Purpose The purpose of this systematic review was to evaluate both the clinical and radiographic outcomes following supramalleolar osteotomy (SMO) in patients with ankle osteoarthritis, and to analyse the level of evidence (LOE) and quality of evidence (QOE) of the included studies. Methods A systematic review of the MEDLINE, EMBASE, and Cochrane Library databases was performed in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. Studies reporting clinical data following SMO for the treatment of ankle osteoarthritis were included and assessed. The level and quality of evidence of the included studies were also evaluated. Results Twenty-four studies with 1160 patients (1182 ankles) were included. Overall, 78.8% patients presented with posttraumatic ankle osteoarthritis. The weighted mean AOFAS score improved from 52.6 ± 9.7 (range 33.8-78.4) preoperatively to 78.1 ± 5.7 postoperatively at weighted mean follow-up of 50.4 ± 18.6 months (range 24.5-99.0). The most frequently utilised radiographic parameter was the tibial anterior surface angle, which improved from a preoperative weighted mean of 86.3° ± 5.6° (range 76.0°-102.0°) to a postoperative weighted mean of 89.9° ± 3.7° (range 84.9°-99.6°). The complication rate was 5.1% with non-union as the most commonly reported complication (1.6%). Secondary procedures were carried out in 28.2% of patients, the most common of which was implant and hardware removal (17.6%). The failure rate was 6.8%. Two studies were LOE II, 3 studies were LOE III, and 19 studies were LOE IV. The mean Modiied Coleman Methodology Score was 59.3 ± 6.6 and the mean MINORS criteria score of all the included studies was 9.5 ± 3.7. Conclusion This systematic review demonstrates good clinical and radiological outcomes, together with a low failure rate at mid-term follow-up following supramalleolar osteotomy in patients with ankle osteoarthritis. However, a moderate reoperation rate (28.2%) was reported. A low failure rate (6.8%) was reported, which must be interpreted in light of the shortcomings of the design of the included studies and a relatively short follow-up period. In addition, there is a low level and quality of evidence in the current literature with inconsistent reporting of data which underscores the need for further higher quality research to be conducted. Our review highlights that SMO may be an efective and safe procedure in the setting of early-tointermediate-stage ankle osteoarthritis.

QBism regards quantum mechanics as an addition to probability theory. The addition provides an extra normative rule for decision-making agents concerned with gambling across experimental contexts, somewhat in analogy to the doubleslit experiment. This establishes the meaning of the Born Rule from a QBist perspective. Moreover it suggests that the best way to formulate the Born Rule for foundational discussions is with respect to an informationally complete reference device. Recent work [21] has demonstrated that reference devices employing symmetric informationally complete POVMs (or SICs) achieve a minimal quantumness: They witness the irreducible difference between classical and quantum. In this paper, we attempt to answer the analogous question for real-vector-space quantum theory. While standard quantum mechanics seems to allow SICs to exist in all finite dimensions, in the case of quantum theory over the real numbers it is known that SICs do not exist in most dimensions. We therefore attempt to identify the optimal reference device in the first real dimension without a SIC (i.e., d = 4) in hopes of better understanding the essential role of complex numbers in quantum mechanics. In contrast to their complex counterparts, the expressions that result in a QBist understanding of real-vector-space quantum theory are surprisingly complex. * This paper is dedicated to Prof. Gopal Rao upon his promotion to Distinguished Professor Emeritus status. Prof. Rao once remarked to one of us (CAF) that being at UMass Boston-rather than say at Harvard or Yale-allowed his career to excel. UMass Boston brought him academic freedoms he could not find elsewhere: He worked on whatever he pleased, without pressure for high-dollar funding or worries over journals' impact factors. We offer this paper to Prof. Rao in his own spirit. True science is founded upon the freedom to become fascinated by a simple pebble on a beach, whether it be polished or not, or whether it have any value at the local market.

