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.

Air Pollution and Covid-19: The Role of Particulate Matter in the Spread and Increase of Covid-19's Morbidity and Mortality.

Abstract: Sars-cov-2 virus (Covid-19) is a member of the coronavirus family and is responsible for the pandemic recently declared by the World Health Organization. A positive correlation has been observed between the spread of the virus and air pollution, one of the greatest challenges of our millennium. Covid-19 could have an air transmission and atmospheric particulate matter (PM) could create a suitable environment for transporting the virus at greater distances than those considered for close contact. Moreover, PM induces inflammation in lung cells and exposure to PM could increase the susceptibility and severity of the Covid-19 patient symptoms. The new coronavirus has been shown to trigger an inflammatory storm that would be sustained in the case of pre-exposure to polluting agents. In this review, we highlight the potential role of PM in the spread of Covid-19, focusing on Italian cities whose PM daily concentrations were found to be higher than the annual average allowed during the months preceding the epidemic. Furthermore, we analyze the positive correlation between the virus spread, PM, and angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), a receptor involved in the entry of the virus into pulmonary cells and inflammation.

Improved Limit on Neutrinoless Double-$\beta$ Decay of $^{76}$Ge from GERDA Phase II

Abstract: The GERDA experiment searches for the lepton-number-violating neutrinoless double-β decay of ^{76}Ge (^{76}Ge→^{76}Se+2e^{-}) operating bare Ge diodes with an enriched ^{76}Ge fraction in liquid argon. The exposure for broad-energy germanium type (BEGe) detectors is increased threefold with respect to our previous data release. The BEGe detectors feature an excellent background suppression from the analysis of the time profile of the detector signals. In the analysis window a background level of 1.0_{-0.4}^{+0.6}×10^{-3} counts/(keV kg yr) has been achieved; if normalized to the energy resolution this is the lowest ever achieved in any 0νββ experiment. No signal is observed and a new 90% C.L. lower limit for the half-life of 8.0×10^{25} yr is placed when combining with our previous data. The expected median sensitivity assuming no signal is 5.8×10^{25} yr.

Multisensory design: Reaching out to touch the consumer

Abstract: Touch plays an important, if often underacknowledged, role in our evaluation/appreciation of many different products. It is unsurprising, therefore, that there has been such a recent growth of interest in “tactile branding” and tactile marketing. This article reviews the evidence from the fields of marketing, psychology, and cognitive neuroscience, demonstrating just how important the feel of a product, not to mention the feel of its packaging, can be in determining people's overall product evaluation. Problems for tactile design associated with the growth of the aging population, and the growth of Internet-based shopping, are highlighted. The critical role that touch can play in multisensory product design, appreciation, and marketing is also discussed, as is the increasingly frequent use by marketers of synesthetic correspondences to evoke tactile sensations via the visual and auditory modalities. We put forward the argument that tactile stimulation may influence multisensory product evaluation by means of affective ventriloquism: Our suggestion is that the hedonic attributes of a product perceived via one modality (such as touch) can “pull” (or bias) a person's estimates of the quality and pleasantness of the product derived from other sensory modalities into alignment, and by so doing, modulate a person's overall (multisensory) product experience. What is more, powerful mathematical modeling approaches now exist to predict the magnitude of this kind of intersensory (or crossmodal) interaction effect, hence offering the promise of a more scientific approach to tactile design/marketing in the coming years. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Shared Cortical Anatomy for Motor Awareness and Motor Control

Abstract: In everyday life, the successful monitoring of behavior requires continuous updating of the effectiveness of motor acts; one crucial step is becoming aware of the movements one is performing. We studied the anatomical distribution of lesions in right-brain-damaged hemiplegic patients, who obstinately denied their motor impairment, claiming that they could move their paralyzed limbs. Denial was associated with lesions in areas related to the programming of motor acts, particularly Brodmann's premotor areas 6 and 44, motor area 4, and the somatosensory cortex. This association suggests that monitoring systems may be implemented within the same cortical network that is responsible for the primary function that has to be monitored.