Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Statistical And Machine Learning Approaches To Describe Factors Affecting Preweaning Mortality Of Piglets, Md Towfiqur Rahman, Tami M. Brown-Brandl, Gary A. Rohrer, Sudhendu R. Sharma, Vamsi Manthena, Yeyin Shi

Department of Biological Systems Engineering: Papers and Publications

High preweaning mortality (PWM) rates for piglets are a significant concern for the worldwide pork industries, causing economic loss and well-being issues. This study focused on identifying the factors affecting PWM, overlays, and predicting PWM using historical production data with statistical and machine learning models. Data were collected from 1,982 litters from the United States Meat Animal Research Center, Nebraska, over the years 2016 to 2021. Sows were housed in a farrowing building with three rooms, each with 20 farrowing crates, and taken care of by well-trained animal caretakers. A generalized linear model was used to analyze the various sow, …

Dental Hygiene Students Reported Physiological Symptoms Associated With Wearing An N95 Respirator Mask, Peyton Shea Butler

Dental Hygiene Theses & Dissertations

Purpose: Physiological symptoms and comfort levels while wearing an N95 respiratory mask has not been examined with dental hygienists. The purpose of this study was to investigate dental hygiene students reported physiological symptoms and comfort perception while wearing an N95 respirator mask during patient care appointments. Methods: After IRB approval (IRB #1987754-2), a 16-item questionnaire was distributed through email to a convenience sample of 65 dental hygiene students. Questions assessed respiratory, dermatologic, cardiac, mask mouth and general physiological symptoms, as well as comfort levels. Additionally, participants were asked to respond to demographic questions and one open ended question inquiring about …

Bayesian Statistical Modeling Of Spatially Resolved Transcriptomics Data, Xi Jiang

Statistical Science Theses and Dissertations

Spatially resolved transcriptomics (SRT) quantifies expression levels at different spatial locations, providing a new and powerful tool to investigate novel biological insights. As experimental technologies enhance both in capacity and efficiency, there arises a growing demand for the development of analytical methodologies.

One question in SRT data analysis is to identify genes whose expressions exhibit spatially correlated patterns, called spatially variable (SV) genes. Most current methods to identify SV genes are built upon the geostatistical model with Gaussian process, which could limit the models' ability to identify complex spatial patterns. In order to overcome this challenge and capture more types …

The Prevalence Of Burnout In Saudi Arabia Dental Hygienists, Nouf Hamad Aldayel

Dental Hygiene Theses & Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this pilot study was to assess the prevalence of burnout in Saudi Arabian dental hygienists and identify risk factors associated with burnout. Methods: A descriptive survey design using the Copenhagen Burnout Inventory (CBI) assessed burnout among a convenience sample of n=123 Saudi dental hygienists. The survey was disseminated electronically to 1,000 Saudi Arabian dental hygienists. The CBI measures three subscales: personal, work-related, and client/patient-related burnout on a five-point Likert-type scale. The survey also included six demographic questions, two Likert-type, one “yes/no,” and one openended question, related to burnout. Descriptive statistics, one-way between subject’s ANOVA, independent samples …

All-Cause And Opioid-Related Mortality Compared Between Traumatic Spinal Cord Injury And The Us General Population, Jaden Whitehead, Beatrice Ugiliweneza

The Cardinal Edge

Individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI) are susceptible to the misuse of opioids due to the introduction of these substances for pain management. There are very few studies examining the relationship between unintentional deaths caused by opioid usage following spinal cord injury. The objective of this study was to evaluate the trend of opioid-related mortality of individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI) over the years and compare these findings to the mortality rates due to opioid misuse in the general population. In this study, we used data provided by the National Spinal Cord Injury Model Systems (NSCIMS) for SCI 1999-2016 …

Nonparametric Methods For Analysis And Sizing Of Cluster Randomization Trials With Baseline Measurements, Chengchun Yu

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Cluster randomization trials are popular in situations where the intervention needs to be implemented at the cluster level, or logistical, financial and/or ethical reason dictates the choice for randomization at the cluster level, or minimization of contamination is needed. It is very common for cluster trials to take measurements before randomization and again at follow-up, resulting in a clustered pretest-posttest design. For continuous outcomes, the cluster-adjusted analysis of covariance approach can be used to adjust for accidental bias and improve efficiency. However, a direct application of this method is nonsensical if the measures are incompatible with an interval scale, yet …

Sugar-Sweetened Beverages And Artificially Sweetened Beverages Consumption And The Risk Of Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver (Nafld) And Nonalcoholic Steatohepatitis (Nash), Tung Sung Tseng, Wei Ting Lin, Peng Sheng Ting, Chiung Kuei Huang, Po Hung Chen, Gabrielle V. Gonzalez, Hui Yi Lin

