Taiwan ocular inflammation society consensus recommendations for the management of juvenile idiopathic arthritis-associated uveitis.

We presented the development of a consensus guideline for managing juvenile idiopathic arthritis-associated uveitis (JIAU) in Taiwan, considering regional differences in manifestation and epidemiology. The Taiwan Ocular Inflammation Society (TOIS) committee formulated this guideline using a modified Delphi approach with two panel meetings. Recommendations were based on a comprehensive evidence-based literature review and expert clinical experiences, and were graded according to the Oxford Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine's "Levels of Evidence" guideline (March 2009). The TOIS consensus guideline consists of 10 recommendations in four categories: screening and diagnosis, treatment, complications, and monitoring, covering a total of 27 items. These recommendations received over 75% agreement from the panelists. Early diagnosis and a coordinated referral system between ophthalmologists and pediatric rheumatologists are crucial to prevent irreversible visual impairment in children with JIAU. However, achieving a balance between disease activity and medication use remains a key challenge in JIAU management, necessitating further clinical studies.

Retinal vascular arcade angle as a biomarker for visual improvement after epiretinal membrane surgery.

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the changes in the temporal vascular angles after epiretinal membrane (ERM) surgery and utilize the angles to predict visual outcomes. METHODS: A total of 168 eyes from 84 patients with unilateral ERM who underwent vitrectomy were enrolled from a single institution. The angles of temporal venous (anglevein) and arterial arcades (angleartery) were measured on fundus photographs. The relationships between the angles and the best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) were explored and multivariable logistic models and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were analyzed to identify the factors that predicted visual outcomes. RESULTS: At baseline, both angleartery and anglevein were narrower in the eyes with ERM than the fellow eyes (p < 0.001 and 0.007) but had no correlation with the baseline BCVA (p = 0.754 and 0.804). Postoperatively, the angleartery and anglevein significantly widened (both p < 0.001) and a greater BCVA improvement was associated with a greater widening of the angleartery (p = 0.029) and anglevein (p = 0.050). Multivariable logistic analyses found a narrower baseline angleartery compared to the fellow eye had a higher chance for BCVA improvement ≧ 2 lines (Odds ratio = 0.97; 95% CI, 0.94-0.99; p = 0.016). ROC curve showed the baseline difference in the angleartery between bilateral eyes predicted BCVA improvement ≧ 2 lines (area under the curve = 0.74; p = 0.035), and a 0.73 sensitivity and 0.80 specificity with a cut-off value of -27.19 degrees. CONCLUSIONS: The retinal vascular angles widened after ERM surgery and the fundus photograph-derived angles may serve as a highly-accessible biomarker to predict postoperative visual outcomes.

Dislodgement of Hydrogen Bubbles in Microchannels with Embedded Pillars: An Analytical, Experimental, and Numerical Study.

Microchannels with integrated pillars have enhanced the production capabilities and performance of various applications due to their high surface-to-volume ratio. However, emerging gas bubbles can become trapped, potentially limiting the functionality or efficiency of the device when scaled down to the low-micrometer scale. Understanding the conditions required to dislodge these bubbles is thus critical for optimizing microfluidic devices with complex physical behaviors. Here an analytical model is presented that outlines the dislodgment conditions and driving forces for such gas-liquid flows. These terms are derived from the gas-liquid interface properties, geometry, and processing parameters. As the density of the pillar arrangement is scaled down, the resistance to bubble dislodgment typically increases. Nevertheless, the bubble is compelled to dislodge at lower pressure loads when critical volumes are reached. This newly discovered effect is particularly noticeable in densely packed arrays and can be explained by the interplay of increased surface tension, geometrical restrictions, and volume-preserving forces. The analytical terms and effects are validated through novel experimental and numerical methods tailored for microchannels in the low-micrometer scale, showing strong agreement.

Surgical decisions and outcomes of rhegmatogenous retinal detachment during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic: Data from a tertiary referral center in Taiwan.

