Reaction-time task reliability is more accurately computed with permutation-based split-half correlations than with Cronbach's alpha.

While it has become standard practice to report the reliability of self-report scales, it remains uncommon to do the same for experimental paradigms. To facilitate this practice, we review old and new ways to compute reliability in reaction-time tasks, and we compare their accuracy using a simulation study. Highly inaccurate and negatively biased reliability estimates are obtained through the common practice of averaging sets of trials and submitting them to Cronbach's alpha.

Applying Exercise Capacity and Physical Activity as Single vs Composite Endpoints for Trials of Cardiac Rehabilitation Interventions: Rationale, Use-case, and a Blueprint Method for Sample Size Calculation.

Objective: To conceptualize a composite primary endpoint for parallel-group RCTs of exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation (CR) interventions and to explore its application and statistical efficiency.

Design: We conducted a statistical exploration of sample size requirements. We combined exercise capacity and physical activity for the composite endpoint (CE), both being directly related to reduced premature mortality in patients with cardiac diseases.

The need for robust critique of arts and health research: the treatment of the Gene Cohen et al. (2006) paper on singing, wellbeing and health in subsequent evidence reviews.

Background: This paper considers weaknesses in a study by Cohen et al. (2006) on the impacts of community singing on health. These include high demand characteristics, lack of attention to attrition, flawed statistical analysis, and measurement.

Statistical recommendations for count, binary, and ordinal data in rare disease cross-over trials.

Background: Recommendations for statistical methods in rare disease trials are scarce, especially for cross-over designs. As a result various state-of-the-art methodologies were compared as neutrally as possible using an illustrative data set from epidermolysis bullosa research to build recommendations for count, binary, and ordinal outcome variables. For this purpose, parametric (model averaging), semiparametric (generalized estimating equations type [GEE-like]) and nonparametric (generalized pairwise comparisons [GPC] and a marginal model implemented in the R package nparLD) methods were chosen by an international consortium of statisticians.

How to analyze continuous and discrete repeated measures in small-sample cross-over trials?

To optimize the use of data from a small number of subjects in rare disease trials, an at first sight advantageous design is the repeated measures cross-over design. However, it is unclear how these within-treatment period and within-subject clustered data are best analyzed in small-sample trials. In a real-data simulation study based upon a recent epidermolysis bullosa simplex trial using this design, we compare non-parametric marginal models, generalized pairwise comparison models, GEE-type models and parametric model averaging for both repeated binary and count data.

A neutral comparison of statistical methods for analyzing longitudinally measured ordinal outcomes in rare diseases.

Ordinal data in a repeated measures design of a crossover study for rare diseases usually do not allow for the use of standard parametric methods, and hence, nonparametric methods should be considered instead. However, only limited simulation studies in settings with small sample sizes exist. Therefore, starting from an Epidermolysis Bullosa simplex trial with the above-mentioned design, a rank-based approach using the R package nparLD and different generalized pairwise comparisons (GPC) methods were compared impartially in a simulation study.

Third dose of SARS-CoV-2 vaccination in hemato-oncological patients and health care workers: immune responses and adverse events - a retrospective cohort study.

Background: Due to potentially immune-escaping virus variants and waning immunity, a third SARS-CoV-2 vaccination dose is increasingly recommended. However, data in patients with cancer are limited.

Patients And Methods: We measured anti-SARS-CoV-2 spike protein antibody levels after the third vaccination dose in 439 patients with cancer and 41 health care workers (HCW) at an academic centre in Austria and a rural community hospital in Italy.

The Need for Robust Critique of Arts and Health Research: Young People, Art Therapy and Mental Health.

We describe work in progress to conduct a systematic review of research on effects of arts-based programs for mental health in young people. We are at the stage of searching for relevant studies through major databases and screening extant systematic reviews for additional research which meet our inclusion criteria. At this stage, however, concerns have arisen regarding both the quality of existing primary studies and of recently published systematic reviews in this area of arts and health.

Are High Frequency Oscillations in Scalp EEG Related to Age?

Background: High-frequency oscillations (HFOs) have received much attention in recent years, particularly in the clinical context. In addition to their application as a marker for pathological changes in patients with epilepsy, HFOs have also been brought into context with several physiological mechanisms. Furthermore, recent studies reported a relation between an increase of HFO rate and age in invasive EEG recordings.

Testing for equality of distributions using the concept of (niche) overlap.

Unlabelled: In this paper, we propose a new non-parametric test for equality of distributions. The test is based on the recently introduced measure of (niche) overlap and its rank-based estimator. As the estimator makes only one basic assumption on the underlying distribution, namely continuity, the test is universal applicable in contrast to many tests that are restricted to only specific scenarios.

