Design and kinematics of a tube-shaped multidirectional bending robotic device using slackened SMA wires for transurethral ureterolithotripsy.

Purpose: The complex and elaborate structure of the urinary system presents surgeons with difficulty in using a ureteroscope with a fixed optical fiber to reach the targeted calculus. To address this challenge, a robotic device is required to control the direction of laser irradiation position independently in ureteroscopes.

Method: A continuum robotic device was designed and fabricated.

Development and clinical application of an InvaderPlus® assay for the detection of genital mycoplasmas.

We developed a PCR-based assay involving Invader® technology for detection of the genital mycoplasmas of Mycoplasma genitalium, Mycoplasma hominis, Ureaplasma urealyticum, and Ureaplasma parvum. We compared its performance with that of a PCR-microtiter plate hybridization assay, which we developed previously, in detecting genital mycoplasmas in first-voided urine (FVU) specimens from men with non-gonococcal urethritis. The tests targeting each of the genital mycoplasmas were specific for the respective species and could detect as few as 10 copies of the plasmids containing the target genes of each of the genital mycoplasmas per reaction.