Purpose The American Academy of Pediatrics no longer recommends a voiding cystourethrogram (VCUG) for children aged 2 to 24 months presenting with their first urinary tract infection (UTI) if renal-bladder ultrasound (RBUS) is normal. Our goal was to identify factors associated with abnormal imaging and recurrent pyelonephritis for this population. Materials and Methods We retrospectively evaluated children diagnosed with first episode of pyelonephritis between 2 to 24 months using de-identified electronic medical record data from an institutional database. Data included age at first UTI, gender, race/ethnicity, need for hospitalization, intravenous antibiotic use, history of abnormal prenatal ultrasound, RBUS and VCUG results, UTI recurrence and surgical intervention. Risk factors for abnormal imaging and UTI recurrence were analyzed with univariate logistic regression, chi square and survival analysis. Results We identified 174 patients. Of 154 RBUS performed, 59 (38%) were abnormal. Abnormal prenatal ultrasound (p=0.01) and need for hospitalization (p=0.02) predicted abnormal RBUS. Of the 95 patients with normal RBUS, 84 had a VCUG. Vesicoureteral reflux was more likely in Caucasians (p=0.003), females (p=0.02) and older patients (p=0.04). Despite normal RBUS, 23 of 84 (24%) patients had dilating vesicoureteral reflux. Of the 95 patients with normal RBUS, 14 (15%) had recurrent pyelonephritis and 7 (7%) went on to surgical intervention. Conclusions Despite a normal RBUS after first episode of pyelonephritis, a child may still have vesicoureteral reflux, recurrent pyelonephritis, and need for surgical intervention. If VCUG is deferred, parents should be counseled regarding these risks.

Patients undergoing sacral neuromodulation had significant improvement in NLUTD/DES scores, and psychosocial and overall total quality of life. Results were durable at 1 month. Continuing to follow these patients in a prospective manner with validated questionnaires will strengthen the current evidence supporting sacral neuromodulation in the pediatric population.

In this retrospective study our data suggest that in patients at high risk for urosepsis preoperative nephrostomy drainage with renal urine culture and culture specific antibiotic treatment may decrease the risk of postoperative infectious complications. Stone culture is also important since many patients at high risk for infection will have positive stone cultures. A prospective study is needed to confirm these retrospective data findings.

The present report shows that nicotine enhances some of alcohol's positive and negative effects in women and that these effects are most pronounced during the luteal phase of the menstrual cycle. Ten low progesterone and 10 high progesterone/luteal-phase women received nicotine patch pretreatments (placebo or 21 mg) 3 hours before an alcohol challenge (0.4 g/kg). Subjective effects were recorded on mood adjective scales and the Addiction Research Center Inventory (ARCI). Heart rate and skin temperature were recorded. Luteal-phase women reported peak positive (e.g. "stimulated") and peak negative effects (e.g. "clumsy", "dizzy") almost twice as great as low progesterone women.