At our clinic we followed 320 renal transplant recipients, 16 of whom developed malignancies within 15 yr. Ten of the 16 malignancies were transitional cell carcinoma (TCC) of the urinary tract. The modalities of treatment included standard nephroureterectomy with bladder cuff removal for upper tract tumor, transurethral resection for superficial bladder tumor and partial cystectomy for one case of invasive bladder tumor, as requested by the patient. Post-operative intravesical chemotherapy with epirubicin, or immunotherapy with bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) were carried out for superficial bladder tumor. Cyclosporine (CsA) used as post-transplant immunosuppressant was switched to low dose azathioprine (Aza) at the initial diagnosis of TCC. Four patients experienced tumor recurrence despite conversion of immunosuppressant from CsA to Aza. Among these 10 patients, five maintained normal renal function, three returned to hemodialysis without tumor recurrence, and two patients died of cancer.

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High-performance electronic systems require efficient heat dissipation devices. Vapor chambers (VCs) are practical thermal solutions for lightweight portable electronics that have limited heat dissipation space. A functional VC requires an interior wick to sustain the capillary circulation of the condensed fluid back to the heated region. The capillary wick performance can be indexed by the ratio of liquid permeability to the effective pore size of the wick structure. This study describes the capillary behavior of a thin hierarchical dendritic copper film (<100 μm thick) prepared by electrodeposition and thermal sintering. The effects of the electrodeposition current density, deposition time, and sintering temperature on the capillary performance of the dendritic copper films were investigated. The relationship between the wicking capability and dendritic morphology, tailored by the electrodeposition process, was explored. A post-deposition sintering treatment was found to be beneficial for improving the structural integrity, adhesion, and capillary performance of dendritic copper wicks. A very high capillary performance (0.81 μm) was realized on a 30-μm-thick dendritic copper wick that matches the need for ultrathin VCs used in highly compact electronic systems.

Purpose: Obesity has been proven to affect the outcomes in open radical prostatectomy. However, the relationship between obesity and the outcomes of robot-assisted radical prostatectomy (RARP) was not conclusive. Herein, we aimed to investigate the impact of obesity on the clinical outcomes after RARP. Materials and Methods: From April 2016 to June 2020, 164 patients underwent RARP by a single experienced surgeon at our institute. Patients with previous transurethral resection of prostate (n = 30), hernioplasty (n = 13), and transperitoneal RARP (n = 26) were excluded. Finally, 105 patients were enrolled and divided into different groups according to their body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference (WC) using the definition of Taiwan National Health Institute. BMI was categorized into three groups (normal: BMI <24, overweight: BMI between 24 and 27, and obese: BMI ≥27 [kg/m2]). WC was categorized into two groups (normal: WC <90 and central obesity: WC ≥90 [cm]). Perioperative outcomes and functional outcomes including preoperative, postoperative erectile function, and postoperative continence status were evaluated. Results: Among BMI groups, 29 patients were normal, 43 patients were overweight, and 33 patients were obese. Console time and sum time showed a significant difference in different BMI groups (P = 0.034 and 0.016, respectively). Of the 101 patients with available magnetic resonance imaging, 74 patients' WC were normal, and 27 patients were central obese. Blood loss in central obesity group was significant more than normal WC group (300 ml vs. 200 ml, P = 0.04). No significant differences were observed in pathological and functional outcomes in both groups. Conclusion: Obesity and central obesity seemed to result in longer operation time and more blood loss in extraperitoneal RARP while functional outcomes can be maintained regardless of the obesity degree. Large-scale studies are necessary to further explore the relationship between obesity and the outcomes of RARP in future.