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This article is a reflection on early colonial industries as caring labor rather than just commodity production or resistance. We draw on Indigenous philosophies of relations and Amazonian ontologies to foreground care and frame the Caribbean material record. We investigate how traditional things such as hammocks and cassava bread produced by a sixteenth‐century encomienda population on Mona Island, part of the Puerto Rican archipelago, quickly became part and parcel of free and unfree contexts, extending sensory environments and shaping conditions of interaction throughout the Caribbean. Consideration of traditional things and ways they are incorporated within new assemblages of people and places reveals alternative world‐making projects, a speculative rejoinder to singular narratives of exploitation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The aim of the study was to describe a novel technique for reinforcement of salvage laryngectomy closure using a bipedicled musculofascial submental flap. Methods: A retrospective cohort study design identified patients who underwent salvage laryngectomy reinforcement with a bipedicled submental hammock flap between January 2008 and December 2016 were compared to salvage laryngectomy patients treated with primary closure of the neopharynx during the same time period. Pharyngocutaneous fistula rates were compared between groups. Results: Pharyngocutaneous fistula rate in the submental hammock group (2/31, 6.5%) was significantly lower compared to the primary closure group (14/45, 31%, P <.05). Conclusion: The bipedicled musculofascial submental hammock flap is a viable method for reinforcement of salvage laryngectomy defects. It has a favorable pharyngocutaneous fistula rate compared to primary closure alone and has unique advantages over conventional methods of reinforcement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: This study revisits the previously described technique of inverted-T skin-reducing mastectomy and dermal-muscle pocket as a single-stage breast reconstruction using anatomical implants in large and ptotic breasts. Refinements have been added to enhance the quality of implant coverage, improve aesthetic outcome, and augment the implant volume than previously described in the literature. Subjects and methods: The study was performed in three centers in the UK, Egypt, and Libya. It included patients with large ptotic breasts with a breast cup size of D or larger. The areola-to-inframammary fold distance is of 8 cm or more, and a nipple-sternal notch distance is 25 cm or more. Modification of the dermal-muscle flap was made through dividing the medial and lateral ends of the de-epithelialized flap at a distance of one inch to create wings that could be sutured to the free edge of pectoralis major muscle to act as a hammock. Results: It included 42 patients, and the mean age of the patients was 44.4 years (range 28–62). The mean body mass index was 34.2 (range 24–42). The reconstruction was unilateral in 32 (76.2%) patients and bilateral in ten (23.8%) patients. The average implant volume was 498.5 CC (range 375–650). Seventeen (40.5%) patients had a symmetrizing breast reduction. The average follow-up time was 52 weeks. Major complications were noticed in four (7.7%) breasts: Three breasts had major skin necrosis and one breast had hematoma that necessitated surgical evacuation. There were no reported cases of implant extrusion. Minor complications were recorded in six (11.5%) breasts; two had wound infection, and three had minor skin necrosis. Conclusion: The hammock technique of dermal-muscle flap is safe and versatile in large and ptotic breasts. It also creates a natural-looking breast with bigger implants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim Two reports of infants found dead after sleeping in baby hammocks have raised international concern about the safety of infant hammocks. We therefore tested whether hammock sleep affected oxygenation in infants, when they were at an age of high risk of sudden, unexpected infant death. Methods Healthy, full-term 4- to 8-week-old infants were randomised to sleep either in a commercially available hammock (n = 14) or a standard bassinet (n = 9), and sleep state, oxygen desaturation (a fall in peripheral haemoglobin oxygen saturation (SpO2) ≥ 4%, for ≥ 4 sec from baseline to nadir), apnoea and hypopnoea, and mean SpO2 were analysed. Results There was no significant difference in mean SpO2 (both 98.5%) or rate of oxygen desaturation events between the hammock and the bassinet cot (mean ± SD, 24 ± 20 vs. 28 ± 23 events per hour), but infants slept less in the hammock (59 ± 31 vs. 81 ± 34 min, p < 0.02). Conclusion When correctly used, the hammock sleep position did not compromise the upper airway of sleeping infants. The significance of shorter duration of sleep in the hammocks is unclear. These findings should not be applied to all baby hammocks, nor to older babies, particularly once the infant can roll. Given that it is not possible to predict when an infant will be able to roll, we strongly recommend that hammocks should not be used for unsupervised sleep. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To compare the intraoperative and immediate postoperative results achieved with the tension-free vaginal tape Secur (TVT-S) hammock procedure performed under local anesthesia (LA) versus general anesthesia (GA).Methods: Prospective randomized trial involving patients with symptomatic stress urinary incontinence grades 1 or 2 who underwent TVT-S under either LA or GA. Postoperative pain intensity, duration of hospitalization, rate of complications, duration of operating and recovery times, and number of additional procedures required were recorded.Results: Each group included 40 patients. The operative times were identical in the 2 groups, but the time spent in the recovery room was significantly longer in the GA group. Patients undergoing LA experienced less pain than did those undergoing GA. Most patients in the LA group had day surgery, whereas most patients in the GA group went home 1day after the surgery. No significant differences were observed for the rates of complications.Conclusion: Performing the TVT-S hammock technique under LA rather than GA reduces postoperative pain and shortens the duration of hospitalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Objective: To assess the efficacy and complications associated with use of the TVT SECUR System device with placement of the tape in either a “hammock” or “U” position for management of stress urinary incontinence (SUI). Methods: A prospective study of patients with SUI allocated into one of two groups: “hammock” or “U” tape placement. Preoperative urodynamic results were compared with results at the 6-month and 1-year follow up. Outcome measures were objective cough test assessment and subjective patient responses to a questionnaire at follow up. Results: Of 82 patients included in the study, 43 comprised the “hammock” group and 39 comprised the “U” group. The objective cure rate at 1-year follow up was 62.8% (n=27) in the “hammock” group and 71.8% (n=28) in the “U” group. At 1-year follow up, the subjective cure, improvement, and failure rates for the “hammock” group were 60.5%, 13.9%, and 25.7% respectively, and 69.2%, 12.8%, and 17.9% respectively, for the “U” group. Conclusion: The efficacy of the TVT SECUR System was lower (<72%) than the cure rates reported for other TVT procedures; further studies are required. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses various reports within the issue on topics including the role of exercise in reducing attention deficit/ hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), premature infants at the limits of viability, and the safety of baby hammocks.