Advanced maternal age has negative multigenerational impacts during embryogenesis.

Increasing maternal age is commonly accompanied by decreased fitness in offspring. In , maternal senescence negatively affects multiple facets of offspring phenotype and fitness. These maternal effects are particularly large on embryonic viability.

Variable selection and estimation in causal inference using Bayesian spike and slab priors.

Unbiased estimation of causal effects with observational data requires adjustment for confounding variables that are related to both the outcome and treatment assignment. Standard variable selection techniques aim to maximize predictive ability of the outcome model, but they ignore covariate associations with treatment and may not adjust for important confounders weakly associated to outcome. We propose a novel method for estimating causal effects that simultaneously considers models for both outcome and treatment, which we call the bilevel spike and slab causal estimator (BSSCE).

Spatial variable selection methods for investigating acute health effects of fine particulate matter components.

Multi-site time series studies have reported evidence of an association between short term exposure to particulate matter (PM) and adverse health effects, but the effect size varies across the United States. Variability in the effect may partially be due to differing community level exposure and health characteristics, but also due to the chemical composition of PM which is known to vary greatly by location and time. The objective of this article is to identify particularly harmful components of this chemical mixture.