Bayesian GARCH modeling of functional sports data

The use of statistical methods in sport analytics has gained a rapidly growing interest over the last decade, and nowadays is common practice. In particular, the interest in understanding and predicting an athlete's performance throughout his/her career is motivated by the need to evaluate the efficacy of training programs, anticipate fatigue to prevent injuries and detect unexpected of disproportionate increases in performance that might be indicative of doping. Moreover, fast evolving data gathering technologies require up to date modelling techniques that adapt to the distinctive features of sports data. In this work, we propose a hierarchical Bayesian model for describing and predicting the evolution of performance over time for shot put athletes. We rely both on a smooth functional contribution and on a linear mixed effect model with heteroskedastic errors to represent the athlete-specific trajectories. The resulting model provides an accurate description of the performance trajectories and helps specifying both the intra- and inter-seasonal variability of measurements. Further, the model allows for the prediction of athletes' performance in future sport seasons. We apply our model to an extensive real world data set on performance data of professional shot put athletes recorded at elite competitions

P2613Initial combination therapy with ambrisentan and tadalafil for pulmonary arterial hypertension: clinical effect and haemodynamic changes. A multicenter retrospective analysis

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Riociguat treatment in patients with chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension: Final safety data from the EXPERT registry

Objective: The soluble guanylate cyclase stimulator riociguat is approved for the treatment of adult patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) and inoperable or persistent/recurrent chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH) following Phase

Multilevel Functional Principal Component Analysis of Façade Sound Insulation Data

This work analyzes data from an experimental study on fa\ue7ade sound insulation, consisting of independent repeated measurements executed by different laboratories on the same residential building. Mathematically, data can be seen as functions describing an acoustic parameter varying with frequency. The aim of this study is twofold. On one hand, considering the laboratory as the grouping variable, it is important to assess the within-group and between-group variability in the measurements. On the other hand, in building acoustics, it is known that sound insulation is more variable at low frequencies (from 50 to 100 Hz), compared with higher frequencies (up to 5000 Hz), and therefore, a multilevel functional model is employed to decompose the functional variance both at the measurement level and at the group level. This decomposition also allows for the ranking of the laboratories on the basis of measurement variability and performance at low frequencies (relative high variability) and over the whole spectrum. The former ranking is obtained via the principal component scores and the latter via an original Bayesian extension of the functional depth

Pulmonary arterial hypertension or heart failure with preserved ejection fraction? Beyond heart catheterization: A roadmap for challenging cases

The cause of dyspnea may remain uncertain even after a complete non-invasive clinical workup, and a right heart catheterization is performed to achieve a definitive diagnosis. Although pulmonary artery wedge pressure (PAWP) is key for the differential diagnosis between pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) and heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF), the diagnosis may be challenging because PAWP may be normal after diuretic administration in HFpEF patients on optimal medical therapy. In order to avoid misdiagnosis, building a pre-test probability of pre- or post-capillary pulmonary hypertension is crucial. Current guidelines on pulmonary hypertension suggest to interpret hemodynamics in the context of clinical picture and imaging, mainly echocardiography. Indecisive measurements of PAWP in patients with an intermediate to high clinical probability of HFpEF can be repeated after a fluid challenge test with rapid infusion of 7 ml/kg or 500 ml of saline. The procedure is simple and does not take much catheterization laboratory time. A post-fluid challenge PAWP >18 mmHg strongly supports the diagnosis of occult HFpEF. A possible alternative to fluid challenge test is exercise or dobutamine stress test. However, exercise hemodynamics is not feasible in all catheterization laboratories and may be difficult to interpret due to wide swings in intrathoracic pressures. Otherwise, dobutamine infusion during right heart catheterization may be potentially more practical than exercise stress, but requires further validation studies to determine its utility. The aim of this case report is to provide a practical roadmap for challenging cases, when the differential diagnosis between PAH and HFpEF is uncertain

Structural assessment of Santa Maria maddalena church in Ischia Island (Italy) by experimental modal analysis under operational conditions

During the seismic event of 21st August 2017 in Ischia, many masonry churches were damaged. Within the inspected damaged churches, a very interesting case study is represented by Santa Maria Maddalena church, located on the hill of Casamicciola Terme, near to the epicentre. The church of Santa Maria Maddalena can be considered a 'unicum', since it was built in 1896, after the catastrophic earthquake of 1883, with a 'mixed' structure made mainly of yellow tuff blocks walls strengthened by iron profiles or wooden elements. Several examples of structures made of masonry walls with wooden elements embedded in the wall thickness, i.e. the so called 'baraccato system' are present in the island, while the use of iron profiles is rare. The paper is firstly aimed to present the results of detailed historical investigation, geometrical survey, damage status analysis and provisional safety assessment after the earthquake of 21st August 2017. These activities were carried out in collaboration with the Campania Regional Directorate for Cultural Heritage (MiBACT). Within such a collaboration, an in situ dynamic test was also performed under operational conditions. The set-up and the results of this test are here presented in order to point out the main features of the structural system in terms of relevant modal parameters, both at global and local level