World Neurosurg
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BRAINterns 2.0: durability of webinar-based education and social media beyond the COVID-19 pandemic.
Webinars offer novel educational opportunities beyond those of traditional, in-person experiences. BRAINterns is an open-access webinar-based education platform created to replace opportunities lost during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic. This program previously showed the efficacy of webinars to expand access to careers in medicine, and in particular, neurosurgery. BRAINterns 2.0 was established to assess the durability of Web-based learning. ⋯ Webinar-based education programs continue to be of interest to students in an increasingly digital world. Social media, and specifically the use of educational ambassadors, are effective to improve visibility of educational programs across a diverse population of students. Understanding the desires of participants is critical to building a successful online education platform.
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We sought to evaluate Hounsfield units (HU) at the adjacent segment after single-level transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion (TLIF) with preoperative and postoperative computed tomography scans. ⋯ As measured by HU, we did not observe a change in bone density or other signs of adjacent segment disease at the L3 vertebral body 12 months after L4-5 TLIF. Spinopelvic parameters were not shown to be correlated with HU changes.
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With the emergence of the concept of value-based care, efficient resource allocation has become an increasingly prominent factor in surgical decision-making. Validated machine learning (ML) models for cost prediction in outpatient spine surgery are limited. As such, we developed and internally validated a supervised ML algorithm to reliably identify cost drivers associated with ambulatory single-level lumbar decompression surgery. ⋯ The gradient-boosted ensemble model predicted total charges and associated cost drivers associated with ambulatory single-level lumbar decompression using a large, statewide database with excellent performance. External validation of this algorithm in future studies may guide practical application of this clinical tool.
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The prevalence of moyamoya disease (MMD) is relatively high in East Asia, whereas the susceptibility genes of MMD have not been identified. ⋯ According to the findings of literature review, this is the first study indicating the association between RASA1 mutations and MMD.