Effective Screening Research Articles

Effect of Fe doping on the electronic properties of CoSn Kagome semimetal.

Quantum phenomena in two-dimensional Kagome materials lead to exotic topological states and complex magnetism. Here, we have investigated the detailed electronic properties of Co$_{1-x}$Fe$_x$Sn with Fe doping to explore the competing electronic interactions for the origin of complex magnetism and topological properties. We find that the screening effect in the valence electrons increases while the correlation effect decreases with an increase in the doping concentration ($x$). Valence fluctuations observed at Co and Fe L$_{2,3}$ edges showed systematic changes in the magnitude of divalent and trivalent states with the increase in $x$. Fe $3d$ states are more screened by the conduction electrons than the Co $3d$ states. A comparison of the theoretical and experimental density of states showed different natures of localized states with dominating screening effects on the surface and dominating correlation effects in the bulk for $x$~$>$~0. We have observed localized flat bands on the CoSn (001) surface while quasi-localized flat bands on the Co$_{0.94}$Fe$_{0.06}$Sn (001) surface. The distinct character of the bulk and surface band structure is confirmed in the Fe-doped composition. Hence, the bulk-surface interaction present in Co$_{1-x}$Fe$_x$Sn gives rise to the origin of valence fluctuation, complex magnetism, and topological properties.

Minimizing infectious complications following transrectal prostate biopsy: a proposal for a risk-adapted antibiotic treatment strategy with Ceftriaxone and Ertapenem as key components.

To investigate the effect of pre-biopsy rectal swab and urine screening combined with a risk-adapted antibiotic treatment strategy on reducing post-biopsy infections (PBIs) following multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging (mpMRI)/ transrectal ultrasound (TRUS) fusion-targeted transrectal prostate biopsy (TRPBx). 1119 Patients undergoing mpMRI-TRUS fusion TRPBx between June 2017 and February 2024 were included. Patients were screened for rectal extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL)/multi-resistant gram-negative (MRGN) and urinary pathogens. Standard-risk patients (rectal non-ESBL/MRGN-carriers) either received Cefuroxime (2017-2020) or Ceftriaxone (2020-2024) intravenously before biopsy. For high-risk patients (rectal ESBL/MRGN-carriers) intravenous Ertapenem was used. Patients with positive urine cultures received oral targeted prophylaxis. PBIs were the primary outcome of the study. We used uni- and multivariable logistic regression analysis (MLRA) to reveal predictors for the main outcome. Rectal ESBL/MRGN prevalence was 5.5%. For standard-risk patients, PBI-rates were 8.1% and 0.24% for Cefuroxime and Ceftriaxone (p < 0.0001), respectively. Only 1.7% of high-risk patients treated with Ertapenem developed PBI. On MLRA, Cefuroxime (OR 38.7, 95%-CI: 10.9-246), oral Ciprofloxacin (OR 103, 95%-CI: 10.8-994), other oral targeted antibiotics (OR 42.7, 95%-CI: 1.86-496) (reference Ceftriaxone, all p < 0.005) were significant predictors for PBI whereas Ertapenem (OR 7.30 95%-CI: 0.34-77.4, p = 0.11) was not. By integrating rectal swab ESBL/MRGN and urine screening, we developed a tailored antibiotic treatment strategy, resulting in low PBI-rates following TRPBx. Carbapenem-based treatment of high-risk patients is crucial. Ceftriaxone should be considered for routine use in standard-risk patients as it offers very low PBI-rates.

