Coherent beam combining of a narrow-linewidth long-pulse Er3+-doped multicore fiber amplifier.

Active phase locking of a multicore erbium-doped fiber amplifier is demonstrated for 180 ns narrow-linewidth pulses at 1545 nm. A spatial light modulator is used at the input of the amplifier to control the optical phase of 7 beams injected in the hexagonally-arranged cores, ensuring efficient combining through a SPGD algorithm. At the output, combining is performed using a diffractive optical element. This experiment establishes multicore amplifiers as a promising way to scale the energy of Brillouin-limited pulsed amplifiers for LIDAR applications. We also present a simple lensless technique to measure phase shifts between pairs of adjacent channels that could be implemented in future active coherent combining systems.

Efficient cross polarized wave generation for compact, energy-scalable, ultrashort laser sources.

The generation of high contrast and ultrashort laser pulses via a compact and energy-scalable cross polarized wave filter is presented. The setup incorporates a waveguide spatial filter into a single crystal XPW configuration, enabling high energy and high intensity transmission, efficient contrast enhancement and pulse shortening at the multi-mJ level. Excellent XPW conversion of up to 33% (global efficiency: 20%, intensity transmission: 40%) led to an output energy of 650 µJ for an input of 3.3 mJ. Additionally, efficient conversion under specific input phase conditions, allowed pulse shortening from 25 fs to 9.6 fs, indicating the prospective application of this setup as a high energy, ultrabroad laser source.

Observation of two-dimensional superlattice solitons.

We observe experimentally two-dimensional solitons in superlattices comprising alternating deep and shallow waveguides fabricated via the femtosecond-laser direct writing technique. We find that the symmetry of linear diffraction patterns as well as soliton shapes and threshold powers largely differ for excitations centered on deep and shallow sites. Thus, bulk and surface solitons centered on deep waveguides require much lower powers than their counterparts on shallow sites.

Urinary excretion of ciprofloxacin after administration of extended release tablets in healthy volunteers. Swellable drug-polyelectrolyte matrix versus bilayer tablets.

This paper builds on a previous paper in which new ciprofloxacin extended-release tablets were developed based on a ciprofloxacin-based swellable drug polyelectrolyte matrix (SDPM-CIP). The matrix contains a molecular dispersion of ciprofloxacin ionically bonded to the acidic groups of carbomer, forming the polyelectrolyte-drug complex CB-CIP. This formulation showed that the release profile of the ciprofloxacin bilayer tablets currently commercialised can be achieved with a simpler strategy. Thus, since ciprofloxacin urine concentrations are associated with the clinical cure of urinary tract infections, the goal of this work was to compare the urinary excretion of SDPM-CIP tablets with those of the CIPRO XR® bilayer tablets. A batch of SDPM-CIP tablets was manufactured by the wet granulation method and the CB-CIP ionic complex was obtained in situ. Fasted healthy volunteers received a single oral dose of 500 mg ciprofloxacin of either formulation in a randomised crossover study. Urinary concentrations were assessed by HPLC at intervals up to 36 h. Pharmacokinetic parameters (rate of urinary excretion, maximum urine excretion rate, tmax, area under the curve, amount and percentage of the ciprofloxacin dose excreted in urine) showed no statistical differences between both formulations at any of the time intervals of collection. The processing conditions to obtain SDPM-CIP tablets are easy to scale up since they involve technology currently employed in the pharmaceutical industry and the process is less challenging to implement. In addition, SDPM-CIP tablets met pharmacopoeial quality specifications.

Reactivation of Chagas' disease in a human immunodeficiency virus-infected patient leading to severe heart disease with a late positive direct microscopic examination of the blood.

We report a human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected man with chronic Chagas' disease who developed a congestive heart failure that could not be clinically controlled. Endomyocardial biopsy revealed severe myocarditis and the xenodiagnosis result was positive, but Trypanosoma cruzi by direct microscopic examination of the blood was found only four months after the symptoms had started. Treatment with benznidazole was effective in reducing parasitemia, stabilizing the clinical status, and controlling tissue damage related to the parasite. Although the finding of T. cruzi trypomastigotes by direct microscopic examination of the blood has been considered the mark of Chagas' reactivation in immunocompromised patients with chronic disease, in this case it was a late finding.