Gigabit per second visible light communication based on AlGaInP red micro-LED micro-transfer printed onto diamond and glass.

Full-color smart displays, which act both as a display and as a high-speed visible light communication (VLC) transmitter, can be realized by the integration of red-green-blue micron-sized light emitting diodes (micro-LEDs) onto a common platform. In this work, we report on the integration of aluminum gallium indium phosphide red micro-LEDs onto diamond and glass substrates by micro-transfer printing and their application in VLC. The device on-diamond exhibits high current density and bandwidth operation, enabled by diamond's superior thermal properties. Employing an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing modulation scheme, error-free data rates of 2.6 Gbps and 5 Gbps are demonstrated for a single micro-LED printed on-glass and on-diamond, respectively. In a parallel configuration, a 2x1 micro-LED array achieves error-free data rates of 3 Gbps and 6.6 Gbps, on-glass and on-diamond, respectively.

Direct integration of micro-LEDs and a SPAD detector on a silicon CMOS chip for data communications and time-of-flight ranging.

We present integration of singulated micron-sized light emitting diodes (micro-LEDs) directly onto a silicon CMOS drive chip using a transfer printing method. An 8x8 micro-LED device array with individual control over each pixel is demonstrated with modulation bandwidths up to 50 MHz, limited by the large modulation depth of the driver chip. The 2 kHz frame rate CMOS driver also incorporates a Single Photon Avalanche Diode device thus allowing detection and transmission functionality on a single integrated chip. Visible light communications at data rates up to 1 Mbps, and time-of-flight ranging with cm-scale resolution are demonstrated using this hybrid integrated system.

Gallium nitride micro-light-emitting diode structured light sources for multi-modal optical wireless communications systems.

Gallium nitride-based light-emitting diodes (LEDs) have revolutionized the lighting industry with their efficient generation of blue and green light. While broad-area (square millimetre) devices have become the dominant LED lighting technology, fabricating LEDs into micro-scale pixels (micro-LEDs) yields further advantages for optical wireless communications (OWC), and for the development of smart-lighting applications such as tracking and imaging. The smaller active areas of micro-LEDs result in high current density operation, providing high modulation bandwidths and increased optical power density. Fabricating micro-LEDs in array formats allows device layouts to be tailored for target applications and provides additional degrees of freedom for OWC systems. Temporal and spatial control is crucial to use the full potential of these micro-scale sources, and is achieved by bonding arrays to pitch-matched complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor control electronics. These compact, integrated chips operate as digital-to-light converters, providing optical signals from digital inputs. Applying the devices as projection systems allows structured light patterns to be used for tracking and self-location, while simultaneously providing space-division multiple access communication links. The high-speed nature of micro-LED array devices, combined with spatial and temporal control, allows many modes of operation for OWC providing complex functionality with chip-scale devices. This article is part of the theme issue 'Optical wireless communication'.

High-frequency dynamics of evanescently-coupled nanowire lasers.

We analyse the dynamics and conditions for stability in an array of two laterally-coupled nanowire lasers in terms of their separation, difference in resonant frequencies and pumping rate under conditions of weak coupling. We find that the regions of stability are very small and are found close to zero frequency offset between the lasers. Outside these regions various forms of instability including periodic oscillation, chaos and complex dynamics are predicted. Importantly, the analysis of the frequency of periodic oscillations for realistic laser separations and pumping yields values of order 100 GHz thus underlining the significant potential of nanowire laser arrays for ultra-high frequency on-chip systems with very low foot-print and energy requirements.

Hybrid integration of an evanescently coupled AlGaAs microdisk resonator with a silicon waveguide by nanoscale-accuracy transfer printing.

Hybrid integration of a III-V microdisk resonator on a silicon-on-insulator waveguide platform is demonstrated. Transfer printing with nanoscale accuracy is used to micro-assemble an evanescently coupled all-pass microdisk resonator with a targeted coupler gap of 100 nm using pre-fabricated AlGaAs and silicon components. Transmission measurements show hybrid resonances with a loaded Q-factor of 7×103 and a cavity finesse of over 100.

