title: Statistical strategies and stochastic predictive models for the MARK-AGE data.
abstract: MARK-AGE aims at the identification of biomarkers of human aging capable of discriminating between the chronological age and the effective functional status of the organism. To achieve this, given the structure of the collected data, a proper statistical analysis has to be performed, as the structure of the data are non trivial and the number of features under study is near to the number of subjects used, requiring special care to avoid overfitting. Here we described some of the possible strategies suitable for this analysis. We also include a description of the main techniques used, to explain and justify the selected strategies. Among other possibilities, we suggest to model and analyze the data with a three step strategy.
authors.affiliation: Interdepartmental Center Galvani "CIG", Via Selmi, 3 University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy; Physics and Astronomy Department, Viale Berti Pichat 6/2, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy. Electronic address: enrico.giampieri@unibo.it.
authors.forename: Enrico
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Giampieri
authors.affiliation: Interdepartmental Center Galvani "CIG", Via Selmi, 3 University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy; Physics and Astronomy Department, Viale Berti Pichat 6/2, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Remondini
authors.affiliation: Department of Experimental, Diagnostic and Specialty Medicine, Via S. Giacomo, 12 University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy; Interdepartmental Center Galvani "CIG", Via Selmi, 3 University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.
authors.forename: Maria Giulia
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Bacalini
authors.affiliation: Department of Experimental, Diagnostic and Specialty Medicine, Via S. Giacomo, 12 University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy; Interdepartmental Center Galvani "CIG", Via Selmi, 3 University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Garagnani
authors.affiliation: Department of Experimental, Diagnostic and Specialty Medicine, Via S. Giacomo, 12 University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy; Interdepartmental Center Galvani "CIG", Via Selmi, 3 University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.
authors.forename: Chiara
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Pirazzini
authors.affiliation: Department of Experimental, Diagnostic and Specialty Medicine, Via S. Giacomo, 12 University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy; Interdepartmental Center Galvani "CIG", Via Selmi, 3 University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy; Institute for Biomedical Aging Research, University of Innsbruck, Austria.
authors.forename: Stella Lukas
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Yani
authors.affiliation: Department of Experimental, Diagnostic and Specialty Medicine, Via S. Giacomo, 12 University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy; Interdepartmental Center Galvani "CIG", Via Selmi, 3 University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.
authors.forename: Cristina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Giuliani
authors.affiliation: Interdepartmental Center Galvani "CIG", Via Selmi, 3 University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy; Physics and Astronomy Department, Viale Berti Pichat 6/2, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.
authors.forename: Giulia
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Menichetti
authors.affiliation: Interdepartmental Center Galvani "CIG", Via Selmi, 3 University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy; Physics and Astronomy Department, Viale Berti Pichat 6/2, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.
authors.forename: Isabella
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Zironi
authors.affiliation: Interdepartmental Center Galvani "CIG", Via Selmi, 3 University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy; Physics and Astronomy Department, Viale Berti Pichat 6/2, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.
authors.forename: Claudia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Sala
authors.affiliation: Department of Experimental, Diagnostic and Specialty Medicine, Via S. Giacomo, 12 University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy; Interdepartmental Center Galvani "CIG", Via Selmi, 3 University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.
authors.forename: Miriam
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Capri
authors.affiliation: Department of Experimental, Diagnostic and Specialty Medicine, Via S. Giacomo, 12 University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy; Interdepartmental Center Galvani "CIG", Via Selmi, 3 University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.
authors.forename: Claudio
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Franceschi
authors.affiliation: Molecular Toxicology Group, Department of Biology, University of Konstanz, 78457 Konstanz, Germany.
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bürkle
authors.affiliation: Interdepartmental Center Galvani "CIG", Via Selmi, 3 University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy; Physics and Astronomy Department, Viale Berti Pichat 6/2, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.
authors.forename: Gastone
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Castellani
mesh_terms: D000375:Aging; D016208:Databases, Factual; D001330:Electronic Data Processing / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D013269:Stochastic Processes
keywords: Biological age; Biomarkers; Chronological age; MARK-AGE; Statistics models