An empirical Bayes approach to evaluation of results for a specific region in multiregional clinical trials

To accelerate the drug development process and shorten approval time, the design of multiregional clinical trials (MRCTs) incorporates subjects from many countries/regions around the world under the same protocol. After showing the overall efficacy of a drug in all global regions, one can also simultaneously evaluate the possibility of applying the overall trial results to all regions and subsequently support drug registration in each of them. In this paper, we focus on a specific region and establish a statistical criterion to assess the consistency between the specific region and overall results in an MRCT. More specifically, we treat each region in an MRCT as an independent clinical trial, and each perhaps has different treatment effect. We then construct the empirical prior information for the treatment effect for the specific region on the basis of all of the observed data from other regions. We will conclude similarity between the specific region and all regions if the posterior probability of deriving a positive treatment effect in the specific region is large, say 80%. Numerical examples illustrate applications of the proposed approach in different scenarios. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Unbiased estimation of the MSE matrices of improved estimators in linear regression

Stein-rule and other improved estimators have scarcely been used in empirical work. One major reason is that it is not easy to obtain precision measures for these estimators. In this paper, we derive unbiased estimators for both the mean squared error (MSE) and the scaled MSE matrices of a class of Stein-type estimators. Our derivation provides the basis for measuring the estimators' precision and constructing confidence bands. Comparisons are made between these MSE estimators and the least squares covariance estimator. For illustration, the methodology is applied to data on energy consumption.     

对新时期“荒诞派小说”的回顾

新时期的“荒诞派小说”是一个重要的小说流派 ,前期的作家主要是在借鉴西方文学的一种形式 ,而后期的作者则开始探讨“荒诞”这一主题 ,并取得了一定的成绩 ,对中国当代小说的发展有不可低估的贡献 ,时至今日我们应该对此进行总结与回顾     

翻译要顾及母语的纯洁

翻译应遵从的一个基本原则能意译的,就不要音译,更不要把外语直接搀杂到母语中来.译者要顾及母语的纯洁.     

皮屑蛋白粉替代蚕蛹饲喂仔猪和生长肥育猪的试验

将115头哺乳仔猪随机分成两组,分别按4.5％的比例加入皮屑蛋白粉和优质蚕蛹粉于相同基础日粮中,进行日增重比较研究,结果皮屑蛋白组日增重为329.6g,对照组为322g,两者差异不显著(P>0.05)。将40头生长肥育猪分成两组,分别按5％的比例加入皮屑蛋白粉和优质蚕蛹粉于相同基础日粮中,进行日增重、料肉比、经济效益比较研究,结果皮屑蛋白组与对照组日增重和料向比差异不显著(P>0.05),皮屑蛋白组每增重1kg的饲料成本比对照组降低5.6％。     

同多钼酸掺杂聚吡咯膜修饰微电极的电化学行为及其电催化性能

本文用电化学方法将同多钼酸催化剂固定在导电聚吡咯膜微电极上,从而制得了具有表面功能的同多钼酸掺杂的聚吡咯(IPMo/PPy)膜修饰微电极。该电极不仅保持了同多钼酸的电化学活性和电催化性能,而且在硫酸水溶液中进行电位扫描时具有良好的稳定性。在酸性水溶液中固定在PPy膜内的IPMo能催化还原ClO_3~-和BrO_3~-,并且对BrO_3~-的催化效应比对ClO_3~-的更强。     

比较阅读在培养学生思维品质方面的作用

比较阅读是一种科学的学习方法和研究方法 ,在教学中已经得到广泛的应用。运用比较阅读法 ,可以使学生的认识深化 ,思维敏捷 ,富于独创性。对于开发学生的智力 ,提高其阅读、鉴赏和创新能力都有好处 ,是培养学生思维品质的重要方法。     

Analysis of ordered covariate effects among groups with repeated measurements

Testing procedures for ordered covariate effects are developed in the repeated measures experiment. The maximum likelihood estimators of covariate effects under the ordered hypothesis are approximated by the isotonic regression of their unconstrained estimators. The asymptotic null distributions of the test statistics are chi-bar-square distributions which are mixtures of chi-square distributions. A Monte-Carlo simulation reveals that the proposed test for ordered covariate effects is seriously more powerful than the usual chi-square test that neglects the information on the order restriction. These testing methods are applied for analyzing the effect of vitamin E diet supplement on growth rate of animals.     

The Interplay Between Tonal Synchrony and Social Engagement in Mother–Infant Interaction

This study explores the relationship between tonal synchrony and maternal‐infant social engagement based on free‐play recordings of 15 mothers and their 3‐month‐old infants in a laboratory setting. Moment‐by‐moment analyses on a microlevel were used to study social engagement and vocal interaction. We analysed and categorized 854 vocalization periods (mother‐only vocalizations, tonal interaction periods, nontonal interaction periods, and mutual silence). Tonal synchrony was analysed in terms of harmonic and pentatonic series based on pitch frequency analyses. Social engagement was microanalyzed in terms of matched and mismatched engagement states. ANOVA‐repeated measures revealed, most importantly, a significant relationship between TIPs and social interaction repair, which indicates the importance of tonal synchrony in the flow of social engagement in mother–infant dyads. Other significant relationships were found between (a) nTIPs/mismatch–mismatch, and, (b) MOV/affect loss. As mentioned in the discussion, the findings are suggestive for clinical applications (e.g., music therapy) and warrant further research.     

Chloroform Exposure and the Health Risk Associated with Multiple Uses of Chlorinated Tap Water

Recently, showers have been suspected to be an important source of indoor exposure to volatile organic compounds (VOC). The chloroform dose to an individual from showering was determined based on exhaled breath analysis. The postexposure chloroform breath concentration ranged from 6.0-21 micrograms/m3, while all corresponding background breath concentrations were less than 0.86 micrograms/m3. The internal dose from showering (inhalation plus dermal) was comparable to estimates of the dose from daily water ingestion. The risk associated with a single, 10-min shower was estimated to be 1.22 x 10(-4), while the estimated risk from daily ingestion of tap water ranged from 0.130 x 10(-4) to 1.80 x 10(-4) for 0.15 and 2.0 L, respectively. Since the estimates of chloroform risk from domestic water use for the three exposure routes--ingestion, inhalation, and dermal--are similar, all routes must be used to calculate the total risk when making policy decisions regarding the quality of the municipal water supply.