This study was proposed to compare the clinical effectiveness of mini-tract percutaneous nephrolithotomy (MPCNL) with standard-tract percutaneous nephrolithotomy (SPCNL) and verify whether MPCNL is associated with both higher renal pelvic pressure (RPP) and incidence of postoperative fever. A total of 228 patients with kidney stone were randomly allocated to the MPCNL group (n=114) and SPCNL group (n=114). Both intraoperative and postoperative indexes along with the incidence of complications were compared between the two treatment groups. RPP was measured using a baroreceptor which was connected to an open-ended ureteric catheter during the operation of percutaneous nephrolithotomy. The MPCNL group exhibited significantly longer average operation time, more average amount of flush water, and lesser average amount of bleeding during the operation than the SPCNL group (p<0.05). Moreover, significantly lesser average amount of postoperative serum creatinine, shorter average hospital stay, and more average amount of postoperative hemoglobin were observed in the MPCNL group than in the SPCNL group (p<0.05). MPCNL were more applicable to clear caliceal stones (p<0.05), whereas SPCNL were more effective for the removal of simple pelvic stones. The difference in the incidence of postoperative fever between the two treatment groups also appeared to be significant (p<0.05). Logistic regression provided solid evidence that both RPP and its accumulation time at which RPP≥30 mmHg significantly affected the incidence of postoperative fever. MPCNL was correlated with both higher RPP and increased likelihood of postoperative fever compared with SPCNL.

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Various transition-metal trichalcogenides (TMTC) show unique electronic properties, such as metal–insulator transition, topological insulator, and even superconducting transition. Currently, almost all metallic TMTC compounds can show superconductivity either at ambient pressure or at high pressure. However, most TMTC compounds are semiconductors and even insulators. Does superconductivity exist in any non-metallic TMTC compound by artificial manipulation? In this work, the electronic behavior of highly insulating HfS3 has been manipulated in terms of pressure. HfS3 undergoes an insulator-to-semiconductor transition near 17 GPa with a band gap reduction of ∼1 eV. Optical absorption, Raman spectroscopy, and X-ray diffraction measurements provide consistent results, suggesting the structural origin of the electronic transition. Upon further compression, HfS3 becomes a superconductor without further structural transition. The superconducting transition occurs as early as 50.6 GPa, and the T c reaches 8.1 K at 121 GPa, which sets a new record for TMTCs. This work reveals that all TMTCs may be superconductors and opens a new avenue to explore the abundant emergent phenomena in the TMTC material family.

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