New Polymer-Carbon Lustrous Carbon Precursor in Synthetic Molding Sands-Part I: Studies on the Properties of Sands.

In the first part of this publication, selected technological and strength properties of synthetic molding sand bound with sodium bentonite with the addition of a new lustrous carbon carrier (R, R, R, W, P, Z, P, P, S, ρ) were determined. The introduction of polyethylene as a substitute for hydrocarbon resin, and shungite as a replacement for coal dust, demonstrated the achievement of an optimal molding sand composition for practical use in casting technology. The sand containing a new lustrous carbon carrier (SH/PE) demonstrates the highest permeability and flowability.

Robotic-assisted partial nephrectomy using the Hugo robotic-assisted surgery platform: Initial experience and insights.

Introduction: Robotic-assisted surgery (RAS) is a vital modality in the armamentarium of minimally invasive surgeons. The HugoTM RAS system (Medtronic) is one of the newest platforms on the market and has little surgical outcomes data. We describe our early experience performing robotic-assisted partial nephrectomy (RAPNx) with the Hugo RAS platform.

Reducing Vancomycin Dosage in Children on ECMO with Renal Impairment.

Background:  Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) can influence pharmacokinetics. We investigated the vancomycin dosage in children on ECMO compared to critically ill children to determine the necessary dosage adjustment on ECMO.

Methods:  Eight-year, single-center, retrospective cohort study at a tertiary heart center's pediatric cardiac intensive care unit (ICU) of children undergoing ECMO support.

Self-Healing Thermal-Reversible Low-Temperature Polyurethane Powder Coating Based on Diels-Alder Reaction.

This work focused on obtaining a low-temperature powder coating characterized by self-healing properties. To achieve this, acrylic resin, blocked polyisocyanates (bPICs) with 1,2,4-triazole, and unsaturated commercial resin were used. The synthesis of bPICs with triazole enabled the low-temperature curing and reversible Diels-Alder (DA) reaction at 160 °C.

mTor-inhibition within the first days after pediatric heart transplantation is a potentially safe option to prevent cardiac allograft vasculopathy.

Background: Immunosuppression after heart transplantation (HTX) with mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) inhibitors serves as a prophylaxis against rejection and to treat coronary vascular injury. However, there is little data on the early, preventive use of everolimus after pediatric HTX.

Methods: Retrospective study of 61 pediatric HTX patients (48 cardiomyopathy and 13 congenital heart disease), 28 females, median age 10.

A scoping review on chordee correction in boys with ventral congenital penile curvature and hypospadias.

Introduction: Congenital penile curvature (PC), often concomitant with hypospadias, poses challenges in urology. Surgical correction techniques, including plication and corporotomy, lack standardized guidelines. This study aims to address the paucity of high-level evidence by comprehensively reviewing the outcomes of PC correction procedures in patients with and without hypospadias.

Temporal Trends in Semen Quality, Hormone Levels, and Substance Use Among Infertile Men in Pre- and Post-Cannabis Legalization Eras in Canada.

The Cannabis Act (Bill C-45) was enacted in 2018, to legalize and regulate the use, production, and sale of nonmedical cannabis in Canada. While public health and safety implications of cannabis legalization have yet to be elucidated, the wide availability of cannabis necessitates health care providers to be knowledgeable about therapeutic potential and side effects of use. This study aimed to examine the temporal trends over two decades and the impact of the Cannabis Act in Canada, implemented in October 2018, on substance use, semen parameters, and testosterone levels of infertile men.

Neurosensory recovery of inferior alveolar nerve gap reconstruction: a systematic review.

Numerous procedures can potentially injure the inferior alveolar nerve during oral and maxillofacial surgery, eventually causing loss or alteration of local sensitivity. When its total rupture occurs, a conduit, such as an autogenous graft, can be used to join it. Due to the morbidity resulting from this technique, alternative forms of sensorineural repair have been investigated.

Machine learning models to predict post-dialysis blood pressure in children and young adults on maintenance hemodialysis.

Hypertension is associated with significant cardiovascular morbidity. Blood pressure (BP) control on maintenance hemodialysis (HD) is strongly impacted by volume status. The objective of this study was to assess whether machine learning (ML) is effective in predicting post-HD BP in children and young adults on HD.

The Influence of 3D Printing Core Construction (Binder Jetting) on the Amount of Generated Gases in the Environmental and Technological Aspect.

This article presents the findings of a study focusing on the gas generation of 3D-printed cores fabricated using binder-jetting technology with furfuryl resin. The research aimed to compare gas emission levels, where the volume generated during the thermal degradation of the binder significantly impacts the propensity for gaseous defects in foundries. The study also investigated the influence of the binder type (conventional vs.

Guideline of guidelines: follow-up after orchidectomy for clinical stage 1 testicular cancer.

Several medical organisations have developed evidence-based guidelines for the diagnosis, management, and follow-up of testicular cancer. This article aimed to review, compare, and summarise the most updated international guidelines and surveillance protocols for clinical stage 1 (CS1) testicular cancer. We reviewed a total of 46 articles on proposed follow-up strategies for testicular cancer, and six clinical practice guidelines including four guidelines published by urological scientific associations and two guidelines published by medical oncology associations.

Thermostability of Organobentonite Modified with Poly(acrylic acid).

A new type of organobentonite foundry binder composed of a composite of bentonite (SN) and poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) was analyzed using thermal analysis (TG-DTG-DSC) and pyrolysis gas chromatography mass spectrometry (Py-GC/MS). The temperature range in which the composite retains its binding properties was identified using thermal analysis of the composite and its components. Results showed that the thermal decomposition process is complex and involves physicochemical transformations that are mainly reversible at temperatures in the ranges of 20-100 °C (related to evaporation of solvent water) and 100-230 °C (related to intermolecular dehydration).

