Design of prism coupling structure for liquid crystal cladding waveguide beam steerer.

This paper proposes an extended prism coupling analysis method to accurately analyze the coupling structure of liquid crystal (LC) cladding waveguide beam steerer. We analyze the effects of LC anisotropy on the coupling of transverse electric (TE) and transverse magnetic (TM) modes and derive the expression of the optical field distribution that perfectly matches the given coupling structure. Based on this method, we present the optimal coupling structure for Gaussian beam. Taking into account the practical manufacturing process, we propose a simplified coupling structure and perform a detailed analysis of its performance based on numerical simulations. Experimental results show a coupling efficiency of 91% and a coupling angle full width at half maximum (FWHM) of about ±0.02°, demonstrating the effectiveness of the proposed method in predicting the coupling performance of anisotropic cladding waveguides.

Clinicopathological and prognostic implications of the miR-200 family in patients with epithelial ovarian cancer.

The aim of the present study was to investigate the association of the expression of members in the miR-200 family with clinicopathological characteristics and their impacts on overall survival in patients with epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC). Expression levels of members in the miR-200 family, including miR-200a, miR-200b, miR-200c, miR-141, and miR-429, were detected by using miRNA qRT-PCR and in situ hybridization. Associations of their expression with clinicopathological factors and overall survival were statistically evaluated. Among five members in the miR-200 family, the expression levels of miR-200a, miR-200b and miR-200c were significantly higher in EOC tissues than those in normal surface ovarian epithelium tissues, in line with the findings ofin situ hybridization analysis. In addition, tumors with high miR-200a and miR-200 bexpressionwere both more likely to have advanced stage (both P=0.006) and higher grade (P=0.01 and 0.02), whilehighmiR-200 cexpression was onlysignificantly associated with advanced stage disease (P=0.01). Moreover, univariate analysis showed that the patients with high miR-200a, miR-200b and miR-200c expression all correlated with shorter overall survival in EOC patients (all P<0.001). Multivariate statistical analysis further identified miR-200a, miR-200b and miR-200c asindependent prognostic factorsfor EOC (all P=0.01). In conclusion, these findings suggest that miR-200a, miR-200b and miR-200c overexpression may promote the aggressive tumor progression and be recognized as reliable markers to predict the survival in patients with EOCs. The three miRNAs could be attractive therapeutic targets in patients with advanced-stage EOCs.