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A clinical and translational scientist (CTS) often seeks to increase their knowledge of statistical topics to effectively conduct biomedical research studies. A common method for obtaining this knowledge is through existing online educational materials that are suggested by a biostatistical collaborator or identified by the CTS. However, the volume of available educational materials on diverse statistical topics makes the task of identifying high-quality educational resources at an appropriate level challenging and time consuming for CTSs and collaborative biostatisticians. In response to these challenges, the Biostats4You website was created, where existing online educational materials for a variety of statistical topics are vetted to identify those most appropriate for CTSs. In this manuscript, we describe the resource review process, provide information about statistical topics and resources currently available, and make recommendations for how CTSs and collaborative biostatisticians can utilize the Biostats4You website to improve training, mentoring, and collaborative research practices.
OBJECTIVES/GOALS: Quantitative Staff are an essential workforce for biomedical research. While faculty can engage with peers locally and through national organizations, similar opportunities are limited for staff and often do not meet their unique needs and interests. Creating a professional community is valuable for supporting and developing this workforce. METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: We established the Quantitative Scientific Staff National Network (QS2N2) with the mission to provide professional development and networking opportunities, and to serve as an information resource and advocate through the fostering of community among staff quantitative analysts at any career stage. The initial membership outreach was to all Biostatistics, Epidemiology, and Research Design (BERD) programs through members of ACTS BERD Special Interest Group (SIG). We created a Leadership Team and an Advisory Board consisting of staff and faculty biostatisticians with experience working as or managing staff to govern the network. A Core Planning Committee consisting of 15 members guides planning, implementation, and execution of network activities as operationalized through subcommittees. RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: The network currently has 131 members from over 30 health science institutions. Subcommittees focused on Education and Training, Membership, Communication and Web Development, and Mentoring were created and are developing events, programs and infrastructure to further the network’s mission. Network events such as webinars will be offered quarterly; with our first event planned for Nov 3rd. Expansion and maturation of QS2N2 will be done through regular remote meetings where members can connect with peers at other institutions, engage in career development activities, and attend technical seminars. Additional membership outreach will seek to connect with staff in government and private sectors. DISCUSSION/SIGNIFICANCE: Knowledgeable, highly skilled collaborative analysts (e.g., biostatisticians, data scientists) are an essential workforce in clinical and translational science and health research centers.The QS2N2 will support professional development, engagement and growth of this critical workforce which is necessary to advance quality research.
Accumulating evidence from case-control and population studies suggests attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) confers a 2- to 5-fold risk of all-cause dementia later in life. Here, we investigate vascular burden as a potential mediator of this relationship, because vascular integrity is well known to be compromised in ADHD (due to chronic obesity, diabetes, and hypertension) and is also a robust risk factor for neurodegeneration (due to reduced cerebral blood flow). We use brain white matter hyperintensities (WMH) as a measure of vascular burden.
Participants and Methods:
Thirty-nine adults aged 48-81 years with clinical ADHD, and 37 matched controls, completed neuropsychological testing and 1.5 T structural neuroimaging. None had stroke. Cognitive tests were demographically-adjusted to Z scores using regression-based norms generated from the control group, and averaged across tests within domains of short- and long-term verbal memory (forward digit span, California Verbal Learning Test, Logical Memory), visual memory (Visual Recognition, Rey Complex Figure), processing speed (coding, trails A, Stroop word-reading and color-naming), language (Boston Naming Test, semantic fluency), visuoconstruction (clock drawing, Rey Complex Figure copy), and executive function (backward digit span, trails B, phonemic fluency, Stroop inhibition, Wisconsin Card Sorting Test). Total WMH volumes (i.e., combined periventricular and deep) within subcortical, temporal, frontal, parietal, and occipital regions were individually divided by regional volumes to produce a proportion of each region representing WMH, then log-transformed to correct for skew. Age-corrected linear regression quantified total effects of ADHD on cognition; when these were significant, mediation models quantified the direct effects of ADHD on WMH volumes and the direct effect of WMH volumes on cognition. Sobel’s test estimated indirect effects of ADHD on cognition via WMH.
