How Do Stroke Survivors, Relatives, and Experts Experience Post-Stroke Care After Completion of a Medical Rehabilitation Measure? Results of a Qualitative Study

Während das deutsche Gesundheitssystem über eine hervorragende medizinische Akutversorgung (Stroke Unit) von Menschen nach Schlaganfall verfügt, sind es der Entlassungsprozess und die poststationäre Betreuung nach Abschluss einer Rehabilitationsmaßnahme, in denen noch immer Unter- und Fehlversorgungen auftreten. Ziel der hier vorgestellten Studie war es, basierend auf den Erfahrungen aller Teilnehmenden Empfehlungen für eine Verbesserung im Nachsorgeprozess zu formulieren. Insgesamt wurden 19 Personen mithilfe von leitfadengestützten Interviews befragt, sechs Expertinnen und Experten aus der ärztlichen und therapeutischen Versorgung sowie sieben Menschen nach Schlaganfall und sechs Angehörige. Die audiodokumentierten Interviews wurden mit der Analysesoftware MAXQDA transkribiert und nach dem Verfahren der qualitativen Inhaltsanalyse nach KUCKARTZ (2016) ausgewertet. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass insbesondere der Zeitpunkt der Weitergabe von Informationen, die Einbindung der Angehörigen sowie die Budgetierung im deutschen Gesundheitswesen Versorgungslücken und Versorgungsabbrüche in der Nachsorge beeinflussen und somit Ansatzpunkte zur Verbesserung bieten können.While the German healthcare system has an excellent medical acute care treatment system (stroke unit) for stroke victims, it is the discharge process and post-inpatient follow-up care after the completion of a rehabilitation measure in which misuse still occur. The aim of my study has been to formulate recommendations for improvements in the aftercare process based on the experiences of the participants. All in all, 19 persons were interviewed, six experts from medical and therapeutic care, seven stroke victims, and six relatives took part in the interviews. The audio-documented interviews were transcribed with the analysis software MAXQDA and analyzed using qualitative content analysis (KUCKARTZ, 2016). The results show that the dissemination of information, the involvement of relatives, and the budgeting in the German health care system can influence gaps and interruptions in follow-up care and thus offer starting points for improvement

Optically-pumped saturable absorber for fast switching between continuous-wave and passively mode-locked regimes of a Nd:YVO4 laser

We report on the fast (~50 μs) remote-controlled switching between continuous-wave (cw), cw mode-locked (ML) and Q-switched ML modes of operation of a Nd:YVO4 laser using an optically-pumped saturable absorber (SA). Pulses as short as 40 ps with an average output power of 0.5 W are obtained in cw ML regime

Narrow Linewidth 780 nm Distributed Feedback Lasers for Cold Atom Quantum Technology

Cold atom quantum technology systems have a wide range of potential applications which includes atomic clocks, rotational sensors, inertial sensors, quantum navigators, magnetometers and gravimeters. The UK Quantum Technology Hub in Sensors and Metrology has the aim of developing miniature cold atom systems using an approach similar to that pioneered by the chip scale atomic clock where microfabricated vacuum chambers have atomic transitions excited and probed by lasers. Whilst narrow linewidth Ti:Sa and external cavity diode lasers have been required for cooling and control, such lasers are too large, power hungry and expensive for future miniature cold atom systems. Here we demonstrate 1 mm long 780.24 nm GaAs/AlGaAs distributed feedback (DFB) lasers aimed at 87Rb cold atom systems operating at 20 ˚C with over 50 mW of power and side-mode suppression ratios of 46 dB using sidewall gratings and no regrowth. Rb spectroscopy is used to demonstrate linewidths below the required 6.07 MHz natural linewidth of the 87Rb D2 optical transition used for cooling. Initial packaged fibre-coupled devices demonstrate lifetimes greater than 200 hours. We also investigate the use of integrated semiconductor amplifiers (SOAs) and longer devices to further reduce the linewidths well below 1 MHz. A range of options to control the populations of electrons in the hyperfine split energy levels spaced by 3.417 GHz are examined. Two integrated lasers, integrated electro-absorption modulators (EAMs) and the direct modulation of a single DFB laser approaches are investigated and we will discuss which is best suited to integrated cold atom systems