The Undetermined Significance of Screening for Monoclonal Gammopathy of Undetermined Significance

AbstractThe identification of premalignant lesions in solid tumors such as colorectal and cervical cancer has led to the development of highly effective population-wide screening programs for these malignancies. Although precursor clinical states are not well-established for most hematologic malignancies, multiple myeloma is a notable exception. Virtually all patients with multiple myeloma first develop monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS), an asymptomatic but easily detectable condition. However, broad screening for MGUS has not been adopted primarily because there is no proven intervention to delay or prevent the progression of MGUS to multiple myeloma. Furthermore, the incidence of MGUS is poorly understood; a better understanding of its epidemiology will be critical in designing appropriate screening guidelines once an effective treatment has been developed. In the current issue of Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers &amp; Prevention, Ji and colleagues provide important epidemiologic insights on MGUS, including a critical discussion on how its incidence and preclinical duration vary by age and race, acknowledging that both MGUS and multiple myeloma are more common in Black than White populations.See related article by Ji et al., p. 1690

Development of rapid, efficient and cost effective screening technique for testing arecanut against Phytophthora meadii incitant of fruit rot disease

To accelerate identification of disease resistant arecanut germplasm or hybrids against Phytophthora, it is very much imperative to develop bioassays which could differentiate resistant and susceptible cultivars efficiently. Here, developed a cost effective and rapid technique called “Detached Leaf Assay” to identify resistant germplasm at the seedling stage itself. Standardized zoospore production in highly virulent Phytophthora meadii (P19) by incubating under 12 hours light and dark regime. Zoospore suspension adjusted to 105spores ml-1 in petri plates. Subsequently, surface sterilized arecanut leaves were floated in zoospore suspension and incubated at temperature of 24±1°C. Disease symptoms, including water-soaked lesions, were recorded three days after inoculation. Infection lesion increased from 1 to 7.3 cm2. The pathogen was re-isolated and confirmed with the original culture. The assay was successfully validated to screen arecanut accessions, wild types and hybrids against P. meadii. This technique is the first to be developed, and it is simple, cost-effective, and faster. It also provides consistent infection and could be effectively utilized to screen arecanut germplasm or hybrids against P. meadii in the seedling stage itself.• Developed a cost effective, efficient and rapid screening technique• The technique was validated to identify resistant genotypes against Phytophthora meadii at the seedling stage.

Measuring the Effect of Newborn Screening on Survival After Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation for Severe Combined Immunodeficiency: A 36-Year Longitudinal Study From the Primary Immune Deficiency Treatment Consortium.

Measuring the Effect of Newborn Screening on Survival After Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation for Severe Combined Immunodeficiency: A 36-Year Longitudinal Study From the Primary Immune Deficiency Treatment Consortium.

Improved Effectiveness of Combined Screening for Multiple Cancers: A Government-Organized Population-Based Study in China.

The purpose of this study was to analyze the effectiveness of the Cancer Screening Program in Urban China (CanSPUC) in Hebei Province, 2016-2023. A questionnaire for risk factors of lung, breast, upper gastrointestinal, liver, and colorectal cancers was administered to urban residents aged 40-74 years in five cities to assess their cancer risk. High-risk participants were invited for screening and classified into five groups on the basis of the number of cancer types that were assessed to be high risk. The participation and positive outcome rates were analyzed. The incidence and the mortality of five types of cancer and all-cause mortality of the screened and nonscreened participants were calculated via inverse probability weighting. A total of 237,975 eligible participants were enrolled in our study and 118,339 participants (49.94%) were assessed to be at high risk for one or more of the five cancer types. The number of screenings performed was 103,824, with a screening participation rate of 40.49%. Among the 57,315 screening participants, 9077 (15.84%) had positive cancer diagnoses and 871 (1.52%) were diagnosed with suspected cancer. Compared with the participants at high risk for a single cancer type, the participation and positive outcome rate increased by 45% and 71.5% in the participants at high risk for multiple cancer types. Compared with the non-screened participants, the screened participants had a 27.0% decrease in mortality due to the five types of cancer and a 45.8% decrease in all-cause mortality. A combined screening program for multiple cancers could increase participation and positive outcome rates. It could also decrease the five types of cancer mortality and all-cause mortality. Our findings highlight the effectiveness of combined screening for multiple cancers with limited health care resources, and may provide foundational evidence for the feasibility of conducting combined screening programs.

