Open Eye Research Articles

Relationship Between Changes In Physical Activity Before And After Lockdown And Motor Function

The lockdown in response to COVID-19 pandemics has often led to physical inactivity. As a result, it is considered that the motor function and ADL ability declined. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of change in physical activity during COVID-19 lockdown in Osaka Japan on motor function and ADL ability of elderly people. METHODS: Thirty-one elderly people (age 60 ± 12.9 yrs.) health club participants participated in this study. Knee to wall (KTW [cm]; ankle mobility, right and left ankle), timed up and go test (TUG [sec.]) and one leg standing test with open eye (OLS [sec.], ADL function, right and left ankle), and stairs up and down time (SU and SD [sec.]; ADL) were measured before and after the COVID-19 lockdown. Then, physical activity during lockdown was investigated. The effect of lockdown was considered from the measurements before and after using ANOVA for TUG, KTW and SU&SD, and Wilcoxon signed rank test for OLS. RESULTS: Changes in physical activity during lockdown period increased in 6 people (UP group), remained unchanged in 9 people (EVEN group), and decreased in 16 people (DOWN group). KTW (average of right and left ankle) before the lockdown was 13.5 ± 3.26, 13.7 ± 3.06, 13.7 ± 2.80 (UP, EVEN, DOWN, respectively). KTW after lockdown were 13.8 ± 3.65, 13.1 ± 3.01, 12.9 ± 2.92 (UP, EVEN, DOWN, respectively). As a result of ANOVA, the effect of interaction (Group and before/after lockdown) was moderate (f = 0.4816). Also, as a result of multiple comparison, KTW of DOWN has decreased significantly after lockdown compared to before. TUG before lockdown were 5.53 ± 1.052, 5.93 ± 0.951, 6.32 ± 2.248, and TUG after lockdown were 5.57 ± 1.169, 5.71 ± 1.075, 6.94 ± 3.613 (UP, EVEN, DOWN, respectively). TUG before lockdown were 5.53 ± 1.052, 5.93 ± 0.951, 6.32 ± 2.248 (UP, EVEN, DOWN, respectively). TUG was not significantly different. Also, there was no difference in SU&SD before and after the lockdown. OLS decreased after lockdown (38.0 ± 23.73 to 36.6 ± 23.47), but there was no difference between the groups. CONCLUSIONS: Decreased flexibility of the ankle joint and standing balance were observed in elderly people due to reduced physical activity during lockdown. However, it did not decrease to ADL ability.

Characterizing the effects of in utero valproic acid exposure on murine fetoplacental development

IntroductionValproic acid (VPA) is an effective anti-epileptic drug clinically used to treat seizures, bipolar disorders and neuropathic pain in women of reproductive age. Current approval of VPA for psychiatric conditions and migraine has increased the number of VPA exposed pregnancies. VPA crosses the placental barrier and induces birth defects in about 10% of exposed pregnancies. In addition, VPA exposure results in neurodevelopmental disorders in children without any overt birth defects. The current study was designed to investigate the effects of in utero VPA exposure on fetoplacental growth in a mouse model. MethodsPregnant CD-1 dams were exposed to a single teratogenic dose of 400 mg/kg VPA or saline via subcutaneous injection on gestational day (GD) 9 and fetuses were harvested on GD 13, 15, 17 and 19, respectively. Resorptions, gross malformations, fetal weight, fetal head weight, fetal crown-rump length, fetal head transverse and anteroposterior diameters, placental weight and placental diameter were noted. ResultsVPA exposure led to multiple external deformities including exencephaly, open eye defect, subcutaneous hemorrhage and underdevelopment of tail. All fetoplacental growth parameters fetal weight, fetal head weight, fetal crown-rump length, placental weight and placental diameter were significantly reduced in VPA-exposed fetuses with and without congenital malformations such as exencephaly, compared to control fetuses. DiscussionIn conclusion, the effects of in utero VPA exposure on fetal and placental growth persisted throughout pregnancy and our results suggest that the effects of VPA on placental growth may play a role in VPA-induced toxicity.