School of Public Health Faculty Publications

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) are fast becoming the most common chronic liver disease and are often preventable with healthy dietary habits and weight management. Sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) consumption is associated with obesity and NAFLD. However, the impact of different types of SSBs, including artificially sweetened beverages (ASBs), is not clear after controlling for total sugar intake and total caloric intake. The aim of this study was to examine the association between the consumption of different SSBs and the risk of NAFLD and NASH in US adults. The representativeness of 3739 US adults aged ≥20 years …

History And Current Status Of Mediterranean Spotted Fever (Msf) In The Crimean Peninsula And Neighboring Regions Along The Black Sea Coast, Muniver T. Gafarova, Marina E. Eremeeva

Department of Biostatistics, Epidemiology, and Environmental Health Sciences Faculty Publications

Mediterranean spotted fever (MSF) is a tick-borne rickettsiosis caused by Rickettsia conorii subspecies conorii and transmitted to humans by Rhipicephalus sanguineus ticks. The disease was first discovered in Tunisia in 1910 and was subsequently reported from other Mediterranean countries. The first cases of MSF in the former Soviet Union were detected in 1936 on the Crimean Peninsula. This review summarizes the historic information and main features of MSF in that region and contemporary surveillance and control efforts for this rickettsiosis. Current data pertinent to the epidemiology of the disease, circulation of the ticks and distribution of animal hosts are discussed …

Produção De Artigos Científicos No Estudo Longitudinal De Saúde Do Adulto (Elsa-Brasil), 2011-2023, Arthur Sandi Bauermann, Maria Antônia Mylius De Oliveira, Clara Akemi Basso Aseka, Luiza Dalmolin Beneduzi

AMNET XX Conferencia Internacional

No abstract provided.

The Public Health Impact Of Paxlovid Covid-19 Treatment In The United States, Yuan Bai, Zhanwei Du, Lin Wang, Eric H. Y. Lau, Isaac Fung, Petter Holme, Ben Cowling, Alison Galvani, Robert Krug, Lauren Ancel Meyers

Department of Biostatistics, Epidemiology, and Environmental Health Sciences Faculty Publications

The antiviral drug Paxlovid has been shown to rapidly reduce viral load. Coupled with vaccination, timely administration of safe and effective antivirals could provide a path towards managing COVID-19 without restrictive non-pharmaceutical measures. Here, we estimate the population-level impacts of expanding treatment with Paxlovid in the US using a multi-scale mathematical model of SARS-CoV-2 transmission that incorporates the within-host viral load dynamics of the Omicron variant. We find that, under a low transmission scenario (Re∼1.2) treating 20% of symptomatic cases would be life and cost saving, leading to an estimated 0.26 (95% CrI: 0.03, 0.59) million hospitalizations averted, 30.61 (95% …

Design, Analysis, And Interpretation Of Treatment Response Heterogeneity In Personalized Nutrition And Obesity Treatment Research, Roger S. Zoh, Bridget H. Esteves, Xiaoxin Yu, Amanda J. Fairchild, Ana I. Vazquez, Andrew G. Chapple, Andrew W. Brown, Brandon George, Derek Gordon, Douglas Landsittel, Gary L. Gadbury, Greg Pavela, Gustavo De Los Campos, Luis M. Mestre, David B. Allison

School of Public Health Faculty Publications

It is increasingly assumed that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to dietary recommendations for the management and treatment of chronic diseases such as obesity. This phenomenon that not all individuals respond uniformly to a given treatment has become an area of research interest given the rise of personalized and precision medicine. To conduct, interpret, and disseminate this research rigorously and with scientific accuracy, however, requires an understanding of treatment response heterogeneity. Here, we define treatment response heterogeneity as it relates to clinical trials, provide statistical guidance for measuring treatment response heterogeneity, and highlight study designs that can quantify treatment response …

Construction And Performance Optimization Of Bioconjugated Nanosensors For Early Detection Of Breast Cancer And Pro-Inflammatory Diseases, Pooja Gaikwad

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In recent years, nanosensors have emerged as a tool with strong potential in medical diagnostics. Single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) based optical nanosensors have notably garnered interest due to the unique characteristics of their near-infrared fluorescence emission, including tissue transparency, photostability, and various chiralities with discrete absorption and fluorescence emission bands. Additionally, the optoelectronic properties of SWCNT are sensitive to the surrounding environment, which makes them suitable for in vitro and in vivo biosensing. Single-stranded (ss) DNA-wrapped SWCNTs have been reported as optical nanosensors for cancers and metabolic diseases. Breast cancer and cardiovascular diseases are the most common causes of death …

