Long-term Comparison Research Articles

Trends in United States Family Forest Owners’ Attitudes, Behaviors, and General Characteristics from 2006 to 2018

Abstract Family forest owners (FFOs) control a plurality of forestland in the United States, and the decisions these landowners make have a profound impact on the landscape. Most research on FFOs consists of cross-sectional studies, although many of these recognize the importance of capturing long-term trends to understand whether and how FFO attitudes, behaviors, and general characteristics are changing. We use data from the 2006, 2013, and 2018 iterations of the USDA Forest Service, National Woodland Owner Survey (NWOS), with a bootstrapping approach to identify significant changes across these time periods among FFOs with 4+ hectares of forestland. Total FFO hectares decreased and FFO ownerships trended downward over the study period. A decreasing proportion of FFOs owned farms or homes near their forestland, harvested timber, or received advice. Demographic shifts include an increase in age and education level from 2006 to 2018, and an increase in FFOs of color from 2006 to 2013. Overall, we find a trend towards decreased traditional engagement and management and a slight increase in owning land for its amenity values. Understanding temporal trends in FFO characteristics, attitudes, and behaviors will help policymakers and forestry professionals inform and update their outreach, technical support, and financial assistance programs. Study Implications: Families and individuals hold more forestland than any other ownership group in the United States. We use nationwide survey data from 2006, 2013, and 2018 to determine whether and how these landowners are changing over time. The total forestland held by FFOs decreased between 2006 and 2018, and there has been a decrease in traditional forest management and engagement, such as through timber harvesting and nearby farm ownership. This study provides insights for policies, programs, and outreach and a foundation for future long-term comparisons of this group.

The silent extinction of freshwater mussels in Portugal

Freshwater mussels are one of the most threatened animal groups in the world. In the European Union, threatened and protected mussel species are not adequately monitored, while species considered to be common and widespread receive even less attention. This is particularly worrying in the Mediterranean region, where species endemism is high and freshwater habitats are severely affected by water scarcity. In the absence of hard data on population trends, we report here a long-term comparison of freshwater mussel assemblages at 132 sites covering 15 different hydrological basins in Portugal. This study reveals a widespread decline of 60 % in the number of sites and 67 % in the overall abundance of freshwater mussels across Portugal over the last 20 years, indicating that all species are rapidly declining and threatened with extinction. These results show that current legislation and conservation measures are largely ineffective and highlight the importance of updating the Habitats Directive to enforce standard monitoring protocols for threatened species in the European Union and to extend monitoring to other freshwater species thought to be common and widespread. Efficient water management, restrictions on irrigation expansion in important biodiversity areas, mitigation of hydrological changes and loss of aquatic habitat connectivity caused by physical alterations are urgently needed to reverse these declining population trends. For the severely endangered species Margaritifera margaritifera, Potomida littoralis, and Unio tumidiformis, where populations are now critically low, more urgent action is needed, such as ex-situ conservation, protection of remaining populations and large-scale habitat restoration.

Laparoscopic gastric plication: A long-term follow-up and comparison of outcomes in severe vs. non-severe obesity

BackgroundLGGCP is a non-gastrectomy, restrictive bariatric technique. This study aims to assess its long-term efficacy. MethodsThis is a retrospective cohort study on LGGCP patients (2010–2019) from a single tertiary center, followed for up to 60 months. ResultsNinety-four patients with obesity were included in the study. The mean five-year postoperative BMI was 32.00. Excess weight loss (EWL): 30%–50% and EWL<30% occurred in 16 and 9 cases, respectively. The mean EWL was higher at 3-, 6-, and 12- months post-operation in patients with a BMI<40. Weight regain was 46.3% at the five-year follow-up. Eighty-seven patients had associated comorbidity, and 76 had improved in at least one of their comorbidities. Sixteen patients (17.0%) experienced complications. ConclusionLGGCP is safe and effective, with benefits in patients with BMI<40. Thus, we suggest the usage of LGGCP, especially in this group of patients, due to its less-invasive nature and acceptable cost-benefit. Further studies with larger sample sizes are required for validation.

