Objective: To examine the association between body mass index (BMI) and osteoarthritis (OA) leading to total hip (THR) or knee (TKR) joint replacement. Methods: Case-control study design. All patients still living in Iceland who had had a THR or TKR resulting from OA before the end of 2002 were invited to participate. First-degree relatives of participating patients served as controls. A total of

The aim of our work was to calculate basic mathematical characteristics of payment functional, such as mathematical expectation, variation and expected risk in discrete and continuous market models. In our paper we present a model of financial market in which the entire time interval in the continuous model is divided into steps with exponential distribution, and in the discrete model into steps o

Effects of linear amphiphilicity on membrane interactions of antimicrobial peptides were investigated by ellipsometry, dual polarization interferometry, fluorescence spectroscopy, light scattering, and circular dichroism. In doing so, the thrombin-derived GKY25 (GKYGFYTHVFRLKKWIQKVIDQFGE) was compared to WFF25 (WFFFYYLIIGGGVVTHQQRKKKKDE) of identical composition, but with amino acids sorted accord

This contribution evaluates the feasibility and potential of a statistical determination of the neutron energy for thermal and cold neutrons in the new generation of neutron detectors. For the European Spallation Source (ESS), sited in Lund, Sweden, which is planned to be operational in 2019, and the world's leading source for the study of materials with neutrons by 2025, novel neutron detectors r

We consider weighted sequence spaces on N with increasing weights. Given a fixed integer k and a Hankel operator Gamma on such a space, we show that the kth singular vector generates an analytic function with precisely k zeroes in the unit disc, in analogy with the classical AAK-theory of Hardy spaces. We also provide information on the structure of the singular spectrum for Hankel operators, appl

Background: This population-based study investigated the different forms, magnitude and risk factors of men's violence against women in intimate relationships in a rural part of northern Vietnam and whether a difference in risk factors were at hand for the different forms of violence. Vietnam has undergone a rapid transition in the last 20 years, moving towards a more equal situation for men and w

Background: Dairy product intake may be inversely associated with risk of type 2 diabetes, but the evidence is inconclusive for total dairy products and sparse for types of dairy products. Objective: The objective was to investigate the prospective association of total dairy products and different dairy subtypes with incidence of diabetes in populations with marked variation of intake of these foo

The molecular basis of type 2 diabetes predisposition at most established susceptibility loci remains poorly understood. KCNQ1 maps within the 11p15.5 imprinted domain, a region with an established role in congenital growth phenotypes. Variants intronic to KCNQ1 influence diabetes susceptibility when maternally inherited. By use of quantitative PCR and pyrosequencing of human adult islet and fetal

We have constructed a set of embedded atom method (EAM) potentials for Fe, Ta, W and V and used them in order to study point defect properties. The parametrizations of the potentials ensure that the third order elastic constants are continuous and they have been fitted to the cohesive energies, the lattice constants, the unrelaxed vacancy formation energies and the second order elastic constants.

This survey was conducted in two protected areas in Nigeria to genetically identify individual lions and to determine the genetic variation within and between the populations. We used faecal sample DNA, a non-invasive alternative to the risky and laborious task of taking samples directly from the animals, often preceded by catching and immobilization. Data collection in Yankari Game Reserve (YGR)

The Nordic countries are all established welfare states, and there has for some time existed a notion of a distinctive Nordic or Scandinavian welfare state. Considerable differences seem to exist between for example the psychiatric services within, as well as between, the Nordic countries when it comes to history, mental health acts and allocation of resources. Some argue that it is not even possi

This document describes the technical layout and the expected performance of the Straw Tube Tracker (STT), the main tracking detector of the PANDA target spectrometer. The STT encloses a Micro-Vertex-Detector (MVD) for the inner tracking and is followed in beam direction by a set of GEM stations. The tasks of the STT are the measurement of the particle momentum from the reconstructed trajectory an

We used the radiocarbon wiggle-match dating technique to date the varved sediments of Lake Gyltigesjon in southern Sweden with the main aim to construct an accurate chronology covering the period between about 3000 and 2000 cal BP. Wiggle-match dating was applied to bulk sediments to evaluate the possibility of constructing accurate chronologies in the absence of terrestrial plant macrofossils and

A circular polarization selective structure (CPSS) reflects one handedness of circular polarization and transmits the other. We present a new multilayer structure with significantly improved bandwidth compared to classical solutions, which are typically based on resonant structures. The proposed structure consists of layers of printed metal meander lines interspaced by low-permittivity rigid foams

Construction project life-cycle processes must be managed in a more effective and predictable way to meet project stakeholders’ needs. However, there is increasing concern about whether know-how effectively improves understanding of underlying theories of project management processes for construction organizations and their project managers. Project planning and scheduling are considered as key an

Increasing soft error rates for semiconductor devices manufactured in later technologies enforce the usage of fault tolerant techniques such as Roll-back Recovery with Checkpointing (RRC). As RRC introduces time overhead that increases the completion (execution) time, time constraints (deadlines) might be violated. This is a drawback for a class of computer systems where the correct operation is d

Background Wegener's granulomatosis and microscopic polyangiitis are antineutrophil cytoplasm antibodies (ANCA)-associated vasculitides with significant morbidity and mortality. The long-term survival of patients with ANCA associated vasculitis treated with current regimens is uncertain. Objective To describe the long-term patient survival and possible prognostic factors at presentation in an inte

Background: Obstructed labour is still a major cause of maternal morbidity and mortality and of adverse outcome for newborns in low-income countries. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of individual and health facility factors and the risk for obstructed labour and its adverse outcomes in south-western Uganda. Methods: A review was performed on 12,463 obstetric records for the year

This article presents the results of a pilot study exploring the feasibility of using non-destructive energy dispersive x-ray fluorescence (EDXRF) spectrometry for chemical sourcing of flint from southern Sweden and eastern Denmark. EDXRF results showed that flint samples from Stevns Klint are all chemically alike on the basis of Si/Ca/Fe and Ca/Fe ratio data, yet they possess markedly different v