Healthy Lifestyle Behaviors And Sociodemographic Characteristics Among Medical Students In Indonesia During The New Normal Era: A Cross-Sectional Study, Sharren Shera Vionnetta, Tommy Nugroho Tanumihardja, Kevin Kristian

Kesmas

This study aimed to identify medical students’ healthy lifestyle behaviors during the new normal era and to determine its relationship with sociodemographic factors, bearing in mind that, as future physicians and health role models, medical students play an important role in adopting and promoting healthy lifestyle behaviors to reduce the risk of future health problems as well as optimize communities’ health status. This cross-sectional study was conducted at the School of Medicine and Health Sciences of Universitas Katolik Indonesia Atma Jaya, with 111 medical students selected through stratified random sampling. Data were collected using sociodemographic characteristics (sex, residence, year of …

Prediction Of Factors For Patients With Hypertension And Dyslipidemia Using Multilayer Feedforward Neural Networks And Ordered Logistic Regression Analysis: A Robust Hybrid Methodology, Wan Muhamad Amir W Ahmad, Mohamad Nasarudin Bin Adnan, Norhayati Yusop, Hazik Bin Shahzad, Farah Muna Mohamad Ghazali, Nor Azlida Aleng, Nor Farid Mohd Noor

Makara Journal of Health Research

Background: Hypertension is characterized by abnormally high arterial blood pressure and is a public health problem with a high prevalence of 20%–30% worldwide. This research combined multiple logistic regression (MLR) and multilayer feedforward neural networks to construct and validate a model for evaluating the factors linked with hypertension in patients with dyslipidemia.

Methods: A total of 1000 data entries from Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia and advanced computational statistical modeling methodologies were used to evaluate seven traits associated with hypertension. R-Studio software was utilized. Each sample's statistics were calculated using a hybrid model that included bootstrapping.

Results: Variable …

Characteristics And Source-Specific Health Risks Of Ambient Pm2.5-Bound Pahs In An Urban City Of Northern Taiwan, Yu-Chieh Ting, Chun-Hung Ku, Yu-Xuan Zou, Kai-Hsien Chi, Jhy-Charm Soo, Chin-Yu Hsu, Yu-Cheng Chen

Department of Biostatistics, Epidemiology, and Environmental Health Sciences Faculty Publications

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) with highly toxic compounds mainly exist in small-sized particles and can induce considerable human health risks. Studies on PM2.5-bound PAHs and their source-specific human health risks still remain scarce. Daily PM2.5 samples (n = 119) were collected every three days from 2016 to 2017 in Taipei city, Taiwan. Fifteen PAHs in PM2.5 were analyzed via gas chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (GC/MS-MS). We utilized a positive matrix factorization (PMF) model, diagnostic ratios, and potential source contribution function (PSCF) to identify the origins of PM2.5-bound PAHs. The annual concentration of total PAHs (TPAH) was 0.79 ± 0.67 ng …

A Review Of Recent Gene Expression-Based And Dna Methylation-Based Mathematical Cell Type Deconvolution Methods, Chenxiao Tian

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In recent years, many cell type deconvolution methods based on DNA methylation data and gene expression data have been developed. Both of these two methods have its special advantages and disadvantages, e.g., DNA methylation-based methods’ data source is usually more stable than gene expression and DNA methylation is easier to measure in FFPE tissues or formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded, while some gene-expression data like scRNA-seq data usually has high cost and complexity. On the other hand, gene expression-based deconvolution methods currently have many more available methods than DNA methylation-based deconvolution methods, which leads to DNA methylation-based methods in many cases can learn …

Genetic Associations Of Alzheimer’S Disease And Mild Cognitive Impairment, Scott Hebert

Masters Theses

Over 6 million people are estimated to have been living with Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) in 2020, with another 12 million living with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI). Research has been conducted to evaluate genetic links to AD, but more research is needed on the subject. The Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) has been conducting a longitudinal study of AD and MCI since 2004 and offering their data to research teams around the world. Diagnostic and demographic data was collected from participants, as well as data regarding single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). SNP data was transformed to a binary format regarding whether the …

Forecasting Covid-19 With Temporal Hierarchies And Ensemble Methods, Li Shandross

Masters Theses

Infectious disease forecasting efforts underwent rapid growth during the COVID-19 pandemic, providing guidance for pandemic response and about potential future trends. Yet despite their importance, short-term forecasting models often struggled to produce accurate real-time predictions of this complex and rapidly changing system. This gap in accuracy persisted into the pandemic and warrants the exploration and testing of new methods to glean fresh insights.

