Biostatistics Commons^™

Determinants Of Covid-19 Vaccinations Among A State-Wide Year-Long Surveillance Initiative In A Conservative Southern State, Lídia Gual-Gonzalez, Maggie S.J. Mccarter, Kyndall Dye-Braumuller, Stella Self, Connor H. Ross, Chloe Rodriguez-Ramos, Virginie G. Daguise, Melissa Nolan Ph.D., Mph

Faculty Publications

By the end of 2021, the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in over 54 million cases and more than 800,000 deaths in the United States, and over 350 million cases and more than 5 million deaths worldwide. The uniqueness and gravity of this pandemic have been reflected in the public health guidelines poorly received by a growing subset of the United States population. These poorly received guidelines, including vaccine receipt, are a highly complex psychosocial issue, and have impacted the successful prevention of disease spread. Given the intricate nature of this important barrier, any single statistical analysis methodologically fails to address all …

Team Coordination Dynamics Of Winning Nba Teams, Alli Grunkemeyer, Joel H. Sommerfeld

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

Predicting sports games outcomes is an endless pursuit shared by stakeholders ranging from fans to coaches to data scientists. We have begun investigating the value of positional data recorded during basketball gameplay with the goal of predicting outcomes from team dynamics as they emerge. We approached this problem by analyzing the “shape” of team movements on the court and investigated whether team dynamics in NBA games mimicked long-range correlated patterns observed in other team contexts. We analyzed 622 NBA games from an archival data set, including all area time series obtained for each of the four quarters. We fit a …

Cellular Dna Effects Of Radiation And Cancer Risk Assessment In Cells With Mitochondrial Defects, J. Chen, D. M. Sridharan, C. L. Cross, J. M. Pluth

Epidemiology & Biostatistics Faculty Research

Mitochondria play a key role in mediating non-targeted effects (NTE) post-radiation exposure. Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), due to its less efficient repair as compared to nuclear DNA, is more severely affected by radiation exposure and mutations in essential mtDNA genes can further exacerbate oxidative stress. Our objective was to evaluate the impact of mitochondrial defects on radiation-induced DDR and genomic instability, biomarkers that can foreshadow cancer development. To better understand this relationship, we used commercially available lymphoblastoid cell lines containing characterized mitochondrial mutations and studied the kinetics of DNA damage and relative telomere length (RTL) changes over time post 0.5 Gy …

Riding The Wave: Reactive Vector-Borne Disease Policy Renders The United States Vulnerable To Outbreaks And Insecticide Resistance, Kyndall C. Dye-Braumuller, Jennifer R. Gordon, Kaci Mccoy, Danielle Johnson, Rhoel Dinglasan, Melissa Nolan Ph.D., Mph

Faculty Publications

Funding for vector-borne disease surveillance, management, and research is cyclical and reactive in the United States. The subsequent effects have yielded gross inequities nationally that unintentionally support recurrent outbreaks. This policy forum is comprised of four primary subsections that collectively identify specific areas for improvement and offer innovative solutions to address national inadequacies in vector borne disease policy and infrastructure.

Consumption Of Sugar-Sweetened Beverages And Its Potential Health Implications In Indonesia, Ratu Ayu D. Sartika, Atmarita Atmarita, M. I Zulkarnain Duki, Saptawati Bardosono, Lindawati Wibowo, Widjaja Lukito

Kesmas

The broad availability of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) in the Indonesian market is increasing consumption. It, combined with escalating incidence and prevalence of diabetes and related non-communicable diseases (NCDs), and the ongoing debate on policies, has called for a comprehensive review as described in this study. Data was compiled from various sources but mainly gathered from the reported or published documents because of no direct access to the necessary data set. The lack of studies that assessed the direct relationship between SSB consumption and health outcomes in the Indonesian context also became a strong reason for the preparation of this review …

Body Image, Quality Of Life, And Their Predicting Factors In Pregnant Women: A Cross-Sectional Study, Zeynab Rezaei Fard, Arman Azadi, Yousef Veisani