Characteristics of open eye injuries in the Beirut Port explosion

IntroductionOn the 4th of August 2020 an ammonium nitrate explosion took place at the Port of Beirut in Lebanon. The aim of this study was to present the open eye injuries caused by the Beirut Port blast, and to describe their characteristics and visual outcomes at 6 months. MethodsPatients who suffered from open globe injuries during the Beirut port explosion were recruited. Characteristics of the ocular injuries and best corrected distance visual acuity (BCVA) were recorded at presentation and at 6 months. ResultsAll included eyes (23 eyes of 19 patients) suffered from penetrating open globe injuries secondary to glass material and were operated by globe exploration + primary repair. Four of the 19 patients suffered from bilateral injuries none of whom suffered from legal blindness. BCVA at presentation was hand motion or worse in 21 of 23 eyes (91%). Seven of 23 eyes (30%) had expulsive loss of intraocular tissue, 4 of 23 eyes (17%) had retinal detachment and 4 of 23 eyes (17%) had traumatic cataracts. Ocular trama score (OTS) had a mean +/- standard deviation (SD) of 61 +/- 12. Eleven of 23 eyes (48%) had zone 2 ocular injuries and 10 of 23 eyes (43%) had zone 3 ocular injuries. At 6 months follow-up 15 of 23 eyes (65%) had a BCVA of less than 20/200. All patients with Grade 2 OTS, zone 3 injuries, expulsive loss of intraocular tissue and retinal detachment had BCVA of less than 20/200 at 6 months. ConclusionOpen eye injuries secondary to explosions occur most frequently due to glass fragments. Most of the victims were indoors, near windows and less than 500m away of the explosion site at the time of the blast. The majority of victims have very low BCVA, a low OTS and a high ocular ZOI at presentation which reflects the danger of open globe injuries secondary to blasts. A high ZOI, a low OTS, the expulsive loss of intraocular tissue and retinal detachment seem to be predictors of worse VA at 6 months.

Отдаленные результаты отсроченного удаления внутриглазного инородного тела при открытой травме глазного яблока с поражением заднего сегмента

Purpose. To study the clinical efficacy of the long-term results of a step-by-step method of surgical treatment of open eye trauma complicated by the presence of the intraocular foreign body (IFB) in the posterior segment, including primary surgical treatment (PST) and delayed vitreoretinal surgery with IFB extraction within 24 hours after PST. Material and methods. The clinical efficacy of delayed IFB removal within 2 years was studied in 32 eyes with open trauma of the eyeball complicated by the presence of IFB in the posterior segment. Concomitant traumatic complications included partial hemophthalmos (84.4%) and rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (RD) (59.4%). Results. By the end of 2 years of follow-up, the anatomical effect was observed in all examined 21 eyes, including 15 eyes (71.4%) with hemophthalmos and 13 eyes (61.9%) with traumatic retinal detachment. In this case, recurrence of RD occurred in 7 eyes, post-traumatic traction RD- in 3 eyes. Functional effect with improved visual acuity was in 12 eyes (57.1%). At the same time, the MCVA was 0.3±0.05 (0.15–0.5). Conclusion. The presented method made it possible to achieve a stable anatomical effect and stable functional results, even in the presence of severe trauma complicated by total hemophthalmos and retinal detachment, in the long term. Key words: open eyeball injury, intraocular foreign body, primary surgical treatment, transvitreal intraocular foreign body extraction, post-traumatic traction retinal detachment.

Использование аутологичной кондиционированной плазмы (аср) в хирургии тяжелой патологии заднего отрезка глаза. Трехлетний опыт использования технологии