Computational screening and investigation of ligand effect on TM single atom catalyst for hydrogen evolution reaction

Here, we studied the stability, electronic characteristics, and HER catalytic performance of a transition metal single atom catalysts, both with and without the presence of chlorine ligand. The findings indicate that all catalysts, except for Au, Au-Cl, Ag, Ag-Cl, are thermodynamically stable. We found 3d transition metals are more stable than those in the 4d and 5d series. Ag-Cl, Sc, Ag, Fe-Cl, and Cr-Cl have the poorest electrochemical stability. We found a negative Pearson correlation between Fermi energy and formation energy for TM-Cl, which is opposite to the trend observed for bare TM catalysts. The higher HER activity of chlorine bonded system for the early 3d TM suggests that the downshifting of the d-band center facilitates the activity. We also observed a periodic trend in the d-band center for both TM and TM-Cl systems. Mn-Cl, Cr-Cl, Ti-Cl, Fe-Cl, V-Cl and Zn emerged as the superior catalysts in our study series.

Design of a tunable microlens based on hybrid single-wall carbon nanotube and liquid crystal

: Tunable liquid crystal (LC) lenses have garnered significant interest in recent years for their lightweight, cost-effectiveness, and versatility in applications like augmented reality, ophthalmic devices, and astronomy. Despite numerous proposed structures to enhance LC lens performance, achieving a minimal focal length while preserving image quality and balancing cost and complexity remains a daunting challenge. Adaptive microlenses encounter these obstacles due to physical constraints and diffraction effects. One promising solution lies in using adaptive LC-carbon nanotubes (CNTs) lenses. By adjusting external stimuli like electric or magnetic fields, it is possible to modify the refractive index distribution of the LC medium, thus changing the focal length of the microlens. When paired with CNTs, the LC molecules' orientation and control of focal length can be even more precise. Our research findings suggest that to achieve the shortest focal length in a microlens with a thickness of 22.5 μm, it is recommended that the diameter of the CNT should not exceed 10 nm, and the height of CNT should fall within the range of 10 to 20 μm considering the presence of screening effect. Conversely, for a microlens with low full width at half maximum (FWHM), narrower light spot, it is advisable to use CNT with a diameter larger than 100 nm and a height greater than 13 μm. Additionally, for a microlens with an efficient Fresnel number in the range of 1 to 10, the microlens should have CNT with widths from 100 to 200 nm. Therefore, based on the importance of each factor (focal length, FWHM, and Fresnel number), the dimensions of the carbon nanotube can be selected to suit the desired application.

High thermal energy storage of the two-dimensional Al2Te3 semiconductor: DFT study of stability, electronic, phonon, thermal, and optical properties based on GGA and HSE06

The present study investigates the structural, electronic, thermal, and optical properties of a novel two-dimensional Al2Te3 using GGA and HSE06 functional in the framework of density functional theory. The formation energy, the phonon dispersion, and AIMD calculations confirm the structural, dynamical, and thermal stability of Al2Te3, respectively. The electronic band structure and partial density of states indicate the semiconducting characteristics of 2D Al2Te3 with band gap values of 1.92 eV (GGA) and 2.78 eV (HSE06). The thermal properties of Al2Te3 reveal a high heat capacity due to a very high phonon density of states. This property signifies the material's growing ability to store thermal energy. Thus the entropy demonstrates a continuous increase with temperature, adhering to the second law of thermodynamics. The analysis of optical properties of Al2Te3 demonstrates strong light interaction in the ultraviolet, UV, region, and the optical band gap is found to be larger than the electronic band gap for both GGA and HSE06 functional due to indirect behavior of the band gap. Furthermore, the static dielectric function, refractive index, and optical conductivity are found to be smaller in the case of HSE06 compared to the GGA which may be due to reduced transition probability, and less screening effects including in the HSE06 functional. These findings offer valuable insights into the potential applications of Al2Te3 in various fields, including thermal energy storage and optoelectronics.