Macroclimatic conditions as main drivers for symbiotic association patterns in lecideoid lichens along the Transantarctic Mountains, Ross Sea region, Antarctica.

Lecideoid lichens as dominant vegetation-forming organisms in the climatically harsh areas of the southern part of continental Antarctica show clear preferences in relation to environmental conditions (i.e. macroclimate).

SARS-CoV-2 screening in cancer outpatients during the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic : Conclusions for crisis response at a high-volume oncology center.

Background: During the second wave of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic Austria suffered one of the highest severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) rates worldwide. We report performance parameters of a SARS-CoV‑2 screening program established for cancer outpatients at our center.

Methods: Institutional policy recommended routine biweekly SARS-CoV‑2 testing.

Automatic vs. Manual Detection of High Frequency Oscillations in Intracranial Recordings From the Human Temporal Lobe.

High frequency oscillations (HFOs) have attracted great interest among neuroscientists and epileptologists in recent years. Not only has their occurrence been linked to epileptogenesis, but also to physiologic processes, such as memory consolidation. There are at least two big challenges for HFO research.

SARS-CoV-2 Testing in Patients With Cancer Treated at a Tertiary Care Hospital During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Purpose: To analyze the prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 infection in patients with cancer in hospital care after implementation of institutional and governmental safety measurements.

Methods: Patients with cancer routinely tested for SARS-CoV-2 RNA by nasal swab and real-time polymerase chain reaction between March 21 and May 4, 2020, were included. The results of this cancer cohort were statistically compared with the SARS-CoV-2 prevalence in the Austrian population as determined by a representative nationwide random sample study (control cohort 1) and a cohort of patients without cancer presenting to our hospital (control cohort 2).

Prediction of Cognitive Decline in Temporal Lobe Epilepsy and Mild Cognitive Impairment by EEG, MRI, and Neuropsychology.

Cognitive decline is a severe concern of patients with mild cognitive impairment. Also, in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy, memory problems are a frequently encountered problem with potential progression. On the background of a unifying hypothesis for cognitive decline, we merged knowledge from dementia and epilepsy research in order to identify biomarkers with a high predictive value for cognitive decline across and beyond these groups that can be fed into intelligent systems.

Sample size calculation and blinded recalculation for analysis of covariance models with multiple random covariates.

When testing for superiority in a parallel-group setting with a continuous outcome, adjusting for covariates is usually recommended. For this purpose, the analysis of covariance is frequently used, and recently several exact and approximate sample size calculation procedures have been proposed. However, in case of multiple covariates, the planning might pose some practical challenges and pitfalls.

Sample sizes and statistical methods in interventional studies on individuals with spinal cord injury: A systematic review.

Aim: Prevalence and incidence of spinal cord injury (SCI) are low. However, sample sizes have not been systematically examined yet, although this might represent useful information for study planning and power considerations. Therefore, our objective was to determine the median sample size in clinical trials on SCI individuals.

Multivariate permutation tests for two sample testing in presence of nondetects with application to microarray data.

Very often, data collected in medical research are characterized by censored observations and/or data with mass on the value zero. This happens for example when some measurements fall below the detection limits of the specific instrument used. This type of left censored observations is called "nondetects".

Small-sample performance and underlying assumptions of a bootstrap-based inference method for a general analysis of covariance model with possibly heteroskedastic and nonnormal errors.

It is well known that the standard F test is severely affected by heteroskedasticity in unbalanced analysis of covariance models. Currently available potential remedies for such a scenario are based on heteroskedasticity-consistent covariance matrix estimation (HCCME). However, the HCCME approach tends to be liberal in small samples.

HD-EEG Based Classification of Motor-Imagery Related Activity in Patients With Spinal Cord Injury.

Brain computer interfaces (BCIs) are thought to revolutionize rehabilitation after SCI, e.g., by controlling neuroprostheses, exoskeletons, functional electrical stimulation, or a combination of these components.

Optimal sample size planning for the Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney test.

There are many different proposed procedures for sample size planning for the Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney test at given type-I and type-II error rates α and β, respectively. Most methods assume very specific models or types of data to simplify calculations (eg, ordered categorical or metric data, location shift alternatives, etc). We present a unified approach that covers metric data with and without ties, count data, ordered categorical data, and even dichotomous data.

A Fast and Robust Way to Estimate Overlap of Niches, and Draw Inference.

The problem of quantifying the overlap of Hutchinsonian niches has received much attention lately, in particular in quantitative ecology, from where it also originates. However, the niche concept has the potential to also be useful in many other application areas, as for example in economics. We are presenting a fully nonparametric, robust solution to this problem, along with exact shortcut formulas based on rank-statistics, and with a rather intuitive probabilistic interpretation.