Biostatistics Commons^™

Empowering Science With The World's First High Accuracy And High Throughput Functional Assay, Christopher Giacoletto

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Understanding the functional consequences of genetic mutations remains a central challenge in modern biology, with far-reaching implications for human health and disease. While early systematic methods like alanine scanning and phage display provided foundational insights into protein structure and function, the emergence of high-throughput approaches—such as Multiplexed Assays of Variant Effect (MAVEs)—and predictive tools powered by artificial intelligence have vastly expanded our ability to profile mutational landscapes. However, these methods are often constrained by trade-offs between accuracy, scalability, and biological relevance.This dissertation presents the development and application of the GigaAssay, the world’s first high-throughput functional assay capable of delivering both …

An Evidence-Based Intervention To Increase Trypanosoma Cruzi, A Neglected Parasitic Infection, Diagnosis In Rural And Moderate-Size-City Us Clinics, M K. Lynn, Hunter M. Boehme, Jeffrey Hall, Patrick Kent, Alain H. Litwin, Quang H. Pham, Melissa Nolan Ph.D., Mph, Prisma Chagas Team

Faculty Publications

Background

Chagas disease is a chronic, insidious parasitic infection (Trypanosoma cruzi) that slowly develops to irreversible organomegaly over several decades. The disease is traditionally acquired in endemic Latin American countries during childhood; < 1% of foreign-born adult residents in the United States have been diagnosed or treated with this potentially fatal disease. Low physician knowledge is a primary factor leading to misdiagnosis.

Methods

Starting in April 2022, a 4-part T cruzi clinical education intervention began, which included (i) 2 grand rounds presentations to >100 internal medicine providers; (ii) implementation of a “clinical Chagas champions program” incorporating 14 key clinical staff at varying departments and administrative levels educated on their specific role related to T cruzi screening, diagnosis confirmation, clinical management, and medical billing; ( …

Changes In Mental Health Care Utilisation Before And During The Covid-19 Pandemic Among People Living With Hiv In The Usa: A Retrospective Cohort Study Using The All Of Us Dataset, Atena Pasha, Shan Qiao, Jiajia Zhang Ph.D., Ruilie Cai, Buwei He, Xueying Yang, Chen Liang Ph.D., Sharon Weissman, Xiaoming Li Ph.D.

Faculty Publications

Introduction Despite the profound impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on people living with HIV (PLWH) mental health, large-scale, real-world data on mental healthcare utilisation and associated factors among PLWH remain limited. This study explores mental healthcare utilisation and associated factors among PLWH during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods Using a retrospective cohort design, we identified and included 4575 PLWH through computational phenotyping based on relevant Observational Medical Outcomes Partnership Common Data Model concept sets from the All of Us programme between March 2018 and March 2022. Mental healthcare utilisation was measured using the yearly count of mental healthcare visits and compared …

Neighborhood Socioeconomic Status And Overall Survival Among Children With Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia, Anna Hoppmann, Debroah M. Hurley, Stuart Cramer, Monique J. Brown Ph.D., Mph

Faculty Publications

A disadvantaged neighborhood, as represented by area-level socioeconomic status (SES) has been associated with adverse outcomes among children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) in the US, but the duration of impact after ALL diagnosis is not well understood. This retrospective cohort study utilized the National Cancer Database (NCDB) to examine the impact of area-level SES on overall survival among children with ALL. Median income and education quartiles based on residential zip code were used to create a composite area-level SES variable. Individual-level variables included age, sex, race, year of diagnosis, primary payer, distance to care, rurality, time to treatment, and …

Statistical Methods For Joint Outcome Modeling And Dynamic Assessment Of Recurrent Events, Zifang Kong

