Laparoscopic nephropexy exposes a possible underlying pathogenic mechanism and allows successful treatment with tissue gluing of the kidney and fixation of the colon to the lateral abdominal wall

OBJECTIVES: Surgical treatment of "Ren Mobilis" has historically been associated with poor results and fairly high morbidity. We have used a transperitoneal laparoscopic approach in order to minimize morbidity. The goal of this study was to evaluate the success rate and to discuss the possible pathogenic mechanism, which has implications for the surgical strategy. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Seven women with a right mobile kidney were examined by intravenous pyelogram and CT scans. Symptoms were judged to emanate from the mobile kidney. Transperitoneal laparoscopic nephropexy was performed. The surgical treatment consisted of fixing the kidney to the dorsal abdominal wall using tissue glue (Tisseel®) after diathermy coagulation of the surfaces to induce fibrosis. The right colon was fixed with clips to the lateral abdominal wall, trapping the kidney in place. RESULTS: In 6 of the cases, there was an incomplete rotation of the ascending colon to the right side, allowing the kidney to move freely. In one case, the kidney moved into a retroperitoneal pocket of the mesocolon. The 6 cases with a lateral passage for the kidney were symptom-free at follow-up (30-80 months), but in the 7th case the patient's kidney quickly loosened and she underwent an open reoperation, after which she was symptom-free. CONCLUSION: Our series demonstrates that good results can be achieved with a transperitoneal laparoscopic approach, but also indicates that there is a common pathogenic mechanism with incomplete rotation of the ascending colon that can be corrected during surgery, which might contribute to the good results

Avoidance of affective pain stimuli predicts chronicity in patients with acute low back pain

This prospective study of acute and sub-acute low back pain (LBP) patients was conducted to assess whether attentional biases predicted chronic pain status 3 and 6 months later. The attentional biases of 100 LBP patients were assessed within 3 months of developing pain and 6 months later. Participants also completed measures associated with outcome at 3 assessment points: baseline, 3 and 6 months later. Current pain status was assessed at follow-ups. Patients were classified as those that met standard criteria for chronic pain or those who did not (i.e., the comparison group). At baseline, participants demonstrated a bias toward sensory pain words. However, biases toward sensory pain words did not differentiate those who subsequently developed chronic pain and those who did not at either follow-up. The same bias was observed 6 months later, but again it failed to distinguish between the chronic pain and comparison groups. However, subjects who developed chronic pain at both 3 (n = 22) and 6 (n = 21) months demonstrated biases away from affective pain words at baseline but not 6 months later, in comparison to other participants. These results remained significant in multivariate analyses. These findings are consistent with patterns observed in the previous research, and suggest that avoidance of emotionally laden pain-related stimuli (i.e., affective pain words) is associated with negative outcomes for LBP patients in the acute and sub-acute phase. This research suggests that attentional biases in relation to pain-related stimuli are important for the development of chronic pain, but are more complex than initially thought.8 page(s

Using a two-step deposition technique to prepare perovskite (CH3NH3PbI3) for thin film solar cells based on ZrO2 and TiO2 mesostructures

A two-step deposition technique is used for preparing CH3NH3PbI3 perovskite solar cells. Using ZrO2 and TiO2 as a mesoporous layer, we obtain an efficiency of 10.8% and 9.5%, respectively, under 1000 W m(-2) illumination. The ZrO2 based solar cell shows higher photovoltage and longer electron lifetime than the TiO2 based solar cell