Diphtheria and tetanus seroepidemiology among children in Ukraine, 2017

BackgroundThe drastic decline of Ukraine’s immunization coverage since 2009 led to concerns about potential resurgence diphtheria and tetanus, along with other vaccine-preventable diseases.MethodsTo assess population immunity against diphtheria and tetanus, we tested specimens from the serosurvey conducted in 2017 among children born in 2006–2015, the birth cohorts targeted by the nationwide outbreak response immunization following a circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 1 outbreak in Zakarpattya province in 2015. We surveyed four regions of Ukraine, using cluster sampling in Zakarpattya, Sumy, and Odessa provinces and simple random sampling in Kyiv City. We tested serum specimens for IgG antibodies against diphtheria and tetanus, using microbead assays (MBA). We estimated seroprevalence and calculated 95% confidence intervals. We also obtained information on the immunization status of surveyed children.ResultsSeroprevalence of ≥0.1 IU/mL diphtheria antibodies was <80% in all survey sites (50.0%–79.2%). Seroprevalence of ≥0.1 IU/mL tetanus antibodies was ≥80% in Sumy, Kyiv City, and Odessa (80.2%–89.1%) and 61.6% in Zakarpattya. Across the sites, the proportion of children vaccinated age-appropriately with diphtheria-tetanus-containing vaccines (DTCV) was 28.5%–57.4% among children born in 2006–2010 and 34.1%–54.3% among children born in 2011–2015. The proportion of recipients of <3 DTCV doses increased from 7.1%–16.7% among children born in 2006–2010 to 19.8%–38.6% among children born in 2011–2015, as did the proportion of recipients of zero DTCV doses (2.6%–8.8% versus 8.0%–14.0%, respectively).ConclusionsProtection against diphtheria among children born in 2006–2015 was suboptimal (<80%), particularly in Zakarpattya. Protection against tetanus was adequate (≥80%) except in Zakarpattya. Diphtheria-tetanus immunization status was suboptimal across all sites. Catch-up vaccination of unvaccinated/under-vaccinated children and other efforts to increase immunization coverage would close these immunity gaps and prevent the resurgence of diphtheria and tetanus in Ukraine, particularly in Zakarpattya.     

脑动静脉畸形的MRI及MRA诊断价值

目的：研究脑动静脉畸形（ＡＶＭ）的ＭＲＩ特征,探讨其诊断价值。方法：使用ＧＥｓｉｇｎａ ｅｃｈｏ ｓｐｅｅｄ１．５Ｔ超导ＭＲ机对７１例ＡＶＭ患者分别行ＭＲＩ及ＭＲＡ检查。ＭＲＩ采用ＳＥＴ１和ＦＳＥＴ２加权序列,ＭＲＡ采用３Ｄ－ＴＯＦ序列。结果：ＭＲＩ及ＭＲＡ能显示ＡＶＭ的瘤巢,ＡＶＭ的继发改变ＭＲＩ能很好显示,ＭＲＡ能显示ＡＶＭ的三维解剖结果。结论：ＭＲＡ和ＭＲＩ是无创性评从脑ＡＶＭ的有效方法,两     

Impact of body mass index and gender on wound complications after lower extremity arterial surgery

Objective

Wound complications (WCs) after lower extremity arterial surgery (LEAS) are common, resulting in readmissions and reinterventions. Whereas diabetes and obesity are known risk factors for WCs, gender-specific variability in body fat distribution (android vs gynoid) may drive differential risks of WCs after LEAS. We analyzed the independent and synergistic effects of gender and body mass index (BMI) on WCs.

Predicting Inpatient Payments Prior to Lower Extremity Arthroplasty Using Deep Learning: Which Model Architecture Is Best?

BackgroundRecent advances in machine learning have given rise to deep learning, which uses hierarchical layers to build models, offering the ability to advance value-based healthcare by better predicting patient outcomes and costs of a given treatment. The purpose of this study is to compare the performance of 2 common deep learning models, traditional multilayer perceptron (MLP), and the newer dense neural network (DenseNet), in predicting outcomes for primary total hip arthroplasty (THA) and total knee arthroplasty (TKA) as a foundation for future musculoskeletal studies seeking to utilize machine learning.MethodsUsing 295,605 patients undergoing primary THA and TKA from a New York State inpatient administrative database from 2009 to 2016, 2 neural network designs (MLP vs DenseNet) with different model regularization techniques (dropout, batch normalization, and DeCovLoss) were applied to compare model performance on predicting inpatient procedural cost using the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC). Models were implemented to identify high-cost surgical cases.ResultsDenseNet performed similarly to or better than MLP across the different regularization techniques in predicting procedural costs of THA and TKA. Applying regularization to DenseNet resulted in a significantly higher AUC as compared to DenseNet alone (0.813 vs 0.792, P = .011). When regularization methods were applied to MLP, the AUC was significantly lower than without regularization (0.621 vs 0.791, P = 1.1 × 10^?15). When the optimal MLP and DenseNet models were compared in a head-to-head fashion, they performed similarly at cost prediction (P > .999).ConclusionThis study establishes that in predicting costs of lower extremity arthroplasty, DenseNet models improve in performance with regularization, whereas simple neural network models perform significantly worse without regularization. In light of the resource-intensive nature of creating and testing deep learning models for orthopedic surgery, particularly for value-centric procedures such as arthroplasty, this study establishes a set of key technical features that resulted in better prediction of inpatient surgical costs. We demonstrated that regularization is critically important for neural networks in arthroplasty cost prediction and that future studies should utilize these deep learning techniques to predict arthroplasty costs.Level of EvidenceIII.     

Short-Term Morbidity and Mortality After Hemiarthroplasty and Total Hip Arthroplasty for Pathologic Proximal Femur Fractures

BackgroundAs oncology patients have increasing life expectancies, total hip arthroplasty (THA) may become an important treatment option for pathologic proximal femur fractures (PPFFs). Although THA and hemiarthroplasty (HA) have been compared for native hip fracture treatment, no data on short-term morbidity and mortality are available in the pathologic setting. The purpose of this study is to compare short-term morbidity and mortality of HA vs THA for PPFFs.MethodsThe National Surgical Quality Improvement Program database was queried from 2007 to 2017 for patients with PPFFs treated with HA or THA. Propensity-adjusted logistic regressions were implemented to compare 30-day morbidity and mortality between procedures. Backwards stepwise regression was then used to determine independent predictors of treatment with HA compared to THA.ResultsIn adjusted analysis, THA was associated with longer operative times (120.3 ± 5.6 vs 98.7 ± 4.9 minutes, P < .001); however, there were no differences between THA and HA with regard to 30-day rates of major complications (P = .3), minor complications (P = .77), reoperations (P = .99), readmissions (P = .35), or deaths (P = .63). Older age (P < .001), dependent functional status (P = .02), and the presence of disseminated cancer (P = .049) were predictive of undergoing HA compared to THA.ConclusionAs patients with metastatic cancer continue to live longer with their disease, the durability of surgical reconstruction to treat PPFFs is becoming increasingly important. This study demonstrated no significant differences in 30-day complications between PPFF patients treated with THA or HA after controlling for underlying confounders. These results suggest that THA can be utilized to treat certain patients with PPFFs, and future work is warranted to examine long-term functional outcomes.