Purpose: To assess changes in surgical decisions and outcomes of rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (RRD) during the COVID-19 pandemic at a tertiary center in Taiwan. Methods: Patients undergoing pars plana vitrectomy (PPV) or scleral buckling (SB) for primary RRD during Taiwan's first wave of domestic COVID-19 cases surge between May and July 2021 (COVID cohort, n = 100) were compared to controls in the closest pre-COVID year, 2019 (pre-COVID cohort, n = 121). Results: The COVID cohort had significantly worse RRD presentation, received more PPV (alone or combined with SB (PPV + SB)) and less SB alone, and had comparable single-surgery anatomic success (SSAS) rates. In patients who underwent PPV, more underwent PPV + SB instead of PPV alone. The decision to combine SB in PPV surgery was significantly affected by the COVID pandemic (odds ratio [OR], 3.1860 [95% confidence interval (CI), 1.1487-8.8361]). However, a shorter duration of symptoms before the first presentation (0.9857 [95% CI, 0.9720-0.9997]) was the only factor related to SSAS, whereas the surgical method had no association. The SSAS rate remained close to or over 90% in patients with a duration of symptoms before surgery ≤4 weeks but dropped to 83.3% in patients with duration >4 weeks. Conclusion: During the COVID-19 pandemic, worse RRD presentations led to a shift in preference for PPV over SB alone as the primary surgery. The pandemic affected surgeons' decision to combine SB during PPV. Nevertheless, SSAS was only associated with the duration of symptoms but not with surgical methods.

COVID-19 reduced scleral buckling training in fellows and shifted young ophthalmologists' preference toward vitrectomy: An Asia-Pacific survey.

BACKGROUND: To assess rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (RRD) surgery trends and training among young ophthalmologists (YOs, vitreoretinal fellows or attendings/consultants with ≤10 years of independent practice) and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: An anonymous online survey was completed by 117 YOs in the Asia-Pacific regarding their RRD surgery experiences in 2021-2022. RESULTS: To achieve a 90% probability of surgical competency, 91 vitrectomy and 34 scleral buckling (SB) completions during fellowship were needed. In total, 49 (41.9%) YOs had fellowship affected by COVID-19. In the COVID versus pre-COVID era, however, the volume of SB completions per fellowship year decreased significantly (median [IQR] 3.3 [1.5, 9] vs. 13 [6.5, 23]; p < 0.001) and was lower than the required volume to achieve competency. YOs were less confident in conducting SB versus vitrectomy (3.5 ± 1.1 vs. 4.2 ± 0.8, p < 0.001), and they reported a decrease in the proportion of SB (-3.1%, p = 0.047) and an increase in the proportion of vitrectomy (+4.8%, p < 0.001) after the pandemic outbreak. Apart from RRD clinical characteristics, surgical confidence is among the main factors that affect surgical method decisions. During the pandemic, more YOs may have avoided SB due to the need for general anaesthesia, leading to longer surgical time and risk of viral transmission during intubation/extubation. CONCLUSIONS: SB surgical exposure is suboptimal in most fellowship programs in the 11 Asia-Pacific countries/regions we surveyed and further declined during the COVID-19 pandemic. YOs are less confident in performing SB, leading to a trend toward primary vitrectomy since the COVID-19 outbreak.

Systemic Cytokines in Retinopathy of Prematurity.

