Test For Contingency Tables Research Articles

A theory of contrasts for modified Freeman–Tukey statistics and its applications to Tukey’s post-hoc tests for contingency tables

A theory of contrasts for modified Freeman–Tukey statistics and its applications to Tukey’s post-hoc tests for contingency tables

OASIS: An interpretable, finite-sample valid alternative to Pearson’s X2 for scientific discovery

Contingency tables, data represented as counts matrices, are ubiquitous across quantitative research and data-science applications. Existing statistical tests are insufficient however, as none are simultaneously computationally efficient and statistically valid for a finite number of observations. In this work, motivated by a recent application in reference-free genomic inference [K. Chaung et al., Cell 186, 5440-5456 (2023)], we develop Optimized Adaptive Statistic for Inferring Structure (OASIS), a family of statistical tests for contingency tables. OASIS constructs a test statistic which is linear in the normalized data matrix, providing closed-form P-value bounds through classical concentration inequalities. In the process, OASIS provides a decomposition of the table, lending interpretability to its rejection of the null. We derive the asymptotic distribution of the OASIS test statistic, showing that these finite-sample bounds correctly characterize the test statistic's P-value up to a variance term. Experiments on genomic sequencing data highlight the power and interpretability of OASIS. Using OASIS, we develop a method that can detect SARS-CoV-2 and Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains de novo, which existing approaches cannot achieve. We demonstrate in simulations that OASIS is robust to overdispersion, a common feature in genomic data like single-cell RNA sequencing, where under accepted noise models OASIS provides good control of the false discovery rate, while Pearson's [Formula: see text] consistently rejects the null. Additionally, we show in simulations that OASIS is more powerful than Pearson's [Formula: see text] in certain regimes, including for some important two group alternatives, which we corroborate with approximate power calculations.

Pancreatic cancer and diabetes: The effects of race and genes.

627 Background: Pancreatic cancer and diabetes mellitus (DM) have been shown to be connected, but the genetic associations between the two have not been well characterized. The goal of this study was to identify racial and genomic patterns that relate the timing of DM onset with a pancreatic cancer diagnosis. Methods: Consecutive pancreatic cancer patients treated at the University of Cincinnati Cancer Center with available tumor genomic profiles were studied. Descriptive statistics for 133 genes, patient characteristics, cancer stage, treatment details, and family history were analyzed. Categorical variables were compared using the Pearson Chi-square test for contingency tables (or Fisher’s exact test when the expected frequency within any cell was less than 5 in the contingency table), and the t-test or ANOVA was used for continuous variables. For overall survival, we generated Kaplan-Meier curves by DM diagnosis, and fit univariable Cox Proportional-Hazard models for each interest variable for all patients, and multivariable Cox models, which included only significant variables. Results: Of 147 individuals with pancreatic cancer (median age 67 years, 49% female, 12% Black), 46.3% had a DM diagnosis. Of these, 62% had chronic DM, while 38% were diagnosed within one year of their pancreatic cancer diagnosis. Black individuals were more likely to have DM diagnosed (76.5% vs 41.7%, p = 0.007), and were more likely to have been diagnosed within a year of pancreatic cancer (69.2% vs 30.2%, p = 0.023), compared with White individuals. There were 15 genes found to be upregulated in those with DM and pancreatic cancer, and 11 genes found to be downregulated. RNF43 mutation was more prevalent in pancreatic cancer patients with chronic DM than those without DM (71.4% vs 32.5%, p = 0.048), although absolute number of individuals with the mutation were low. No other genomic association on the timing of DM and pancreatic cancer was found. A SMAD4 mutation was associated with a 121% increased risk of mortality (HR = 2.21, 95% CI 1.16-4.19, p=0.016). Conclusions: In a cohort of pancreatic cancer patients at a single center, Black individuals were more likely to have DM diagnosed closer to pancreatic cancer diagnosis (rather than earlier), compared with other races. No remarkable genomic association was found. This highlights that a diagnosis of diabetes may be related to inequities in healthcare, as opposed to true genomic differences, and needs to be explored in larger datasets.

Advanced pancreatic cancer outcomes and the impact of COVID-19 pandemic: The experience of an academic cancer center.