3D Printed (Binder Jetting) Furan Molding and Core Sands-Thermal Deformation, Mechanical and Technological Properties.

Casting cores produced in additive manufacturing are more often used in industrial practice, in particular in the case of the production of unit castings and castings with very complex geometry. The growing interest in the technology of 3D printing of cores and molds also brings emerging doubts related to their mechanical and technological properties. This article presents a comparison of the properties of cores made of sand with acid-curing furfuryl resin, made with 3D printing technology; the cores were prepared in a conventional way (mixing and compaction).

Dorsal shortening vs. ventral lengthening for congenital ventral curvature in patients with/without severe hypospadias A meta-analysis of comparative studies.

Introduction: Herein, we compared surgical outcome of dorsal shortening (DS) vs. ventral lengthening (VL) for correcting congenital ventral curvatures.

Methods: A systematic literature search was performed in September 2021 using the PubMed, EMBASE, Scopus, CENTRAL, ProQuest, and Clinicaltrials.

Organobentonite Binder for Binding Sand Grains in Foundry Moulding Sands.

A series of studies related to the production of organobentonite, i.e., bentonite-poly(acrylic acid), and its use as a matrix grain-binding material in casting moulding sand is presented.

Thulium fibre laser vs holmium: yttrium-aluminium-garnet laser lithotripsy for urolithiasis: meta-analysis of clinical studies.

Objective: To compare and assess the clinical outcomes between thulium fibre laser (TFL) and holmium: yttrium-aluminium-garnet (Ho:YAG) laser endoscopic lithotripsy of urolithiasis through a meta-analysis of comparative clinical studies.

Methods: A systematic literature search was performed in May 2022, grey literature search in July 2022. Comparative clinical studies were evaluated according to Cochrane recommendations.

Role of Lactate Dehydrogenase in Identifying Relapse for Patients With Stage I Testicular Cancer on Surveillance.

Purpose: Tumor markers alpha-fetoprotein, human chorionic gonadotropin, and lactate dehydrogenase assume a key role in the management of testicular germ cell tumors. While alpha-fetoprotein and human chorionic gonadotropin have modest sensitivity and specificity for germ cell tumors, lactate dehydrogenase has weak sensitivity and specificity. We explored the utility of lactate dehydrogenase in identifying relapse among stage I seminomatous and nonseminomatous germ cell tumors on surveillance.

Design and Methods of the Validating Injury to the Renal Transplant Using Urinary Signatures (VIRTUUS) Study in Children.

Unlabelled: Lack of noninvasive diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers to reliably detect early allograft injury poses a major hindrance to long-term allograft survival in pediatric kidney transplant recipients.

Methods: Validating Injury to the Renal Transplant Using Urinary Signatures Children's Study, a North American multicenter prospective cohort study of pediatric kidney transplant recipients, aims to validate urinary cell mRNA and metabolite profiles that were diagnostic and prognostic of acute cellular rejection (ACR) and BK virus nephropathy (BKVN) in adult kidney transplant recipients in Clinical Trials in Organ Transplantation-4. Specifically, we are investigating: (1) whether a urinary cell mRNA 3-gene signature (-normalized mRNA, and ribosomal RNA) discriminates biopsies with versus without ACR, (2) whether a combined metabolite profile with the 3-gene signature increases sensitivity and specificity of diagnosis and prognostication of ACR, and (3) whether mRNA levels in urinary cells are diagnostic of BKVN and prognostic for allograft failure.

Salvage lymph node dissection for prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) positron emission tomography (PET)-identified oligometastatic disease.

Introduction: The availability of prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) positron emission tomography (PET)/computed tomography (CT) imaging, particularly in the setting of rising prostate-specific antigen (PSA) after definitive treatment, has led to oligometastatic prostate cancer being increasingly identified. Despite the enthusiasm surrounding treating oligometastatic disease, it has been relatively understudied. We sought to review our salvage lymphadenectomy experience in the PSMA PET/CT era.

Catalytic Adsorptive Stripping Voltammetric Determination of Germanium Employing the Oxidizing Properties of V(IV)-HEDTA Complex and Bismuth-Modified Carbon-Based Electrodes.

An efficient procedure that may be used to determine germanium traces and combines the advantages of catalytic adsorptive stripping voltammetry (CAdSV) with the convenience of screen-printed electrodes was developed. To induce the CAdSV response of the germanium(IV)-catechol complex, the vanadium(IV)-HEDTA compound was employed in combination with various bismuth-modified homogeneous (glassy carbon, gold coated with a bismuth layer via physical vapor deposition) and heterogeneous (screen-printed carbon, mesoporous carbon, graphene and reduced graphene oxide, polymer-encapsuled carbon fiber) electrodes. This solution had never before been implemented for this purpose.

Dehydroxylation of Perlite and Vermiculite: Impact on Improving the Knock-Out Properties of Moulding and Core Sand with an Inorganic Binder.

The article presents the results of research aimed at examining the type of swelling material introduced into moulding or core sand to improve their knock-out properties. Tests on Slovak perlite ore (three grain sizes), Hungarian perlite ore and ground vermiculite (South Africa) were carried out. For this purpose, thermal and structural analyses (FTIR-Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy), a chemical composition test (XRF-X-Ray Fluorescence), phase analysis (XRD-X-Ray Diffraction), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM-Scanning Electron Microscope) as well as final strength tests of moulding sands with the addition of perlite ore and vermiculite were carried out.