Biostatistics Commons^™

The Association Between Dietary Inflammatory Index, Dietary Antioxidant Index, And Mental Health In Adolescent Girls: An Analytical Study, Parvin Dehghan, Marzieh Nejati, Amir Almasi-Hashiani, Sevda Saleh-Ghadimi, Rezza Parsi, Hamed Jafari-Vayghan, Nitin Shivappa Mbbs, Mph, Ph.D., James Hébert Scd

Faculty Publications

Background Diet is considered as one of the modifiable factors that appears to exert a vital role in psychological status. In this way, we designed this study to examine the association between dietary inflammatory index (DII), dietary antioxidant index (DAI), and mental health in female adolescents. Methods This cross-sectional study included 364 female adolescents selected from high schools in the five regions of Tabriz, Iran. A 3-day food record was used to extract the dietary data and calculate DII/DAI scores. DII and DAI were estimated to assess the odds of depression, anxiety, and stress based on the Depression Anxiety Stress …

Sex And Gender Differences In Symptoms Of Early Psychosis: A Systematic Review And Meta-Analysis, Brooke Carter, Jared Wootten, Suzanne Archie, Amanda L Terry, Kelly K. Anderson

Epidemiology and Biostatistics Publications

First-episode psychosis (FEP) can be quite variable in clinical presentation, and both sex and gender may account for some of this variability. Prior literature on sex or gender differences in symptoms of psychosis have been inconclusive, and a comprehensive summary of evidence on the early course of illness is lacking. The objective of this study was to conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis of the literature to summarize prior evidence on the sex and gender differences in the symptoms of early psychosis. We conducted an electronic database search (MEDLINE, Scopus, PsycINFO, and CINAHL) from 1990 to present to identify quantitative …

Advanced High Dimensional Regression Techniques, Yuan Yang

All Dissertations

This dissertation focuses on developing high dimensional regression techniques to analyze large scale data using both Bayesian and frequentist approaches, motivated by data sets from various disciplines, such as public health and genetics. More specifically, Chapters 2 and Chapter 4 take a Bayesian approach to achieve modeling and parameter estimation simultaneously while Chapter 3 takes a frequentist approach. The main aspects of these techniques are that they perform variable selection and parameter estimation simultaneously, while also being easily adaptable to large-scale data. In particular, by embedding a logistic model into traditional spike and slab framework and selecting of proper prior …

Multiple Imputation In High-Dimensional Data With Variable Selection, Qiushuang Li

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

This dissertation focuses on the development of multiple imputation models and algorithms for high-dimensional data with variable selection structures. Leveraging on the multivariate linear mixed-effects model with missing responses for clustered data, we incorporate the variable selection routines using spike-and-slab priors within the Bayesian variable selection framework. Specific choice of these priors allow us to "force'' variables of importance (e.g. design variables or variables known to play role in missingness mechanism) into the imputation models. Our ultimate goal is to improve computational speed by removing unnecessary variables. Markov chain Monte Carlo techniques have been designed to sample from the implied …

Hiding In Plain Sight: Accounting For Rate Heterogeneity In Trait Evolution Models, James Boyko

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Within the last four decades, phylogenetic comparative methods have become the defacto method of analysis for comparative biologists. The availability of high-quality comparative datasets has been matched by an explosion of possible phylogenetic models. In large part, the efforts to increase the realism of phylogenetic comparative methods has been successful as evidenced by their widespread use. To this extensive literature, my contributions are modest. I have focused my dissertation work on two main themes. First, most phenotypic evolution is not independent of other phenotypes. Changes in a particular character may influence changes in another and modeling these characters in isolation …

Quantile Differences In The Age-Related Decline In Cardiorespiratory Fitness Between Sexes In Adults Without Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus In The United States, Andrew Ortaglia, Melissa Stansbury, Michael David Wirth, Xuemei Sui, Matteo Bottai

Faculty Publications

Objective: To comprehensively assess the extent to which the decline in cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) with age differs between sexes. Participants and Methods: This study used data from the Aerobics Center Longitudinal Study, conducted between September 1974 and August 2006, consisting primarily of White adults from middle-to-upper socioeconomic strata restricted to adults without type 2 diabetes mellitus (33,742 men and 9,415 women). Quantile regression models were used to estimate the differences in age-associated changes in CRF between the sexes, estimated using a maximal treadmill test. Results: For adults aged up to 45 years, significant differences in slopes relating to age and …

Statistical Methods For Personalized Treatment Selection And Survival Data Analysis Based On Observational Data With High-Dimensional Covariates., Don Ramesh Dinendra Sudaraka Tholkage

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Due to the wide availability of functional data from multiple disciplines, the studies of functional data analysis have become popular in the recent literature. However, the related development in censored survival data has been relatively sparse. In Chapter 2, we consider the problem of analyzing time-to-event data in the presence of functional predictors. We develop a conditional generalized Kaplan Meier (KM) estimator that incorporates functional predictors using kernel weights and rigorously establishes its asymptotic properties. In addition, we propose to select the optimal bandwidth based on a time-dependent Brier score. We then carry out extensive numerical studies to examine the …