Retinopathy of prematurity (ROP), a vasoproliferative vitreoretinal disorder, is the leading cause of childhood blindness worldwide. Although angiogenic pathways have been the main focus, cytokine-mediated inflammation is also involved in ROP etiology. Herein, we illustrate the characteristics and actions of all cytokines involved in ROP pathogenesis. The two-phase (vaso-obliteration followed by vasoproliferation) theory outlines the evaluation of cytokines in a time-dependent manner. Levels of cytokines may even differ between the blood and the vitreous. Data from animal models of oxygen-induced retinopathy are also valuable. Although conventional cryotherapy and laser photocoagulation are well established and anti-vascular endothelial growth factor agents are available, less destructive novel therapeutics that can precisely target the signaling pathways are required. Linking the cytokines involved in ROP to other maternal and neonatal diseases and conditions provides insights into the management of ROP. Suppressing disordered retinal angiogenesis via the modulation of hypoxia-inducible factor, supplementation of insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-1/IGF-binding protein 3 complex, erythropoietin, and its derivatives, polyunsaturated fatty acids, and inhibition of secretogranin III have attracted the attention of researchers. Recently, gut microbiota modulation, non-coding RNAs, and gene therapies have shown promise in regulating ROP. These emerging therapeutics can be used to treat preterm infants with ROP.

Corneal topography in preterm children aged 2 years to 12 years with or without retinopathy of prematurity.

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate corneal topography in full-term and preterm children with or without retinopathy of prematurity (ROP). METHODS: We enrolled children aged from 2 years to 12 years between January 2019 and May 2021 in the following four groups: full-term (group 1), premature without ROP (group 2), untreated premature with ROP (group 3), and laser-treated and/or intravitreal injection (IVI) of anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)-treated premature with ROP (group 4). Corneal topography was measured with the Galilei Placido-dual Scheimpflug analyzer G4 every half year, and was compared among the groups using generalized estimating equation models at approximately 7 years of age. RESULTS: We included 77, 178, 45, and 131 participants in groups 1, 2, 3, and 4, respectively. The mean (standard deviation) number of visits per patient was 2.9 (1.4). Compared with full-term eyes, premature eyes demonstrated steeper anterior corneal curvature (p = 0.016 and p = 0.008 for the mean and steep K, respectively), higher anterior and posterior corneal astigmatism (p = 0.036 and p = 0.016, respectively), and thinner thinnest pachymetry (p < 0.001). The laser-treated ROP eyes displayed steeper anterior corneal curvature (p = 0.040 for steep K) and higher anterior corneal astigmatism (p = 0.005) than the IVI-treated eyes. Moreover, they exhibited high cone location and magnitude index (1.96) reaching the cut-off for detecting keratoconus (1.82). CONCLUSIONS: The premature status led to greater corneal ectasia, and laser treatment for ROP caused further corneal steepness. Higher anterior corneal astigmatism was associated with laser treatment. The ROP pathology and IVI anti-VEGF treatment exerted a marginal effect on corneal topography.

Epidemiology, Treatment, and Outcomes of Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis-Associated Uveitis: A Multi-Institutional Study in Taiwan.

PURPOSE: To assess the epidemiology, treatment, and outcomes of juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA)-associated uveitis (JIA-U) in Taiwan. METHODS: Retrospective, multicenter database. RESULTS: Totally, 44 (6.1%) of the 722 JIA patients had uveitis. The mean ages of JIA and JIA-U diagnosis were 10.7 and 11.1 years, respectively. JIA-U patients had more antinuclear antibody presence. Among JIA-U patients, 25 (56.8%) were male, 11 (25.0%) experienced any ocular complication, and 8 (18.2%) received ocular surgery. Inactivity lasting ≥6 months was achieved in 17 (38.6%) patients; however, 11 (25.0%) of those experienced reactivation with a mean of 624.7 days after achieving inactivity. Female had more ocular complications and surgeries. CONCLUSION: Late age at JIA-U diagnosis and male predominance were distinctive in Taiwan. For patients with inactivity lasting ≥ 6 months was achieved, they still required close follow-up due to the high reactivation rate within 2 years. Female had poorer ocular outcomes.

Phototoxicity effects of NIR-irradiated cesium tungsten oxide (Cs0.33WO3) nanoparticles on zebrafish embryos: A direct immersion study.

