Cold inelastic collisions between lithium and cesium in a two-species magneto-optical trap

We investigate collisional properties of lithium and cesium which are simultaneously confined in a combined magneto-optical trap. Trap-loss collisions between the two species are comprehensively studied. Different inelastic collision channels are identified, and inter-species rate coefficients as well as cross sections are determined. It is found that loss rates are independent of the optical excitation of Li, as a consequence of the repulsive Li$^*$-Cs interaction. Li and Cs loss by inelastic inter-species collisions can completely be attributed to processes involving optically excited cesium (fine-structure changing collisions and radiative escape). By lowering the trap depth for Li, an additional loss channel of Li is observed which results from ground-state Li-Cs collisions changing the hyperfine state of cesium.Comment: submitted to Euro. Phys. J. D, special issue on Laser Cooling and Trappin

Das GRADE-System: Ein internationaler Ansatz zur Vereinheitlichung der Graduierung von Evidenz und Empfehlungen in Leitlinien

Zusammenfassung: Leitlinien haben sich für Ärzte und Patienten zu einer wichtigen Stütze bei diagnostischen und therapeutischen Entscheidungen entwickelt. Um die aktuell verfügbaren methodischen Konzepte der Leitlinienentwicklung zu harmonisieren und die große Heterogenität und oft mangelnde Transparenz existierender Systeme zu überwinden, hat die GRADE (Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluation) Working Group, eine internationale Kollaboration von Leitlinienentwicklern, Klinikern und Methodikern, die vorhandenen Konzepte weiterentwickelt. Zentrale Bestandteile des GRADE-Systems sind die Unterscheidung zwischen der Qualität der Evidenz und der Stärke einer Empfehlung, die gleichzeitige Betrachtung von Nutzen und Schaden einer Intervention, die Fokussierung auf patientenrelevante Endpunkte, die Abbildung von inhärenten Wertvorstellungen einer Empfehlung und die Integration von Überlegungen zum Ressourcenverbrauch. Unter Berücksichtigung dieser Kriterien werden mit dem GRADE-System starke und abgeschwächte Empfehlungen abgegeben. International befürworten zahlreiche Leitlinienorganisationen und medizinische Fachgesellschaften das System und haben es für die Erstellung der eigenen Leitlinien übernomme

Improving the use of research evidence in guideline development: introduction

In 2005 the World Health Organisation (WHO) asked its Advisory Committee on Health Research (ACHR) for advice on ways in which WHO can improve the use of research evidence in the development of recommendations, including guidelines and policies. The ACHR established the Subcommittee on the Use of Research Evidence (SURE) to collect background documentation and consult widely among WHO staff, international experts and end users of WHO recommendations to inform its advice to WHO. We have prepared a series of reviews of methods that are used in the development of guidelines as part of this background documentation. We describe here the background and methods of these reviews, which are being published in Health Research Policy and Systems together with this introduction

Nuclear Resonance Vibrational Spectroscopy of Iron Sulfur Proteins

Nuclear inelastic scattering in conjunction with density functional theory (DFT) calculations has been applied for the identification of vibrational modes of the high-spin ferric and the high-spin ferrous iron-sulfur center of a rubredoxin-type protein from the thermophylic bacterium Pyrococcus abysii

Improving the use of research evidence in guideline development: 1. Guidelines for guidelines

