Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Identifying Rural Health Clinics Within The Transformed Medicaid Statistical Information System (T-Msis) Analytic Files, Katherine Ahrens Mph, Phd, Zachariah Croll, Yvonne Jonk Phd, John Gale Ms, Heidi O'Connor Ms

Rural Health Clinics

Researchers at the Maine Rural Health Research Center describe a methodology for identifying Rural Health Clinic encounters within the Medicaid claims data using Transformed Medicaid Statistical Information System (T-MSIS) Analytic Files.

Background: There is limited information on the extent to which Rural Health Clinics (RHC) provide pediatric and pregnancy-related services to individuals enrolled in state Medicaid/CHIP programs. In part this is because methods to identify RHC encounters within Medicaid claims data are outdated.

Methods: We used a 100% sample of the 2018 Medicaid Demographic and Eligibility and Other Services Transformed Medicaid Statistical Information System (T-MSIS) Analytic Files for 20 states …

Optimizing Tumor Xenograft Experiments Using Bayesian Linear And Nonlinear Mixed Modelling And Reinforcement Learning, Mary Lena Bleile

Statistical Science Theses and Dissertations

Tumor xenograft experiments are a popular tool of cancer biology research. In a typical such experiment, one implants a set of animals with an aliquot of the human tumor of interest, applies various treatments of interest, and observes the subsequent response. Efficient analysis of the data from these experiments is therefore of utmost importance. This dissertation proposes three methods for optimizing cancer treatment and data analysis in the tumor xenograft context. The first of these is applicable to tumor xenograft experiments in general, and the second two seek to optimize the combination of radiotherapy with immunotherapy in the tumor xenograft …

The Efficacy Of The Covid-19 Vaccine In Mississippi, Ilyse Miriam Levy

Honors Theses

The Efficacy of The COVID-19 Vaccine in Mississippi

(Under the direction of Dr. Xin Dang)

By tracking and analyzing fifty-three weeks of COVID-19 data, this thesis analyzes the efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccine within the State of Mississippi. Over the course of these fifty-three weeks, I have also been able to calculate the confidence intervals for vaccination efficacy and the risk reduction due to vaccination by using data regarding the correlations between deaths and vaccination status, provided to me by the Mississippi Office of Epidemiology. My analysis demonstrates that the COVID-19 vaccine is effective not only in Mississippi but also …

The Effects Of Zoledronate And Sleep Deprivation On The Distal Femur Trabecular Thickness Of Ovariectomized Rats: Application Of Different Statistical Methods, Erin Nolte

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

Osteoporosis is a disease that causes the degradation of bone, leading to an increased risk of fracture. 1 in 3 women over the age of 50 will be affected by Osteoporosis. This study aims to understand how bone is affected by sleep deprivation in estrogen-deficient rats, and how Zoledronate might negate the inimical effects of sleep deprivation on bone. As bone mineral density (BMD) is a crude evaluation of the architectural changes seen in Osteoporosis, trabecular thickness may serve as a better single evaluation of bone health. 31 Wistar female rats were ovariectomized and separated into 4 random groups. The …

Investigating Major League Baseball Pitchers And Quality Of Contact Through Cluster Analysis, Charlie Marcou

Honors Projects

This paper investigates the quality of contact that a pitcher allows. Not much is currently known about quality of contact, but if factors determining quality of contact could be determined it could assist teams in identifying and developing pitching talent. There are many problems that come with investigating the control pitchers have over contact allowed, but one area to investigate is whether quality of contact is a repeatable skill. Furthermore, if it is a repeatable skill, then it is important to investigate what kind of benefit controlling contact allowed brings a pitcher. Along with this, groundball and flyball tendencies, and …

9th Annual Postdoctoral Science Symposium, University Of Texas Md Anderson Cancer Center Postdoctoral Association

Annual Postdoctoral Science Symposium Abstracts

The mission of the Annual Postdoctoral Science Symposium (APSS) is to provide a platform for talented postdoctoral fellows throughout the Texas Medical Center to present their work to a wider audience. The MD Anderson Postdoctoral Association convened its inaugural Annual Postdoctoral Science Symposium (APSS) on August 4, 2011.

The APSS provides a professional venue for postdoctoral scientists to develop, clarify, and refine their research as a result of formal reviews and critiques of faculty and other postdoctoral scientists. Additionally, attendees discuss current research on a broad range of subjects while promoting academic interactions and enrichment and developing new collaborations.