Statistical Science Theses and Dissertations

Recurrent event data frequently arise in clinical studies where individuals experience repeated, possibly related, events over time. These data are often accompanied by sparse and irregular longitudinal measurements, creating challenges for traditional joint modeling approaches that struggle to account for time-dependent associations and within-subject correlations. We propose FRAILTY (Functional Regression with AutoRegressIve fraiLTY), a novel two-step framework that integrates functional principal component analysis (PACE) with a dynamic frailty model featuring autoregressive structure. FRAILTY accommodates both scalar and functional predictors and captures within-subject dependence across recurrent events. To further extend its utility, we develop a multivariate joint modeling framework that simultaneously …

Towards Reliable Clinical Applications Of Ai Models In Radiotherapy, Biling Wang

Statistical Science Theses and Dissertations

Over the past decade, artificial intelligence (AI), particularly through deep learning (DL) techniques, has made significant strides in fields like computer vision (CV) and natural language processing (NLP), leading to transformative advancements across numerous applications. This progress has sparked considerable enthusiasm within the medical field, where DL-related research has grown exponentially since 2015. However, despite these promising developments, the real-world deployment of DL models in healthcare remains limited, especially in safety-critical domains such as radiotherapy (RT), where reliability, safety, and sustained performance are critical. This thesis addresses three core challenges associated with the clinical application of DL models: (1) post-deployment …

Evaluating Alpha Spending Functions Applied To Observational Time-To-Event Analysis, Moses Torgbenu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores the theoretical foundation of the alpha spending approach and extends its application beyond the conventional setting of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) to observational studies with time to event analyses. In these less structured environments, key design parameters such as the total number of events are often unknown, posing challenges for the standard implementation of sequential analysis methods.

Through simulation studies, this research delivers several important contributions. First, it presents a modified approach that uses calendar time to define the timing of interim analyses while relying on event-based information to estimate the correlation among test statistics. This adjustment …

Simultaneous Selection Of Inflations And Variables In Multiple Inflations Poisson Model (Mip), John Koomson

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Count data frequently arise in biomedical, economic, and social science research and are often characterized by structural excesses at specific count levels. To accommodate such patterns, Su et al. (2013), among others, introduced the Multiple-Inflation Poisson (MIP) model, which allows for multiple inflated counts within the distribution. However, two critical challenges remain in modeling such data: (i) identifying the true inflation points where excess counts occur, and (ii) selecting the relevant covariates that explain variation in the inflation and count process. This dissertation addresses these issues by advancing the MIP model through a novel methodology that enables the simultaneous selection …

Predictor-Informed Bayesian Nonparametric Clustering., Md Yasin Ali Parh

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this dissertation, we performed clustering of observations such that the cluster membership is influenced by a set of predictors. To that end, we employ the Bayesian nonparametric Common Atom Model (CAM), which is a nested clustering algorithm that utilizes a (fixed) group membership for each observation to encourage more similar clustering of members of the same group. CAM operates by assuming each group has its own vector of cluster probabilities, which are themselves clustered to allow similar clustering for some groups. We extend this approach by treating the group membership as an unknown latent variable determined as a flexible …

The Effectiveness Of Remote Patient Monitoring In Reducing The Risk Of Rehospitalizations In Covid-19 Patients: A Meta-Analysis, Dela Riadi, Indang Trihandini, Dewi Nirmala Sari, Fikri Wijaya

Kesmas

An integrated analysis of various Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM) studies is needed to evaluate the reduction rate of the risk of rehospitalization in COVID-19 patients. This meta-analysis aimed to provide an overview of the effectiveness of RPM. A literature search through online databases (PubMed, Science Direct, Scopus, ProQuest, and Embase) was conducted from 2019 to 2022. After using the Cochrane Collaboration's risk of bias tool, five studies on COVID-19 were selected. Based on the data collected from 2,685 participants (intervention = 1,060, control = 1,625), the use of RPM was found to reduce rehospitalization by 0.56 times compared to not …

Cross-Cultural Adaptation And Validation Of Ranas-Based Instrument For Measuring Latrine Use Behavior In Indonesia, Vera Yulyani, Fatwa Sari Tetra Dewi, Iswanto Iswanto

