Surgery
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Numerous authors have described the millennial generation, defined as a cohort of people born between the early 1980s and late 1990s, as unique from preceding generations, such as Generation X and the baby boomers. Many surgical educators generally belong to elder generations, and there is some concern that intergenerational differences may be source of friction between teacher and learner. ⋯ However, surgical educators sometimes encounter or propagate uncertainties, conflicts, or stereotypes regarding millennial characteristics and ideal teaching strategies. We review the relevant literature regarding intergenerational teaching strategies as they pertain to training millennial surgery residents.
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Earlier studies have demonstrated poor concordance between patients' advance care preferences and those endorsed by their surrogate health care decision makers in a medical setting. This study aimed to determine concordance in the perioperative setting among high-risk patients and to identify areas for improvement. ⋯ In all domains except cardiopulmonary resuscitation, concordance was <60% in the preoperative setting and was not improved among dyads who reported prior conversations regarding advance care preferences. Discordance may limit patient autonomy by prolonging undesired interventions or terminating desired interventions prematurely.
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Early intravenous administration of tranexamic acid has been shown to protect the intestinal barrier after a model of trauma-hemorrhagic shock in the rat, but the potential mechanism remains unclear. Our previous studies have demonstrated that neutrophil extracellular traps contribute to the intestinal barrier dysfunction during sepsis and other critical conditions. Meanwhile, there are high levels of neutrophil infiltration in the intestine during trauma-hemorrhagic shock. Here, we hypothesized that neutrophil extracellular trap formation played a vital role during trauma-hemorrhagic shock-induced intestinal injury and that tranexamic acid, a serine protease inhibitor, may inhibit neutrophil extracellular trap formation and protect intestinal barrier function in trauma-hemorrhagic shock. ⋯ We first demonstrated a novel role of neutrophil extracellular traps in the pathophysiology of intestinal barrier dysfunction during trauma-hemorrhagic shock. Notably, early but not delayed intravenous administration of tranexamic acid effectively inhibits neutrophil extracellular trap formation and protects intestinal barrier function. Therefore, these results suggested a potential theoretic intervention for the protection of the intestinal barrier during trauma-hemorrhagic shock. In such a process, tranexamic acid appears to regulate neutrophil extracellular trap formation via the classic reactive oxygen species/mitogen-activated protein kinase pathway.