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Background: Chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps (CRSwNP) is a predominantly type 2 inflammation-mediated disease of the nasal mucosa and paranasal sinuses that often coexists with asthma. The role of atopy in the development and severity of CRSwNP is still a controversial issue. Objective: The aim of our study was to propose a systematic allergy workup to identify atopic patients in the context of CRSwNP and to characterize their allergen sensitization profile (sources/molecules). Methods: Patients with a diagnosis of CRSwNP (n = 97) were studied in the otorhinolaryngologist and allergy settings. Demographic and clinical data were collected for each patient. Different allergen sensitization profiles (sources/molecules) were evaluated in atopic CRSwNP patients by using component-resolved diagnosis (CRD). Results: In our cohort of patients, the CRSwNP was frequently diagnosed during adulthood with significant impact on health-related quality of life. Asthma and atopy were the most common comorbidities with a prevalence of asthma in the atopic group. In CRSwNP patients sensitized to grass pollens and/or to house dust mites, the CRD analysis revealed a prevalence of sensitization to species-specific allergens of Phleum pratense (Phl p1, Phl p2, and Phl p5) or Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus (Der p1 and Der p2) rather than to cross-reactive ones. Conclusion: To define the allergen sensitization profile in atopic CRSwNP patients by CRD, it may be useful to better characterize type 2 inflammation, thus providing a personalized endotype-driven treatment.

Differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC) is the most common endocrine neoplasm, with a rising incidence and a long life expectancy. It has recently been suggested that patients with low- and intermediate-risk DTC with a good response to treatment at one year could be followed up using only highly sensitive immunoassays for thyroglobulin (Tg). The aim of this study was to examine the serum Tg levels in a series of DTC patients with histologically proven persistent or recurrent diseases. The study involved 50 consecutive patients being routinely followed up at our center, whose clinical, histological, and biochemical data were retrospectively collected. The false-negative rate of ultrasensitive serum Tg assay was 14.3% (5/35) overall, and limited to anti-thyroglobulin autoantibodies (TgAb)-negative patients. Among them, only one patient had an excellent response to treatment at one-year follow-up and was diagnosed with a 4 mm recurrence, after more than seven years of periodic ultrasounds. The size of the neck lesion documented in the histological report was slightly larger in patients with detectable as opposed to negative Tg values (P

We prove the stability of optimal traffic plans in branched transport. In particular, we show that any limit of optimal traffic plans is optimal as well. This result goes beyond the Eulerian stability proved in [7], extending it to the Lagrangian framework.

For proper and fair comparison of the performance of Oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) electrocatalysts an un-biased method to determine an onset potential value is needed. Here we report an easy mathematical approach based on the second derivative of linear sweep voltammetry curves, referred to as a second order discrete differentiation method (SODDM) that allows to accurately provide the onset potential. Analysis of the published results showed that the reported values might be affected by an intrinsic human error associated with the application of the most common approaches addressed as a tangent method or those relaying on a visual estimation of the onset potential based on the shape of a linear scan voltammetry (LSV) curve. We have also demonstrated that by using SODDM, electrochemical data collected on different instruments by different researchers leads to comparable results in terms of the ORR onset potential values.

We exploit the so called atomic condition, recently defined by De Philippis, De Rosa, and Ghiraldin in [Comm. Pure Appl. Math.] and proved to be necessary and sufficient for the validity of the anisotropic counterpart of the Allard rectifiability theorem. In particular, we address an open question of this seminal work, showing that the atomic condition implies the strict Almgren geometric ellipticity condition.

In this paper we investigate the "area blow-up" set of a sequence of smooth co-dimension one manifolds whose first variation with respect to an anisotropic integral is bounded. Following the ideas introduced by White in (J. Differential Geom., 2016), we show that this set has bounded (anisotropic) mean curvature in the viscosity sense. In particular, this allows to show that the set is empty in a variety of situations. As a consequence, we show boundary curvature estimates for two dimensional stable anisotropic minimal surfaces, extending the results of (Invent. Math., 1987).