Bayesian Adaptive Designs For Proof-Of-Concept Trials And Platform Trials, Yujie Zhao

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

With the revolutionary achievement in molecular targeted therapies and cancer immunotherapies, the traditional drug development paradigm in phase II trials becomes increasingly inefficient due to its slow progress, high cost, and high failure rate. Fitting one standard strategy to all different trials also harms its reliability in decision-making because it doesn’t fully use all available resources and information in each trial. It’s crucial to develop novel phase II trial designs to accomplish different objectives for different types of trials. This research mainly focuses on Bayesian adaptive designs for phase II trials. Three types of trials are discussed in which traditional …

Changes Overtime In Perinatal Management And Outcomes Of Extremely Preterm Infants In One Tertiary Care Romanian Center, Diana Ungureanu, Nansi Boghossian, Laura Mihaela Suciu

Faculty Publications

Background and Objectives: Extremely preterm infants were at increased risk of mortality and morbidity. The purpose of this study was to: (1) examine changes over time in perinatal management, mortality, and major neonatal morbidities among infants born at 25⁰–28⁶ weeks’ gestational age and cared for at one Romanian tertiary care unit and (2) compare the differences with available international data. Material and Methods: This study consisted of infants born at 25⁰–28⁶ weeks in one tertiary neonatal academic center in Romania during two 4-year periods (2007–2010 and 2015–2018). Major morbidities were defined as any of …

Spotted Fever Group Rickettsioses In Central America: The Research And Public Health Disparity Among Socioeconomic Lines, Kyndall C. Dye-Braumuller, Marvin S. Rodriguez Aquino, Stella C.W. Self, Mufaro Kanyangarara, Melissa Nolan Ph.D., Mph

Faculty Publications

Tick-borne diseases including rickettsial diseases are increasing in incidence worldwide. Many rickettsial pathogens can cause disease which is commonly underdiagnosed and underreported; Rickettsia pathogens in the spotted fever group (SFGR) are thus classified as neglected bacterial pathogens. The Central American region shoulders a large proportion of the global neglected disease burden; however, little is known regarding SFGR disease here. Although development varies, four of the seven countries in this region have both the highest poverty rates and SFGR disease burdens (El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, and Nicaragua), compared to Belize, Panama, and Costa Rica. Utilizing the Human Development Index (HDI), we …

Capturing The Pool Dilution Effect In Group Testing Regression: A Bayesian Approach, Stella Self Ph.D., Ms, Christopher Mcmahan, Stefani Mokalled

Faculty Publications

Group (pooled) testing is becoming a popular strategy for screening large populations for infectious diseases. This popularity is owed to the cost savings that can be realized through implementing group testing methods. These methods involve physically combining biomaterial (eg, saliva, blood, urine) collected on individuals into pooled specimens which are tested for an infection of interest. Through testing these pooled specimens, group testing methods reduce the cost of diagnosing all individuals under study by reducing the number of tests performed. Even though group testing offers substantial cost reductions, some practitioners are hesitant to adopt group testing methods due to the …

Joint Models For Repeated Measured, Non-Normally Distributed Multilevel Data, Weiwei He

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Clinical trials have tended to collect both survival information and longitudinal biomarkers, as well as other covariates. In order to better assess the severity of diverse diseases, we need to collect various longitudinal outcomes. Furthermore, longitudinal data could consist of a number of different measurements of varying types. The multilevel item response theory (MLIRT) model has been widely used in several fields such as public health and health sciences for multivariate longitudinal outcomes. Joint models combining the longitudinal and survival processes, as well as the relation between them, have been developed to minimize bias and improve the efficiency of estimates. …

The Impact Of Service Dogs On Objective And Perceived Sleep Quality For Veterans With Ptsd, Madhuri Vempati, Elise A. Miller, Sarah C. Leighton, Leanne O. Nieforth, Marguerite O’Haire

Discovery Undergraduate Interdisciplinary Research Internship

One in four post-9/11 veterans (Fulton et al., 2015) have been diagnosed with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), facing sleep disruptions as one of their most common symptoms. Service dogs have become an increasingly popular complementary intervention and anecdotes suggest they may impact sleep for veterans with PTSD. There is a need for empirical investigation into these claims through measurement and analysis of sleep quality.

The purpose of this study was to longitudinally investigate the impact of service dogs on sleep quality through both objective and subjective measures.

Participants in the treatment group (n=92) received a service dog after baseline, while …

Respiratory, Neurological And Other Health Outcomes Among Plastic Factory Workers In Gazipur, Bangladesh, Shobhan Das, Md. Masudur Rahman, Asmaul Husna, Margia Akter, Md. Matiur Rahaman, Md. Taohidul Islam, Md. Jamal Uddin, Atin Adhikari

Biostatistics, Epidemiology & Environmental Health Sciences: Faculty Publications

Background: Approximately three thousand plastic goods manufacturing factories (PGMF) are currently operating in Bangladesh involving numerous workers. Associated health problems of these workers are largely unknown. The key objectives of the current study were identifying plastic chemical exposures related health outcomes in these workers and comparing these outcomes before and after their joining in PGMFs. In addition, we aimed to investigate the relationships between work duration and the prevalence of health ailments among workers.

