Background: Previous studies of the natural history of alpha-1-antitrypsin (AAT) deficiency are mostly based on highly selected patients. The aim of this study was to analyse the mortality of PiZZ individuals. Methods: Data from 1339 adult PiZZ individuals from the Swedish National AAT Deficiency Registry, followed from 1991 to 2008, were analysed. Forty-three percent of these individuals were ide

Multigraft polymers comprise a subclass of branched polymers where more than one side chain is attached to each node (branching point) of the main chain. We have investigated structural properties of single multigraft polymers under good solvent conditions by Monte Carlo simulations, employing a flexible bead-spring model. Beside the grafting density, denoting the linear density of grafted side ch

Abstract As custom multicore architectures become more and more common for DSP applications, instruction selection and scheduling for such applications and architectures become important topics. In this paper, we explore the effects of defining the problem of finding an optimal instruction selection and scheduling as a constraint satisfaction problem (CSP). We incorporate methods based on sub-grap

The normalized differential cross section for top-quark pair production in association with at least one jet is studied as a function of the inverse of the invariant mass of the t (t) over bar + 1-jet system. This distribution can be used for a precise determination of the top-quark mass since gluon radiation depends on the mass of the quarks. The experimental analysis is based on proton-proton co

Gene set-based analysis methods have recently gained increasing popularity for analysis of microarray data. Several studies have indicated that the results from such methods are more reproducible and more easily interpretable than the results from single gene-based methods. A new method for ranking gene sets with respect to their association with a given predictor or response, using a new framewor

There are little data on the putative association between factors in the metabolic syndrome (MetS) and risk of bladder cancer. In the Metabolic Syndrome and Cancer project (Me-Can), measurements of height, weight, blood pressure and circulating levels of glucose, cholesterol, and triglycerides had been collected from 578,700 subjects in cohorts in Norway, Austria, and Sweden. We used Cox proportio

We show that light drives large-amplitude structural changes in thin films of the prototypical ferroelectric PbTiO3 via direct coupling to its intrinsic photovoltaic response. Using time-resolved x-ray scattering to visualize atomic displacements on femtosecond time scales, photoinduced changes in the unit-cell tetragonality are observed. These are driven by the motion of photogenerated free charg

Climate-induced migration, and particularly the issue of climate refugees, is subject to growing attention in global climate governance. The debate on the topic sees the convergence of conflicting discourses (ranging from those of conservative European governments to southern NGOs) onto apocalyptic narratives that forecast massive, abrupt and unavoidable flows of climate refugees. Such dystopian n

We report on the use of time resolved X-ray diffraction to measure the dynamics of strain in laser-excited graphite film of nanometer thickness, obtained by chemical vapour deposition (CVD). Heat transport in the CVD film is simulated with a 1-dimensional heat diffusion model. We find the experimental data to be consistent with a c-axis thermal conductivity of similar to 0.7 Wm(-1) K-1. This value

Arguments from explanation, i.e. arguments in which the explanatory value of a hypothesis or premise is appealed to, are common in science, and explanatory considerations are becoming more popular in metaphysics. The paper begins by arguing that explanatory arguments in science—even when these are metaphysical explanations—may fail to be explanatory in metaphysics; there is a distinction to be dra

Abstract in UndeterminedThis article presents an integrated environment for application scheduling, binding and routing used for the run-time reconfigurable, operator based, ROMA multimedia architecture. The environment is very flexible and after a minor modification can support other reconfigurable architectures. Currently, it supports the architecture model composed of a bank of single (double)

Athletes constantly report experiences of momentum during athletic contests, and they consider momentum as being an important factor for the outcome of a competition. However, researchers trying to capture momentum with quantitative methods see themselves confronted with inconclusive results. To explain this gap between athletes’ belief and results from quantitative data, it is hypothesised that m

BackgroundWarfarin is demonstrated to be superior in efficacy over antiplatelet agents for the prevention of stroke, but the relationship between warfarin and mortality is less clear. Our aim was to investigate this relationship in a large cohort of unselected patients with atrial fibrillation and ischaemic stroke. MethodsThis observational study was based on patients who were discharged alive and

High-palaeolatitude plesiosaur, mosasaur and, more rarely, dinosaur fossils are well known from the Maungataniwha Sandstone Member of the Tahora Formation in Mangahouanga Stream, Hawkes Bay, New Zealand. A palynological investigation of strata exposed along Mangahouanga Stream and of transported boulders hosting vertebrate fossils reveals well-preserved assemblages dominated by terrestrial pollen

Original connections among the world's extant Archean cratons are becoming tractable by the use of integrated paleomagnetic and geochronologic studies on Paleoproterozoic mafic dyke swarms. Here we report new high-quality paleomagnetic data from the similar to 2.41 Ga Widgiemooltha dyke swarm of the Yilgarn craton in western Australia, confirming earlier results from that unit, in which the primar

The electronic structure of superheavy elements (Z ≥ 104) and their chemical properties are dominated by relativistic effects. Recently two superheavy elements were recognized by the IUPAC and named flerovium (Fl, Z = 114) and livermorium (Lv, Z = 116). Fl is the heaviest element with which chemical experiments were performed. Here, we report on experiments that help answering the long-standing qu

We propose and analyze a high-fidelity readout scheme for a single-instance approach to quantum computing in rare-earth-ion-doped crystals. The scheme is based on using different elements as qubit and readout ions, where the readout ions are doped into the material at a much lower concentration than the qubit ions. It is shown that by allowing the qubit ion sitting closest to a readout ion to act