Ultracold Rydberg Atoms

This thesis presents a new experimental facility that has been developed in the course of the PhD of the author together with the experimental measurements of the dipole moments for transitions between 5P3/2 and nD5/2 states in Rb atoms, where 20 ≤ n ≤ 48. A laser cooling setup for rubidium atoms was designed and built that allows to produce 3 x 10 atoms at temperature of few microkelvins. A laser system for coherent excitation to Rydberg states was realised that exploits a two-photon ladder excitation scheme. Such setup allowed to directly measure transition dipole moments from the first excited state to high n Rydberg states. The electromagnetically induced transparency and Autler-Townes splitting phenomena were exploited in order to obtain the values of the dipole moments, which were found to be in an excellent agreement with the theoretical values calculated using the quasiclassical approach by our collaborators in Novosibirsk. To the author's knowledge, these are the first direct measurements of such dipole moments. The data shown in the thesis proves the reliability of the measurement method. The obtained results are extremely useful to validate theoretical models and gain insight in the physics of the interactions that will be an object of subsequent studies. The methods presented in the dissertation will be used in the future to detect in a non-destructive way Rydberg-Rydberg interactions within mesoscopic samples

Post-COVID-19 acute sarcopenia: physiopathology and management

In this review, we discuss the pathophysiologic and management aspects of acute sarcopenia in relation to SARS-CoV-2 infection. COVID-19 is as a multi-organ infectious disease characterized by a severe inflammatory and highly catabolic status, influencing the deep changes in the body build, especially the amount, structure, and function of skeletal muscles which would amount to acutely developed sarcopenia. Acute sarcopenia may largely impact patients’ in-hospital prognosis as well as the vulnerability to the post-COVID-19 functional and physical deterioration. The individual outcome of the COVID-19 and the degree of muscle mass and functional loss may be influenced by multiple factors, including the patient’s general pre-infection medical and functional condition, especially in older adults. This paper gathers the information about how the SARS-CoV-2 hyper-inflammatory involvement exacerbates the immunosenescence process, enhances the endothelial damage, and due to mitochondrial dysfunction and autophagy, induces myofibrillar breakdown and muscle degradation. The aftermath of these acute and complex immunological SARS-CoV-2-related phenomena, augmented by anosmia, ageusia and altered microbiota may lead to decreased food intake and exacerbated catabolism. Moreover, the imposed physical inactivity, lock-down, quarantine or acute hospitalization with bedrest would intensify the acute sarcopenia process. All these deleterious mechanisms must be swiftly put to a check by a multidisciplinary approach including nutritional support, early physical as well cardio-pulmonary rehabilitation, and psychological support and cognitive training. The proposed holistic and early management of COVID-19 patients appears essential to minimize the disastrous functional outcomes of this disease and allow avoiding the long COVID-19 syndrome. © 2021, The Author(s)

Measurement of the electric dipole moments for transitions to rubidium Rydberg states via Autler-Townes splitting

We present the direct measurements of electric-dipole moments for $5P_{3/2}\to nD_{5/2}$ transitions with $20<n<48$ for Rubidium atoms. The measurements were performed in an ultracold sample via observation of the Autler-Townes splitting in a three-level ladder scheme, commonly used for 2-photon excitation of Rydberg states. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first systematic measurement of the electric dipole moments for transitions from low excited states of rubidium to Rydberg states. Due to its simplicity and versatility, this method can be easily extended to other transitions and other atomic species with little constraints. Good agreement of the experimental results with theory proves the reliability of the measurement method.Comment: 12 pages, 6 figures; figure 6 replaced with correct versio

Is there the gap in public health literature in Europe?

Introduction and objective: The growing expectations for the effectiveness of public health increase the demand for scientific literature, concerning research, reviews and other forms of information. The bibliographic databases are of crucial importance for researchers and policy makers. The objective of this study is to estimate the supply of scientific literature related to public health in selected European countries, which are available to a wide range of users. Material and Methods: Analysis of the number of bibliographic records on topics related to public health was based on searches in Ovid MEDLINE ( R) in May and June 2011. According to MeSH terms, 11 keywords and names of 13 European countries were used in the search. Publications from the years 2001–2010 were analyzed. A number of publications indexed under ‘public health’, and related to selected countries were compared with the size of the population of those countries, GDP, total expenditure on health and burden of disease (DALYS’s). Results: The most popular topic was ‘health policy’, whereas the topics ‘occupational health’ and ‘environmental health’ were less prevalent. There were no significant changes in the number of publications in 2001–2010. The number of articles indexed under ‘public health’ had significant positive correlation with national GDP, expenditure on health and population size, and negative with DALY’s. Conclusions: According to the criteria accepted in this study, the Nordic countries – Finland, Sweden and Norway – were very productive in this respect. Poland and other Central European Countries were less productive

Quantum-enhanced protocols with mixed states using cold atoms in dipole traps

We discuss the use of cold atoms in dipole traps to demonstrate experimentally a particular class of protocols for computation and metrology based on mixed states. Modelling of the system shows that, for a specific class of problems (tracing, phase estimation), a quantum advantage can be achieved over classical algorithms for very realistic conditions and strong decoherence. We discuss the results of the models and the experimental implementation

Wspieranie działań na rzecz równości w zdrowiu w Unii Europejskiej – historia projektu DETERMINE

Mobilising action for health equity across the European Union – the story of DETERMINE projectThe DETERMINE project (2007–2010) was coordinated by EuroHealth-Net and there were 24 countries involved. It was an EU consortium for action on the socio-economic determinants of health (SDH). The overall objective was to mobilize action for health equity in the European Union, especially through achieving greater awareness and capacity amongst decision makers in all policy sectors to take health and health equity into consideration when developing policy and to strengthen collaboration between health and other sectors. Several phases of activities were carried out e.g.: identification of actions and policies addressing the socio-economic determinants of health inequalities (SDHI) in UE member states, recognition of innovative approaches in the context of SDH and selection of three small pilot projects with promising approach, consultations with politicians and policy makers outside the health sector on their attitude towards SDHI and their role in achieving health equity, identification of economic analyses addressing SDHI. There were also capacity building and awareness raising activities carried out by DETERMINE partners, such us: skills development, partnership development, leadership, awareness raising and advocacy

EuGMS 2019 Congress report: evidence-based medicine in geriatrics

This is the final version. Available from Springer Nature via the DOI in this record. The 2019 EuGMS Congress “Evidence-Based Medicine in Geriatrics” was held in Krakow, Poland, and attended by over 1600 participants from 64 different countries. A summary and reflection on the congress was presented in the Closing Ceremony by European Academy for Medicine of Aging graduates, and summarised in this article. Keynote lectures, ‘state of the art’ sessions and symposia presented the evidence relating to different age-related conditions, their prevention, management and treatments. Hot topic areas included frailty and multimorbidity, and evidence-based attempts to address these conditions at different life stages. The field of geriatrics represents unique challenges for evidence-based medicine practice. There is much research going on. Clear leadership is needed to facilitate consensus agreements on standard definitions, methods and relevant outcomes, in collaboration with older people themselves, to maximise the opportunities and benefits of doing this research, and benefiting our patients and society at large