135 research outputs found
Predictive Value of POSSUM and ACPGBI Scoring in Mortality and Morbidity of Colorectal Resection: A Case–Control Study
Contains fulltext :
97239.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access)BACKGROUND: Preoperative risk prediction to assess mortality and morbidity may be helpful to surgical decision making. The aim of this study was to compare mortality and morbidity of colorectal resections performed in a tertiary referral center with mortality and morbidity as predicted with physiological and operative score for enumeration of mortality and morbidity (POSSUM), Portsmouth POSSUM (P-POSSUM), and colorectal POSSUM (CR-POSSUM). The second aim of this study was to analyze the accuracy of different POSSUM scores in surgery performed for malignancy, inflammatory bowel diseases, and diverticulitis. POSSUM scoring was also evaluated in colorectal resection in acute vs. elective setting. In procedures performed for malignancy, the Association of Coloproctology of Great Britain and Ireland (ACPGBI) score was assessed in the same way for comparison. METHODS: POSSUM, P-POSSUM, and CR-POSSUM predictor equations for mortality were applied in a retrospective case-control study to 734 patients who had undergone colorectal resection. The total group was assessed first. Second, the predictive value of outcome after surgery was assessed for malignancy (n = 386), inflammatory bowel diseases (n = 113), diverticulitis (n = 91), and other indications, e.g., trauma, endometriosis, volvulus, or ischemia (n = 144). Third, all subgroups were assessed in relation to the setting in which surgery was performed: acute or elective. In patients with malignancy, the ACPGBI score was calculated as well. In all groups, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were constructed. RESULTS: POSSUM, P-POSSUM, and CR-POSSUM have a significant predictive value for outcome after colorectal surgery. Within the total population as well as in all four subgroups, there is no difference in the area under the curve between the POSSUM, P-POSSUM, and CR-POSSUM scores. In the subgroup analysis, smallest areas under the ROC curve are seen in operations performed for malignancy, which is significantly worse than for diverticulitis and in operations performed for other indications. For elective procedures, P-POSSUM and CR-POSSUM predict outcome significantly worse in patients operated for carcinoma than in patients with diverticulitis. In acute surgical interventions, CR-POSSUM predicts mortality better in diverticulitis than in patients operated for other indications. The ACPGBI score has a larger area under the curve than any of the POSSUM scores. Morbidity as predicted by POSSUM is most accurate in procedures for diverticulitis and worst when the indication is malignancy. CONCLUSION: The POSSUM scores predict outcome significantly better than can be expected by chance alone. Regarding the indication for surgery, each POSSUM score predicts outcome in patients operated for diverticulitis or other indications more accurately than for malignancy. The ACPGBI score is found to be superior to the various POSSUM scores in patients who have (elective) resection of colorectal malignancy
Atomic absorbers for controlling pulse propagation in resonators
We consider pulse propagation through a Fabry-Perot cavity with silver mirrors that contain macroscopic samples of resonant absorbers. We show that the pulse velocity can be tuned from subluminal to superluminal in a strongly coupled atom-cavity system. We delineate the effects of the interplay of cavity and absorbers. We demonstrate the saturation effects of pulse advancement with increasing mirror thickness and atomic damping
Superluminal pulse reflection from a weakly absorbing dielectric slab
Group delay for a reflected light pulse from a weakly absorbing dielectric
slab is theoretically investigated, and large negative group delay is found for
weak absorption near a resonance of the slab (). The group delays
for both the reflected and transmitted pulses will be saturated with the
increase of the absorption.Comment: 13pages, 3figure
Control of superluminal transit through a heterogeneous medium
We consider pulse propagation through a two component composite medium (metal
inclusions in a dielectric host) with or without cavity mirrors. We show that a
very thin slab of such a medium, under conditions of localized plasmon
resonance, can lead to significant superluminality with detectable levels of
transmitted pulse. A cavity containing the heterogeneous medium is shown to
lead to subluminal-to-superluminal transmission depending on the volume
fraction of the metal inclusions. The predictions of phase time calculations
are verified by explicit calculations of the transmitted pulse shapes. We also
demonstrate the independence of the phase time on system width and the volume
fraction under specific conditions.Comment: 21 Pages,5 Figures (Published in Journal of Modern Optics
Widely tunable, efficient on-chip single photon sources at telecommunication wavelengths
We demonstrate tunable on-chip single photon sources using the Stark tuning
of single quantum dot (QD) excitonic transitions in short photonic crystal
waveguides (PhC WGs). The emission of single QDs can be tuned in real-time by 9
nm with an applied bias voltage less than 2V. Due to a reshaped density of
optical modes in the PhC WG, a large coupling efficiency \beta>65% to the
waveguide mode is maintained across a wavelength range of 5 nm. When the QD is
resonant with the Fabry-Perot mode of the PhC WG, a strong enhancement of
spontaneous emission is observed leading to a maximum coupling efficiency
\beta=88%. These results represent an important step towards the scalable
integration of single photon sources in quantum photonic integrated circuits.Comment: 15 pages, 5 figue
Electrical control of nonlinear quantum optics in a nano-photonic waveguide
Quantum photonics is a rapidly developing platform for future quantum network applications. Waveguide-based architectures, in which embedded quantum emitters act as both nonlinear elements to mediate photon–photon interactions and as highly coherent single-photon sources, offer a highly promising route to realize such networks. A key requirement for the scale-up of the waveguide architecture is local control and tunability of individual quantum emitters. Here, we demonstrate electrical control, tuning, and switching of the nonlinear photon–photon interaction arising due to a quantum dot embedded in a single-mode nano-photonic waveguide. A power-dependent waveguide transmission extinction as large as 40±2% is observed on resonance. Photon statistics measurements show clear, voltage-controlled bunching of the transmitted light and antibunching of the reflected light, demonstrating the single-photon, quantum character of the nonlinearity. Importantly, the same architecture is also shown to act as a source of highly coherent, electrically tunable single photons. Overall, the platform presented addresses the essential requirements for the implementation of photonic gates for scalable nano-photonic-based quantum information processing
Cascaded two-photon nonlinearity in a one-dimensional waveguide with multiple two-level emitters
We propose and theoretically investigate a model to realize cascaded optical
nonlinearity with few atoms and photons in one-dimension (1D). The optical
nonlinearity in our system is mediated by resonant interactions of photons with
two-level emitters, such as atoms or quantum dots in a 1D photonic waveguide.
Multi-photon transmission in the waveguide is nonreciprocal when the emitters
have different transition energies. Our theory provides a clear physical
understanding of the origin of nonreciprocity in the presence of cascaded
nonlinearity. We show how various two-photon nonlinear effects including
spatial attraction and repulsion between photons, background fluorescence can
be tuned by changing the number of emitters and the coupling between emitters
(controlled by the separation).Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure
Mode expansions in the quantum electrodynamics of photonic media with disorder
We address two issues in the quantum electrodynamical description of photonic
media with some disorder, neglecting material dispersion. When choosing a gauge
in which the static potential vanishes, the normal modes of the medium with
disorder satisfy another transversality condition than the modes of the ideal
medium. Our first result is an integral equation for optical modes such that
all perturbation-theory solutions automatically satisfy the desired
transversality condition. Secondly, when expanding the vector potential for the
medium with disorder in terms of the normal modes of the ideal structure, we
find the gauge transformation that makes the static potential zero, thereby
generalizing work by Glauber and Lewenstein [Phys. Rev. A 43, 467 (1991)]. Our
results are relevant for the quantum optics of disordered photonic crystals.Comment: 7 pages; accepted in Photonics and Nanostructure
- …