University of Milan

About: University of Milan is a education organization based out in Milan, Italy. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Medicine. The organization has 58413 authors who have published 139784 publications receiving 4636354 citations. The organization is also known as: Università degli Studi di Milano & Statale.

Hitchhiker's guide to the fractional Sobolev spaces

Abstract: This paper deals with the fractional Sobolev spaces W^[s,p]. We analyze the relations among some of their possible definitions and their role in the trace theory. We prove continuous and compact embeddings, investigating the problem of the extension domains and other regularity results. Most of the results we present here are probably well known to the experts, but we believe that our proofs are original and we do not make use of any interpolation techniques nor pass through the theory of Besov spaces. We also present some counterexamples in non-Lipschitz domains.

Dendritic Cell Survival and Maturation Are Regulated by Different Signaling Pathways

Abstract: Although dendritic cell (DC) activation is a critical event for the induction of immune responses, the signaling pathways involved in this process have not been characterized. In this report, we show that DC activation induced by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) can be separated into two distinct processes: first, maturation, leading to upregulation of MHC and costimulatory molecules, and second, rescue from immediate apoptosis after withdrawal of growth factors (survival). Using a DC culture system that allowed us to propagate immature growth factor–dependent DCs, we have investigated the signaling pathways activated by LPS. We found that LPS induced nuclear translocation of the nuclear factor (NF)-κB transcription factor. Inhibition of NF-κB activation blocked maturation of DCs in terms of upregulation of major histocompatibility complex and costimulatory molecules. In addition, we found that LPS activated the extracellular signal–regulated kinase (ERK), and that specific inhibition of MEK1, the kinase which activates ERK, abrogated the ability of LPS to prevent apoptosis but did not inhibit DC maturation or NF-κB nuclear translocation. These results indicate that ERK and NF-κB regulate different aspects of LPS-induced DC activation: ERK regulates DC survival whereas NF-κB is responsible for DC maturation.

The burden of endometriosis: costs and quality of life of women with endometriosis and treated in referral centres

Abstract: methods: A prospective, multi-centre, questionnaire-based survey measured costs and quality of life in ambulatory care and in 12 tertiary care centres in 10 countries. The study enrolled women with a diagnosis of endometriosis and with at least one centre-specific contact related to endometriosis-associated symptoms in 2008. The main outcome measures were health care costs, costs of productivity loss, total costs and quality-adjusted life years. Predictors of costs were identified using regression analysis. results: Data analysis of 909 women demonstrated that the average annual total cost per woman was E9579 (95% confidence interval E8559–E10 599). Costs of productivity loss of E6298 per woman were double the health care costs of E3113 per woman. Health care costs were mainly due to surgery (29%), monitoring tests (19%) and hospitalization (18%) and physician visits (16%). Endometriosis-associated symptoms generated 0.809 quality-adjusted life years per woman. Decreased quality of life was the most important predictor of direct health care and total costs. Costs were greater with increasing severity of endometriosis, presence of pelvic pain, presence of infertility and a higher number of years since diagnosis. conclusions: Our study invited women to report resource use based on endometriosis-associated symptoms only, rather than drawing on a control population of women without endometriosis. Our study showed that the economic burden associated with endometriosis treated in referral centres is high and is similar to other chronic diseases (diabetes, Crohn’s disease, rheumatoid arthritis). It arises predominantly from productivity loss, and is predicted by decreased quality of life.

Multivariate Matching Methods That are Monotonic Imbalance Bounding

Abstract: We introduce a new “Monotonic Imbalance Bounding” (MIB) class of matching methods for causal inference with a surprisingly large number of attractive statistical properties. MIB generalizes and extends in several new directions the only existing class, “Equal Percent Bias Reducing” (EPBR), which is designed to satisfy weaker properties and only in expectation. We also offer strategies to obtain specific members of the MIB class, and analyze in more detail a member of this class, called Coarsened Exact Matching, whose properties we analyze from this new perspective. We offer a variety of analytical results and numerical simulations that demonstrate how members of the MIB class can dramatically improve inferences relative to EPBR-based matching methods.

Identification of seven loci affecting mean telomere length and their association with disease

Abstract: Interindividual variation in mean leukocyte telomere length (LTL) is associated with cancer and several age-associated diseases. We report here a genome-wide meta-analysis of 37,684 individuals with replication of selected variants in an additional 10,739 individuals. We identified seven loci, including five new loci, associated with mean LTL (P < 5 × 10(-8)). Five of the loci contain candidate genes (TERC, TERT, NAF1, OBFC1 and RTEL1) that are known to be involved in telomere biology. Lead SNPs at two loci (TERC and TERT) associate with several cancers and other diseases, including idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. Moreover, a genetic risk score analysis combining lead variants at all 7 loci in 22,233 coronary artery disease cases and 64,762 controls showed an association of the alleles associated with shorter LTL with increased risk of coronary artery disease (21% (95% confidence interval, 5-35%) per standard deviation in LTL, P = 0.014). Our findings support a causal role of telomere-length variation in some age-related diseases.