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Biomedical subjects

D M Tong

Publications and source records attributed to D M Tong.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

The impact and implication of regression to the mean on the design and analysis of medical investigations.

We have examined the regression effect and its magnitude under the Gaussian distributional assumption. The impact and implication of regression to the mean on the analysis of medical investigations was discussed. For simplicity, we called the approach adjusting for the regression effect a two-stage procedure and noted its relationship to the analysis of covariance model for comparing treatment groups. We also proposed to examine the correlation structure among repeated measurements in the absence of any external interventions through a model more realistic than the one assuming equal correlations. The proposed structure led us to investigate ways to reduce or eliminate regression effect via study designs when patient selection is inevitable. Two examples were given to help illustrate the discussion in this paper.

Analysis of Variance

Changes in membrane properties during energy depletion-induced cell injury studied with fluorescence microscopy.

The changes in membrane structural properties occurring during the process of ATP depletion-induced cell injury in adherent human astrocytoma cells (UC-11 MG) were studied with two epifluorescence techniques: 1) steady-state fluorescence anisotropy (r) to examine microstructural changes in the membrane phospholipids and 2) fluorescence redistribution after photobleaching (FRAP) to examine membrane fluidity changes. A new method for r measurement was established that provides the unique advantage of simultaneously monitoring both vertical and horizontal polarized fluorescence emissions needed for the calculation of r. In this study, r in the astrocytoma cells labeled with 1-(4-trimethylammonium phenyl)-6-phenyl-1,3,5-hexatriene p-toluenesulfonate was shown to remain stable for up to 90 min. However, when the cells were treated with 75 microM iodoacetic acid (IAA), a metabolic inhibitor that induces rapid depletion of cellular ATP, r continually decreased, indicating a decrease in membrane lipid order and perturbation of the bilayer structure. This decrease in r could be prevented by the pretreatment of cells with lipophilic antioxidants such as tirilazad or gossypol. Tirilazad itself caused a significant increase in r, suggesting that tirilazad intercalates into the membrane bilayer and profoundly increases the lipid order in uninjured cells. Gossypol, however, did not exhibit this property. Further investigations into these phenomena with FRAP confirmed the r results and indicated that membrane fluidity increased while its structure became less rigid during the process of ATP-induced cell injury. In addition, lipophilic antioxidants prevented the membrane structural aberrations induced by IAA. Experimental results suggest that different mechanisms of cytoprotective action may exist for tirilazad and the antioxidant gossypol. Gossypol appears to prevent or delay the observed cell injury entirely because of its antioxidant action, whereas tirilazad's protection is mediated not only via its antioxidant activity, but also by its ability to increase cell membrane lipid order.

Adenosine Triphosphate

Multiple comparisons procedures for comparing several treatments with a control based on binary data.

In this paper, we examine three approaches for comparing several treatments with a control with use of binary response data. The first approach relies on asymptotic theory applied to the Freeman-Tukey transformation of the observed proportions. The second finds an acceptance region based on the binomial distributions estimated under the joint null hypotheses. The third approach applies Dunnett's procedure to the binary data. We evaluated the actual overall type I error rates of the Freeman-Tukey test and Dunnett's procedure using both simulation and binomial calculations while we assessed those of the binomial approach using simulation. Based upon their capability to preserve the desirable overall type I error rate, we provide recommendations regarding the choices among the three approaches for various occasions. In addition, we provide comments on the power of these three approaches.

Binomial Distribution

Drug release from hydrophilic matrices. 2. A mathematical model based on the polymer disentanglement concentration and the diffusion layer.

A comprehensive model is developed to describe the swelling/dissolution behaviors and drug release from hydrophilic matrices. The major thrust of this model is to employ an important physical property of the polymer, the polymer disentanglement concentration, rho p,dis, the polymer concentration below which polymer chains detach off the gelled matrix. For (hydroxypropyl)methylcellulose (HPMC) in water, we estimate that rho p,dis scales with HPMC molecular weight, M, as rho p,dis varies M-0.8. Further, matrix dissolution is considered similar to the dissolution of an object immersed in a fluid. As a result, a diffusion layer separating the matrix from the bulk solution is incorporated into the transport regime. An anisotropic expansion model is also introduced to account for the anisotropic expansion of the matrix where surface area in the radial direction dominates over the axial surface area. The model predicts that the overall tablet size and the characteristic swelling time correlate with rho p,dis qualitatively. Two scaling laws are established for fractional polymer (mp(t)/mp(infinity)) and drug (md(t)/md(infinity)) released as mp(t)/mp(infinity) varies M-1.05 and md(t)/md(infinity) varies M-0.24, consistent with the limiting polymer molecular weight effect on drug release. Model predictions for polymer and drug release agree well with observations, within 15% error. Evolution of water concentration profiles and the detailed structure of a swollen matrix are discussed.

Benzodiazepines