ASSIGNMENT # 01 (PART 1)

Q1. Cardiovascular Disease/ Cholestrol

The data in Table 2.15 are a sample of cholesterol levels taken from 24 hospital employees who
were on a standard American diet and who agreed to adopt a vegetarian diet for 1 month. Serum-
cholesterol measurements were made before adopting the diet and 1 month after.

a) Compute the mean change in cholesterol.

b) Compute the standard deviation of the change in cholesterol levels.

c) Construct a stem-and-leaf plot of the cholesterol changes.

d) Compute the median change in cholesterol.

e) Construct a box plot of the cholesterol changes to the right of the stem-and-leaf plot.

f) Some investigators believe that the effects of diet on cholesterol are more evident in
people with high rather than low cholesterol levels. If you split the data in Table 2.15
according to whether baseline cholesterol is above or below the median, can you
comment descriptively on this issue?

Q2.
a) Compute the mean and median from the data given in table below:
b) Compute the standard deviation and coefficient of variation from these data.
c) Suppose the data are expressed in IU rather than IU/100. What are the mean, standard
deviation, and coefficient of variation in the new units?
d) Construct a stem-and-leaf plot of the data on some convenient scale.
e) Do you think the mean or median is a more appropriate measure of location for this data
set?

Q3. Concentration of bacteria in the urine in a sample of female factory workers in a country is
given in table below:
a) Compute the arithmetic mean for this sample.
b) Compute the geometric mean for this sample.
c) Which do you think is a more appropriate measure of location?
Q4. Suppose the origin for a data set is changed by adding a constant to each observation.
a) What is the effect on the median?
b) What is the effect on the mode?
c) What is the effect on the geometric mean?
d) What is the effect on the range?

Q5. Consider a family with a mother, father, and two children. Let A1 = {mother has influenza},
A2 = {father has influenza}, A3 = {first child has influenza}, A4 = {second child has influenza},
B = {at least one child has influenza}, C = {at least one parent has influenza}, and D = {at least
one person in the family has influenza}.
a) What does A1 ∪ A2 mean?
b) What does A1 ∩ A2 mean?
c) Are A3 and A4 mutually exclusive?
d) What does A3 ∪ B mean?
e) What does A3 ∩ B mean?
f) Express C in terms of A1, A2, A3, and A4.
g) Express D in terms of B and C.
h) What does A1 mean?
i) What does A2 mean?
j) Represent C in terms of A1, A2, A3, and A4.
k) Represent D in terms of B and C.

Q6. Let A = {serum cholesterol = 250–299}, B = {serum cholesterol ≥ 300}, C = {serum

cholesterol ≤ 280}.
Are the events A and B mutually exclusive?
Are the events A and C mutually exclusive?
Suppose Pr(A) = .2, Pr(B) = .1. What is Pr (serum cholesterol ≥ 250)?
What does A∪C mean?
What does A∩C mean?
What does B∪C mean?
What does B∩C mean?
Are the events B and C mutually exclusive?
What does the event B mean? What is its probability?

Q7. What is the sensitivity and specificity of a screening test?

What are the PV+ and PV− of a screening test?
How does PV differ from sensitivity and specificity?

Q8. The angiogram is the standard test used to diagnose the occurrence of stroke. However,
some patients experience side effects from this test, and some investigators have attempted to use
a noninvasive test as an alternative. Sixty-four patients with transient monocular blindness, or
TMB (where a person temporarily loses vision in one eye), were given both tests. The sample
was selected to have about equal numbers of angiogram-positive and -negative patients. The
results were as follows:

How can we compare the two tests? Sensitivity, specificity and predictive value (positive and
negative) are commonly used measures for describing the accuracy of screening tests.

Q9. In one study, 4 participating readers used two different types of film, PACS film and plain
film to evaluate abnormality based on radiographic images. There was a 5-point rating scale with
a lower score indicating abnormality. The issue is what cut point to use to designate abnormality.
It is well-known that there is variation among readers in evaluating radiologic images. For this
purpose, we present evaluations from one reader of the same 100 images for the study. The results
are given in Table below.
Suppose different cut points are considered for positivity, viz, ≤ 0 , ≤ 1, ≤ 2, ≤ 3, ≤ 4 and ≤ 5.
Compute the sensitivity of the test for each cut point for Reader.
Compute the specificity of the test for each cut point for Reader.
Draw the ROC curve for Reader.
Compute the accuracy of the test for Reader.

Q10. Suppose two doctors, A and B, test all patients coming into a clinic for syphilis. Let events
A+ = {doctor A makes a positive diagnosis} and B+ = {doctor B makes a positive diagnosis}.
Suppose doctor A diagnoses 10% of all patients as positive, doctor B diagnoses 17% of all patients
as positive, and both doctors diagnose 8% of all patients as positive.
Are the events A+, B+ independent?
Suppose a patient is referred for further lab tests if either doctor A or B makes a positive diagnosis.
What is the probability that a patient will be referred for further lab tests?
Find the conditional probability that doctor B makes a positive diagnosis of syphilis given that
doctor A makes a positive diagnosis.
What is the conditional probability that doctor B makes a positive diagnosis of syphilis given that
doctor A makes a negative diagnosis?
What is the RR of B+ given A+?