Purpose. To evaluate the effectiveness and long-term results of the use of autologous conditioned plasma in the surgery of open eye injury, including perforating eye injuries, surgery of the cicatricial stage of the subretinal neovascular membrane, rhematogenous retinal detachment, including retinal detachment with macular hole in people with high myopia with expressed scleral staphyloma, without the use of an additional laser coagulation of the retina and the almost complete exclusion of silicone tamponade. Material and methods. Since 2018, more than 250 patients with various vitreous pathologies of the posterior eye segment have been operated on perforating eye injuries, cicatricial stage of the subretinal neovascular membrane, idiopathic macular rupture, rhegmatogenous retinal detachment, including those with macular holes, including cases with high myopia and expressed scleral staphyloma. The developed technology of surgical closure of defects of the retina, choroid, sclera of various lengths using autologous conditioned plasma, made it possible to completely eliminate the need for laser coagulation of the retina, which in most cases would be difficult and unsafe, and to practically exclude silicone tamponade. A method of seamless sealing of sclero and conjunctivotomies with the variant of air tamponade using autologous conditioned plasma has been developed and successfully applied. Results. In the early postoperative period the patients in all clinical groups had no complications. Complete adhesion of the retina and sealing of defects in the structures of the eye after using autologous conditioned plasma without additional laser coagulation of the retina on the background of the applied air and silicone tamponade was observed in all patients. In the long-term follow-up period up to 28 months, there were isolated recurrences of retinal detachment after surgery of complex open eye injury, rhematogenous retinal detachment on the background of progression of proliferative vitreoretinopathy. More than 89% of patients had no complications in the long-term period. Complete closure of the sclero and conjunctivotomies without the use of additional suture fixation had been achieved. In all cases, the vascular pattern of the conjunctiva was preserved, in no case was a reactive process detected at the site of application of autologous conditioned plasma. Conclusion. The use of autologous conditioned plasma is an effective and safe method of sealing defects of the retina, choroid, sclera of various lengths in complex open eye injury, of surgery of rhematogenous retinal detachment, including high myopia and the presence of a macular hole, of surgery of the cicatricial stage of the subretinal neovascular membrane, allowing to completely eliminate the need for laser coagulation of the retina, minimize the need for silicone tamponade.

Клинический случай обширного субконъюнктивального разрыва склеры с благоприятным исходом

Aim. To present a clinical case of severe open injury of the eyeball of a con-tusion nature with the presence of intraocular complications and to show that de-spite the significant severity of the injury, good results can be achieved. Material and methods. Patient injured his right eye at home with a metal tip on a rubber band, after which his vision sharply decreased, pain and lacrimation of the right eye appeared. Objectively: vision of the right eye pr. l. certae, intraocular pressure (palpation) - hypotension. No foreign body was found on the survey radi-ograph of the orbits. An ultrasound B-scan revealed hemophthalmus, and subse-quently (after 7 days) retinal detachment appeared. The patient underwent vitrec-tomy, tamponade of the vitreous cavity with silicone oil, endolaser coagulation of the retina. Results. On the 1st day after the operation, the visual acuity increased to 0.4 with correction (shp +8.0). 3 months after discharge from the hospital, the patient had complete safety of the eyeball and stable functional results were achieved, where the visual functions of the injured eye were 0.5 with correction (shp + 8.0). Conclusions. A clinical case of severe open eye injury with extensive sub-conjunctival rupture of the sclera, hemophthalmos and retinal detachment demon-strates that, despite the severity of the injury, with timely provision of high-tech surgical care, there is a real chance of saving the eyeball and get high visual func-tions. Key words: Traumatic vitreous haemorrhage; vitrectomy; subconjunctival rupture of the sclera; retinal detachment.

Visual outcomes associated with delay from trauma to surgery for open globe eye injury in Palestine: a retrospective chart review study

BackgroundOpen globe eye injuries have poor visual outcomes. In Palestine, no studies have completely described the impact of time delays to surgery on visual outcomes. This study examines the causal factors for open globe eye injuries, time to presentation, and the effects of delays to surgery on visual outcomes. MethodsA retrospective review was carried out of 413 patients with monocular open globe eye injuries attending St John Eye Hospital, Jerusalem, occupied Palestine territory, from Jan 1, 2000, to Dec 31, 2005. Injury cause, time to presentation, visual acuity on arrival, and the final corrected visual outcomes were assessed. FindingsOpen globe eye injuries were caused by traumatic injury during the Intifada in 2002 (13%) and military actions throughout the study period (14%), but most injuries (38%) occurred in workplace or were related to domestic eye injuries (20%). The median time from open globe eye injury to arrival at hospital was 4 hours (IQR 11–3); 290 (70%) of 413 patients arrived within 8 h of injury. Visual acuity on arrival was normal only in five eyes (1·2%), functionally accepted vision in 42 eyes (10%), visually impaired in 77 eyes (18.6%), blindness in 229 (55%), and difficult to measure in 60 (15%). Surgical repair was performed in 366 eyes (89%) and 47 (11%) eyes were removed. After surgery, visual status was classified as visual acuity impaired in 85 (20·6%) of 336 repaired eyes, blindness in 87 (21%), normal vision restored in 58 eyes (14%), functionally acceptable vision restored in 116 eyes (28%), difficult to measure in 20 (4·8%). Among the 290 patients who presented within 8 h of injury, the final visual outcomes were impaired visual acuity in 72 (25%), blindness in 71 (24%), eye removed in 38 (13%), and visual acuity difficult to measure due to very young age or devastating injury remaining after surgery in 14 (4.8%) and vision was restored in 95 (33%). InterpretationDespite the devastating nature of open globe eye injury, minimum time from trauma to surgical intervention could save the injured eyes. Further studies should investigate whether delay in surgery affects outcomes in relation to the severity of injuries, as this study is cross-sectional and longitudinal epidemiological studies might yield better interpretations. FundingNone.

