Viral Retinitis following Intraocular or Periocular Corticosteroid Administration: A Case Series and Comprehensive Review of the Literature.

Abstract Purpose: To describe viral retinitis following intravitreal and periocular corticosteroid administration. Methods: Retrospective case series and comprehensive literature review. Results: We analyzed 5 unreported and 25 previously published cases of viral retinitis following local corticosteroid administration. Causes of retinitis included 23 CMV (76.7%), 5 HSV (16.7%), and 1 each VZV and unspecified (3.3%). Two of 22 tested patients (9.1%) were HIV positive. Twenty-one of 30 (70.0%) cases followed one or more intravitreal injections of triamcinolone acetonide (TA), 4 (13.3%) after one or more posterior sub-Tenon injections of TA, 3 (10.0%) after placement of a 0.59-mg fluocinolone acetonide implant (Retisert), and 1 (3.3%) each after an anterior subconjunctival injection of TA (together with IVTA), an anterior chamber injection, and an anterior sub-Tenon injection. Mean time from most recent corticosteroid administration to development of retinitis was 4.2 months (median 3.8; range 0.25-13.0). Twelve patients (40.0%) had type II diabetes mellitus. Treatments used included systemic antiviral agents (26/30, 86.7%), intravitreal antiviral injections (20/30, 66.7%), and ganciclovir intravitreal implants (4/30, 13.3%). Conclusions: Viral retinitis may develop or reactivate following intraocular or periocular corticosteroid administration. Average time to development of retinitis was 4 months, and CMV was the most frequently observed agent. Diabetes was a frequent co-morbidity and several patients with uveitis who developed retinitis were also receiving systemic immunosuppressive therapy

Dynamics of spin-2 Bose condensate driven by external magnetic fields

Dynamic response of the F=2 spinor Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) under the influence of external magnetic fields is studied. A general formula is given for the oscillation period to describe population transfer from the initial polar state to other spin states. We show that when the frequency and the reduced amplitude of the longitudinal magnetic field are related in a specific manner, the population of the initial spin-0 state will be dynamically localized during time evolution. The effects of external noise and nonlinear spin exchange interaction on the dynamics of the spinor BEC are studied. We show that while the external noise may eventually destroy the Rabi oscillations and dynamic spin localization, these coherent phenomena are robust against the nonlinear atomic interaction.Comment: 16 pages, 7 figures. accepted by Phys. Rev.

Scalar Synchrotron Radiation in the Schwarzschild-anti-de Sitter Geometry

We present a complete relativistic analysis for the scalar radiation emitted by a particle in circular orbit around a Schwarzschild-anti-de Sitter black hole. If the black hole is large, then the radiation is concentrated in narrow angles- high multipolar distribution- i.e., the radiation is synchrotronic. However, small black holes exhibit a totally different behavior: in the small black hole regime, the radiation is concentrated in low multipoles. There is a transition mass at $M=0.427 R$, where $R$ is the AdS radius. This behavior is new, it is not present in asymptotically flat spacetimes.Comment: 13 pages, 6 figures, published version. References adde

Testing SUSY

If SUSY provides a solution to the hierarchy problem then supersymmetric states should not be too heavy. This requirement is quantified by a fine tuning measure that provides a quantitative test of SUSY as a solution to the hierarchy problem. The measure is useful in correlating the impact of the various experimental measurements relevant to the search for supersymmetry and also in identifying the most sensitive measurements for testing SUSY. In this paper we apply the measure to the CMSSM, computing it to two-loop order and taking account of current experimental limits and the constraint on dark matter abundance. Using this we determine the present limits on the CMSSM parameter space and identify the measurements at the LHC that are most significant in covering the remaining parameter space. Without imposing the LEP Higgs mass bound we show that the smallest fine tuning (1:13) consistent with a relic density within the WMAP bound corresponds to a Higgs mass of 114$\pm$2 GeV. Fine tuning rises rapidly for heavier Higgs.Comment: 12 pages, 7 figures; references added, figures updated for extended parameter space sca

Donor Centers and Absorption Spectra in Quantum Dots

We have studied the electronic properties and optical absorption spectra of three different cases of donor centers, D^{0}, D^{-} and D^{2-}, which are subjected to a perpendicular magnetic field, using the exact diagonalization method. The energies of the lowest lying states are obtained as function of the applied magnetic field strength B and the distance zeta between the positive ion and the confinement xy-plane. Our calculations indicate that the positive ion induces transitions in the ground-state, which can be observed clearly in the absorption spectra, but as zeta goes to 0 the strength of the applied magnetic field needed for a transition to occur tends to infinity.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, REVTeX 4, gzipped tar fil