Method: A cross-sectional study was carried out among factory workers (n=405) at six PGMFs in Gazipur district in Bangladesh. A simple random sampling method had been …

The Prevalence And Impact Of Adolescent Hospitalization To Adult Psychiatric Units., Samantha Mcrae, Jordan Edwards, Kathy N Speechley, Javeed Sukhera, Guangyong Zou, Kelly K. Anderson

Epidemiology and Biostatistics Publications

BACKGROUND: With increasing psychiatric hospitalizations among adolescents and constrained hospital resources, there are times when youth are hospitalized in adult inpatient psychiatry units. Evidence on the prevalence of this practice and associated impacts is lacking.

AIMS: We sought to explore the prevalence, determinants, and outcomes related to the hospitalization of adolescents aged 12-17 years on adult inpatient psychiatry units in Ontario.

METHODS: Using health administrative data, we constructed a cohort of adolescents with an inpatient psychiatric admission in Ontario (2007-2011). We classified adolescents as having an admission to an adult psychiatry unit or to other inpatient units. Multivariable regression models …

Modified Em Algorithm In Smcure Package Based On Proportional Hazards Mixture Cure Model With Offset Terms, Jiaying Yi

Theses and Dissertations

Mixture cure model is a useful method of survival analysis for population including cured proportion and uncured proportion. The R package SMCURE applies EM algorithm to estimate the coefficients of covariates in the mixture cure model. Although an offset term is specified in the SMCURE statement, the offset term is not appropriately handled in the algorithm. This thesis aims to adjust the EM algorithm for the proportional hazards mixture cure model in the SMCURE package. In addition, the offset term can be specified separately in the incidence part or the latency part. The numerical experiments include simulation study and real …

Complex Functional Joint Models For Longitudinal Electronic Health Record, Siyuan Guo

Theses and Dissertations

Longitudinal measurements are important components in electronic health record (EHR) data. In practice, using longitudinal EHR history is expected to improve the estimation or prediction performance when studying some outcomes of interest, such as binary outcome or time to event outcome. However, the longitudinal observations in EHR data is complex due to irregular and sparse EHR visits. Therefore, modelling longitudinal data and further incorporating them with different types of outcomes is challenge. In this dissertation, we aim to develop methodology to first, describe the pattern of the longitudinal predictors with continuous or binary observations, and second, model the longitudinal predictors …

Applications Of Machine Learning Algorithms In Materials Science And Bioinformatics, Mohammed Quazi

Mathematics & Statistics ETDs

The piezoelectric response has been a measure of interest in density functional theory (DFT) for micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) since the inception of MEMS technology. Piezoelectric-based MEMS devices find wide applications in automobiles, mobile phones, healthcare devices, and silicon chips for computers, to name a few. Piezoelectric properties of doped aluminum nitride (AlN) have been under investigation in materials science for piezoelectric thin films because of its wide range of device applicability. In this research using rigorous DFT calculations, high throughput ab-initio simulations for 23 AlN alloys are generated.

This research is the first to report strong enhancements of piezoelectric properties …

Association Between The Dietary Inflammatory Index And Gastric Disease Risk: Findings From A Korean Population-Based Cohort Study, Sundara Raj Sreeja, Trong-Dat Le, Bang Wool Eom, Seung Hyun Oh, Nitin Shivappa Mbbs, Mph, Ph.D., James R. Hébert Scd, Mi Kyung Kim

Faculty Publications

Evidence suggests that diets with high pro-inflammatory potential may play a substantial role in the origin of gastric inflammation. This study aimed to examine the association between the energy-adjusted dietary inflammatory index (E-DIITM) and gastric diseases at baseline and after a mean follow-up of 7.4 years in a Korean population. A total of 144,196 participants from the Korean Genome and Epidemiology Study_Health Examination (KoGES_HEXA) cohort were included. E-DII scores were computed using a validated semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire. Multivariate logistic regression and Cox proportional hazards regression were used to assess the association between the E-DII and gastric disease risk. In …

Adolescent Health Risk Behaviors, Adverse Experiences, And Self-Reported Hunger: Analysis Of 10 States From The 2019 Youth Risk Behavior Surveys, Kathryn L. Krupsky, Sarah Silwa, Hilary Seligman, Andrea D. Brown, Angela D. Liese Ph.D., Zewditu Demissie, Ellen Barnidge

Faculty Publications

We examined associations between adolescent self-reported hunger, health risk behaviors, and adverse experiences during the 2018–2019 school year. Youth Risk Behavior Survey data were pooled from 10 states. Prevalence ratios were calculated, and we assessed effect measure modification by sex. The prevalence of self-reported hunger was 13%. Self-reported hunger was associated with a higher prevalence of every health risk behavior/adverse experience analyzed, even after adjusting for sex, grade, and race/ethnicity. Sex did not modify associations. Findings underscore needs for longitudinal research with more robust measures of adolescent food insecurity to clarify the temporality of relationships.