Research Progress on Flexible Ureteroscopy

The ureteroscopic surgical technique has developed rapidly in recent years and has become an important method of urological surgery. The manufacturing and production of corresponding ureteroscopes are also constantly improving. This article systematically reviews and analyzes existing literature, summarizes the characteristics of various ureteroscopes in recent years, studies the advantages and disadvantages of ureteroscopes with different characteristics, summarizes relevant clinical experience in the use of ureteroscopes, and provides preliminary prospects for the future development of ureteroscopes. The results indicate that disposable electronic ureteroscopes and robotic ureteroscope systems may be an important development direction in the future.

Effects of coal-fired power plants on soil microbial diversity and community structures

Long-term deposition of atmospheric pollutants emitted from coal combustion and their effects on the eco-environment have been extensively studied around coal-fired power plants.However,the effects of coal-fired power plants on soil microbial communities have received little attention through atmospheric pollutant deposition and coal-stacking.Here,we collected the samples of power plant soils(PS),coal-stacking soils(CSS)and agricultural soils(AS)around three coal-fired power plants and background control soils(BG)in Huainan,a typical mineral resource-based city in East China,and investigated the microbial diversity and community structures through a high-throughput sequencing technique.Coal-stacking significantly increased(p<0.05)the contents of total carbon,total nitrogen,total sulfur and Mo in the soils,whereas the deposition of atmospheric pollutants enhanced the levels of V,Cu,Zn and Pb.Proteobacteria,Actinobacteria,Thaumarchaeota,Thermoplasmata,Ascomycota and Basidiomycota were the dominant taxa in all soils.The bacterial community showed significant differences(p<0.05)among PS,CSS,AS and BG,whereas archaeal and fungal communities showed significant differences(p<0.01)according to soil samples around three coal-fired power plants.The predominant environmental variables affecting soil bacterial,archaeal and fungal communities were Mo-TN-TS,Cu-V-Mo,and organic matter(OM)-Mo,respectively.Certain soil microbial genera were closely related to multiple key factors associated with stacking coal and heavy metal deposition from power plants.This study provided useful insight into better understanding of the relationships between soil microbial communities and long-term disturbances from coal-fired power plants.

On-chip terahertz orbital angular momentum demultiplexer

The terahertz regime is widely recognized as a fundamental domain with significant potential to address the demands of next-generation wireless communications.In parallel,mode division multiplexing based on orbital angular momentum(OAM)shows promise in enhancing bandwidth utilization,thereby expanding the overall communication channel capacity.In this study,we present both theoretical and experimental demonstrations of an on-chip terahertz OAM demultiplexer.This device effectively couples and steers seven incident terahertz vortex beams into distinct high-quality focusing surface plasmonic beams,and the focusing directions can be arbitrarily designated.The proposed design strategy integrates space-to-chip mode conversion,OAM recognition,and on-chip routing in a compact space with subwavelength thickness,exhibiting versatility and superior performance.

Grey-matter volume as a potential feature for the classification of Alzheimer's disease and mild cognitive impairment: an exploratory study

Specific patterns of brain atrophy may be helpful in the diagnosis of Alzheimer＇s disease （AD）. In the present study, we set out to evaluate the utility of grey-matter volume in the classification of AD and amnestic mild cognitive impairment （aMCI） compared to normal control （NC）individuals. Voxel-based morphometric analyses were performed on structural MRIs from 35 AD patients, 27 aMCI patients, and 27 NC participants. A two-sample two-tailed t-test was computed between the NC and AD groups to create a map of abnormal grey matter in AD. The brain areas with significant differences were extracted as regions of interest （ROIs）, and the grey-matter volumes in the ROIs of the aMCI patients were included to evaluate the patterns of change across different disease severities. Next, correlation analyses between the grey-matter volumes in the ROIs and all clinical variables were performed in aMCI and AD patients to determine whether they varied with disease progression. The results revealed significantly decreased grey matter in the bilateral hippocampus/ parahippocampus, the bilateral superior/middle temporal gyri, and the right precuneus in AD patients.The grey-matter volumes with clinical variables were positively correlated Finally, we performed exploratory linear discriminative analyses to assess the classifying capacity of grey-matter volumes in the bilateral hippocampus and parahippocampus among AD, aMCI, and NC. Leave-one-out cross- validation analyses demonstrated that grey-matter volumes in hippocampus and parahippocampus accurately distinguished AD from NC. These findings indicate that grey-matter volumes are useful in the classification of AD.

Magnetically tunable Airy-like beam of magnetostatic surface spin waves

In this Letter,we report an Airy-like beam of magnetostatic surface spin wave(Ai BMSSW)supported on the ferromagnetic film,which is transferred from the optical field.The propagation properties of Ai BMSSW were verified with micromagnetic simulation.From simulation results,the typical parabolic trajectory of the Airy-type beam was observed with an exciting source encoding 3/2 phase pattern.The simulation results coincide well with design parameters.Furthermore,simulated results showed that the trajectories of the Ai BMSSW could be tuned readily with varied external magnetic fields.This work can extend the application scenario of spin waves.

Sharp recanalization using Chiba biopsy needle for the treatment of biliary occlusion after radiofrequency ablation

Introduction Biliary stricture is a less common complication after hepatic radiofrequency ablation(RFA)[1,2].Patients with biliary stricture often present with recurrent jaundice,fever or chills,and require endoscopic or percutaneous biliary drainage,and in some cases recanalization of the biliary tract[3].Establishing guide-wire passage through the stricture is essential for biliary recanalization.However,in some cases of complete biliary obstruction,a more aggressive technique is needed when ordinarymethods fail to establish.Herein,we report a novel technique of extraluminal recanalization for biliary strictures using a Chiba biopsy needle,which is similar to sharp endovascular recanalization.

Self-powered lead-free quantum dot plasmonic phototransistor with multi-wavelength response

Because they possess excellent visible light absorption properties, lead-free colloidal copper-based chalcogenide quantum dots(QDs) have emerged in photoelectronic fields. By means of localized surface plasmonic resonance(LSPR), the absorption properties of QDs can be enhanced. In this paper, we fabricate a lead-free CuInSe2 QD field effect phototransistor(FEpT) by utilizing the LSPR enhancement of Au nanoparticles(NPs). The plasmonic FEpT demonstrates responsivity up to 2.7 μA· W^(-1) and a specific detectivity of 7 × 10~3 Jones at zero bias under illumination by a 532 nm laser, values that are enhanced by approximately 200% more than devices without Au NPs. Particularly, the FEpT exhibits a multi-wavelength response, which is photoresponsive to 405, 532,and 808 nm irradiations, and presents stability and reproducibility in the progress of ON–OFF cycles.Furthermore, the enhancement induced by Au NP LSPR can be interpreted by finite-difference time domain simulations. The low-cost solution-based process and excellent device performance strongly underscore leadfree CuInSe2 QDs as a promising material for self-powered photoelectronic applications, which can be further enhanced by Au NP LSPR.