Role of Short Term Open Eye OrthoK Lens Wear in Inducing Myopia Control Changes in Eyes With Moderate Myopia

Purpose: To assess peripheral refraction, corneal, and visual acuity changes after open eye use of orthokeratology (OrthoK) contact lenses. Methodology: OrthoK contact lenses were worn on separate occasions for half an hour and 2 hours in open eye condition. The peripheral refraction (PR) changes were assessed monocularly up to 30° nasally and temporally in the horizontal visual field using the open field autorefractometer. Average corneal power (ACP), central corneal thickness (CCT), and visual acuity (VA) was recorded using corneal topographer, specular microscope, and LogMAR chart respectively. Results: Mean baseline PR at 25° and beyond both nasally and temporally was -0.54 ± 1.68D (mean ± SD) which increased to mean -1.29 ± 1.43D (p < 0.01) post half an hour of lens wear and further increased to mean -1.62 ± 1.53D (p < 0.01) after 2 hours lens wear. The mean baseline ACP was 43.45 ± 1.34D that reduced to mean 43.11 ± 1.37D (p < 0.01) after half an hour of lens wear and a further reduction to mean 42.73 ± 1.34D (p < 0.01) 2 hours post lens wear. Mean CCT changes after half an hour lens wear were not significant but it reduced by mean 14.92 ± 4.68 µm (p < 0.01) 2 hours post lens wear as compared to baseline. The unaided VA improved from mean 0.85 + 0.37 log at baseline to mean 0.49 + 0.35 log (p < 0.01) after half an hour of lens wear and mean 0.39 + 0.35 log (p < 0.01) after 2 hours of OrthoK lens wear. Conclusion: Rapid corneal and peripheral refraction shifts are seen after half an hour of open-eye wear of the OrthoK lens with a gradual rise in impact for 2 hours of lens wear.

Scalable Two-Mode 3-Port and 4-Port Mode Insensitive Silicon Photonic Switches

We propose and experimentally demonstrate a novel design approach for scalable 3-port and 4-port mode insensitive multimode switching matrices for the first two quasi-transverse electric (TE) modes. The mode insensitive phase shifter ensures less power consumption for simultaneous multimode signal transmission in a mode division multiplexing (MDM) network. At 1550 nm, the 3-port switch exhibits approximately 2.6 dB and 3.3 dB insertion loss for the longest path with a crosstalk of at most 10 dB and 8 dB over a bandwidth of 40 nm (1530 nm to 1570 nm) for <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${\mathrm {TE}}_{\mathrm {0}}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> and <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${\mathrm {TE}}_{\mathrm {1}}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> modes, respectively. The insertion loss measured for the 4-port switch is approximately 2.7 dB and 3.6 dB at 1550 nm with a corresponding crosstalk less than 8 dB for the two TE modes, respectively. The payload transmission is also performed using both 10 Gb/s non-return-to-zero (NRZ) and 14.0625 Gbaud 4-level pulse-amplitude modulation (PAM4) pseudorandom binary sequence (PRBS)-31 data signal to analyze the performance of the switches. Clear open eyes are observed for both single-mode and simultaneous two-mode transmissions. The low insertion loss, low intermodal crosstalk over a large optical bandwidth, and the clear open eye validate the scalability of the proposed switches for larger port count and higher-order modes.