Long-term follow-up and comparison of programmable and non-programmable ventricular cerebrospinal fluid shunts among adult patients with different hydrocephalus etiologies: a retrospective cohort study.

Programmable valve (PV) has been shown as a solution to the high revision rate in pediatric hydrocephalus patients, but it remains controversial among adults. This study is to compare the overall revision rate, revision cause, and revision-free survival between PV and non-programmable valve (NPV) in adult patients with different hydrocephalus etiologies. We reviewed the chart of all patients with hydrocephalus receiving index ventricular cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) shunt operations conducted at a single institution from January 2017 to December 2017. Patients included in the study were followed up for at least 5years. Statistical tests including independent t-test, chi-square test, and Fisher's exact test were used for comparative analysis, and Kaplan-Meier curve using log-rank test was performed to compare the revision-free survival between the PV and NPV groups. A total of 325 patients were included in the study, of which 181 patients were receiving PVs and 144 patients receiving NPV. There were 23 patients (12.8%) with PV and 22 patients (15.3%) with NPV receiving initial revision. No significant statistical difference in the initial revision rate was observed between the two groups (p = 0.52). No survival difference was found between the PV and NPV groups. However, better revision-free survival was noted in the PV group among idiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus (iNPH) (p = 0.0274) and post-traumatic hydrocephalus (p = 0.017). The combination of the different etiologies of hydrocephalus and the features of PV and NPV results in different outcomes-revision rate and revision-free survival. PV use might be superior to NPV in iNPH and post-traumatic hydrocephalus patients. Further studies are needed to clarify the indications of PV use in adult hydrocephalus patients.

Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injury: What Are Trends in Treatment?

Summary. There has been a reemergence of investigation into Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) repair as a surgical option for patients presenting with an ACL rupture. Despite high historical failure rates, new innovations have been implemented to improve stability and biointegration in an effort to aid healing of the ligament and decrease failure rates following ACL repair. The evolution of surgical techniques has seemingly led to improved short-term outcomes over historical reports. However, there remains a paucity of literature on long-term outcomes, large series, and comparison among repair techniques. Furthermore, there have been no high-quality studies showing outcomes comparable with those after ACL reconstruction. While advancements in ACL repair have been encouraging, there are no data, to our knowledge, to support ACL repair over ACL reconstruction, as recent reports have shown high failure rates after ACL repair. For these reasons, at the present time, ACL reconstruction should remain the gold standard treatment for patients with functional impairment from an ACL rupture. In the future, there may be a role for ACL repair for select tear types in specific individuals, if the early ACL repair outcome studies produce consistent long-term outcomes comparable with those after ACL reconstruction.

Long-Term Performance of Blue-Green Roof Systems—Results of a Building-Scale Monitoring Study in Hamburg, Germany

For the first time, a long-term monitoring study with different full-scale blue-green roof (BGR) types was conducted. Within a pilot project from Hamburg’s Rainwater InfraStructure Adaptation (RISA) framework, four different BGR types were built in 2015 for long-term evaluation and comparison with each other. The test site was created to find out to what extent BGRs are able to improve hydrological performance and if increased water supply affects vegetation development and species diversity. Therefore, the roofs were equipped with hydrologic monitoring systems, their retention performance was evaluated, and vegetation analysis was conducted. During 2017–2023, between 64 and 74% of the precipitation was retained on the roofs, and in the summer months there was hardly any outflow from the roofs. For single (heavy) rain events, high retention capacities, low outflow intensities, and high detention times were demonstrated. On the BGRs where rainwater is permanently stored on the roof, the vegetation species’ composition changed in the long term, resulting in an increase in biodiversity. The studied BGRs are effective in reducing flood risk from heavy rain events and can increase evaporative cooling and biodiversity. Therefore, such BGRs are a blue-green infrastructure with far-reaching positive effects.