BACKGROUND: The World Health Organization (WHO), like many other organisations around the world, has recognised the need to use more rigorous processes to ensure that health care recommendations are informed by the best available research evidence. This is the first of a series of 16 reviews that have been prepared as background for advice from the WHO Advisory Committee on Health Research to WHO on how to achieve this. OBJECTIVES: We reviewed the literature on guidelines for the development of guidelines. METHODS: We searched PubMed and three databases of methodological studies for existing systematic reviews and relevant methodological research. We did not conduct systematic reviews ourselves. Our conclusions are based on the available evidence, consideration of what WHO and other organisations are doing and logical arguments. KEY QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS: We found no experimental research that compared different formats of guidelines for guidelines or studies that compared different components of guidelines for guidelines. However, there are many examples, surveys and other observational studies that compared the impact of different guideline development documents on guideline quality. WHAT HAVE OTHER ORGANIZATIONS DONE TO DEVELOP GUIDELINES FOR GUIDELINES FROM WHICH WHO CAN LEARN? • Establish a credible, independent committee that evaluates existing methods for developing guidelines or that updates existing ones. • Obtain feedback and approval from various stakeholders during the development process of guidelines for guidelines. • Develop a detailed source document (manual) that guideline developers can use as reference material. WHAT SHOULD BE THE KEY COMPONENTS OF WHO GUIDELINES FOR GUIDELINES? • Guidelines for guidelines should include information and instructions about the following components: 1) Priority setting; 2) Group composition and consultations; 3) Declaration and avoidance of conflicts of interest; 4) Group processes; 5) Identification of important outcomes; 6) Explicit definition of the questions and eligibility criteria ; 7) Type of study designs for different questions; 8) Identification of evidence; 9) Synthesis and presentation of evidence; 10) Specification and integration of values; 11) Making judgments about desirable and undesirable effects; 12) Taking account of equity; 13) Grading evidence and recommendations; 14) Taking account of costs; 15) Adaptation, applicability, transferability of guidelines; 16) Structure of reports; 17) Methods of peer review; 18) Planned methods of dissemination & implementation; 19) Evaluation of the guidelines. WHAT HAVE OTHER ORGANIZATIONS DONE TO IMPLEMENT GUIDELINES FOR GUIDELINES FROM WHICH WHO CAN LEARN? • Obtain buy-in from regions and country level representatives for guidelines for guidelines before dissemination of a revised version. • Disseminate the guidelines for guidelines widely and make them available (e.g. on the Internet). • Develop examples of guidelines that guideline developers can use as models when applying the guidelines for guidelines. • Ensure training sessions for those responsible for developing guidelines. • Continue to monitor the methodological literature on guideline development

Violation of Bells inequality using continuous variable measurements

A Bell inequality is a fundamental test to rule out local hidden variable model descriptions of correlations between two physically separated systems. There have been a number of experiments in which a Bell inequality has been violated using discrete-variable systems. We demonstrate a violation of Bells inequality using continuous variable quadrature measurements. By creating a four-mode entangled state with homodyne detection, we recorded a clear violation with a Bell value of $B = 2.31 \pm 0.02$. This opens new possibilities for using continuous variable states for device independent quantum protocols.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, lette

Resonator-Enhanced Optical Dipole Trap for Fermionic Lithium Atoms

We demonstrate a novel optical dipole trap which is based on the enhancement of the optical power density of a Nd:YAG laser beam in a resonator. The trap is particularly suited for experiments with ultracold gases, as it combines a potential depth of order 1 mK with storage times of several tens of seconds. We study the interactions in a gas of fermionic lithium atoms in our trap and observe the influence of spin-changing collisions and off-resonant photon scattering. A key element in reaching long storage times is an ultra-low noise laser. The dependence of the storage time on laser noise is investigated.Comment: 4 pages 3 figures Revised 17.07.2001; Corrected calibration of noise measm

Interpreting the results of patient reported outcome measures in clinical trials: The clinician's perspective

This article deals with the problem of interpreting health-related quality of life (HRQL) outcomes in clinical trials. First, we will briefly describe how dichotomization and item response theory can facilitate interpretation. Based on examples from the medical literature for the interpretation of HRQL scores we will show that dichotomies may help clinicians understand information provided by HRQL instruments in RCTs. They can choose thresholds to calculate proportions of patients benefiting based on absolute scores or change scores. For example, clinicians interpreting clinical trial results could consider the difference in the proportion of patients who achieve a mean score of 50 before and after an intervention on a scale from 1 to 100. For the change score approach, they could consider the proportion of patients who have changed by a score of 5 or more. Finally, they can calculate the proportion of patients benefiting and transform these numbers into a number needed to treat or natural frequencies. Second, we will describe in more detail an approach to the interpretation of HRQL scores based on the minimal important difference (MID) and proportions. The MID is the smallest difference in score in the outcome of interest that informed patients or informed proxies perceive as important, either beneficial or harmful, and that would lead the patient or clinician to consider a change in the management. Any change in management will depend on the downsides, including cost and inconvenience, associated with the intervention. Investigators can help with the interpretation of HRQL scores by determining the MID of an HRQL instrument and provide mean differences in relation to the MID. For instance, for an MID of 0.5 on a seven point scale investigators could provide the mean change on the instrument as well as the proportion of patients with scores greater than the MID. Thus, there are several steps investigators can take to facilitate this process to help bringing HRQL information closer to the bedside