The Reproducibility Crisis In Scientific Research, Sarah Eline

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

Following the push for evidence based practice, came a huge proliferation of research journals and journal articles. With this increase in quantity came an increased concern about the quality of these articles being published, which led to a multifield investigation regarding the reproducibility of scientific research. With studies in the fields of psychology and biomedicine only reaching approximately a 30% reproducibility rate, a conversation has been sparked that spans across every field of research. Upon further investigation, various causes for this reproducibility crisis have surfaced which include, lack of data sharing/ transparency, statistical errors, funding corruption, and the culture surrounding …

Reporting Number Needed To Treat In Clinical Trials Published In Physical Therapy Specific Literature 1989 - 2018, Susan Ann Talley

Wayne State University Dissertations

Evidence-based practice requires physical therapists to make clinical decisions about the best intervention to use when providing services to patients/clients. Although null hypothesis significance testing (NHST) is frequently used to interpret the outcome of a clinical trial investigating the comparative effectiveness of an intervention, statistical significance does not directly translate into clinical importance. Number needed to treat (NNT) is a measure of effect size (ES) that may be particularly useful when translating the results from clinical trials to PT clinical practice. The purpose of this study was to conduct a bibliometric content analysis of the methods of reporting research results …

Bayesian Analytical Approaches For Metabolomics : A Novel Method For Molecular Structure-Informed Metabolite Interaction Modeling, A Novel Diagnostic Model For Differentiating Myocardial Infarction Type, And Approaches For Compound Identification Given Mass Spectrometry Data., Patrick J. Trainor

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Metabolomics, the study of small molecules in biological systems, has enjoyed great success in enabling researchers to examine disease-associated metabolic dysregulation and has been utilized for the discovery biomarkers of disease and phenotypic states. In spite of recent technological advances in the analytical platforms utilized in metabolomics and the proliferation of tools for the analysis of metabolomics data, significant challenges in metabolomics data analyses remain. In this dissertation, we present three of these challenges and Bayesian methodological solutions for each. In the first part we develop a new methodology to serve a basis for making higher order inferences in metabolomics, …

Association Tests For Genetic Effect And Its Interaction With Environmental Factors, Zhengyang Zhou

Statistical Science Theses and Dissertations

My research is in the area of statistical genetics, and it contains three projects: (1) Differentiating the Cochran-Armitage (CA) trend test and Pearson’s chi-square test: location and dispersion; (2) Decomposing Pearson’s chi-square test: a linear regression and its departure from linearity; (3) Testing nonlinear gene-environment (GxE) interaction through varying coefficient and linear mixed models.

(1) In genetic case-control association studies, a standard practice is to perform the CA trend test with 1 degree-of-freedom (df) under the assumption of an additive model. However, when the true genetic model is recessive or near recessive, it is outperformed by Pearson’s chi-square test with …

Data Analysis Basics – Part Ii, Judith A. Savageau

Judith A. Savageau

Blog post to AEA365, a blog sponsored by the American Evaluation Association (AEA) dedicated to highlighting Hot Tips, Cool Tricks, Rad Resources, and Lessons Learned for evaluators. The American Evaluation Association is an international professional association of evaluators devoted to the application and exploration of program evaluation, personnel evaluation, technology, and many other forms of evaluation. Evaluation involves assessing the strengths and weaknesses of programs, policies, personnel, products, and organizations to improve their effectiveness.

Data Analysis Basics – Part I, Judith A. Savageau

Judith A. Savageau

Blog post to AEA365, a blog sponsored by the American Evaluation Association (AEA) dedicated to highlighting Hot Tips, Cool Tricks, Rad Resources, and Lessons Learned for evaluators. The American Evaluation Association is an international professional association of evaluators devoted to the application and exploration of program evaluation, personnel evaluation, technology, and many other forms of evaluation. Evaluation involves assessing the strengths and weaknesses of programs, policies, personnel, products, and organizations to improve their effectiveness.

The Battle Against Malaria: A Teachable Moment, Randy K. Schwartz

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

Malaria has been humanity’s worst public health problem throughout recorded history. Mathematical methods are needed to understand which factors are relevant to the disease and to develop counter-measures against it. This article and the accompanying exercises provide examples of those methods for use in lower- or upper-level courses dealing with probability, statistics, or population modeling. These can be used to illustrate such concepts as correlation, causation, conditional probability, and independence. The article explains how the apparent link between sickle cell trait and resistance to malaria was first verified in Uganda using the chi-squared probability distribution. It goes on to explain …

An Exploratory Statistical Method For Finding Interactions In A Large Dataset With An Application Toward Periodontal Diseases, Joshua Lambert

Theses and Dissertations--Epidemiology and Biostatistics

It is estimated that Periodontal Diseases effects up to 90% of the adult population. Given the complexity of the host environment, many factors contribute to expression of the disease. Age, Gender, Socioeconomic Status, Smoking Status, and Race/Ethnicity are all known risk factors, as well as a handful of known comorbidities. Certain vitamins and minerals have been shown to be protective for the disease, while some toxins and chemicals have been associated with an increased prevalence. The role of toxins, chemicals, vitamins, and minerals in relation to disease is believed to be complex and potentially modified by known risk factors. A …

Gathering Steam In Health Care: A Student History, Michael J. Leach

The STEAM Journal

In this reflection, I demonstrate STEAM in health care by outlining my 15 years as a university student engaged in formal education, extracurricular learning, research, and employment.

Preparedness Of Hospitals In The Republic Of Ireland For An Influenza Pandemic, An Infection Control Perspective, Mary Reidy, Fiona Ryan, Dervla Hogan, Seán Lacey, Claire Buckley

Department of Mathematics Publications

When an influenza pandemic occurs most of the population is susceptible and attack rates can range as high as 40–50 %. The most important failure in pandemic planning is the lack of standards or guidelines regarding what it means to be ‘prepared’. The aim of this study was to assess the preparedness of acute hospitals in the Republic of Ireland for an influenza pandemic from an infection control perspective.