Qubit entanglement between ring-resonator photon-pair sources on a silicon chip.

Entanglement--one of the most delicate phenomena in nature--is an essential resource for quantum information applications. Scalable photonic quantum devices must generate and control qubit entanglement on-chip, where quantum information is naturally encoded in photon path. Here we report a silicon photonic chip that uses resonant-enhanced photon-pair sources, spectral demultiplexers and reconfigurable optics to generate a path-entangled two-qubit state and analyse its entanglement. We show that ring-resonator-based spontaneous four-wave mixing photon-pair sources can be made highly indistinguishable and that their spectral correlations are small. We use on-chip frequency demultiplexers and reconfigurable optics to perform both quantum state tomography and the strict Bell-CHSH test, both of which confirm a high level of on-chip entanglement. This work demonstrates the integration of high-performance components that will be essential for building quantum devices and systems to harness photonic entanglement on the large scale.

Integrated nonlinear Mach Zehnder for 40 Gbit/s all-optical switching.

We report on the experimental demonstration of a novel silicon based fully integrated nonlinear Mach Zehnder device. A standard silicon waveguide is used as a nonlinear arm, conversely a large mode SU-8 waveguide acts as a purely linear arm. Given this asymmetry, an intensity dependent phase shift can be introduced between the two interferometric arms. Thanks to a fine tuning of the silicon arm optical properties, a low power, ultrafast, picosecond operation is demonstrated, allowing the use of this device for ultrafast all-optical signal processing in high density communication networks.

Administration of vorinostat disrupts HIV-1 latency in patients on antiretroviral therapy.

Despite antiretroviral therapy, proviral latency of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) remains a principal obstacle to curing the infection. Inducing the expression of latent genomes within resting CD4(+) T cells is the primary strategy to clear this reservoir. Although histone deacetylase inhibitors such as suberoylanilide hydroxamic acid (also known as vorinostat, VOR) can disrupt HIV-1 latency in vitro, the utility of this approach has never been directly proven in a translational clinical study of HIV-infected patients. Here we isolated the circulating resting CD4(+) T cells of patients in whom viraemia was fully suppressed by antiretroviral therapy, and directly studied the effect of VOR on this latent reservoir. In each of eight patients, a single dose of VOR increased both biomarkers of cellular acetylation, and simultaneously induced an increase in HIV RNA expression in resting CD4(+) cells (mean increase, 4.8-fold). This demonstrates that a molecular mechanism known to enforce HIV latency can be therapeutically targeted in humans, provides proof-of-concept for histone deacetylase inhibitors as a therapeutic class, and defines a precise approach to test novel strategies to attack and eradicate latent HIV infection directly.

Modulational instability in a silicon-on-insulator directional coupler: role of the coupling-induced group velocity dispersion.

We report frequency conversion experiments in silicon-on-insulator (SOI) directional couplers. We demonstrate that the evanescent coupling between two subwavelength SOI waveguides is strongly dispersive and significantly modifies modulational instability (MI) spectra through the coupling induced group velocity dispersion (GVD). As the separation between two 380-nm-wide silicon photonic wires decreases, the increasing dispersion of the coupling makes the GVD in the symmetric supermode more normal and suppresses the bandwidth of the MI gain observed for larger separations.

Ultrafast all-optical temporal differentiators based on CMOS-compatible integrated-waveguide Bragg gratings.

We report the first realization of integrated, all-optical first- and higher-order photonic differentiators operating at terahertz (THz) processing speeds. This is accomplished in a Silicon-on-Insulator (SOI) CMOS-compatible platform using a simple integrated geometry based on (π-)phase-shifted Bragg gratings. Moreover, we achieve on-chip generation of sub-picosecond Hermite-Gaussian pulse waveforms, which are noteworthy for applications in next-generation optical telecommunications.

Time and frequency domain measurements of solitons in subwavelength silicon waveguides using a cross-correlation technique.

