Generating a geometric structure light field from a digital laser by specifying a laser cavity phase boundary with a Gaussian-convoluted target field.

This research proposed a simple method to design the projected phase boundary of the SLM (spatial light modulator) of the digital laser for the generation of a structure light field of geometric shape. In the proposed method, the phase boundary of the digital laser was designed to match the convolution field of the specified geometric structure field and Gaussian field instead of matching the specified geometric structure field. The phase boundary design suppressed the light reflected from the SLM of a high-inclination angle that is difficult to achieve stable oscillation in the laser resonator. Using the proposed phase boundary design, the laser output with energy distribution closed to geometric structures such as a quadrangular pyramid, triangular pyramid, cone, and multi-ring was produced through experiments. The geometric structure light field generated in this research will be beneficial to the related applications of photolithography and photopolymerization for making micro-elements.

Design of a high-efficiency LED low-beam headlamp using Oliker's compound ellipsoidal reflector.

This paper presents a design for a high-efficiency, low-beam headlamp with Oliker's ellipses technology [Computing Lett.2, 29 (2006)1574-040410.1163/157404006777491981]. In addition to the one-time intrinsic light absorption of reflection, the designed low-beam lampshade can reflect all the light from the LED in the on-demand illumination range. This study proposes and adopts a matrix calculation method to accelerate the calculation speed of constructing an Oliker's composite ellipsoidal reflector, which in turn increases the ellipsoidal facet number of the compound ellipsoidal reflector. In the design of the low-beam headlamp, the illumination weight on the target plane is defined by the method of curve fitting, which ensures that the light-field pattern of the low-beam headlamp changes smoothly rather than in a patchy distribution. The content of this study itself also provides a design method and example for applying Oliker's ellipses technology to on-demand spatial lighting.

Experimental Investigation of Generating Laser Beams of on-Demand Lateral Field Distribution from Digital Lasers.

A new type of laser system, known as a digital laser, was proposed in 2013. Many well-known laser beams with known analytical forms have been successfully generated in digital lasers. However, for a light field that does not have an analytical form, such as a multi-point light field or a light field with an arbitrary lateral distribution, how to generate such a light field from a digital laser has not been explored. The goal of this study was to experimentally explore how to generate an on-demand lateral laser field in a digital laser. In this study, a multi-point Gaussian laser beam was successfully generated in a digital laser by both controlling the range of the laser gain and the modulation of the phase boundary of the end of the cavity. This study then generated laser beams with an on-demand lateral field distribution by generating a superimposed multi-point laser field in a digital laser. Examples of triangles, rectangles, and letter T-shaped light fields produced by digital lasers were experimentally demonstrated. In summary, this study experimentally showed that a laser beam with an on-demand lateral field distribution could be generated in a digital laser by generating a superimposed multi-point laser field in a digital laser, in which a laser gain region covering the entire intra-cavity multi-point light field and the projected SLM (spatial light modulator) modulation function adopting a mimic amplitude mask are both used.

Genetics Variants and Serum Levels of MHC Class I Chain-related A in Predicting Hepatocellular Carcinoma Development in Chronic Hepatitis C Patients Post Antiviral Treatment.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: The genome-wide association study has shown that MHC class I chain-related A (MICA) genetic variants were associated with hepatitis C virus (HCV) related hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The impact of the genetic variants and its serum levels on post-treatment cohort is elusive [corrected]. METHODS: MICA rs2596542 genotype and serum MICA (sMICA) levels were evaluated in 705 patients receiving antiviral therapy. RESULTS: Fifty-eight (8·2%) patients developed HCC, with a median follow-up period of 48·2 months (range: 6­129 months). The MICA A allele was associated with a significantly increased risk of HCC development in cirrhotic non-SVR patients but not in patients of non-cirrhotic and/or with SVR. For cirrhotic non-SVR patients, high sMICA levels (HR/CI: 5·93/1·86­26·38, P = 0·002) [corrected] and the MICA rs2596542 A allele (HR/CI: 4·37/1·52­12·07, P = 0·002) were independently associated with HCC development. The risk A allele or GG genotype with sMICA > 175 ng/mL provided the best accuracy (79%) and a negative predictive value of 100% in predicting HCC. CONCLUSIONS: Cirrhotic patients who carry MICA risk alleles and those without risk alleles but with high sMICA levels possessed the highest risk of HCC development once they failed antiviral therapy.

Pretreatment glucose status determines HCC development in HCV patients with mild liver disease after curative antiviral therapy.

Although diabetes mellitus (DM) is known to increase the risk of hepatitis C virus (HCV)-related hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), the impact of dynamic glucose status on HCC occurrence in chronic hepatitis C (CHC) patients receiving antiviral therapy is unclear. In total, 1112 biopsy-proven patients treated with peginterferon/ribavirin were enrolled in this study. Both pretreatment and post-treatment glucose status, including 75 g oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT), were measured to evaluate the association between glucose status and the development of HCC. Of the 1112 patients evaluated, 93 (8.4%) developed HCC >5183.8 person-years of follow-up (annual incidence rate: 1.79%). DM only influenced the risk of developing CC in patients with mild liver disease (F0-2) and a sustained virological response (SVR) but not in other patient subpopulations. Cox-regression analysis demonstrated that the strongest factor associated with HCC in patients with mild liver disease and SVR was the presence of DM (hazard ratio [HR]/95 % confidence intervals [CI]: 3.79/1.420-10.136, P = 0.008), followed by age (HR/CI: 1.06/1.001-1.117, P = 0.046) and platelet count (HR/CI: 0.989/0.979-1.000, P = 0.05). The percentages of SVR patients with F0-2 with normoglycemia, pre-DM, sub-DM (pre-sDM), and DM before treatment were 45.3% (n = 267), 29.9% (n = 176), 15.6% (n = 92), and 9.2% (n = 54), respectively. The percentages of HCC in patients with normoglycemia, pre-sDM, and DM were 1.1%, 3.7%, and 11.1%, respectively (trend P < 0.001). Sixteen of the 19 (84.2 %) HCC patients possessed glucose abnormality (including 6 patients with DM and 10 patients with pre-sDM) before antiviral therapy. Compared to patients with normoglycemia, the incidence of HCC increased gradually from pre-sDM (HR: 3.6, P = 0.05) to DM (HR: 11.6, P = 0.001) (adjusted trend P = 0.004). We concluded that DM is a critical determinant for the development of HCC in SVR patients with mild liver disease. Pre-sDM status carried an additional risk for HCC, and these patients should also be carefully monitored for HCC after viral eradication.