CONTEXT Budgetary constraints in tuberculosis (TB) control programs require streamlining contact investigations without sacrificing disease control. OBJECTIVE To develop more efficient methods of TB contact investigation by creating a model of TB transmission using variables that best predict a positive tuberculin skin test among contacts of an active TB case. DESIGN, SETTING, AND SUBJECTS ...

BACKGROUND It is important to detect cognitive decline at an early stage, especially before onset of mild cognitive impairment and dementia. Processing speed and working memory are aspects of cognitive function that are associated with cognitive decline. Hand strength is an inexpensive, easily measurable indicator of cognitive decline. However, associations between hand strength, processing spe...

AIM To report a study of the effects of protein-energy malnutrition on the functional recovery of older people with hip fracture who participated in an interdisciplinary intervention. BACKGROUND It is not clear whether protein-energy malnutrition is associated with worse functional outcomes or it affects the interdisciplinary intervention program on the functional recovery of older people wit...

There is increasing evidence that in utero effects of excessive gestational weight gain may result in increased weight in children; however, studies have not controlled for shared genetic or environmental factors between mothers and children. Using 2,758 family groups from the Collaborative Perinatal Project, the authors examined the association of maternal prepregnancy body mass index (BMI) an...

In the present paper a mixed generalized estimating/pseudo-score equations (GEPSE) approach together with a distribution-free multiple imputation technique is proposed for the estimation of regression and correlation structure parameters of multivariate probit models with missing values for an ordered categorical time-invariant variable. Furthermore, a generalization of the squared trace correl...

Generalized likelihood ratio statistics have been proposed in Fan, Zhang and Zhang [Ann. Statist. 29 (2001) 153–193] as a generally applicable method for testing nonparametric hypotheses about nonparametric functions. The likelihood ratio statistics are constructed based on the assumption that the distributions of stochastic errors are in a certain parametric family. We extend their work to the...

Normalized difference vegetation index and land surface temperature data, in a sample plot each from east, center and west of Nepal, from 2000 to 2015, were analyzed to identify and compare the trends of vegetation and temperature changes during the period. The data were obtained from moderate resolutions imaging spectro-radiometer. Normalized difference vegetation index charactiszes a resoluti...

in this paper we intend to offer new numerical methods to solve the second-order fuzzy abel-volterraintegro-differential equations under the generalized $h$-differentiability. the existence and uniqueness of thesolution and convergence of the proposed methods are proved in details and the efficiency of the methods is illustrated through a numerical example.

Many developments in the design and analysis of environmental epidemiology have been made in air pollution studies. In the analysis of the short-term effects of particulate matter on daily mortality, Poisson regression models with flexible smoothing methods have been developed for the analysis of time-series data. Another option for such studies is the use of case-crossover designs, and there h...