On the Lp-quantiles for the Student t distribution

L_p-quantiles represent an important class of generalised quantiles and are defined as the minimisers of an expected asymmetric power function, see Chen (1996). For p=1 and p=2 they correspond respectively to the quantiles and the expectiles. In his paper Koenker (1993) showed that the tau quantile and the tau expectile coincide for every tau in (0,1) for a class of rescaled Student t distributions with two degrees of freedom. Here, we extend this result proving that for the Student t distribution with p degrees of freedom, the tau quantile and the tau L_p-quantile coincide for every tau in (0,1) and the same holds for any affine transformation. Furthermore, we investigate the properties of L_p-quantiles and provide recursive equations for the truncated moments of the Student t distribution

Large deviations for risk measures in finite mixture models

Due to their heterogeneity, insurance risks can be properly described as a mixture of different fixed models, where the weights assigned to each model may be estimated empirically from a sample of available data. If a risk measure is evaluated on the estimated mixture instead of the (unknown) true one, then it is important to investigate the committed error. In this paper we study the asymptotic behaviour of estimated risk measures, as the data sample size tends to infinity, in the fashion of large deviations. We obtain large deviation results by applying the contraction principle, and the rate functions are given by a suitable variational formula; explicit expressions are available for mixtures of two models. Finally, our results are applied to the most common risk measures, namely the quantiles, the Expected Shortfall and the shortfall risk measures

De Novo Assembly and Transcriptome Analysis of the Mediterranean Fruit Fly Ceratitis capitata Early Embryos

The agricultural pest Ceratitis capitata, also known as the Mediterranean fruit fly or Medfly, belongs to the Tephritidae family, which includes a large number of other damaging pest species. The Medfly has been the first non-drosophilid fly species which has been genetically transformed paving the way for designing genetic-based pest control strategies. Furthermore, it is an experimentally tractable model, in which transient and transgene-mediated RNAi have been successfully used. We applied Illumina sequencing to total RNA preparations of 8-10 hours old embryos of C. capitata, This developmental window corresponds to the blastoderm cellularization stage. In summary, we assembled 42,614 transcripts which cluster in 26,319 unique transcripts of which 11,045 correspond to protein coding genes; we identified several hundreds of long ncRNAs; we found an enrichment of transcripts encoding RNA binding proteins among the highly expressed transcripts, such as CcTRA-2, known to be necessary to establish and, most likely, to maintain female sex of C. capitata. Our study is the first de novo assembly performed for Ceratitis capitata based on Illumina NGS technology during embryogenesis and it adds novel data to the previously published C. capitata EST databases. We expect that it will be useful for a variety of applications such as gene cloning and phylogenetic analyses, as well as to advance genetic research and biotechnological applications in the Medfly and other related Tephritidae

Identification of sex determination genes and their evolution in Phlebotominae sand flies (Diptera, Nematocera)

Phlebotomine sand flies (Diptera, Nematocera) are important vectors of several pathogens, including Leishmania parasites, causing serious diseases of humans and dogs. Despite their importance as disease vectors, most aspects of sand fly biology remain unknown including the molecular basis of their reproduction and sex determination, aspects also relevant for the development of novel vector control strategies

Valutazione di Health Technology Assessment del sistema di sanificazione biologico a base di probiotici del genere Bacillus (PCHS)

Le infezioni correlate all’assistenza: priorità per la salute pubblica Epidemiologia delle infezioni correlate all’assistenza in Italia e loro impatto per la salute pubblica Sistemi di sanificazione attualmente disponibili in Italia Il Probiotic Cleaning Hygiene System (PCHS): caratteristiche della tecnologia, aspetti di efficacia e sicurezza Un sistema di sanificazione a base di probiotici per la riduzione delle infezioni correlate all’assistenza e la resistenza antimicrobica: analisi dell’impatto sul budget Impatto ambientale per la salute pubblica degli attuali sistemi di sanificazione di ambienti/superfici in setting assistenziale e comunitario e potenziali benefici dei nuovi sistemi innovativi Analisi delle principali raccomandazioni nazionali su sanificazione e disinfezione degli ambienti sanitari Valutazione etica dell’utilizzo del Probiotic Cleaning Hygiene System (PCHS) in Italia Elementi chiave per il processo decisional

De Novo assembly and transcriptome analysis of the mediterranean fruit fly ceratitis capitata early embryos

The agricultural pest Ceratitis capitata, also known as the Mediterranean fruit fly or Medfly, belongs to the Tephritidae family, which includes a large number of other damaging pest species. The Medfly has been the first non-drosophilid fly species which has been genetically transformed paving the way for designing geneticbased pest control strategies. Furthermore, it is an experimentally tractable model, in which transient and transgene-mediated RNAi have been successfully used. We applied Illumina sequencing to total RNA preparations of 8-10 hours old embryos of C. capitata, This developmental window corresponds to the blastoderm cellularization stage. In summary, we assembled 42,614 transcripts which cluster in 26,319 unique transcripts of which 11,045 correspond to protein coding genes; we identified several hundreds of long ncRNAs; we found an enrichment of transcripts encoding RNA binding proteins among the highly expressed transcripts, such as CcTRA-2, known to be necessary to establish and, most likely, to maintain female sex of C. capitata. Our study is the first de novo assembly performed for Ceratitis capitata based on Illumina NGS technology during embryogenesis and it adds novel data to the previously published C. capitata EST databases. We expect that it will be useful for a variety of applications such as gene cloning and phylogenetic analyses, as well as to advance genetic research and biotechnological applications in the Medfly and other related Tephritidae

How to produce male-only progeny in pest insects for SIT: a biotech approach.

