Energy landscape shaping for robust control of atoms in optical lattices

Robust quantum control is crucial for realizing practical quantum technologies. Energy landscape shaping offers an alternative to conventional dynamic control, providing theoretically enhanced robustness and simplifying implementation for certain applications. This work demonstrates the feasibility of robust energy landscape control in a practical implementation with ultracold atoms. We leverage a digital mirror device (DMD) to shape optical potentials, creating complex energy landscapes. To achieve a desired objective, such as efficient quantum state transfer, we formulate a novel hybrid optimization approach that effectively handles both continuous (laser power) and discrete (DMD pixel activation) control parameters. This approach combines constrained quasi-Newton methods with surrogate models for efficient exploration of the vast parameter space. Furthermore, we introduce a framework for analyzing the robustness of the resulting control schemes against experimental uncertainties. By modeling uncertainties as structured perturbations, we systematically assess controller performance and identify robust solutions. We apply these techniques to maximize spin transfer in a chain of trapped atoms, achieving high-fidelity control while maintaining robustness. Our findings provide insights into the experimental viability of controlled spin transfer in cold atom systems. More broadly, the presented optimization and robustness analysis methods apply to a wide range of quantum control problems, offering a toolkit for designing and evaluating robust controllers in complex experimental settings

Principles of trauma-informed care in UK general practice:a multimethod qualitative study of existing policies, processes and practices

Healthcare policies and guidelines recommend implementing trauma-informed approaches but how best to apply them in general practice is not yet known. A trauma-informed approach is an organisational change intervention focused on preventing (re)traumatisation of patients and staff. A trauma-informed approach starts from the assumption that every patient and staff member may have been affected by traumatic events. By realising and recognising their potential impact, healthcare organisations can prevent (re)traumatisation by aligning their policies, processes and practices with the trauma-informed principles of safety, trust, peer support, collaboration, empowerment, and inclusivity. This study aimed to explore the extent current service provision in general practice aligns with these six principles.We conducted an exploratory qualitative study in four general practices in southwest England. Data from review of 18 documents, 12 hours of structured facility observations, and 43 semi-structured interviews with patients and healthcare providers was analysed using a thematic framework approach.We developed four themes: 1) realise-recognise-respond-resist re-traumatisation, 2) safe physical and psychological environments, 3) opportunities for choice and collaboration, 4) opportunities for empowerment. Individual professionals and additional clinics for patients with trauma experiences and complex needs already work in a way that aligns with the key assumptions and principles of a trauma-informed approach. However, general practice teams and whole organisations have not yet achieved the same level of understanding of trauma to actively prevent (re)traumatisation in services. The outer context (NHS and wider society) is not supportive of changing general practice in a trauma-informed way. Lack of physical spaces, staff shortages, legacy of the COVID pandemic, challenges with accessing services and continuity of care are the most significant factors that could hinder implementation of trauma-informed approaches in general practice. While it is strategically important to incorporate trauma-informed principles across organisational policies, processes and practices, the current outer and inner context shapes what is achievable. Trauma-informed change in general practice should start with improving access to services and continuity of care. Clinics for patients with trauma experiences and complex needs improve access, continuity, experiences and outcomes for this group. Concurrently, such clinics can create new healthcare inequalities for other patients in general practice.Funding acknowledgement<br/

Socioeconomic deprivation is associated with worse in-hospital survival after isolated coronary artery bypass grafting in the UK