Category: Sports; Other Introduction/Purpose: Depending upon the site of injury, Achilles tendinopathy (AT) can be either Insertional (IAT) or Non- Insertional (nIAT). AT has long been managed by conservative measures such as eccentric exercises, but now extracorporeal shock wave therapy (ESWT) has emerged as a non-invasive treatment to stimulate self-repair. However, the native biology at the insertion of the Achilles tendon and mid-substance are intrinsically different, with the mid-substance (2 to 6 cm above the insertion) being significantly less perfused. Thus, we performed a systematic review of the literature on shockwave therapy to determine if there was a difference in efficacy for patients who have undergone ESWT for IAT and nIAT. Methods: In January 2022, the MEDLINE and EMBASE databases were systematically reviewed based on the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. We included randomized controlled trials, prospective and retrospective studies, published in English, with pre- and post-operative scores for at least either Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) or Victorian Institute of Sport Assessment - Achilles (VISA-A). We excluded basic science studies, systematic reviews and meta- analyses, retrospective studies, case reports, studies without pre-operative scores, studies that don't differentiate IAT and nIAT. The LoE and QoE of the included studies were evaluated using the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery Criteria and the Modified Coleman Methodology Score, respectively. We calculated weighted mean values for age, body mass index (BMI), the number of ESWT sessions and their frequency, duration of symptoms prior to ESWT, follow-up time, as well as for each outcome score. Results: 16 studies were included in this review, six with Level I evidence, four with Level II, five with Level III, and one with Level IV. There were 505 cases of AT: 325 patients with IAT and 180 with nIAT. For the IAT cohort, the weighted mean (WM) duration of symptoms prior to treatment was 18.1 months, and WM follow-up was 8.1 months. For the nIAT cohort, the WM duration of symptoms prior to treatment was 15.0 months, and WM follow-up was 11.6 months. In terms of outcome scores, for VAS, the WM pre-operative scores were 6.89 for IAT and 7.76 for nIAT and the WM post-operative scores were 2.76 for IAT and 2.49 for nIAT. For VISA-A, the WM pre-operative scores were 49.3 for IAT and 42.8 for nIAT, and the WM post-operative scores were 75.4 for IAT and 75.7 for nIAT. Conclusion: As the mid-substance portion of the Achilles tendon has diminished blood supply compared to the insertional portion, we expected outcomes after ESWT to be inferior for the nIAT cohort. Interestingly, the VAS pain scores and VISA-A functional scores displayed similar positive results for both cohorts. We see that the virtually equivalent functional and pain outcomes mean that ESWT is stimulating cellular components of the tendon to promote healing regardless of injury location.

Category: Sports; Other Introduction/Purpose: Extracorporeal Shock Wave Therapy (ESWT) is one of the major advances in orthopedics over the last 20 years as a method for orthopedic surgeons to conservatively treat tendon pathologies such as Achilles tendinopathy (AT). Unfortunately, previous studies involve only a small number of cases, relatively short duration of symptoms, and simple measures of pain. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the impact of age, body mass index (BMI), and location of AT (Insertional (IAT) or Non-Insertional (nIAT)) on clinical outcomes and return to sport (RTS) time after ESWT. Methods: This is a retrospective cohort study that included existing clinical data from 40 patients from a single academic institution. Patients greater than 18 years of age who underwent ESWT for Achilles tendinopathy in the office setting between 8/1/2019 to 8/30/2021 were included. Clinical outcomes of patients were evaluated through the self-reported Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) and Victorian Institute of Sport Assessment-Achilles (VISA-A) scores for assessing pain and functional outcomes of Achilles Tendinopathy. Descriptive statistics were used to provide an overview of the patient characteristics, including sex, age, laterality of injury, BMI, duration of symptoms, RTS time, and follow-up. For these data, mean and standard deviation were calculated, and paired samples T-tests and Welch's T-tests were performed on clinical outcome scores. Results: This study included 48 patients (62 heels), with an average age of 50.8+-14.2 years, BMI of 27.3+-5.3, follow-up of 6.41+- 6.9 