Effect of open ultraviolet germicidal irradiation lamps on functionality of excimer lasers used in cornea surgery

We report on the impact of direct ultraviolet germicidal irradiation (UVGI) on reflective optics, used in the excimer laser system Allegretto Eye-Q. The aim of our work was to confirm our hypothesis based on long-rate observations of obtained anomalies in post-operative results that are attributed to degradation of reflective optics upon ultraviolet radiation. The presence of direct UVGI coupled with humidity in the operating environment caused merging anomalies and unwanted post-operative correction values. Ultraviolet-A radiation caused a similar effect on the reflective cover of the mirrors

Crystal Chemistry and Structural Complexity of Natural and Synthetic Uranyl Selenites

Comparison of the natural and synthetic phases allows an overview to be made and even an understanding of the crystal growth processes and mechanisms of the particular crystal structure formation. Thus, in this work, we review the crystal chemistry of the family of uranyl selenite compounds, paying special attention to the pathways of synthesis and topological analysis of the known crystal structures. Comparison of the isotypic natural and synthetic uranyl-bearing compounds suggests that uranyl selenite mineral formation requires heating, which most likely can be attributed to the radioactive decay. Structural complexity studies revealed that the majority of synthetic compounds have the topological symmetry of uranyl selenite building blocks equal to the structural symmetry, which means that the highest symmetry of uranyl complexes is preserved regardless of the interstitial filling of the structures. Whereas the real symmetry of U-Se complexes in the structures of minerals is lower than their topological symmetry, which means that interstitial cations and H2O molecules significantly affect the structural architecture of natural compounds. At the same time, structural complexity parameters for the whole structure are usually higher for the minerals than those for the synthetic compounds of a similar or close organization, which probably indicates the preferred existence of such natural-born architectures. In addition, the reexamination of the crystal structures of two uranyl selenite minerals guilleminite and demesmaekerite is reported. As a result of the single crystal X-ray diffraction analysis of demesmaekerite, Pb2Cu5[(UO2)2(SeO3)6(OH)6](H2O)2, the H atoms positions belonging to the interstitial H2O molecules were assigned. The refinement of the guilleminite crystal structure allowed the determination of an additional site arranged within the void of the interlayer space and occupied by an H2O molecule, which suggests the formula of guilleminite to be written as Ba[(UO2)3(SeO3)2O2](H2O)4 instead of Ba[(UO2)3(SeO3)2O2](H2O)3