Analysis of Factors Related to the Success of Pediatric Kidney Transplantation: A 35 Years Experience.

Background: Despite the significant improvement results over the past 20 years, pediatric kidney transplantation remains a challenge. Chronic rejection, thrombosis, and recurrence of the primary disease are frequent causes of graft loss that have been little studied. Therefore, our objective is to analyze factors related to a better prognosis, which can be used to improve future strategies to allow higher pediatric transplant success rates.

Model-free adaptive filter to mitigate actuator wear.

The present article introduces an adaptive filter of statistical basis developed for closed-loop control applications, whose goal is to reduce actuator wear while ensuring a similar control performance regarding the original closed-loop system. The main idea is to avoid the rapid change of the filtered signal when the system output has a derivative not statistically significant regarding the expected measurement noise. The adaptation law of the time constant of the filter is model-free, and the only required information is the variance of the additive noise that the measurements are subjected to.

Influence of bladder fullness on the detection of urinary tract obstruction by dynamic renal scintigraphy.

Objective: To investigate the influence of bladder fullness on the diagnosis of urinary tract obstruction during dynamic renal scintigraphy with a diuretic stimulator.

Materials And Methods: We studied 82 kidneys in 82 patients submitted to dynamic renal scintigraphy with a diuretic stimulator. We compared the proportional elimination of the radiopharmaceutical Tc-DTPA from the kidneys before and after bladder emptying in post-diuretic images, classifying each image as representing an obstructed, indeterminate, or unobstructed kidney.

(99m) T c-DTPA Study to Validate an Experimental Model of Ureteral Obstruction in Rabbits: Preliminary Results.

Objective. To create a ureteral obstruction experimental model that can be proved through (99m)Tc-DTPA renal scintigraphy and histopathological studies, without causing total renal function loss. Materials and Methods.

Technetium-99m-L,L-ethylenedicysteine is more effective than technetium-99m diethylenetriamine penta-acetic acid for excluding obstruction in patients with pyelocalicinal dilation.

Objective: To evaluate the utility of diuretic dynamic renal scintigraphy (DDRS) with technetium-99m-L,L-ethylenedicysteine ((99m)Tc-EC) in patients with indeterminate or possible false-positive results for urinary obstruction by technetium-99m diethylenetriamine penta-acetic acid ((99m)Tc-DTPA) DDRS.

Methods: A total of 92 patients (63 male; mean age, 16.6 +/- 21.

Telementoring between Brazil and the United States: initial experience.

Background And Purpose: To assess the safety and feasibility of transcontinental telementored and telepresence surgery, we report on two procedures carried out with participation by surgeons in Baltimore in the United States and São Paulo and Recife in Brazil.

Patients And Methods: Over a period of 3 months, a laparoscopic bilateral varicocelectomy and a percutaneous renal access for a percutaneous nephrolithotomy were performed. The mentoring surgeon (LRK) was the same for both procedures.