Molecular Dynamics Analysis of Li+/Mg2+ Transport Mechanism in COF Membranes with Flexible Oxygen-Containing Side Chains

Lithium is currently used in a wide range of portable electronic devices. With the rapid growth of the electric vehicle sector, lithium has become an essential resource. In this work, the influence of different lengths and types of oxygen-containing side chain in COF membranes on the Li+/Mg2+ separation performance were explored via molecular dynamic simulations. The transport mechanism was elucidated through analysis of the interaction mechanism, density distribution map, potential of mean force (PMF), and dehydration number of ions during their passage through the membranes. Simulation results indicate that COF-4EO membrane shows high separation performance for Li+/Mg2+ mixture, the flexible side chain of EO provides a jumping site for Li+ ions, and the transport energy barrier in the membrane for Li+ ions is low, which enhances the screening effect into the pore. Moreover, Mg2+ ions are more difficult to dehydrate water from their hydration layer and then enter into the membrane. This work would give some insight for designing of COF membranes with well ion separation performance.

Pooling sputum samples for the Xpert MTB/RIF Ultra assay: a sensitive and effective screening strategy

The sensitivity of Xpert MTB/RIF (Xpert) pooled testing is limited for diagnosing patients with paucibacillary tuberculosis (TB). We assessed whether pooled testing with Xpert MTB/RIF Ultra (Ultra) can be a sensitive and effective approach for mass TB screening. Conserved, frozen sputum samples, previously confirmed as positive or negative for Mycobacterium tuberculosis by individual Xpert assays, were mixed in pools of 4, 8, and 16 and then tested using Ultra. Each pool contained a single positive sample with varying mycobacterial loads. We then simulated TB screening at prevalence ranges of 0.2-1.0% and calculated the cartridges required per case detected at different pool sizes. The overall sensitivity of Ultra pooled testing was high (88.9%, 75.9-96.3). Sensitivity was greater in pools in which the positive sample had a high mycobacterial load compared to those with scant bacilli. As prevalence increased, the optimal pool size and benefits of pooled testing declined, but a pool size of 8 resulted in at least 80% cartridge savings with the highest simulated prevalence. Sputum pooling using Ultra could be a sensitive and effective strategy for TB screening. However, broad TB screening in communities with limited resources will require new, lower-cost, high-throughput screening tools, perhaps based on non-sputum specimens.

An X-ray image-based Pruned Dense Convolution Neural Network for Tuberculosis Detection

According to the Ministry of Health in Kenya, tuberculosis (TB) is the fifth greatest cause of death and the main infectious disease killer in Kenya and across the world. In Kenya and throughout Africa, TB continues to wreak havoc on many vulnerable populations, homes, and communities despite being preventable and treatable. Common TB diagnostics, like blood and skin tests, frequently fail to identify the precise kind of TB. As a result, the World Health Organization (WHO) advises expanding the use of X-rays, for screening. In TB-prevalent regions of Kenya, a shortage of radiologists hampers effective screening and diagnosis, highlighting the need for scalable solutions for accurate X-ray analysis.Recent advancements in deep learning techniques have shown promise in the healthcare sector, particularly in radiology. However, many deep convolutional neural network (CNN) architectures are computationally intensive due to their size and resource requirements. This study designed and developed a Pruned CNN to address this issue by applying pruning techniques to baseline architectures. This approach significantly reduced model sizes while maintaining accuracy levels. Specifically, the pruned version of the DenseNet model achieved an impressive 99% accuracy with a reduction rate of 65.8%. These results highlight the potential of this pruned CNN as an effective and efficient tool for TB detection, particularly in resource-constrained environments. This study addresses the shortage of radiological expertise in many regions by providing a tool that can assist in the interpretation of X-ray images. This capability can help healthcare providers deliver timely and accurate diagnoses, thereby improving patient care.

