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Background: Evidence-based guidelines recommend multivisceral resection for patients with locally advanced adherent colorectal cancer because it reduces local recurrence and improves survival. However, this procedure can increase morbidity compared with standard resection and may not be practiced uniformly. We performed a population-based study to examine surgical practice and outcomes among patients with locally advanced adherent colorectal cancer in the United States. Methods: Patients who were 18 years or older and who had surgical resection for nonmetastatic, locally advanced adherent colorectal cancer from January 1, 1988, through December 31, 2002, were identified from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) registry. Logistic regression was used to examine patient, tumor, and geographic factors associated with multivisceral resection. Cumulative early mortality (i.e., at 1 and 6 months after diagnosis) and 5-year survival were obtained from Kaplan-Meier estimates; adjusted risks of death were calculated using Cox proportional hazards models. All statistical tests were two-sided. Results: We identified 8380 patients who underwent surgical resection for locally advanced adherent colorectal cancer, of whom 33.3% were managed with multivisceral resection. Among colon cancer patients, younger age at diagnosis, female sex, SEER region, node negativity, and left-sided tumors were independently associated with having had a multivisceral resection. Among rectal cancer patients, younger age at diagnosis and female sex were positively and statistically significantly associated with multivisceral resection, whereas receipt of neoadjuvant radiation was inversely and statistically significantly associated with multivisceral resection. Compared with standard resection, multivisceral resection was associated with improved overall survival for patients with colon (hazard ratio [HR] = 0.89, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.83 to 0.96) and rectal (HR = 0.81, 95% CI = 0.70 to 0.94) cancer, with no associated increase in early mortality. Conclusions: The majority of patients with locally advanced colorectal cancer did not receive a multivisceral resection. The geographic variation in the application of this procedure in patients with colon cancer suggests that local organizational structures and processes of care may play an important role in patient treatment and, therefore, prognosis.

IMPORTANCE: Overlapping surgery, also known as double-booking, refers to a controversial practice in which a single attending surgeon supervises 2 or more operations, in different operating rooms, at the same time. OBJECTIVE: To determine if overlapping surgery is associated with greater risk for complications following surgical treatment for hip fracture and arthritis. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: This was a retrospective population-based cohort study in Ontario, Canada (population, 13.6 million), for the years 2009 to 2014. There was 1 year of follow-up. This study encompassed 2 large cohorts. The “hip fracture” cohort captured all persons older than 60 years who underwent surgery for a hip fracture during the study period. The “total hip arthroplasty” (THA) cohort captured all primary elective THA recipients for arthritis during the study period. We matched overlapping and nonoverlapping hip fractures by patient age, patient sex, surgical procedure (for the hip fracture cohort), primary surgeon, and hospital. EXPOSURES: Procedures were identified as overlapping if they overlapped with another surgical procedure performed by the same primary attending surgeon by more than 30 minutes. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: Complication (infection, revision, dislocation) within 1 year. RESULTS: There were 38 008 hip fractures, and of those, 960 (2.5%) were overlapping (mean age of patients, 66 years [interquartile range, 57-74 years]; 503 [52.4%] were female). There were 52 869 THAs and of those, 1560 (3.0%) overlapping (mean age, 84 years [interquartile range, 77-89 years]; 1293 [82.9%] were female). After matching, overlapping hip fracture procedures had a greater risk for a complication (hazard ratio [HR], 1.85; 95% CI, 1.27-2.71; P = .001), as did overlapping THA procedures (HR, 1.79; 95% CI, 1.02-3.14; P = .04). Among overlapping hip fracture operations, increasing duration of operative overlap was associated with increasing risk for complications (adjusted odds ratio, 1.07 per 10-minute increase in overlap; P = .009). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: Overlapping surgery was relatively rare but was associated with an increased risk for surgical complications. Furthermore, increasing duration of operative overlap was associated with an increasing risk for complications. These findings support the notion that overlapping provision of surgery should be part of the informed consent process.

BACKGROUNDHigh-quality cost estimates for hospital-acquired Clostridium difficileinfection (CDI) are vital evidence for healthcare policy and decision-making.OBJECTIVETo evaluate the costs attributable to hospital-acquired CDI from the healthcare payer perspective.METHODSWe conducted a population-based propensity-score matched cohort study of incident hospitalized subjects diagnosed with CDI (those with the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, 10th Revision, Canadacode A04.7) from January 1, 2003, through December 31, 2010, in Ontario, Canada. Infected subjects were matched to uninfected subjects (those without the code A04.7) on age, sex, comorbidities, geography, and other variables, and followed up through December 31, 2011. We stratified results by elective and nonelective admissions. The main study outcomes were up-to-3-year costs, which were evaluated in 2014 Canadian dollars.RESULTSWe identified 28,308 infected subjects (mean annual incidence, 27.9 per 100,000 population, 3.3 per 1,000 admissions), with a mean age of 71.5 years (range, 0–107 years), 54.0% female, and 8.0% elective admissions. For elective admission subjects, cumulative mean attributable 1-, 2-, and 3-year costs adjusted for survival (undiscounted) were $32,151 (95% CI, $28,192–$36,005), $34,843 ($29,298–$40,027), and $37,171 ($30,364–$43,415), respectively. For nonelective admission subjects, the corresponding costs were $21,909 ($21,221–$22,609), $26,074 ($25,180–$27,014), and $29,944 ($28,873–$31,086), respectively.CONCLUSIONSHospital-acquired CDI is associated with substantial healthcare costs. To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first CDI costing study to present longitudinal costs. New strategies may be warranted to mitigate this costly infectious disease.Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol2016;37:1068–1078

The article describes the various properties of sulphur including its molecular formula and molecular weight, the vapour pressure of liquid sulphur and the viscosity of pure liquid sulphur.

Accurate nodal staging is of crucial importance in patients with nonmetastatic colon cancer, because it affects patient prognosis and delivery of adjuvant chemotherapy. In this article, we review the role of 2 controversial aspects of lymph node staging in colon cancer: the number of lymph nodes evaluated and sentinel lymph node (SLN) biopsy. Although it is clear that the number of lymph nodes assessed correlates with patient survival, the underlying mechanisms are far more uncertain, and thus, more research is warranted to determine whether interventions to increase nodal assessment will lead to improved patient outcomes. Sentinel lymph node biopsy does not appear to have the same advantages in the treatment of patients with colon cancer as in the treatment of patients with breast cancer or melanoma. Also, it might not improve colon cancer staging above standard pathology, and should be restricted to use in research settings.

The article presents information on two doctoral students in chemical engineering at Oklahoma State University (OSU), who have discovered Leapfrogging (LF) optimization technique, and demonstrated its applicability in advanced process control (APC). LF is a multiplayer, optimization technique, in which several "players" are placed at random spots in the feasible decision variable space. The optimization is attained when all players converge to a common optimum.

The article reports on the initiatives taken by the International Society of Automation (ISA) student section at Oklahoma State University in promotion automation and control as a career choice. It outlines the objectives of the section such as promotion of automation as a career choice and research focus and integration of academe and industry for both curriculum content and career placement. It cites the flagship event of the section called Automation Day which was launched in 2011.

The article reflects on the importance of data management strategy to Basel II's implementation. The section discusses the role of data management in each of the phases of the Basel II process, including figures illustrating the role of data management stages. According to the author, the success of a Basel II exercise depends solely on the quality and correctness of data and an organization's ability to correctly handle that data, concluding that any Basel II implementation of any scale must include a data management strategy.