Contamination Level Prediction: Progress in Species Separation by TGA/MS

Molecular contamination can be detrimental to spacecraft life expectancy as it may induce changes to the properties of the surfaces on which it deposits. In order to control these potential issues, manufacturers need to assess in-flight contamination levels in the quite early design phases, possibly leading to design changes or extra material bake-out to fulfil requirements. The accuracy of model assessments may thus have direct impacts on missions and costs. Prediction of outgassing and deposition at mission timescale is done by extrapolating short-term on-ground experimental results, by fitting the latter with some empirical or physical laws. Common methods are the power law interpolation (in isothermal conditions) or the residence time approach (with thermally activated time constants), which leads to exponential decays in isothermal conditions. Although they allow fitting the measured outgassed flux over few-day-long experiments, their extrapolation to ten or fifteen-year-long missions is more challenging. Validating empirical laws might involve long-term empirical comparisons, while obviously the validation of physical models should start with checking their physics. In spite of many years trying, a basic difficulty was yet found to block significant progress on physical validation. As long as measurements are limited to the total mass on QCMs it looks possible to fit data as a sum of almost any law, such as residence time or diffusion models e.g. for outgassing. Following this observation, a conclusion was drawn that the only way to discriminate between two different physics was to characterize contamination at chemical species level. Such characterizations are a prerequisite to unravel the physics at play during several phenomena: outgassing, deposit films dynamics, photochemistry, environment/ATOX interactions, etc. This innovative approach, presented herein, aims at identifying outgassed contaminants by means of coupled thermogravimetric analysis and mass spectrometry. For this purpose, this paper reports the successful species separation and identification of contaminants outgassed from a material used in space applications: the epoxy adhesive Scotchweld EC-9323-2.

Organic cropping systems maintain yields but have lower yield levels and yield stability than conventional systems – Results from the DOK trial in Switzerland

Sufficient and stable crop yields are the basis for feeding a growing world population. Limited cropland, climate change, degradation of soil quality and loss of biodiversity coupled with excessive use of non-renewable resources require new solutions for future cropping systems beyond existing management practices. Here we analyzed mean yields, temporal yield trends and the stability of organic and conventional cropping systems from the currently longest-lasting cropping system comparison, the DOK long-term systems comparison trial (DOK) comparing biodynamic, bioorganic and conventional cropping systems, over a period of 40 years. We used yield data of winter wheat, potatoes, grass-clover, maize and soybean in a seven-year rotation, where bioorganic and biodynamic farming systems were compared with conventional mixed and sole mineral fertilized systems. System treatments have been established at a reduced half and a regular fertilization level, which corresponds to standard Swiss farming practices. Yields were significantly lower in organic systems in non-legumes between 13% and 34%, depending on the investigated crop, whereas in legumes, no yield reduction was observed in soybean and only 10% was observed in grass-clover. Half the amount of fertilizer reduced yields by around 10% in all systems and crops. Applied mineral N determined yields mainly in winter wheat and potatoes. Temporal yield trends did not differ between organic and conventional systems, nor between half and regular fertilization over all crops. However, in winter wheat, both conventional and biodynamic management with regular fertilization showed a stronger temporal increase in yield, while yield of grass-clover under biodynamic management with half-fertilization decreased. Increased yield differences between systems in single years were due to poor performance of organic systems rather than better performance of conventional systems. Absolute stability (measured by the variance) did not differ, but conventional systems were more stable than organic ones in relative stability, measured by the coefficient of variation, expressing the stability in relation to the yield level. We found no difference in both absolute and relative stabilities between half and regular fertilization. Long-term organic management results in lower yields than conventional management, but not in a decrease of yields over time. The similarity in both stability measures between half and regular fertilization suggests that the variation in relative stability between organic and conventional management might be more related to plant protection than to fertilization intensity.

Evolutionary dynamics of the city brand influence of top ten global cities: Characteristics analysis driven by global news big data and intelligent semantic mining

This study focuses on the long-term comparison of the city brand influence constructed and reflected by global news media. Specifically, from the analytical perspective of two paths and five characteristics, this study empirically and quantitatively assesses and deconstructs the evolutionary dynamics of the city brand influence of the top ten Globalization and the World Research Group (GaWC) Alpha+ or above global cities over five consecutive years based on intelligent semantic embedding mining on the Global Database of Events, Language, and Tone (GDELT) full-sample global news big data, along with statistical analysis and machine learning. The results indicate that the top ten global cities' city brand influence over five consecutive years fluctuated from high to low and then rebounded. The hierarchical tiers of the Alpha++ and Alpha+ global cities' city brand influence were relatively stable. However, there are inner tensions in the evolutionary trend, such as the uneven rank differences between the city brand influence soft power and the hard power of these cities, and the intersection of clustering categories between the Alpha++ and Alpha+ global cities. The findings and data of this study provide concrete references and guidelines for policymaking toward future competition of top global cities' city brand influence.

