Estimation of the composition of planetary rocks and minerals is crucial for understanding their formation processes. In this study, we present the application of X-ray nano-computed tomography (nano-XCT) for non-destructive 3D phase analysis and estimation of phase abundances in rare martian meteorite samples, specifically chassignite Northwest Africa (NWA) 2737. We determined the most suitable laser power for minimizing artifacts and maximizing phase contrast.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRare earth elements (REE) are essential ingredients in many modern technologies, yet their purification remains either environmentally harmful or economically unviable. Adsorption, or biosorption, of REE onto bacterial cell membranes offers a sustainable alternative to traditional solvent extraction methods. But in order for biosorption-based REE purification to compete economically, the capacity and specificity of biosorption sites must be enhanced.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRare earth elements (REE) are essential ingredients of sustainable energy technologies, but separation of individual REE is one of the hardest problems in chemistry today. Biosorption, where molecules adsorb to the surface of biological materials, offers a sustainable alternative to environmentally harmful solvent extractions currently used for separation of rare earth elements (REE). The REE-biosorption capability of some microorganisms allows for REE separations that, under specialized conditions, are already competitive with solvent extractions, suggesting that genetic engineering could allow it to leapfrog existing technologies.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFVolcanic ash emissions impact atmospheric processes, depositional ecosystems, human health, and global climate. These effects are sensitive to the size and composition of the ash; however, datasets describing the constituent phases over size ranges relevant for atmospheric transport and widely distributed impacts are practically nonexistent. Here, we present results of X-ray diffraction measurements on size-separated fractions of 40 ash samples from VEI 2-6 eruptions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFProc Natl Acad Sci U S A
August 2023
Constraining the volatile content of magmas is critical to our understanding of eruptive processes and their deep Earth cycling essential to planetary habitability [R. Dasgupta, M. M.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe lavas associated with mantle plumes may sample domains throughout Earth's mantle and probe its dynamics. However, plume studies are often only able to take snapshots in time, usually of the most recent plume activity, leaving the chemical and geodynamic evolution of major convective upwellings in Earth's mantle poorly constrained. Here, we report the geodynamically key information of how the lithology and density of a plume change from plume head phase to tail.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe 2021 La Palma eruption provided an unpreceded opportunity to test the relationship between earthquake hypocenters and the location of magma reservoirs. We performed density measurements on CO-rich fluid inclusions (FIs) hosted in olivine crystals that are highly sensitive to pressure via calibrated Raman spectroscopy. This technique can revolutionize our knowledge of magma storage and transport during an ongoing eruption, given that it can produce precise magma storage depth constraints in near real time with minimal sample preparation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Diabetes mellitus (DM) is known as a risk factor of stress urinary incontinence after Holmium laser enucleation of the prostate (HoLEP). We aimed to compare the postoperative continence status of patients with and without DM, after HoLEP surgery.
Material And Methods: A total of 214 patients who underwent HoLEP between January 2017 and January 2020 were retrospectively assessed.