Development of an automated processing platform based on luciferase fused TPP17 to detect specific Treponema pallidum antibody in clinical serum with high sensitivity and rapidity

Syphilis (T. pallidum) is a systemic and sexually transmitted disease. Over 80 % of syphilis infections are asymptomatic, and some patients tend to conceal high-risk sex histories. Therefore, fast and effective screening of syphilis is crucial to control its spread. In this study, a methodology, combining a luciferase immuno-magnetic separation system (LIMS) with an automated magnetic-processing machine, has been designed to detect syphilis-specific antibodies against TPP17 of T. pallidum. Protein A/G-immobilized magnetic particles captured the antibodies in serum and then were specifically labeled with a chimeric protein of TPP17 with a luciferase hGluc. The magnetic separation was automatically executed. It takes only 25 min from samples to results for 32 samples once. Further, for clinical samples, antibody-negative serum samples from pregnant women were unexpectedly found to have higher bioluminescence than regular sera. Innovatively, two cutoff values were determined. ROC (receiver operating characteristic) analyses showed both the sensitivity and the specificity of 100 % for the regular sera, and the sensitivity and the specificity of 96.5 % and 100 % for the sera during pregnancy. The methodology was 32 times more sensitive than ELISA. The automated platform can potentially be commercialized and would be of great significance in controlling the spread of syphilis.

Revealing key proteins in comparison of tumor and para-tumor tissues in stage I esophageal squamous cell carcinoma: A combined gene expression clustering and protein interaction network analysis

Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma (ESCC) which is diagnosed in advanced stages and metastasis to the vital organs, remained the sixth fatal malignancy among other types of cancer-related death. Considering the lack of specific clinical symptoms in the early development of the disease, finding suitable biomarkers and tissue-specific alterations for effective screening of ESCC is targeted in this project. Gene expression profiles of tumor tissue and para-tumors of stage I ESCC patients were retrieved from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database. The significant tissue-specific differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified and studied based on fold change distribution and the functional role of genes in the action map. A total number of 11,483 significant DEGs discriminated the tumor tissue from para-tumor tissue. Clustering analysis of significant DEGs led to identifying 220 DEGs as the final significant genes. Protein interaction network and action map analysis of the final gene list showed matrix metallopeptidase-9 (MMP9) as the critical gene related to the development of ESCC diseases in stage I. Significant expression change of MMP9 in esophageal carcinoma was validated in UALCAN (The University of Alabama at Birmingham Cancer Data Analysis Portal). This study highlighted the pivotal role of MMP9 in combination with SPP1, MMP13, and IL18 as a possible biomarkers panel in studies of tumor invasion and prognosis for stage I ESCC disease.

HFF-Net: A hybrid convolutional neural network for diabetic retinopathy screening and grading

Diabetic Retinopathy (DR) is a leading cause of vision loss among diabetic patients, necessitating effective screening and grading for timely intervention. Regular screening significantly increases the workload of ophthalmologists, and accurate grading into stages—mild, moderate, severe, and proliferative—is crucial for monitoring disease progression. While Computer-Aided Diagnosis (CAD) systems can alleviate this burden, existing Convolutional Neural Network (CNN)-based frameworks use fixed-size kernels in a linear feed-forward manner. This approach can lead to information loss in the initial stages due to limited feature utilization across adjacent layers. To address this limitation, we propose a Hierarchical Features Fusion Convolutional Neural Network (HFF-Net) within a Diabetic Retinopathy Screening and Grading (DRSG) framework. The framework includes preprocessing to extract regions of interest from fundus images (FIs), enhancement using Contrast Limited Adaptive Histogram Equalization (CLAHE), and data augmentation for class balancing and overfitting mitigation. HFF-Net extracts multiscale features that fused at multiple levels within the network, utilizing the swish activation function for improved learning stability. We evaluated HFF-Net against several state-of-the-art CNN classifiers within the DRSG framework. Experimental results demonstrate that HFF-Net achieves a grading accuracy of 73.77 ​%, surpassing the second-best model by 3.51 percentage points (a relative improvement of approximately 5 ​%), and attains a screening accuracy of 98.70 ​% using only 1.18 million parameters. These findings highlight HFF-Net's potential as an efficient and effective tool in CAD systems for DR screening and grading.©2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Translation, psychometric testing and implementation of the perineal assessment tool for assessing incontinence-associated dermatitis risk in semi-intensive care patients

