Self-reported medication intake vs information from other data sources such as pharmacy records or medical records: Identification and description of existing publications, and comparison of agreement results for publications focusing on patients with cancer - a systematic review.

Purpose: To identify and describe publications addressing the agreement between self-reported medication and other data sources among adults and, in a subgroup of studies dealing with cancer patients, seek to identify parameters which are associated with agreement.

Methods: A systematic review including a systematic search within five biomedical databases up to February 28, 2019 was conducted as per the PRISMA Statement. Studies and agreement results were described.

High-sensitivity x-ray/optical cross-correlator for next generation free-electron lasers.

We design and realize an arrival time diagnostic for ultrashort X-ray pulses achieving unprecedented high sensitivity in the soft X-ray regime via cross-correlation with a ≈1550 nm optical laser. An interferometric detection scheme is combined with a multi-layer sample design to greatly improve the sensitivity of the measurement. We achieve up to 275% of relative signal change when exposed to 1.

Obtaining more energetic modelocked pulses from a SESAM-based fiber laser.

A major design goal for femtosecond fiber lasers is to increase the output power but not at the cost of increasing the noise level or narrowing the bandwidth. Here, we perform a computational study to optimize the cavity design of a femtosecond fiber laser that is passively modelocked with a semiconductor saturable absorbing mirror (SESAM). We use dynamical methods that are more than a thousand times faster than standard evolutionary methods.

Flexible all-PM NALM Yb:fiber laser design for frequency comb applications: operation regimes and their noise properties.

We present a flexible all-polarization-maintaining (PM) mode-locked ytterbium (Yb):fiber laser based on a nonlinear amplifying loop mirror (NALM). In addition to providing detailed design considerations, we discuss the different operation regimes accessible by this versatile laser architecture and experimentally analyze five representative mode-locking states. These five states were obtained in a 78-MHz configuration at different intracavity group delay dispersion (GDD) values ranging from anomalous (-0.

Carrier-envelope phase stabilization of an Er:Yb:glass laser via a feed-forward technique.

Few-cycle pulsed laser technology highlights the need for control and stabilization of the carrier-envelope phase (CEP) for applications requiring shot-to-shot timing and phase consistency. This general requirement has been achieved successfully in a number of free-space and fiber lasers via feedback and feed-forward (FF) methods. Expanding on existing results, we demonstrate CEP stabilization through the FF method applied to a SESAM mode-locked Er:Yb:glass laser at 1.

Tunable dual-comb from an all-polarization-maintaining single-cavity dual-color Yb:fiber laser.

We demonstrate dual-comb generation from an all-polarization-maintaining dual-color ytterbium (Yb) fiber laser. Two pulse trains with center wavelengths at 1030 nm and 1060 nm respectively are generated within the same laser cavity with a repetition rate around 77 MHz. Dual-color operation is induced using a tunable mechanical spectral filter, which cuts the gain spectrum into two spectral regions that can be independently mode-locked.

Correction to: Information needs in people with diabetes mellitus: a systematic review.

Following publication of the original article [1], the authors opted to revise Table 1. Below is the updated version of the table.

Information needs in people with diabetes mellitus: a systematic review.

Background: The purpose of this study was to identify and analyse currently available knowledge on information needs of people with diabetes mellitus, also considering possible differences between subgroups and associated factors.

Methods: Twelve databases including MEDLINE, EMBASE and the Cochrane Library were searched up until June 2015. Publications that addressed self-reported information needs of people with diabetes mellitus were included.

Correction to: Diabetes-related information-seeking behaviour: a systematic review.

During the production process for this article [1] some errors were introduced into Table 2. The correct version of Table 2 can be found below; the original article [1] has also been updated with the correct version of Table 2. BMC apologises to the authors and to readers for this error.

Diabetes-related information-seeking behaviour: a systematic review.

Background: Information-seeking behaviour is necessary to improve knowledge on diabetes therapy and complications. Combined with other self-management skills and autonomous handling of the disease, it is essential for achieving treatment targets. However, a systematic review addressing this topic is lacking.

Incidence of lower extremity amputations in the diabetic compared with the non-diabetic population: A systematic review.

PROSPERO CRD4201501780.

Self-referenced frequency combs using high-efficiency silicon-nitride waveguides.

We utilize silicon-nitride waveguides to self-reference a telecom-wavelength fiber frequency comb through supercontinuum generation, using 11.3 mW of optical power incident on the chip. This is approximately 10 times lower than conventional approaches using nonlinear fibers and is enabled by low-loss (<2  dB) input coupling and the high nonlinearity of silicon nitride, which can provide two octaves of spectral broadening with incident energies of only 110 pJ.