Kesmas

Using toilets is a simple way to prevent diarrhea, yet no validated tool exists to measure this habit. This study aimed to develop and validate instruments for measuring latrine use consistency. This questionnaire was adapted from the risk, attitude, norm, ability, and self-regulation (RANAS) framework developed in India and modified for Indonesia. It was evaluated by three experts using the content validity index (CVI). The face validity index (FVI) was pilot-tested on 40 community respondents. Variables measured included behavior, habits, intentions to use toilets, knowledge, attitudes, norms, abilities, and self-regulation. Question items with relevance and clarity scores of item CVI …

Analyzing High-Risk Fertility Behavior For Sustainable Maternal-Child Health: A 2017 Sociodemographic Study In Urban And Rural Indonesia, Asti Annisa Utami, Fadhaa Aditya Kautsar Murti, Popy Yuniar, Milla Herdayati

Kesmas

Indonesia's goal of achieving Indonesia Emas 2045 hinges on improving Maternal-Child Health (MCH), essential for building a healthy and competitive population. Despite some advancements, the Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR) and Under-five Mortality Rate (U5MR) remain high, particularly because of High-Risk Fertility Behavior (HRFB). The HRFB poses significant risks to MCH, affecting both urban and rural women. This study aimed to identify the factors associated with HRFB in these areas to enhance MCH outcomes and support Indonesia's sustainable health goals. This cross-sectional study used a secondary dataset from the 2017 Indonesian Demographic Health Survey. A total of 20,530 women of reproductive …

An Experimental Investigation Of Federal Messaging On Public Support For Enforcement- And Treatment-Based Approaches For Opioid Overdose Prevention In South Carolina, Lídia Gual-Gonzalez, Hunter M. Boehme, Peter Baker, Melissa Nolan Ph.D., Mph

Faculty Publications

Background

As the opioid overdose crisis continues to produce excessive morbidity and mortality in the United States, government agencies have applied various approaches to prevent overdoses, including law-enforcement efforts (e.g., arresting people who use drugs, interrupting drug traffickers, etc.) and treatment-based approaches (e.g., naloxone, medications for opioid use disorder, etc.). Public perception and support of these approaches are relevant for informing policy, allocating resources, and effectively implementing community interventions to prevent drug-related harms.

Methods

Using an embedded informational survey design, we experimentally assessed whether public support for strategies to prevent overdose in South Carolina is influenced by language from federal …

The Sodium-Glutamate Antagonist Riluzole Improves Outcome After Acute Spinal Cord Injury: Results From The Riscis Randomised Controlled Trial Analysed Using A Global Statistical Analytic Technique, Michael G. Fehlings, Karlo M. Pedro, Mohammed Ali Alvi, Ali Moghaddamjou, James S. Harrop, Ralph Stanford, Jonathon Ball, Bizhan Aarabi, Paul M. Arnold, James D. Guest, Shekar N. Kurpad, James M. Schuster, Ahmad N. Nassr, Karl M. Schmitt, Jefferson R. Wilson, Darrel S. Brodke, Faiz U. Ahmad, Albert Yee, Wilson Z. Ray, Nathaniel P. Brooks, Jason Wilson, Diana S.L. Chow, Elizabeth G. Toups, Kevin E. Thorpe, Jiaxin Huang, Peng Huang

School of Medicine Faculty Publications

Background: Spinal cord injury (SCI) clinical trials typically rely on a single primary endpoint to assess drug efficacy. This strategy fails to adequately capture the full impact of treatment in heterogenous neurological conditions like SCI. A more patient-centric analysis requires assessment of neurological function, functional capacity, and quality of life, incorporating meaningful patient-reported outcomes. The global statistical test (GST) addresses this challenge using a unified statistical conclusion regarding the superiority of a treatment strategy over another by evaluating multiple trial endpoints simultaneously. Methods: The RISCIS trial (Safety and Efficacy of Riluzole in Acute Spinal Cord Injury Study) data was analysed …

