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An Introduction To Principal Surrogate Evaluation With The Pseval Package, Michael C. Sachs, Erin E. Gabriel

The R Journal

We describe a new package called pseval that implements the core methods for the evaluation of principal surrogates in a single clinical trial. It provides a flexible interface for defining models for the risk given treatment and the surrogate, the models for integration over the missing counterfactual surrogate responses, and the estimation methods. Estimated maximum likelihood and pseudo-score can be used for estimation, and the bootstrap for inference. A variety of post-estimation methods are provided, including print, summary, plot, and testing. We summarize the main statistical methods that are implemented in the package and illustrate its use from the perspective …

Diversity And Impacts Of Mining On The Non-Volant Small Mammal Communities Of Two Vegetation Types In The Brazilian Amazon, Natália Carneiro Ardente, Átilla Colombo Ferreguetti, Donald Gettinger, Pricila Leal, Ana Cristina Mendes-Oliveira, Fernanda Martins-Hatano, Helena Godoy Bergallo

Harold W. Manter Laboratory of Parasitology: Faculty Publications

The CarajaÂs National Forest contains some of the largest iron ore deposits in the world. The majority of the minerals are found below a plant community known as Savana Metalo fila, or ªCangaº, which represents only 3% of the landscape within the CarajaÂs National Forest (CNF). The aim of our study was to understand the diversity of community of non-volant small mammals in the two predominant vegetation types: Ombrophilous Forest and Canga, and to examine how mining impacts these communities. Sampling was conducted from January 2010 to August 2011 in 11 sampling sites divided by the total area of Canga …

‘A Novel Kaposi’S Sarcoma Therapy:’ Plasmonic Nanoparticles For Light-Mediated Drug Delivery, Blake Peter Kruger

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

Automated Calibration Of Atmospheric Oxidized Mercury Measurements, Seth Lyman, Colleen Jones, Trevor O'Neil, Tanner Allen, Matthieu Miller, Mae Sexauer Gustin, Ashley M. Pierce, Winston Luke, Xinrong Ren, Paul Kelley

USU Uintah Basin Faculty Publications

The atmosphere is an important reservoir for mercury pollution, and understanding of oxidation processes is essential to elucidating the fate of atmospheric mercury. Several recent studies have shown that a low bias exists in a widely applied method for atmospheric oxidized mercury measurements. We developed an automated, permeation tube-based calibrator for elemental and oxidized mercury, and we integrated this calibrator with atmospheric mercury instrumentation (Tekran 2537/1130/1135 speciation systems) in Reno, Nevada and at Mauna Loa Observatory, Hawaii, U.S.A. While the calibrator has limitations, it was able to routinely inject stable amounts of HgCl2 and HgBr2 into atmospheric mercury measurement systems …

Pepper Mild Mottle Virus As A Surrogate For Enteric Viruses: Implications For Assessing Water Quality, Erin Michelle Symonds

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Less than 10% of the world’s domestic wastewater is disinfected prior to discharge into surface waters; therefore, human exposure to diverse wastewater-related pathogens results in millions of cases of illness each year. Among the enteric pathogens, viruses represent an important group of emerging pathogens and are frequently the cause of food- and water-borne outbreaks of illness. Although the World Health Organization and many government agencies mandate the use of bacterial indicators to identify poor microbial water quality, it is well known that these indicators poorly correlate with fecal pollution contamination events and risk of disease. The field of public health-related …

Robust Alternatives To Ancova For Estimating The Treatment Effect Via A Randomized Comparative Study, Fei Jiang, Lu Tian, Haoda Fu, Takahiro Hasegawa, Marc Alan Pfeffer, L. J. Wei

Harvard University Biostatistics Working Paper Series

In comparing two treatments via a randomized clinical trial, the analysis of covari- ance technique is often utilized to estimate an overall treatment effect. The ANCOVA is generally perceived as a more efficient procedure than its simple two sample estima- tion counterpart. Unfortunately when the ANCOVA model is not correctly specified, the resulting estimator is generally not consistent especially when the model is nonlin- ear. Recently various nonparametric alternatives, such as the augmentation methods, to ANCOVA have been proposed to estimate the treatment effect by adjusting the covariates. However, the properties of these alternatives have not been studied in the …

Evaluation Of The Addition Of Firth’S Penalty Term To The Bradley-Terry Likelihood, Paul Meyvisch

Journal of Modern Applied Statistical Methods

A major shortcoming of the Bradley-Terry model is that the maximum likelihood estimates are infinite-valued in the presence of separation and may be unreliable when data are nearly separated. A well-known solution consists of the addition of Firth' s penalty term to the log-likelihood function, and solve this penalized likelihood through logistic regression.The maximum likelihood estimates with and without Firth's penalty are compared in a large and heterogeneous population of table-tennis players. We additionally show that exact penalized maximum likelihood estimates can be reasonably approximated using a well-chosen Minorization-Maximization (MM) algorithm.

