Past Achievements and Future Challenges in 3D Photonic Metamaterials

Photonic metamaterials are man-made structures composed of tailored micro- or nanostructured metallo-dielectric sub-wavelength building blocks that are densely packed into an effective material. This deceptively simple, yet powerful, truly revolutionary concept allows for achieving novel, unusual, and sometimes even unheard-of optical properties, such as magnetism at optical frequencies, negative refractive indices, large positive refractive indices, zero reflection via impedance matching, perfect absorption, giant circular dichroism, or enhanced nonlinear optical properties. Possible applications of metamaterials comprise ultrahigh-resolution imaging systems, compact polarization optics, and cloaking devices. This review describes the experimental progress recently made fabricating three-dimensional metamaterial structures and discusses some remaining future challenges

Fe- and Eu-Doped TiO2TiO_2 Photocatalytical Materials Prepared by High Energy Ball Milling

To determine resource utilization in controller naïve children diagnosed with asthma receiving initial therapy with fluticasone propionate (FP) and salmeterol (SAL) in a single inhaler (FSC), FP alone, montelukast (MON), inhaled corticosteroid (ICS) + SAL from separate inhalers, or ICS + MON.A retrospective, observational, 18-month (6-month pre-index and 12-month follow-up) database study using medical and pharmacy claims from a 5 million member managed care organization. Multivariate modeling was used to evaluate post-index resource utilization and asthma-related costs. Refill rates during the 12-month follow-up period were compared across cohorts.The study included controller-naïve children (n = 9192) aged 4-17 years with an asthma diagnosis. Children treated with FSC were significantly less likely to receive additional prescriptions for short-acting beta-agonists compared with all other cohorts (p <or= 0.007) and oral corticosteroids compared with the MON, ICS + SAL, and ICS + MON cohorts (p <or= 0.009). Children receiving FSC were also significantly less likely to add another controller therapy compared with children started on FP alone, MON, or ICS + SAL (p <or= 0.001) and to receive care in an emergency department or hospital compared with children receiving ICS + MON (p < 0.001). The number of prescriptions for FSC in the 12-month post-index period was greater (p < 0.05) than the number of ICS claims in the FP, ICS + SAL, and ICS + MON cohorts. Compared with FSC, the adjusted total asthma-related post-index costs were greater (p <or= 0.008) in the MON and ICS + MON cohorts. Although adherence was greater with MON compared with FSC, MON was associated with less favorable clinical outcomes and greater resource utilization and costs.FSC in children is associated with improved clinical outcomes and decreased resource utilization compared with other controller regimens