Kesmas

Pregnancy can influence women’s psychological health, including body image and quality of life. This study aimed to examine the relationship between body image and quality of life and their predicting factors in pregnant women. This cross-sectional study was conducted on 250 pregnant women referred to health centers in Ilam City, Iran. Participants were selected using a random sampling method. Data collection tools comprised a sociodemographic questionnaire, Body Image Concern Inventory (BICI), and quality of life questionnaire (Short Form-12). Data were analyzed using statistical software. The mean ± SD of body image concern and quality of life was estimated at 31.77 …

The Development Of A Work Stress Model For Air Traffic Controllers In Indonesia, Lalu Muhammad Saleh, Syamsiar Siang Russeng, Istiana Tadjuddin, Iva Hardi Yanti, Nurul Mawaddah Syafitri, Mahfuddin Yusbud, Yulianah Rahmadani

Kesmas

The workload complexity experienced by and expected air traffic controllers (ATCs) causes psychological fatigue, engenders stressful conditions, and affects their quality of life. This study investigated the development of a model of psychological fatigue in ATCs in Indonesia, which affected their work stress levels and quality of life. This cross-sectional, three-month study focused on 185 ATCs randomly selected from six AirNavs based on strata. The results indicated a relationship between work duration (p-value = 0.033) and stress on ATCs; additionally, a relationship between work time and the opportunity to meet personal life needs (p-value = 0.007) were found. Feelings of …

Effectiveness Of Using Information, Education, And Communication Flowchart Media In Implementation Of Early Breastfeeding Initiation, Rizna Notarianti, Sandra Fikawati, Alifani Faiz Faradhila

Kesmas

Early initiation of breastfeeding (EIB) has many benefits for both the baby and the mother. However, in Bogor City, there are still many babies who do not get EIB when they are born (33.6%). The implementation of EIB is not optimal due to the absence of standard procedures to equalize its theory and perception. This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of using Information, Education, and Communication (IEC) flowchart media concerning the standard procedure for EIB implementation in the Primary Health Care (PHC) in Bogor City. A quasi-experimental research was conducted on 58 midwives divided into the intervention and control …

Aminolevulinic Acid Dehydratase Allelic Frequency And Lead Toxicity In Children Under-Five In A Former Used Lead-Acid Battery Area, Yana Irawati, Haryoto Kusnoputranto, Umar Fahmi Achmadi, Ahmad Safrudin, Alfred Sitorus, Rifqi Risandi, Suradi Wangsamuda, Dendi Hadi Permana, Lepa Syahrani, Farahana Kresno Dewayanti, Puji B S Asih, Din Syafruddin

Kesmas

Polymorphisms in the Aminolevulinic Acid Dehydratase (ALAD) gene responsible for the ALAD1 and ALAD2 alleles have been implicated in susceptibility to lead toxicity. This study aimed to determine the allelic frequency of ALAD2 among children living in Bogor District, Indonesia, and its association with blood lead levels (BLLs) and lead toxicity. A cross-sectional study involving 128 children was conducted during September-October 2019 in the former ULAB area in Cinangka Village. The ALAD polymorphism, BLLs, and hematological parameters were evaluated. Blood samples were taken for dried blood spotting on filter paper, blood film, and BLL measurement. The PCR amplification and sequencing …

Public Perception And Obedience With Social Distancing Policies During The Covid-19 Pandemic In Jakarta, Indonesia, Widyamurti Widyamurti, Edwina Bernita Sitorus, Dewi Susanna, Bambang Wispriyono, Aria Kusuma, Renti Mahkota

Kesmas

The Indonesian Government established a social distancing policy to prevent COVID-19 transmission. However, this implementation will be ineffective without the compliance of the people. This study aimed to analyze the relationship between public perception and obedience with social distancing in terms of the variables based on the Health Belief Model. This study used a cross-sectional design with a population of Daerah Khusus Ibukota (DKI) Jakarta’s indigenes within the productive age of 15-64 years. The sample comprised 408 participants, with the independent variables of sociodemographics (age, gender, occupation, and education) and health beliefs (perceived susceptibility, severity, benefits, barriers, and self-efficacy). Meanwhile, …

A Study On The Impact Of Occupational Fatigue On Human Performance Among Oil And Gas Workers In Indonesia, Achmad Dahlan, Baiduri Widanarko