Predicting Sleep And Sleep Stage In Children Using Actigraphy And Heartrate Via A Long Short-Term Memory Deep Learning Algorithm: A Performance Evaluation, Robert Weaver Med, Phd, James White, Olivia Finnegan, Hongpeng Yang, Zifei Zhong, Keagan Kiely, Catherine Jones, Yan Tong, Srihari Nelakuditi, Rahul Ghosal, David E. Brown, Russell R. Pate Ph.D., Gregory J. Welk, Massimiliano De Zambotti, Yuan Wang, Sarah Burkart, Elizabeth L. Adams Phd, Bridget Armstrong, Michael Beets Med, Mph, Phd

Faculty Publications

Children's ambulatory sleep is commonly measured via actigraphy. However, traditional actigraphy measured sleep (e.g., Sadeh algorithm) struggles to predict wake (i.e., specificity, values typically < 70) and cannot predict sleep stages. Long short-term memory (LSTM) is a machine learning algorithm that may address these deficiencies. This study evaluated the agreement of LSTM sleep estimates from actigraphy and heartrate (HR) data with polysomnography (PSG). Children (N = 238, 5–12 years,52.8% male, 50% Black 31.9% White) participated in an overnight laboratory polysomnography. Participants were referred be-cause of suspected sleep disruptions. Children wore an ActiGraph GT9X accelerometer and two of three consumer wearables(i.e., Apple Watch Series 7, Fitbit Sense, Garmin Vivoactive 4) on their non-dominant wrist during the polysomnogram. LSTM estimated sleep versus wake and sleep stage (wake, not-REM, REM) using raw actigraphy and HR data for each 30-s epoch. Logistic regression and random forest were also estimated as a benchmark for performance with which to compare the LSTM results. A 10-fold cross-validation technique was employed, and confusion matrices were constructed. Sensitivity and specificity were calculated to assess the agreement between research-grade and consumer wearables with the criterion polysomnography. For sleep versus wake classification, LSTM outperformed logistic regression and random forest with accuracy ranging from 94.1to 95.1, sensitivity ranging from 94.9 to 95.9 across different devices, and specificity ranging from 84.5 to 89.6. The addition of HR improved the prediction of sleep stages but not binary sleep versus wake. LSTM is promising for predicting sleep and sleep staging from actigraphy data, and HR may improve sleep stage prediction.

Sequential Data Modeling Of Influenza A Via Traditional, Dwt-Gpr Hybrid, And Deep Learning Architectures, Edmund Fosu Agyemang

Theses and Dissertations

Influenza A is responsible for 290,000 to 650,000 respiratory deaths a year, though this estimate is an improvement from years past due to improved sanitation, healthcare practices, and vaccination programs. In this study, we perform a comparative analysis of traditional, deep-learning and discrete wavelet (DWT)-Gaussian Process (GP) hybrid models to predict Influenza A outbreaks. Using historical data from January 2009 to December 2023, we compared the performance of traditional ARIMA and ETS models, four variants of DWT-GPR models and six distinct deep learning architectures: Simple RNN, LSTM, GRU, BiLSTM, BiGRU and Transformer. The results reveal a clear superiority of all …

Approaches To Enhancing Multiple Hypothesis Testing Methods With Side-Information, Siyu Zheng

Theses and Dissertations

Lesion-symptom mapping (LSM) studies offer insight into the brain areas involved in various aspects of cognition. This is commonly done via behavioral testing in patients with a naturally occurring brain injury or lesions (e.g., strokes or brain tumors). This results in high-dimensional observational data where lesion status (present/absent) is non-uniformly distributed, with some voxels having lesions in very few (or no) subjects. In this situation, mass univariate hypothesis tests have severe power heterogeneity where many tests are known a priori to have little to no power. Additionally, high-dimensional observational data can be grouped according to brain anatomical structure.