Role of Short Term Open Eye Orthok Lens Wear in Inducing Myopia Control Changes in Eyes with Moderate Myopia

Purpose: To assess peripheral refraction, corneal, and visual acuity changes after open eye use of orthokeratology (OrthoK) contact lenses. Methodology: OrthoK contact lenses were worn on separate occasions for half an hour and 2 hours in open eye condition. The peripheral refraction (PR) changes were assessed monocularly up to 30° nasally and temporally in the horizontal visual field using the open field autorefractometer. Average corneal power (ACP), central corneal thickness (CCT), and visual acuity (VA) was recorded using corneal topographer, specular microscope, and LogMAR chart respectively. Results: Mean baseline PR at 25° and beyond both nasally and temporally was -0.54 ± 1.68D (mean ± SD) which increased to mean -1.29 ± 1.43D (p &lt; 0.01) post half an hour of lens wear and further increased to mean -1.62 ± 1.53D (p &lt; 0.01) after 2 hours lens wear. The mean baseline ACP was 43.45 ± 1.34D that reduced to mean 43.11 ± 1.37D (p &lt; 0.01) after half an hour of lens wear and a further reduction to mean 42.73 ± 1.34D (p &lt; 0.01) 2 hours post lens wear. Mean CCT changes after half an hour lens wear were not significant but it reduced by mean 14.92 ± 4.68 µm (p &lt; 0.01) 2 hours post lens wear as compared to baseline. The unaided VA improved from mean 0.85 + 0.37 log at baseline to mean 0.49 + 0.35 log (p &lt; 0.01) after half an hour of lens wear and mean 0.39 + 0.35 log (p &lt; 0.01) after 2 hours of OrthoK lens wear. Conclusion: Rapid corneal and peripheral refraction shifts are seen after half an hour of open-eye wear of the OrthoK lens with a gradual rise in impact for 2 hours of lens wear.

Modeling of mechanical eye injury. Relevance. Background

The share of eye injuries in Russia is from 3 to 8% of the total number of injuries in peacetime. Eye trauma is one of the three main causes of vision disability and accounts for 22.8%. In wartime, the mass admission of wounded with damage to the organ of vision requires prompt decisions on their sorting, treatment, rehabilitation, dismissal, or return to duty. In peacetime, mechanical trauma to the eye is associated with the disability of the working population and large material costs. Considering the relevance of mechanical trauma to the eye, ophthalmologists around the world are constantly investigating the features of the pathogenetic mechanism, diagnosis, and treatment. Retrospective studies are based on the analysis of clinical cases, which are not always homogeneous. Experimental damage modeling has a long history. Attempts to simulate mechanical eye trauma have been made since the 40s of the XX century. Mathematical models are calculated based on known data: thickness, density, the elasticity of tissues, this makes it possible to predict the result of exposure to a wounding agent. Unfortunately, in these models, it is difficult to reproduce the entire complex of pathomorphological changes. The created models fulfilled the assigned tasks but had certain drawbacks. In each subsequent experiment, the reproducibility improved and the model approached the desired one as accurately as possible. Specialists of the Professor V.V. Volkov Ophthalmology Department S.M. Kirov Military Medical Academy since the 40s. are engaged in solving this problem. For the first time in an experiment, B.L. Pole proved that closure of eyeball wounds with corneal and scleral sutures has an advantage over conjunctival covering. B.V. Monakhov et al. created an installation for inflicting mine-explosive injury to the eye. In the experiment, M.M. Shishkin inflicted a combined eye injury by striking the sclera with a knife with a rectangular blade and firing an air rifle at the knife handle. B.A. Kanevsky et al. reproduced a D-type gunshot open eye injury shot from an air rifle with a multi-compression piston pump. The creation of models that reproduce the mechanical trauma of the eye made it possible to study it in an experiment, which improved the quality of diagnostics and reduced the proportion of disability in this pathology (bibliography: 24 refs).

High-speed and high-power germanium photodetector with a lateral silicon nitride waveguide