Synthesis, Structure And Antimicrobial Property Of Green Composites From Cellulose, Wool, Hair And Chicken Feather, Chieu D. Tran, Franja Prosenc, Mladen Franko, Gerald Benzi

Chemistry Faculty Research and Publications

Novel composites between cellulose (CEL) and keratin (KER) from three different sources (wool, hair and chicken feather) were successfully synthesized in a simple one-step process in which butylmethylimidazolium chloride (BMIm⁺Cl⁻), an ionic liquid, was used as the sole solvent. The method is green and recyclable because [BMIm⁺Cl⁻] used was recovered for reuse. Spectroscopy (FTIR, XRD) and imaging (SEM) results confirm that CEL and KER remain chemically intact and homogeneously distributed in the composites. KER retains some of its secondary structure in the composites. Interestingly, the minor differences in the structure of KER …

Online Cross-Validation-Based Ensemble Learning, David Benkeser, Samuel D. Lendle, Cheng Ju, Mark J. Van Der Laan

U.C. Berkeley Division of Biostatistics Working Paper Series

Online estimators update a current estimate with a new incoming batch of data without having to revisit past data thereby providing streaming estimates that are scalable to big data. We develop flexible, ensemble-based online estimators of an infinite-dimensional target parameter, such as a regression function, in the setting where data are generated sequentially by a common conditional data distribution given summary measures of the past. This setting encompasses a wide range of time-series models and as special case, models for independent and identically distributed data. Our estimator considers a large library of candidate online estimators and uses online cross-validation to …

Doubly-Robust Nonparametric Inference On The Average Treatment Effect, David Benkeser, Marco Carone, Mark J. Van Der Laan, Peter Gilbert

U.C. Berkeley Division of Biostatistics Working Paper Series

Doubly-robust estimators are widely used to draw inference about the average effect of a treatment. Such estimators are consistent for the effect of interest if either one of two nuisance parameters is consistently estimated. However, if flexible, data-adaptive estimators of these nuisance parameters are used, double-robustness does not readily extend to inference. We present a general theoretical study of the behavior of doubly-robust estimators of an average treatment effect when one of the nuisance parameters is inconsistently estimated. We contrast different approaches for constructing such estimators and investigate the extent to which they may be modified to also allow doubly-robust …

Modeling Cross-Species Extrapolation Of Inhalation Anthrax For Risk Assessment Purposes, Megan O. Powell

Annual Symposium on Biomathematics and Ecology Education and Research

No abstract provided.

Vaccination Strategies For Small Worlds, Winfried Just, Hannah L. Callender

Annual Symposium on Biomathematics and Ecology Education and Research

No abstract provided.

The Eco-Epidemiology Of Pacific Coast Tick Fever In California, Kerry A. Padgett, Denise L. Bonilla, Marina E. Eremeeva, Carol A. Glaser, Robert S. Lane, Charsey Cole Porse, Martin B. Castro, Sharon L. Messenger, Alex Espinosa, Jill Hacker, Anne Kjemtrup, Bonnie Ryan, Jamesina J. Scott, Renjie Hu, Melissa Hardstone Yoshimizu, Gregory A. Dasch, Vicki Kramer

Environmental Health Sciences: Faculty Publications

Rickettsia philipii (type strain “Rickettsia 364D”), the etiologic agent of Pacific Coast tick fever (PCTF), is transmitted to people by the Pacific Coast tick, Dermacentor occidentalis. Following the first confirmed human case of PCTF in 2008, 13 additional human cases have been reported in California, more than half of which were pediatric cases. The most common features of PCTF are the presence of at least one necrotic lesion known as an eschar (100%), fever (85%), and headache (79%); four case-patients required hospitalization and four had multiple eschars. Findings presented here implicate the nymphal or larval stages of D …

