All-fiberized 1840-nm femtosecond thulium fiber laser for label-free nonlinear microscopy.

We report an all-fiberized 1840-nm thulium-fiber-laser source, comprising a dissipative-soliton mode-locked seed laser and a chirped-pulse-amplification system for label-free biological imaging through nonlinear microscopy. The mode-locked thulium fiber laser generated dissipative-soliton pulses with a pre-chirped duration of 7 ps and pulse energy of 1 nJ. A chirped-pulse fiber-amplification system employing an in-house-fabricated, short-length, single-mode, high-absorption, thulium fiber delivered pulses with energies up to 105 nJ. The pulses were capable of being compressed to 416 fs by passing through a grating pair. Imaging of mouse tissue and human bone samples was demonstrated using this source via third-harmonic generation microscopy.

Green fabrication of anti-bacterial biofilm layer on endotracheal tubing using silver nanoparticles embedded in polyelectrolyte multilayered film.

Endotracheal tubes (ETTs) are a common source of bacterial colonization, leading to ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP). This research developed a biofilm-resistant ETT, following the principles of green chemistry. Using an aqueous layer-by-layer (LbL) technique, a thick polyelectrolyte multilayered film was deposited on a ventilation tube. The polyelectrolyte multilayered film accommodated silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) formed in situ by reducing Ag+ ions with Eucalyptus citriodora leaf extract. The multilayered film coating conformed to the curved surfaces of the ETT. Film thickness and silver content increased exponentially with the number of polyelectrolyte bilayer pairs, and a sufficiently high AgNPs content of 10-30%w/w was obtained at 75 to 125 bilayer films. Adhesion of the Gram-positive Staphylococcus aureus and Gram-negative Pseudomonas aeruginosa was prevented by 99.9 and 99.99%, respectively, without cytotoxic effects against human lung epithelial cells (p < 0.05).