Multiaxial Kitagawa analysis of A356-T6

Experimental Kitagawa analysis has been performed on A356-T6 containing natural and artificial defects. Results are obtained with a load ratio of R = -1 for three different loadings: tension, torsion and combined tension-torsion. The critical defect size determined is 400 \pm 100 \mum in A356-T6 under multiaxial loading. Below this value, the microstructure governs the endurance limit mainly through Secondary Dendrite Arm Spacing (SDAS). Four theoretical approaches are used to simulate the endurance limit characterized by a Kitagawa relationship are compared: Murakami relationships [Y Murakami, Metal Fatigue: Effects of Small Defects and Nonmetallic Inclusions, Elsevier, 2002.], defect-crack equivalency via Linear Elastic Fracture Mechanics (LEFM), the Critical Distance Method (CDM) proposed by Susmel and Taylor [L. Susmel, D. Taylor. Eng. Fract. Mech. 75 (2008) 15.] and the gradient approach proposed by Nadot [Y. Nadot, T. ~Billaudeau. Eng. Fract. Mech. 73 (2006) 1.]. It is shown that the CDM and gradient methods are accurate; however fatigue data for three loading conditions is necessary to allow accurate identification of an endurance limit.Comment: 27 pages, 11 figure

Quantum Entanglement of Excitons in Coupled Quantum Dots

Optically-controlled exciton dynamics in coupled quantum dots is studied. We show that the maximally entangled Bell states and Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger (GHZ) states can be robustly generated by manipulating the system parameters to be at the avoided crossings in the eigenenergy spectrum. The analysis of population transfer is systematically carried out using a dressed-state picture. In addition to the quantum dot configuration that have been discussed by Quiroga and Johnson [Phys. Rev. Lett. \QTR{bf}{83}, 2270 (1999)], we show that the GHZ states also may be produced in a ray of three quantum dots with a shorter generation time.Comment: 16 pages, 7 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev.

Optimization of inhomogeneous electron correlation factors in periodic solids

A method is presented for the optimization of one-body and inhomogeneous two-body terms in correlated electronic wave functions of Jastrow-Slater type. The most general form of inhomogeneous correlation term which is compatible with crystal symmetry is used and the energy is minimized with respect to all parameters using a rapidly convergent iterative approach, based on Monte Carlo sampling of the energy and fitting energy fluctuations. The energy minimization is performed exactly within statistical sampling error for the energy derivatives and the resulting one- and two-body terms of the wave function are found to be well-determined. The largest calculations performed require the optimization of over 3000 parameters. The inhomogeneous two-electron correlation terms are calculated for diamond and rhombohedral graphite. The optimal terms in diamond are found to be approximately homogeneous and isotropic over all ranges of electron separation, but exhibit some inhomogeneity at short- and intermediate-range, whereas those in graphite are found to be homogeneous at short-range, but inhomogeneous and anisotropic at intermediate- and long-range electron separation.Comment: 23 pages, 15 figures, 1 table, REVTeX4, submitted to PR

The repulsive nature of naked singularities from the point of view of Quantum Mechanics

We use the Dirac equation coupled to a background metric to examine what happens to quantum mechanical observables like the probability density and the radial current in the vicinity of a naked singularity of the Reissner-Nordstr\"{o}m type. We find that the wave function of the Dirac particle is regular in the point of the singularity. We show that the probability density is exactly zero at the singularity reflecting quantum-mechanically the repulsive nature of the naked singularity. Furthermore, the surface integral of the radial current over a sphere in the vicinity of the naked singularity turns out to be also zero.Comment: 11 page

Geometry and material effects in Casimir physics - Scattering theory

We give a comprehensive presentation of methods for calculating the Casimir force to arbitrary accuracy, for any number of objects, arbitrary shapes, susceptibility functions, and separations. The technique is applicable to objects immersed in media other than vacuum, to nonzero temperatures, and to spatial arrangements in which one object is enclosed in another. Our method combines each object's classical electromagnetic scattering amplitude with universal translation matrices, which convert between the bases used to calculate scattering for each object, but are otherwise independent of the details of the individual objects. This approach, which combines methods of statistical physics and scattering theory, is well suited to analyze many diverse phenomena. We illustrate its power and versatility by a number of examples, which show how the interplay of geometry and material properties helps to understand and control Casimir forces. We also examine whether electrodynamic Casimir forces can lead to stable levitation. Neglecting permeabilities, we prove that any equilibrium position of objects subject to such forces is unstable if the permittivities of all objects are higher or lower than that of the enveloping medium; the former being the generic case for ordinary materials in vacuum.Comment: 44 pages, 11 figures, to appear in upcoming Lecture Notes in Physics volume in Casimir physic