Nanoparticles (NPs) with feature sizes ranging between 1 nm and 100 nm have increasingly gained momentum for their versatile functionality as the pharmaceutical agents in many branches of biomedical research and clinical experiments. However, NPs' inherent material toxicity and the concomitant adverse effects of their function, such as photo-physical properties, often remain a major concern over the issues of environmental safety and human health, and require a thorough assessment before a wide-spread usage can be complied. This research herein investigates the intrinsic and photothermal toxicity of Cs0.33WO3 NPs solution in zebrafish larvae through a direct immersion method. Experimentally, the survival, hatching and malformation rates of zebrafish embryo/larvae as functions of the NP feature sizes, concentration and duration of photothermal dose were examined and analyzed. This study verified that the Cs0.33WO3 NPs has an intrinsic toxicity on a scale of a fraction of 1 mg/ml, and the phototoxicity effect of the NIR-irradiated NPs, when irradiated for 30 min, can affect the embryogenesis of zebrafish larvae and causes 60% and 50% in the survival and delayed hatching rates, respectively, as well as a severe malformation.

Diabetic Macular Edema Detection Using End-to-End Deep Fusion Model and Anatomical Landmark Visualization on an Edge Computing Device.

Purpose: Diabetic macular edema (DME) is a common cause of vision impairment and blindness in patients with diabetes. However, vision loss can be prevented by regular eye examinations during primary care. This study aimed to design an artificial intelligence (AI) system to facilitate ophthalmology referrals by physicians. Methods: We developed an end-to-end deep fusion model for DME classification and hard exudate (HE) detection. Based on the architecture of fusion model, we also applied a dual model which included an independent classifier and object detector to perform these two tasks separately. We used 35,001 annotated fundus images from three hospitals between 2007 and 2018 in Taiwan to create a private dataset. The Private dataset, Messidor-1 and Messidor-2 were used to assess the performance of the fusion model for DME classification and HE detection. A second object detector was trained to identify anatomical landmarks (optic disc and macula). We integrated the fusion model and the anatomical landmark detector, and evaluated their performance on an edge device, a device with limited compute resources. Results: For DME classification of our private testing dataset, Messidor-1 and Messidor-2, the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) for the fusion model had values of 98.1, 95.2, and 95.8%, the sensitivities were 96.4, 88.7, and 87.4%, the specificities were 90.1, 90.2, and 90.2%, and the accuracies were 90.8, 90.0, and 89.9%, respectively. In addition, the AUC was not significantly different for the fusion and dual models for the three datasets (p = 0.743, 0.942, and 0.114, respectively). For HE detection, the fusion model achieved a sensitivity of 79.5%, a specificity of 87.7%, and an accuracy of 86.3% using our private testing dataset. The sensitivity of the fusion model was higher than that of the dual model (p = 0.048). For optic disc and macula detection, the second object detector achieved accuracies of 98.4% (optic disc) and 99.3% (macula). The fusion model and the anatomical landmark detector can be deployed on a portable edge device. Conclusion: This portable AI system exhibited excellent performance for the classification of DME, and the visualization of HE and anatomical locations. It facilitates interpretability and can serve as a clinical reference for physicians. Clinically, this system could be applied to diabetic eye screening to improve the interpretation of fundus imaging in patients with DME.

Comparing the results of manual and automated quantitative corneal neuroanalysing modules for beginners.

