A robust NIR fluorescence-activated probe for peroxynitrite imaging in cells and mice osteoarthritis models.

Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common type of joint disease, which is difficult to treat, but early standardized diagnosis and treatment can effectively alleviate the pain and symptoms of patients. Therefore, it is important to construct an effective tool to assist in the early diagnosis and evaluation of the therapeutic effect of OA. In this work, a near-infrared (NIR) fluorescence-activated fluorescent probe, YB-1, was constructed for the evaluation of the diagnostic and therapeutic efficacy of OA via detection and imaging of the biomarker of ONOO in inflammatory cells and mice osteoarthritis models.

Construction of an evaluation index system for undergraduate nursing teachers' curriculum humanistic competence: a Delphi study in China.

Background: The curriculum humanistic competence of nursing teachers is important to cultivate the humanistic qualities of undergraduate nursing students. However, there are no evaluation tools for the curriculum humanistic competence of undergraduate nursing teachers in China.

Objective: To develop an index system to evaluate the curriculum humanistic competence of undergraduate nursing teachers.

15-µJ picosecond hollow-core-fiber-feedback optical parametric oscillator.

We report a high-energy, picosecond, mid-infrared (MIR) optical parametric oscillator (OPO), in which a length of hollow-core-fiber (HCF) is employed to enable operation at 1-MHz repetition rate in a compact cavity format. The OPO is synchronously pumped by an ytterbium-doped-fiber (YDF) master-oscillator-power-amplifier (MOPA) system, seeded by a 1040-nm gain-switched laser diode (GSLD). Using periodically poled lithium niobate (PPLN) as the nonlinear crystal, the OPO generates signal and idler beams with tunable wavelengths in the range of 1329-1641 nm and 2841-4790 nm, respectively.

Hundred-meter-scale, kilowatt peak-power, near-diffraction-limited, mid-infrared pulse delivery via the low-loss hollow-core fiber.

We report a high-power single-mode mid-infrared (MIR) pulse delivery system via anti-resonant hollow-core fiber (HCF) with a record delivery distance of 108 m. Near-diffraction-limited MIR light was transmitted by HCFs at wavelengths of 3.12-3.

High-energy, mid-IR, picosecond fiber-feedback optical parametric oscillator.

A compact, mid-infrared (MIR), synchronously pumped, fiber-feedback optical parametric oscillator (OPO) based on periodically poled lithium niobate (PPLN) is developed with tunable signal and idler wavelength ranges of 1472.0-1758.2 nm and 2559.

The association among apathy, leisure activity participation, and severity of dementia in nursing home residents with Alzheimer's disease: A cross-sectional study.

The purpose of this study was to examine 1) the relationship between apathy and leisure activity participation in nursing home residents with Alzheimer disease (AD) and 2) the moderator effect of the severity of dementia on this relationship. Data were collected from 290 residents with AD using the Apathy Evaluation Scale-informant version (AES-I), Leisure Activities Questionnaire (LAQ), and Clinical Dementia Rating scale (CDR). The multiple linear regression model showed that leisure activity participation (β=-0.

Widely-tunable synchronisation-free picosecond laser source for multimodal CARS, SHG, and two-photon microscopy.

We demonstrate a continuous wave (CW) seeded synchronization-free optical parametric amplifier (OPA) pumped by a picosecond, 1 µm laser and show its performance when used as a simple yet powerful source for label-free coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (CARS), concurrent second harmonic generation (SHG), and two-photon fluorescence microscopy in an epi-detection geometry. The average power level of above 175 mW, spectral resolution of 8 cm, and 2 ps pulse duration are well optimized for CARS microscopy in bio-science and bio-medical imaging systems. Our OPA is a much simpler setup than either the "gold-standard" laser and optical parametric oscillator (OPO) combination traditionally used for CARS imaging, or the more recently developed OPA systems pumped with femtosecond pulses [1].

Controllable duration and repetition-rate picosecond pulses from a high-average-power OP-GaAs OPO.

We report an orientation-patterned gallium arsenide (OP-GaAs) optical parametric oscillator (OPO) offering a high degree of temporal flexibility with controllable pulse repetition rates from 100 MHz to 1 GHz and pulse durations from ∼95 ps to ∼1.1 ns. The maximum average power of 9.

Iteration Bayesian Reweighed Algorithm for Optical Carrier-Based Microwave Interferometry Sensing.

This paper proposes a novel iteration Bayesian reweighed (IBR) algorithm to obtain accurate estimates of a measurement parameter that uses only a few noisy measurement data. The method is applied to optimize the frequency fluctuation in an optical carrier-based microwave interferometry (OCMI) system. The algorithm iteratively estimates the frequency of the S-parameter valley point by collecting training samples to rebalance the weights between prior samples, which reduces the impact of noise in the system.

High-average-power picosecond mid-infrared OP-GaAs OPO.

We report a high-average-power mid-infrared picosecond (ps) optical parametric oscillator (OPO) based on orientation-patterned gallium arsenide (OP-GaAs), with wide wavelength tunability. The OP-GaAs OPO is synchronously pumped by a thulium-doped-fiber (TDF) master oscillator power amplifier (MOPA), seeded by a gain-switched laser diode. At a pump power of 35.

295-kW peak power picosecond pulses from a thulium-doped-fiber MOPA and the generation of watt-level >2.5-octave supercontinuum extending up to 5 μm.

We report a gain-switched diode-seeded thulium doped fiber master oscillator power amplifier (MOPA) producing up to 295-kW picosecond pulses (35 ps) at a repetition rate of 1 MHz with a good beam quality (M ~1.3). A narrow-band, grating-based filter was incorporated within the amplifier chain to restrict the accumulation of nonlinear spectral broadening and counter-pumping of a short length of large-mode-area (LMA) fiber was used in the final stage amplifier to further reduce nonlinear effects.

Highly efficient frequency doubling and quadrupling of a short-pulsed thulium fiber laser.

We report the second harmonic generation and fourth harmonic generation of the output from a short-pulsed (~ 80 ps) thulium-doped fiber laser, generating 976 and 488 nm wavelengths with high efficiency. With a narrow-linewidth (0.5 nm) pump at a power of 3.

Broadband silica-based thulium doped fiber amplifier employing multi-wavelength pumping.

A multi-wavelength pumped thulium doped fiber amplifier is investigated to extend the spectral gain coverage of the amplifier in the 1.7-1.9μm wavelength range.

High gain holmium-doped fibre amplifiers.

We investigate the operation of holmium-doped fibre amplifiers (HDFAs) in the 2.1 µm spectral region. For the first time we demonstrate a diode-pumped HDFA.