626 Background: The COVID-19 pandemic increased all-cause mortality and disrupted healthcare delivery in the United States. Interruptions in cancer screening and surveillance because of the pandemic resulted in delayed diagnosis, diagnosis at later stages, and worse cancer-related outcomes. However, the effect of COVID-19 on pancreatic cancer outcomes has not been reported. This study aimed to investigate this question. Methods: We studied consecutive patients with unresectable and metastatic pancreatic cancer treated at the University of Cincinnati Cancer Center. Patients were divided into 2 cohorts: from January 2018 to December 2019 (pre-COVID) and from January of 2020 to December of 2021 (during-COVID). Descriptive data on patient characteristics, ECOG performance status (PS), laboratory values, therapies, and mortality were obtained by pre- and during-COVID. The categorical variables were compared using the Pearson Chi-square test for contingency tables (or Fisher’s exact test when the expected frequency within any cell was less than 5 in the contingency table), and the t-test or ANOVA was used for continuous variables. For overall survival time, the Kaplan-Meier curves were compared between pre- and during-COVID using log rank test. We fitted univariable Cox proportional-hazards model for each interest variable, and the multivariable Cox models, which includes only significant variables. Results: There were 81 and 64 patients in the pre- and during-COVID cohorts, respectively. Patients diagnosed during COVID were more likely to be female, have better PS, have higher proportion of alcohol use, and were more likely to receive 5-FU-based (compared with gemcitabine-based) chemotherapy upfront. There was no overall survival difference between the two cohorts. A Cox proportional hazards model showed that PS at diagnosis, history of chronic pancreatitis, any chemotherapy compared to no chemotherapy, serum albumin prior to initial chemotherapy, and body mass index at time of diagnosis were associated with survival. Conclusions: We observed no difference in overall survival in patients diagnosed with advanced stage pancreatic cancer during the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic compared with the two prior years. While some differences were observed between patient groups and treatment selection before and during the pandemic, a concerted effort to maintain cancer care appears to have minimized the impact of the pandemic. Further analyses on patients undergoing treatment are being conducted.

Highly private large‐sample tests for contingency tables

AbstractDifferential privacy is a foundational concept for safeguarding sensitive individual information when releasing data or statistical analysis results. In this study, we concentrate on the protection of privacy in the context of goodness‐of‐fit (GOF) and independence tests, utilizing perturbed contingency tables that adhere to Gaussian differential privacy within the high‐privacy regime, where the degrees of privacy protection increase as the sample size increases. We introduce private test procedures for GOF, independence of two variables and the equality of proportions in paired samples, similar to McNemar's test. For each of these hypothesis testing situations, we propose private test statistics based on the statistics and establish their asymptotic null distributions. We numerically confirm that Type I error rates of the proposed private test procedures are well controlled and have adequate power for larger sample sizes and effect sizes. The proposal is demonstrated in private inferences based on the American Time Use Survey data.

Improving the power of hypothesis tests in sparse contingency tables

When analyzing data in contingency tables it is frequent to deal with sparse data, particularly when the sample size is small relative to the number of cells. Most analyses of this kind are interpreted in an exploratory manner and even if tests are performed, little attention is paid to statistical power. This paper proposes a method we call redundant procedure, which is based on the union–intersection principle and increases test power by focusing on specific components of the hypothesis. This method is particularly helpful when the hypothesis to be tested can be expressed as the intersections of simpler models, such that at least some of them pertain to smaller table marginals. This situation leads to working on tables that are naturally denser. One advantage of this method is its direct application to (chain) graphical models. We illustrate the proposal through simulations and suggest strategies to increase the power of tests in sparse tables. Finally, we demonstrate an application to the EU-SILC dataset.

Physical Exercise and Occupational Therapy at Home to Improve the Quality of Life in Subjects Affected by Rheumatoid Arthritis: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic autoimmune inflammatory disease that affects synovial membranes and typically causes joint pain and swelling. The resulting disability of RA is due to the erosion of cartilage and bone from the inflamed synovial tissue. Occupational therapy is a strategy and technique to minimize the joints' fatigue and effort. At the same time, physical exercise reduces the impact of systemic manifestations and improves symptoms in RA. This study investigates the role of a 30-day joint economy intervention (integration of physical exercise and occupational therapy) at home on the quality of life of subjects with RA. One hundred and sixty outpatients with RA were enrolled in a single-center trial with PROBE design and were divided into the intervention group (IG), which combined joint protection movements and physical exercise to maintain muscle tone at home, and the control group (CG). Both groups included 80 patients. In all patients, data from the disease activity score (DAS 28), health assessment questionnaire (HAQ), and short-form health survey (SF-12) "Italian version" were collected. In addition, to IG, a brochure was distributed, and the joint economy was explained, while to CG, the brochure only was distributed. The comparison between groups was made using Fisher's exact test for contingency tables and the z-test for the comparison of proportions. The non-parametric Mann-Whitney U test was used to compare quantitative variables between groups. The Wilcoxon signed-ranked test was used for post-intervention versus baseline comparisons. Among the recruited patients, 54% were female. The mean age was 58.0 (42.4-74.7) for the CG and 54.0 (39.7-68.3) for the IG. Patients included in the IG had a higher cumulative illness rating scale for the evaluation of severity and comorbidity index (2.81 vs. 2.58; 2.91 vs. 2.59, respectively), as well as morning stiffness (33.8 vs. 25.0), even if not significant compared with CG patients. Our results indicate that, after 30 days of joint economy intervention at home, the DAS28 erythrocyte sedimentation rate (esr) and DAS28 C-reactive protein (crp), HAQ, and SF-12 mental component score were significantly improved (p = 0.005, p = 0.004, p = 0.009, and p = 0.010, respectively). Our findings show that the combination of physical exercise and occupational therapy positively affects patients' quality of life with RA considering disease activity, global health status, and mental health.

Knowledge, attitudes and behavioural intentions of gillnet fishermen towards the South American sea lion in two marine protected areas in southern Brazil

Conflicts between humans and wildlife are increasing in many parts of the world. In southern Brazil, South American sea lions (Otaria flavescens) interact with commercial fisheries, which can result in retaliation by fishermen. In order to understand the factors that may influence the behaviour of fishermen towards sea lions, interviews were carried out with 91 gillnet fishermen from the southern region of Brazil. Of these, 48 were fishermen from the surroundings of the Molhe Leste Wildlife Refuge, in Rio Grande/São José do Norte, in the state of Rio Grande do Sul (RS), and 43 were fishermen from the surroundings of Ilha dos Lobos, in Laguna, in the state of Santa Catarina (SC). The questions were formulated to investigate concepts such as Knowledge, Attitudes and Behaviour Intentions related to sea lions, their places of occurrence, the legislation and interactions with fisheries. Background factors such as knowledge about national marine mammal legal protection and perceptions towards sea lions, socioeconomic factors of fishers and vessel size were also investigated. Chi-squared, Student's t and Contingency Table tests were performed to verify differences between communities. For each community, generalized linear models (GLM) were performed to verify relation between background factors and Attitudes and Mann-Whitney tests were used to verify relation between Attitudes and Behaviour Intentions. Results showed that there were no statistically significant differences between gillnet fishermen from RG/SJN and Laguna in terms of Attitudes and Behaviour Intentions. Experience and Perceptions on the American sea lion population increase and on the appreciation of sea lions by fishermen were the only background factors that influenced Attitudes in RG/SJN, as well as Perception on the increase of the American sea lion population in Laguna. A significant direct relation between Attitudes and Behavioural Intentions was found in Laguna. Fishermen's knowledge, attitudes and behavioural intentions were more positive because the majority of the interviewees worked in the industrial gillnet fleet, which operates in areas further from the coast and, therefore, are less subjected to interact with sea lions during fishing activities. Besides, this fleet has a greater fishing power than small and medium-scale vessels, making economic losses less impactful for fishermen. Greater efforts should be made to raise the awareness of surface gillnet fisheries in regard to conflict mitigation, to monitor the compliance with the fishery legislation and its effectiveness, and to make an integrated management of the Protected Areas, among other actions.

Is there an Impact of Company Size and Industry on Corporate Culture? An Empirical Study from the Slovak Republic

Abstract Nowadays, corporate culture has become a strategic priority for companies. It is an important part of companies, as it indicates the overall trend in the behaviour of employees' work relations and processes. At the same time, corporate culture helps employees understand the company, identify with the company's goals, and become part of the company. Some authors consider corporate culture to be the main characteristic that distinguishes successful companies. If a company exhibits a high level of culture, its organizational performance also increases. Therefore, we consider corporate culture to be an integral part of every company. Data for the research was obtained through an online questionnaire. Subsequently, we used the statistical program IBM SPSS 25. To determine the existence of a relationship between company size and corporate culture and between industry and corporate culture, we used Pearson’s χ2 test for contingency tables, as the variables are qualitative. Subsequently, we evaluated the strength of the relationship based on Cramer's V. Subsequently, correspondence analysis was used to display the use of corporate culture for industries according to SK NACE and company size. Using Pearson's χ2 test, we found that there is a weak relationship between firm size and corporate culture, and a moderate relationship between industry and corporate culture. On the basis of correspondence analysis, we found, for example, that micro-enterprises use a culture of power, medium-sized enterprises use a culture of roles, and the electricity and gas supply industry uses a culture of performance. The added value of the article is the topicality of the research and the fact that the results relate to the Slovak Republic and can serve as a basis for further research. As a limitation of our research, we can consider that not all branches of the Slovak economy were represented according to SK NACE.

Alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma: novel surrogate markers associated with oncogenic translocation

Anomalies of the FOXO1 gene in alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma are associated with a worse clinical prognosis, which determines the high value of studying the status of this gene when choosing a therapy strategy. The «gold standard» for determining FOXO1 gene rearrangements is currently the fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) technique. Study of the relationship between canonical FOXO1 translocation and immunohistochemical expression of new surrogate markers in alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma to determine their predictive value. 139 cases of rhabdomyosarcoma were retrospectively studied. The study used tissue matrix technology (TMA). On sections obtained from TMA blocks, the FISH technique was implemented using the locus-specific probe MetaSystems XL FOXO1 Break Apart (Metasystems, Germany). Immunohistochemical studies were performed on similar sections from TMA blocks with OLIG2 (Cell Marque Antibodies, clone 211F1.1) and MUC4 (Cell Marque Antibodies, clone 8G7) antibodies. The final expression analysis and statistical processing using a 2x2 contingency table and Fisher's exact test passed 111 cases (76 without FOXO1 rearrangement and 35 with rearrangement). The specificity of OLIG2 and MUC4 expression for FOXO1-rearranged alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma was 85.53% and 80.26%, respectively (p<0.01). The present study confirms the high predictive value of the expression of surrogate markers OLIG2 and MUC4 in determining the genetic status of alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma, which makes it possible to predict with high specificity the detection of the FOXO1 gene rearrangement.

Evaluation of the different methods to detect Salmonella in poultry feces samples.

Salmonella is one of the most common causes of foodborne outbreaks and infection worldwide. The gold-standard detection method of Salmonella is cultivation. There is a need to investigate rapid and accurate processes with time-consuming cultivation. The study evaluated different approaches to detect Salmonella in poultry feces samples. Poultry farm feces samples from 21 cities in Iran were collected from January 2016 to December 2019. Microbiological cultures, serological assays, and multiplex PCR (m-PCR) were used to detect and characterize Salmonella spp. isolates. Serological assays and m-PCR were used to determine the serogroups A, B, C1, C2, D1, E, H, and FliC. The m-PCR was used to detect seven Salmonella serovars, and a Chi-square test was performed to compare the discriminatory power of the methods. Of 2300 poultry feces samples, 173 (7.5%) and 166 (7.2%) samples were detected as Salmonella spp. by cultivation and m-PCR, respectively. The sensitivity of the molecular method was equal to cultivation at 0.96 (CI = 95%). Assessment of H antigenic subgroups showed the same for both m-PCR and serological tests. Therefore, the matching rate of the two methods for detecting all H antigenic subgroups was 100%. Thus, the relationship between the results obtained from both methods was significant in the contingency table test (P < 0.01). The PCR-based approach confirmed the detection of Salmonella in a shorter period (24-36h) compared to the conventional microbiological approach (3-8days).

Prevalence of Early Knee Osteoarthritis Illness Among Various Patient-Reported Classification Criteria After Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction.

To compare the prevalence of participants meeting different patient-reported criteria for early osteoarthritis (OA) illness after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACLR). Participants completed the Knee Injury and Osteoarthritis Outcomes Score (KOOS) at a single time point 5.0-7.9 months post-ACLR. We used established KOOS subscale criteria (i.e., Luyten original and Englund original) to define patient-reported early OA illness. A two-by-two contingency table and McNemar's test were used to compare the prevalence of participants who met the Luyten original versus Englund original KOOS criteria for early OA illness. These analyses were repeated using KOOS subscale thresholds based on established population-specific patient acceptable symptom state (PASS) within the Luyten and Englund KOOS criteria (i.e., Luyten PASS and Englund PASS). A greater prevalence of participants with ACLR met the Luyten original criteria (n=165 [54%]) compared to those who met the Englund original criteria (n=128 [42%]; χ2 =19.3, P < 0.001). When using the KOOS subscale PASS as thresholds, a significantly greater prevalence of participants with ACLR met the Luyten PASS criteria (n=133 [43%]) compared to those who met the Englund PASS criteria (n=85 [28%]; χ2 =48.0, P < 0.001). When combining the Luyten and Englund KOOS criteria and using the original/PASS subscale thresholds, respectively, 40%/57% of participants met neither, 24%/15% met only 1, and 36%/28% met both KOOS criteria. Regardless of the classification criteria used to define early OA illness, it is concerning that 28-54% of patients report considerable symptoms ~6 months post-ACLR. Our findings will improve the classification criteria to define early OA illness, which may raise awareness for the need of population-specific criteria.

Continuity correction of Pearson’s chi-square test in 2x2 Contingency Tables: A mini-review on recent development

The Pearson’s chi-square test represents a nonparametric test more used in Biomedicine and Social Sciences, but it introduces an error for 2x2 contingency tables, when a discrete probability distribution is approximated with a continuous distribution. The first author to introduce the continuity correction of Pearson’s chi-square test has been Yates F. (1934). Unfortunately, Yates’s correction may tend to overcorrect of p-value, this can implicate an overly conservative result. Therefore many authors have introduced variants Pearson’s chi-square statistic, as alternative continuity correction to Yates’s correction. The goal of this paper is to describe the most recent continuity corrections, proposed for Pearson’s chi-square test.

The Second Shot of CoronaVac Vaccine May Cause Reduction of Antibody Levels in People who Previously had COVID-19

The CoronaVac vaccine is an inactivated type two-dose regimen vaccine developed and manufactured by Sinovac Life Sciences Company, in China. It has already been used in China's vaccination program, while 21 other countries (including Indonesia, Turkey and Brazil) also granted emergency use authorization for this vaccine. In Turkey, on January 14, 2021, healthcare workers (HCWs) started to be vaccinated with CoronaVac as the priority group in vaccination. An important question that arose at this time was about how the vaccination schedule would be for people who had previously had Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that those who have had a previous COVID-19 infection can be vaccinated regardless of their previous infection. CDC guidelines also mention that "…if antibody (Ab) testing was done after the first dose of an mRNA vaccine, the vaccination series should be completed regardless of the Ab test result". It should be noted here that this statement applies particularly to mRNA type vaccines, whereas CoronaVac jab is an inactivated type two-dose regimen vaccine. The aim of this study was to present interim results of our ongoing study to compare the effect of two doses of inactivated CoronaVac vaccine on humoral immunity of people who had previously severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection, and those people who did not have the infection. In our study, CoronaVac jab containing 600 SU inactivated SARS-CoV-2 antigen was administered as 0.5 ml to 62 HCWs in Yeditepe University Hospital (Istanbul, Turkey), in accordance with the manufacturer's recommendations. Ab levels against spike receptor binding region of SARS-CoV-2 were measured quantitatively. SARS-CoV-2 IgG assay were performed using Abbott Architect i2000 instrument (Abbott Laboratories, Abbott Park, IL, USA). Ab titers were measured before vaccination (Ab0), one month after the first vaccination (Ab1), and one month after the second vaccination (Ab2). The Ab responses of 62 HCWs before and after CoronaVac vaccination were determined. Two groups were created. Group 1 consisted of 18 females and 15 males who were tested as COVID-19 positive, previously. Group 2 consisted of 20 females and 9 males who never had the infection. Minimum, median and maximum Ab0 values of Group1 were 1.6, 180.8 and 5582.6, respectively and Ab1 values were 26.3, 1005.7 and 3923.1; Ab2 values were 202.1, 1119.1 and 2885.9, (in au/mL) respectively. On the other hand, minimum, median and maximum Ab0 values of Group 2 were 0.1, 1.8, and 37.2, Ab1 values were 4.7, 72.7, 470.2, and Ab2 values were 270.3, 746.2 and 5554.1, respectively. In Group 1, 20 of the HCWs showed lower Ab2 titers, while 13 of the HCWs showed higher Ab2 titers than the Ab1 titers. Whereas in Group2 all HCWs had higher Ab2 titers than the Ab1 titers. When the increasing and decreasing Ab2 titers of both groups were evaluated with the 2×2 contingency table and Fisher's exact chi-square test, a statistically significant difference was found between the groups (p<0.001). As a result, we think that a single dose of CoronaVac vaccine similarly to mRNA vaccines can be administered to people who have had COVID-19 due to the possibility that the Ab levels measured after the first dose of vaccine will decrease after the second dose of vaccine.

Nutritional Status of Rural Households: A Case Study in Cooch Behar District of West Bengal

The present work focuses on studying the effect of socio-economic factors on nutritional status of rural households under the Coochbehar-II block of Coochbehar district in West Bengal. A well-structured interview schedule was prepared to collect information about the socio-economic status and nutritional status of the respondents. As an indicator of Nutritional status, the Body Mass Index (BMI) values of the respondents were studied. In the present study, the Independent-Samples Kruskal-Wallis Test and Independent-Samples Mann-Whitney U Test (non-paramedic test) were employed to study the effect of different socio-economic variables on nutritional status of the respondents. Age of the respondents, educational qualification of the respondents, Family size, and House type of the respondents were found to significantly affect the BMI scores of the respondents. The categories of the significantly contributing variables for nutrition like age, education, and house type show significant associations with the BMI categories using Contingency table and Chi-square test.

Differences of Motor Proficiency in Preschool Girls Related to Organized Physical Activity

This study purpose was to determine the level of motor competence and differences in motor skills of preschool girls aged 5 to 7 from Serbia according to participation in organized physical activities. &#x0D; Materials and methods. Ninety-one girls aged 5-7 years (mean ± 6.4) were divided into three subsamples: control group, rhythmic gymnastics and sports school. Girls were assessed with the MABC-2 test. Descriptive statistics analyzed the basic characteristics of participants according to the level of motor competence. Furthermore, Pearson’s χ2 test for contingency tables, MANOVA and discriminant analysis were employed to find differences in motor proficiency among groups. &#x0D; Results. Significant differences have been found in girls attending rhythmic gymnastics in aiming &amp; catching on the upper bound of moderate effect size (p &lt; 0.001, η2 = 139), and total test score moderate effect size (p = 0.006, η2 = 0.105) compared to girls who did not participate in organized physical activity. The discrimination coefficient explained the differences in girls in aiming and catching, with a contribution of 41.4%, balance skills with 24%, and a total test score of 22.9%. According to the level of motor competence, 61% from the control group and 40% from the sports school group scored below average in aiming &amp; catching. The total test score of ≥ 50 percentile was achieved by 68.3% of girls in the control group, 84% in the sports school group, and 96% in rhythmic gymnastics. &#x0D; Conclusion. This study confirms that sports practice contributes to the development of motor capabilities and influences individual differences in children’s scores. Our findings can contribute to understanding how important it is to promote object control skills games for girls and older preschoolers generally.

THE INFLUENCE OF PETS ON THE EMOTIONAL STATE OF YOUTH DURING LOCKDOWN

Existing studies of correlation between the experience of owning and caring for a pet with the psycho-mental state of a person confirm the relevance of this scientific problem. It was substantiated that lockdown restrictions in this context turned out to be a significant factor, as they affect all parts of a personal life, in particular, psychological and social health. The empirical basis of the study is represented by methods: The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS; Zigmond &amp; Snaith), Budner's Intolerance of Ambiguity Scale (IAS), UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles) Loneliness Scale (D. Russell, L. A. Peplau, M. L. Ferguson), K. L. Milutina`s Responsible Pet Attitude Scale", author's questionnaire for understanding the pets behavior. For statistical data analysis we used Chi-square; descriptive statistics, Duncan's Multiple Range test (DMRT), Scheffé's Test for Multiple Comparisons contingency tables, One-way ANOVA, Fisher's F-test, Spearman rank correlation coefficient, Kolmogorov–Smirnov test (KS test), Livigne's homogeneity criterion. The study sample consisted of 79 people, their age ranged from 16 to 26 years. Sex distribution: men - 20.2% (16), women - 79.4% (63). The study found that people who have animals have lower rates of depression and anxiety than non-owners do, but higher rates of intolerance to the unknown. It has been shown that people who give more care to their pets are slightly less depressed than those who do not pay attention to their pets. We found that anxiety does not significantly depend on the care of animals. The dynamics and causal relationship between animal care and anxiety remain controversial. As the prospects for further research, we see the empirical clarification of the young owner-pet relationship features depending on the owner`s separation from his family, functionality of this family, the purpose for buying and owning a pet; We also find interesting the study of the correlation between pet ownership and tolerance to the unknown. An important observation issue remains the consideration of ways to improve the psycho-emotional state of youth.

Virtual reality as a simulation tool for field hospital’s and COVID-19 hospital’s staff training

COVID-19 pandemic imposed sudden increase in hospital admissions, thus medical systems needed to reorganize entire hospitals quite often. Quick and efficient training is of outmost importance. Virtual reality team training is a promising tool for newly organized hospital units' staff. Our goal was to present the usefulness and applicability of virtual simulation exercises for training of field hospital personnel and to evaluate the adaptability of these created and tested exercise packs for urgent staff training of COVID-19 hospitals. Three prototypes of virtual reality exercises were assessed through two test courses. XVR simulation software was used to create virtual environments. Evaluation of exercise applicability and utility was performed by anonymous questionnaires. Statistical data-processing was performed using contingency table and chi-square tests. 76 trainees from eight countries participated in the two pilot courses. 63.9% of the participants stated that the method is suitable for conducting such exercises, but needs further development. Its technical use is "easy enough" to learn (59.7%) and provides an interactive (90.32%) and realistic (45.0%) working environment. Virtual reality is applicable to train field hospital staffs for real missions. The created virtual exercise packages are easily adaptable, both in content and structure, to workshops dedicated for quick training of specific COVID-19 temporary medical facility's personnel. Virtual reality is a promising educational tool that can complement the expensive and laborious field exercises, with comparable training efficiency. These virtual reality experiences may become real professional memories and create swiftly a secure and efficient professional milieu. Orv Hetil. 2021; 160(40): 1591-1600.

Abstract 481: Utility of hCG as a biomarker of treatment response in advanced urothelial cancer: A population based series at Akershus University Hospital, Norway