In this work, we examined the application of the temporal hierarchical forecasting (THieF) methodology to probabilistic forecasts of COVID-19 incident hospital admissions in the United States. THieF is an innovative forecasting technique that aggregates time-series data into …

Statistical Inference On Lung Cancer Screening Using The National Lung Screening Trial Data., Farhin Rahman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation consists of three research projects on cancer screening probability modeling. In these projects, the three key modeling parameters (sensitivity, sojourn time, transition density) for cancer screening were estimated, along with the long-term outcomes (including overdiagnosis as one outcome), the optimal screening time/age, the lead time distribution, and the probability of overdiagnosis at the future screening time were simulated to provide a statistical perspective on the effectiveness of cancer screening programs. In the first part of this dissertation, a statistical inference was conducted for male and female smokers using the National Lung Screening Trial (NLST) chest X-ray data. A …

Modeling Biphasic, Non-Sigmoidal Dose-Response Relationships: Comparison Of Brain- Cousens And Cedergreen Models For A Biochemical Dataset, Venkat D. Abbaraju, Tamaraty L. Robinson, Brian P. Weiser

Rowan-Virtua School of Osteopathic Medicine Faculty Scholarship

Biphasic, non-sigmoidal dose-response relationships are frequently observed in biochemistry and pharmacology, but they are not always analyzed with appropriate statistical methods. Here, we examine curve fitting methods for “hormetic” dose-response relationships where low and high doses of an effector produce opposite responses. We provide the full dataset used for modeling, and we provide the code for analyzing the dataset in SAS using two established mathematical models of hormesis, the Brain-Cousens model and the Cedergreen model. We show how to obtain and interpret curve parameters such as the ED50 that arise from modeling, and we discuss how curve parameters might change …

Development Of A Metapgs For Accurate Prediction Of Osteoporotic Fracture, Xiangxue Xiao

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Introduction: Early identification of individuals at high-risk for osteoporotic fractures who may benefit from preventive intervention is essential. However, the predictive accuracy of the currently used fracture risk assessment tool remains suboptimal. The first aim of this research is to construct genome-wide polygenic scores for the femoral neck (PGS_FNBMD_idpred) and total body BMD (PGS_TBBMD_idpred) and to estimate their potential in identifying individuals with a high risk of osteoporotic fractures. The second aim is to validate the predictive performance of two previously established PGSs (PGS_FNBMD_idpred and PGS_TBBMD_idpred) in an external cohort …

Editorial, Al Asyary

Kesmas

No abstract provided.

Approaches To Detecting And Modeling Over-And Underdispersion In Alternative Count Data Distributions And An Application Of Logistic Regression And Random Forest Modeling To Improve Screening Tools For Tic Disorders In Children, Rebecca C. Wardrop

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation focuses on theory and application of discrete data methods, particularly approaches to over- and underdispersion relative to the Poisson distribution and an application of random forest and logistic regression modeling. The first chapter derives a score test for over- and underdispersion in the heaped generalized Poisson distribution. Equi-, over-, and underdispersed heaped generalized Poisson and heaped negative binomial data are simulated to evaluate the performance of the score test by comparing the power it achieves to that of Wald and likelihood ratio tests. We find that the score test we derive performs comparably to both the Wald and …

Statistical Methods For Single Cell Sequencing Data Analysis, Fei Qin

Theses and Dissertations

The recent emergence of single cell sequencing (SCS) technology has provided us with single-cell DNA or RNA sequencing (scDNA/RNA-seq) information to investigate cellular evolutionary relationships. Despite many analysis methods have been developed to infer intra-tumor genetic heterogeneity, cluster cellular subclones, detect genetic mutations, and investigate spatially variable (SV) genes, exploring SCS data remains statistically challenging due to its noisy nature.

To identify subclones with scDNA-seq data, many existing studies use an independent statistical model to detect copy number profile in the first step, followed by classical clustering methods for subclone identification in downstream analyses. However, spurious results might be generated …

A Bayesian Spatial Scan Statistic For Normal Data, Laasya Velamakanni

Theses and Dissertations

Scan statistics are useful methods for detecting spatial clustering. While they were initially developed to detect regions with an excess of binomial or Poisson events, spatial scan statistics have been extended to detect hotspots in other types of data including continuous data. They have many applications in different fields such as epidemiology (e.g. detecting disease outbreaks), sociology (e.g. detecting crime hotspots), and environmental health (e.g. detecting high-pollution areas). Spatial scan statistics identify a ‘most likely cluster’ and then use a likelihood ratio test to determine if this cluster is statistically significant. Spatial scan statistics have been extended to the Bayesian …

