A spherically symmetric instanton of a 4-dimensional non-Abelian Higgs model descended from a generalised Yang-Mills system, is presented. This instanton is not selfdual.

In every even dimension, a modification of the generalized Yang–Mills systems (modGYM) is introduced. It is shown that spin-connection modGYM fields, which are self-dual on a double-self-dual background of generalized Einstein–Cartan (GEC) gravity, can be constructed—this generalizes the constructions of Charap and Duff [Phys. Lett. B 69, 445 (1977)] in four dimensions, to all even dimensions. Additional duality constraints are also given that must be satisfied by the gravitational fields, if these constructions are to apply also to the full GYM systems. Applications to compactification, as well as relevant physical criteria, are briefly discussed.

BackgroundAlpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency (AATD) results from mutations in the SERPINA1 gene and classically presents with early-onset emphysema and liver disease. The most common mutation presenting with clinical evidence is the Z mutation, while the S mutation is associated with a milder plasma deficiency. AATD is an under-diagnosed condition and the World Health Organisation recommends targeted detection programmes for AATD in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), non-responsive asthma, cryptogenic liver disease and first degree relatives of known AATD patients.MethodsWe present data from the first 3,000 individuals screened following ATS/ERS guidelines as part of the Irish National Targeted Detection Programme (INTDP). We also investigated a DNA collection of 1,100 individuals randomly sampled from the general population. Serum and DNA was collected from both groups and mutations in the SERPINA1 gene detected by phenotyping or genotyping.ResultsThe Irish National Targeted Detection Programme identified 42 ZZ, 44 SZ, 14 SS, 430 MZ, 263 MS, 20 IX and 2 rare mutations. Analysis of 1,100 randomly selected individuals identified 113 MS, 46 MZ, 2 SS and 2 SZ genotypes.ConclusionOur findings demonstrate that AATD in Ireland is more prevalent than previously estimated with Z and S allele frequencies among the highest in the world. Furthermore, our targeted detection programme enriched the population of those carrying the Z but not the S allele, suggesting the Z allele is more important in the pathogenesis of those conditions targeted by the detection programme.

BackgroundAlpha-1 antitrypsin (AAT) is the most abundant circulating antiprotease and is a member of the serine protease inhibitor (SERPIN) superfamily. The gene encoding AAT is the highly polymorphic SERPINA1 gene, found at 14q32.1. Mutations in the SERPINA1 gene can lead to AAT deficiency (AATD) which is associated with a substantially increased risk of lung and liver disease. The most common pathogenic AAT variant is Z (Glu342Lys) which causes AAT to misfold and polymerise within hepatocytes and other AAT-producing cells. A group of rare mutations causing AATD, termed Null or Q0, are characterised by a complete absence of AAT in the plasma. While ultra rare, these mutations confer a particularly high risk of emphysema.MethodsWe performed the determination of AAT serum levels by a rate immune nephelometric method or by immune turbidimetry. The phenotype was determined by isoelectric focusing analysis on agarose gel with specific immunological detection. DNA was isolated from whole peripheral blood or dried blood spot (DBS) samples using a commercial extraction kit. The new mutations were identified by sequencing all coding exons (II-V) of the SERPINA1 gene.ResultsWe have found eight previously unidentified SERPINA1 Null mutations, named: Q0cork, Q0perugia, Q0brescia, Q0torino, Q0cosenza, Q0pordenone, Q0lampedusa, and Q0dublin . Analysis of clinical characteristics revealed evidence of the recurrence of lung symptoms (dyspnoea, cough) and lung diseases (emphysema, asthma, chronic bronchitis) in M/Null subjects, over 45 years-old, irrespective of smoking.ConclusionsWe have added eight more mutations to the list of SERPINA1 Null alleles. This study underlines that the laboratory diagnosis of AATD is not just a matter of degree, because the precise determination of the deficiency and Null alleles carried by an AATD individual may help to evaluate the risk for the lung disease.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13023-014-0172-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Public sector reform has focussed attention on how different models of change can contribute to organizational metamorphosis. Traditional``top down'' approaches are unlikely to achieve the necessary change. Instead, using a case study of an Irish public sector organization, this article argues that direct participation, involving frontline staff, can play a key role in ensuring acceptance of change and in creating the conditions for employees to make effective contributions to their organization. Direct participation plays a vital role in employee development. However, it also places demands on organizations to adopt a more facilitative and supportive style of management and to put in place mechanisms that will ensure that participation becomes an integral part of the work process.

Heart transplantation is now routinely offered as a treatment for end-stage heart failure, and the "gift-of-life" metaphor has become pervasive in this context, forming the foundation on which transplantation discourses rest. In this article, we question organ-as-gift understandings of transplantation. One can also legitimately think of the transplanted organ as a donation, with distinct implications in terms of the transplantation experience for the recipient. We explored the transplantation experience of 13 heart recipients in Australia. We conducted semistructured interviews, and our interpretative phenomenological analysis of the data resulted in three themes: deservingness, nuances of gratitude, and giving forward. Our results indicate that differences between organ-as-gift and organ-as-donation understandings of transplantation are more than merely semantic. Organ-as-donation understandings raise the issue of deservingness, with recipients' assessments of their worthiness influencing their posttransplant experience of gratitude and, ultimately, the meaning(s) gleaned from their transplant experiences.

Some evidence has emerged in recent years that plagiarism can be reduced through the use of online mastery tests that are designed to train introductory psychology students in awareness of academic integrity and referencing conventions. Although these studies demonstrated a reduction in incidents of plagiarism they did not directly examine whether the use of mastery tests influenced students' attitudes toward or understanding of plagiarism. Consequently, the authors examined students' awareness of plagiarism and their perception of the seriousness of plagiarism before and after completing an online academic-integrity mastery module in a psychology course. Both students' awareness of plagiarism and their perception of the seriousness of plagiarism increased significantly from before to after completing the online academic-integrity training. Additionally, first-year students who completed the mastery modules showed better awareness of plagiarism and perceived plagiarism to be more serious as compared with a group of second-year students who had not completed the mastery modules in their first year. These results suggest that the use of academic-integrity mastery tests may improve students' awareness of, and attitudes toward, plagiarism.

Minimal unitary representation of S U ( 2 , 2 ) and its deformations as massless conformal fields and their supersymmetric extensionsThe SO͑4͒ϫU͑1͒ Higgs model on R 4 is extended by a F 3 term so that the action receives a non-vanishing contribution from the interactions of two-instantons and three-instantons, and can be expressed as the inverse of the Laplacian on R 4 in terms of the mutual distances of the instantons. The one-instanton solutions of both the basic and the extended models have been studied in detail numerically.