Wake mode sidebands and instability in mode-locked lasers with slow saturable absorbers.

Passively mode-locked lasers with semiconductor saturable absorption mirrors are attractive comb sources due to their simplicity, excellent self-starting properties, and their environmental robustness. These lasers, however, can have an increased noise level and wake mode instabilities. Here, we investigate the wake mode dynamics in detail using a combination of evolutionary and dynamical methods.

Finite-time full counting statistics and factorial cumulants for transport through a quantum dot with normal and superconducting leads.

We study the finite-time full counting statistics for subgap transport through a single-level quantum dot tunnel-coupled to one normal and one superconducting lead. In particular, we determine the factorial and the ordinary cumulants both for finite times and in the long-time limit. We find that the factorial cumulants violate the sign criterion, indicating a non-binomial distribution, even in absence of Coulomb repulsion due to the presence of superconducting correlations.

Incidence of lower extremity amputation in the diabetic compared to the non-diabetic population: a systematic review protocol.

Background: Diabetic individuals have a largely increased risk of lower extremity amputation (LEA) compared with non-diabetic patients. Prior systematic reviews of incidence of LEA have some limitations with respect to lack of consensus in the definition of LEA, level of LEA (all, major, minor), and definition of source population (general population or population with diabetes at risk). The purpose of our review is to evaluate the incidence of LEA in the diabetic population and its differences with regard to sex, ethnicity, age, and regions; to compare the incidence rate (IR) in the diabetic and non-diabetic population; and to investigate time trends.

Revealing and acknowledging value judgments in health technology assessment.

Background: Although value issues are increasingly addressed in health technology assessment (HTA) reports, HTA is still seen as a scientific endeavor and sometimes contrasted with value judgments, which are considered arbitrary and unscientific. This article aims at illustrating how numerous value judgments are at play in the HTA process, and why it is important to acknowledge and address value judgments.

Methods: A panel of experts involved in HTA, including ethicists, scrutinized the HTA process with regard to implicit value judgments.

Evaluation of ethical aspects in health technology assessment: more methods than applications?

Health technology assessment (HTA) emerged with the increased need for systematical evaluation of health technologies in the 1970s. From its very beginning, ethics was a constitutive part of HTA, and over the years a wide range of approaches have been suggested to address ethical aspects of health technologies. Despite a vast variety of methodologies in ethics, there is no consensus about the appropriateness of the existing methods.

Optical-frequency transfer over a single-span 1840 km fiber link.

To compare the increasing number of optical frequency standards, highly stable optical signals have to be transferred over continental distances. We demonstrate optical-frequency transfer over a 1840-km underground optical fiber link using a single-span stabilization. The low inherent noise introduced by the fiber allows us to reach short term instabilities expressed as the modified Allan deviation of 2×10(-15) for a gate time τ of 1 s reaching 4×10(-19) in just 100 s.

A transcervical chorionic villus sampling model for teaching.

We sought to create a transcervical chorionic villus sampling model for teaching that would mimic a lifelike model. A model was created using silicone resembling the maternal interface. A cervix with an endocervical canal able to accommodate a catheter and a vagina was also created.

Josephson current through interacting double quantum dots with spin-orbit coupling.

We study the effect of Rashba spin-orbit interaction on the Josephson current through a double quantum dot in the presence of Coulomb repulsion. In particular, we describe the characteristic effects on the magnetic field-induced singlet-triplet transition in the molecular regime. Exploring the whole parameter space, we analyze the effects of the device asymmetry, the orientation of the applied magnetic field with respect to the spin-orbit interaction, and finite temperatures.

[Information on legal issues in health technologies: methodological proposal to identify them in a systematic and comprehensible manner].

Background: Rules and regulations form the framework of Health Technology Assessments. Legal issues are directly associated with the technology (as patents/licenses) or to the patients and their basic rights (as autonomy). In order to identify the regulations of interest as well as the relevant publications in a systematic and transparent way a specific methodological approach is required.

Circadian and ultradian rhythms of free glucocorticoid hormone are highly synchronized between the blood, the subcutaneous tissue, and the brain.

Total glucocorticoid hormone levels in plasma of various species, including humans, follow a circadian rhythm that is made up from an underlying series of hormone pulses. In blood most of the glucocorticoid is bound to corticosteroid-binding globulin and albumin, resulting in low levels of free hormone. Although only the free fraction is biologically active, surprisingly little is known about the rhythms of free glucocorticoid hormones.