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Background: After an anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACLR), only 47% of military members return to full duty, possibly due to persistent neuromuscular asymmetries. Psychological factors may also contribute to reduced return to duty in military members., Hypothesis: Psychological factors and time since surgery would be associated negatively with neuromuscular asymmetries, asymmetries would be greater in cadets postsurgery when compared with healthy controls, and asymmetries would be greater at earlier timepoints after ACLR., Study Design: Case control., Level of Evidence: Level 4., Methods: This study examined the relationship between psychological factors and time since surgery with neuromuscular asymmetry, compared neuromuscular asymmetries between cadets with and without a history of ACLR, and explored differences in neuromuscular asymmetries at different timepoints in cadets with a history of ACLR. A total of 37 cadets post-ACLR (18.3 ± 9 months) and 28 controls participated. Psychological factors were assessed using the Tampa Scale of Kinesiophobia and Anterior Cruciate Ligament-Return to Sport after Injury scale (ACL-RSI). Participants performed a drop-jump landing, joint positioning sense (JPS), and isometric quadriceps strength testing. Peak vertical ground-reaction forces (vGRF), absolute angle of replication, peak quadriceps torque, rate of torque development (RTD), and RTD time torque interval 200 ms (TTI 200 ) were analyzed., Results: The ACL-RSI score was significantly related to limb symmetry index (LSI) peak quadriceps torque ( r = 0.617, P < 0.01), LSI RTD (r = 0.367, P = 0.05), and LSI TTI 200 (r = 0.0489, P < 0.01), but not time since surgery, JPS, or LSI peak vGRF. Cadets with a history of ACLR had significantly lesser ACL-RSI scores and greater asymmetries compared with controls., Conclusion: Reduced psychological readiness was associated with increased neuromuscular asymmetries after ACLR., Clinical Relevance: Clinicians should assess psychological readiness during rehabilitation after ACLR., Competing Interests: The following author declared potential conflicts of interest: K.L.C. has received research grants from Department of Defense CDMRP and royalties from Springer.

Microbial infections on implanted medical devices are difficult to treat. Application of 70 kHz ultrasonic irradiation to gentamicin treatment greatly enhanced the action of the antibiotic in terms of reduced viable bacterial concentrations. Ultrasonic irradiation was carried out at various insonation intensities that were noninhibitory in the absence of antibiotic. Synergistic killing was observed to be a function of ultrasonic intensity. Greatest killing (approximately 5 log reduction in viable population) was realized at full intensity (4.5 W/cm2), and decreased with reductions in power density. At lowest intensity (10 mW/cm2), no significant acoustic enhanced killing was noted.

Extended wear soft contact lenses have been implicated in the increased occurrence of corneal bacterial infections. This research investigated the effects of polymer chemistry, water content, and pre-sorbed proteins upon the adherence of Pseudomonas aeruginosa to model hydrogels with chemistries similar to those of extended wear soft contact lenses. The hydrogels were exposed to washed suspensions of P. aeruginosa in a laminar flow cell. Albumin, fibrinogen, desialylated fibrinogen, or mucin were deposited on the hydrogels before exposure to the bacteria. Results showed that with or without protein pre-exposure, bacterial adhesion decreased as water content increased. In the presence of the sorbed protein, the number of adherent bacteria increased by about 45%, and all four proteins caused similar increases in adhesion. Bacterial adhesion was not significantly influenced by the presence of sialic acid residues in the pre-sorbed protein.