Although the one-stage tract dilation technique reduced radiation exposure and access time, in the short term, it may cause more parenchymal damage than the gradual dilation technique.

Urinary tract infection is common in children. The available gold standard methods for diagnosis, Tc-99m dimercaptosuccinic acid (DMSA) scan and computed tomography (CT) are invasive and expensive. This study was performed to assess the role of power Doppler ultrasound (PDU) for diagnosis of acute pyelonephritis (APN) compared with Tc-99m DMSA scan. A prospective study was conducted in 34 children with the mean age of 2.8+/-2.7 years who were hospitalized with the first episode of febrile urinary tract infection. All children were examined in the first 3 days of admission by PDU and Tc-99m DMSA scan. Patients with congenital structural anomaly were excluded. Each kidney was divided into three zones. The comparison between PDU and DMSA scan was performed on the basis of patients and renal units. According to the patient's number, sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values, and accuracy of PDU were 89%, 53%, 70%, 80%, and 74%, respectively, but based on the renal units, changed to 66%, 81%, 46%, 91%, and 79%, respectively. Although PDU has the potential for identifying APN in children, it is still soon to replace DMSA scan.

In this paper, we present the results of non-invasive blood glycaemia measurements. The blood used in the measurements was calf blood. The measurement method uses an electromagnetic sensor based on eddy currents, which allows the detection of blood glycaemia levels through the variation of the dielectric parameters of the blood. A change in blood glucose concentration causes a variation in the dielectric parameters, in particular conductivity. Detection is only possible at a resonant frequency. The measurements were taken in a static and dynamic state (with and without circulation of blood). The blood is inside a plastic tube placed within the sensor and is surrounded by gelatine, which simulates muscular tissue. The plastic tube simulates the vein where blood circulation occurs. The in vitro results in both cases (static and dynamic) are provided. Under unfavourable conditions we can detect a change of +/- 2 g/l of glucose. We present and discuss these results.

The goal of this study was to evaluate the protective and mitigative effect of vitamin C on oxidative stress in differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC) patients ablated with radioiodine. 58 DTC patients selected for radioactive iodine therapy (RAIT) with 5550 MBq Iodine were divided into four groups. Group 1 (control group) consisted of patients who underwent RAIT routinely. Other patients received 1500 mg vitamin C daily 2 days after (group 2), 2 days before to 2 days after (group 3) and 2 days before RAIT (group 4). Serum oxidative stress markers including malondialdehyde (MDA), glutathione (GSH), catalase (CAT), and superoxide dismutase (SOD) were measured immediately before and 2 days after RAIT. A significant increase in MDA after RAIT was observed in all groups (p< 0.05). The concentrations of MDA were significantly higher in the control group compared to the intervention groups (p < 0.05). A significant decrease in the control group (p < 0.05) and increase in group 4 (p < 0.05) were observed in GSH level after RAIT (p < 0.05). Mean variation of GSH was significant between control group with groups 3 (p < 0.01) and 4 (p < 0.01). The results indicate that activity of SOD remained unchanged in all groups (p > 0.05). A significant increase was observed in CAT activity after RAIT in all groups (p < 0.05), which was higher in control group than intervention groups. In groups 3 (p < 0.05) and 4 (p < 0.05), this increase in CAT activity was significantly lower than the control group. RAIT causes serum oxidative stress, which can be ameliorated using vitamin C as an antioxidant. These results indicate that radioprotective effect of vitamin C is preferable to its mitigative effect.