Characterisation of antimicrobial usage in cats and dogs attending UK primary care companion animal veterinary practices

There is scant evidence describing antimicrobial (AM) usage in companion animal primary care veterinary practices in the UK. The use of AMs in dogs and cats was quantified using data extracted from 374 veterinary practices participating in VetCompass. The frequency and quantity of systemic antibiotic usage was described.Overall, 25 per cent of 963,463 dogs and 21 per cent of 594,812 cats seen at veterinary practices received at least one AM over a two-year period (2012-2014) and 42 per cent of these animals were given repeated AMs. The main agents used were aminopenicillin types and cephalosporins. Of the AM events, 60 per cent in dogs and 81 per cent in cats were AMs classified as critically important (CIAs) to human health by the World Health Organisation. CIAs of highest importance (fluoroquinolones, macrolides, third-generation cephalosporins) accounted for just over 6 per cent and 34 per cent of AMs in dogs and cats, respectively. The total quantity of AMs used within the study population was estimated to be 1473 kg for dogs and 58 kg for cats.This study has identified a high frequency of AM usage in companion animal practice and for certain agents classified as of critical importance in human medicine. The study highlights the usefulness of veterinary practice electronic health records for studying AM usage.

Mode-profile dependence of the electrostrictive response in fibers

The transverse optical intensity profile in fibers affects the efficiency of acoustic mode excitation by the optical field and the subsequent response of the field to the excited acoustic modes. The magnitude of the electrostrictive nonlinear coefficient for a square-top intensity profile will exceed that of a Gaussian profile by a fact of 2. For current fiber designs the range of values for n(2str) at zero frequency is expected to vary from 0.43 to 0.71x10(-16)cm(2)W(-1) based on mode profile alone. The relative contribution of electrostriction to the total nonlinear response (electrostrictive+Kerr) in fibers increases proportionately as the mode profile flattens.

Measurement of the frequency response of the electrostrictive nonlinearity in optical fibers

The electrostrictive contribution to the nonlinear refractive index is investigated by use of frequency-dependent cross-phase modulation with a weak unpolarized cw probe wave and a harmonically modulated pump copropagating in optical fibers. Self-delayed homodyne detection is used to measure the amplitude of the sidebands imposed upon the probe wave as a function of pump intensity for pump modulation frequencies from 10 MHz to 1 GHz. The ratio of the electrostrictive nonlinear coefficient to the cross-phase-modulation Kerr coefficient for unpolarized light is measured to be 1.58:1 for a standard step-index single-mode fiber and 0.41:1 for dispersion-shifted fibers, indicating a larger electrostrictive response in silica fibers than previously expected.

Observation of a Raman-induced interpulse phase migration in the propagation of an ultrahigh-bit-rate coherent soliton train

Coherent soliton packets generated in a passively mode-locked fiber laser are transmitted through 23km of dispersion-decreasing fiber. We observe a shift of the phase difference between solitons that is due to intrapulse Raman scattering. We attribute the stability in propagation of these trains to a trade-off between minimizing soliton-soliton interactions by reduction of the pulse width and minimizing this Raman-induced phase migration, which can force the solitons into a deleterious attractive phase relationship. We are thus able to demonstrate the propagation of 177-Gbit/s soliton packets over a distance of 123 soliton periods.

Electrostrictive contribution to the intensity-dependent refractive index of optical fibers

We show that electrostriction contributes significantly to self-action effects in optical fibers, adding 19% to the nonlinear refractive index for fields that vary slowly compared with the ~1-ns time scale of the acoustic response. Electrostriction also modifies the tensor nature of the nonlinear-optical response. The electrostrictive nonlinearity is the origin of the observed difference between measurements of n(2) with cw and mode-locked lasers.

Measuring the refractive-index profile of optical fibers by the cladding-mode near-field technique

A new measurement system has been developed that simply determines the refractive-index profile of any optical fiber by analyzing the propagation of cladding modes. Measurement accuracy was verified by a comparison with the refractive near-field method, and a sufficient resolution level was achieved to produce the fine structural details in single-mode fibers.