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To the best of our knowledge, in this paper, a new technique is presented for designing and analyzing inhomogeneous flat lenses. The technique is based on the critical angle theorem. Slab and wedge lenses are presented in this manuscript. The designed lenses are frequency independent, so they operate in the broadband frequency bandwidth. The method presented here can be generalized to all inhomogeneous structures, and the input and output layers of the proposed flat lenses are impedance-matched to the circumference. The proposed lenses are validated with COMSOL multiphysics.

A periodic planar metamaterial sensor in the terahertz band based on surface plasmon polariton resonances is proposed and studied. The unit cell includes four half-elliptical graphene rings located on a three-layer substrate including a S i O 2 layer, an air gap, and another S i O 2 layer. The embedded air gap between the two layers of S i O 2 improves the sensitivity of the sensor. Parametric study is performed, and the effects of the dimensions of the elliptical rings, the air gap thickness, and the Fermi energy of graphene on resonant frequency, sensitivity, and figure of merit (FoM) are investigated and graphically illustrated. The parameters of the sensor are optimized to provide a high sensitivity with a suitable FoM. By changing the refractive index of the sensing environment from 1.2 to 2, maximum sensitivity of 21.1 µm/RIU with FoM 5.14 is provided. The performance of the sensor is compared with previous works, and it is shown that a considerable improvement in sensitivity is achieved. The proposed sensor is suitable for biosensing applications.

Bladder cancer is the fourth most common malignant neoplasm in men and the eighth in women. Bladder pathology is usually investigated visually by cystoscopy. In this technique, biopsies are obtained from the suspected area and then, after needed procedure, the diagnostic information can be taken. This is a relatively difficult procedure and is associated with discomfort for the patient and morbidity. Therefore, the electrical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), a minimally invasive screening technique, can be used to separate malignant areas from nonmalignant areas in the urinary bladder. The feasibility of adapting this technique to screen for bladder cancer and abnormalities during cystoscopy has been explored and compared with histopathological evaluation of urinary bladder lesions. Ex vivo studies were carried out in this study by using a total of 30 measured points from malignant and 100 measured points from non-malignant areas of patients bladders in terms of their biopsy reports matching to the electrical impedance measurements. In all measurements, the impedivity of malignant area of bladder tissue was significantly higher than the impedivity of non-malignant area this tissue (P < 0.005).

A numerical technique, finite element analysis (FEA) was used to model the electrical properties, the bio impedance of the bladder tissue in order to predict the bladder cancer. This model results showed that the normal bladder tissue have significantly higher impedance than the malignant tissue that was in opposite with the impedance measurements or the experimental results. Therefore, this difference can be explained using the effects of inflammation, oedema on the urothelium and the property of the bladder as a distensible organ. Furthermore, the different current distributions inside the bladder tissue (in histological layers) in normal and malignant cases and finally different applied pressures over the bladder tissue can cause different impedances for the bladder tissue. Finally, it is believed that further studies have to be carried out to characterise the human bladder tissue using the electrical impedance measurement and modelling techniques., (Copyright 2009 Associazione Italiana di Fisica Medica. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The electrical impedance of the human urinary bladder in both benign and malignant areas can be measured using an electrical impedance spectroscopy system (EIS). Glycine is usually used in the bladder surgery in the theatre to make an insulation medium for electro-surgery and the extension of the mucosa. In addition, a saline solution is usually used to wash the inside of the bladder after bladder surgery and it is used to extend the bladder tissue mucosa. Therefore, the effect of glycine and the saline solution that fills the bladder is important, because it was expected that the application of common surface fluids (air, saline solution and glycine solution) in the bladder epithelium would affect the measured electrical impedance of the urothelium, to differentiate the malignant area from the normal bladder tissue. In this study, bladders were removed from the patients' bodies and then were moved from theatre to the histopathology department immediately after excision. These bladder samples were then opened and pinned to a corkboard to take the impedance readings, using the impedance spectroscopy system. Following this, the bladder and corkboard were completely submerged in a saline solution and readings were taken at about 1cm from the sutures. Subsequently, this procedure was repeated with the bladder submerged in glycine and then air, respectively. According to the statistical work, these fluids were found to have a significant effect on the measured impedance of the bladder tissue in benign and malignant areas. Furthermore, the best fluid between air, glycine and saline, to measure the impedance of the urinary bladder, is air (P<0.0001).