Recent geochemical evidence confirms the oxidized nature of arc magmas, but the underlying processes that regulate the redox state of the subarc mantle remain yet to be determined. We established a link between deep subduction-related fluids derived from dehydration of serpentinite ± altered oceanic crust (AOC) using B isotopes and B/Nb as fluid proxies, and the oxidized nature of arc magmas as indicated by Cu enrichment during magma evolution and V/Yb. Our results suggest that arc magmas derived from source regions influenced by a greater serpentinite (±AOC) fluid component record higher oxygen fugacity.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFProc Natl Acad Sci U S A
November 2021
It is well established that mantle plumes are the main conduits for upwelling geochemically enriched material from Earth's deep interior. The fashion and extent to which lateral flow processes at shallow depths may disperse enriched mantle material far (>1,000 km) from vertical plume conduits, however, remain poorly constrained. Here, we report He and C isotope data from 65 hydrothermal fluids from the southern Central America Margin (CAM) which reveal strikingly high He/He (up to 8.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBioleaching of rare earth elements (REEs), using microorganisms such as Gluconobacter oxydans, offers a sustainable alternative to environmentally harmful thermochemical extraction, but is currently not very efficient. Here, we generate a whole-genome knockout collection of single-gene transposon disruption mutants for G. oxydans B58, to identify genes affecting the efficacy of REE bioleaching.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: Prostate cancer is the most frequently diagnosed cancer among men in developed countries. Radical prostatectomy (RP) is the standard surgical treatment for patients with organ-confined disease and robot-assisted laparoscopic radical prostatectomy (RALP) procedures get more popular in the past 20 years. The most important factor of continence after RP is the preservation of the functional sphincter mechanisms.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe aimed to evaluate the learning curve of the surgically standardised 'Omega Sign' anatomical endoscopic enucleation (AEEP) of the prostate surgery technique for junior surgeons. This study is a retrospective comparison of cases that underwent AEEP by a mentor surgeon and three junior surgeons who have completed their learning curve. A video-based laser enucleation of the prostate assessment tool (LEAT) composed of 8 steps of the technique was used to assess a senior surgeon and junior surgeons' surgical compatibility and consistency.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRecently, with the advancements in laser technology, Holmium laser enucleation of the prostate (HoLEP) and Thulium laser enucleation of the prostate (ThuLEP) have come to the fore in the surgical treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). We aimed to evaluate and compare the outcomes of HoLEP and ThuLEP in patients with >100 ml prostate volume. Patients who underwent HoLEP and ThuLEP between July 2017 and March 2020 were reviewed retrospectively.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: Urinary incontinence remains one of the main problems affecting the quality of life after radical prostatectomy. Along with the improved understanding of the precise anatomy of the prostate, urethra and their surrounding structures, minimally invasive surgical techniques have been refined and described, aiming to improve functional outcomes without oncological compromise. This study aimed to investigate the impacts of anterior urethral fixation (AUF) and bladder neck sparing (BNS) on the early continence success after Robot-assisted Radical Prostatectomy (RALP).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThere is an ongoing discussion in the literature on the surgical treatment option for small prostate size benign prostate hyperplasia (BPH) patients. This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of Holmium laser enucleation of the prostate (HoLEP) surgery in small (<30 ml) and moderate (30-80 ml) prostate size as accepted in European Association of Urology guideline. We retrospectively analysed our database between May 2016 and May 2019 and patients who underwent HoLEP surgery.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: Holmium laser enucleation of the prostate (HoLEP) has recently become the recommended treatment for prostate in all sizes in benign prostate hyperplasia surgery. A recent prostate biopsy performed prior to the HoLEP procedure can make surgeons concerned about the surgery. We aimed to investigate the per- and postoperative outcomes of the HoLEP procedure in patients who underwent prostate biopsy and to evaluate the most appropriate surgery time after biopsy.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: The Holmium laser has proven to be an invaluable tool for endoscopic prostate enucleation. The proper energy selection, during the different steps of the procedure, has always been a matter of debate. In this work we compare the effectiveness of the Holmium laser, using two different low-power energy settings, during enucleation and hemostasis (20W and 37.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: Holmium-laser enucleation of the prostate (HoLEP) has been a promising prostate surgery since its first introduction. Although there are 10 different HoLEP techniques in the literature, stress urinary incontinence (SUI) is common, because surgery is not performed based on the topographic anatomy of the external sphincter. We have developed a new HoLEP method named as the ''Omega Sign technique", which is based on the topographic anatomy of the external sphincter and could provide better continence outcomes by decreasing SUI rates.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: Holmium laser enucleation of the prostate (HoLEP) is an endourologic minimal invasive intervention of benign prostate hyperplasia (BPH). The interest on HoLEP is increasing in the literature. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the learning curve and our preliminary results.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAn Amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: To establish the diagnostic performance of the parameters obtained from dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (DCE-MRI) and diffusion-weighted imaging at 3T in discriminating between non-clinically significant prostate cancers (ncsPCa, Gleason score [GS] < 7) and clinically significant prostate cancers (csPCa, GS ≥ 7) in the peripheral zone.
Materials And Methods: Twenty-six male patients with peripheral zone prostate cancer (PCa) who had undergone 3T multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan prior to biopsy were included in the study and evaluated retrospectively. The GS was obtained by both standard 12-core transrectal ultrasound guided biopsy and targeted MRI-US fusion biopsy and then confirmed by prostatectomy, if available.
An Amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF