By Sarah Baker

Master Protocols for Clinical Trials

Clinical Trials, Pharma & Drug Development
Part 1: Basket & Umbrella Trial Designs Introduction As the clinical research landscape becomes ever more complex and interdisciplinary alongside an evolving genomic and biomolecular understanding of disease, the statistical design component that underpins this research must adapt to accommodate this. Accuracy of evidence and speed with which novel therapeutics are brought to market remain hurdles to be surmounted. While…
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By Sarah Baker

Distributed Ledger Technology for Clinical & Life Sciences Research: some Use-Cases for Blockchain & Directed Acyclic Graphs

All
Distributed ledger technology (DLT) such as blockchain has a myriad of use-cases in life sciences and clinical research. Distributed ledger technology (DLT) has the potential to solve a myriad of problems that currently plague data collection, management and access processes in clinical and life sciences research, including clinical trials. DLT is an innovative approach to operating in environments where trust…
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By Sarah Baker

Simpson’s Paradox: the perils of hidden bias.

All
How Simpson’s Paradox Confounds Research Findings And Why Knowing Which Groups To Segment By Can Reverse Study Findings By Eliminating Bias. Introduction   The misinterpretation of statistics or even the "mis"-analysis of data can occur for a variety of reasons and to a variety of ends. This article will focus on one such phenomenon contributing to the drawing of faulty conclusion…
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By Anatomise Biostats

Latent Variable Modelling And The Chi Squared Exact Fit Statistic

Biostatistics
Latent variable modelling and the chi squared exact fit statistic Latent variable models are exploratory statistical models used extensively throughout clinical and experimental research in medicine and the life sciences in general. Psychology and neuroscience are two key sub-disciplines where latent variable models are routinely employed to answer a myriad of research questions from the impact of personality traits on…
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By Anatomise Biostats

Do I need a Biostatistician?

Biostatistics
".... half of current published peer-reviewed clinical research papers ... contain at least one statistical error... When just surgical related papers were analysed, 78% were found to contain statistical errors." Peer reviewed published research is the go to source for clinicians and researchers to advance their knowledge on the topic at hand. It also currently the most reliable way available…
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By Anatomise Biostats

Transforming Skewed Data: How to choose the right transformation for your distribution

All
​​Innumerable statistical tests exist for application in hypothesis testing based on the shape and nature of the pertinent variable’s distribution. If however the intention is to perform a parametric test - such as ANOVA, Pearson’s correlation or some types of regression - the results of such a test will be more valid if the distribution of the dependent variable(s) approximates…
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By Anatomise Biostats

Accessing Data Files when Using SAS via Citrix Receiver

All
 ​A SAS licence can be prohibitively expensive for many use cases. Installing the software can also take up a surprising amount of hard disk space and memory. For this reason many individuals with light or temporary usage needs choose to access a version of SAS which is licenced to their institution and therefore shared across many users. Are you trying…
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