Exposure Levels Of Airborne Fungi, Bacteria, And Antibiotic Resistance Genes In Cotton Farms During Cotton Harvesting And Evaluations Of N95 Respirators Against These Bioaerosols, Atin Adhikari, Pratik Banerjee, Taylor Thornton, Daleniece Higgins, Caleb Adeoye, Sonam Sherpa

Department of Biostatistics, Epidemiology, and Environmental Health Sciences Faculty Publications

The USA is the third-leading cotton-producing country worldwide and cotton farming is common in the state of Georgia. Cotton harvest can be a significant contributor to airborne microbial exposures to farmers and nearby rural communities. The use of respirators or masks is one of the viable options for reducing organic dust and bioaerosol exposures among farmers. Unfortunately, the OSHA Respiratory Protection Standard (29 CFR Part 1910.134) does not apply to agricultural workplaces and the filtration efficiency of N95 respirators was never field-tested against airborne microorganisms and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) during cotton harvesting. This study addressed these two information gaps. …

Childhood Asthma-Management Practices In Rural Nigeria: Exploring The Knowledge, Attitude, And Practice Of Caregivers In Oyo State, Oyindamola Akinso, Atin Adhikari, Jingjing Yin, Joanne Chopak-Foss, Gulzar H. Shah

Department of Biostatistics, Epidemiology, and Environmental Health Sciences Faculty Publications

Background: Caregivers of asthmatic children have a poor knowledge of proper asthma-management practices in Nigeria. This study examined the knowledge, attitudes, and practice behaviors of caregivers in the management of asthma in children under 5 years of age in Oyo State, Nigeria. Methods: While a mixed method was used in the original research, this brief describes the quantitative method used in this study to evaluate caregivers’ asthma-management practices. A 55-item questionnaire on childhood asthma knowledge, attitude, and practice was administered during child welfare-clinic visits to 118 caregivers. Data were analyzed using the IBM SPSS Version 25.0. Statistical significance was set …

Sex Differences In The Clinical Presentation Of Early Psychosis In A Primary Care Setting, Brooke Carter, Rebecca Rodrigues, Jennifer Reid, Suzanne Archie, Amanda L Terry, Lena Palaniyappan, Arlene G Macdougall, Aristotle Voineskos, Saadia Hameed Jan, Liisa Jaakkimainen, Branson Chen, Neo Sawh, Kelly K. Anderson

Epidemiology and Biostatistics Publications

Primary care is an important part of the help-seeking pathway for young people experiencing early psychosis, but sex differences in clinical presentation in these settings are unexplored. We aimed to identify sex differences in clinical presentation to primary care services in the 1-year period prior to a first diagnosis of psychotic disorder. We identified first-onset cases of non-affective psychotic disorder over a 10-year period (2005-2015) using health administrative data linked with electronic medical records (EMRs) from primary care (n = 465). Detailed information on encounters in the year prior to first diagnosis was abstracted, including psychiatric symptoms, other relevant behaviours, …

Assessment Of Rabies Control Attitudes During The Covid-19 Pandemic Through Partial Least Square-Structural Equation Modeling, Sang Gede Purnama, Ni Wayan Arya Utami, Made Subrata, Putu Erma Pradnyani, Karang Agustina, Ibn Swacita

Kesmas

The COVID-19 pandemic disrupts rabies control activities in the community. A new approach is needed to control rabies during the COVID-19 pandemic through digital health interventions by conducting digital surveillance and education. This study aimed to determine key attitude indicators in controlling rabies during the COVID-19 pandemic. A cross-sectional study on 166 participants in Denpasar City with a total of 31 indicators measuring five variables: perceptions of the benefits of rabies control (6 indicators), perceptions of rabies risk (6 indicators), perceptions of obstacles to rabies control (5 indicators), perceptions of the need for technology (7 indicators), and attitudes toward rabies …

Effects Of Using An Application For Postpartum Contraceptive Use In Family Planning Counseling During Pregnancy, Lia Nurcahyani, Dyah Widiyastuti, Arief Tarmansyah Iman, Yanti Cahyati, Yeni Fitrianingsih

Kesmas

A decision-making tool for family planning flipchart is used for contraceptive counseling, but the use of this flipchart is suboptimal. In this study, primary study resulted in innovative decision-making tools for family planning applications. “Si KB Pintar” was also developed, a tool that women can use to discuss contraceptives with their husbands after family planning counseling. This study analyzed the effectiveness of family planning counseling during pregnancy by applying postpartum contraceptive use. Analytical quantitative quasi-experimental methods were used with a control group design. The sampling method was two-stage sampling. In the first stage, from 22 primary health care (PHC) in …