procurement officials, (c) formalized coordinative mechanisms cannot ensure effectiveness without trust among different governance levels, (d) the ability to identify reliable and proactive suppliers of personal protective equipment, (e) the importance of stimulating the economic market to diversify the production of needed materials and to ensure a more risk-resilient supply chain, and (f) the critical role of public–private collaborations to ensure responsiveness and resilience of health care systems.
How Local Governments Are Caring for the Homeless During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Authors: Benavides Abraham David , Nukpezah Julius A.
Published: July 2020

This article discusses the plight of the homeless during public health emergencies and the coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. It reviews the role of public administrators that grounds their efforts by examining their foundational purpose to serve the most vulnerable in our society. Using subsidiarity principle as the context, it discusses homelessness in America and the role of the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development and their Continuum of Care program. It also highlights the role of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention during public health emergencies and their interim guidelines for local governments in providing for the homeless during emergencies. Finally, through a case study on the city of Dallas, Texas, the article examines how local governments have responded to address the needs of the homeless during the COVID-19 pandemic. It concludes that it is imperative that public administrators at all levels of government explore areas of shared competence, cooperation, and allocate responsibility where it would yield the most efficient result.
Learning From the Past: Distributed Cognition and Crisis Management Capabilities for Tackling COVID-19
Authors: Lee Seulki , Yeo Jungwon , Na Chongmin
Published: July 2020

The outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has presented an unprecedented public health crisis across the globe. Governments have developed different approaches to tackle the complex and intractable challenge, showing variations in their effectiveness and results. South Korea has achieved exceptional performance thus far: It has flattened the curve of new infections and brought the outbreak under control without imposing forceful measures such as lockdowns and travel ban. This commentary addresses the South Korean government’s response to COVID-19 and highlights distributed cognition and crisis management capabilities as critical factors. The authors discuss how the South Korean government has cultivated distributed cognition and three core capabilities—reflective-improvement, collaborative, and data-analytical capabilities—after its painful experience with 2015 Middle East respiratory syndrome-coronavirus (MERS-CoV). South Korea’s adaptive approaches and its learning path examined in this commentary provide practical implications for managing potential additional waves of COVID-19 and a future public health crisis.
Citizen–State Collaboration in Combating COVID-19 in China: Experiences and Lessons From the Perspective of Co-Production
Authors: Zhao Ting , Wu Zhongsheng
Published: July 2020

From the perspective of co-production, this article examines how Chinese citizens and governments worked together in fighting against COVID-19 in a health emergency context. Based on observations, as well as analyses of policy documents and self-organization cases, this article shows that Chinese citizens and governments collaborated through three different channels in fighting against the virus, but different channels produced different results. First, through residential committees, Chinese governments successfully mobilized most citizens to comply with stay-at-home orders, contact traced and isolated suspected cases through existing networks within the communities. Second, as a formal channel for state–society interaction during the crisis, government-organized nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) failed in bridging demands of the health system and contributions from citizens. Third, self-organizations emerged as a key informal channel for citizens to fight against the virus. The experiences and lessons learned in this citizen–government collaboration in combating the virus may offer some implications for other settings.
Large-scale outdoor scene reconstruction and correction with vision
Authors: Tanner Michael , Piniés Pedro , Paz Lina María , Săftescu Ştefan , Bewley Alex , Jonasson Emil , Newman Paul
Published: July 2020