In this …

Functional Time Transformation Model With Applications To Digital Health, Rahul Ghosal Ph.D., Marcos Matabuena, Sujit K. Ghosh

Faculty Publications

The advent of wearable and sensor technologies now leads to functional predictors which are intrinsically infinite dimensional. While the existing approaches for functional data and survival outcomes lean on the well-established Cox model, the proportional hazard (PH) assumption might not always be suitable in real-world applications. Motivated by physiological signals encountered in digital medicine, we develop a more general and flexible functional time-transformation model for estimating the conditional survival function with both functional and scalar covariates. A partially functional regression model is used to directly model the survival time on the covariates through an unknown monotone transformation and …

A Spatial Scan Statistic For Group Testing Data, Vincent Onyame

Theses and Dissertations

Group testing involves pooling specimens from multiple individuals and offers an efficient means to surveil low-prevalence pathogens, but poses challenges for spatial cluster detection when only pooled results are observed. In this thesis, we develop a spatial scan statistic tailored to group-testing data with variable pool sizes. The statistic compares a null hypothesis of a homogeneous infection rate across all clusters to an alternative hypothesis that infection probabilities differ inside and outside a candidate cluster, with both models fitted by maximum likelihood estimation. We approximate the null distribution of the maximum likelihood ratio test via Monte Carlo simulation.

Through a …

Hypertensive Disorders Of Pregnancy And Perinatal Outcomes: Two Prospective Cohort Studies Of Nulliparous Women In India And Tanzania, Andrea B. Pembe, Pratibha Dwarkanath, Amani Kikula, John Michael Raj, Nandita Perumal Phd, Heavenlight A. Paulo, Rajalakshmi M, Christopher P. Duggan, Honorati M. Masanja, Nandini Chopra, Mary M. Sando, Tinku Thomas, Cara A. Yelverton, Alfa Muhihi, Anura V. Kurpad, Wafaie E. Fawzi, Blair J. Wylie, Christopher R. Sudfeld

Faculty Publications

Introduction Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP) have been linked with increased risk for maternal and offspring complications in high-income settings. However, in resource-limited settings, studies with robust measurement of HDP, including severity and timing, and perinatal outcomes are limited.

Methods We analysed data from two prospective cohorts of nulliparous women in India (n=10 570 pregnancies) and Tanzania (n=10 299 pregnancies) who were enrolled in calcium supplementation trials and had blood pressure and proteinuria assessments throughout pregnancy and at the time of labour and delivery. Generalised estimating equations were used to assess the relationship between HDP severity categories (gestational hypertension, preeclampsia …

Association Between Dietary Inflammatory And Antioxidant Potential And Systemic Inflammatory And Oxidative Status With The Risk And Severity Of Coronary Artery Disease, Zahara Namkhah, Elham Alipoor, Manhnaz Salmani, Negar Ebrahimi, Monireh Ahmadpanahi, Ali Vasheghani-Farahani, Mehdi Yaseri, Michael David Wirth, Longgang Zhao, James Hébert Scd, Javad Hosseinzadeh-Attar

Faculty Publications

Background and aims

Unhealthy diets have pro-inflammatory properties that have been shown to contribute to coronary artery disease (CAD). The dietary inflammatory index (DII®) and the dietary antioxidant quality score (DAQS) quantify the anti-/pro-inflammatory and antioxidant potential of a diet. This study aims to investigate the association between the energy-adjusted DII (E-DIITM), DAQS, oxidant/anti-oxidant biomarkers, and CAD risk and severity.

