Academic Articles & Research Papers

Assumption-free estimation of heritability from genome-wide identity-by-descent sharing between full siblings.

The study of continuously varying, quantitative traits is important in evolutionary biology, agriculture, and medicine. Variation in such traits is attributable to many, possibly interacting, genes whose expression may be sensitive to the e...

Beyond "No Unmeasured Confounding": Challenges and Opportunities for Cornfield-Style Reasoning in Modern Causal Inference.

Predictivity of bioimpedance phase angle for incident disability in older adults

Abstract Background Bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA)‐derived phase angle is expected to be an efficient prognostic marker of health adverse events with aging as an alternative of muscle mass. We aimed to examine the predictive ability...

Microbial Biofilms Along a Geochemical Gradient at the Shallow-Water Hydrothermal System of Vulcano Island, Mediterranean Sea

Shallow water hydrothermal vents represent highly dynamic environments where strong geochemical gradients can shape microbial communities. Recently, these systems are being widely used for investigating the effects of ocean acidification on...

Constraining PERMANOVA and LDM to within-set comparisons by projection improves the efficiency of analyses of matched sets of microbiome data

Abstract Background Matched-set data arise frequently in microbiome studies. For example, we may collect pre- and post-treatment samples from a set of individuals, or use important confounding variables to match data from case participants ...

Effectiveness of guided group work in graduate level quantum mechanics

We investigate the effects of guided group work sessions on graduate student performance on a quantum mechanics assessment. Data from a single large Midwestern university were taken over a five-year period, during which guided group work se...

Local, collaborative, stepped, and personalized care management for older people with chronic diseases – results from the randomized controlled LoChro-trial

Abstract Background In the aging population of Western societies, an increasing number of older adults have multiple chronic diseases. As multifaceted health problems imply the involvement of several healthcare professionals, multimorbid ol...

The impact of non-communicable chronic diseases on the earned income of working age Chinese residents

Abstract This paper used two waves (2016 and 2018) of longitudinal data from the China Families Panel Survey (CFPS) to analyze the economic impact of Non-communicable chronic diseases (NCDs) on individual earned income using propensity scor...

Statistical assessment of the learning curves of health technologies

OBJECTIVES: (1) To describe systematically studies that directly assessed the learning curve effect of health technologies. (2) Systematically to identify 'novel' statistical techniques applied to learning curve data in other fields, such a...

Epidemiology: An introduction

1. Introduction to Epidemiologic Thinking 2. Pioneers in Epidemiology and Public Health 3. What is Causation? 4. Measuring Disease Occurrence and Causal Effects 5. Types of Epidemiologic Studies 6. Infectious Disease Epidemiology 7. Dealing...

Epidemiology of acne vulgaris

Despite acne being an almost universal condition in younger people, relatively little is known about its epidemiology. We sought to review what is known about the distribution and causes of acne by conducting a systematic review of relevant...

Concepts of Epidemiology

Abstract Epidemiology is a population science that underpins health improvement and health care, and is concerned with the pattern, frequency, trends, and causes of disease. This book teaches its applications to population health research, ...

The effect of replacing saturated fat with mostly n-6 polyunsaturated fat on coronary heart disease: a meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials

Abstract Background A cornerstone of conventional dietary advice is the recommendation to replace saturated fatty acids (SFA) with mostly n-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) to reduce the risk of coronary heart disease (CHD). Many clinic...

Identification of confounders and estimating the causal effect of place of birth on age-specific childhood vaccination

Abstract Background In causal analyses, some third factor may distort the relationship between the exposure and the outcome variables under study, which gives spurious results. In this case, treatment groups and control groups that receive ...

Methodological framework to identify possible adverse drug reactions using population-based administrative data [v1; ref status: indexed, http://f1000r.es/3ys]

Purpose: We present a framework for detecting possible adverse drug reactions (ADRs) using the Utah Medicaid administrative data. We examined four classes of ADRs associated with treatment of dementia by acetylcholinesterase inhibitors (ACh...

Epistemic frontiers and the distinction between causality, information, and predictability in pattern recognition

Abstract High predictive accuracy is frequently misinterpreted as evidence of causal understanding or population-level signal. Models can exploit spurious correlations, confounding, or protocol-induced artefacts, while post-hoc explanations...