Coral Disease In Chumbe Island Coral Park: A Baseline Survey Of The Prevalence Of Coral Disease And Other Afflictions Within Chumbe Marine Protected Area, Hannah Turley

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Coral mortality from disease and other afflictions is a rising concern for reefs around the world. The aim of this study was to provide to a baseline for the prevalence of coral disease and other afflictions, which indicate compromised coral health, in Chumbe Island Coral Park, Zanzibar, Tanzania. Chumbe's reef experienced a widespread bleaching event earlier this year and this baseline study will provide a starting point to see how the bleaching event affected the prevalence of disease and other afflictions within the reef. A baseline study will also allow the park to investigate if their current monitoring procedures are …

Multi-Sector Analysis Of The Progress And Challenges Of Soil-Transmitted Helminth Eradication In Rural Udaipur, Jessica Ellis

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

India is home to 240 million children currently at risk of Soil-Transmitted Helminthiasis, which is spread via unclean water, soil, and food, and causes acute pain and malnutrition. While acknowledging the research debates over WASH and mass drug administration, this study seeks to identify the systemic multidisciplinary issues affecting STH elimination efforts in rural Udaipur. Twenty-three interviews were conducted in villages, government departments, NGOs, and medical sectors to identify the challenges within each approach to deworming, and their experiences with multi-sectoral collaboration. The most recurring issues across disciplines were need for invested local leadership, increase in health literacy of adults, …

Circulation, Vol. 22, No. 1, Center For Coastal Physical Oceanography, Old Dominion University, Mike Dinniman

CCPO Circulation

Fall 2016 issue of CCPO Circulation featuring article "I have to Do What to the Model? How Did I Get Here, Part ll" by Mike Dinniman.

Computerized Classification Of Surface Spikes In Three-Dimensional Electron Microscopic Reconstructions Of Viruses, Younes Benkarroum

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The purpose of this research is to develop computer techniques for improved three-dimensional (3D) reconstruction of viruses from electron microscopic images of them and for the subsequent improved classification of the surface spikes in the resulting reconstruction. The broader impact of such work is the following.

Influenza is an infectious disease caused by rapidly-changing viruses that appear seasonally in the human population. New strains of influenza viruses appear every year, with the potential to cause a serious global pandemic. Two kinds of spikes – hemagglutinin (HA) and neuraminidase (NA) – decorate the surface of the virus particles and these proteins …

Synthesis, Self-Assembly, And Immunological Activity Of Α-Galactose-Functionalized Dendron–Lipid Amphiphiles, John Trant, Namrata Jain, D. M. Mazzuca, J Trevor Mcintosh, Bo Fan, S M Mansour Haeryfar, Sebastien Lecommandoux, Elizabeth Gillies

Chemistry Publications

Nanoassemblies presenting multivalent displays of biologically active carbohydrates are of significant interest for a wide array of biomedical applications ranging from drug delivery to immunotherapy. In this study, glycodendron–lipid hybrids were developed as a new and tunable class of dendritic amphiphiles. A modular synthesis was used to prepare dendron–lipid hybrids comprising distearylglycerol and 0 through 4th generation polyester dendrons with peripheral protected amines. Following deprotection of the amines, an isothiocyanate derivative of C-linked α-galactose (α-Gal) was conjugated to the dendron peripheries, affording amphiphiles with 1 to 16 α-Gal moieties. Self-assembly in …

In Vivo And In Vitro Studies Of Polyamides That Are Active Antiviral Agents Against Hpv16, Edith Csiki-Fejer

Dissertations

Long-term, persistent infection with high-risk strains of human papillomavirus (HPV) is the precursor of most cervical cancers and an increasing number of the head and neck cancers. While HPV vaccines can protect patients under twenty-five years old from possible infections, no HPV antiviral drugs are available for the definitive treatment of preexisting or future viral infections. To treat current or future HPV infections, drugs that selectively block virus-specific processes, but do not damage the host cells, are needed. The compounds developed in our group are unique Imidazole-pyrrole polyamides, analogs of natural products Distamycin A and Netropsin that function by interfering …

High Correlation Of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Spread With Google Search And Twitter Trends In Korea, Soo-Yong Shin, Dong-Woo Seo, Jisun An, Haewoon Kwak, Sung-Han Kim, Jin Gwack, Min-Woo Jo