Long-term 10-year comparison of girls with congenital adrenal hyperplasia who underwent early and late feminizing genitoplasty.

The appropriate time to perform feminizing genitoplasty in patients with congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) with the 46, XX genotype is still debatable. The aim of our study was to evaluate the relationship between age at surgery and long-term surgical outcomes of patients who underwent feminizing genitoplasty. We retrospectively analyzed 14 patients with CAH and 46, XX genotypes with feminizing genitoplasty (clitoroplasty + vaginoplasty) between 2005 and 2022. The patients were divided into two groups. Group 1 consisted of seven girls (n = 7/14) who have been operated before the age of 2years. Group 2 consisted of seven girls (n = 7/14) who have been operated after the age of 2years. The two groups are compared regarding anatomical assessments, overall cosmetic results, need for additional intervention using Creighton's criteria. Additionally, the cosmetical satisfaction of the patients/parents is questioned. The mean age of the girls was 32.42months (10-96months) during operation time. The mean age of Group 1 patients (n = 7/14) who have been operated before the age of 2years was 11.71months (10-19months). The mean age of Group 2 patients (n = 7/14) who have been operated after the age of 2years was 53.14months (36-96months). The mean follow-up time was 10.57years (3-18years). There was no statistically significant difference between those operated on before and after two years in terms of anatomical assessments, overall cosmetic results and patient/parent satisfaction except the need for additional intervention (p = 0.049). In Group1 (operation age < 2years old), five out of seven (71.42%) patients needed additional major surgery (four urogenital sinus re-mobilization, one redo-clitoroplasty). Those who received additional major surgery were the ones who were not satisfied. In Group 2 (operation age > 2years old), two patients out of seven patients (28.57%) received major surgery (two redo-urethroplasties) and those patients were not satisfied. When patient/parent satisfaction was compared with additional surgical intervention, as expected, patients'/parents' satisfaction increased as major surgical intervention decreased. This was statistically significant (p = 0.007).The main source of dissatisfaction was repeated surgery among the parents. The possibility of this additional surgical intervention increases, and patient/parent satisfaction decreases in patients below the age of 2years. The corrective surgeries can be differed until the gender identity of the patient matures and the patient autonomy in deciding whether this surgery should occur.

Long-term comparison of the performance of biostimulation and phytoextraction in soil contaminated with diesel and heavy metals

The long-term remediation performance under the natural conditions is required to establish the appropriate remediation strategy for contaminated soil. The objective of this study was to compare the long-term remediation efficiency of biostimulation and phytoextraction in contaminated soil containing petroleum hydrocarbons (PHs) and heavy metals. Two types of contaminated soil (soil contaminated with diesel only and co-contaminated with diesel and heavy metals) were prepared. For the biostimulation treatments, the soil was amended with compost, whereas maize, a representative phytoremediation plant, was cultivated for the phytoextraction treatments. There was no significant difference in remediation performance of biostimulation and phytoextraction in the diesel-contaminated soil, in which the maximum total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH) removability was 94–96% (p < 0.05). However, phytoextraction exhibited the higher removability for TPH and heavy metals than biostimulation in the co-contaminated soil. There was no considerable change in the TPH removal in biostimulation (16–25%), while phytoextraction showed a 75% of TPH removal rate in the co-contaminated soil. Additionally, no significant changes were observed in heavy metals concentration of biostimulation, whereas the removability of heavy metals was 33–63% in phytoextraction. Meanwhile, maize, which is a suitable plant for phytoextraction, showed a translocation factor (translocating efficiency from roots to shoots) value of >1. Correlation analysis revealed that soil properties (pH, water content, and organic content) negatively correlated with pollutants removal. Additionally, the soil bacterial communities were changed over the investigated period, and the types of pollutants exerted a significant influence on the bacterial community dynamics. This study performed a pilot-scale comparison of two types of biological remediation technologies under natural environmental conditions and provided information on changes in the bacterial community structures. This study can be useful for establishing appropriate biological remediation methods to restore soil contaminated with PHs and heavy metals.