Joint object matching, also known as multi-image matching, namely, the problem of finding consistent partial maps among all pairs of objects within a collection, is a crucial task in many areas of computer vision. This problem subsumes bipartite graph matching and graph partitioning as special cases and is NP-hard, in general. We develop scalable linear programming (LP) relaxations with theoretical performance guarantees for joint object matching. We start by proposing a new characterization of consistent partial maps; this in turn enables us to formulate joint object matching as an integer linear programming (ILP) problem. To construct strong LP relaxations, we study the facial structure of the convex hull of the feasible region of this ILP, which we refer to as the joint matching polytope. We present an exponential family of facet-defining inequalities that can be separated in strongly polynomial time, hence obtaining a partial characterization of the joint matching polytope that is both tight and cheap to compute. To analyze the theoretical performance of the proposed LP relaxations, we focus on permutation group synchronization, an important special case of joint object matching. We show that under the random corruption model for the input maps, a simple LP relaxation, that is, an LP containing only a very small fraction of the proposed facet-defining inequalities, recovers the ground truth with high probability if the corruption level is below $40\%$. Finally, via a preliminary computational study on synthetic data, we show that the proposed LP relaxations outperform a popular SDP relaxation both in terms of recovery and tightness.

We study a non local approximation of the Gaussian perimeter, proving the Gamma convergence to the local one. Surprisingly, in contrast with the local setting, the halfspace turns out to be a volume constrained stationary point if and only if the boundary hyperplane passes through the origin. In particular, this implies that Ehrhard symmetrization can in general increase the non local Gaussian perimeter taken into consideration.

We prove that optimal traffic plans for the mailing problem in R d are stable with respect to variations of the given coupling, above the critical exponent α = 1 − 1 / d , thus solving an open problem stated in the book Optimal transportation networks, by Bernot, Caselles and Morel. We apply our novel result to study some regularity properties of the minimizers of the mailing problem, showing that only finitely many connected components of an optimal traffic plan meet together at any branching point.

We prove a qualitative and a quantitative stability of the following rigidity theorem: an anisotropic totally umbilical closed hypersurface is the Wulff shape. Consider $n \geq 2$, $p\in (1, \, +\infty)$ and $\Sigma$ an $n$-dimensional, closed hypersurface in $\mathbb{R}^{n+1}$, boundary of a convex, open set. We show that if the $L^p$ norm of the trace-free part of the anisotropic second fundamental form is small, then $\Sigma$ must be $W^{2, \, p}$-close to the Wulff shape, with a quantitative estimate., Comment: 22 pages

Given an elliptic integrand of class $$\mathscr {C}^{2,\alpha }$$ , we prove that finite unions of disjoint open Wulff shapes with equal radii are the only volume-constrained critical points of the anisotropic surface energy among all sets with finite perimeter and reduced boundary almost equal to its closure.

We prove that, for every closed (not necessarily convex) hypersurface Σ in ℝ n + 1 {\mathbb{R}^{n+1}} and every p > n {p>n} , the L p {L^{p}} -norm of the trace-free part of the anisotropic second fundamental form controls from above the W 2 , p {W^{2,p}} -closeness of Σ to the Wulff shape. In the isotropic setting, we provide a simpler proof. This result is sharp since in the subcritical regime p ≤ n {p\leq n} , the lack of convexity assumptions may lead in general to bubbling phenomena. Moreover, we obtain a stability theorem for quasi-Einstein (not necessarily convex) hypersurfaces and we improve the quantitative estimates in the convex setting.

Models involving branched structures are employed to describe several supply-demand systems such as the structure of the nerves of a leaf, the system of roots of a tree, and the nervous or cardiovascular systems. Given a flow (traffic path) that transports a given measure $$\mu ^-$$ onto a target measure $$\mu ^+$$ , along a 1-dimensional network, the transportation cost per unit length is supposed in these models to be proportional to a concave power $$\alpha \in (0,1)$$ of the intensity of the flow. In this paper we address an open problem in the book Optimal transportation networks by Bernot, Caselles and Morel and we improve the stability for optimal traffic paths in the Euclidean space $$\mathbb {R}^d$$ , with respect to variations of the given measures $$(\mu ^-,\mu ^+)$$ , which was known up to now only for $$\alpha >1-\frac{1}{d}$$ . We prove it for exponents $$\alpha >1-\frac{1}{d-1}$$ [in particular, for every $$\alpha \in (0,1)$$ when $$d=2$$ ], for a fairly large class of measures $$\mu ^+$$ and $$\mu ^-$$ .

We prove a compactness principle for the anisotropic formulation of the Plateau problem in any codimension, in the same spirit of the previous works of the authors \cite{DelGhiMag,DePDeRGhi,DeLDeRGhi16}. In particular, we perform a new strategy for the proof of the rectifiability of the minimal set, based on the new anisotropic counterpart of the Allard rectifiability theorem proved by the authors in \cite{DePDeRGhi2}. As a consequence we provide a new proof of Reifenberg existence theorem.

