Visible-Telecom Entangled-Photon Pair Generation with Integrated Photonics: Guidelines and a Materials Comparison.

Correlated photon-pair sources are key components for quantum computing, networking, synchronization, and sensing applications. Integrated photonics has enabled chip-scale sources using nonlinear processes, producing high-rate time-energy and polarization entanglement at telecom wavelengths with sub-100 microwatt pump power. Many quantum systems operate in the visible or near-infrared ranges, necessitating visible-telecom entangled-pair sources for connecting remote systems via entanglement swapping and teleportation.

Correcting the reproduction number for time-varying tests: A proposal and an application to COVID-19 in France.

We provide a novel way to correct the effective reproduction number for the time-varying amount of tests, using the acceleration index (Baunez et al., 2021) as a simple measure of viral spread dynamics. Not correcting results in the reproduction number being a biased estimate of viral acceleration and we provide a formal decomposition of the resulting bias, involving the useful notions of test and infectivity intensities.

Tracking the dynamics and allocating tests for COVID-19 in real-time: An acceleration index with an application to French age groups and départements.

An acceleration index is proposed as a novel indicator to track the dynamics of COVID-19 in real-time. Using data on cases and tests in France for the period between the first and second lock-downs-May 13 to October 25, 2020-our acceleration index shows that the pandemic resurgence can be dated to begin around July 7. It uncovers that the pandemic acceleration was stronger than national average for the [59-68] and especially the 69 and older age groups since early September, the latter being associated with the strongest acceleration index, as of October 25.

Ergonomics in design and design in ergonomics: Issues and experience in education.

Background: Articulating design and ergonomics skills through education is a major challenge for both fields. Indeed, professional ergonomists are increasingly deeply involved in design processes, and ergonomics education should train them in design skills. As courses in ergonomics education are often time-constrained, it is difficult to mobilize students in real-scale projects and to involve them in design processes.

Low loss (Al)GaAs on an insulator waveguide platform.

In this Letter, we demonstrate a low loss gallium arsenide and aluminum gallium arsenide on an insulator platform by heterogenous integration. The resonators on this platform exhibit record high quality factors up to 1.5×10, corresponding to a propagation loss ∼0.

Heterogeneous silicon photonics sensing for autonomous cars.

Heterogeneous silicon photonics is uniquely positioned to address the photonic sensing needs of upcoming autonomous cars and provide the necessary cost reduction for widespread deployment. This is because it allows for wafer-scale active/passive integration, including optical sources. We present our recent research and the development of interferometric optical gyroscopes and LiDAR sensors.

On-chip calibration and control of optical phased arrays.

Optical phased arrays (OPAs) are important as they allow beam steering and scanning with no moving parts. As their channel count increases, the complexity of control and calibration becomes challenging. We propose an architecture and algorithm that provide rapid on-chip calibration and are scalable to arbitrary channel counts with significantly reduced chip area and reduced overall complexity compared to previously proposed approaches.

Autosomal Recessive Hypercholesterolemia: Long-Term Cardiovascular Outcomes.

Background: Autosomal recessive hypercholesterolemia (ARH) is a rare lipid disorder characterized by premature atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD). There are sparse data for clinical management and cardiovascular outcomes in ARH.

Objectives: Evaluation of changes in lipid management, achievement of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) goals and cardiovascular outcomes in ARH.

Polymorphism in the Gene Is Associated to Changes in Fatty Acid Metabolism and Circulating Endocannabinoid Levels Distinctively in Normal Weight and Obese Subjects.

The multifunctional CD36 scavenger receptor facilitates fatty acid (FA) uptake and oxidation and it has been involved in the pathophysiology related to dysfunctional FA metabolism. The common variant in the gene, (A/G), whose allele A is characterized by a reduced protein expression, has been associated with taste sensitivity to and preference for fat. We therefore aimed at evaluating whether the polymorphism may influence fatty acid metabolism and endocannabinoid biosynthesis in normal weight (NW) and obese (OB) subjects.

Integrated broadband Ce:YIG/Si Mach-Zehnder optical isolators with over 100 nm tuning range.