Results:
Group had a significant total effect on Processing Speed (ß=-1.154, p<.001) and on Executive Functioning (ß=-0.587, p=.004), where ADHD participants had lower composite scores (M=-1.10, SD=1.76 and M=-0.54, SD=1.14 respectively) than controls (M=0.02, SD=0.74; M=0.00, SD=0.49). Only frontal-lobe WMH had direct effects on Processing Speed (ß=-0.315, p=.012) and Executive Functioning (ß=-0.273, p<.001). The direct effect of ADHD on frontal WMH was significant (ß=-0.734, p=.016), and Sobel’s tests supported an indirect effect of ADHD on Executive Functioning (z=2.079, p=.038) but not Processing Speed (z=1.785, p=.074) via WMH. Because the effect of ADHD on WMH was negative (i.e., fewer WMH in ADHD) despite worse cognition than controls, we tested the a posteriori hypothesis that WMH burden may be relatively more deleterious for ADHD than controls. We found considerably stronger negative correlations between total WMH volumes and Processing Speed (r=-.423, p=.009) and Executive Functioning (r=-.528, p<.001) in the ADHD group than in controls (r=-.231, p=.175 and r=-.162, p=.346, respectively), even though total whole-brain proportion of WMH (M=0.15%, SD=0.27; Mann-Whitney l/=430.0, p=.002) and frontal-lobe proportion of WMH volumes (M=0.33%, SD=0.51; Mann-Whitney U=464.0, p=.007) were lower in ADHD than in controls (M=0.29%, SD=0.42 and M=0.66%, SD=0.88, respectively).
Conclusions:
WMH burden contributes significantly to the relationship between ADHD and cognition, but ADHD remains an independent contributor to worse processing speed and executive functioning in older adults. Vascular burden may have relatively more deleterious effects on cognition in ADHD, potentially due to decades of accumulated allostatic load, whereas healthy controls can accumulate greater amounts of WMH before cognition is impacted.
Ongoing professional development is important for collaborative biostatisticians, as it enables them to remain current with the latest advances in statistical methodology and software, refine their analytical skills, and expand their domain knowledge, thereby facilitating their ability to contribute effectively to biomedical research. Although external opportunities for professional development, such as attending conferences and workshops, are widely recognized and valued in the field of biostatistics, there has been comparatively little attention given to internal opportunities for enhancing the skills and knowledge of biostatisticians which can be implemented with lower financial and time investment than external offerings. The purpose of this paper is to offer guidance for ongoing internal professional development activities that can be employed by collaborative biostatistics units in universities and academic medical centers to complement structured curricula and initial training. Specific examples of activities are provided so that collaborative biostatisticians and/or managers of biostatistical units can flexibly combine components to create an appropriately scaled, customized program that meets the needs of themselves or of the unit.
OBJECTIVES/GOALS: The goal was to create and deploy an intuitive, easy-to-use tool that clinical investigators can apply to their data to identify erroneous or inconsistent data entries. Investigators can then correct any errors prior to sharing the data with their statistician for analysis. METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: We developed an interactive shiny app, the Data Loofah, using R Studio that researchers or data analysts can use to examine data. After an investigator uploads data, the app reports which variables are numeric or categorical. Means, standard deviation, median, 25th and 75th quantiles, range and number of missing values are reported for numeric variables. Counts and percentages of categorical variables are summarized. Graphical displays further enhance identification of errors. Access to the Data Loofah is through a secure, university-maintained website with access restricted to university personnel. Supporting materials consisting of instructional step-by-step handouts and videos were developed to assist investigators in the use of the app. RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: We will integrate use of the Data Loofah into our Clinical and Translational Science Program’s biostatistics consultative practice. Investigators will use the Data Loofah to pre-screen their data prior to sending it to a statistician, identify errors and inconsistencies, and facilitate making necessary corrections. Statisticians will also use the Data Loofah to review data with investigators prior to starting analyses. Through use of this app, investigators are expected to develop a better understanding of their data specifically and more generally about requirements for preparing data for statistical analysis. Most significantly, regular use of the Data Loofah is expected to result in higher quality data and more efficient use of statistician resources due to reduced effort for data cleaning. DISCUSSION/SIGNIFICANCE: Data cleaning is a time-consuming task and finding data errors can be difficult for data analysts not familiar with clinical variables under study. Further, failure to identify data errors can lead to erroneous results. By facilitating identification of data errors by clinical investigators, the Data Loofah will improve and enhance research output.
