University of Milano-Bicocca

About: University of Milano-Bicocca is a education organization based out in Milan, Italy. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Blood pressure. The organization has 8972 authors who have published 22322 publications receiving 620484 citations. The organization is also known as: Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca & Universita degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca.

Alcohol drinking and pancreatic cancer risk: a meta-analysis of the dose-risk relation.

Abstract: In order to provide a more precise quantification of the association between alcohol consumption and pancreatic cancer risk, we performed a meta-analysis of relevant dose-risk results. We conducted a PubMed search of all case-control (N=21) and cohort (N=11) studies published up to March 2009. We computed summary relative risk (RR) estimates using either fixed- or, in the presence of heterogeneity, random-effects models. The pooled RR was 0.92 (95% confidence interval, 95% CI, 0.86-0.97) for or = 3 drinks/day. The increased risk for heavy drinking was similar in women and men, but apparently stronger in cohort studies (RR=1.29), in studies with high quality index (RR=1.30), and did not appear to be explained by residual confounding by either history of pancreatitis or tobacco smoking. This meta-analysis provides strong evidence for the absence of a role of moderate drinking in pancreatic carcinogenesis, coupled to an increased risk for heavy alcohol drinking. Given the moderate increase in risk and the low prevalence of heavy drinkers in most populations, alcohol appears to be responsible only for a small fraction of all pancreatic cancers.

W^+W^-, WZ and ZZ production in the POWHEG-BOX-V2

Abstract: We present an implementation of the vector boson pair production processes $$ZZ$$ , $$W^+W^-$$ and $$WZ$$ within the POWHEG-BOX-V2. This implementation, derived from the POWHEG BOX version, has several improvements over the old one, among which the inclusion of all decay modes of the vector bosons, the possibility to generate different decay modes in the same run, speed optimization and phase space improvements in the handling of interference and singly resonant contributions.

Patterns of labour market entry - long wait or career instability? An empirical comparison of Italy, Great Britain and West Germany

Abstract: Current discussion in Europe focuses closely on (partial) labour market de-regulation as a means to combat constantly high (youth) unemployment. The paper argues that this perspective is too narrow and fails to account for existing national institutional differences. It suggests that the focus should instead be on a combination of different institutional settings, rather than on single aspects. This general issue is approached by investigating the labour market entry process and its determinants in three European countries: West Germany, Italy and Great Britain. These countries differ substantially in their combinations of relevant institutional aspects: labour market regulation, and the education and training systems. Consequently, they display three distinct patterns of labour market entry. Great Britain is characterised by rapid but rather unstable market entry, whilst market entry in Germany is also rapid but relatively stable. The main problems exist in Italy, where first job searches are very protracted. However, once jobs have been found, they are rather stable. Despite substantial deregulation efforts in Italy over the past decade, this situation has changed little.

Chirally improving Wilson fermions II. Four-quark operators

Abstract: In this paper we discuss how the peculiar properties of twisted lattice QCD at maximal twist can be employed to set up a consistent computational scheme in which, despite the explicit breaking of chiral symmetry induced by the presence of the Wilson and mass terms in the action, it is possible to completely bypass the problem of wrong chirality and parity mixings in the computation of the CP-conserving matrix elements of the $\Delta S=1,2$ effective weak Hamiltonian and at the same time have a positive determinant for non-degenerate quarks as well as full O($a$) improvement in on-shell quantities with no need of improving the lattice action and the operators.

Pregnancy in women with pre-existing lupus nephritis: predictors of fetal and maternal outcome.

Abstract: Background. Only few data are available on pregnancy in patients with lupus nephritis (LN) diagnosed before conception. The aim of this study was to identify the risk factors for complicated pregnancy in women with pre-existing LN. Methods. In a multicentre study, we collected data on 113 pregnancies occurring in 81 women with pre-existing biopsy-proven LN. Primary outcomes were fetal loss including perinatal death and renal flares during and 12 months after pregnancy. Univariate and logistic regression analyses were used to identify predictors of outcomes. Results. Renal biopsy performed 7.2 ± 4.9 years before pregnancy showed the following WHO classes: 6 patients in II, 8 in III, 48 in IV and 19 in V At conception, most patients were in complete (49%) or partial (27%) remission. There were nine spontaneous abortions, one stillbirth and five neonatal deaths. Thirty-one deliveries were preterm. Birth weight was <2500 g in 34 newborns. During pregnancy or after delivery, there were 34 renal flares, most of which (20) were reversible. Three patients had a progressive decline of glomerular filtration rate (one on dialysis). At logistic regression analysis, the pregnancy outcome was predicted by hypocomplementaemia at conception (RR 19.02; 90% CI 4.58-78.96) and aspirin during pregnancy (RR 0.11; 90% CI 0.03-0.38). Renal flare was predicted by renal status (partial remission RR 3.0; 90% CI 1.23-7.34, nonremission RR 9.0; 90% CI 3.59-22.57). Conclusions. Pregnancy can be successful in most women with pre-existing LN, even for those with a severe renal involvement at onset. Renal flares during and after pregnancy are not uncommon and can be predicted by renal status assessed before pregnancy. Normocomplementaemia and low-dose aspirin therapy during pregnancy are independent predictors of a favourable fetal outcome.