A qualitative study exploring patients' experiences of standard care or cardiac rehabilitation post minor stroke and transient ischaemic attack.

OBJECTIVE: To explore individuals' experiences of receiving either standard care or comprehensive cardiac rehabilitation post minor stroke or transient ischaemic attack. DESIGN: A qualitative study using semi-structured interviews, alongside a randomized controlled trial, exploring the effectiveness of comprehensive cardiac rehabilitation compared with standard care. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and subjected to thematic analysis. SETTING: Individuals' homes. SUBJECTS: People who have experienced a minor stroke or transient ischaemic attack and who were partaking in a secondary prevention randomized controlled trial (6-7 months post the event, 17 males, five females; mean age 67 years). INTERVENTIONS: Not relevant. MAIN MEASURES: Not relevant. RESULTS: Four themes were identified: information delivery, comparing oneself with others, psychological impact, attitudes and actions regarding risk factor reduction. Participants indicated a need for improved information delivery, specific to their own risk factors and lifestyle changes. Many experienced psychological impact as a result of their minor stroke. Participants were found to make two types of social comparison; the comparison of self to another affected by stroke, and the comparison of self to cardiac patients. CONCLUSION: Comprehensive cardiac rehabilitation was reported to have positive effects on people's motivation to exercise. Following a minor stroke, many individuals do not recall information given or risk factors specific to them. Downward comparison with individuals who have had a cardiovascular event led to some underplaying the significance of their minor stroke.

Hybrid glass substrates for waveguide device manufacture.

Hybrid glass substrates were prepared by a novel, low-temperature process joining active (Er-Yb codoped) and passive phosphate glass. The resulting hybrid substrates are chemically and physically robust; they can be cut, ground, and polished by conventional, water-based techniques. The entire substrate can be immersed in a molten-salt bath to produce waveguides simultaneously in the active and passive regions. A low reflectance of -34+/-2 dB was measured at the joint interface with 1531.2-nm light by optical low-coherence reflectometry. Further, a hybrid laser waveguide device exhibited a slope efficiency of 33% at 1540 nm when pumped at 975 nm.

Ion-exchanged waveguide lasers in Er3+/Yb3+ codoped silicate glass.

We investigated an Er(3+)/Yb(3+) codoped silicate glass as a host material for waveguide lasers operating near 1.5 microm. Spectroscopic properties of the glass are reported. Waveguide lasers were fabricated by K(+)-ion exchange from a nitrate melt. The waveguides support a single transverse mode at 1.5 microm. An investigation of the laser performance as a function of the Yb:Er ratio was performed, indicating an optimal ratio of approximately 5:1. Slope efficiencies of as great as 6.5% and output powers as high as 19.6 mW at 1.54 microm were realized. The experimental results are compared with a waveguide laser model that is used to extract the Er(3+) upconversion coefficients and the Yb(3+)-Er(3+) cross-relaxation coefficients. The results indicate the possibility of obtaining high-performance waveguide lasers from a durable silicate host glass.

Hemispherical dielectric permittivity cell.

A three-terminal dielectric cell based on a hemispherical design is constructed for low-temperature measurements of dielectric permittivity. The cell has a small sample volume, is geometrically stable, and shows no frequency dependence of capacitance. Measurements on test samples are presented showing both cell constant stability data and the linearity of measured capacitance with dielectric constant.