Long-term Comparison of Choroidal Thickness between Scleral Encircling and Combined with Trans-pars Plana Vitrectomy in Retinal Detachment

Purpose: To compare the subfoveal choroidal thickness (SFCT) before and after scleral encircling (SE), with or without trans-pars plana vitrectomy (TPPV), in patients with monocular primary rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (RRD).Methods: We retrospectively analyzed patients who underwent SE for monocular primary RRD between January 2019 and June 2021 and underwent optical coherence tomography during follow-up. SFCT was measured independently at three regions before the surgery and 1, 2, 3, and 6 months after the surgery. The values were manually analyzed by two independent ophthalmologists.Results: Of the 33 eyes included in the study, 18 (54%) underwent SE alone, while 15 (46%) underwent SE with TPPV. SFCT gradually decreased after surgery in all patients (&lt;i&gt;p&lt;/i&gt; &lt; 0.05). The SFCT was significantly greater 6 months postoperatively in the SE alone group (260.51 ± 78.30 μm) compared to the SE with TPPV group (225.55 ± 75.24 μm) (&lt;i&gt;p&lt;/i&gt; &lt; 0.05). Macular detachment patients had significantly greater preoperative SFCTs (276.46 ± 20 μm) compared to others (223.93 ± 20 μm) (&lt;i&gt;p&lt;/i&gt; &lt; 0.05). Preoperative SFCT was significantly related to visual acuity (&lt;i&gt;p&lt;/i&gt; &lt; 0.05), while the remaining SFCT values did not have any significant effects.Conclusions: In primary RRD eyes, SFCT decreased over time after SE, more so when TPPV was also performed. Further studies are required to investigate the mechanism of SFCT change and its impact on RRD.

Chronic social comparison elicits depression- and anxiety-like behaviors and alterations in brain-derived neurotrophic factor expression in male rats.

Social comparison is a fundamental human characteristic; however, long-term social comparison may induce psychological stress and can lead to depression and anxiety. Recent studies have shown that nonhuman primates compare themselves with others; however, no studies have investigated whether social comparisons exist among rodents. In the present study, we established a rat model of social comparison. This model was subsequently used to examine the effects of the differential environment of a partner on depression- and anxiety-like behaviors in male rats, as well as to assess the changes in serum, medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), and dorsal hippocampus brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) levels induced by long-term social comparison. Compared to rats whose partners were exposed to the same environment, rats whose partners were exposed to two combined enriched environmental stimuli for 14days showed significantly decreased social novelty preference and sucrose consumption. No anxiety-like behaviors were observed. Rats whose partners were exposed to one enriched environment for 31days showed significantly increased immobility time in the forced swimming test, and significantly decreased time spent in the center area in the open-field test. Further, rats whose partners were exposed to one enriched environment for 31days showed lower BDNF levels in the mPFC and dorsal hippocampus, but not following partner exposure for 14days. These results suggest that social comparisons exist in rats and can induce psychosocial stress and other negative affect. This model will not only provide the possibility to reveal the neurobiological basis of the emotional impact of social comparison, but could also be used to confirm the conservative evolutionary characteristics of social comparison as a behavioral attribute.

Supporting Evidence for the “Ten-Year Fishing Ban”: Different Modes of Fishing and Pollution Induce a Fish Diversity Decline between the Pearl River and Its Estuary

To settle the emerging debate on whether a “ten-year fishing ban” is too long or an annual fishing moratorium is enough for fish resource restoration in the Yangtze River, a long-term comparison between the 1980s and the 2020s in the Pearl River was performed. Significant declines in fish biodiversity were determined among both the Pearl River and its estuary over the past decades. The trophic level increased from 4 to 5 in the estuary, whereas it remained at 4 in the Pearl River. Interestingly, an opposite trend in interspecies networks of fish was observed between the Pearl River and its estuary. A reduced density and increased links were detected in the Pearl River as its interspecies networks became complex, which was in contrast to that in the estuary. Furthermore, fishing and pollution were both confirmed to participate in the fish biodiversity decline in the Pearl River, whereas pollution was the dominant factor inducing the fish biodiversity decline in the estuary. Our case indicated that an annual fishing moratorium is not enough for fish resource restoration and supports the strategy of “ten-year fishing ban”. Moreover, pollution should also be brought under control so that we can facilitate fish resource restoration.