Up to now, the light coupling schemes of germanium-on-silicon photodetectors (Ge-on-Si PDs) could be divided into three main categories: (1) vertical (or normal-incidence) illumination, which can be from the top or back of the wafer/chip, and waveguide-integrated coupling including (2) butt coupling and (3) evanescent coupling. In evanescent coupling the input waveguide can be positioned on top, at the bottom, or lateral to the absorber. Here, to the best of our knowledge, we propose the first concept of Ge-on-Si PD with double lateral silicon nitride ( Si 3 N 4 ) waveguides, which can serve as a novel waveguide-integrated coupling configuration: double lateral coupling. The Ge-on-Si PD with double lateral Si 3 N 4 waveguides features uniform optical field distribution in the Ge region, which is very beneficial to improving the operation speed for high input power. The proposed Ge-on-Si PD is comprehensively characterized by static and dynamic measurements. The typical internal responsivity is evaluated to be 0.52 A/W at an input power of 25 mW. The equivalent circuit model and theoretical 3 dB opto-electrical (OE) bandwidth investigation of Ge-on-Si PD with lateral coupling are implemented. Based on the small-signal (S21) radio-frequency measurements, under 4 mA photocurrent, a 60 GHz bandwidth operating at − 3 V bias voltage is demonstrated. When the photocurrent is up to 12 mA, the 3 dB OE bandwidth still has 36 GHz. With 1 mA photocurrent, the 70, 80, 90, and 100 Gbit/s non-return-to-zero (NRZ) and 100, 120, 140, and 150 Gbit/s four-level pulse amplitude modulation clear openings of eye diagrams are experimentally obtained without utilizing any offline digital signal processing at the receiver side. In order to verify the high-power handling performance in high-speed data transmission, we investigate the eye diagram variations with the increase of photocurrents. The clear open electrical eye diagrams of 60 Gbit/s NRZ under 20 mA photocurrent are also obtained. Overall, the proposed lateral Si 3 N 4 waveguide structure is flexibly extendable to a light coupling configuration of PDs, which makes it very attractive for developing high-performance silicon photonic integrated circuits in the future.

Influence of Gas Density and Plug Diameter on Plume Characteristics by Ladle Stirring

The paper presents new results concerning the influence of the gas density and porous plug diameter on the nature of liquid steel stirring with an inert gas in the ladle. The tests were carried out on a cold model of a 30t ladle using particle image velocimetry (PIV) with a high-speed camera to analyse the plume zone formed during the supply of argon and helium as a stirring gas. The similarity criteria for the investigation of stirring processes in cold model in the past were discussed and compared. The modified Morton number was used in this paper to relate the gas flow rate in the model with real objects. The presented results constitute complete documentation of the influence of the plug diameter and gas density on the size of formed gas bubbles and the velocity of gas bubbles rising in different zones of the plume, plume, and spout geometry, including the expansion angle, spout height, open eye area, and gas hold-up.

Balance Comparison between Iranian Elderly with and without Knee Range of Motion Limitations

This study compares the static eye movement (eyes open and eyes closed) and dynamic balance amongst Iranian elderly with and without knee range of motion (ROM) limitations. The method used was a quasi-experimental before/after study. The participants consisted of 30 older Iranian adults, aged 60 or more (10 females and 20 males across two groups of 15 in each group) who were evaluated using the Sharpened Romberg (SR), Timed Up and Go (TUG) tests. An independent t-test was used to compare the descriptive characteristics of the two groups of the elderly. The findings showed substantial alterations in all the measured components between the subjects. The static balance with an open eye (p = 0.028) and closed eye (p = 0.021), as well as the dynamic balance (p = 0.009) between the elderly with and without the limitation of knee ROM, was substantially different. Moving forward, the findings of this study suggested that the balance of the elderly was directly linked to knee ROM, as the elderly without limitations of knee ROM displayed greater stability than the elderly with limitations of knee ROM. Health care practitioners should also understand the ROM of the knee, as individuals with ROM limitations of the knee are more likely to fall due to underlying disorders associated with their balance.

Scalable and Low Crosstalk Silicon Mode Exchanger for Mode Division Multiplexing System Enabled by Inverse Design

In this paper, we design and experimentally demonstrate a two-mode and three-mode mode exchanger (ME) using an inverse design method. The designed MEs provide more flexibility for mode division multiplexing (MDM) system links. The optimized designs are compact, 16 μm <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sup> and 24 μm <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sup> for the two-mode and three-mode ME, respectively. During the optimization process, the fabrication imperfection tolerance, insertion loss (IL), and crosstalk performance are optimized. Considering the symmetry of these devices, some forward and adjoint simulations are reused. Thus, only N simulations per iteration are required for N mode ME even considering crosstalk in the figure of merit (FOM). The fabricated two-mode ME exhibits IL less than 0.52 dB within the wavelength range from 1.5 μm to 1.6 μm. The corresponding crosstalk is at most -18.5 dB within the same wavelength range. The 2 × 10 Gbps non-return to zero (NRZ) PRBS-31 payload transmission shows clear and open eye diagrams for all output modes. A three-mode ME is also experimentally demonstrated validating the scalability using inverse design for adaptable ME devices. The fabricated three-mode ME exhibits an IL less than 0.85 dB and 0.9 dB for the conversions from TE0 to TE1 and from TE1 to TE0, while the TE2 to TE2 transmission has an IL of 1.7 dB within the same wavelength range. The crosstalk is less than -16.5 for all three output modes with 3 × 10 Gbps NRZ open eye diagrams.

