Exceedance Probabilities of Log-normal Distributions for One Group, Two Groups, and Meta-analysis of Multiple Two-group Studies, With Application to Analyses of Prolonged Times to Tracheal Extubation.

Many randomized trials measure means and standard deviations of anesthesia recovery time (e.g., times to tracheal extubation).

Patients in Iowa Counties Lacking Hospitals With Labor and Delivery Services Disproportionately Receive Care at Level III Maternal Care Hospitals When Undergoing Cesarean Delivery: A Retrospective Longitudinal Study.

Introduction Many obstetrical patients from rural areas in the United States lack hospitals that provide labor and delivery care. Our objective was to examine the effects of such patients on caseloads of cesarean deliveries at Iowa hospitals with level III maternal care, as defined by the Iowa Department of Public Health (e.g.

Sex-Specific Differences in Endothelial Function Are Driven by Divergent Mitochondrial Ca Handling.

Background Sex-specific differences in vasodilation are mediated in part by differences in cytosolic Ca handling, but how variations in mitochondrial Ca contributes to this effect remains unknown. Here, we investigated the extent to which mitochondrial Ca entry via the MCU (mitochondrial Ca uniporter) drives sex differences in vasoreactivity in resistance arteries. Methods and Results Enhanced vasodilation of mesenteric resistance arteries to acetylcholine (ACh) was reduced to larger extent in female compared with male mice in 2 genetic models of endothelial MCU ablation.

Benchmarking Surgeons' Gender and Year of Medical School Graduation Associated With Monthly Operative Workdays for Multispecialty Groups.

Background Female surgeons reportedly receive less surgical block time and fewer procedural referrals than male surgeons. In this study, we compared operative days between female and male surgeons throughout Florida. Our objective was to facilitate benchmarking by multispecialty groups, both the endpoint to use for statistically reliable results and expected differences.

Decreased Expression of Glial-Derived Neurotrophic Factor Receptors in Glaucomatous Human Retinas.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the expression of glial-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF), the GDNF receptors GFRα1 and GFRα2, ciliary neurotrophic factor (CNTF), and the CNTF receptor CNTFRα in normal and glaucomatous human tissue.

Methods: Human retinas were collected from 8 donors that had been clinically diagnosed and treated for glaucoma, and also from 9 healthy control donors. Immunohistochemical analysis for each trophic factor and receptor was performed.

Circumferential trabecular meshwork cell density in the human eye.

The cells residing in the trabecular meshwork (TM) fulfill important roles in the maintenance of the tissue and the regulation of intraocular pressure (IOP). Here we examine (i) TM cell distribution along the circumference of the human eye, (ii) differences in TM cell density between regions of high and low outflow, and (iii) whether TM cell distribution in eyes from donors with primary open angle glaucoma (POAG) differs from that of normal eyes. Toward this end, the TM cell density from 12 radial segments around the circumference of the TM of human donor eyes (n = 6) with and without POAG was determined using histochemical methods.

Temporal Relationship Between Visual Field, Retinal and Microvascular Pathology Following 125I-Plaque Brachytherapy for Uveal Melanoma.

Purpose: To define the temporal relationship of vascular versus neuronal abnormalities in radiation retinopathy.

Methods: Twenty-five patients with uveal melanoma treated with brachytherapy and sixteen controls were tested. Functional outcome measures included visual acuity and threshold perimetry (HVF 10-2), while structural outcomes included retinal thickness by OCT and vascular measures by OCT angiography and digital fundus photography.

Sample times for surveillance of transmission to monitor effectiveness and provide feedback on intraoperative infection control.

Background: Reductions in perioperative surgical site infections are obtained by a multifaceted approach including patient decolonization, vascular care, hand hygiene, and environmental cleaning. Associated surveillance of transmission quantifies the effectiveness of these basic measures to prevent transmission of pathogenic bacteria and viruses to patients and clinicians, including Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). To measure transmission, the observational units are pairs of successive surgical cases in the same operating room on the same day.

High Correlation between Glaucoma Treatment with Topical Prostaglandin Analogs and BDNF Immunoreactivity in Human Retina.

Purpose: To examine the expression of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and its high-affinity receptor, tropomyosin-related kinase receptor-B (TrkB), in normal and glaucomatous human retinas.

Methods: Human retinas were collected from 8 donors who had been clinically diagnosed and treated for glaucoma, and from 9 control donors. Immunohistochemical analysis for BDNF and TrkB was performed.

Association between leniency of anesthesiologists when evaluating certified registered nurse anesthetists and when evaluating didactic lectures.

Daily evaluations of certified registered nurse anesthetists' (CRNAs') work habits by anesthesiologists should be adjusted for rater leniency. The current study tested the hypothesis that there is a pairwise association by rater between leniencies of evaluations of CRNAs' daily work habits and of didactic lectures. The historical cohorts were anesthesiologists' evaluations over 53 months of CRNAs' daily work habits and 65 months of didactic lectures by visiting professors and faculty.

Focus on Data: Statistical Significance, Effect Size and the Accumulation of Evidence Achieved by Combining Study Results Through Meta-analysis.

Purpose: To provide information and perspectives on statistical significance and on meta-analysis, a statistical procedure for combining estimated effects across multiple studies.

