The pain symptoms and mass recurrence rates after ovarian cystectomy or uni/bilateral oophorectomy procedures in patients over 40 years old with endometriosis

Objectives: To evaluate the rates of pain and mass recurrence of the patients over 40 years old with endometriosis who underwent ovarian cystectomy or uni/bilateral oophorectomy. Material and methods: A retrospective study was conducted with 98 patients undergoing laparoscopic surgery for endometriosis in a tertiary referral center between the time period July 2015 and July 2019. All the patients followed every 3 months and requested to fill the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) for evaluation of pelvic pain and an ultrasound scan was performed. The inclusion criteria for this study were as follows, patients with ages over 40, with regular menstrual periods, and who denied hysterectomy and any postoperative hormonal medical treatments. Results: When the groups were compared in terms of age, body mass index, cyst diameter, CA-125 serum concentrations, preoperative and after surgical pelvic pain scores, mean follow up periods, postoperative hospital stay. However, each of the mean numbers of gravidity and parity were significantly higher than bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy (BSO) groups compared to the other groups (p = 0.04 and p = 0.03, respectively). The laterality, the recurrence rates, and the type of recurrence did not have a significant effect in the group comparison. Conclusions: The ovarian tissue preserving procedures could be offered for the women over 40 years old suffering from endometriosis with no significant increase in pain symptom or mass recurrence rates considering beneficial effects of estrogen on cardiovascular system, vasomotor symptoms, and bone mineral density

Efficient vacuum-deposited perovskite solar cells with stable cubic FA1-xMAxPbI3

Preparation of black formamidinium lead iodide (FAPbI3) requires high temperature annealing and the incorporation of smaller A-site cations, such as methylammonium (MA+), cesium or rubidium. A major advantage of vacuum processing is the possibility to deposit perovskite films at room temperature (RT), without any annealing step. Here we demonstrate stabilization of the cubic perovskite phase at RT, in a three-sources co-sublimation method. We found that the MA+ incorporation is a self-limiting process, where the amount of MA+ which is incorporated in the perovskite is essentially unvaried with increasing MAI deposition rate. In this way a phase-pure, cubic perovskite with a bandgap of 1.53 eV can be obtained at room temperature. When used in fully vacuum-processed perovskite solar cells, PCEs up to 18.8% were obtained. Despite the presence of MA+, the solar cells were found to be thermally stable and maintained 90% of their initial efficiency after 1 month of continuous operation

Crystal Reorientation and Amorphization Induced by Stressing Efficient and Stable P-I-N Vacuum-Processed MAPbI3 Perovskite Solar Cells

Herein, the long‐term stability of vacuum‐deposited methylammonium lead iodide (MAPbI3) perovskite solar cells (PSCs) with power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) of around 19% is evaluated. A low‐temperature atomic layer deposition (ALD) Al2O3 coating is developed and used to protect the MAPbI3 layers and the solar cells from environmental agents. The ALD encapsulation enables the MAPbI3 to be exposed to temperatures as high as 150 °C for several hours without change in color. It also improves the thermal stability of the solar cells, which maintain 80% of the initial PCEs after aging for ≈40 and 37 days at 65 and 85 °C, respectively. However, room‐temperature operation of the solar cells under 1 sun illumination leads to a loss of 20% of their initial PCE in 230 h. Due to the very thin ALD Al2O3 encapsulation, X‐ray diffraction can be performed on the MAPbI3 films and completed solar cells before and after the different stress conditions. Surprisingly, it is found that the main effect of light soaking and thermal stress is a crystal reorientation with respect to the substrate from (002) to (202) of the perovskite layer, and that this reorientation is accelerated under illumination