Methods and results

This cross-sectional study investigated 158 participants for the presence and severity of CAD based on coronary angiography. E-DII and DAQS scores, malondialdehyde (MDA), total oxidant status (TOS), glutathione peroxidase (GPX) activity, total antioxidant capacity (TAC) and conventional …

Incorporating Propensity Score Weighting And Nonresposne Adjustments Into Complex Survey Data With Survival Outcomes, Xinrui Shi

Theses and Dissertations

Propensity score weighting (PSW) plays a key role in minimizing confounding in observational research, especially when estimating treatment effects for time-to-event outcomes. However, its integration into survey data with complex design – particularly data with multiple stage sampling and censoring – remains underexplored. One significant challenge in such settings is the presence of nonresponse, which can introduce additional bias and complicate the use of standard weight adjustments. Moreover, there has been limited study on how PS weights can be effectively combined with nonresponse weighting adjustments in complex survey data that include survival outcomes. This dissertation aims to extend current methodologies …

Topodino: Self-Supervised Topological Representation Learning For Neuronal Morphologies, Yasser Binbisher

Master's Theses

Neuronal cell types are categorized by transcriptomic identity, yet their morphological heterogeneity defies this classification. In response, researchers have adopted unsupervised graph representation learning as a tool to reveal morphological variation within single-class transcriptomic types. However, the complex geometry of neuronal morphology—especially long axons and dense dendrites—challenges graph neural networks, which struggle with message propagation across extended structures. To mitigate this, current approaches enforce sub-sampling on neuronal graphs and omit axons entirely, sacrificing critical biological features for computational efficiency. To overcome this trade-off, this thesis introduces TopoDINO, a self-supervised, topology-aware representation learning model designed to preserve the full hierarchical organization …

Socioeconomic Disparities In Breast Cancer Survival: Examining Potential Mediator Role Of Oncotype Dx(Odx) Test And Stage At Diagnosis Among Hr+/Her2- Breast Cancer Women, Pratibha Shrestha, Qingzhao Yu, Edward S. Peters, Edward Trapido, Mei Chin Hsieh, Tekeda Ferguson, Quyen D. Chu, Xiao Cheng Wu

School of Public Health Faculty Publications

Background: Women with a lower socioeconomic status (SES) have an increased risk of dying from breast cancer (BC) than those with a higher SES. The association of SES with BC survival may be partially mediated by factors such as Oncotype DX (ODX) testing and stage at diagnosis. This study aims to examine SES disparities in survival among HR+/HER2- BC women and to quantify the mediating effects of the ODX test and stage. Methods: We used data from the Louisiana Tumor Registry to identify women aged 20–90 years diagnosed with stage I–II in 2011–2014 and stage I–III in 2015–2017 HR+/HER2- BC …

American Society Of Hematology/International Society On Thrombosis And Haemostasis 2024 Updated Guidelines For Treatment Of Venous Thromboembolism In Pediatric Patients, Paul Monagle, Muayad Azzam, Rachel Bercovitz, Marisol Betensky, Rukhmi Bhat, Tina Biss, Brian Branchford, Leonardo R. Brandão, Anthony K.C. Chan, Vincent E.S. Faustino, Julie Jaffray, Sophie Jones, Hassan Kawtharany, Bryce A. Kerlin, Nicole Kucine, Riten Kumar, Christoph Male, Marie Claude Pelland-Marcotte, Leslie Raffini, Chittalsinh Raulji, Sarah E. Sartain, Clifford M. Takemoto, Cristina Tarango, C. Heleen Van Ommen, Maria C. Velez, Sara K. Vesely, John Wiernikowski, Suzan Williams, Hope P. Wilson, Et Al

School of Medicine Faculty Publications

Background: The American Society of Hematology (ASH) guidelines on treatment of pediatric venous thromboembolism (VTE) were published in 2018. In the last 6 years, there has been a 10-fold increase in the number of children involved in VTE treatment trials. Objective: The ASH Committee on Quality and Guidelines agreed to update the pediatric guidelines in conjunction with the International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis (ISTH). These ASH/ISTH evidence-based guidelines are intended to support patients, clinicians, and other health care professionals in the management of pediatric patients with VTE. Methods: ASH/ISTH formed a multidisciplinary guideline panel to minimize potential bias from …

