The Induced Smoothed lasso: A practical framework for hypothesis testing in high dimensional regression

This paper focuses on hypothesis testing in lasso regression, when one is interested in judging statistical significance for the regression coefficients in the regression equation involving a lot of covariates. To get reliable p-values, we propose a new lasso-type estimator relying on the idea of induced smoothing which allows to obtain appropriate covariance matrix and Wald statistic relatively easily. Some simulation experiments reveal that our approach exhibits good performance when contrasted with the recent inferential tools in the lasso framework. Two real data analyses are presented to illustrate the proposed framework in practice

Trajectories of Blood Pressure Elevation Preceding Hypertension Onset: An Analysis of the Framingham Heart Study Original Cohort

Given that hypertension remains a leading risk factor for chronic disease globally, there are substantial ongoing efforts to define the optimal range of blood pressure (BP)

Single-day trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole prophylaxis for pneumocystis pneumonia in children with cancer

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether a simplified, 1-day/week regimen of trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole is sufficient to prevent Pneumocystis (jirovecii [carinii]) pneumonia (PCP). Current recommended regimens for prophylaxis against PCP range from daily administration to 3 consecutive days per week dosing. STUDY DESIGN: A prospective survey of the regimens adopted for the PCP prophylaxis in all patients treated for childhood cancer at pediatric hematology-oncology centers of the Associazione Italiana Ematologia Oncologia Pediatrica. RESULTS: The 20 centers participating in the study reported a total of 2466 patients, including 1093 with solid tumor and 1373 with leukemia/lymphoma (or primary immunodeficiency; n = 2). Of these patients, 1371 (55.6%) received the 3-day/week prophylaxis regimen, 406 (16.5%) received the 2-day/week regimen, and 689 (27.9%), including 439 with leukemia/lymphoma, received the 1-day/week regimen. Overall, only 2 cases of PCP (0.08%) were reported, both in the 2-day/week group. By intention to treat, the cumulative incidence of PCP at 3 years was 0.09% overall (95% CI, 0.00-0.40%) and 0.51% for the 2-day/week group (95% CI, 0.10%-2.00%). Remarkably, both patients who failed had withdrawn from prophylaxis. CONCLUSION: A single-day course of prophylaxis with trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole may be sufficient to prevent PCP in children with cancer undergoing intensive chemotherapy regimens. This simplified strategy might have implications for the emerging need for PCP prophylaxis in other patients subjected to the increased use of biological and nonbiological agents that induce higher levels of immune suppression, such as those with rheumatic diseases