This interdisciplinary collection explores how a human rights perspective offers new insights and tools into the current obstacles to education. It examines the role of private actors, the need to hold states to account, the balance between religion, culture and education, girls’ right to education and the role of courts.
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination effectiveness in healthcare personnel (HCP) has been established. However, questions remain regarding its performance in high-risk healthcare occupations and work locations. We describe the effect of a COVID-19 HCP vaccination campaign on SARS-CoV-2 infection by timing of vaccination, job type, and work location.
Methods:
We conducted a retrospective review of COVID-19 vaccination acceptance, incidence of postvaccination COVID-19, hospitalization, and mortality among 16,156 faculty, students, and staff at a large academic medical center. Data were collected 8 weeks prior to the start of phase 1a vaccination of frontline employees and ended 11 weeks after campaign onset.
Results:
The COVID-19 incidence rate among HCP at our institution decreased from 3.2% during the 8 weeks prior to the start of vaccinations to 0.38% by 4 weeks after campaign initiation. COVID-19 risk was reduced among individuals who received a single vaccination (hazard ratio [HR], 0.52; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.40–0.68; P < .0001) and was further reduced with 2 doses of vaccine (HR, 0.17; 95% CI, 0.09–0.32; P < .0001). By 2 weeks after the second dose, the observed case positivity rate was 0.04%. Among phase 1a HCP, we observed a lower risk of COVID-19 among physicians and a trend toward higher risk for respiratory therapists independent of vaccination status. Rates of infection were similar in a subgroup of nurses when examined by work location.
Conclusions:
Our findings show the real-world effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccination in HCP. Despite these encouraging results, unvaccinated HCP remain at an elevated risk of infection, highlighting the need for targeted outreach to combat vaccine hesitancy.
An adequate intake of PUFA plays a vital role in human health. Therefore, it is important to assess PUFA intakes in different populations and validate them with biomarkers, but only a few small studies are in paediatric populations. We calculated the dietary intake of PUFA and their main food sources in children and assessed associations between PUFA intakes and plasma proportions. Dietary intakes of 7-year-old children (n 8242) enrolled in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children were calculated from the parental-completed FFQ. Plasma PUFA were measured in 5571 children 8 months later, and 4380 children had complete dietary and plasma data. The association between dietary and plasma PUFA proportions was estimated using Spearman’s correlation coefficients, quintile cross-classification and Cohen’s κ coefficients. Mean total PUFA intake was 13·2 g/d (sd 4·2), contributing 6·5 % of total energy intake; n-6 PUFA contributed 5·2 % and n-3 PUFA 0·7 %. The n-6:n-3 ratio was 7·9:1. Mean intakes of EPA and DHA were 35·7 mg/d and 49·7 mg/d, respectively. Most n-3 and n-6 PUFA intakes were weakly correlated with their respective plasma lipids (0·07 ≤ r ≤ 0·16, P < 0·001). The correlation between dietary and plasma DHA was stronger though (r = 0·34, P < 0·001), supported by a modest level of agreement between quintiles (k = 0·32). The results indicate that the FFQ was able to reasonably rank the long-chain (LC) PUFA, DHA, in this paediatric population. Public health initiatives need to address the suboptimal ratio of n-6:n-3 PUFA and very low n-3 LC-PUFA intakes in school-age children in the UK.
This research note describes the Canadian Municipal Elections Database (CMED), a new publicly available and actively maintained dataset of more than 24,000 municipal elections in Canada. We describe the need for high-quality election results data for municipal politics research and describe the content, sources and construction of the CMED. To illustrate the value of the CMED, we estimate gender differences in municipal electoral performance for the first time, finding that women are, on average, more likely than men to win municipal elections in Canada.