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

The Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) was exported to Korea in 2015, resulting in a threat to neighboring nations. We evaluated the possibility of using a digital surveillance system based on web searches and social media data to monitor this MERS outbreak. We collected the number of daily laboratory-confirmed MERS cases and quarantined cases from May 11, 2015 to June 26, 2015 using the Korean government MERS portal. The daily trends observed via Google search and Twitter during the same time period were also ascertained using Google Trends and Topsy. Correlations among the data were then examined using Spearman …

Rickettsiologist Pavel F. Zdrodovskii: Larger Than Life, And Not Just For His Famous Book, Marina E. Eremeeva, S. N. Shpynov, I. V. Tarasevich

Environmental Health Sciences: Faculty Publications

This article highlights the biography and scientific accomplishments of Pavel F. Zdrodovskii and his contributions to understanding the biology, pathogenesis, treatment, prevention and epidemiology of brucellosis, rickettsioses and many other infectious diseases.

Role Of Hearth Program With Undernutrition Incidence Among Toddlers In Tangerang City, Gizella Gizella, Dany Hilmanto, Dedi Rachmadi

Kesmas

Kelompok yang rentan terhadap gizi kurang adalah balita. World Health Organization (WHO) menyatakan kematian anak bawah lima tahun (balita) akibat gizi kurang sebesar 54% pada tahun 2002. Di Indonesia, prevalensinya mengalami peningkatan dari 17,9% pada tahun 2010 menjadi 19,6% pada tahun 2013. Di Kota Tangerang, terdapat 1,43% balita yang mengalami gizi buruk pada tahun 2013. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk membuktikan secara valid hubungan antara Program Pos Gizi yang meliputi perilaku pemberian makan, perilaku kebersihan balita, perilaku mencari pelayanan kesehatan dan perilaku pengasuhan balita dengan kejadian gizi kurang pada balita. Penelitian ini merupakan penelitian kuantitatif, potong lintang, menggunakan data primer serta …

Identification Of Pathogenic Leptospira In Rat And Shrew Populations Using Rpob Gene And Its Spatial Distribution In Boyolali District, Dyah Widiastuti, Zumrotus Sholichah, Agustiningsih Agustiningsih, Nastiti Wijayanti

Kesmas

Leptospirosis merupakan masalah kesehatan di Indonesia. Hingga April 2014, dilaporkan kasus leptospirosis yang ditularkan oleh tikus di Kabupaten Boyolali dengan angka kematian 83,3%. Genus Leptospira terdiri dari ratusan serovar dan tipe genetik yang hidup di pelbagai jenis habitat. Pengelompokan spesies Leptospira berdasarkan gen rpoB dapat digunakan karena tingkat polimorfisme gen tersebut tinggi. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengidentifikasi serovar bakteri Leptospira pada populasi tikus di Kabupaten Boyolali menggunakan analisis hubungan kekerabatan didasarkan pada polimorfisme gen rpoB dan menggambarkan distribusi spasial tikus positif Leptospira di Kabupaten Boyolali. Penelitian potong lintang dilaksanakan pada bulan April 2014 di Desa Sindon Kecamatan Ngemplak dan Desa …

Environmental, Behavioral Factors And Filariasis Incidence In Bintan District, Riau Islands Province, Zainul Ikhwan, Lucky Herawati, Suharti Suharti

Kesmas

Tingkat mikrofilaria filariasis di Kabupaten Bintan masih tinggi, khususnya di Kecamatan Teluk Bintan, Teluk Sebong, dan Sri Kuala Lobam. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui hubungan faktor risiko lingkungan (faktor fisik, biologi, kimia, sosial budaya, ekonomi) dan faktor perilaku dengan kejadian filariasis. Jenis penelitian observasional analitik yang dilakukan pada Mei – September 2015 dengan desain kasus kontrol, yang terdiri dari jumlah kasus 33 orang penderita filariasis dan kontrol 65 orang bukan penderita filariasis dengan teknik cluster sampling. Populasi penelitian adalah masyarakat di Kabupaten Bintan. Data yang diperoleh dianalisis menggunakan uji kai kuadrat dan regresi logistik. Hasil menunjukkan adanya hubungan pengetahuan (nilai …

Measles Immunization And Vitamin A For Prevention Of Pneumonia In Indonesia, Ratno Widoyo

