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A visible-light-driven CO2 reduction optical fiber is fabricated using graphene-like nitrogen-doped composites and hollow quartz optical fibers to achieve enhanced activity, selectivity, and light utilization for CO2 photoreduction. The composites are synthesized from a lead-based metal-organic framework (TMOF-10-NH2) and g-C3N4 nanosheet (CNNS) via electrostatic self-assembly. The TMOF-10-NH2/g-C3N4 (TMOF/CNNS) photocatalyst with an S-type heterojunction is coated on optical fiber. The TMOF/CNNS coating, which has a bandgap energy of 2.15 eV, has good photoinduced capability at the coating interfaces, high photogenerated electron-hole pair yield, and high charge transfer rate. The conduction band potential of the TMOF/CNNS coating is more negative than that for CO2 reduction. Moreover, TMOF facilitates the CO desorption on its surface, thereby improving the selectivity for CO production. High CO2 photoreduction and selectivity for CO production is demonstrated by the TMOF/CNNS-coated optical fiber with the cladding/core diameter of 2000/1000 µm, 10 wt% TMOF in CNNS, coating thickness of 25 µm, initial CO2 concentration of 90 vol%, and relative humidity of 88% RH under the excitation wavelength of 380-780 nm. Overall, the photocatalytic hollow optical fiber developed herein provides an effective and efficient approach for the enhancement of light utilization efficiency of photocatalysts and selective CO2 reduction.

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Human breath is a biomarker of body fat metabolism and can be used to diagnose various diseases, such as diabetes. As such, in this paper, a vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) spectroscopy system is proposed to measure the acetone in exhaled human breath. A strong absorption acetone peak at 195 nm is detected using a simple system consisting of a deuterium lamp source, a hollow-core fiber gas cell, and a fiber-coupled compact spectrometer corresponding to the VUV region. The hollow-core fiber functions both as a long-path and an extremely small-volume gas cell; it enables us to sensitively measure the trace components of exhaled breath. For breath analysis, we apply multiple regression analysis using the absorption spectra of oxygen, water, and acetone standard gas as explanatory variables to quantitate the concentration of acetone in breath. Based on human breath, we apply the standard addition method to obtain the measurement accuracy. The results suggest that the standard deviation is 0.074 ppm for healthy human breath with an acetone concentration of around 0.8 ppm and a precision of 0.026 ppm. We also monitor body fat burn based on breath acetone and confirm that breath acetone increases after exercise because it is a volatile byproduct of lipolysis.

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A mid-infrared spectroscopic system using a high-speed wavelength-swept and pulsed quantum cascade laser (QCL) for healthcare applications such as blood glucose measurement is proposed. We developed an attenuated total reflection measurement system comprising the QCL with a micro-electromechanical system (MEMS)-scanning grating, hollow optical fibers, and InAsSb detector and tested its feasibility for healthcare applications. A continuous spectrum was obtained by integrating comb-shaped spectra, the timing of which was slightly shifted. As this method does not require complex calculations, absorption spectra are obtained in real-time. We found that the signal-to-noise ratio of the obtained spectrum had been improved by increasing the number of spectra that were integrated into the spectrum calculation. Accordingly, we succeeded in measuring the absorption spectrum of a 0.1% aqueous glucose solution. Furthermore, the absorption spectra of human lips were measured, and it was shown that estimation of blood glucose levels were possible using a model equation derived using a partial least squares regression analysis of the measured absorption spectra. The spectroscopic system based on the QCL with MEMS-scanning grating has the advantages of compactness and low cost over conventional Fourier transform infrared-based systems and common spectroscopic systems with a tunable QCL that has a relatively large, movable grating.

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To accurately investigate in situ breast cancer would be very significant for real-time information and in situ diagnosis. In this in situ study, home-made hollow optical fiber attenuated total reflection (HOF-ATR) probe was integrated into Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopic system to perform breast cancer research at molecular level. Based on the FTIR spectral analysis on band shifts and absorbance ratios, it's disclosed that the molecular structure, conformation and content of main components change with cancerization of breast tissue. Fisher's discriminant analysis on HOF-ATR-FTIR spectra was applied to identify the healthy and cancerous breast tissues for the first time. The identification accuracy was 96.67% for training group and 93.33% for cross-validation, respectively, as well as 95% for the prediction group. This paper provides much in situ information of tissue cancerization at molecular level, which can be used as fingerprint biomarkers of tissue cancerization for in situ diagnosis. HOF-ATR-FTIR spectroscopy with discriminant analysis has potential to be an effective and promising method in in situ biomedical research and monitoring of breast cancer.

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This paper presents a total phosphorus online real-time monitoring system integrated with on-chip digestion based on the merits of optofluidic technology. The integrated optofluidic device contains a hollow optical fiber employed for pretreatment and digestion of phosphorus solution samples, a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)-based micromixer with convergent-divergent walls designed to enable sufficient mixing and chromogenic reaction, and a couple of optical fiber collimators attached with a Z-shaped flow cell for optical detection. Details of system design and fabrication are introduced in this paper. In the experiment, on-chip digestion of four typical phosphates in aqueous solution including organophosphorus and inorganic phosphorus is investigated under different reaction conditions, such as digestion temperature, concentration of oxidant and pH value, and the optimal reaction parameters are explored under different conditions. Meanwhile, we demonstrate the online real-time monitoring function of the optofluidic device, and the digestion mechanisms of four different phosphates are analyzed and discussed. Compared with the national standard method, we find that the measurement accuracy and sensitivity are acceptable when the concentration of total phosphorus is between 0.005-0.9 mg/L (by weight of P) in aqueous solution, which covers the range defined in the national standard. The traditional digestion time of several hours is greatly reduced to less than 10 s, and the content of total phosphorus can be obtained in a few minutes. The integrated optofluidic device can significantly shorten the test time and reduce the sample amount, and also provides a versatile platform for the real-time detection and analysis of many biochemical samples.

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Endoscopic Submucosal Dissection (ESD) has been increasingly accepted as a minimally invasive treatment for the patients with early gastrointestinal cancers. However, reliable ESD technique demands high maneuverability, and the success of the operation is dependent on each operator's skill. We have developed a novel laser endoscopic system for ESD to overcome such technique-related difficulties. Compared to conventional ESD using electrosurgical knives, an ESD method using the CO2 laser offers the advantages of less risk of perforation and the prevention of extensive thermal damage, because the CO2 laser is strongly absorbed by water. Furthermore, due to the non-contact technique associated with the CO2 laser and adequate visualization of the treatment area, the laser system may provide every endoscopist with more precise and safer treatment.

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A breath analysis system based on ultraviolet-absorption spectroscopy was developed by using a hollow optical fiber as a gas cell for real-time monitoring of isoprene in breath. The hollow optical fiber functions as an ultra-small-volume gas cell with a long path. The measurement sensitivity of the system was evaluated by using nitric-oxide gas as a gas sample. The evaluation result showed that the developed system, using a laser-driven, high-intensity light source and a 3-m-long, aluminum-coated hollow optical fiber, could successfully measure nitric-oxide gas with a 50 ppb concentration. An absorption spectrum of a breath sample in the wavelength region of around 200-300 nm was measured, and the measured spectrum revealed the main absorbing components in breath as water vapor, isoprene, and ozone converted from oxygen by radiation of ultraviolet light. The concentration of isoprene in breath was estimated by multiple linear regression. The regression analysis results showed that the proposed analysis system enables real-time monitoring of isoprene during the exhaling of breath. Accordingly, it is suitable for measuring the circadian variation of isoprene.

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