Issues to Consider When Measuring and Applying Socioeconomic Position Quantitatively in Immigrant Health Research

The relationship between migration and health is complex, yet, immigrant-related inequalities in health are largely influenced by socioeconomic position. Drawing upon previous findings, this paper discusses issues to consider when measuring and applying socioeconomic position in quantitative immigrant health research. When measuring socioeconomic position, it is important to be aware of four aspects: (1) there is a lack of clarity about how socioeconomic position should be measured; (2) different types of socioeconomic position may be relevant to immigrants compared with the native-born population; (3) choices of measures of socioeconomic position in quantitative analyses often rely on data availability; and (4) different measures of socioeconomic position have different effects in population groups. Therefore, caution should be used in the collection, presentation, analyses, and interpretation of data and researchers need to display their proposed conceptual models and data limitations as well as apply different approaches for analyses

Continuous wave room temperature external ring cavity quantum cascade laser

An external ring cavity quantum cascade laser operating at ∼5.2 μm wavelength in a continuous-wave regime at the temperature of 15 °C is demonstrated. Out-coupled continuous-wave optical powers of up to 23 mW are observed for light of one propagation direction with an estimated total intra-cavity optical power flux in excess of 340 mW. The uni-directional regime characterized by the intensity ratio of more than 60 for the light propagating in the opposite directions was achieved. A single emission peak wavelength tuning range of 90 cm-1 is realized by the incorporation of a diffraction grating into the cavity

Mapping the dynamical regimes of a SESAM mode-locked VECSEL with long cavity using time series analysis

The different dynamical regions of an optically-pumped SESAM mode-locked, long-cavity VECSEL system with a fundamental pulse repetition frequency of ~200 MHz are investigated. The output power, captured as 250 μs long time series using a sampling rate of 200 GSa/s, for each operating condition of the system, is analyzed to determine the dynamical state. A wavelength range of 985-995 nm and optical pump powers of 10 W-16.3 W is studied. The system produces high quality fundamental passive mode-locking (FML) over an extensive part of the parameter space, but the different dynamical regions outside of FML are the primary focus of this study. We report five types of output: CW emission, FML, modelocking of a few modes, double pulsing, and, semi-stable 4th harmonic mode-locking. The high sampling rate of the oscilloscope, combined with the long duration of the time series analyzed, enables insight into how the structure and substructure of pulses vary systematically over thousands of round trips of the laser cavity. Higher average output power is obtained in regions characterized by semi-stable 4th harmonic mode-locking than observed for FML, raising whether such average powers might be achieved for FML. The observed dynamical transitions from fundamental mode-locking provide insights into instability challenges in developing a stable, widely tunable, low repetition rate, turn-key system; and to inform future modelling of the system

Developing a portable gas imaging camera using highly tunable active-illumination and computer vision

We have developed a portable gas imaging camera for identifying methane leaks in real-time. The camera uses active illumination from distributed feedback InGaAs laser diodes tuned to the 1653 nm methane absorption band. An InGaAs focal plane sensor array images the active illumination. The lasers are driven off resonance every alternate frame so that computer vision can extract the gas data. A colour image is captured simultaneously and the data is superimposed to guide the operator. Image stabilisation has been employed to allow detection with a moving camera, successfully imaging leaks from mains pressure gas supplies at a range of up to 3 m and flow rates as low as 0.05 L min−1

Analysis tools to uncover variations in picosecond mode-locked pulses

A big data approach is demonstrated for quality assurance of mode-locked pulses longer than ~20 ps. Real-time recordings of pulses sampled at 200 Gs/s are analysed to quantify pulse consistency within sequences of ~50,000 pulses