Insects represent the most abundant group of animals on earth, comprising about 800,000 described species, and approximately 10,000 of these species can be actually destructive for human activities. Pest control interventions, alternative to pesticides, are increasingly being implemented within the concept of Integrated Pest Management, involving the biological control to eradicate a pest from the area of interest. This concept has been recently extended also to those hemathophagous insects transmitting human diseases, such as for example mosquitoes. The Sterile Insect Technique (SIT) is a species-specific and environmentally friendly method for insect biological control, based on release of sterilized insects within reasonable proximity of all native females to decrease the next progeny, due to the reduced mating between their fertile wild counterparts. Release of insects of both sexes is less effective than male-only release in reducing the wild population, while removing females from the production and release procedures, would produce considerable advantages in economic and effectiveness terms. Hence a genetic sexing system to produce male-only progeny, would improve the effectiveness of SIT. My PhD project has been focused on novel biotechnological approaches to control insect species, such as the agricultural pest Ceratitis capitata (Diptera; Tephritidae) and the mosquito disease vector Aedes aegypti (Diptera; Culicidae). The first part of my Ph.D. experimental work has been focused on the molecular and functional studies of the C. capitata transgenic strain Cc5.3, which is a first prototype of a novel sexing system, based on masculinization of XX individuals. This strain can produce male-only progeny in specific crosses, by a maternal transgene-mediated RNAi against a key gene for female sex determination. The male only progeny obtained by this method could be used, in future, for release programs in SIT, after sterilization. I asked some questions to which I partially answered during my PhD thesis: 1) are the XX males competitive in mating with wild type females? 2) is the masculinization observed at phenotypic level, also fully penetrant at molecular level? 3) which are the regulatory elements influencing the peculiar maternal effect in this transgenic strain? Moreover, I have also investigated additional novel genes, such as Drosophila orthologues of doa and fru genes, potentially involved in sex determination and sexual differentiation of C. capitata (doa gene, a kinase involved in splicing control) and Ae. aegypti (fru gene, a transcriptional factor involved in courtship behaviour) which can be possible targets for novel transgene-mediated RNAi and hence the development of improved sexing strains. Interestingly, I have found similar to Drosophila, sex-biased isoforms of Ceratitis DOA encoding transcripts, which could be involved in controlling sex-specific alternative splicing of target genes. Furthermore I have contributed to clarify the molecular differences underlying the sex-specific splicing of the fru gene in Aedes with the respect of other dipteran species, proposing a model for sex determination in this mosquitoes species. In addition to RNAi, novel reverse genetic tools are available. I've tested the TALENs' action in Ae. aegypti and C. capitata and more recently the CRISP-CAS9 method in Ceratitis

On the Lp-quantiles for the Student t distribution

Lp-quantiles are a class of generalised quantiles defined as the minimisers of an expected asymmetric power function. For p=1p=1 and p=2p=2 they correspond respectively to the quantiles and the expectiles. In this contribution we show that for the class of Student t distributions with p degrees of freedom, the Lp-quantile and the quantile coincide for any confidence level τ∈(0,1)τ∈(0,1). The proof involves concepts from combinatorial analysis as well as a recursive formula for the truncated moments of the Student t distribution. This work extends the contribution of Koenker (1993) that shows a similar result for the expectile

RNA-seq and Insect pests: new methods for the identification and the analysis of sex-specific genes in species of economic or sanitary interests.

Insects are among the largest taxonomic animal groups on Earth. In some cases, their interactions with humans can be harmful and the knowledge of the lifecycle of insect species, e.g. disease vectors and agricultural pests, opens new chances to develop eco-sustainable control strategies, alternative to pesticides. Reproduction and sex determination are at the same time crucial aspects to understand insect biology and optimal targets to limit their population growth and diffusion. We are applying RNA-seq and digital gene expression analysis to the study of sex determination in Insect species. In particular we are comparing de novo assembled transcriptomes of early sexed embryonic populations of the agricultural pest Ceratitis capitata (Diptera, Tephritidae) to identify the unknown primary signal of sex determination in this species. We are producing de novo transcriptomes from adult males and females of the two hematophagous dipteran non-model species Aedes albopictus (Diptera, Culicidae) and Phlebotomus perniciosus (Diptera, Psychodidae), to identify genes with sex-specific or sex-biased expression, potentially involved in sex determination pathway of these vector species. We are also developing new graphical interfaces and on-line databases for comparative genomic analyses and digital gene expression analyses in biological samples with opposite sexes