OBJECTIVESPrevious studies have identified a correlation between socioeconomic deprivation and poorer outcomes following cardiac surgery in the USA, where healthcare is predominantly delivered through private system. However, the influence of socioeconomic deprivation in countries with universal healthcare systems, such as the UK, has been less extensively investigated. Therefore, we used the index of multiple deprivation (IMD) to evaluate the impact of socioeconomic status on early clinical outcomes following coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) in the UK.METHODSAll patients who underwent elective/urgent isolated CABG between 2008 and 2019 in the UK were included. The IMD, along with other perioperative characteristics, were incorporated into a regression model to determine factors associated with in-hospital mortality.RESULTSThe analysis included 182 911 patients (median age: 67.3 years, 82.13% male). Patients were categorized into five groups based on IMD, 1: most deprived to 5 the least: 1 = 30 564, 2 = 30 815, 3 = 59 161, 4 = 31 891 and 5 = 30 480. Patients from the most socioeconomically deprived areas exhibited markedly higher rates of comorbidities and risk factors such as diabetes and had a higher rate of urgent surgical intervention. There is a small increase in in-hospital mortality when socioeconomic status declined, with rates of 1.30, 1.30, 1.24, 1.14 and 1.15% for group 1–5, respectively. Socioeconomic deprivation, particularly in income and education, was associated with an increase in in-hospital survival.CONCLUSIONSSocioeconomic deprivation, particularly in income and education, is associated with higher burdens of comorbidity and a small decrease in-hospital survival after CABG in the UK. This suggests that these factors may play a critical role in clinical outcomes even in a universal healthcare system

Diffdigester.uni-jena.de:a tool for optimized selection of restriction enzymes for plasmid identification in cloning procedures

Differential digests, also known as test or diagnostic digests, are a standard method in molecular cloning to verify whether a picked clone is indeed the target plasmid or not. However, finding the optimal restriction enzyme for a differential digest by hand may be challenging and time-consuming. To address this problem, we created diffdigester.uni-jena.de (https://diffdigester.uni-jena.de), a free online tool to easily find such enzymes. This tool uses regular expressions to find the restriction sites in the DNA sequences given by the user. It then calculates and displays the resulting fragments on a simulated gel for each enzyme, allowing for easy comparison between the different enzymes. The user can sort these gels alphabetically by enzyme name or by dissimilarity of the restriction patterns between the given DNA sequences. This way, the most distinct pattern is shown first, which gives the most useful enzyme to distinguish between wanted and unwanted ligation products. In fact, it also works on completely unrelated sequences, expanding its possible applications. Thus, diffdigester.uni-jena.de is a fast, reliable, and free-to-use tool to help researchers plan differential digests for verifying their ligation products

Academic Careers: Time to reflect: learn, focus and plan: Blog for Bristol Medical Education Research Group

With the end of the academic year rapidly approaching, in this blog, Sarah Allsop challenges us to think about scheduling a session of reflection through 3 lenses: retrospective, introspective and prospective and how these can help us to learn, focus and plan

Surgical reconstruction of severe pressure ulcers in England from 01/04/2011 to 30/09/2018:Retrospective cohort study using routinely collected data

IntroductionWe identified patients in England admitted to hospital with severe pressure ulcers (SPUs), quantified how many had surgical reconstruction (SR) to close SPUs and described their outcomes.MethodsUsing Hospital Episode Statistics (2010ꟷ2019), we identified adults with SPU who had undergone SR. Outcomes were: length of stay; time-to-next-admission with SPU diagnosis; repeat SR; death from any cause (Office for National Statistics). Maximum and minimum numbers of SRs to close SPUs (the latter comprising a subset about whom we had greatest confidence) were estimated by applying increasingly specific filters.ResultsA minimum of 404 and maximum of 1018 patients with SPUs had SR over 7.5 years. Patients in the minimum subset were younger than the entire SR group (median 52 versus 58 years), had fewer comorbidities and were more likely to have a cause of impaired mobility. In the subset and entire group, median hospital stays after SR were 26 (IQR 13ꟷ48) and 42 (IQR 17ꟷ90) days. By one year, more patients in the subset had a further admission with SPU (24.4%, 95% CI 20.5%ꟷ29.0% versus 21.7%, 95%CI 19.2%ꟷ24.5% vs) and fewer had died (4.0%, 95%CI 2.5%ꟷ6.4% versus 14.6%, 95%CI 12.6%ꟷ16.7%); by two years, more had a second SR (10.7%, 95%CI 7.8%ꟷ14.5% versus 7.4%, 95%CI 5.7%ꟷ9.5%). Half the entire number of SRs (505/1018) were performed by 10 of 124 English hospitals.ConclusionPatients in the subset most likely had SR to close their SPUs. Their outcomes provide evidence that SR to close an SPU is effective for such patients