This study aimed to evaluate the reliability of in vivo confocal microscopic neuroanalysis by beginners using manual and automated modules. Images of sub-basal corneal nerve plexus (SCNP) from 108 images of 18 healthy participants were analyzed by 7 beginner observers using manual (CCMetrics, [CCM]) and automated (ACCMetrics, [ACCM]) module. SCNP parameters analyzed included corneal nerve fiber density (NFD), corneal nerve branch density (NBD), corneal nerve fiber length (NFL), and tortuosity coefficient (TC). The intra-observer repeatability, inter-observer reliability, inter-module agreement, and left-right eye symmetry level of SCNP parameters were examined. All observers showed good intra-observer repeatability using CCM (intraclass correlation coefficient [ICC] > 0.60 for all), except when measuring TC. Two observers demonstrated especially excellent repeatability in analyzing NFD, NBD, and NFL using manual mode, indicating the quality of interpretation may still be observer-dependent. Among all SCNP parameters, NFL had the best inter-observer reliability (Spearman's rank-sum correlation coefficient [SpCC] and ICC > 0.85 for the 3 original observers) and left-right symmetry level (SpCC and ICC > 0.60). In the additional analysis of inter-observer reliability using results by all 7 observers, only NFL showed good inter-observer reliability (ICC = 0.79). Compared with CCM measurements, values of ACCM measurements were significantly lower, implying a poor inter-module agreement. Our result suggested that performance of quantitative corneal neuroanalysis by beginners maybe acceptable, with NFL being the most reliable parameter, and automated method cannot fully replace manual work.

Dependence of the Nanoscale Composite Morphology of Fe3O4 Nanoparticle-Infused Lysozyme Amyloid Fibrils on Timing of Infusion: A Combined SAXS and AFM Study.

Understanding the formation process and the spatial distribution of nanoparticle (NP) clusters on amyloid fibrils is an essential step for the development of NP-based methods to inhibit aggregation of amyloidal proteins or reverse the assembling trend of the proto-fibrillary complexes that prompts pathogenesis of neuro degeneration. For this, a detailed structural determination of the diverse hybrid assemblies that are forming is needed, which can be achieved by advanced X-ray scattering techniques. Using a combined solution small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) approach, this study investigates the intrinsic trends of the interaction between lysozyme amyloid fibrils (LAFs) and Fe3O4 NPs before and after fibrillization at nanometer resolution. AFM images reveal that the number of NP clusters interacting with the lysozyme fibers does not increase significantly with NP volume concentration, suggesting a saturation in NP aggregation on the fibrillary surface. The data indicate that the number of non-adsorbed Fe3O4 NPs is highly dependent on the timing of NP infusion within the synthesis process. SAXS data yield access to the spatial distribution, aggregation manner and density of NP clusters on the fibrillary surfaces. Employing modern data analysis approaches, the shape and internal structural morphology of the so formed nanocomposites are revealed. The combined experimental approach suggests that while Fe3O4 NPs infusion does not prevent the fibril-formation, the variation of NP concentration and size at different stages of the fibrillization process can impose a pronounced impact on the superficial and internal structural morphologies of these nanocomposites. These findings may be applicable in devising advanced therapeutic treatments for neurodegenerative diseases and designing novel bio-inorganic magnetic devices. Our results further demonstrate that modern X-ray methods give access to the structure of-and insight into the formation process of-biological-inorganic hybrid structures in solution.

Devising Hyperthermia Dose of NIR-Irradiated Cs0.33WO3 Nanoparticles for HepG2 Hepatic Cancer Cells.

Hyperthermia is one of the most patient-friendly methods to cure cancer diseases owing to its noninvasiveness, minimally induced side-effects and toxicity, and easy implementation, prompting the development of novel therapeutic methods like photothermally triggering dose system. This research herein interrogates the variables of photothermal effects of Cs0.33WO3 nanoparticles (NPs), the duration of irradiation, optical power density and NP concentration, upon HepG2 liver cancer cell line in vitro, leading to the formulation of a near-infrared (NIR)-irradiated thermal dose. Expressly, the NPs with particulate feature sizes of 120 nm were synthesized through a series of oxidation-reduction (REDOX) reaction, thermal annealing and wet-grinding processes, and the subsequent characterization of physical, compositional, optical, photothermal properties were examined using dynamic light scattering (DLS), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), scanning and tunneling electron microscopies (SEM and TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and visible-near-infrared (VIS-NIR) photospectroscopy. Cytotoxicity of the NPs and its irradiation parameters were obtained for the HepG2 cells. By incubating the cells with the NPs, the state of endocytosis was verified, and the dependence of cellular survival rate on the variable parameters of photothermal dose was determined while maintaining the medium temperature of the cell-containing culture dish at human body temperature around 36.5 °C.

