Paediatric thyroidectomy: When and why? A 25-year institutional experience.

Objective: Thyroidectomy in paediatric patients is relatively uncommon. In this study, we reviewed our experience of thyroidectomy in children and identified risk factors associated with postoperative complications.

Methods: We performed a retrospective analysis of paediatric patients who had thyroidectomy in our institution between April 1995 and January 2021.

Gut microbiota composition is associated with SARS-CoV-2 vaccine immunogenicity and adverse events.

Objective: The gut microbiota plays a key role in modulating host immune response. We conducted a prospective, observational study to examine gut microbiota composition in association with immune responses and adverse events in adults who have received the inactivated vaccine (CoronaVac; Sinovac) or the mRNA vaccine (BNT162b2; BioNTech; Comirnaty).

Design: We performed shotgun metagenomic sequencing in stool samples of 138 COVID-19 vaccinees (37 CoronaVac and 101 BNT162b2 vaccinees) collected at baseline and 1 month after second dose of vaccination.

Standard management protocol to improve the short-term outcome of biliary atresia.

Aim: This study compared the outcomes of patients with biliary atresia (BA) treated according to a standardised protocol with historical patients.

Methods: This is a single-centred retrospective study of BA patients treated from 1980 to 2016. A standardised treatment protocol was established since 2008 regarding peri-operative management.

Recent trends in the prevalence of Helicobacter Pylori in symptomatic children: A 12-year retrospective study in a tertiary centre.

Objective: Helicobacter pylori infection is common among Asians. However, evidence in the recent years has demonstrated a decrease in the prevalence of H. pylori infection among children and adults worldwide.

Ultrafast laser-scanning time-stretch imaging at visible wavelengths.

Optical time-stretch imaging enables the continuous capture of non-repetitive events in real time at a line-scan rate of tens of MHz-a distinct advantage for the ultrafast dynamics monitoring and high-throughput screening that are widely needed in biological microscopy. However, its potential is limited by the technical challenge of achieving significant pulse stretching (that is, high temporal dispersion) and low optical loss, which are the critical factors influencing imaging quality, in the visible spectrum demanded in many of these applications. We present a new pulse-stretching technique, termed free-space angular-chirp-enhanced delay (FACED), with three distinguishing features absent in the prevailing dispersive-fiber-based implementations: (1) it generates substantial, reconfigurable temporal dispersion in free space (>1 ns nm) with low intrinsic loss (<6 dB) at visible wavelengths; (2) its wavelength-invariant pulse-stretching operation introduces a new paradigm in time-stretch imaging, which can now be implemented both with and without spectral encoding; and (3) pulse stretching in FACED inherently provides an ultrafast all-optical laser-beam scanning mechanism at a line-scan rate of tens of MHz.

Pneumovesical Ureteric Reimplantation in Pediatric Patients: An Intermediate Term Result.

Introduction: Pneumovesical ureteric reimplantation has gained increasing popularity for the treatment of vesicoureteric reflux (VUR) and vesicoureteric junction obstruction (VUJO) in pediatric patients. In this study we reviewed our experience at an intermediate term basis.

Methods: A retrospective review of all patients with pneumovesical ureteric reimplantation performed in a tertiary referral center between 2005 and 2015 was carried out.

The cytotoxic effects of lipidic formulated gold porphyrin nanoparticles for the treatment of neuroblastoma.

Objective: Nanotechnology has been identified as a promising platform in the improvement of the design and development of drug delivery systems. In the present study we investigated the potential of lipidic nanoparticles consisting of gold porphyrin for the treatment of neuroblastoma.

Materials And Methods: To characterize the size of the lipidic gold porphyrin nanoparticles, we used transmission electron microscopy (TEM).