When the tissue is changing from normal to abnormal, the distribution of tissue liquids between intra and extra cellular space will be changed and then the measured conductivity and impedivity will also be changed. Therefore, it will cause a different current distribution inside the human bladder tissue in normal and malignant cases. By knowing the amount of electrical impedance inside the bladder tissue and the morphological parameters of the different layers of this tissue, the current distribution inside the bladder tissue (surface fluid, superficial urothelium, intermediate urothelium, basal urothelium, basement membrane, and connective tissue) was modelled and calculated in different frequencies using the finite element analysis. The model results showed that very little of the current actually flows through the urothelium and much of the injected current flows through the connective tissue beneath the urothelium (in normal cases). However, most of the current flows through the surface fluid in the low frequency range in normal tissue. Furthermore, for the high frequencies, the tight junctions are short-circuited, so the current penetrates deeper, flowing through the connective tissue beneath the urothelium, while, in the malignant cases, at least 50% of the injected current flows beneath transformed urothelium across the frequency range modelled.

The normal and malignant cellular morphological parameters (intra- and extracellular spaces of the human urinary bladder) were obtained from analysis of digital images of bladder histology sections. Then these cellular morphological parameters were compared with the same parameters obtained from the literature for the bladder tissue. However, the limited quantitative data about these parameters available in the literature for bladder cell sizes and other geometrical parameters such as extra-cellular space does not provide a scientific basis to construct accurate structural models of normal and malignant bladder tissue. Therefore, there is usually no quantitative discussion of cell sizes in literature but the measured data in this work can provide a reasonable estimation of expected morphological parameter changes of bladder tissue with pathology. To produce this quantitative information, and also, to build a suitable models in another study using electrical properties of the tissue, 10 digital images of histological sections of normal, and six sections from malignant areas of the human urinary bladder, were chosen randomly (ex vivo). Finally, the measured data showed that there is a significant difference between the cell dimensions (in basal and intermediate layers) of normal and malignant bladder tissues.

Bladder pathology is usually investigated visually by cystoscopy. At present, definitive diagnosis of the bladder can be made by biopsy only, usually under general anaesthesia. This is a relatively high-cost procedure in terms of both time and money and is associated with discomfort for the patient and morbidity. Thus, we used an electrical impedance spectroscopy technique for differentiating pathological changes in the urothelium and improving cystoscopic detection. For ex vivo study, a whole or part of the patient's urinary bladder was used to take the readings less than half an hour after excision at room temperature, about 27 degrees C, using the Mk3.5 Sheffield System (2-384 kHz in 24 frequencies). In this study, 145 points (from 16 freshly excised bladders from patients) were studied in terms of their biopsy reports matching to the electrical impedance measurements. For in vivo study, a total of 106 points from 38 patients were studied to take electrical impedance and biopsy samples. The impedance data were evaluated in both malignant and benign groups, and revealed a significant difference between these two groups. The impedivity of the malignant bladder tissue was significantly higher than the impedivity of the benign tissue, especially at lower frequencies (p < 0.001). In addition, the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve for impedance measurements indicated that this technique could provide diagnostic information (individual classification is possible). Thus, the authors have investigated the application of bio-impedance measurements to the bladder tissue as a novel and minimally invasive technique to characterize human bladder urothelium. Therefore, this technique, especially at lower frequencies, can be a complementary method for cystoscopy, biopsy and histopathological evaluation of the bladder abnormalities.