Minimally invasive surgery for uterine fibroids

The incidence of uterine fibroids, which comprise one of the most common female pelvic tumors, is almost 70–75% forwomen of reproductive age. With the development of surgical techniques and skills, more individuals prefer minimallyinvasive methods to treat uterine fibroids. There is no doubt that minimally invasive surgery has broad use for uterinefibroids. Since laparoscopic myomectomy was first performed in 1979, more methods have been used for uterine fibroids,such as laparoscopic hysterectomy, laparoscopic radiofrequency volumetric thermal ablation, and uterine artery embolization,and each has many variations. In this review, we compared these methods of minimally invasive surgery for uterinefibroids, analyzed their benefits and drawbacks, and discussed their future development

Biodegradable double-network GelMA-ACNM hydrogel microneedles for transdermal drug delivery

As a minimally invasive drug delivery platform, microneedles (MNs) overcome many drawbacks of the conventional transdermal drug delivery systems, therefore are favorable in biomedical applications. Microneedles with a combined burst and sustained release profile and maintained therapeutic molecular bioactivity could further broaden its applications as therapeutics. Here, we developed a double-network microneedles (DN MNs) based on gelatin methacrylate and acellular neural matrix (GelMA-ACNM). ACNM could function as an early drug release matrix, whereas the addition of GelMA facilitates sustained drug release. In particular, the double-network microneedles comprising GelMA-ACNM hydrogel has distinctive biological features in maintaining drug activity to meet the needs of application in treating different diseases. In this study, we prepared the double-network microneedles and evaluated its morphology, mechanical properties, drug release properties and biocompatibility, which shows great potential for delivery of therapeutic molecules that needs different release profiles in transdermal treatment

Matching Characteristics of Expansion Valve Opening and Flow Rate of High Temperature Heat Pump with Green Refrigerant HP-1

The throttling process, as an important part of the heat pump system, plays a crucial role in the efficient and reliable operation of the whole system. This paper, taking the quasi two-stage compression high-temperature heat pump with green refrigerant HP-1 as the research subject, established the mathematical models of the circulatory system and electronic expansion valve by using MATLAB and considering the influence of the opening of electronic expansion valve and thermodynamic properties of the new green refrigerant. It simulated the matching characteristics of electronic expansion valve opening and flow rate under variable operating conditions, and fitted the HP-1 dimensionless flow coefficient correlation by power-law distribution using experimental data. The research results show that the electronic expansion valve with an elliptical conical body structure adapts to the throttling characteristics of the HP-1 high-temperature heat pump system under variable operating conditions. When the evaporating temperature varies from 50 ℃ to 90 ℃ and the condensing temperature varies from 60 ℃ to 120 ℃, the opening adjustment range of this type of valve body is from 49.8% to 69.8% for the main throttle valve, and from 41.5% to 56.0% for the injection throttle valve. The relative deviation of the fitted correlation results and the actual test data is between -7.8% and +7.5%, and the flow coefficient correlation can accurately predict the flow characteristics of the electronic expansion valve with a similar body structure. The selection of favorable electronic expansion valve matching refrigerant properties and the optimization of the electronic expansion valve control system are essential for the actual operating performance. This study provides a good research foundation for the selection of electronic expansion valves and the optimization of the control system for the HP-1 high temperature heat pump