BACKGROUND: Neonatal screening for alpha(1)-antitrypsin (AAT) deficiency was undertaken in Sweden between 1972 and 1974 when 129 infants with severe AAT deficiency (phenotype PiZ) were identified. The cohort has been followed up prospectively. METHODS: 124 PiZ subjects, still alive and still living in Sweden, were invited to a follow up examination at about 22 years of age. The check up included a

We conducted a cross-sectional pilot study on healthy pre-menopausal women (aged 45-50 years) living in Granada, in the south of Spain (n = 39) and Malmo, in the south of Sweden (n = 38) in order to compare their plasma carotenoid levels and to investigate the relationship between the differences in food consumption. Plasma concentrations of six carotenoids were measured using high performance liq

Chitosan was chosen as a natural polymer for dispersion of single walled carbon nanotubes (SWNT) based on its ability to efficiently solubilize SWNTs to form a stable dispersion. Moreover, chitosan films deposited on a surface of a glassy carbon (GC) electrode are mechanically stable. Further stabilisation of the chitosan film containing SWNT (CHIT-SWNT) was done by chemical crosslinking with glut

Abstract in German Es wurden die Ergebnisse von 116 Blutalkoholbestimmungen in Fällen klinisch behandelter und sämtlich überlebter Alkoholvergiftungen von Kindern bis zu 14 Jahren ausgewertet. In 84 Fällen war die nähere Untersuchung der Anamnese, der klinischen Symptomatik und des Verlaufes möglich. Jungen waren deutlich häufiger betroffen als Mädchen (Verhältnis 4:1). Das durchschnittliche AlterThis study is based on 116 blood alcohol estimations of intoxicated children up to 14 years of age; all these children recovered after several hours of clinical treatment. In 84 cases the data about the anamnesis, the neurological symptoms, and the clinical course could be evaluated in detail. The average age of children was 10 years; most of them (60%) were 11--14 years old. Sex distribution: 4 m

Based on spectra from F and G dwarf stars, we present elementalabundance trends in the Galactic thin and thick disks in the metallicityregime -0.8< [Fe/H < +0.4. Our findings can besummarized as follows. 1) Both the thin and the thick disks show smoothand distinct abundance trends that, at sub-solar metallicities, areclearly separated. 2) For the alpha -elements the thick disk showssignatures of c

Extremal control of Wiener type processes is considered. These models consists of a linear part followed by a static nonlinearity. We will consider nonlinearities having one extremum point. The purpose is to keep the output of the process as close as possible to the extremum point. The main problem in the control of this kind of processes is the non-uniqueness of the inverse of the nonlinearity. T

Flow cytometric DNA measurements yield the amount of DNA for each of a large number of cells. A DNA histogram normally consists of a mixture of one or more constellations of G0/G1-, S-, G2/M-phase cells, together with internal standards, debris, background noise, and one or more populations of clumped cells. We have modelled typical DNA histograms as a mixed distribution with Gaussian densities fo

Mucosal exudation of nonsieved bulk plasma is a key feature of airway defense and inflammation. We have previously observed in guinea pig tracheobronchial airways that endogenous nitric oxide (NO) of the mucosa may tonically suppress the permeability of the subepithelial microcirculation, and that topical administration of the NO donor nitroprusside may reduce plasma exudation responses. The prese

Background - Mitral annuloplasty is the most common surgical procedure performed for ischemic mitral regurgitation (MR). Surgical mitral annuloplasty is limited by morbidity, mortality, and MR recurrence. We evaluated the safety and feasibility of a transvenous catheter-delivered implantable device to provide a percutaneous alternative to surgical mitral annuloplasty. Methods and Results - Five pa

An intensely painful stimulus may lead to hyperalgesia, the enhanced sensation of subsequent painful stimuli. This is commonly believed to involve facilitated transmission of sensory signals in the spinal cord, possibly by a long-term potentiation-like mechanism. However, plasticity of identified synapses in intact hyperalgesic animals has not been reported. Here, we show, using neuronal tracing a

Accessibility is an important factor in land-use planning and several methods have been developed to calculate and to predict it. Nevertheless, it is seldom applied in planning situations, maybe because many land-use planners and elected officials lack the knowledge and resources needed to use traffic models. Consequently, accessibility is often used as a concept and a goal in daily planning, but