Background: {alpha}1-Antitrypsin (AAT)-Z deficiency is a risk factor for the development of COPD. Compared to wild-type M, AAT-Z has an increased tendency to polymerize, rendering it inactive as a serine proteinase inhibitor. It has been demonstrated that wild-type M- and Z-deficiency AAT polymers are chemotactic for human neutrophils. However, our own studies dispute a proinflammatory role for po

Aim: To survey the entire population (n = 116) afflicted with severe haemophilia A or B born in Sweden over a 20-y period (1980-1999), and to examine the epidemiological, genetic and clinical aspects of development of inhibitors to factors VIII and IX (FVIII/FIX). Methods: One hundred of the subjects had haemophilia A and 16 had haemophilia B. All of these subjects had received prophylactic treatm

Based on data available at the IAU (International Astronomical Union) Meteor Data Center in Lund 60 precisely reduced photographic Orionid orbits and 17 video observed orbits are analysed. Mean photographic and video orbits are compared with the orbit of comet Halley. The Orionid meteoroid stream structure and radiant motion is studied, and compared with previous visual and photographic studies of

A diagnosis-antibiotic prescribing study initiated by the Swedish Strategic Programme for the Rational Use of Antimicrobial Agents and Surveillance of Resistance was performed in 5 counties in Sweden (total 1,290,000 inhabitants) during 1 week in November 2000. The aims of the study were to analyse diagnoses and antibiotics prescribed for outpatients and to appraise the feasibility of the data col

A straightforward semi-implicit finite-difference method approximating a system of conservation laws including a stiff relaxation term is analyzed. We show that the error, measured in L-1, is bounded by O(root Delta t) independent of the stiffness, where the time step Delta t represents the mesh size. As a simple corollary we obtain that solutions of the stiff system converge toward the solution o

[abstract missing]

The excitation-decay processes at the F 1s photoabsorption edge in LiF crystal are studied using resonant inelastic x-ray scattering spectroscopy. The Raman-type linear dispersion and the narrowing of the x-ray fluorescence peak are observed at resonant excitation. A theoretical model based on the Kramers-Heisenberg formula describes well the main features in fluorescence spectra and allows one to

Quantification of platelet-bound immunoglobulin is widely used in the evaluation of thrombocytopenia. Several methods have been devised among which labelled ligand-binding assays seem to be most appropriate. In series of adult patients such assays have been shown to be superior in separating immune-thrombocytopenia from thrombocytopenia of non-immune causes. We studied 62 children with thrombocyto

Well-ordered epitaxial V2O3(0 0 0 1) films (thickness > 80 Angstrom) have been prepared on the clean Rh(1 1 1) surface and investigated with scanning tunnelling microscopy, low-energy electron diffraction, high-resolution electron energy loss spectroscopy and high-resolution X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy with synchrotron radiation. Atomically flat V2O3(0 0 0 1) surfaces, terminated by vanadyl (

In this study the effect of strontium substitution on the hydrolysis of alpha-tricalcium phosphate (alpha-TCP) toward the formation of calcium deficient hydroxyapatite (CDHA) was investigated. For that purpose substituted alpha-TCP powders with 1, 5 and 10 mol% Sr substitution for Ca were synthesized by reacting at 1500 degrees C stoichiometric amounts of CaCO3, SrCO3, and Ca2P2O7, followed by rap

The aim of this study was to evaluate the contribution of insulin processing to the improved meal-related B-cell function previously shown with the DPP-4 inhibitor vildagliptin. Fifty-five patients with type 2 diabetes (56.5 +/- 1.5 years; BMI=29.6 +/- 0.5kg/m(2); FPG = 9.9 +/- 0.2 mmol/l; HbA1c=7.7 +/- 0.1 %) were studied: 29 pateients were treated with vildagliptin and 26 patients with placebo,

The acromioclavicular joint space in standard antero-posterior images of 151 normal subjects was measured. The joint space was significantly wider in men. There was a highly significant reduction of the joint space with age in both men and women and in persons past 60 a joint space of 0.5 mm or less is not pathological. A joint space wider than 7 mm in men and 6 mm in women is abnormal. The measur