6,223 research outputs found
Atopic dermatitis and risk of atrial fibrillation or flutter: A 35-year follow-up study.
BACKGROUND: Atopic dermatitis is characterized by chronic inflammation, which is a risk factor for atrial fibrillation. OBJECTIVE: To examine the association between hospital-diagnosed atopic dermatitis and atrial fibrillation. METHODS: Using linked population-based Danish registries, we identified persons with an inpatient or outpatient hospital diagnosis of atopic dermatitis during 1977-2013 and a comparison cohort individually matched to the atopic dermatitis cohort. We followed cohorts until death, emigration, atrial fibrillation diagnosis, or end of study (January 1, 2013). We compared 35-year risk of atrial fibrillation and estimated hazard ratios with 95% confidence intervals using Cox regression, adjusting for birth year and sex. We validated 100 atopic dermatitis diagnoses from a dermatologic department through medical record review. RESULTS: We included 13,126 persons with atopic dermatitis and 124,211 comparators and followed them for a median of 19.3 years. The 35-year risk of atrial fibrillation was 0.81% and 0.67%, respectively. The positive predictive value of atopic dermatitis diagnoses was 99%. The hazard ratio was 1.2 (95% confidence interval 1.0-1.6) and remained increased after adjusting for various atrial fibrillation risk factors. LIMITATIONS: Analyses were limited to persons with moderate-to-severe atopic dermatitis, and we had no lifestyle data. CONCLUSION: Patients with hospital-diagnosed atopic dermatitis have a 20% increased long-term risk of atrial fibrillation, but the absolute risk remains low
The SuperMACHO Microlensing Survey
We present the first results from our next-generation microlensing survey,
the SuperMACHO project. We are using the CTIO 4m Blanco telescope and the
MOSAIC imager to carry out a search for microlensing toward the Large
Magellanic Cloud (LMC). We plan to ascertain the nature of the population
responsible for the excess microlensing rate seen by the MACHO project. Our
observing strategy is optimized to measure the differential microlensing rate
across the face of the LMC. We find this derivative to be relatively
insensitive to the details of the LMC's internal structure but a strong
discriminant between Galactic halo and LMC self lensing. In December 2003 we
completed our third year of survey operations. 2003 also marked the first year
of real-time microlensing alerts and photometric and spectroscopic followup. We
have extracted several dozen microlensing candidates, and we present some
preliminary light curves and related information. Similar to the MACHO project,
we find SNe behind the LMC to be a significant contaminant - this background
has not been completely removed from our current single-color candidate sample.
Our follow-up strategy is optimized to discriminate between SNe and true
microlensing.Comment: To appear in Proceedings of IAU Symposium 225: Impact of
Gravitational Lensing on Cosmology, 6 page
All-cause versus cause-specific excess deaths for estimating influenza-associated mortality in Denmark, Spain, and the United States
Background: Seasonal influenza-associated excess mortality estimates can be timely and provide useful information on the severity of an epidemic. This methodology can be leveraged during an emergency response or pandemic. Method: For Denmark, Spain, and the United States, we estimated age-stratified excess mortality for (i) all-cause, (ii) respiratory and circulatory, (iii) circulatory, (iv) respiratory, and (v) pneumonia, and influenza causes of death for the 2015/2016 and 2016/2017 influenza seasons. We quantified differences between the countries and seasonal excess mortality estimates and the death categories. We used a time-series linear regression model accounting for time and seasonal trends using mortality data from 2010 through 2017. Results: The respective periods of weekly excess mortality for all-cause and cause-specific deaths were similar in their chronological patterns. Seasonal all-cause excess mortality rates for the 2015/2016 and 2016/2017 influenza seasons were 4.7 (3.3-6.1) and 14.3 (13.0-15.6) per 100,000 population, for the United States; 20.3 (15.8-25.0) and 24.0 (19.3-28.7) per 100,000 population for Denmark; and 22.9 (18.9-26.9) and 52.9 (49.1-56.8) per 100,000 population for Spain. Seasonal respiratory and circulatory excess mortality estimates were two to three times lower than the all-cause estimates. Discussion: We observed fewer influenza-associated deaths when we examined cause-specific death categories compared with all-cause deaths and observed the same trends in peaks in deaths with all death causes. Because all-cause deaths are more available, these models can be used to monitor virus activity in near real time. This approach may contribute to the development of timely mortality monitoring systems during public health emergencies.This study was conducted as part of Sebastian Schmidt's research fellowship, which was financially supported by the Novo Nordic Foundation and A.P. Møller Fonden. The EuroMOMO network has received financial support from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and from the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for Europe.S