Kesmas

Occupational fatigue is a serious problem since it may cause several issues, including deteriorating human performance. Some major accidents in the oil and gas industries were associated with the lack of human performance due to occupational fatigue. This study aimed to analyze the impact of occupational fatigue on human performance among oil and gas workers in Indonesia. This study used a cross-sectional design using a self-administered validated questionnaire to gather information on demographic (gender and age), work characteristics (work rotation, work duration, shift work model, day/night shift, job position), sleep debt, sleep quality, occupational (acute and chronic) fatigue, and at-risk …

The Estimation Of Excess Mortality During The Covid-19 Pandemic In Jakarta, Indonesia, Madona Yunita Wijaya

Kesmas

Indonesia is among the countries affected by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, and DKI Jakarta Province recorded the highest number of deaths. This study aimed to analyze the excess mortality across five administrative cities in Jakarta stratified by gender to assess the pandemic impact on mortality. The monthly mortality data from January 2018 to December 2020 was obtained through government sources. This data helped to measure excess mortality by estimating the baseline mortality had the COVID-19 pandemic not occurred. The analysis used a linear mixed model because of its ease and flexibility in forecasting subject-specific mortality. The results showed …

The Determinants Of Covid-19 Vaccine Acceptance In Sumatra, Cindy Sidarta, Andree Kurniawan, Nata P H Lugito, Jeremia Imanuel Siregar, Veli Sungono, Rivaldo Steven Heriyanto, Novia Lauren Sieto, Devina Adella Halim, Claudia Jodhinata, Saraswati Anindita Rizki, Terry Devita Sinaga, Chintya Marcella, Felix Wijovi, Billy Susanto, Elizabeth Marcella, Johan Wibowo, Jonathan Juniard Anurantha, Michelle Imanuelly, Michele Indrawan, Nadia Khoirunnisa Heryadi

Kesmas

In light of the current coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination programs being implemented worldwide, this study aimed to evaluate the COVID-19 vaccine acceptance survey in Indonesia conducted by the World Health Organization (WHO), the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Indonesia, the National Immunization Technical Advisory Group (NITAG), and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), published in November 2020. It was found that Sumatra Island having lower COVID-19 vaccine acceptance rates, with Aceh Province displaying the lowest level of vaccine acceptance. Thus, a cross-sectional study was conducted, and a logistic regression analysis was used to identify the factors affecting …

Increased Thyroid Hormone Levels In Pesticide Sprayer At Agricultural Area, Aditya Pawitra, Khuliyah Candraning Diyanah, Mohd Talib Latif, Beni Hari Susanto, Muhammad F D Lusno

Kesmas

Pesticides used massively in the agricultural sector would cause many poisoning and serious health problems. Organophosphate pesticides have been identified as endocrine-disrupting chemicals. This study aimed to compare thyroid hormone levels between the sprayers chronically exposed to pesticides and the control respondents who had never been exposed to pesticides. This study was an analytical observational with a cross-sectional design. The total number of respondents was 150, 50 as sprayers and 100 as control respondents. The venous blood samples were examined using the Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA). The findings significantly showed that the sprayer had a higher level of thyroid-stimulating hormone …

Neighborhood Deprivation And Risk Of Mortality Among Men With Prostate Cancer: Findings From A Long-Term Follow-Up Study, Madhav K.C., Ariane L. Rung, Edward J. Trapido, Laura S. Rozek, Elizabeth T.H. Fontham, Jeannette T. Bensen, Laura Farnan, Susan E. Steck Phd, Mph, Rd, Lixin Song, James L. Mohler, Edward S. Peters

Faculty Publications

Background The overall survival rate of prostate cancer (PCa) has improved over the past decades. However, huge socioeconomic and racial disparities in overall and prostate cancer-specific mortality exist. The neighborhood-level factors including socioeconomic disadvantage and lack of access to care may contribute to disparities in cancer mortality. This study examines the impact of neighborhood deprivation on mortality among PCa survivors. Methods North Carolina–Louisiana Prostate Cancer Project (PCaP) data were used. A total of 2113 men, 1046 AA and 1067 EA, with PCa were included in the analysis. Neighborhood deprivation was measured by the Area Deprivation Index (ADI) at the census …