We demonstrate integrated optical isolators with broadband behavior for the standard silicon-on-insulator platform. We achieve over 20 dB of optical isolation across 18 nm of optical bandwidth. The isolator is completely electrically controlled and does not require a permanent magnet.

Experimental demonstration of a 24-port packaged multi-microring network-on-chip in silicon photonic platform.

A 24-port packaged multi-microring optical network-on-chip has been tested for simultaneous co- and counter-propagating transmissions at the same wavelength at 10 Gbps. In the co-propagating scenario communications up to five hops with one interfering signal have been tested, together with transmissions impaired by up to three interfering signals. In the counter-propagating scenario the device performance has been investigated exploiting the ring resonators in both shared-source and shared-destination configurations.

Participants with Normal Weight or with Obesity Show Different Relationships of 6-n-Propylthiouracil (PROP) Taster Status with BMI and Plasma Endocannabinoids.

Reduced taste sensitivity to 6-n-propylthiouracil (PROP), a genetic trait regarded as a general index for oral chemosensory perception, has been associated with a calorie-rich food preference and lower circulating endocannabinoid levels in participants with normal weight (NW), which suggests an adaptive mechanism to maintain a lean phenotype. In this study, we assessed whether participants with obesity (OB) show different patterns of plasma endocannabinoids and lipid metabolism biomarkers from those of NW, with further categorization based on their PROP sensitivity. NW and OB were classified by their PROP taster status as non-tasters (NT), medium-tasters (MT) and supertasters (ST).

Efficacy of Lomitapide in the Treatment of Familial Homozygous Hypercholesterolemia: Results of a Real-World Clinical Experience in Italy.

Introduction: Homozygous familial hypercholesterolaemia (HoFH) is a rare form of inherited dyslipidemia resistant to conventional cholesterol-lowering medications so that lipoprotein apheresis (LA) is usually required. Lomitapide has been approved for the treatment of HoFH. The aim of this study was to evaluate the benefits of lomitapide in HoFH patients followed with the usual clinical care.

Proprotein Convertase Subtilisin Kexin Type 9 Inhibition for Autosomal Recessive Hypercholesterolemia-Brief Report.

Objective: Proprotein convertase subtilisin kexin type 9 (PCSK9) inhibitors lower low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol in the vast majority of patients with autosomal dominant familial hypercholesterolemia. Will PCSK9 inhibition with monoclonal antibodies, in particular alirocumab, be of therapeutic value for patients with autosomal recessive hypercholesterolemia (ARH)?

Approach And Results: Primary lymphocytes were obtained from 28 genetically characterized ARH patients and 11 controls. ARH lymphocytes treated with mevastatin were incubated with increasing doses of recombinant PCSK9 with or without saturating concentrations of alirocumab.

Modeling of strain-induced Pockels effect in Silicon.

We propose a theoretical model to describe the strain-induced linear electro-optic (Pockels) effect in centro-symmetric crystals. The general formulation is presented and the specific case of the strained silicon is investigated in detail because of its attractive properties for integrated optics. The outcome of this analysis is a linear relation between the second order susceptibility tensor and the strain gradient tensor, depending generically on fifteen coefficients.

BER evaluation of a low-crosstalk silicon integrated multi-microring network-on-chip.

The operation of an integrated silicon-photonics multi-microring network-on-chip (NoC) is experimentally demonstrated in terms of transmission spectra and bit error rates at 10 Gb/s. The integrated NoC consists of 8 thermally tuned microrings coupled to a central ring. The switching functionalities are tested with concurrent transmissions at both the same and different wavelengths.

Accurate vectorial finite element mode solver for magneto-optic and anisotropic waveguides.

In this work, a dielectric waveguide mode solver is presented considering a general nonreciprocal permittivity tensor. The proposed method allows us to investigate important cases of practical interest in the field of integrated optics, such as magneto-optical isolators and anisotropic waveguides. Unlike the earlier developed mode solver, our approach allows for the precise computation of both forward and backward propagating modes in the nonreciprocal case, ensuring high accuracy and computational efficiency.