Leveraging Multimodal Deep Learning Architecture with Retina Lesion Information to Detect Diabetic Retinopathy.

Purpose: To improve disease severity classification from fundus images using a hybrid architecture with symptom awareness for diabetic retinopathy (DR). Methods: We used 26,699 fundus images of 17,834 diabetic patients from three Taiwanese hospitals collected in 2007 to 2018 for DR severity classification. Thirty-seven ophthalmologists verified the images using lesion annotation and severity classification as the ground truth. Two deep learning fusion architectures were proposed: late fusion, which combines lesion and severity classification models in parallel using a postprocessing procedure, and two-stage early fusion, which combines lesion detection and classification models sequentially and mimics the decision-making process of ophthalmologists. Messidor-2 was used with 1748 images to evaluate and benchmark the performance of the architecture. The primary evaluation metrics were classification accuracy, weighted κ statistic, and area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC). Results: For hospital data, a hybrid architecture achieved a good detection rate, with accuracy and weighted κ of 84.29% and 84.01%, respectively, for five-class DR grading. It also classified the images of early stage DR more accurately than conventional algorithms. The Messidor-2 model achieved an AUC of 97.09% in referral DR detection compared to AUC of 85% to 99% for state-of-the-art algorithms that learned from a larger database. Conclusions: Our hybrid architectures strengthened and extracted characteristics from DR images, while improving the performance of DR grading, thereby increasing the robustness and confidence of the architectures for general use. Translational Relevance: The proposed fusion architectures can enable faster and more accurate diagnosis of various DR pathologies than that obtained in current manual clinical practice.

Effects of Arginine Deimination and Citrulline Side-Chain Length on Peptide Secondary Structure Formation.

Post-translational modifications expand the chemical functionality of peptides and proteins beyond that originating from the encoded amino acids, but studies on the structural effects of these modifications have been limited. Arginine undergoes deimination to give citrulline (Cit), converting the positively charged guanidinium moiety into a neutral urea group. Herein, we report the effect of Arg deimination on secondary structure formation. To understand the reason for the number of methylene units in Cit, the effect of Cit side-chain length on secondary structure formation was also studied. Ala-based peptides and ß-hairpin peptides were used to study α-helix and ß-sheet formation, respectively. Peptides containing Cit analogues were prepared by an orthogonal protecting group strategy coupled with solid-phase carbamylation. The CD data for the Ala-based peptides were analyzed by using modified Lifson-Roig theory, showing that the helix propensity of Arg decreased upon deimination and that either shortening or lengthening Cit also decreased the helix propensity. The ß-hairpin peptides were analyzed by NMR methods, showing minimal change in strand formation energetics upon Arg deimination. Altering the Cit side-chain length did not affect strand formation energetics either. These results should be useful for the preparation of urea-bearing systems and the design of peptides incorporating urea-bearing residues with varying side-chain length.

An Innovative Thread-looping Method for Facial Rejuvenation: Minimal Access Multiple Plane Suspension.

BACKGROUND: Management of facial rejuvenation has evolved over past decades. Facelift with barbed suture is a minimally invasive surgical technique for facial rejuvenation. This study examined the efficacy and associated complications of a new thread-looping procedure called minimal access multiple plane suspension. METHODS: A total of 103 thread lifts were performed between 2014 and 2017. Patient satisfaction and adverse effects were evaluated. RESULTS: In the majority of patients (88/103, 85.4%), the results obtained were considered satisfactory 3 months after the procedure. The incidence of complications was low. Only 5.8% of the patients had slight postoperation asymmetry that was easily corrected. Minor complications experienced by patients included palpable suture knots (12.6%), persistent facial swelling (7.88%), and facial dimpling (2.9%). The causes of procedure-related complications were reviewed and discussed. CONCLUSION: Reinforced by select anchoring points, "minimal access multiple plane suspension" suspends ptotic anatomic tissues, serving as an effective facial rejuvenation procedure with minimal downtime and satisfactory cosmetic results.