OBJECTIVES/GOALS: Morehouse School of Medicine (MSM), TxTM is a scientific philosophy promoting interdisciplinary approaches towards exponential advances in community and population health. Objectives are to detail the model, pilot funding mechanism, early research findings and infrastructure investments. METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: The health research system has widely acknowledged challenges that can delay research translation to systems that advance health for chronically disadvantaged health disparity population groups. MSM’s vision is to lead the creation and advancement of health equity. The vision-aligned strategic plan prioritized formalization of a TX TM implementation priority. The study population was the institution’s research faculty and leaders, research administration, and communication arm. Through a cross-institutional working group, a plan was deployed to 1) assess the institutional landscape, 2) review the grey and peer reviewed literature on translational research and 3) invest in a pilot research funding mechanism. RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: Over $700K has been invested in TX TM implementation. Over half of research faculty completed an institutional landscape assessment to identify translational research expertise, interests and points of interest in new collaboration. The most frequently cited collaborative research interests were clinical research with human subjects, patient-centered outcomes and laboratory-based research with human subjects/specimens. Funded multidisciplinary and/or community-engaged pilot studies investigate the role for circadian rhythms and shift work, cultural variables influencing mental health among Haitians living in the US and integrating prescription reconciliation telehealth in primary care. DISCUSSION/SIGNIFICANCE OF IMPACT: TX TM requires interdisciplinary collaboration across translational research spheres and beyond the academy. Institutional investment, infrastructure support and senior-level champions are central to awareness and rewarding such scholarship towards scaling approaches that advance health equity. CONFLICT OF INTEREST DESCRIPTION: Coined at Morehouse School of Medicine (MSM), Tx TM symbolizes an approach and scientific philosophy designed to intentionally promote and support convergence of interdisciplinary approaches and scientists to stimulate exponential advances for the health of diverse communities.
OBJECTIVES/GOALS: Access to biostatistics expertise is essential for a successful clinical and translational research program. However, demand for statistical support at academic research centers can strain the capacity of biostatistics units. Our objective was to efficiently increase access to statistical expertise. METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: In cooperation with the Cancer Center Biostatistics Shared Resource, we replaced an informal 1-hour drop-in consultation program with structured office hours to provide statistical support to clinical and translational researchers at the University of California, Davis Medical Center. We doubled office hours to 2 hours per week and established six 20-minute appointments. Two Ph.D. level statisticians staff office hours. Researchers schedule appointments through Acuity Scheduling, a free on-line resource. Availability of the service is advertised monthly by sending an informational flyer to various university listservs. RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: Prior to implementing the program in 2014, we averaged 91 office hour consults per year. Subsequently, consultations jumped to 171 in 2014 and have averaged 150 per year since then. Office hours attract students, residents, staff and faculty from a wide range of disciplines including the Schools of Medicine, Nursing, Veterinary Medicine and basic science departments. Project types span the clinical and translational spectrum covering lab, animal, clinical and population-level studies. Most consults related to data analysis and interpretation (57%) followed by sample size calculations/study design (29%) and response to reviewers (4%), with general statistical advice as the remainder. DISCUSSION/SIGNIFICANCE OF IMPACT: With 6 micro-consults per week, we can meet with many investigators and triage their statistical support needs. This program has proved very popular and was highly rated in a recent user survey, with several investigators noting that the consults facilitated successful publications and proposals.
Edited by
Sandra Fredman, University of Oxford Faculty of Law,Meghan Campbell, New College, University of Oxford,Helen Taylor, Balliol College, University of Oxford
Edited by
Sandra Fredman, University of Oxford Faculty of Law,Meghan Campbell, New College, University of Oxford,Helen Taylor, Balliol College, University of Oxford
Edited by
Sandra Fredman, University of Oxford Faculty of Law,Meghan Campbell, New College, University of Oxford,Helen Taylor, Balliol College, University of Oxford
Education is at the heart of the global struggle to alleviate poverty and reduce inequality. It has been demonstrated that one extra year of education is associated with a reduction in inequality (as measured by the Gini coefficient) of 1.4 percentage points. Yet it is precisely the most disadvantaged who face the greatest obstacles to accessing quality education. Although some progress has been made in recent decades, there were still as many as 57 million out-of-school children of primary school age in 2015. Many of these will never access education. What role, then, can human rights play in addressing these issues? Education has been recognised as a fundamental human right at least since 1948, when the Universal Declaration of Human Rights declared that everyone has the right to free and compulsory education. Importantly, the right extends beyond access to education. It also includes quality education. Education must be ‘directed to the full development of the human personality’ and ‘promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups’. The right to education has also been recognised in the major international human rights instruments, and in the domestic law of numerous countries.
