One-stage anterior and posterior correction of severe kyphosis of the cervical spine in neurofibromatosis. A case report

A case is presented of a 29-year-old woman with neurofibromatosis, who had a 100 degrees dystrophic kyphosis of the cervical spine and was successfully treated by a one-stage anterior and posterior correction. Anterior distractive and posterior compressive corrections were simultaneously applied keeping the posterior longitudinal ligament intact. The kyphosis was corrected to 42 degrees. Safety and better results of the one-stage correction of kyphosis is based on a concept of shortening the spinal canal.     

Coupling-loss reduction of a vertically coupled microring resonator filter by spot-size-matched busline waveguides

To improve the input-output coupling loss of a vertically coupled microring resonator filter, we fabricated microring resonators on an antiresonant reflecting optical waveguide (ARROW) with a large spot size and on the rectangular busline waveguide with a spot-size transformer. The spot size and the tapered structure were optimally designed from the viewpoint of spot-size matching to single-mode fibers and the reduction of radiation loss. Clear dropping responses were demonstrated for the ARROW-based microring resonator filters, and the coupling loss was successfully reduced by 22 dB.     

Higher-density single-mode optical fibre cables than 1 fibre/mm2, containing hundreds of fibres

A slotted-rod structure was investigated to obtain the maximum fibre density of high-fibre-count cables. A 500-fibre cable with a fibre density of 1.5 fibres/mm2 was designed and manufactured. The manufactured cable was composed of 10-fibre ribbons inserted into the designed slots. The optical losses of the cabled single-mode fibres were confirmed to be stable at 1.3 and 1.55 ?m. This cable has the highest fibre density of existing optical cables.     

Polarisation-independent vertically coupled microring resonatorfilter

A polarisation-independent microring resonator filter is proposed using a birefringent polymer overlay. The thickness of the polymer overlay is optimally designed and the polarisation-independent operation successfully demonstrated     

Submilliampere lasing of Zn-diffused mesa buried-hetero AlxGa1-xAs/GaAs multi-quantum-well lasers at 77 K

Extremely low-threshold semiconductor lasers were fabricated by forming Zn-diffused mesa buried-hetero (DMB) structures from low-pressure MOCVD-grown AlxGa1-xAs/GaAs multi-quantum-well, separate-confinement heterostructure wafers. CW threshold currents as low as 880 ?A at 77 K and 2.4 mA at room temperature were obtained for a 100 ?m-long device.     

Three-dimensional propagation analysis of coupling efficiency using segmentation and local normal mode expansion for vertically coupled microring resonator filter

A novel three-dimensional (3-D) propagation analysis of coupled waveguides using local normal modes and the segmentation along the propagation axis was developed. The coupling efficiency of vertically coupled microring resonators was optimally designed using this analysis. The computation time is much faster and the required memory capacity is much smaller than those of the 3-D finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method.     

Clinical evaluation of indomethacin-containing patches for osteoarthritis and extremity trauma

Seventy-eight patients, aged 12-87 years, with osteoarthritis or extremity trauma, attached one indomethacin patch (containing 96 mg indomethacin) to the most symptomatic site twice daily. The final overall treatment outcome was excellent in 52% of the osteoarthritic patients and in 82% of the trauma patients, good in 27% and 13%, and fair in 3% and 0%, respectively. Side effects were reported by 4% of the patients. It is concluded that indomethacin-containing patches were effective and well-tolerated for the treatment of osteoarthritis and extremity trauma.     

Photoluminescence studies on InGaAlP layers grown by low-pressure metalorganic chemical vapor deposition

The optical properties for In_0.5(Ga_1-x Al _x )_0.5P (0 <x < 0.4) layers, grown by low-pressure Metalorganic Chemical Vapor Deposition, have been studied with photolominescence (PL) measurement. The PL intensity decreases with the increase of the Al composition (0 <x < 0.4). This dependence could not be accounted for only by the electron overflow from theΓ band to the X band. And the PL intensity is directly proportional to the excitation power at low temperature, below 50 K. On the other hand, the PL intensity is proportional to the second power of the excitation power at a high temperature range (>200 K). These results indicate that non-radiative recombination centers bound to theΓ band in In_0.5(Ga_1-x Al _x )_0.5P play a very important role in the radiation mechanism. PL dependence also shows these non-radiative recombination centers are thought to have strong relation to the aluminum substitution for In_0.5(Ga_1-x Al _x )_0.5P.     

Compact three-dimensional optical interconnects with largetolerance by stacked ARROW-type waveguides

A compact configuration of three-dimensional optical interconnects using stacked ARROW-B waveguides is developed. A short coupling length of 200 μm and a large tolerance to core thickness are demonstrated     

Three-dimensional athermal waveguides for temperature independentlightwave devices

To realise a temperature independent narrowband optical filter, a three-dimensional athermal waveguide for which optical path length is independent of temperature is developed. The temperature coefficient of the optical path length is successfully decreased to -2% of that of a conventional waveguide