Laser-Scanned Programmable Color Temperature of Electroluminescence from White Light-Emitting Electrochemical Cells.

Recently, the control of correlated color temperature (CCT) of artificial solid-state white-light sources starts to attract more attention since CTs affect human physiology and health profoundly. In this work, we proposed and demonstrated a method that can widely tune the CCTs of electroluminescence (EL) from white-light-emitting electrochemical cells (LECs) by employing plasmonic filters. These integrated on-chip plasmonic filters are composed of semicontinuous thin Ag film or Ag nanoparticles (NPs) both included in the indium tin oxide anode contact, which have different characteristics of plasmonic resonant absorptions that can tune the EL spectra of white LECs. The CCTs of EL from white LECs integrated with semicontinuous thin Ag film and randomly distributed Ag NPs are 5778 and 2350 K, respectively. A commercially available laser scanning system was used to locally thermal anneal the semicontinuous thin Ag film to form the randomly distributed Ag NPs on the scanned areas. Hence, these two kinds of filters can be integrated on the same chip of white LEC, giving more freedom to control the CCTs of white EL and more potential applications. In addition, the laser scanning system used here is quite often used in display manufactures so that our proposed method can be immediately adopted by the light-emitting diode industry.

Employing injection-locked FP LDs to set up a hybrid CATV/MW/MMW WDM light wave transmission system.

A hybrid cable television (CATV)/microwave (MW)/millimeter-wave (MMW) wavelength-division-multiplexing (WDM) light wave transmission system based on injection-locked Fabry-Perot laser diodes (FP LDs) is proposed and demonstrated. Different from conventional hybrid WDM light wave transmission systems, which need wavelength-selected distributed feedback laser diodes to support various services, the proposed systems employ injection-locked FP LDs to provide multiple applications. Over a 40 km single-mode fiber transport, impressive performances of carrier-to-noise ratio/composite second-order/composite triple-beat/bit error rate are obtained for 550 MHz CATV/20 GHz MW/40 GHz MMW/60 GHz MMW signal transmissions. Such a hybrid WDM light wave transmission system would be attractive for fiber links to provide broadband integrated services.

Bidirectional hybrid PM-based RoF and VCSEL-based VLLC system.

A bidirectional hybrid phase modulation (PM)-based radio-over-fiber (RoF) and vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL)-based visible laser light communication (VLLC) systems employing injection-locked VCSEL-based PM-to-intensity modulation (IM) converters and optical interleavers (ILs) is proposed and demonstrated. To be the first one of using injection-locked VCSEL-based PM-to-IM converters and optical ILs in such bidirectional hybrid RoF and VLLC systems, the downstream light is successfully phase-remodulated with RoF signal for up-link transmission. Through a serious investigation in systems, bit error rate (BER) and eye diagram perform brilliantly over a 40-km single-mode fiber (SMF) transport and a 12-m free-space transmission. Such a bidirectional hybrid RoF and VLLC system would be very attractive for the integration of fiber backbone and in-door networks to provide broadband integrated services, including Internet and telecommunication services.

Two-way lightwave subcarrier transmission system.

This Letter proposes and demonstrates a two-way lightwave subcarrier transmission system employing interleavers to deliver intensity-modulated CATV/phase-modulated RoF/intensity-remodulated 16-QAM-OFDM signals over two 20 km SMF links. To the best of our knowledge, it is the first time that interleavers have been employed in two-way lightwave subcarrier transmission systems. The downstream light is successfully intensity-remodulated with a 16-QAM-OFDM signal for uplink transmission. We obtained excellent performance from the CNR/CSO/CTB/BER for CATV/RoF/16-QAM-OFDM signal transmissions. The proposed systems offer impressive performance features to deliver hybrid CATV/RoF/16-QAM-OFDM signals.