We report time domain measurements of the group-velocity-dispersion-induced and nonlinearity-induced chirping of femtosecond pulses in subwavelength silicon-on-insulator waveguides. We observe that at a critical input power level, these two effects compensate each other leading to soliton formation. Formation of the fundamental optical soliton is observed at a peak power of a few Watts inside the waveguide. Interferometric cross-correlation traces reveal compression of the soliton pulses, while spectral measurements show pronounced dispersive waves emitted by solitons into the wavelength range of normal group velocity dispersion.

[Intestinal stromal tumors, rare cause of lower gastrointestinal bleeding. Case report]. / Tumora intestinala stromala, cauza rara de hemoragie digestiva inferioara. Caz clinic.

Gastrointestinal stromal tumors represent a heterogeneous group of mesenchymal tumors that can develop throughout the gastrointestinal tract. We present the clinical case of a patient with such malignancies occurred in the proximal jejunum and clinically manifested by a severe digestive hemorrhage with hemorrhagic shock and severe posthemorrhagic anemia. Pre-operative diagnosis was possible only through the Entero-MRI. The evolution was favorable after surgical extirpation. It's being discussed particular aspects of this lesion's entity and post-operative optimal attitude in this case.

Retrieval of Bragg grating transmission spectra by post-process removal of spurious Fabry-Pérot oscillations.

Efficient post-process suppression is demonstrated of spurious Fabry-Pérot oscillations, introduced by multiple cavity effects in transmission spectra measurements of various Bragg grating devices. These devices were fabricated within access waveguides and terminated with cleaved facets. The tool, based on a curve-fitting to an equivalent scattering matrix model, is shown to extract transmission spectra of devices, without a-priori knowledge of their properties. Simple and complex grating structure spectra are successfully extracted and compare well with simulated results. The technique exhibits robust behaviour for varying facet conditions and device geometries, outperforming classical averaging techniques.

[The first NOTE (Natural Orifice Translumenal Endoscopic) cholecystectomy in Romania: an experimental model in pig]. / Prima colecistectomie NOTES din România: model experimental.

NOTES (Natural Orifice Translumenal Endoscopic Surgery) represents a very new acquisition in the field of gastrointestinal endoscopy, which uses common flexible endoscopes in order to perform intraperitoneal surgical procedures. This procedure offers a very good visualisation of the peritoneal cavity, as well as the possibility of performing surgical procedures. The aim of the study is to report our experience--the first of its kind in Romania--in performing per os, transgastric procedures, emphasizing the technical challenges and the possible complications associated with this method. This is an experimental study, using pigs (tri-hybrid PIC strain), in which peritoneoscopy and cholecystectomy were performed via a hybrid-NOTES approach (a 5 mm laparoscopic port has been used, placed in the right upper quadrant). The transgastric approach of the peritoneal cavity proved to be easy, allowing simple surgical procedures. The results of the study show the feasibility of the method. During surgery, no serious complications occurred, the minor incidents being managed without conversion to classical or laparoscopic surgery.

Peptic upper gastrointestinal bleeding: diagnosis and treatment. A monocentric experience on a 5 years period.

AIM: We evaluated all the cases of upper gastrointestinal hemorrhages admitted in the Department of Endoscopy of our Clinic during a 5 years period. MATERIAL AND METHOD: 810 patients were included in our study, 64.3% males and 36.7% females, mean age 58.7 +/- 15.2 years (17-96 years). The main cause of the upper digestive hemorrhage was peptic ulcer (82.6%), equally divided in gastric and duodenal. All the ulcers were assessed according to the Forrest classification. RESULTS: Endoscopic haemostasis was performed in 40% of all cases, only epinephrine injection (1/10,000) in 44.4% of cases; combined therapy (injection + clip or thermocoagulation) in 40.3% of the cases and clip or thermocoagulation alone in 15.3% of the cases. A marked reduction of haemostasis using epinephrine injection alone (as monotherapy) was observed during the period of study. Postendoscopic treatment rebleeding occurred in 19.8% of cases; 3.6% of the patients have had a fatal outcome and surgical treatment was needed in 2.7% of cases. CONCLUSION: In an experienced Department of Endoscopy, the majority of upper gastrointestinal hemorrhages can be endoscopically treated with good results. In the last years, endoscopical haemostatic bitherapy (adrenaline injection+clipping or bipolar coagulation) replaced injection of adrenaline like monotherapy for ulcer hemostasis.