Human Endogenous Retroviruses (Hervs) Associated With Glioblastoma Risk And Prognosis, Harun Mazumder, Hui Yi Lin, Melody Baddoo, Wojciech Gałan, Diana Polania-Villanueva, Chindo Hicks, David Otohinoyi, Francesca Peruzzi, Zbigniew Madeja, Victoria P. Belancio, Erik K. Flemington, Krzysztof Reiss, Monika Rak

School of Medicine Faculty Publications

Emerging evidence suggests expression from human endogenous retrovirus (HERV) loci likely contributes to, or is a biomarker of, glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) disease progression. However, the relationship between HERV expression and GBM malignant phenotype is unclear. Applying several in silico analyses based on data from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), we derived a locus-specific HERV transcriptome for glioma that revealed 211 HERVs significantly dysregulated in the comparisons of GBM vs. normal brain (NB), GBM vs. low-grade glioma (LGG), and LGG vs. NB. Our analysis supported development of a unique HERV scoring algorithm that segregated GBM, LGG, and NB. Interestingly, lower HERV …

“Do You Even Lift, Bro?”: Correlates Of Muscle Dysmorphia Symptomatology In Filipino Male University Students, Pamela Paula C. Pioquinto

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Muscle Dysmorphia (MD) is a subtype of Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD) and is marked by the desire to increase muscularity and reduce body fat. MD is typically more prevalent among younger male populations, and it often drives comorbid disorders, including substance abuse, eating disorders, and social anxiety. Despite the growing literature on MD, it remains understudied in certain racial/ethnic populations, such as Filipinos. Acculturation, defined as the process in which an individual adopts, acquires, and adapts to a new cultural environment as a result of immigration, influences body image by reshaping an individual’s perceptions of beauty and muscularity standards. Guided …

Two-Sample Bi-Directional Causality Between Two Traits With Some Invalid Ivs In Both Directions Using Gwas Summary Statistics, Siyi Chen

School of Public Health Faculty Publications

Mendelian randomization (MR) is a widely used method for assessing causal relationships between risk factors and outcomes using genetic variants as instrumental variables (IVs). While traditional MR assumes uni-directional causality, bi-directional MR aims to identify the true causal direction. In uni-directional MR, invalid IVs due to pleiotropy can violate assumptions and introduce biases. In bi-directional MR, traditional MR can be performed separately for each direction, but the presence of invalid IVs poses even greater challenges. We introduce a new bi-directional MR method incorporating stepwise selection (Bidir-SW) designed to address these challenges. Our approach leverages public genome-wide association study (GWAS) datasets …

The Impact Of Maternal Age On The Expression Of Transgenerational Plasticity In Daphnia Pulicaria, Calvin Nguyen

2025 Spring Honors Capstone Projects - Archive

Transgenerational plasticity refers to heritable, non-genetic changes in phenotype that persist across multiple generations and can enhance offspring survivability in variable environments. In Daphnia, increasing maternal age has been associated with maladaptive plasticity. To investigate this relationship, six clones were collected from two Wisconsin lakes and acclimated to laboratory conditions through a common garden rearing process. For each clone, ten replicates were generated and evenly divided between young (clutches 2–4) and old (clutches 5–8) maternal age groups. Offspring were exposed to three dietary treatments for three experimental generations: one fed only green algae, one fed only cyanobacteria (a nutritionally …

Clinicogenomic Insights For Prostate Cancer Progression, Kelvin Ofori-Minta

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Prostate cancer (PrCa) remains a critical challenge in precision oncology due to several reasons including its apparent heterogenous condition, recurrence following treatment and rapid progressive forms. Therefore, identifying patients at risk of progression is essential to fast-track therapeutic decisions and improve outcomes. Despite recent advances in genomic and molecular profiling, conventional PrCa risk assessment tools heavily rely on a few clinical parameters, neglecting the prognostic potential of genomic biomarkers in the presence of clinical biomarkers. This study presents a computational pipeline to harmonize and evaluate the prognostic value of clinicogenomic profiles of patients in modelling progression free survival (PFS). PFS, …