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Marlene D Wang, Cecile Truong, Zaid Mammo, Syed Amal Hussnain, Royce WS Chen Department of Ophthalmology, Edward S. Harkness Eye Institute, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, NY, 10032, USACorrespondence: Royce WS ChenEdward S. Harkness Eye Institute, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, 635 W 165th St, New York, NY, 10032, USATel +1 212-342-4570Email Rc2631@cumc.columbia.eduBackground: Biomicroscopy, B-scan ultrasound imaging, and SD-OCT are all modalities used to characterize a posterior vitreous detachment (PVD). Our objective is to assess the precision of the diagnosis of PVD by SS-OCT.Methods: This prospective observational study examines ninety-five eyes of forty-nine patients with biomicroscopy, B-scan ultrasound, and SS-OCT for the presence or absence of a complete PVD. All SS-OCT images were reviewed by two retina specialists (RWSC, ZM). All three diagnostic methods were evaluated for agreement by Cohen’s kappa statistic.Results: The inter-rater reliability between retina specialists reading the SS-OCT images was 97.9% (κ = 0.957). Agreement on PVD status between SS-OCT and biomicroscopy was 85.3% (κ = 0.711). Agreement between SS-OCT and B-scan ultrasound was 83.2% (κ = 0.667). Agreement between B-scan ultrasound and biomicroscopy was 87.4% (κ = 0.743).Conclusion: For the diagnosis of complete PVD, SS-OCT allows for high accuracy and agreement between graders.Keywords: optical coherence tomography, swept source, posterior vitreous detachment

This paper designs a 1 × 2 switchable dual-mode optical 90° hybrid device on the silicon-on-insulator (SOI) platform for the mode division multiplexing hybridized coherent transmission systems in optical communication. Our proposed hybrid uses various 2 × 2 multimode interference (MMI) couplers, symmetric Y-junctions, and thermo-optic phase shifters. The suggested hybrid device working principle is proved on theoretical analysis about the multimode interference and the transfer matrix relation. The optimization of geometrical parameters and metallic micro-heaters is executed through the numerical simulation method. The proposed hybrid coupler expresses lots of optical performance advantages, with an insertion loss lower than 2.5 dB, a common-mode rejection ratio (CMRR) better than -24 dB, and phase error smaller than 4° in the 50-nm wavelength bandwidth of the third telecom window for both two TE modes. Besides, the device is proven large geometrical tolerances in terms of width and height tolerances larger than ±50 nm and ±6 nm in the 1.5-dB variation limit of transmission, respectively. In addition, the proposed device attains relatively low power consumption under 75 mW and an ultrafast switching time below 10 μs. Such advantages of good performances make the device a promising potential for broadband and intra-chip MDM-hybridized coherent optical communication systems and photonic integrated circuits.

Amylascus is a genus of ectomycorrhizal truffles within Pezizaceae that is known from Australia and contains only two described species, A. herbertianus and A. tasmanicus. Species of Amylascus are closely related to truffles (Pachyphlodes, Luteoamylascus) and cup fungi (Plicariella) from the Northern Hemisphere. Here we reevaluate the species diversity of Amylascus and related taxa from southern South America and Australia based on new morphological and molecular data. We identify previously undocumented diversity and morphological variability in ascospore color, ascospore ornamentation, hymenial construction, epithecium structure and the amyloid reaction of the ascus in Melzer's reagent. We redescribe two Amylascus species from Australia and describe seven new Amylascus species, five from South America and two from Australia. This is the first report of Amylascus species from South America. We also describe the new South American genus Nothoamylascus as sister lineage to the Pachyphlodes-Amylascus-Luteoamylascus clade (including Amylascus, Luteoamylascus, Pachyphlodes, and Plicariella). We obtained ITS sequences of mitotic spore mats from Nothoamylascus erubescens gen. & sp. nov. and four of the seven newly described Amylascus species, providing the first evidence of mitotic spore mats in Amylascus. Additional ITS sequences from mitotic spore mats reveal the presence of nine additional undescribed Amylascus and one Nothoamylascus species that do not correspond to any sampled ascomata. We also identify three additional undescribed Amylascus species based on environmental sequences from the feces of two grounddwelling bird species from Chile, Scelorchilus rubecula and Pteroptochos tarnii. Our results indicate that ascomata from Amylascus and Nothoamylascus species are rarely collected, but molecular data from ectomycorrhizal roots and mitotic spore mats indicate that these species are probably common and widespread in southern South America. Finally, we present a time-calibrated phylogeny that is consistent with a late Gondwanan distribution. The time since the most recent common ancestor of: 1) the family Pezizaceae had a mean of 276 Ma (217-337 HPD); 2) the Amylascus-Pachyphlodes-Nothoamylascus-Luteoamylascus clade had a mean of 79 Ma (60-100 HPD); and 3) the Amylascus-Pachyphlodes clade had a mean of 50 Ma (38-62 HPD). The crown age of Pachyphlodes had a mean of 39 Ma (25-42 HPD) and Amylascus had a mean age of 28 Ma (20-37 HPD), falling near the Eocene-Oligocene boundary and the onset of the Antarctic glaciation (c. 35 Ma). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A theory of real Jordan triples and real bounded symmetric domains in finite dimensions was developed by Loos. Upmeier has proposed a definition of a real triple in arbitrary dimensions. These spaces include real Calgebras and JB*-triples considered as vector spaces over the reals and have the property that their open unit balls are real bounded symmetric domains. This, together with the observation that many of the more recent techniques in Jordan theory rely on functional analysis and algebra rather than holomorphy, suggests that it may be possible to develop a real theory and to explore its relationship with the complex theory. In this paper we employ a Banach algebraic approach to real Banach Jordan triples. Because of our recent observation on commutative triples we can now propose a new definition of a real triple, which we call a triple. Our triples include real C*-algebras and complex JB*- triples. Our main theorem is a structure theorem of Gelfand-Naimark type for commutative c*-triples. © 1994 American Mathematical Society.