Kesmas

Pneumonia merupakan penyebab kematian tertinggi pada anak di Indonesia setelah diare. Pengendalian pneumonia dapat dilakukan dengan peningkatan cakupan imunisasi campak, pertusis, Streptococcus pneumoniae (Spn), dan Haemophilus influenzae b (Hib). Vaksin Spn dan Hib belum masuk ke dalam kategori imunisasi wajib di Indonesia. Vaksin campak lebih memiliki pengaruh langsung terhadap pneumonia dibandingkan dengan vaksin pertusis. Pemberian imunisasi yang disertai pemberian vitamin A akan meningkatkan titer antibodi pada anak. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui pengaruh pemberian imunisasi campak dan vitamin A terhadap kejadian pneumonia. Metode penelitian adalah potong lintang dengan menggunakan 13.062 data anak yang terdapat pada data Survei Demografi dan Kesehatan …

Expert Elicitation On The Uncertainties Associated With Chronic Wasting Disease, Michael G. Tyshenko, Tamer Oraby, Shalu Darshan, Margit Westphal, Maxine C. Croteau, Willy Aspinall, Susie Elsaadany, Daniel Krewski, Neil Cashman

School of Mathematical & Statistical Sciences Faculty Publications

A high degree of uncertainty exists for chronic wasting disease (CWD) transmission factors in farmed and wild cervids. Evaluating the factors is important as it helps to inform future risk management strategies. Expert opinion is often used to assist decision making in a number of health, science, and technology domains where data may be sparse or missing. Using the "Classical Model" of elicitation, a group of experts was asked to estimate the most likely values for several risk factors affecting CWD transmission. The formalized expert elicitation helped structure the issues and hence provide a rational basis for estimating some transmission …

Synthesis And Characterization Of Amphiphiles For Mammalian Cell Transfection And Antimicrobial Activity, Joseph William Meisel

Dissertations

Amphiphiles are molecules that contain both water-soluble and water-insoluble components. The dual nature of these molecules engenders remarkable properties including the ability to self-assemble into ordered structures. Cell membranes are composed of amphiphilic phospholipids that organize into a bilayer motif. Synthetic amphiphiles can interact with natural membranes and influence the transport of molecules across the cell membrane. The work elaborated in this report employs amphiphiles to co-assemble with DNA and transport the genetic material across cell membranes. First, a simplified method for interacting DNA with amphiphiles was developed. Second, a series of known ion-transporting compounds were assayed for their interaction …

Bayesian Networks To Assess The Newborn Stool Microbiome, William E. Bennett Jr.

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

In human stool, a large population of bacterial genes and transcripts from hundreds of genera coexist with host genes and transcripts. Assessments of the metagenome and transcriptome are particularly challenging, since there is a great deal of sequence overlap among related species and related genes. We sequenced the total RNA content from stool samples in a neonate using previously-described methods. We then performed stepwise alignment of different populations of RNA sequence reads to different indices, including ribosomal databases, the human genome, and all sequenced bacterial genomes. Each pool of RNA at each alignment step was subjected to compression to assess …

Mathematical Model Of Vaccine Noncompliance, Alex Capaldi, Jordan Bauer

Mathematics and Statistics Faculty Publications

Vaccine scares can prevent individuals from complying with a vaccination program. When compliance is high, the critical vaccination proportion is close to being met, and herd immunity occurs, bringing the disease incidence to extremely low levels. Thus, the risk to vaccinate may seem greater than the risk of contracting the disease, inciting vaccine noncompliance. A previous behavior-incidence ordinary differential equation model shows both social learning and feedback contributing to changes in vaccinating behavior, where social learning is the perceived risk of vaccinating and feedback repre- sents new cases of the disease. In our study, we compared several candidate models to …

Determination Of Dimethyl Trisulfide In Rabbit Blood Using Stir Bar Sorptive Extraction Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry, Erica Mananadhar, Nujud Maslamani, Ilona Petrikovics, Gary A. Rockwood, Brian A. Logue

Chemistry and Biochemistry Faculty Publications

Cyanide poisoning by accidental or intentional exposure poses a severe health risk. The current Food and Drug Administration approved antidotes for cyanide poisoning can be effective, but each suffers from specific major limitations concerning large effective dosage, delayed onset of action, or dependence on enzymes generally confined to specific organs. Dimethyl trisulfide (DMTS), a sulfur donor that detoxifies cyanide by converting it into thiocyanate (a relatively nontoxic cyanide metabolite), is a promising next generation cyanide antidote. Although a validated analytical method to analyze DMTS from any matrix is not currently available, one will be vital for the approval of DMTS …