Hypervisors are an existing solution for security challenges in automotive domain. Nevertheless, advancedcybersecurity threats cannot be mitigated without hardware support, further software components, and harmonized security standardization.

We prove a compactness principle for the anisotropic formulation of the Plateau problem in codimension one, along the same lines of previous works of the authors [DGM14, DPDRG15]. In particular, we perform a new strategy for proving the rectifiability of the minimal set, avoiding the Preiss' Rectifiability Theorem [Pre87]., Comment: 14 pages

We extend Allard's celebrated rectifiability theorem to the setting of varifolds with locally bounded first variation with respect to an anisotropic integrand. In particular, we identify a sufficient and necessary condition on the integrand to obtain the rectifiability of every \(d\)-dimensional varifold with locally bounded first variation and positive \(d\)-dimensional density. In codimension one, this condition is shown to be equivalent to the strict convexity of the integrand with respect to the tangent plane., Comment: This is the final version. The main result, Theorem 1.2, has been slightly improved and small typos have been fixed

Isoindolines are obtained with moderate to good enantiomeric excesses from organocatalytic aldol-cyclization-rearrangement tandem reaction of malonates with 2-cyanobenzaldehydes.

Herein we describe the first asymmetric organocatalytic synthesis of 3-substituted isoindolinones in a convenient aldol-cyclization-rearrangement tandem reaction of malonates with 2-cyanobenzaldehyde. Bifunctional thiourea-cinchona catalysts proved to be particularly effective, giving the title compounds in high yields and moderate to good enantiomeric excesses. Moreover an efficient process of reverse crystallization led to a further enrichment up to >99% ee.

Psychic alterations have been reported in celiac disease. Our aim was to evaluate the emotional impact of celiac disease diagnosis in adulthood, the patient/doctor relationship, and the patients' cooperation with disease treatment and diet. The patients were 114 adult celiac patients on a gluten-free diet, there were 25 untreated celiac patients. Self-administered questionnaires aimed to evaluate the patients' level of knowledge of disease, the emotional impact at diagnosis, and feelings during follow-up. Celiac patients showed good knowledge of the disease, directly correlated to their socioeconomic level (P = 0.011). At diagnosis, relief was most intense feeling (Mean +/- SD, 10.82 +/- 7.63), demographics, time latency of diagnosis, and the duration of the disease had no effect on the intensity of all feelings. The scores of the self-rated emotions were entered into a principal component analysis that generated three factors: 1 (fear, anger, anxiety and sadness), 2 (reassurance and resignation), and 3 (relief); patients judged the clinicians presenting the disease "in the right way" (F = 33.279; P0.0001). The right way correlated with relief and reassurance (P = 0.0009; P = 0.0008 respectively). At follow-up, anger was the predominant emotion that induced patients to transgress. A positive correlation was observed between feeling different and the sadness, anger, fear (P0.0001 for all). Anger was inversely correlated with actual compliance to diet (P = 0.0005). In conclusion, in adult patients, adaptive and psychological aspects must be taken into account to understand the celiac patient and for better clinical management.

The study evaluated the illness behavior of patients with celiac disease and the influence of the disease and its treatment on key personality components and adherence to dietary recommendations. Twenty-nine adult patients with celiac disease and 47 matched healthy comparison subjects participated in the study. More than 70% of the celiac disease group scored in the pathological range on at least one scale of the Illness Behavior Questionnaire. Patients who received the diagnosis in adulthood had a lower score for nonconformism, a greater tendency to pretend to be sociable, and higher levels of psychophysiological reactiveness, relative to the comparison subjects. The results suggest that celiac disease may be associated with changes in personality that may interfere with patients' adaptation to living with a chronic disease.

Malignant glioma (MG) is a devastating neurological disease with a uniformly poor prognosis and a clinical course characterized by progressive functional and cognitive impairment. A small body of literature addresses patients’ and caregivers’ prognostic awareness (PA), or understanding of prognosis in patients with cancer. Studies that examine PA and desire for prognostic information among patients with MG are limited. We sought to review the existing literature on PA and communication of prognostic information to patients with MG. Fourteen studies examining PA or experience and preferences regarding communication of prognostic information were included. The definition and measurement of PA across studies varied, and the prevalence of accurate PA ranged from 25% to 100% of participants. There is likely a subset of patients who do not desire accurate prognostic information, although the patient and disease characteristics that predict this preference are currently unknown. This review suggests that patients with MG desire prognostic information communicated in a manner that preserves hope. Systematic investigation to define communication needs for prognostic information in the unique clinical setting of MG is needed.