Idaho Spuds

Tuesday, December 13, 2005

French protester Bové freed for WTO meeting

José Bové, an antiglobalization protester who demolished a McDonald’s in France in 1999, was detained by immigration officials in Hong Kong. WTO's director general, a Frenchman, and the French Consulate intervened and Bové was released. Bove has a criminal record, he has been barred from visiting summits in the United States and Canada in the past.

Daniel Robert Morena (March 11, 1982-December 9, 2005)

Last Friday afternoon, Daniel Robert Morena, a young male patient, in the Clinical Center of the NIH climbed a eight-foot barrier on the seventh floor and fell into the atrium. He was pronouced dead shortly after arriving at nearby Suburban Hospital. Daniel was a mental health patient suffering from schizophrenia, and he was the first suicide since the NIH started treated mental health about 50 years ago. Today, a memorial service was held in the Lipsett Amphitheater to reflect on the tragic event and to stress importance of our work as scientists and clinicians. It is also important to reflect the seriousness of mental health as a disease.

Daniel had studied about world religions and shown interest in Buddhism. On the memorial service program was a writing by Venerable Geshe Kelsang Gyatso, a Buddhist monk:

Remembrance

Buddha taught that all life is impermanent and that those who are born must eventually pass from this life. However, everyone has within them the seeds or their past virtues, which has the power to bring a fortunate rebirth in the future.

We pray that through the power of this virtue, through the blessings of the holy beings, and through the force of our heartfelt prayers, our dear freiend, Daniel Morena, will experience great good fortune and everlasting peace and happiness.

We also pray for the bereaved relatives and friends, that they may be comforted in their loss and find peace of mind and strength of heart.

May all beings without exception be released from suffering, and find true happiness and everlasting peace.

ANCOVA

ANCOVA, or analysis of covariance is a test in statistics that is often implemented in computing packages. ANCOVA is a merger of ANOVA
and regression for continuous variables. ANCOVA tests whether certain factors have an effect after controlling for quantitative predictors. The inclusion of covariates increases statistical power because it accounts for the variablity.
Equations

One-factor ANCOVA analysis

One factor analysis is appropriate when dealing with more than 3 populations; k populations. The single factor has k levels equal to the k populations. n samples from each population are chosen random from their respective population.

Calculating the Sum of Squared Deviates for the Independent Variable X and the Dependent Variable Y
The sum of squared deviates (SS):

S S T y

S S T r y

, and

S S E y

must be calculated using the following equations for the dependent variable, Y. The SS for the covariate must also be calculated, the two necessary values are

S S T x

and and

S S E x

.

The total sum of squares determines the variablility of all the samples.

n T

represents the total number of samples:
$SST_y=\sum_{i=1}^n\sum_{j=1}^kY_{ij}^2-\frac{(\sum_{i=1}^n\sum_{j=1}^kY_{ij})^2}{n_T}$
The sum of squares for treatments determines the variablity between populations or factors.

n k

represents the number of factors:
$SSTr_y=\sum_{i=1}^n(\sum_{j=1}^kY_{ij}-\frac{\sum_{j=1}^k(Y_{ij})^2}{n_k})$
The sum of squares for error determines the variability within each population or factor.

n n

represents the number of samples with a given population:
$SSE_y=\sum_{j=1}^k(\sum_{i=1}^nY_{ij}^2-\frac{\sum_{i=1}^k(Y_{ij})^2}{n_n})$
The total sum of squares is equal to the sum of the sum of squares for treatments and the sum of squares for error:

S S T y = S S T r y + S S E y

Calculating the Covariance of X and Y

The total sum of square covariates determines the covariance of X and Y within the all the data samples:
$SCT=\sum_{i=1}^n\sum_{j=1}^kX_{ij}^2Y_{ij}^2-\frac{(\sum_{i=1}^n\sum_{j=1}^kX_{ij})^2Y_{ij}^2}{n_T}$
$SCE=\sum_{j=1}^k(\sum_{i=1}^nX_{ij}^2Y_{ij}^2-\frac{\sum_{i=1}^k(X_{ij}Y_{ij})^2}{n_n})$
Adjusting the $S S T y$
$r_T^2$ is the correlation between X and Y
$r_T^2=\frac{SCT^2}{SST_xSST_y}$
$r_n^2=\frac{SCE^2}{SSE_xSSE_y}$
The proportion of covariance is substracted from the dependent,

S S y

values:
$SST_{yadj}=SST_y-r_T^2$
$SSE_{yadj}=SSE_y-r_n^2$

S S T r y a d j = S S T y [a d j] - S S E y [a d j]

Adjusting the means of each population k

The mean of each popluation is adjusted in the following manner:
$M_{y_iadj}=M_{y_i}-\frac{SCE_y}{SCE_x}(M_{x_i}-M_{x_T})$

Analysis Using Adjusted Sum of Squares Values

Mean squares for treatments where

d f T r

is equal to

N T - k - 1

d f T r

is one less than in ANOVA to account for the convariance and

d f E = k - 1

:
$MSTr=\frac{SSTr}{df_{Tr}}$
$MSE=\frac{SSE}{df_E}$
The F statistic
$F_{df_E,df_{Tr}}=\frac{MSTr}{MSE}$

Sunday, December 11, 2005

Racial Violence in Sydney

Thousands of suburban white youths in Sydney chanted racial slurs and some attacked people of Middle Eastern origin. These attacks were in response to reports of Lebanese youths attacking two of Cronulla beach's life guards. Twelve people were arrested for assaults and one man was stabbed.

Explosions At UK Fuel Depot

Britain's fifth largest fuel depot in Hertfordshire has been hit by massive explosions sending smoke up to 40 miles away. Forty-three people have been injured; two are seriously hurt. Two-thousand people have been evacuated from nearby homes.

Saturday, December 10, 2005

LA Riots, Pt. 2

Stanley "Tookie" Williams has been on death row since 1979 for the murder of 4 people. He along with Raymond Lee Washington are known as the founders of the Crips gang. During his time in San Quentin, he has become a anti-gang activist. Williams has written an autobiographical book entitled Life In Prison aimed at 8-12-year-olds to discourage kids from joining gangs. In the book, he writes about the reality of prison from the humiliation of strip searches to being locked up in solitary confinement. In 2001, received a nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize.
Williams is set to be executed on Dec. 14. So far, Schwarzenegger has been quiet about Williams's fate. LA council members expect violence if he is executed, and LA police, school, and local groups have been told to prepare. Robin Toma, executive director of the LA County Human Relations Commission has stated there is information about planned and intentional acts of violence if Williams is executed. The Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation has also stated that several threats are being investigated and all of San Quentin's inmates, as well as other prisons, will be locked down during the execution.

Friday, December 09, 2005

Merck's Deleted Vioxx Data

The editors of the New England Journal of Medicine allege that authors of a Merck-funded study of Vioxx in 2000 deleted relevant data before submitting the article for publication including that three additional patients in the clincal study suffered heart attacks. A table entitled "CV events" was deleted two days before submittal. On the financial side, the price of Merck stock dropped 3% today.