The impact of widowhood on Irish mortality due to suicide and accidents

The impact of widowhood on suicide and accident mortality in Ireland was investigated using Poisson regression analysis applied to routine data relating to all 10 561 suicidal and accidental deaths of married or widowed persons aged at least 35 years in Ireland during 1986–2005. Mortality rates were almost always higher among the widowed and often by a 2-fold, statistically significant difference. The excess mortality was equivalent to 2083 or 57.6% of all suicidal or accidental deaths of widowed persons in 1986–2005. Routine contact with recently widowed persons by public health professionals may be warranted with a view to reducing their excess mortality.

Temperature measurement of cold atoms using transient absorption of a resonant probe through an optical nanofibre

Optical nanofibres are ultrathin optical fibres with a waist diameter typically less than the wavelength of light being guided through them. Cold atoms can couple to the evanescent field of the nanofibre-guided modes and such systems are emerging as promising technologies for the development of atom-photon hybrid quantum devices. Atoms within the evanescent field region of an optical nanofibre can be probed by sending near or on-resonant light through the fibre; however, the probe light can detrimentally affect the properties of the atoms. In this paper, we report on the modification of the local temperature of laser-cooled 87Rb atoms in a magneto-optical trap centred around an optical nanofibre when near-resonant probe light propagates through it. A transient absorption technique has been used to measure the temperature of the affected atoms and temperature variations from 160 μk to 850 μk, for a probe power ranging from 0 to 50 nW, have been observed. This effect could have implications in relation to using optical nanofibres for probing and manipulating cold or ultracold atoms.