We provide the theory and the system needed to create large-scale dense reconstructions for mobile-robotics applications: this stands in contrast to the object-centric reconstructions dominant in the literature. Our BOR2G system fuses data from multiple sensor modalities (cameras, lidars, or both) and regularizes the resulting 3D model. We use a compressed 3D data structure, which allows us to operate over a large scale. In addition, because of the paucity of surface observations by the camera and lidar sensors, we regularize over both two (camera depth maps) and three dimensions (voxel grid) to provide a local contextual prior for the reconstruction. Our regularizer reduces the median error between 27% and 36% in 7.3 km of dense reconstructions with a median accuracy between 4 and 8 cm. Our pipeline does not end with regularization. We take the unusual step to apply a learned correction mechanism that takes the global context of the reconstruction and adjusts the constructed mesh, addressing errors that are pathological to the first-pass camera-derived reconstruction. We evaluate our system using the Stanford Burghers of Calais, Imperial College ICL-NUIM, Oxford Broad Street (released with this paper), and the KITTI datasets. These latter datasets see us operating at a combined scale and accuracy not seen in the literature. We provide statistics for the metric errors in all surfaces created compared with those measured with 3D lidar as ground truth. We demonstrate our system in practice by reconstructing the inside of the EUROfusion Joint European Torus (JET) fusion reactor, located at the Culham Centre for Fusion Energy (UK Atomic Energy Authority) in Oxfordshire.
Accessory extensor pollicis longus tendon in emergency surgery
Authors: Jiang Qing , Zhou Haiying , Huang Kai , Lu Hui
Published: July 2020

Background

A true accessory extensor tendon of the thumb seems to be rare. We found a variation of the accessory extensor pollicis longus (EPL) tendon while performing an emergency surgical procedure. Identification of this accessory tendon during emergency surgery has not been previously reported. Case presentation: A 43-year-old man presented to our hospital after sustaining a work-related injury involving a saw. During the operation, the tendons of the EPL, accessory EPL, and extensor pollicis brevis were severed. The lacerated tendon and tendon sheath were repaired, and the wrist and thumb were positioned in extension. The patient’s postoperative activity returned to normal without the need for a second tendon release operation.

Conclusions

Surgeons should be aware of this anatomic anomaly of the EPL tendon. Presentation of our case increases clinicians’ chances of preoperatively detecting this anomaly, which can improve surgical outcomes.
Making and managing medical anomalies: Exploring the classification of ‘medically unexplained symptoms’
Authors: Rasmussen Erik Børve
Published: July 2020

This article explores the making and management of anomaly in scientific work, taking ‘medically unexplained symptoms’ (MUS) as its case. MUS is a category used to characterize health conditions that are widely held to be ambiguous, in terms of their nature, causes and treatment. It has been suggested that MUS is a ‘wastebasket diagnosis’. However, although a powerful metaphor, it does neither the category nor the profession justice: Unlike waste in a wastebasket, unexplained symptoms are not discarded but contained, not ejected but managed. Rather than a ‘wastebasket’, I propose that we instead think about it as a ‘junk drawer’. A junk drawer is an ordering device whose function is the containment of things we want to keep but have nowhere else to put. Based on a critical document analysis of the research literature on MUS (107 research articles from 10 medical journals, published 2001–2016), the article explores how the MUS category is constituted and managed as a junk drawer in medical science.
Smart cities: Who cares?
Authors: Burns Ryan , Andrucki Max
Published: July 2020

The growing critical research agenda on smart cities and open data programs has largely overlooked the body-subjects that enable its (re)production. The “ideal” subject of the smart city is prefigured as tech-savvy, independent, and uber-modern, able to produce digital data and analyze it to hold city government “accountable.” In this subject production, however, we argue that smart cities continue to rely on forms of reproductive labor that are invisibilized in current research and public discourse: We focus here on unpaid domestic labor, low-paid caring and reproductive labor, and volunteer work. We introduce the term “digital care worker” to capture a new category of reproductive worker in the smart city—voluntary and low-paid data producers and analyzers such as those who undertake “hackathons,” usually expected to do so out of love for their cities and communities. Drawing on geographies of care and Eve Sedgwick’s notion of the “closet.” we argue that the invisibility of digital caring laborers exists in dialectic relation to the spectacularization of particular body-subjects charged with caring for the smart city. Drawing on a discourse analysis of promotional materials and mission statements of key open data advocacy organizations, we propose the idea of “marginalized coder incubators,” who deploy assimilationist rhetoric to spectacularize the voluntary labor of women, people of color, and LGBTQ communities that is ultimately performed for the benefit of elites in the neoliberalizing city.
Prospective Long-term Follow-up of Autologous Chondrocyte Implantation With Periosteum Versus Matrix-Associated Autologous Chondrocyte Implantation: A Randomized Clinical Trial
Authors: Barié Alexander , Kruck Patrizia , Sorbi Reza , Rehnitz Christoph , Oberle Doris , Walker Tilman , Zeifang Felix , Moradi Babak
Published: July 2020