Silicon-based all-optical multi microring network-on-chip.

An optical multi microring network-on-chip (MMR NoC) is proposed and evaluated through numerical simulations. The network architecture consists of a central resonating microring with local microrings connected to the input/output ports. A mathematical model based on the transfer matrix method is used to assess the MMR NoC performance and to analyze the fabrication tolerances.

Numerical study of high-index-contrast Er:LiNbO3 photonic wire lasers optically pumped at 980 nm.

For the first time [to our best knowledge] a high-index-contrast z-cut Er:LiNbO(3) photonic wire waveguide laser, optically pumped at 980 nm wavelength, is designed for continuous-wave operation. Waveguide modes and laser characteristics are numerically computed using a developed full vectorial finite-element method based tool. In order to maximize the output power of the laser, the active cavity length and output mirror's reflectivity have been optimized, considering different pump power and waveguide background losses.

Integrated TE and TM optical circulators on ultra-low-loss silicon nitride platform.

In this paper, we present two four-port optical circulators for TE and TM modes, respectively. Exploiting the recent technological development concerning Ce:YIG pulse laser deposition on silicon nitride platform, we design two integrated circulators, which can be used to implement several functions in integrated optics, such as de-interleavers, input/output amplifier isolators and output laser isolators. The proposed devices combine the benefit of low loss silicon nitride waveguides with the non-reciprocal properties of magneto-optical materials.

Sheep cheese naturally enriched in α-linolenic, conjugated linoleic and vaccenic acids improves the lipid profile and reduces anandamide in the plasma of hypercholesterolaemic subjects.

Intake of dairy fat has long been considered as a risk factor for CVD. Pasture and dietary lipid supplementation have been reported to be reliable strategies in ruminant nutrition, in order to increase the content of α-linolenic acid (ALA), conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) and vaccenic acid (VA), and decrease SFA in milk fat. In the present study, we aimed at verifying whether consumption of a sheep cheese, naturally enriched in ALA, CLA and VA, would modify the plasma lipid and endocannabinoid profiles in mildly hypercholesterolaemic subjects.

[LDL-apheresis in Sardinia, Italy].

A steady increase in mean serum cholesterol levels has been observed in the Sardinian population over the past three decades, probably related to modifications in the diet such as the introduction of fast food; however, the mean serum values are still lowest compared with the other Italian regions. These data clearly contrast with the presence in our area of five LDL-apheresis centers where, in 20 years of activity, over 16,000 treatments were performed in 60 patients, accounting for 30% of LDL-apheresis-treated patients in Italy. The contrast is even more surprising when one considers that Sardinia has a population of only 1.

Design of transverse electric ring isolators for ultra-low-loss Si3N4 waveguides based on the finite element method.

In this Letter we present the design of a novel (to our best knowledge) integrated TE isolator realized using ultra-low-loss Si(3)N(4) waveguides. The device is made of two straight waveguides coupled to an array of ring resonators including a Ce:YIG garnet grown on their internal side. The analysis demonstrates advantages in loss, isolation, and passband width as the number of rings is increased.

Silicon ring isolators with bonded nonreciprocal magneto-optic garnets.

A ring isolator is demonstrated for the first time by directly bonding a cerium-substituted yttrium iron garnet (Ce:YIG) onto a silicon ring resonator using oxygen plasma enhanced bonding. The silicon waveguide is 600 nm wide and 295 nm thick with 500-nm-thick Ce:YIG on the top to have reasonable nonreciprocal effect and low optical loss. With a radial magnetic field applied to the ring isolator, it exhibits 9-dB isolation at resonance in the 1550 nm wavelength regime.

HELP LDL-apheresis in two cases of familial hypercholesterolemic pregnant women.

We report our experience with selective LDL-apheresis in two women affected by autosomal recessive hypercholesterolemia and heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia respectively, during pregnancy. To date only a few cases have been reported, because of the rarity of pregnancy in these patients and a hesitation of physicians to perform extracorporeal treatment. One of the patients had severe coronary artery disease, an absolute contraindication for pregnancy.