Cervicovaginal self-sampling is a reliable method for determination of prevalence of human papillomavirus genotypes in women aged 20 to 30 years.

Self-sampling by cervicovaginal lavage could be an attractive method to detect high-risk human papillomavirus (hr-HPV) infections to identify women with a risk of cervical precancer. The objective of our study was to use self-sampling for the first time in a cross-sectional approach to determine HPV prevalence and genotype distribution. We evaluated participants' acceptance and laboratory results from self-obtained samples versus endocervical brush samples obtained by gynecologists. To determine the sensitivity of both sampling methods in presumed high- and low-prevalence settings, two groups of women 20 to 30 years of age with (n = 55) and without (n = 101) a recent suspicious cytological smear were compared. Overall, 76% (95% confidence interval [95% CI], 65 to 88) of women with and 40% (95% CI, 30 to 49) of women without a recent suspicious cytological smear tested HPV positive. The prevalences of high-risk HPV strains were 71% (95% CI, 59 to 83) and 32% (95% CI, 22 to 41), respectively, for these two groups. The agreement for hr-HPV between the two sampling methods for women with and without suspicious cytology was 84% (κ = 0.65; 95% CI, 0.44 to 0.86) and 91% (κ = 0.78; 95% CI, 0.64 to 0.92), respectively. Participants rated the user-friendliness of the self-sampling method on a visual analog scale from 0 (easy) to 100 (difficult) with a median of 12. In conclusion, self-sampling by cervicovaginal lavage is a reliable method to determine hr-HPV prevalence and is well accepted by young adult females.

Synthesized femtosecond laser pulse source for two-wavelength contouring with simultaneously recorded digital holograms.

A dual-wavelength femtosecond laser pulse source and its application for digital holographic single-shot contouring are presented. The synthesized laser source combines sub-picosecond time scales with a wide reconstruction range. A center wavelength distance of the two separated pulses of only 15 nm with a high contrast was demonstrated by spectral shaping of the 50 nm broad seed spectrum centered at 800 nm. Owing to the resulting synthetic wavelength, the scan depth range without phase ambiguity is extended to the 100-microm-range. Single-shot dual-wavelength imaging is achieved by using two CMOS cameras in a Twyman-Green interferometer, which is extended by a polarization encoding sequence to separate the holograms. The principle of the method is revealed, and experimental results concerning a single axis scanner mirror operating at a resonance frequency of 0.5 kHz are presented. Within the synthetic wavelength, the phase difference information of the object was unambiguously retrieved and the 3D-shape calculated. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that single-shot two-wavelength contouring on a sub-ps time scale is reported.

An oxygen imaging system for medical applications: preliminary results.

The examination of functional processes in tissue is gaining importance in medical research. As a result the imaging and monitoring of biochemical parameters in vivo is the goal of many imaging methods. One key parameter in photodynamic therapy (PDT) is the molecular oxygen concentration. Two-dimensional monitoring of oxygen is demanded for PDT but has not yet been achieved. The use of optical methods provides a possible means of measuring molecular oxygen. The basis of this method is the measurement of the luminescence lifetime of a dye that is quenched by molecular oxygen. The molecular oxygen concentration can be monitored two-dimensionally by pixel-wise determination of the luminescence lifetime with a CCD-camera. A new O(2)-imaging system based on this principle is presented in this article. The dye Ru(bpy)(3)(2+) is quenched by molecular oxygen and was used in the first experiments with the system.