Methods: Methods are presented for performing a meta-analysis in which results across multiple studies are combined. An example of a meta-analysis of optical coherence tomography thickness of the retina in patients with multiple sclerosis across multiple studies is provided.

Parametric Statistical Inference for Comparing Means and Variances.

Purpose: The purpose of this tutorial is to provide visual scientists with various approaches for comparing two or more groups of data using parametric statistical tests, which require that the distribution of data within each group is normal (Gaussian). Non-parametric tests are used for inference when the sample data are not normally distributed or the sample is too small to assess its true distribution.

Methods: Methods are reviewed using retinal thickness, as measured by optical coherence tomography (OCT), as an example for comparing two or more group means.

Focus on Data: Statistical Design of Experiments and Sample Size Selection Using Power Analysis.

Purpose: To provide information to visual scientists on how to optimally design experiments and how to select an appropriate sample size, which is often referred to as a power analysis.

Methods: Statistical guidelines are provided outlining good principles of experimental design, including replication, randomization, blocking or grouping of subjects, multifactorial design, and sequential approach to experimentation. In addition, principles of power analysis for calculating required sample size are outlined for different experimental designs and examples are given for calculating power and factors influencing it.

Sample sizes for surveillance of transmission to monitor effectiveness and provide feedback on intraoperative infection control including for COVID-19.

Reductions in perioperative surgical site infections are obtained by a multifaceted approach including patient decolonization, hand hygiene, and hub disinfection, and environmental cleaning. Associated surveillance of transmission quantifies the effectiveness of the basic measures to prevent the transmission to patients and clinicians of pathogenic bacteria and viruses, including Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). To measure transmission, the observational units are pairs of successive surgical cases in the same operating room on the same day.

Futility of Cluster Designs at Individual Hospitals to Study Surgical Site Infections and Interventions Involving the Installation of Capital Equipment in Operating Rooms.

Anesthesia workspaces are integral components in the chains of many intraoperative bacterial transmission events resulting in surgical site infections (SSI). Matched cohort designs can be used to compare SSI rates among operating rooms (ORs) with or without capital equipment purchases (e.g.

Importance of operating room case scheduling on analyses of observed reductions in surgical site infections from the purchase and installation of capital equipment in operating rooms.

Background: We review the impact of the consequences of operating room (OR) management decision making on power analyses for observational studies of surgical site infections (SSIs) among patients receiving care in ORs with interventions versus without interventions involving physical changes to ORs. Examples include ventilation systems, bactericidal lighting, and physical alterations to ORs.

Methods: We performed a narrative review of operating room management and surgical site infection articles.

Decision models for distinguishing between clinically insignificant and significant tumors in prostate cancer biopsies: an application of Bayes' Theorem to reduce costs and improve outcomes.

Prostate cancer is the second leading cause of death from cancer, behind lung cancer, for men in the U. S, with nearly 30,000 deaths per year. A key problem is the difficulty in distinguishing, after biopsy, between significant cancers that should be treated immediately and clinically insignificant tumors that should be monitored by active surveillance.

Assessing Trends in Functional and Structural Characteristics: A Survey of Statistical Methods With an Example From Ophthalmology.

Purpose: Clinical decisions on treatment are usually based on short-term records of consecutive measurements of structure and function. Useful models for analyzing average trends and a description of statistical methods for classifying individual subjects on the basis of subject-specific trend progressions are presented.

Methods: Random effects trend models allow intercepts and slopes of the trend regression to vary across subjects around group-specific mean intercepts and mean slopes.

Peripherally administered calcitonin gene-related peptide induces spontaneous pain in mice: implications for migraine.

Migraine is the third most common disease in the world (behind dental caries and tension-type headache) with an estimated global prevalence of 15%, yet its etiology remains poorly understood. Recent clinical trials have heralded the potential of therapeutic antibodies that block the actions of the neuropeptide calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) or its receptor to prevent migraine. Calcitonin gene-related peptide is believed to contribute to trigeminal nerve hypersensitivity and photosensitivity in migraine, but a direct role in pain associated with migraine has not been established.

Interchangeability of counts of cases and hours of cases for quantifying a hospital's change in workload among four-week periods of 1 year.

Study Objective: Recent studies have made longitudinal assessments of case counts using State (e.g., United States) and Provincial (e.

Visual Fixation Instability in Multiple Sclerosis Measured Using SLO-OCT.

Purpose: Precise measurements of visual fixation and its instability were recorded during optical coherence tomography (OCT) as a marker of neural network dysfunction in multiple sclerosis (MS), which could be used to monitor disease progression or response to treatment.

Methods: A total of 16 MS patients and 26 normal subjects underwent 30 seconds of scanning laser ophthalmoscope (SLO)-based eye tracking during OCT scanning of retinal layer thickness. Study groups consisted of normal eyes, MS eyes without prior optic neuritis (MS wo ON), and MS eyes with prior optic neuritis (MS + ON).

Validation of a New Method to Automatically Select Cases With Intraoperative Red Blood Cell Transfusion for Audit.

Background: Hospitals review allogeneic red blood cell (RBC) transfusions for appropriateness. Audit criteria have been published that apply to 5 common procedures. We expanded on this work to study the management decision of selecting which cases involving transfusion of at least 1 RBC unit to audit (review) among all surgical procedures, including those previously studied.