International perceptions of an integrated, multi-sectoral, ecosystem approach to management:Editor’s Choice
The Geneva-Copenhagen survey of the Solar neighbourhood: Ages, metallicities, and kinematic properties of 14,000 F and G dwarfs
We present and discuss new determinations of metallicity, rotation, age,
kinematics, and Galactic orbits for a complete, magnitude-limited, and
kinematically unbiased sample of 16,682 nearby F and G dwarf stars. Our 63,000
new, accurate radial-velocity observations for nearly 13,500 stars allow
identification of most of the binary stars in the sample and, together with
published data complete the kinematic information for 14,139 stars. A major
effort has been devoted to the determination of new isochrone ages for all
stars for which this is possible. Particular attention has been given to a
realistic treatment of statistical biases and error estimates, as standard
techniques tend to underestimate these effects and introduce spurious features
in the age distributions. We demonstrate, however, how strong observational and
theoretical biases cause the distribution of the observed ages to be very
different from that of the true age distribution of the sample. Our first
results confirm the lack of metal-poor G dwarfs relative to closed-box model
predictions (the ``G dwarf problem''), the existence of radial metallicity
gradients in the disk, the small change in mean metallicity of the thin disk
since its formation and the substantial scatter in metallicity at all ages, and
the continuing kinematic heating of the thin disk with an efficiency consistent
with that expected for a combination of spiral arms and giant molecular clouds.
Distinct features in the distribution of the V component of the space motion
are extended in age and metallicity, corresponding to the effects of stochastic
spiral waves rather than classical moving groups, and may complicate the
identification of thick-disk stars from kinematic criteria. (abridged)Comment: 33 pages, 32 figure
Adiposity, Dysmetabolic Traits, and Earlier Onset of Female Puberty in Adolescent Offspring of Women With Gestational Diabetes Mellitus: A Clinical Study Within the Danish National Birth Cohort
The Computational 2D Materials Database: High-Throughput Modeling and Discovery of Atomically Thin Crystals
We introduce the Computational 2D Materials Database (C2DB), which organises
a variety of structural, thermodynamic, elastic, electronic, magnetic, and
optical properties of around 1500 two-dimensional materials distributed over
more than 30 different crystal structures. Material properties are
systematically calculated by state-of-the art density functional theory and
many-body perturbation theory (GW\!_0 and the Bethe-Salpeter Equation
for 200 materials) following a semi-automated workflow for maximal
consistency and transparency. The C2DB is fully open and can be browsed online
or downloaded in its entirety. In this paper, we describe the workflow behind
the database, present an overview of the properties and materials currently
available, and explore trends and correlations in the data. Moreover, we
identify a large number of new potentially synthesisable 2D materials with
interesting properties targeting applications within spintronics,
(opto-)electronics, and plasmonics. The C2DB offers a comprehensive and easily
accessible overview of the rapidly expanding family of 2D materials and forms
an ideal platform for computational modeling and design of new 2D materials and
van der Waals heterostructures.Comment: Add journal reference and DOI; Minor updates to figures and wordin
The Northern ROSAT All-Sky (NORAS) Galaxy Cluster Survey I: X-ray Properties of Clusters Detected as Extended X-ray Sources
In the construction of an X-ray selected sample of galaxy clusters for
cosmological studies, we have assembled a sample of 495 X-ray sources found to
show extended X-ray emission in the first processing of the ROSAT All-Sky
Survey. The sample covers the celestial region with declination and galactic latitude and comprises sources with
a count rate counts s and a source extent likelihood of 7. In
an optical follow-up identification program we find 378 (76%) of these sources
to be clusters of galaxies. ...Comment: 61 pages; ApJS in press; fixed bug in table file; also available at
(better image quality) http://www.xray.mpe.mpg.de/theorie/NORAS
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