Net Reclassification Indices For Evaluating Risk Prediction Instruments: A Critical Review, Kathleen F. Kerr, Zheyu Wang, Holly Janes, Robyn Mcclelland, Bruce M. Psaty, Margaret S. Pepe

UW Biostatistics Working Paper Series

Background Net Reclassification Indices (NRI) have recently become popular statistics for measuring the prediction increment of new biomarkers.

Methods In this review, we examine the various types of NRI statistics and their correct interpretations. We evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of the NRI approach. For pre-defined risk categories, we relate NRI to existing measures of the prediction increment. We also consider statistical methodology for constructing confidence intervals for NRI statistics and evaluate the merits of NRI-based hypothesis testing.

Conclusions Investigators using NRI statistics should report them separately for events (cases) and nonevents (controls). When there are two risk categories, the …

Estimation Of Hiv Incidence Using Multiple Biomakers, Ron Brookmeyer, Jacob Konikoff, Oliver Laeyendecker, Susan Eshleman

Ron Brookmeyer

The incidence of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is the rate at which new HIV infections occur in populations. The development of accurate, practical, and cost-effective approaches to estimation of HIV incidence is a priority among researchers in HIV surveillance because of limitations with existing methods. In this paper, we develop methods for estimating HIV incidence rates using multiple biomarkers in biological samples collected from a cross-sectional survey. An advantage of the method is that it does not require longitudinal follow-up of individuals. We use assays for BED, avidity, viral load, and CD4 cell count data from clade B samples collected …

A Descriptive Study Of Childhood Cancer Statistics: Montgomery County, Jamie L. Hartig

Master of Public Health Program Student Publications

Objective: This research describes childhood cancer and identifies variances in childhood cancer statistics in the United States, Ohio, and Montgomery County.

Methods: This is a descriptive analysis of childhood cancer statistics using the Ohio Cancer Incidence Surveillance System (OCISS) (Ohio Department of Health, 2010) and CDC Wonder database (United States Department of Health and Human Services [USDHHS], Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], & National Cancer Institute [NCI], 2008 & 2011.) Cancer incidences between white children and black children were compared for the years 1999-2009. The OCISS database was also used to compare vital status by race, cancer stage …

Changes Across 25 Years Of Statistics In Medicine, Johanna S. Hardin

Pomona Faculty Publications and Research

[This piece is a series of interviews with giants in the field of medicine on their views of how statistics is changing medicine. I interviewed the editor of the New England Journal of Medicine, a preeminent doctor/researcher of lung cancer, the director of the LA County Department of Public Health, and a Harvard statistician who sits on the editorial board of the New England Journal of Medicine.]

Medicine, Statistics, And Education: The Inextricable Link, Katharine K. Brieger '11, Johanna S. Hardin

Pomona Faculty Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Geographic Disparities Associated With Stroke And Myocardial Infarction In East Tennessee, Ashley Pedigo Golden

Doctoral Dissertations

Stroke and myocardial infarction (MI) are serious conditions whose burdens vary by socio-demographic and geographic factors. Although several studies have investigated and identified disparities in burdens of these conditions at the county and state levels, little is known regarding their geographic epidemiology at the neighborhood level. Both conditions require emergency treatments and therefore timely geographic accessibility to appropriate care is critical. Investigation of disparities in geographic accessibility to stroke and MI care and the role of Emergency Medical Services (EMS) in reducing treatment delays are vital in improving health outcomes. Therefore, the objectives of this work were to: (i) classify …

National Estimates Of The Prevalence Of Alzheimer's Disease In The United States, Ron Brookmeyer, Denis Evans, Liesi Hebert, Langa Kenneth, Heeringa Steven, Plassman Brenda, Kukull Kenneth

Ron Brookmeyer

Several methods of estimating prevalence of dementia are presented in this article. For both Brookmeyer and the Chicago Health and Aging project (CHAP), the estimates of prevalence are derived statistically, forward calculating from incidence and survival figures. The choice of incidence rates on which to build the estimates may be critical. Brookmeyer used incidence rates from several published studies, whereas the CHAP investigators applied the incidence rates observed in their own cohort. The Aging, Demographics, and Memory Study (ADAMS) and the East Boston Senior Health Project (EBSHP) were sample surveys designed to ascertain the prevalence of Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. …

On The Statistical Accuracy Of Biomarker Assays Of Hiv Incidence, Ron Brookmeyer

Ron Brookmeyer

Objective: To evaluate the statistical accuracy of estimates of current HIV incidence rates from cross-sectional surveys, and to identify characteristics of assays that improve accuracy.

Methods: Performed mathematical and statistical analysis of the cross-sectional estimator of HIV incidence to evaluate bias and variance. Developed probability models to evaluate impact of long tails of the window period distribution on accuracy.

Results: The standard cross-sectional estimate of HIV incidence rate is estimating a time-lagged incidence where the lag time, called the shadow, depends on the mean and the coefficient of variation of window periods. Equations show how the shadow increases with the …