Improving the use of research evidence in guideline development: 13. Applicability, transferability and adaptation

BACKGROUND: The World Health Organization (WHO), like many other organisations around the world, has recognised the need to use more rigorous processes to ensure that health care recommendations are informed by the best available research evidence. This is the thirteenth of a series of 16 reviews that have been prepared as background for advice from the WHO Advisory Committee on Health Research to WHO on how to achieve this. OBJECTIVES: We reviewed the literature on applicability, transferability, and adaptation of guidelines. METHODS: We searched five databases for existing systematic reviews and relevant primary methodological research. We reviewed the titles of all citations and retrieved abstracts and full text articles if the citations appeared relevant to the topic. We checked the reference lists of articles relevant to the questions and used snowballing as a technique to obtain additional information. We used the definition "coming from, concerning or belonging to at least two or all nations" for the term international. Our conclusions are based on the available evidence, consideration of what WHO and other organisations are doing and logical arguments. KEY QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS: We did not identify systematic reviews addressing the key questions. We found individual studies and projects published in the peer reviewed literature and on the Internet. Should WHO develop international recommendations? • Resources for developing high quality recommendations are limited. Internationally developed recommendations can facilitate access to and pooling of resources, reduce unnecessary duplication, and involve international scientists. • Priority should be given to international health problems and problems that are important in low and middle-income countries, where these advantages are likely to be greatest. • Factors that influence the transferability of recommendations across different settings should be considered systematically and flagged, including modifying factors, important variation in needs, values, costs and the availability of resources. What should be done centrally and locally? • The preparation of systematic reviews and evidence profiles should be coordinated centrally, in collaboration with organizations that produce systematic reviews. Centrally developed evidence profiles should be adaptable to specific local circumstances. • Consideration should be given to models that involve central coordination with work being undertaken by centres located throughout the world. • While needs, availability of resources, costs, the presence of modifying factors and values need to be assessed locally, support for undertaking these assessments may be needed to make guidelines applicable. • WHO should provide local support for adapting and implementing recommendations by developing tools, building capacity, learning from international experience, and through international networks that support evidence-informed health policies, such as the Evidence-informed Policy Network (EVIPNet). How should recommendations be adapted? • WHO should provide detailed guidance for adaptation of international recommendations. • Local adaptation processes should be systematic and transparent, they should involve stakeholders, and they should report the key factors that influence decisions, including those flagged in international guidelines, and the reasons for any modifications that are made

Improving the use of research evidence in guideline development: 14. Reporting guidelines

BACKGROUND: The World Health Organization (WHO), like many other organisations around the world, has recognised the need to use more rigorous processes to ensure that health care recommendations are informed by the best available research evidence. This is the 14(th )of a series of 16 reviews that have been prepared as background for advice from the WHO Advisory Committee on Health Research to WHO on how to achieve this. OBJECTIVES: We reviewed the literature on reporting guidelines and recommendations. METHODS: We searched PubMed and three databases of methodological studies for existing systematic reviews and relevant methodological research. We did not conduct systematic reviews ourselves. Our conclusions are based on the available evidence, consideration of what WHO and other organisations are doing and logical arguments. KEY QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS: There is little empirical evidence that addresses these questions. Our answers are based on logical arguments and standards put forward by other groups. What standard types of recommendations or reports should WHO use? • WHO should develop standard formats for reporting recommendations to facilitate recognition and use by decision makers for whom the recommendations are intended, and to ensure that all the information needed to judge the quality of a guideline, determine its applicability and, if needed, adapt it, is reported. • WHO should develop standard formats for full systematically developed guidelines that are sponsored by WHO, rapid assessments, and guidelines that are endorsed by WHO. • All three formats should include the same information as full guidelines, indicating explicitly what the group preparing the guideline did not do, as well as the methods that were used. • These formats should be used across clinical, public health and health systems recommendations. How should recommendations be formulated and reported? • Reports should be structured, using headings that correspond to those suggested by the Conference on Guideline Standardization or similar headings. • The quality of evidence and strength of recommendations should be reported explicitly using a standard approach. • The way in which recommendations are formulated should be adapted to the specific characteristics of a specific guideline. • Urgent attention should be given to developing a template that provides decision makers with the relevant global evidence that is needed to inform a decision and offers practical methods for incorporating the context specific evidence and judgements that are needed