Diet Quality Scores And Cardiometabolic Risk Factors In Mexican Children And Adolescents: A Longitudinal Analysis, Abeer Ali Aljahdali, Karen E. Peterson, Alejandra Cantoral, Edward Ruiz-Narvaez, Martha M. Tellez-Rojo, Hyungjin Myra Kim, James R. Hébert Scd, Michael David Wirth Msph, Phd, Face, Libni A. Torres-Olascoaga, Nitin Shivappa Mbbs, Mph, Ph.D., Ana Baylin

Faculty Publications

There is limited evidence for the effects of diet on cardiometabolic profiles during the pubertal transition. We collected repeated measures of diet quality and cardiometabolic risk factors among Mexican youth. This analysis included 574 offspring of the Early Life Exposure in Mexico to Environmental Toxicants (ELEMENT) birth cohort followed up to three time points. Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH), alternate Mediterranean Diet (aMedDiet), and Children’s Dietary Inflammatory Index (C-DII^TM) scores were computed from food frequency questionnaires. Higher DASH and aMedDiet scores reflect a higher diet quality, and lower C-DII scores reflect an anti-inflammatory diet. Cardiometabolic risk factors …

Patients With Obesity And A History Of Metformin Treatment Have Lower Influenza Mortality: A Retrospective Cohort Study, Tammy H. Cummings, Joseph Magagnoli Ph.D., Ms, James W. Hardin, S. Scott Sutton

Faculty Publications

Background: Obesity is a risk factor for the development of influenza by leading to a chronic inflammatory state and T-cell dysfunction. Based upon preclinical research, metformin has influenza activity by restoring T-cell function and improving the immune response. Objective: We aimed to evaluate the potential drug repurposing of metformin for the management of influenza among patients with obesity utilizing national claims data in an electronic health record database. Methods: The VA Informatics and Computing Infrastructure (VINCI) was utilized to obtain individual-level information on demographics, administrative claims, and pharmacy dispensation. A cohort was created among individuals with laboratory confirmed diagnosis of …

Diet Quality And Dietary Inflammatory Index Score Among Women’S Cancer Survivors, Sibylle Kranz, Faten Hasan, Erin Kennedy, Jamie Zoellner, Kristin A. Guertin, Nitin Shivappa Mbbs, Mph, Ph.D., James R. Hébert, Roger Anderson, Wendy Cohn

Faculty Publications

The purpose of this study was to investigate Healthy Eating Index 2015 (HEI-2015) and Energy-Adjusted Dietary Inflammatory Index (E-DIITM) scores in women's cancer survivors and to examine socio-economic (SES) characteristics associated with these two diet indices. In this cross-sectional study, survivors of women's cancers completed a demographic questionnaire and up to three 24-h dietary recalls. HEI-2015 and E-DII scores were calculated from average intakes. One-way ANOVA was used to examine the association of various demographic factors on HEI-2015 and E-DII scores. Pearson Correlation was used to calculate the correlation between the two scores. The average HEI-2015 score was 55.0 +/- …

Angiotensin Blockade Therapy And Survival In Pancreatic Cancer: A Population Study, Scott W Keith, Vittorio Maio, Hwyda A Arafat, Matthew Alcusky, Thomas Karagiannis, Carol Rabinowitz, Harish Lavu, Daniel Z. Louis

College of Population Health Faculty Papers

Background: Pancreatic cancer (PC) is one of the most aggressive and challenging cancer types to effectively treat, ranking as the fourth-leading cause of cancer death in the United States. We investigated if exposures to angiotensin II receptor blockers (ARBs) or angiotensin I converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors after PC diagnosis are associated with survival.

Methods: PC patients were identified by ICD-9 diagnosis and procedure codes among the 3.7 million adults living in the Emilia-Romagna Region from their administrative health care database containing patient data on demographics, hospital discharges, all-cause mortality, and outpatient pharmacy prescriptions. Cox modeling estimated covariate-adjusted mortality hazard ratios …

Transmodel: An R Package For Linear Transformation Model With Censored Data, Jie Zhou, Jiajia Zhang Ph.D.

