Hedonic perception of odors in children aged 5-8 years is similar across 18 countries: Preliminary data.

OBJECTIVE: Olfactory preference emerges very early in life, and the sense of smell in children rapidly develops until the second decade of life. It is still unclear whether hedonic perception of odors is shared in children inhabiting different regions of the globe. METHODS: Five-hundred ten healthy children (N = 510; ngirls = 256; nboys = 254) aged from 5 to 8 years from 18 countries rated the pleasantness of 17 odors. RESULTS: The hedonic perception of odors in children aged between 5 and 8 years was rather consistent across 18 countries and mainly driven by the qualities of an odor and the overall ability of children to label odorants. CONCLUSION: Conclusions from this study, being a secondary analysis, are limited to the presented set of odors that were initially selected for the development of U-Sniff test and present null findings for the cross-cultural variability in hedonic perception of odors across 18 countries. These two major issues should be addressed in the future to either contradict or replicate the results presented herewith. This research lays fundament for posing further research questions about the developmental aspects of hedonic perception of odors and opens a new door for investigating cross-cultural differences in chemosensory perception of children.

[Changes of periprosthetic bone mineral density in cementless bicontact stem implantation; influence of different parameters--a prospective 4-year follow-up]. / Verlauf der periprothetischen Mineralisationsdichte nach Implantation des zementfreien Bicontact-Schaftes; Einfluss verschiedener Parameter--ein prospektives Follow-up über 4 Jahre.

AIM: This prospective study describes the periprosthetic BMD (bone mineral density) after implantation of the cementless Bicontact stem over a period of 4 years. Additionally, the influence of several relevant parameters like age, sex, BMI (body mass index) and the influence of the stem-size on the periprosthetic BMD course were investigated. METHOD: Measurement of the periprosthetic BMD in 36 patients (15 female, 21 male) in a prospective longitudinal study over 4 years with DEXA (dual energy X Ray absorptiometry) of the proximal Gruen zones 1 and 7. RESULTS: We found a good precision of the method in vivo with a CV (coefficient of variation) of 1.04 %. There was a decline of the periprosthetic BMD at the whole proximal stem (ROI 0) of 20 % in the first 6 months. Afterwards there was a significant increase at the lateral stem (ROI 1) of 3.46 %, in contrast no significant change could be found medially, maybe as a result of a more lateral induction of power. The investigated parameters BMI, age and sex had no influence on the relative course of mineralisation. At stem sizes bigger than 15 the decline of BMD was significantly larger than at the stem sizes smaller than 15. CONCLUSION: DEXA is a sufficiently precise method to investigate periprosthetic BMD. The postoperative periprosthetic course of mineralisation and the extent of BMD loss in the first 6 months after the Bicontact stem is similar to other periprosthetic BMD courses of prosthesis with a similar design. The course of mineralisation in "smaller" stems is obviously more auspicious than the course of "bigger" stems.

Bladder tumor recurrence after primary surgery for transitional cell carcinoma of the upper urinary tract.

OBJECTIVE: Primary transitional cell carcinoma (TCC) of the upper urinary tract represents 6-8% of all TCC cases. Nephroureterectomy with removal of a bladder cuff is the treatment of choice. The rates of TCC recurrence in the bladder after primary upper urinary tract surgery described in the literature range between 12.5 and 37.5%. In a retrospective analysis we examined the occurrence of TCC after nephroureterectomy for upper tract TCC in patients without a previous history of bladder TCC at the time of surgery. METHODS: Between 1990 and 2002, 29 patients underwent primary nephroureterectomy for upper tract TCC. The mean age of the patients was 69.5 years. In 5 cases upper urinary tract tumors were multilocular, in the remaining cases unilocular in the renal pelvis (n=12) or the ureter (n=12). The follow-up was available for 29 patients with a mean follow-up of 3.37 (0.1-11.2) years. RESULTS: 11/29 (37.9%) patients had TCC recurrence with 9/11 patients having bladder TCC diagnosed within 2.5 years (0.9-6.0) after nephroureterectomy. 13/29 patients are alive without TCC recurrence, 3/29 patients died due to systemic TCC progression and 5/29 died of unrelated causes without evidence of TCC recurrence. CONCLUSION: Our data indicate a high incidence of bladder TCC after nephroureterectomy for primary upper tract TCC of up to 6 years after primary surgery. Because of the high incidence of bladder TCC within the first 3 years of surgery, careful follow-up is needed over at least this period.

