challenges of developing, supporting, and retaining the broader investigator workforce across all health professions. Distress, depression, and burnout are common during medical training. Stigma surrounding seeking help for mental illness during medical training may involve fear of negative peer perceptions, academic jeopardy, and adverse future career consequences. Faculty disclosure of personal mental health illness may reduce stigma surrounding mental health disorders and reassure and encourage trainees to seek help when needed. The authors aimed to assess the impact of faculty disclosure of mental health issues on stigma toward help-seeking during training, self-reflection about mental health, and resident physician awareness of mental health resources. Three self-selected faculty members shared their personal experiences with depression and mental health during a confidential noon conference intended for internal medicine residents at Mayo Clinic Rochester as part of their core curriculum in December 2016. Institutional and community mental health resources were provided. After the conference, attendees completed anual help-seeking behaviors across learner levels and training environments.Resident conference sessions during which faculty self-disclose personal mental health experiences may help decrease the stigma of mental health issues during medical training and increase the likelihood residents will seek assistance when needed. The authors encourage further study of longer-term outcomes and actual help-seeking behaviors across learner levels and training environments.Machine learning (ML) algorithms are powerful prediction tools with immense potential in the clinical setting. There are a number of existing clinical tools that utilize ML, and many more are in development. Physicians are important stakeholders in the health care system, but most are not equipped to make informed decisions regarding deployment and application of ML technologies in patient care. AZD5582 solubility dmso It is of paramount importance that ML concepts are integrated into medical curricula to position physicians to become informed consumers of the emerging tools employing ML. This paradigm shift is similar to the evidence-based medicine (EBM) movement of the 1990s. At that time, EBM was a novel concept; now EBM is considered an essential component of medical curricula and critical to the provision of high-quality patient care. ML has the potential to have a similar, if not greater, impact on the practice of medicine. As this technology continues its inexorable march forward, we must continue to evaluate medical curricula to ensure that physicians are trained to be informed stakeholders in the health care of tomorrow. In round window vibroplasty the most efficient coupling technique for contact of the floating mass transducer (FMT) to the round window membrane (RWM) is yet to be determined. Various materials placed between the FMT and the RWM have been proposed to enable better stimulation of the cochlea. Collagenous scaffolds derived from decellularized extracellular cartilage matrices as a commercially available biomaterial are already used for other applications in ear surgery. We aimed to examine the coupling properties of collagen scaffolds compared with commonly used other materials (round window soft coupler, porcine perichondrium, and cartilage) as interponate between the FMT and the RWM in vibroplasty. A well-established in vitro temporal bone model was used. Volume velocities were measured with collagen scaffold compared with different interponates (round window soft coupler, porcine perichondrium, and cartilage) at 800, 1000, 1250, 1600, 2000, 2500, 3150, and 4000 Hz levels. Statistical analysis revealed no superiority of commonly used materials compared with collagen scaffolds at all tested volume velocities (p > 0.05). We could demonstrate that collagenous scaffolds of decellularized extracellular cartilage matrices have similar vibrational properties as conventional coupling materials of the FMT to the RWM in vibroplasty. Therefore, as a commercially available new material they display a suitable coupling option for round window vibroplasty.We could demonstrate that collagenous scaffolds of decellularized extracellular cartilage matrices have similar vibrational properties as conventional coupling materials of the FMT to the RWM in vibroplasty. Therefore, as a commercially available new material they display a suitable coupling option for round window vibroplasty.Spinal cord injury is one major complication of open and endovascular thoracic and thoracacoabdominal aortic aneurysm repair. Despite numerous neuroprotective adjuncts, the incidence of SCI remains high. This review article discusses established and novel adjuncts for spinal cord protection, including priming and preconditioning of the paraspinal collateral network, intraoperative systemic hypothermia, distal aortic perfusion, motor- and somatosensory evoked potentials and non-invasive cnNIRS monitoring as well as peri- and postoperative drainage of cerebrospinal fluid. Regardless of the positive influence of many of these strategies on neurologic outcome, to date no strategy assures definitive preservation of spinal cord integrity during and after aortic aneurysm repair.As late as the early 1950s, ligation, cellophane wrapping, endoluminal wiring, endoaneurysmorrhaphy, and other techniques were well-accepted treatments for aneurysm. Techniques aimed at repair of syphilitic and saccular aneurysms of the proximal aorta were largely unsuitable for the larger, fusiform atherosclerotic aneurysms of the thoracoabdominal aorta. The earliest replacements of the thoracoabdominal aorta relied on the use of donor homografts. Repair of thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysms (TAAAs) necessitated exposing the thoracic aorta above the diaphragm and the abdominal aorta below the diaphragm. Furthermore, these repairs were complicated by incorporating the branching visceral arteries, as well as the risk of life-threatening distal ischemia during repair. Although many of the early centers for aortic surgery were able to quickly develop aortic banks to prepare and store homografts, in time, it became clear that homografts were not ideal for aortic replacement. The ideal aortic replacement would be nontoxic, hypoallergenic, durable, elastic, pliable, and readily available in multiple sizes and shapes.