Skin injury is a growing issue among older adults, especially when admitted to an intensive care unit or long-term care facility. Skin prevention is a key point in dealing with this issue, and prompt and effective screening instruments should be used to identify risks and start preventive interventions and care. This descriptive study aimed to translate and examine the psychometric property and implement the Perineal Assessment Tool for incontinence associated dermatitis risk assessment. The English version was translated into Thai following the international guidelines from the World Health Organization by the bilinguals. From May to June 2023, 119 patients from the semi-intensive care unit were included using a consecutive sampling method. The research instruments included the demographic questionnaires, the original English version, and the translated Thai version. The Thai Version had a content validity index, an index of item-objective congruence, a Pearson correlation coefficient of percent agreement, the Pearson correlation coefficient of the interrater reliability, the Kappa coefficient of interrater reliability, the Pearson correlation coefficient of the intra-rater reliability, and the Kappa coefficient of intra-rater reliability ranked from 0.75 to 1.00. The 21.95% had a high risk of developing incontinence-associated dermatitis, which was associated with females, the length of stay in hospital and semi-intensive care unit longer than or equal to four days, receiving antibiotics, disease severity greater than or equal to 20 points, the albumin level less than 3.8 g/dl, and neuropathy and brain disorders. In conclusion, this instrument has high validity and reliability and can assess patients at risk of incontinence-associated dermatitis. This tool will help with early risk detection and guide for planning to manage various risk conditions to prevent dermatitis instead of taking care of them after the skin has already been damaged.

School-based hearing screening of first-grade students in Saudi Arabia: A pilot study.

Hearing loss in children is a global concern. Early identification and intervention are critical for minimising the adverse effects of hearing loss. Despite the implementation of hearing screening programmes in Saudi Arabia, more research is needed on the audiological profiles of first-grade students. This study aimed to characterize the audiological profile of first-grade students in Saudi Arabia and to raise awareness among parents, schools, and decision-makers about the need for hearing screening programs and the implementation of an effective monitoring and management system in the country. This cross-sectional descriptive study assessed the audiological profile of 308 first-grade students in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, using pure-tone audiometry (PTA) and tympanometry. Additionally, two questionnaire-based assessments, one for parents and one for the home teacher, were developed to predict students who failed PTA. Among the students screened, 26.3% failed PTA. Tympanometry identified abnormal middle ear function in 30.5% of the students. The discrimination capacity of both questionnaires in identifying students who failed PTA screening was poor. A 26.3% prevalence rate of PTA screening failure, and a 30.5% of middle ear pathologies were noted. Both parent and teacher questionnaires were ineffective tools for identifying hearing loss among first-grade children who failed PTA screening.Contribution:This pilot study recommends that primary schools incorporate hearing screening as a regular practice of their preventative healthcare system. The study emphasises the importance of establishing international standards for school-based hearing screening to enhance its efficacy and develop more effective hearing screening questionnaires.