Laparoscopic Management of a Torsioned Round Ligament Fibroid

Round ligament fibroids are rare tumors and can present as inguinal, adnexal, or vulvar masses. Preoperative diagnosis can be made by ultrasonography or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). A 28-year-old virgin female presented with pelvic pain that persisted for a few days. Her sonographic evaluation detected a well-defined hyperechoic 45 × 40 mm right adnexal mass interfering endometrioma. A contrast-enhanced pelvic MRI showed a 43 × 39 × 32 mm solid mass located in the right adnexa. Laparoscopic exploration revealed a well-defined double torsion around the peduncle pinky solid mass arising from the right round ligament. The mass was resected with the final histopathological diagnosis being leiomyoma. The diagnosis of round ligament fibroids can be challenging, and laparoscopy is one of the first options where surgical facilities are available

Spray-pyrolyzed tantalium-doped TiO2Compact electron transport layer for UV-photostable planar perovskite solar cells exceeding 20% efficiency

The electron-transporting layer (ETL) material is one of the critical components of the n-i-p planar perovskite solar cells (PSCs). TiO2 is the most typically used ETL material; however, low electron mobility and conductivity of TiO2 limit the performance of the cells. Ion doping is an effective method for improving the electrical properties of TiO2 films. In this study, pure and tantalum (Ta)-doped TiO2 films, fabricated with the spray pyrolysis method, were employed as the ETL in the n-i-p planar PSCs. Ta doping improved the electrical conductivity and decreased interface defect between the TiO2 electron transport and perovskite layers, promoting efficient electron transfer at the interface. After dopant optimization of transport layers, the overall power conversion efficiency was increased to as high as 20.45% with negligible hysteresis exceeding the previous highest efficiency recorded for Ta-doped TiO2 ETL-based PSCs. More importantly, Ta-doped TiO2 ETL-based PSCs exhibited an admissible photostability under continuous illumination including UV radiation and retained 65% of their initial efficiency over 300 h in the ambient environment, higher than that of 50% for the control device. These findings indicated that spray-pyrolyzed Ta-doped TiO2 films could be a promising compact layer to fabricate highly efficient and UV-stable planar PSCs in large-scale manufacturing

Laparoscopy-assisted suprapubic salpingectomy ‘Kaya technic’ - a low-cost treatment of ectopic pregnancy

We aimed to demonstrate the feasibility and total cost of laparoscopy-assisted suprapubic salpingectomy (LASS), which utilises conventional open surgery equipment without any sealing or coagulation devices and reduces port sites compared to conventional laparoscopy (CL). Fifty-seven consecutive, age-matched patients presenting with a tubal pregnancy were enrolled. In the LASS group, a 10 mm reusable umbilical optical trocar and a 10 mm suprapubic trocar was used. The other 30 patients were managed with multiport CL. All of the patients were asked to use the visual analogue scale and Patient and Observer Scar Assessment Scale to evaluate their cosmetic satisfaction. The duration of surgery was 21.19 ± 2.33 minutes for the LASS group and 36.9 ± 4.9 minutes for the CL group (p < .001). The postoperative 6th-hour VAS score was 2.44 ± 0.5 for the LASS group and 3.03 ± 0.8 for the CL group (p: .005). All of the PSAS and OSAS parameter scores were significantly lower in LASS group than CL group. In conclusion, the LASS procedure is a feasible method for treating ectopic pregnancies with a shorter surgical duration, lower VAS scores, and better cosmetic scores than CL.Impact statement What is already known on this subject? Laparoscopy or laparotomy may be performed for the surgical management of ectopic pregnancy. Conventional laparoscopy has some advantages such as shorter hospital stay and recovery time and the better cosmetic results. However, the equipment used in conventional laparoscopy and single incision laparoscopy are more expensive than conventional open surgery equipment. What the results of this study add? Laparoscopy-assisted suprapubic salpingectomy (LASS) method has shorter operation time, lower VAS scores, better cosmetic scores and cheaper than conventional laparoscopy. What the implications are of these findings for clinical practice and/or further research? The LASS procedure looks like a feasible method for treating ectopic pregnancies and the feasibility of this procedure should be confirmed by a larger series of patients and randomised trials