Manifestation, latency and management of late urological complications after curative radiotherapy for cervical carcinoma.

BACKGROUND: Radiotherapy alone or in combination with radical hysterectomy remains a potentially curative treatment for cervical carcinoma. Late urological complications after curative radiotreatment are rare but often present difficult problems of management due to the progressive nature of radiogenic tissue damage. We reviewed all cases of radiogenic urologic complications after radiotherapy for cervical carcinoma treated at our institution over the past 10 years. PATIENTS AND METHODS: In a retrospective analysis, out of all female patients treated for hydronephrosis (n = 543), 93 patients with hydronephrosis occurring after curative treatment for gynecological malignancies were identified. The most frequent cause was progressive disease (n = 55); 30 patients without recurrence had severe radiogenic urological complications (study population). RESULTS: Out of 30 patients with a mean age of 44.9 years at the time of treatment for cervical cancer, 6 had undergone primary radiotherapy and 24 had received adjuvant radiotreatment after radical hysterectomy. The observed late urological complications were: distal ureteral stenoses (bilateral in 4 cases, unilateral in 15 cases), distal ureteral necrosis (n = 1), bilateral ureteral reflux (n = 3), vesico-vaginal fistulae (n = 5), vesico-intestinal fistula (n = 1), severe fibrotic bladder shrinkage (n = 6) and urethral stenosis (n = 2). Marked signs of radiogenic cystitis were observed in almost all patients. The mean latency time between radiotherapy and manifestation of severe radiogenic urological sequelae was 19.4 years (range 0.5-41.5). Primary treatment of urological complications consisted in temporary urinary diversion by percutaneous nephrostomies or insertion of internal ureteral stents. Permanent treatment for radiogenic ureteral stenosis in all patients with sufficient general health consisted of surgical or endourological urinary diversion or reconstruction. However, the majority of patients were managed by permanent endourological measures. Lower tract fistulae were treated by distal ureteral occlusion and diversion. CONCLUSIONS: Although severe late urological sequelae of curative radiotherapy for cervical carcinoma are rare they represent major complications, result in considerable distress for the patient, and often present difficult therapeutic problems for the urologist. As these urological complications can have extremely long latency times, focussed follow-up for early detection may be advisable.

Primary renal non-Hodgkin's lymphoma - a difficult differential diagnosis.

INTRODUCTION: Primary renal lymphoma (PRL) as a clinical entity is not undisputed because the kidneys do not contain lymphatic tissue and the mechanism of development of PRLs is unclear. Most of the few cases reported showed rapid systemic progression and a poor prognosis. Although there are no clearly defined diagnostic criteria for renal lymphomas, abdominal and thoracic computed tomography as well as renal and bone marrow biopsy are recommended. 3 cases of renal lymphoma are reported and their diagnosis and management discussed. CASE REPORTS: Between 1996 and 2001, 3 male patients with renal lymphoma were diagnosed and treated at our institution. In patient No. 1, because of persisting macroscopic hematuria a bilateral PRL was diagnosed by renal biopsy, without any detectable lesions on CT imaging. Patient No. 2 presented with a large renal mass which, on biopsy, was diagnosed as a lymphoma. Patient No. 3 showed lymphoma on renal biopsy and bone marrow involvement. All 3 patients were treated with systemic chemotherapy which resulted in death of disease in 2 patients and a complete remission in 1 patient after adjuvant radiotherapy and nephrectomy. CONCLUSION: PRL represents a rare entity which must nevertheless be considered in cases of unusual renal masses or otherwise unexplained renal symptoms. If diagnosed early, cure is possible, and multimodal treatment should be considered.