CO2 adsorption on fluorinated covalent triazine frameworks (CTFs): Structure remodeling and performance enhancement

In consideration of the fact that covalent triazine frameworks (CTFs) have shown great potential and application prospects as CO2 adsorbent to alleviate the greenhouse effect and climate change by adsorption process for carbon emissions, a kind of promising activated fluorinated covalent triazine frameworks (referred to O-CTFs) was prepared as the adsorbent to enhance CO2 adsorption. The O-CTFs was prepared by structure remodeling of the fluorinated CTFs based on a series of ring-opening, substitution and polymerization reactions. The remodeling mechanism was revealed by theoretical calculations and those characterization methods of SEM, BET, EDS, FTIR, XPS, 13C-NMR and HRMS. Subsequently, the adsorption thermodynamics and kinetics of CO2 on the CTFs and O-CTFs were systematically investigated to reveal the influence of structure remodeling on CO2 adsorption behaviors. The results showed that the structure remodeling developed porous structure by forming more mesopores and micropores, then modified surface group distribution by forming new nitrogen- and oxygen-containing groups such as pyridine and pyrrole rings. The increase of pore volume, especially micropore volume, resulted in the dynamic capacity promotion by 217.5 % at 273 K. And the dual screening effects of surface group distribution and porous structure led to the CO2/N2 selectivity improvement by 202.4 %. Then the amount increase of the mesopores promoted the rate increase of CO2 adsorption by 59.9 % by means of accelerating the internal diffusion of CO2 in porous structure. In addition, the isosteric heat of adsorption decreased by 10.0 %, meaning that CO2 molecules were easily desorbed from the O-CTFs. These are beneficial for the preparation of promising CO2 adsorbent and extended application of CO2 adsorption processes.

Diagnosis of early-stage bladder cancer via unprocessed urine samples at the point of care.

Diagnostic kits for the optical detection of bladder cancer in urine can facilitate effective screening and surveillance. However, the heterogeneity of urine samples, owing to patients with bladder cancer often presenting with haematuria, interfere with the transduction of the optical signal. Here we describe the development and point-of-care performance of a device for the detection of bladder cancer that obviates the need for sample processing. The device leverages the enzymatic release of organogel particles carrying solvatochromic fluorophores in the presence of urinary hyaluronidases-a bladder cancer biomarker. Owing to buoyancy, the particles transfer from the urine sample into the organic phase, where the change in fluorescence can be measured via a smartphone without interference from blood proteins. In a double-blind study with 80 unprocessed urine samples from patients with bladder cancer (including samples with haematuria) or other genitourinary diseases and with 25 samples from healthy participants, our system distinguished the cancerous samples, including those with early-stage bladder cancer, with accuracies of about 90%. Obviating the need for sample pretreatment may facilitate the at-home detection of bladder cancer.

Achieving desired characteristic impedances in customized coplanar waveguide transmission line design

Coplanar waveguide (CPW) transmission lines are valued for their planar design, low radiation, and minimized signal loss, but controlling their characteristic impedance remains a challenge. This study employs the Taguchi method, a statistical approach, to optimize the characteristic impedance by adjusting eight control factors: track width, track thickness, gap width, dielectric height, backplane thickness, conductor material conductivity, dielectric conductivity, and operational frequency. The analysis evaluates these factors across three levels to find optimal conditions, with dielectric height and track width identified as most influential. Additional assessments using main effect screening, Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), and multivariable linear regression validate the Taguchi method's effectiveness. The results of this effort encompass a distributed resistance of 133.69 Ω/m, a distributed inductance of 2.6676E-7H/m, a shunt conductance of 2.8880E-16 S/m, a capacitance of 7.4103E-11 F/m, a propagation constant of (1.1141 + 279.36i) m-1, and a characteristic impedance of (59.999 - 0.23928i) Ω. A CPW transmission line with a characteristic impedance of 60 Ω was successfully designed and simulated using COMSOL Multiphysics, showing promising results for efficient CPW designs tailored to specific applications. The paper describes•Applied the Taguchi method to assess control factors that affect the Characteristic Impedances of the coplanar waveguide Transmission Lines.•Conducted additional validations with ANOVA and regression analysis.•Simulated designs based on optimized parameters using COMSOL Multiphysics.