Abstract Background Treatment options in patients with advanced urothelial carcinoma (aUC) have improved significantly in the last decade, highlighting the need for adequate biomarkers. High tumor CGB5 mRNA, encoding Human Chorionic Gonadotrophin β (hCGβ) and elevated serum free hCGβ are related to poorly differentiated UC and correlated to poor prognosis. Hypothetically, hCG could be used as serum tumor marker in aUC patients. Patients and methods From December 2018 to November 2020, serum hCG levels were measured in 62 aUC patients referred to the oncology department, Akershus University Hospital. Median age 68 years, 42 male and 21 female. Total serum hCG (intact hCG + free hCGβ) was measured by electrochemiluminescence immunoassay “ECLIA”. In order to compensate for hypogonadism-related increases, hCG ≥ 50% above upper normal limit was considered as being elevated (hCG+), otherwise it was considered negative (hCG-). Further, hCG levels were defined as increasing (↑) or declining (↓) at treatment evaluation and follow up. Radiologically, patients had newly diagnosed disease (ND), progressive disease (PD) or non-PD (stable disease, partial or complete response) according to RECIST 1.1 at evaluation and follow up. hCG values were correlated with radiological findings at diagnosis, during and after treatment. Statistics by 2 x 2 contingency table and Chi Square (χ2) test. Results At least one hCG+ value was measured in 38 of 62 patients (61%), range 0.8 - 62,700 IU/L, and hCG was elevated in 22 of 43 patients (51%) with available hCG value at diagnosis, mean 15 IU/L (range 0.8 - 58). In total 213 hCG measurements could be correlated with concomitant CT or MR scans. At radiologic evaluation of ND &amp; PD, hCG+/↑ and hCG -/↓ was found in 62 and 50 measurements, respectively. At non-PD, hCG -/↓ and hCG+/↑ was found in 94 and 7 measurements, respectively. For ND &amp; PD versus non-PD, hCG showed a sensitivity and specificity of 55% and 93% respectively (95% CI 46-65% and 86-97%), positive and negative predictive value of 90% and 65% (95% CI 81-95% and 60-70%) and accuracy of 73% (95% CI 66-79%), χ2: p&amp;lt;0.00001. Exclusion of the 24 patients without elevated hCG showed improved sensitivity 76% at the cost of lower specificity 82% (95% CI 65-85% and 66-92% respectively), positive and negative predictive value 90% and 63% (95% CI 82-95% and 52-72%) and accuracy of 78% (95% CI 70-86%), χ2: p&amp;lt;0.00001. Conclusions Ectopic hCG production was observed in 61% of aUC patients with a strong and meaningful correlation between hCG changes and radiologic evaluation of treatment response. Intriguingly, hCG increase sometimes preceded radiologic PD, thus categorized as “false positive” until subsequent radiologic PD. hCG appears to be a promising tumor marker for biochemical treatment response evaluation in aUC patients. Citation Format: Katarina Puco, Johan Bjerner, Stig Müller, Gunder M. Lilleaasen, Haldor Husby, Mattias Røed-Undlien, Daniel Heinrich, Fredrik A. Dahl, Oluf D. Røe, Jan Oldenburg. Utility of hCG as a biomarker of treatment response in advanced urothelial cancer: A population based series at Akershus University Hospital, Norway [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2021; 2021 Apr 10-15 and May 17-21. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2021;81(13_Suppl):Abstract nr 481.

What factors increase the vulnerability of native birds to the impacts of alien birds?

Biodiversity impacts caused by alien species can be severe, including those caused by alien birds. In order to protect native birds, we aimed to identify factors that influence their vulnerability to the impacts of alien birds. We first reviewed the literature to identify native bird species sustaining such impacts. We then assigned impact severity scores to each native bird species, depending on the severity of the impacts sustained, and performed two types of analyses. First, we used contingency table tests to examine the distribution of impacts across their severity, type and location, and across native bird orders. Second, we used mixed‐effects models to test factors hypothesised to influence the vulnerability of native birds to the impacts of alien birds.Ground‐nesting shorebirds and seabirds were more prone to impacts through predation, while cavity‐nesting woodpeckers and parrots were more prone to impacts through competition. Native bird species were more vulnerable when they occupied islands, warm regions, regions with climatic conditions similar to those in the native range of the invading alien species, and when they were physically smaller than the invading alien species. To a lesser extent, they were also vulnerable when they shared habitat preferences with the invading alien species.By considering the number and type of native bird species affected by alien birds, we demonstrate predation impacts to be more widespread than previously indicated, but also that damaging predation impacts may be underreported. We identify vulnerable orders of native birds, which may require conservation interventions; characteristics of native birds that increase their vulnerability, which may be used to inform risk assessments; and regions where native birds are most vulnerable, which may direct management interventions. The impacts sustained by native birds may be going unnoticed in many regions of the world: there is a clear need to identify and manage them.