953 research outputs found
The Doug Altman Scholarship & Building Capacity Globally
No full textWe are delighted to report on the success of the inaugural Doug Altman Scholarship following a donation from the McCall MacBain Foundation (MMF). Given the generosity of the MMF, we funded eight forward-thinking future leaders of evidence-based medicine who attended the 2019 EBMLive Conference in Oxford. The scholars brought provocative, bold and constructive contributions on the theme of making research relevant, replicable and accessible to end users. They tackled the issue of reducing questionable research practices, offering solutions and continuing the great work that Professor Doug Altman started in 1994 with “The scandal of poor medical research.”
We awarded a further six early mid career researchers from low- and middle-income countries a Building Capacity Bursary, which also covered travel and accommodation to attend EBMLive 2019. They brought unique perspectives and contributed to the overall aim of building capacity in evidence-based medicine globally. The Doug Altman Scholars and the Building Capacity Bursary awardees enriched EBMLive, bringing their ideas, enthusiasm, and the perspectives of early-mid career researchers to the conference.
This report highlights the contributions of awardees, the outcomes this initiative and our future plans for supporting early mid career researchers and to build capacity globally
Doug Altman, medical statistician par excellence: What can radiologists learn from his legacy?
No full textThis narrative review describes our experience of working with Doug Altman, the most highly cited medical statistician in the world. Doug was particularly interested in diagnostics, and imaging studies in particular. We describe how his insights helped improve our own radiological research studies and we provide advice for other researchers hoping to improve their own research practice
Doug Altman: Driving critical appraisal and improvements in the quality of methodological and medical research.
No full textDoug Altman was a visionary leader and one of the most influential medical statisticians of the last 40 years. Based on a presentation in the "Invited session in memory of Doug Altman" at the 40th Annual Conference of the International Society for Clinical Biostatistics (ISCB) in Leuven, Belgium and our long-standing collaborations with Doug, we discuss his contributions to regression modeling, reporting, prognosis research, as well as some more general issues while acknowledging that we cannot cover the whole spectrum of Doug's considerable methodological output. His statement "To maximize the benefit to society, you need to not just do research but do it well" should be a driver for all researchers. To improve current and future research, we aim to summarize Doug's messages for these three topics
Doug Altman: Driving critical appraisal and improvements in the quality of methodological and medical research
No full textDoug Altman was a visionary leader and one of the most influential medical statisticians of the last 40 years. Based on a presentation in the “Invited session in memory of Doug Altman” at the 40th Annual Conference of the International Society for Clinical Biostatistics (ISCB) in Leuven, Belgium and our long‐standing collaborations with Doug, we discuss his contributions to regression modeling, reporting, prognosis research, as well as some more general issues while acknowledging that we cannot cover the whole spectrum of Doug's considerable methodological output. His statement “To maximize the benefit to society, you need to not just do research but do it well ” should be a driver for all researchers. To improve current and future research, we aim to summarize Doug's messages for these three topics
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No Apparent Reason
No full textThis paper discusses five works the author created and the thought process that went into the creation of these works. Helen Altman discusses the fascination with temporary or process pieces and the use of commonplace materials to depict a message
Combining estimates of interest in prognostic modelling studies after multiple imputation: current practice and guidelines
No full textBackground: Multiple imputation (MI) provides an effective approach to handle missing covariate
data within prognostic modelling studies, as it can properly account for the missing data
uncertainty. The multiply imputed datasets are each analysed using standard prognostic modelling
techniques to obtain the estimates of interest. The estimates from each imputed dataset are then
combined into one overall estimate and variance, incorporating both the within and between
imputation variability. Rubin's rules for combining these multiply imputed estimates are based on
asymptotic theory. The resulting combined estimates may be more accurate if the posterior
distribution of the population parameter of interest is better approximated by the normal
distribution. However, the normality assumption may not be appropriate for all the parameters of
interest when analysing prognostic modelling studies, such as predicted survival probabilities and
model performance measures.
Methods: Guidelines for combining the estimates of interest when analysing prognostic modelling
studies are provided. A literature review is performed to identify current practice for combining
such estimates in prognostic modelling studies.
Results: Methods for combining all reported estimates after MI were not well reported in the
current literature. Rubin's rules without applying any transformations were the standard approach
used, when any method was stated.
