Flexible suction ureteral access sheath: A game-changer for reducing high-power laser use in retrograde intrarenal surgery?

Purpose: This study compares the effectiveness and safety of a novel flexible and navigable suction (FANS) ureteral access sheath (UAS), utilizing a lower-power holmium laser (LPHL), against conventional UAS (cUAS) with a high-power holmium laser (HPHL) for retrograde intrarenal surgery (RIRS) in treating renal stones.

Materials And Methods: Patients aged 18 years and older undergoing RIRS for renal stones were enrolled, excluding those with uncontrolled urinary tract infections, simultaneous ureteral stones, radiolucent stones, and abnormal anatomy. The FANS-UAS group used an LPHL with fixed fragmentation setting, while the cUAS group used an HPHL for both dusting and fragmentation.

Arsenic exposure and trend of incidence in urinary cancer from 1979 to 2019: A nationwide population-based study.

Purpose: To investigate the incidences of newly diagnosed arsenic-related bladder cancer (BC), upper urinary tract UC (UTUC), and renal cell carcinoma (RCC) in Taiwan.

Methods: Cancer data for 1979-2019 were extracted from the Taiwan Cancer Registry Database. According to birth residency, individuals were divided into Z0, Z1, Z2, and Z3 areas according to the groundwater As levels in the 1970s and whether BFD was endemic to an area.

Association between ambient air pollution exposure and insomnia among adults in Taipei City.

Ambient air pollution was known to cause central nervous system diseases and depressive symptoms. In this study, we examined the associations between air pollution exposure and the prevalence of insomnia in Taipei City of Taiwan. We applied the health information system of electrical medical records of Taipei City Hospital to collect a total of 5108 study subjects (insomniacs N = 912 and non-insomniacs N = 4196) over 18 years old from the family medicine and internal medicine outpatients of six branches of Taipei City Hospital.