Ariel - Volume 11 Number 5

Executive Editors Ellen Feldman Leonardo S. Nasca, Jr. Business Managers Alex Macones Martin B. Getzow News Editor Hugh A. Gelabert Features Editor Aaron D. Bleznak CAHS Editor Joan M. Greco Editorial Page Editor Samuel Markind Photography Editor Todd L. Demmy Sports Editor Paul F. Mansfield Commons Editor Saul I. Helfin

Ariel - Volume 11 Number 3

Executive Editors Ellen Feldman Leonardo S. Nasca, Jr. Business Managers Barbara L. Davies Martin B. Getzow News Editor Hugh A. Gelabert Features Editor Aaron D. Bleznak CAHS Editor Joan M. Greco Editorial Page Editor Samuel Markind Photography Editor Todd Demmy Sports Editor Paul F. Mansfiel

Ariel - Volume 11 Number 2

Executive Editors Ellen Feldman Leonardo S. Nasca, Jr. Business .Managers Barbara L. Davies Martin B. Getzow News Editor Aaron D. Bleznak Features Editor Hugh A. Gelabert CAHS Editor Joan M. Greco Editorial Page Editor Samuel Markind Photography Editor Leonardo S. Nasca, Jr. Sports Editor Paul F. Mansfiel

Tampering by office-based methadone maintenance patients with methadone take home privileges: a pilot study

Methadone Maintenance Treatment (MMT) is among the most widely studied treatments for opiate dependence with proven benefits for patients and society. When misused, however, methadone can also be lethal. The issue of methadone diversion is a major concern for all MMT programs. A potential source for such diversion is from those MMT patients who receive daily take home methadone doses. Using a reverse phase high performance liquid chromatography method, seven of the nine patients who were randomly selected to have all of their remaining methadone take home doses (within a 24 hour period) analyzed, returned lower than expected quantities of methadone. This finding suggests the possibility that such patients may have tampered with their daily take home doses. Larger prospective observational studies are clearly needed to test the supposition of this pilot study

[Comment] Redefine statistical significance

The lack of reproducibility of scientific studies has caused growing concern over the credibility of claims of new discoveries based on “statistically significant” findings. There has been much progress toward documenting and addressing several causes of this lack of reproducibility (e.g., multiple testing, P-hacking, publication bias, and under-powered studies). However, we believe that a leading cause of non-reproducibility has not yet been adequately addressed: Statistical standards of evidence for claiming discoveries in many fields of science are simply too low. Associating “statistically significant” findings with P < 0.05 results in a high rate of false positives even in the absence of other experimental, procedural and reporting problems. For fields where the threshold for defining statistical significance is P<0.05, we propose a change to P<0.005. This simple step would immediately improve the reproducibility of scientific research in many fields. Results that would currently be called “significant” but do not meet the new threshold should instead be called “suggestive.” While statisticians have known the relative weakness of using P≈0.05 as a threshold for discovery and the proposal to lower it to 0.005 is not new (1, 2), a critical mass of researchers now endorse this change. We restrict our recommendation to claims of discovery of new effects. We do not address the appropriate threshold for confirmatory or contradictory replications of existing claims. We also do not advocate changes to discovery thresholds in fields that have already adopted more stringent standards (e.g., genomics and high-energy physics research; see Potential Objections below). We also restrict our recommendation to studies that conduct null hypothesis significance tests. We have diverse views about how best to improve reproducibility, and many of us believe that other ways of summarizing the data, such as Bayes factors or other posterior summaries based on clearly articulated model assumptions, are preferable to P-values. However, changing the P-value threshold is simple and might quickly achieve broad acceptance

The impact of societal cultural values and individual social beliefs on the perceived effectiveness of managerial influence strategies: a meso approach

This paper reports the findings of a 12-nation study designed to test empirically the relationships between societal cultural values, individual social beliefs, and the perceived effectiveness of different influence strategies. The relationships between three types of broad influence strategy (persuasive, assertive, and relationship based) and four dimensions of individual beliefs (cynicism, fate control, reward for application, and religiosity) were examined. Three of Project GLOBE's cultural values (in-group collectivism, uncertainty avoidance, and future orientation) were selected to investigate their direct effects on the rated effectiveness of influence strategies, and their possible interaction with dimensions of individual beliefs. Results showed that different dimensions of individual social beliefs predict the perceived effectiveness of the three types of influence strategy, and that cultural values can moderate the strength of the relationship between these dimensions of individual social beliefs and the perceived effectiveness of influence strategies

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vi;20cm;202ha

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vi, 202 hlm. : ilus. ; 20 cm

Evaluation of a Rapid Serological Test for the Determination of \u3ci\u3eMycobacterium bovis\u3c/i\u3e Infection in Badgers (\u3ci\u3eMeles meles\u3c/i\u3e) Found Dead

Between October 2005 and May 2006, a total of 727 badgers found dead in Wales were reported, and 550 were delivered to the Regional Laboratories of the Veterinary Laboratories Agency (VLA). Of the 459 carcasses suitable for examination, 55 were deemed to be infected with Mycobacterium bovis on the basis of culture, spoligotyping, and variable-number tandem repeat typing. Acid-fast bacteria were observed histologically in a further six badgers, but these bacteria were not confirmed as M. bovis by culture. A rapid serological test (BrockTB Stat-Pak) performed on thoracic blood showed a sensitivity of 35% and a specificity of 99%. Presence of M. bovis infection was 45 times more likely to be confirmed postmortem by culture in BrockTB Stat-Pakreactive animals than in seronegative ones. Using visible carcass lesions as a marker of bovine tuberculosis (bTB) infection had a similar sensitivity (38%) but was significantly less specific (84%) than serology. The overall accuracy of the antibody detection was 93% (346 correct results from 374 tests), whereas the accuracy of regarding visible lesions as a marker for bTB infection was 78% (354 correct from 453 carcasses examined). Culture remains the gold standard method for detecting M. bovis infection in badgers. However, where resources are limited and/or an instant result is preferred, the BrockTB Stat-Pak could be used in field surveillance efforts to identify animals which should be examined further by only submitting test-negative animals to more detailed postmortem examination and culture