Investigation of opening eye defects and effects of different ripening profiles on eye structure in semi-hard cheese using X-ray micro-computed tomography

In Swiss-type cheese the presence of eyes is an important sign of quality. During the ripening process defects in the eye structure can occur. Therefore, monitoring the ripening process is essential.

High-Performance GeSn Photodetector Covering All Telecommunication Bands

We report the design and fabrication of a high-speed GeSn normal-incidence p-i-n photodetector. To realize high-speed detection in all telecommunication bands, we optimize the Sn content in the absorption layer, the absorption-layer thickness, and the device size. The responsivity of the 18-μm-diameter device at 1550 nm reaches 0.32 A/W with an extended cutoff wavelength of 1700 nm and a 3-dB bandwidth as high as 28 GHz under -3 V bias, clear open eye diagrams are also obtained under zero bias at 1630 nm. All the results indicate that the device has a significant potential for applications in Si-based optical telecommunication in all telecommunication bands.

Integrated avalanche photodetectors for visible light

Integrated photodetectors are essential components of scalable photonics platforms for quantum and classical applications. However, most efforts in the development of such devices to date have been focused on infrared telecommunications wavelengths. Here, we report the first monolithically integrated avalanche photodetector (APD) for visible light. Our devices are based on a doped silicon rib waveguide with a novel end-fire input coupling to a silicon nitride waveguide. We demonstrate a high gain-bandwidth product of 234 ± 25 GHz at 20 V reverse bias measured for 685 nm input light, with a low dark current of 0.12 μA. We also observe open eye diagrams at up to 56 Gbps. This performance is very competitive when benchmarked against other integrated APDs operating in the infrared range. With CMOS-compatible fabrication and integrability with silicon photonic platforms, our devices are attractive for sensing, imaging, communications, and quantum applications at visible wavelengths.

Astrocyte glutamate uptake coordinates experience-dependent, eye-specific refinement in developing visual cortex.

The uptake of glutamate by astrocytes actively shapes synaptic transmission, however its role in the development and plasticity of neuronal circuits remains poorly understood. The astrocytic glutamate transporter, GLT1 is the predominant source of glutamate clearance in the adult mouse cortex. Here, we examined the structural and functional development of the visual cortex in GLT1 heterozygous (HET) mice using two-photon microscopy, immunohistochemistry and slice electrophysiology. We find that though eye-specific thalamic axonal segregation is intact, binocular refinement in the primary visual cortex is disrupted. Eye-specific responses to visual stimuli in GLT1 HET mice show altered binocular matching, with abnormally high responses to ipsilateral compared to contralateral eye stimulation and a greater mismatch between preferred orientation selectivity of ipsilateral and contralateral eye responses. Furthermore, we observe an increase in dendritic spine density in the basal dendrites of layer 2/3 excitatory neurons suggesting aberrant spine pruning. Monocular deprivation induces atypical ocular dominance plasticity in GLT1 HET mice, with an unusual depression of ipsilateral open eye responses; however, this change in ipsilateral responses correlates well with an upregulation of GLT1 protein following monocular deprivation. These results demonstrate that a key function of astrocytic GLT1 function during development is the experience-dependent refinement of ipsilateral eye inputs relative to contralateral eye inputs in visual cortex.

Increasing accuracy of the epilepsy signal classification

Epilepsy is a condition that can cause a person to experience seizures repeatedly. Epilepsy can attack someone when there is damage or changes in the brain. This study researchers tried to use sampling techniques as a feature of extracting epilepsy signal features and the K-NN method to identify epilepsy signal patterns. The data of this study took epilepsy signal data from the University of Bonn’s Epileptologie clinic which consisted of data set A, open eye normal signal, set B normal closed eye signal, set C in epilepsy zone, set D enter epilepsy, set E seizure epilepsy. In this study, researchers tried to classify data set A, data for normal people and data set E, data for people who have epilepsy. Data set A consists of 100 EEG signals and data set E consists of 100 EEG signal data. The data used are data for the training process as much as 50 Epilepsy signal data and data for the trial process as many as 50 Epilepsy signal data. In the trial process the classification results reach 100% accuracy. The trial process uses the value of K = 1 to the value of K = 9.