Background:

Matrix-associated autologous chondrocyte implantation (MACI) is a further development of the original autologous chondrocyte implantation periosteal flap technique (ACI-P) for the treatment of articular cartilage defects.

Purpose:

We aimed to establish whether MACI or ACI-P provides superior long-term outcomes in terms of patient satisfaction, clinical assessment, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) evaluation.

Study Design:

Randomized controlled trial; Level of evidence, 2.

Methods:

A total of 21 patients with cartilage defects at the femoral condyle were randomized to MACI (n = 11) or ACI-P (n = 10) between the years 2004 and 2006. Patients were assessed for subjective International Knee Documentation Committee (IKDC) score, Lysholm and Gillquist score, Tegner Activity Score, and 36-Item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36) preoperatively (T0), at 1 and 2 years postoperatively (T1, T2), and at the final follow-up 8 to 11 years after surgery (T3). Onset of osteoarthritis was determined using the Kellgren-Lawrence score and Magnetic Resonance Observation of Cartilage Repair Tissue (MOCART) score, and delayed gadolinium-enhanced MRI of cartilage was used to evaluate the cartilage. Adverse events were recorded to assess safety.

Results:

There were 16 patients (MACI, n = 9; ACI-P, n = 7) who were reassessed on average 9.6 years after surgery (76% follow-up rate). The Lysholm and Gillquist score improved in both groups after surgery and remained elevated but reached statistical significance only in ACI-P at T1 and T2. IKDC scores increased significantly at all postoperative evaluation time points in ACI-P. In MACI, IKDC scores showed a significant increase at T1 and T3 when compared with T0. In the majority of the patients (10/16; MACI, 5/9; ACI-P, 5/7) a complete defect filling was present at the final follow-up as shown by the MOCART score, and 1 patient in the ACI-P group displayed hypertrophy of the repair tissue, which represents 6% of the whole study group and 14.3% of the ACI-P group. Besides higher SF-36 vitality scores in ACI-P at T3, no significant differences were seen in clinical scores and MRI scores between the 2 methods at any time point. Revision rate was 33.3% in MACI and 28.6% in ACI-P at the last follow-up.

Conclusion:

Our long-term results suggest that first- and third-generation ACI methods are equally effective treatments for isolated full-thickness cartilage defects of the knee. With the number of participants available, no significant difference was noted between MACI and ACI-P at any time point. Interpretation of our data has to be performed with caution due to the small sample size, which was further limited by a loss to follow-up of 24%.
Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstructions With Quadriceps Tendon Autograft Result in Lower Graft Rupture Rates but Similar Patient-Reported Outcomes as Compared With Hamstring Tendon Autograft: A Comparison of 875 Patients
Authors: Runer Armin , Csapo Robert , Hepperger Caroline , Herbort Mirco , Hoser Christian , Fink Christian
Published: July 2020

Background:

Graft rupture is a devastating outcome after anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction (ACLR). Little is known about graft rupture rates as well as clinical and functional outcomes after ACLR with quadriceps tendon (QT) autografts.

Purpose:

To compare QT with hamstring tendon (HT) autografts in terms of the rates of graft and contralateral ACL rupture as well as patient-reported outcome measures.

Study Design:

Cohort study; Level of evidence, 3.

Methods:

All primary ACLRs performed between 2010 and 2016 were followed prospectively for 24 months through the recording of graft ruptures and contralateral ACL injuries as well as patient-administered questionnaires.