Highly efficient tandem photoelectrochemical solar cells using coumarin6 dye-sensitized CuCrO2 delafossite oxide as photocathode

WOS:000437079200024In this study, we introduce a new concept for the highly efficient tandem p-n photoelectrochemical cell consisting of coumarin6 organic dye-anchored p-type CuCrO2 delafossite semiconductor as photocathodes coupling with traditional n-type TiO2 based photoanodes. Also, we have systematically studied the photovoltaic performance of tandem cells as a function of post-annealing of CuCrO2 films before sensitization. Hydrothermally synthesized CuCrO2 nanocrystals exhibited a high surface area with small crystallite size of 12 nm, phase-pure and well-crystalline after the optimized post-annealing conditions. The experimental results indicated that the optimal post-annealing temperature was 450 degrees C for 1 h due to the larger active surface area, lower R-th and higher J(sc) and V-oc, values. This tandem cell, fabricated by employing the CuCrO2 photocathodes, iodide-based redox mediator and a coumarin6 organic dye, afforded an impressive efficiency of 2.33% with V-oc of 813 mV, J(sc) of 4.83 mA cm(-2), and fill factor of 0.59. The obtained parameters are acceptably high in comparison to NiO photocathode-based tandem cells previously reported in literature under similar experimental conditions. Therefore, this work opened the way for developing highly-efficient tandem photoelectrochemical solar cells

A dopant-free 2,7-dioctyl[1]benzothieno[3,2-b][1]benzothiophene (C8-BTBT)-based hole transporting layer for highly stable perovskite solar cells with efficiency over 22%

WOS:000804203100001In this study, for the first time, n-i-p PSCs were fabricated using dopant-free 2,7-dioctyl[1]benzothieno[3,2-b][1]benzothiophene (C8-BTBT) as the solution-processed hole transporting layer (HTL). The power conversion efficiency (PCE) of the optimized device with the C8-BTBT film that favored edge-on molecular alignment was 22.45% with negligible hysteresis. A thinner dopant-free C8-BTBT HTL effectively protected the perovskite layer from moisture resulting in better shelf-life stability for un-encapsulated PSCs, which maintained >80% of its initial PCE (after a period of 120 days) at a relative humidity level of 40-45%. In addition, the C8-BTBT-based PSCs kept their high performance with no obvious PCE loss at 60 degrees C for 20 days in the ambient atmosphere and retained 82% of their initial PCE at 85 degrees C for 10 days. Overall, our findings revealed that a thin solution-processed C8-BTBT HTL plays a critical role not only in hole extraction and transport but also in greatly improving the ambient and thermal stability of n-i-p PSCs

The relationship between menopausal symptoms and metabolic syndrome in postmenopausal women

The most common symptoms during menopausal transition and menopause are vasomotor symptoms. We aimed to investigate the relationship between menopausal symptoms and metabolic syndrome (MetS) in postmenopausal women. Two hundred and fifty-four and 317 postmenopausal women were in the MetS and non-MetS groups, respectively. The total menopause rating scale and psychological subscale scores were higher in the MetS group than the non-MetS group, and the differences were significant (p < .05). A positive correlation was found between the abdominal circumferences, systolic-diastolic blood pressures, triglycerides and total MRS scores. However, a significant positive correlation was found between the abdominal circumference and total urogenital scores (p = .008).Impact statement What is already known on this subject? MetS and its dominant component (abdominal obesity) significantly increase the prevalence and severity of menopausal symptoms. Data regarding the relationship between metabolic syndrome (MetS) and vasomotor symptoms remain limited. What do the results of this study add? We showed that sleeping problems, depressive symptoms and bladder problems were more frequently encountered in the MetS group than in the non-MetS group (p<0.05). What are the implications of these findings for clinical practice and/or further research? There is a need for more randomised controlled studies to demonstrate the relationship between MetS and the severity of menopausal symptoms