Faculty Publications

Linear transformation models, including the proportional hazards model and proportional odds model, under right censoring were discussed by Chen, Jin, and Ying (2002). The asymptotic variance of the estimator they proposed has a closed form and can be obtained easily by plug-in rules, which improves the computational efficiency. We develop an R package TransModel based on Chen's approach. The detailed usage of the package is discussed, and the function is applied to the Veterans' Administration lung cancer data.

Comparison Of Human Urinary Exosomes Isolated Via Ultracentrifugation Alone Versus Ultracentrifugation Followed By Sec Column-Purification, Kun Huang, Sudha Garimella, Alyssa Clay-Gilmour, Lucia Vojtech, Bridget Armstrong, Madison Bessonny, Alexis Stamatikos

Faculty Publications

Chronic kidney disease is a progressive, incurable condition that involves a gradual loss of kidney function. While there are no non-invasive biomarkers available to determine whether individuals are susceptible to developing chronic kidney disease, small RNAs within urinary exosomes have recently emerged as a potential candidate to use for assessing renal function. Ultracentrifugation is the gold standard for urinary exosome isolation. However, extravesicular small RNA contamination can occur when isolating exosomes from biological fluids using ultracentrifugation, which may lead to misidentifying the presence of certain small RNA species in human urinary exosomes. Therefore, we characterized human urinary exosomal preparations isolated …

Marginal Proportional Hazards Models For Clustered Interval-Censored Data With Time-Dependent Covariates, Kaitlyn Cook, Wenbin Lu, Rui Wang

Harvard University Biostatistics Working Paper Series

The Botswana Combination Prevention Project was a cluster-randomized HIV prevention trial whose follow-up period coincided with Botswana’s national adoption of a universal test-and-treat strategy for HIV management. Of interest is whether, and to what extent, this change in policy (i) modified the observed preventative effects of the study intervention and (ii) was associated with a reduction in the population-level incidence of HIV in Botswana. To address these questions, we propose a stratified proportional hazards model for clustered interval-censored data with time-dependent covariates and develop a composite expectation maximization algorithm that facilitates estimation of model parameters without placing parametric assumptions on …

On Assessing Survival Benefit Of Immunotherapy Using Long-Term Restricted Mean Survival Time, Miki Horiguchi, Lu Tian, Hajime Uno

Harvard University Biostatistics Working Paper Series

The pattern of the difference between two survival curves we often observe in randomized clinical trials for evaluating immunotherapy is not proportional hazards; the treatment effect typically appears several months after the initiation of the treatment (i.e., delayed difference pattern). The commonly used logrank test and hazard ratio estimation approach will be suboptimal concerning testing and estimation for those trials. The long-term restricted mean survival time (LT-RMST) approach is a promising alternative for detecting the treatment effect that potentially appears later in the study. A challenge in employing the LT-RMST approach is that it must specify a lower end of …

Scanner: A Web Platform For Annotation, Visualization And Sharing Of Single Cell Rna-Seq Data, Guoshuai Cai, Xuanxuan Yu, Choonhan Youn, Jun Zhou, Feifei Xiao

Faculty Publications

In recent years, efficient scRNA-seq methods have been developed, enabling the transcriptome profiling of single cells massively in parallel. Meanwhile, its high dimensionality and complexity bring challenges to the data analysis and require extensive collaborations between biologists and bioinformaticians and/or biostatisticians. The communication between these two units demands a platform for easy data sharing and exploration. Here we developed Single-Cell Transcriptomics Annotated Viewer (SCANNER), as a public web resource for the scientific community, for sharing and analyzing scRNA-seq data in a collaborative manner. It is easy-to-use without requiring special software or extensive coding skills. Moreover, it equipped a real-time database …

The Isocaloric Substitution Of Plant-Based And Animal-Based Protein In Relation To Aging-Related Health Outcomes: A Systematic Review, Jiali Zheng, Tianren Zhu, Guanghuan Yang, Longgang Zhao, Fangyu Li, Yong-Moon Park, Fred K. Tabung, Susan E. Steck Phd, Mph, Rd, Xiaoguang Li, Hui Wang