Moving Beyond the four walls: The evolving impact of supplier sustainability on firm value

Stakeholders are increasingly holding firms accountable for the sustainability performance of their suppliers, calling for increased levels of transparency and higher standards of social and environmental sustainability. This research focuses on the effect of supplier sustainability on focal firm value, and whether it differs from the effect of focal firm sustainability. The authors use an event study methodology to investigate 3986 positive and negative environmental and social sustainability event announcements from 1994 to 2013. The results suggest that supplier sustainability performance was not related to focal firm value at the beginning of this time period. However, after the turn of the millennium, the authors find a significant relationship between supplier social sustainability and focal firm value. Notably, focal firm value is not as heavily affected by supplier environmental performance. This long-term multi-faceted comparison provides empirical evidence informing firms on how they can best allocate their monetary and strategic resources to specific categories of supply chain sustainability in a way that maximizes focal firm value.

Comparison of infliximab with adalimumab in biologic-naïve patients with Crohn's disease: a single-center 13-year experience.

Long-term comparison studies between infliximab (IFX) and adalimumab (ADA) with or without immunomodulator therapy are still needed in Crohn's disease (CD). In this study, we evaluated IFX and ADA for long-term clinical effectiveness and safety in CD patients who had not previously received a biologic treatment. The data of adult CD patients were collected retrospectively between December 2007 and February 2021. We compared CD-related hospitalization, CD-related abdominal surgery, steroid use, and serious infections. Out of 224 CD patients, 101 started IFX first (median age: 38.12 years, 61.4% male), while 123 started ADA first (median age: 30.2 years, 64.2% male). The disease durations were 7.01 years and 6.91 years for IFX and ADA, respectively. There were no significant differences between the two groups with respect to age, gender, smoking, immunomodulator usage, and disease activity score at the onset of anti-TNF therapy (p>0.05). Overall, the median follow-up time was 2.36 and 1.86 years after starting anti-tumor necrosis factor-alpha (anti-TNF) therapy in the IFX and ADA groups, respectively. Steroid use (4.0% vs. 10.6%, p=0.109), hospitalization for CD (13.9% vs. 22.8%, p=0.127), abdominal surgery for CD (9.9% vs. 13.0%, p=0.608), and major infections (1.0% vs. 0.8%, p>0.999) did not differ significantly from one another. There were also no significant differences in the rates of these outcomes between concomitant immunomodulator therapy and monotherapy (p>0.05). In this study, we observed no significant differences in the long-term effectiveness and safety of IFX and ADA in biologic-naïve patients with CD.

Patient Reported Outcome Following the Skoog Unilateral Cleft Lip Repair among Adults- a Long-Term Cohort Study and Comparison to a Non-cleft Population.

The study primarily aimed to compare satisfaction with lip appearance among adults treated for unilateral cleft lip and palate (UCLP) with Skoog's primary lip repair procedure to those without clefts. The secondary aim was to determine whether satisfaction with lip appearance and the desire to change the lip/face appearance correlated with the number of secondary lip revisions performed. Long-term follow-up. All UCLP patients treated at the Uppsala University Hospital born between 1960- and 1987 (n = 109) were invited. At an average of 37 years following the primary lip repair, the participation rate was 76% (n = 83). A control group of adults without cleft (n = 67) completed the same study protocol for comparison. Satisfaction with appearance was measured with The Satisfaction with Appearance Questionnaire (SWA) and a modified version of the Body Cathexis -Scale was used to assess the desire to change the lip and facial appearance. UCLP patients were less satisfied with their lip, face, and overall appearance and reported a greater desire to change the appearance of their lips and face than non-cleft controls (p < 0.001). Dissatisfaction with lip appearance correlated to a greater willingness to change the appearance of the lip and face. No correlation was found between satisfaction with appearance and the number of the previously performed secondary lip revisions. Adults treated for UCLP are less satisfied with the appearance of their lips compared to the non-cleft population. The number of secondary revisions does not necessarily correlate to greater satisfaction with lip appearance.