This volume asks what role human rights can play in addressing some of the most challenging issues in the quest for quality education for all. We provide case studies from both the global South and the global North. The challenges are surprisingly similar, despite marked differences in development. From the South, we focus on India, Kenya and South Africa. Both countries face an enormous chasm between the ideal of equal rights to quality education and the reality; each has relatively recently given entrenched constitutional status to the right to education; and both have seen human rights litigation play an important part. From the global North, we look at New York State, where educational disadvantage, in the midst of the richest country in the world, is even more striking. Although there is no constitutional right to education at federal level, the right is entrenched in the New York State constitution, and human rights litigation has been utilised in the quest for a better quality of education for disadvantaged innercity children.
Edited by
Sandra Fredman, University of Oxford Faculty of Law,Meghan Campbell, New College, University of Oxford,Helen Taylor, Balliol College, University of Oxford
Edited by
Sandra Fredman, University of Oxford Faculty of Law,Meghan Campbell, New College, University of Oxford,Helen Taylor, Balliol College, University of Oxford
Edited by
Sandra Fredman, University of Oxford Faculty of Law,Meghan Campbell, New College, University of Oxford,Helen Taylor, Balliol College, University of Oxford
This collection of essays has explored a range of challenges faced by minorities and disadvantaged groups in education. The book demonstrates how a human rights-based approach brings these challenges into sharper focus and offers a framework for addressing them so that we can achieve quality education for all. These insights are enriched through the comparative perspective provided by the range of jurisdictions featured in the collection. Such a perspective highlights the complexity of the challenges faced and presents contextualised responses to them. Human rights provide a common language to share and compare the experiences of minorities and disadvantaged groups in education. While requiring sensitive attention to be given to how these experiences are embedded in particular contexts, a comparative perspective also enables resonances to be felt across contextual divides. It is therefore capable of inspiring new ideas for overcoming long-standing challenges in education.
An increasingly pressing challenge faced by a human rights-based approach, covered in Part I of this collection, is the question of how to hold actors other than the state accountable for providing quality education to all. While remaining open to the potential benefits of private educational initiatives for disadvantaged and marginalised children who might lose out in the public school system (Smuts), the accountability deficit associated with the involvement of private actors in education needs to be addressed. This accountability deficit leaves minorities and disadvantaged groups most at risk that their right to education will not be realised, and the challenge moving forward is to develop robust accountability mechanisms for ensuring both the state and private actors uphold children's rights to and in education (O’Mahony).
Part II emphasised the importance of sensitive balancing of competing rights and interests in education, particularly with respect to the tension that often arises between the right to education and the freedom of religion and culture. An especially important insight offered by both chapters in Part II is that this balancing exercise requires acute awareness of the contextual and historical positioning of minority groups within the education system. While a human rights-based approach calls for protections to be extended to minorities and disadvantaged groups to ensure they are not marginalised by the education system, we should remain alert to such protections being subverted by groups seeking minority status in order to exclude other groups (Kothari) or being abused in order to preserve historical privilege or restrict access to education (Bishop).
Edited by
Sandra Fredman, University of Oxford Faculty of Law,Meghan Campbell, New College, University of Oxford,Helen Taylor, Balliol College, University of Oxford
Edited by
Sandra Fredman, University of Oxford Faculty of Law,Meghan Campbell, New College, University of Oxford,Helen Taylor, Balliol College, University of Oxford
Edited by
Sandra Fredman, University of Oxford Faculty of Law,Meghan Campbell, New College, University of Oxford,Helen Taylor, Balliol College, University of Oxford