4,558 research outputs found
Design and analysis of fractional factorial experiments from the viewpoint of computational algebraic statistics
We give an expository review of applications of computational algebraic
statistics to design and analysis of fractional factorial experiments based on
our recent works. For the purpose of design, the techniques of Gr\"obner bases
and indicator functions allow us to treat fractional factorial designs without
distinction between regular designs and non-regular designs. For the purpose of
analysis of data from fractional factorial designs, the techniques of Markov
bases allow us to handle discrete observations. Thus the approach of
computational algebraic statistics greatly enlarges the scope of fractional
factorial designs.Comment: 16 page
Hardy type spaces on certain noncompact manifolds and applications
In this paper we consider a complete connected noncompact Riemannian manifold
M with Ricci curvature bounded from below, positive injectivity radius and
spectral gap b. We introduce a sequence X^1(M), X^2(M), ... of new Hardy spaces
on M, the sequence Y^1(M/, Y^2(M), ... of their dual spaces, and show that
these spaces may be used to obtain endpoint estimates for purely imaginary
powers of the Laplace-Beltrami operator and for more general spectral
multipliers associated to the Laplace--Beltrami operator L on M. Under the
additional condition that the volume of the geodesic balls of radius r is
controlled by C r^a e^{2\sqrt{b} r} for some real number a and for all large r,
we prove also an endpoint result for first order Riesz transforms D L^{-1/2}.
In particular, these results apply to Riemannian symmetric spaces of the
noncompact type.Comment: 27 pages, v2: the first version has been revised and rearranged, with
additions, in two papers, of which this new version is the first. The second
paper is posted as arXiv:1002.1161v
Patient satisfaction and food waste in obstetrics and gynaecology wards
Introduction: Patient satisfaction is an indicator of healthcare quality, and expectation is an important determinant. A component of patient satisfaction is the quality of foodservice. An indicator of this quality is the food wasted by hospitalised patients. In the present study, we investigated patient satisfaction regarding food and foodservice, the expectation on food quality and the amount of food wasted in two obstetrics and gynaecology wards in Northern and Southern Italy. Patients and Methods: A questionnaire, including sociodemographic data, rate of food waste, expectations of food quality and characteristics of food and foodservice, was admini-strated to 550 inpatients in obstetrics and gynaecology wards (275 for each hospital). Univariate analysis was performed to describe the results, and multivariate analysis was carried out to control for sociodemographic data. Results: Northern patients were more satisfied with the quality of food (54.2% vs 36.0%) and foodservice (54.5% vs 38.2%) than southern patients. Northern patients had more positive expectations about the quality of food (69.5% vs 31.6%), whereas southern patients stated that they had no expectations. Southern patients gave more importance to mealtime (72.7% vs 26.2%), and many of them brought food from home to the hospital (30.2% vs 2.2%) through relatives who came to visit them. Southern patients discarded about 41.7% of food served, whereas northern patients discarded only about 15.3%. Discussion: Food waste is a worldwide problem due to its economic, social and environmental effects. Especially in hospitals, food waste could have a negative impact on the overall patient satisfaction
Nonparametric Information Geometry
The differential-geometric structure of the set of positive densities on a
given measure space has raised the interest of many mathematicians after the
discovery by C.R. Rao of the geometric meaning of the Fisher information. Most
of the research is focused on parametric statistical models. In series of
papers by author and coworkers a particular version of the nonparametric case
has been discussed. It consists of a minimalistic structure modeled according
the theory of exponential families: given a reference density other densities
are represented by the centered log likelihood which is an element of an Orlicz
space. This mappings give a system of charts of a Banach manifold. It has been
observed that, while the construction is natural, the practical applicability
is limited by the technical difficulty to deal with such a class of Banach
spaces. It has been suggested recently to replace the exponential function with
other functions with similar behavior but polynomial growth at infinity in
order to obtain more tractable Banach spaces, e.g. Hilbert spaces. We give
first a review of our theory with special emphasis on the specific issues of
the infinite dimensional setting. In a second part we discuss two specific
topics, differential equations and the metric connection. The position of this
line of research with respect to other approaches is briefly discussed.Comment: Submitted for publication in the Proceedings od GSI2013 Aug 28-30
2013 Pari
Suspected cutaneous leishmaniasis in a sample of Western Sicily residents: what correlation with occupation?
Background: Leishmaniasis is a widespread infectious disease, but there is not much information about its prevalence in high risk occupational categories. Objectives: Te aim of this study is to assess the prevalence of Leishmania
immunological positivity in human skin tissues collected from subjects living in Western Sicily, with suspected cutaneous Leishmania infection, in order to explore the risk possibly related to occupation. Methods: 318 consecutive
subjects (M/F ratio=1.0, mean age=40\ub125.4 years), attending the Dermatology Department of the University of Palermo Hospital from 2013 to 2015, without any previous history of Leishmania infection and performing various
occupations, were included. Parasite isolation and PCR-RT test on skin scrapings were performed to evaluate the immunological status; all data were analyzed by the chi square test, comparing all positive results from the di\ufb00erent
provinces. Results: 81 (50.9%) out of 159 females and 79 (49.7%) out of 159 males were found PCR-RT positive to Leishmania infantum, with a higher risk in the Agrigento district (p<0.001) and in subjects living in rural areas (p=0.0038), regardless of the type of work performed. Te observed animal leishmaniasis prevalence in the same areas shows the endemic status of the disease in Sicily. Conclusions: Although based on a relatively small sample, our study shows that cutaneous leishmaniasis represents a health care problem with a medical and social impact in Western Sicily. An active surveillance system and the establishment of diagnosis and treatment centres could be useful
in controlling this public health problem
On the characterisation of paired monotone metrics
Hasegawa and Petz introduced the notion of dual statistically monotone
metrics. They also gave a characterisation theorem showing that
Wigner-Yanase-Dyson metrics are the only members of the dual family. In this
paper we show that the characterisation theorem holds true under more general
hypotheses.Comment: 12 pages, to appear on Ann. Inst. Stat. Math.; v2: changes made to
conform to accepted version, title changed as wel
Combined platelet-rich plasma and lipofilling treatment provides great improvement in facial skin-induced lesion regeneration for scleroderma patients
Background: The use of stem cells, including mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), for regenerative medicine is gaining interest for the clinical benefits so far obtained in patients. This study investigates the use of adipose autologous tissue in combination with platelet-rich plasma (PRP) to improve the clinical outcome of patients affected by systemic sclerosis (SSc). Methods: Adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells (AD-MSCs) and PRPs were purified from healthy donors and SSc patients. The multilineage differentiation potential of AD-MSCs and their genotypic-phenotypic features were investigated. A cytokine production profile was evaluated on AD-MSCs and PRPs from both healthy subjects and SSc patients. The adipose tissue-derived cell fraction, the so-called stromal vascular fraction (SVF), was coinjected with PRP in the perioral area of SSc patients. Results: Histopathological and phenotypical analysis of adipose tissue from SSc patients revealed a disorganization of its distinct architecture coupled with an altered cell composition. Although AD-MSCs derived from SSc patients showed high multipotency, they failed to sustain a terminally differentiated progeny. Furthermore, SVFs derived from SSc patients differed from healthy donors in their MSC-like traits coupled with an aberrant cytokine production profile. Finally, the administration of PRP in combination with autologous SVF improved buccal's rhyme, skin elasticity and vascularization for all of the SSc patients enrolled in this study. Conclusions: This innovative regenerative therapy could be exploited for the treatment of chronic connective tissue diseases, including SSc
- …