Balloon technologies for pulmonary vein isolation - long-term follow-up and comparison of the novel radiofrequency balloon with the cryoballoon in patients with paroxysmal atrial fibrillation

Abstract Funding Acknowledgements Type of funding sources: None. Background Pulmonary vein isolation (PVI) is an established therapy for symptomatic atrial fibrillation (AF) and the cryoballoon (CB) has become a standard tool for PVI. But the technology is limited in certain ways. The novel multi-electrode balloon catheter promises the advantages of a balloon technology in combination with 3D-mapping and more flexible energy delivery. Purpose There is very limited data available regarding the safety and efficacy of the Heliostar™ RF-balloon. We therefore aimed to assess procedure characteristics, efficacy, and safety in direct comparison with the established CB. Methods All patients undergoing PVI using the Heliostar™ between September 2021 and March 2022 were included in this single center registry. Procedural data and outcome were assessed and compared with data from consecutive patients undergoing initial PVI for paroxysmal AF with the CB from our specifically designed database. Results A total of 251 consecutive patients (63±13 years, 54% male) were included. Of those 28 patients undergoing RF-balloon and 223 patients CB PVI. Baseline parameters did not differ between groups. Acute PVI was achieved in all patients using CB and in 26/28 patients (93%) with the RF-balloon. In 2/28 patients an additional single tip catheter was needed. A mean of 11.2±4.9 RF-applications with 2.8±1.4 applications per vein (LSPV 3.2±2.9, LIPV 2.6±2.5, RSPV 2.8±2.0 and RIPV 1.8±0.8) were necessary to achieve a durable isolation. Using the CB, significantly less applications (5.9±2.2;p=&amp;lt;0.001) were needed. While procedure duration (111±30min. vs. 70min.;p=&amp;lt;0.001) and fluoroscopy time (17.2±6.3min. vs. 11.5±4.8min.;p=&amp;lt;0.001) were longer in the Heliostar™ group, time to isolation was significantly shorter using the RF-balloon: LSPV 23.5±12.3 sec. vs. 54.6±38.3 sec. (p=&amp;lt;0.001); LIPV 18.6±10.4 sec. vs. 61.2±46.5 sec. (p=0.002); RSPV 17.4±10.9 sec. vs. 62.5±53.9 sec. (p=&amp;lt;0.001); RIPV 16.1±9.3 sec. vs. 59.3±35.9 sec. (p=&amp;lt;0.001). One pericardial effusion occurred in the Heliostar™ group due to complicated transseptal access. During CB PVI in 4/223 patients (1.8%) a phrenic nerve palsy was observed, which resolved in all patients within 12-month. After 12-month 80% of patients in the Heliostar™ and 79% of patients in the CB group (p=0.9) were free from atrial arrhythmias. Conclusion The novel multi-electrode RF-balloon has shown to be safe and effective with good long-term results. In comparison with the CB, time to isolation was significantly shorter but procedure durations were longer and fluoroscopy exposition was higher using the first generation Heliostar™ without LassostarNav®. This can be attributed to the learning curve applying a new ablation system and the necessity for separate 3D map preparation. More experience is needed in the future, especially with the new generation Heliostar™ to determine the real benefits.

SP24. The Profunda Artery Perforator Flap in Breast Reconstruction: Long-term Outcomes, Risk Factors and Comparison with Other Flaps

SP24. The Profunda Artery Perforator Flap in Breast Reconstruction: Long-term Outcomes, Risk Factors and Comparison with Other Flaps

111. A Long-term Comparison of Collagenase versus Fasciectomy in the Treatment of Dupuytren’s Contracture

111. A Long-term Comparison of Collagenase versus Fasciectomy in the Treatment of Dupuytren’s Contracture