Genetic composition of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 in cerebrospinal fluid and blood without treatment and during failing antiretroviral therapy.

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection of the central nervous system (CNS) is a significant cause of morbidity. The requirements for HIV adaptation to the CNS for neuropathogenesis and the value of CSF virus as a surrogate for virus activity in brain parenchyma are not well established. We studied 18 HIV-infected subjects, most with advanced immunodeficiency and some neurocognitive impairment but none with evidence of opportunistic infection or malignancy of the CNS. Clonal sequences of C2-V3 env and population sequences of pol from HIV RNA in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and plasma were correlated with clinical and virologic variables. Most (14 of 18) subjects had partitioning of C2-V3 sequences according to compartment, and 9 of 13 subjects with drug resistance exhibited discordant resistance patterns between the two compartments. Regression analyses identified three to seven positions in C2-V3 that discriminated CSF from plasma HIV. The presence of compartmental differences at one or more of the identified positions in C2-V3 was highly associated with the presence of discordant resistance (P = 0.007), reflecting the autonomous replication of HIV and the independent evolution of drug resistance in the CNS. Discordance of resistance was associated with severity of neurocognitive deficits (P = 0.07), while low nadir CD4 counts were linked both to the severity of neurocognitive deficits and to discordant resistance patterns (P = 0.05 and 0.09, respectively). These observations support the study of CSF HIV as an accessible surrogate for HIV virions in the brain, confirm the high frequency of discordant resistance in subjects with advanced disease in the absence of opportunistic infection or malignancy of the CNS, and begin to identify genetic patterns in HIV env associated with adaptation to the CNS.

Heterogeneous clearance rates of long-lived lymphocytes infected with HIV: intrinsic stability predicts lifelong persistence.

Viral replication and latently infected cellular reservoirs persist in HIV-infected patients achieving undetectable plasma virus levels with potent antiretroviral therapy. We exploited a predictable drug resistance mutation in the HIV reverse transcriptase to label and track cells infected during defined intervals of treatment and to identify cells replenished by ongoing replication. Decay rates of subsets of latently HIV-infected cells paradoxically decreased with time since establishment, reflecting heterogeneous lymphocyte activation and clearance. Residual low-level replication can replenish cellular reservoirs; however, it does not account for prolonged clearance rates in patients without detectable viremia. In patients receiving potent antiretroviral therapy, the latent pool has a heterogeneous and dynamic composition that comprises a progressively increasing proportion of stable lymphocytes. Eradication will not be achieved with complete inhibition of viral replication alone.

Spatiotemporal dynamics of HIV propagation.

Although viral propagation is a localized process, mathematical models of viral replication kinetics have been limited to systems of ordinary differential equations describing spatially averaged behavior. In this paper, we introduce a cellular automaton model of viral propagation based on the known biophysical properties of HIV. In particular, we include the competition between viral lability and Brownian motion. The model predicts three testable effects not present in previous descriptions. First, we find a profound dependence of viral infectivity on cell concentration; virion instability decreases infectivity more than 100-fold under typical experimental conditions, resulting in misleading estimates of the number of infectious particles. Second, we find that, in a large parameter regime, infection extinguishes itself due to insufficient target cell replenishment. Finally, we find that propagation is limited by viral stability at low cell density and by geometry at high cell density. The geometry-limited regime can be modulated by downregulation of CD4. These different properties are analysed quantitatively and compared with previous experimental results.

Tuberculosis in commercial emus (Dromaius novaehollandiae).

Extensive granuloma formation typical of tuberculosis was observed in a mature female emu. The diagnosis was confirmed by demonstration of acid-fast bacilli in lesions and culture of a Mycobacterium with growth characteristics resembling M. avium from liver tissue. Individual emus on the affected farm and an epidemiologically related unit gave a positive skin reaction to intradermal M. avium tuberculin. The implication of tuberculosis in commercial emus is noted in relation to the growth of the industry in North America and to management and commercial practices that encourage dissemination of infection within the species and to other exotic and domestic animals.