Beyond psychology: prevalence of p value and confidence interval misinterpretation across different fields

Bayesian estimation in veterinary pharmacology: A conceptual and practical introduction

Sophisticated mathematical and computational tools have become widespread and important in veterinary pharmacology. Although the theoretical basis and practical applications of these have been widely explored in the literature, statistical inference in the context of these models has received less attention. Optimization methods, often with frequentist statistical inference, have been predominant. In contrast, Bayesian statistics have not been widely applied, but offer both practical utility and arguably greater interpretability. Veterinary pharmacology applications are generally well supported by relevant prior information, from either existing substantive knowledge, or an understanding of study and model design. This facilitates practical implementation of Bayesian analyses that can take advantage of this knowledge. This essay will explore the specification of Bayesian models relevant to veterinary pharmacology, including demonstration of prior selection, and illustrate the capability of these models to generate practically useful statistics, including uncertainty statements, that are difficult or impossible to obtain otherwise. Case studies using simulated data will describe applications in clinical trials, pharmacodynamics, and pharmacokinetics, all including multilevel modeling. This content may serve as a suitable starting point for researchers in veterinary pharmacology and related disciplines considering Bayesian estimation for their applied work.

Perspectives on scientific error

Theoretical arguments and empirical investigations indicate that a high proportion of published findings do not replicate and are likely false. The current position paper provides a broad perspective on scientific error, which may lead to replication failures. This broad perspective focuses on reform history and on opportunities for future reform. We organize our perspective along four main themes: institutional reform, methodological reform, statistical reform and publishing reform. For each theme, we illustrate potential errors by narrating the story of a fictional researcher during the research cycle. We discuss future opportunities for reform. The resulting agenda provides a resource to usher in an era that is marked by a research culture that is less error-prone and a scientific publication landscape with fewer spurious findings.

Rigour and reproducibility in Canadian research: call for a coordinated approach

Shortcomings in the rigour and reproducibility of research have become well-known issues and persist despite repeated calls for improvement. A coordinated effort among researchers, institutions, funders, publishers, learned societies, and regulators may be the most effective way of tackling these issues. The UK Reproducibility Network (UKRN) has fostered collaboration across various stakeholders in research and are creating the infrastructure necessary to advance rigorous and reproducible research practices across the United Kingdom. Other Reproducibility Networks, modelled on UKRN, are now emerging in other countries. Canada could benefit from a comparable network to unify the voices around research quality and maximize the value of Canadian research.

Biological age, testosterone, and estradiol as discriminating factors of muscle strength levels in young athletes

BACKGROUND

Neuromuscular fitness can be influenced at puberty by a steroid hormones, such as testosterone (TRT) and estradiol (EST). However, more information is needed to assess the reliability between the discriminatory power of biological age (BA) markers with the discriminatory power of TRT and EST in relation to muscle strength in young athletes who are at puberty.

PURPOSE

Aimed to analyze BA, TRT and EST as discriminating factors of upper limb (ULS) and lower (LLS) strength levels in young athletes.

METHODS

The sample of 81 young athletes (54.4% female and 45.6% male; age: 11.4±1.08). Hormones were analyzed by chemiluminescence, BA markers by anthropometric variables and body composition by tetrapolar bioimpedance. ULS was verified by the medicineball launch test and LLS by the countermovement jump test on a force platform.

RESULTS

EST was reliable for discriminating ULS (p<0.05) and LLS (p<0.05) in females. TRT showed reliability in discriminating ULS (p<0.05) and LLS (p<0.05) in males. BA was significant in discriminating ULS (p<0.0001) in females and ULS (p=0.002) and LLS (p<0.0001) in males. BA showed significant reliability with hormonal analyzes (p<0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

That hormonal concentrations are reliable in discriminating ULS and LLS of young athletes of both sexes. BA was shown to be effective in discriminating ULS (in both sexes) and LLS (in males). BA showed significant reliability with hormonal analyzes (ULS and LLS in male sex; LLS for female sex).