Faculty Publications

Plant-based and animal-based protein intake have differential effects on various aging-related health outcomes, but less is known about the health effect of isocaloric substitution of plant-based and animal-based protein. This systematic review summarized current evidence of the isocaloric substitutional effect of plant-based and animal-based protein on aging-related health outcomes. PubMed and Embase databases were searched for epidemiologic observational studies published in English up to 15 March 2021. Studies that included adults ≥18 years old; use of a nutritional substitution model to define isocaloric substitution of plant protein and animal protein; health outcomes covering mortality, aging-related diseases or indices; and reported …

Upregulation Of Cd36, A Fatty Acid Translocase, Promotes Colorectal Cancer Metastasis By Increasing Mmp28 And Decreasing E-Cadherin Expression, James Drury, Piotr G. Rychahou, Courtney O. Kelson, Mariah E. Geisen, Yuanyuan Wu, Daheng He, Chi Wang, Eun Y. Lee, B. Mark Evers, Yekaterina Y. Zaytseva

Surgery Faculty Publications

Altered fatty acid metabolism continues to be an attractive target for therapeutic intervention in cancer. We previously found that colorectal cancer (CRC) cells with a higher metastatic potential express a higher level of fatty acid translocase (CD36). However, the role of CD36 in CRC metastasis has not been studied. Here, we demonstrate that high expression of CD36 promotes invasion of CRC cells. Consistently, CD36 promoted lung metastasis in the tail vein model and GI metastasis in the cecum injection model. RNA-Seq analysis of CRC cells with altered expression of CD36 revealed an association between high expression of CD36 and upregulation …

Nonlinear Mixed-Effects Models For Hiv Viral Load Trajectories Before And After Antiretroviral Therapy Interruption, Incorporating Left Censoring, Sihaoyu Gao, Lang Wu, Tingting Yu, Roger Kouyos, Huldrych F. Gunthard, Rui Wang

Harvard University Biostatistics Working Paper Series

Characterizing features of the viral rebound trajectories and identifying host, virological, and immunological factors that are predictive of the viral rebound trajectories are central to HIV cure research. In this paper, we investigate if key features of HIV viral decay and CD4 trajectories during antiretroviral therapy (ART) are associated with characteristics of HIV viral rebound following ART interruption. Nonlinear mixed effect (NLME) models are used to model viral load trajectories before and following ART interruption, incorporating left censoring due to lower detection limits of viral load assays. A stochastic approximation EM (SAEM) algorithm is used for parameter estimation and inference. …

Long-Read Sequencing Of The Zebrafish Genome Reorganizes Genomic Architecture, Yelena Chernyavskaya, Xiaofei Zhang, Jinze Liu, Jessica Blackburn

Biostatistics Publications

Background

Nanopore sequencing technology has revolutionized the field of genome biology with its ability to generate extra-long reads that can resolve regions of the genome that were previously inaccessible to short-read sequencing platforms. Over 50% of the zebrafish genome consists of difficult to map, highly repetitive, low complexity elements that pose inherent problems for short-read sequencers and assemblers.

Results

We used long-read nanopore sequencing to generate a de novo assembly of the zebrafish genome and compared our assembly to the current reference genome, GRCz11. The new assembly identified 1697 novel insertions and deletions over one kilobase in length and placed …

Non-Inferiority Testing: Kernel Estimation And Overlap Measure, Larie C. Ward

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

In non-inferiority testing, the decision of whether a proposed treatment is non-inferior to a reference treatment depends on model assumptions and choices of acceptable tolerance limits. Here, we consider a method that employs kernels to estimate the probability density functions of both the experimental and reference populations from two independent samples. Based on these densities, we introduce a quantity called the overlap coefficient or overlap measure. A bootstrap technique is helpful in exploring the distribution and variance empirically. We derive the distribution of this measure and define a hypothesis test that can be applied to the non-inferiority setting under some …

Finding The Best Predictors For Foot Traffic In Us Seafood Restaurants, Isabel Paige Beaulieu

Honors Theses and Capstones

COVID-19 caused state and nation-wide lockdowns, which altered human foot traffic, especially in restaurants. The seafood sector in particular suffered greatly as there was an increase in illegal fishing, it is made up of perishable goods, it is seasonal in some places, and imports and exports were slowed. Foot traffic data is useful for business owners to have to know how much to order, how many employees to schedule, etc. One issue is that the data is very expensive, hard to get, and not available until months after it is recorded. Our goal is to not only find covariates that …