Conclusion: The proposed simple guidelines for combining estimates after MI may lead to a wider
and more appropriate use of MI in future prognostic modelling studies
The world of Robert Altman : Auteur, Innovator and Iconoclast
No full textFilmmaker Ron Mann’s recent documentary Altman (2014), features interviews with various notable filmmakers and actors who worked with Robert Altman over the years. Mann said that people who come to see his documentary “just to see Bob’s films” then he has done his job. Mann also more poignantly said that
“Altman was America’s greatest filmmaker and that his work matters more than ever now because it stands in contrast to all the sequels that Hollywood makes to sell lunch boxes”. (Gilbey, 2015)1
This quote encapsulates what Robert Altman stood for as a film director in that it illustrates his innovative approaches to filmmaking, his maverick tendencies and individuality. His vision, creativity and independence are a testament to his influential legacy which continues to inspire film makers today. Author keywords: Altman, film noir, satire, anti-western, ensemble, mystery, Hollywood and Studio Syste
Posthumous Queer: Hemingway Among Others
No full textChallenges the common assumption that posthumous texts introducing unconventional sexual themes like The Garden of Eden have more authority than previously published works by the same author. Altman concludes that it is a mistake to use the novel’s manuscript to debunk earlier Hemingway scholarship regarding gender and sexuality
The impact of adjustment for covariates on meta-analysis of randomised intervention studies for binary outcome
No full textBackground Covariate adjustment analysis is often used in epidemiological studies but is less common in randomised controlled trials (RCTs) and RCT meta-analyses. There is a lack of consensus on whether the analysis of RCT data should adjust for important baseline covariates. The estimated treatment effect of a binary covariate can differ when logistic regression is carried out, even when the covariate is balanced between treatment groups. Objectives The objectives of this study were to examine the factors that affect the impact of adjusted analysis in different RCT scenarios and to explore the impact of adjusted analysis in RCT meta-analysis. Methods Simulation and sampling studies were conducted to identify the factors that affect the impact of using an adjusted logistic regression model. Two covariates, one continuous and one binary, were considered simultaneously. The event rate, treatment effect, binary and continuous variable distributions, covariate prognostic strengths, and correlation between the covariates were varied during the simulations. The impact of adjustment on RCT meta-analysis was investigated using individual participant data obtained from the Perinatal Antiplatelet Review of International Studies. Different methods of performing unadjusted and adjusted meta-analysis were compared. Results The simulation results suggest that adjustment only has a notable effect in extreme scenarios, such as a very large treatment effect or highly prognostic covariates. The relative difference between the unadjusted and adjusted odds ratios was found to be larger than 50% under these extreme scenarios. Covariate adjustment is likely to have a small effect on meta-analyses with many studies. Summary Adjusted analysis should be carried out by design. Performing adjusted analysis in a meta-analysis can be challenging as sufficient information about the covariates is often not available
Beyond closing the gap: valuing diversity in Indigenous Australia
No full textIn his Apology speech the Prime Minister attempted to balance the symbolic with the practical while emphasising that ‘business as usual’ is not working. Ultimately though, the \u27Closing the Gap\u27 approach is business as usual that fails to value Indigenous difference and fails to accommodate Indigenous aspirations in all their diversity. Unless we get beyond CTG, the next phase in Indigenous policy making and program investments is as ‘destined to fail’ as previous approaches. This paper advocates for the pendulum to swing back, to accommodate and value diversity and difference rather than just statistical equality. In doing so, the author provides some reflexive comment as an academic on these policy swings. In 2005, Tim Rowse and Jon Altman wrote a piece on Indigenous policy that contrasted the contending approaches of economics and anthropology to Indigenous affairs policy: the first emphasising equality of socioeconomic outcomes, the second the facilitation of choice and self-determination. The former implies integration, the latter adherence to different and diverse life worlds. Over time, the author has used economics and official statistics to highlight socioeconomic disadvantage and neglect, while at the same time using anthropology to critique any approach that uses mainstream social indicators that only reflect the dominant society’s social norms. This paper will continue in the same vein using a dual disciplinary approach. However, without being over-reflexive, as an anthropologist of development he is clearly uncomfortable with the current dominance of the \u27Closing the Gap\u27 framework. This paper was presented at the Centre for Public Policy\u27s \u27Values & Public Policy\u27 conference in February 2009. Jon Altman is Professor and the inaugural Director of the Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research established in 1990. He is currently researching Indigenous development and economic hybridity as ARC Australian Professorial Fellow. 
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