months, and RTP time of 5.39+-5.3 weeks. Patients with a BMI <25.0 had significantly higher post-operative VISA-A scores (p=0.007) compared to those with a BMI >25.0, and post-operative VAS scores displayed this trend without significance (p=0.07). Patients <=50 years old had significantly higher post-operative VISA-A scores (p=0.02) compared to those >50 years old, and post-operative VAS scores displayed this trend without significance (p=0.1). Pre- and post-operative VISA-A scores, and post- operative VAS scores, were not significantly different between IAT and nIAT cohorts, except for pre-operative VAS scores where nIAT was higher (p=0.03). Additionally, we found significant improvements in pre-operative to post-operative scores for VAS scores for IAT and nIAT cohorts (p<0.0001), as well for VISA-A for the IAT cohort (p=0.008), but no significant improvement in VISA for the nIAT cohort (p=0.119). Conclusion: Increased BMI and age are determinant factors that significantly adversely affect functional scores (VISA-A) in patients with AT treated with ESWT, but no significant differences were found for these risk factors in terms of pain improvement (VAS). Additionally, we found that the nIAT cohort had significantly higher pre-operative pain than IAT, and no significant improvement in VISA-A scores (though there was a trend of functional improvement). This aligns with the fact that the mid- substance of the Achilles tendon is a watershed area with relatively low vascularity compared to the insertional portion, where lower perfusion weakens the healing benefits of ESWT.

Category: Ankle Introduction/Purpose: Acute Achilles tendon rupture (AATR) is a common injury of an incidence rate of up to 31 per 100,000 per year. The current meta-analyses on the treatment of AATR have conflicted data that may, in part, be due to the differences in their methodologies. The aim of this study is to systematically review and present the current meta-analyses for the treatment of AATR. The outcomes of this study can provide clinicians with a clear overview of the current literature to help decide on the optimal treatment for patients. Methods: Two independent reviewers searched PubMed and Embase on March 17, 2020 based on the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. Assessment of evidence was two-fold: level of evidence (LoE) and quality of evidence (QoE). LoE was evaluated using published criteria by The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery and the QoE by the Assessing the Methodological Quality of Systematic Reviews (AMSTAR) scale. Pooled complication rates were highlighted for significance in favor of 1 group or no significance. Statistical analysis was performed using a statistical software package (R version 3.5.1; R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria). Descriptive statistics were calculated for each study and statistical parameters analyzed. Continuous variables were reported as mean +- standard deviation and categorical variables were reported as frequencies with percentages. P-values < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: 21 meta-analyses were included in the study. Re-rupture rates ranged between 2.3% to 5.0% for open repair/MIS and 3.9% to 13% for conservative treatment (p < 0.05). Re-rupture rates were reported in 3 of 4 meta-analyses that ranged between 2.3% to 7.8% for conservative treatment earlier rehabilitation and 5.0% to 12.2% for conservative treatment later rehabilitation. Re-rupture rates were 2.5% for open repair earlier rehabilitation and 3.8% for open repair later rehabilitation. When comparing surgical techniques, re-rupture rates ranged between 1.4% to 3.1% for percutaneous repair/MIS and 2.2% to 2.7% for open repair. Infection rates ranged between 2.8% to 5.0% for open repair/MIS and 0% to 0.02% for conservative treatment. The majority of meta-analyses (3 of 5) significantly favored by effect size, open repair/MIS for total infection rates (p < 0.05). Conclusion: The results of this study demonstrate that operative repair reduced the rate of re-rupture when compared to conservative treatment. There is currently conflicting information on whether early functional rehabilitation reduces the difference between the two treatments. Operative treatment has been shown to have a higher rate of wound complications, although the rates of deep wound infections remains to be determined. Percutaneous repair resulted in similar re-rupture rates when compared to open surgery but for the rates of other complications including wound infections, this was diminished. Further meta- analyses which compare all cohorts are needed to ascertain best evidence.