Results:

A total of 875 patients were included in the study. Three factors—graft type, age group, and activity level—had a significant value in predicting the need for revision surgery. The odds of revision surgery were 5.5 times greater in children younger than 15 years than in adults older than 45 years, 3.6 times greater in patients with high activity levels than low activity levels, and 2.7 times greater in patients receiving an HT autograft as compared with a QT autograft. A significantly higher rate of ipsilateral graft ruptures versus contralateral ACL injuries was observed in the HT group (4.9% vs 2.3%; odds ratio, 2.1; P = .01) but not in the QT group (2.8% vs 2.3%). The difference in the ratios of graft and contralateral ACL ruptures was even more pronounced in highly active patients treated with HT autografts (11.1% vs 4.2%; odds ratio, 2.6; P = .01) as compared with QT autografts (5.0% vs 2.8%; P = .48). Two-year measures of Lysholm scores (mean ± SD: QT, 86.0 ± 22.3; HT, 89.4 ± 16.4) and Tegner activity scores (QT, 6.1 ± 2.0; HT, 5.7 ± 1.9) as well as visual analog scale pain (QT, 0.8 ± 1.3; HT, 0.7 ± 1.1) did not differ between grafts.

Conclusion:

Graft choice does not influence clinical and functional outcomes 2 years after ACLR. However, 3 factors—graft type, age group, and activity level—have a significant value in predicting the need for revision surgery. Patients treated with HT autografts have a significantly higher, activity-dependent risk of revision surgery and experience more ipsilateral graft ruptures than subsequent contralateral ACL injuries when compared with patients treated with QT autografts. Young age and high activity level are significant predictors for ACL revision surgery.
Nanoparticles impact in biomedical waste management
Authors: Patil Pooja M , Bohara Raghvendra A
Published: July 2020

Effectual management of biomedical waste is obligatory for healthy human beings and for a safe environment. Mismanagement of biomedical waste is a community health problem. Safe and persistent methods for the management of biomedical waste are of vital importance. This article reviews the classification of biomedical waste, sources, colour-coding system of biomedical waste and salient features of biomedical waste rules in 2016, and the future prospective of nanoparticles. The untreated disposal of biomedical waste is associated with a huge amount of risk, so the efficient treatment for biomedical waste is most imperative. The review also highlights the current methods for disposal of biomedical waste, biological treatments given to biomedical waste water in the effluent treatment plant, and impacts due to the current method. Management of biomedical waste is a great challenge in developed and developing countries. To manage the biomedical waste there is a need for cost-effective, ecofriendly and less contaminating approaches for a greener and safe environment. The awareness regarding waste management is of great interest not only for the community but also for associated employees.
Fire performance properties of commonly used South African hardwood
Authors: Maake Tebogo , Asante Joseph , Mwakikunga Bonex
Published: July 2020

The effect of fire or heat and the associated fire hazards of South African hardwoods had been minimally researched. Quantitative investigations on fire performances of selected and common South African hardwood species that include Leadwood ( Combretum imberbe), Mopani ( Colophospermum mopane), Tamboti ( Spirostachys Africana), Stinkwood ( ocotea bullata), and Real Yellowwood ( Podocarpus latifolius) were undertaken using the cone calorimeter and the thermal gravimetric analysis instrument. The results indicated that Leadwood has the superior thermal performance. It has the lowest peak heat release rate (first peak at 156 kW/m2) at external heat irradiation flux of 75 kW/m2, highest thermal response parameter (376.2 kW s1/2/m2), highest thermal inertial (11.5 kW2 s/K2 m4), highest [Formula: see text], lowest fire growth index (derived from first heat release rate peak at 3120 W/s) and lowest smoke growth index (derived from first smoke production rate peaks at 0.760 m2/s2), and lowest smoke release (toxicity) 446.5 kg/kg. Bad thermal performance wood species are Mopani and Real Yellowwood. Stinkwood on the other hand has the best thermal stability from activation energy measurements.