In this paper, I present a Bayesian approach to estimation of the number needed to treat (NNT). The use of NNT as a measure of clinical benefit is now becoming commonplace. Various methods of estimation have been proposed, but none of them seem to provide entirely good estimates. Very little has been done to understand the statistical properties of NNT. Here, I derive the posterior distribution...

Clinicians are expected to select a therapy based on their appraisal of evidence on benefit-to-risk profiles of therapies. In the management of relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS), evidence is typically expressed in terms of risk (proportion) of event, risk reduction, relative and hazard rate reduction, or relative reduction in the mean number of magnetic resonance imaging lesions. In...

We describe regulatory effects that a novel neurotrophin-1/B cell-stimulating factor-3 (NNT-1/BSF-3; also reported as cardiotrophin-like cytokine) has on B cell function. NNT-1/BSF-3 stimulates B cell proliferation and Ig production in vitro. NNT-1/BSF-3-transgenic mice, engineered to express NNT-1/BSF-3 in the liver under control of the apolipoprotein E promoter, show B cell hyperplasia with p...

Defective mitochondrial proteins are emerging as major contributors to human disease. Nicotinamide nucleotide transhydrogenase (NNT), a widely expressed mitochondrial protein, has a crucial role in the defence against oxidative stress. NNT variations have recently been reported in patients with familial glucocorticoid deficiency (FGD) and in patients with heart failure. Moreover, knockout anima...

This paper reviews recent studies on the role of Nnt (nicotinamide nucleotide transhydrogenase) in insulin secretion and detoxification of ROS (reactive oxygen species). Glucose-stimulated insulin release from pancreatic beta-cells is mediated by increased metabolism. This elevates intracellular [ATP], thereby closing KATP channels (ATP-sensitive potassium channels) and producing membrane depol...

OBJECTIVE While the number needed to treat (NNT) is in widespread use, empirical evidence that doctors or patients interpret the NNT adequately is sparse. The aim of our study was to explore the influence of the NNT on medical doctors' recommendation for or against a life-long preventive drug therapy. DESIGN Cross-sectional study with randomisation to different scenarios. SETTING Postal que...

OBJECTIVE To estimate the sensitivity of neonatal tetanus (NNT) surveillance in India. DESIGN A comparison of two sets of data obtained from NNT mortality surveys and routine surveillance system. METHODS NNT mortality surveys were undertaken in 1981, 1989 and 1992 using 30 cluster sampling technique. The data on reported incidence of NNT through routine surveillance system was taken from th...

The number needed to treat (NNT) is a popular effect measure to present study results in biomedical research. NNTs were originally proposed to describe the absolute effect of a new treatment compared with a standard treatment or placebo in randomized controlled trials (RCTs) with binary outcome. The concept of the NNT measure has been applied to a number of other research areas involving the de...

In a house-to-house survey in Kilifi District, Kenya, mothers of 2556 liveborn children were interviewed about neonatal mortality, especially from neonatal tetanus (NNT). The crude birth rate was 60.5 per 1000 population, the neonatal mortality rate 21.1 and the NNT mortality rate 3.1 per 1000 livebirths. The neonatal and NNT mortality rates were higher in boys than in girls. Neonatal tetanus w...

We have developed a high level library, the Nearest Neighbor Tool (NNT), to facilitate the coding of finite difference approximation weather prediction models on parallel computers. NNT provides portability and ease of programming and at the same time optimizes performance by allowing the overlap of computation and communication to tolerate the latency of remote data moves. In this paper we des...