Biostatistics (a contraction of biology and statistics; sometimes referred to as biometry or biometrics) is the application of statistics Statistics is the formal science of making effective use of numerical data relating to groups of individuals or experiments. It deals with all aspects of this, including not only the collection, analysis and interpretation of such data, but also the planning of the collection of data, in terms of the design of surveys and experiments to a wide range of topics in biology Biology is a natural science concerned with the study of life and living organisms, including their structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, distribution, and taxonomy. The science of biostatistics encompasses the design of biological experiments, especially in medicine Medicine is the science and art of healing. It encompasses a range of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness. Before scientific medicine, healing arts were practised in accordance with alchemical treatments and ritual practices that developed out of religious and cultural traditions and agriculture Agriculture is the production of food and goods through farming. Agriculture was the key development that led to the rise of human civilization, with the husbandry of domesticated animals and plants creating food surpluses that enabled the development of more densely populated and stratified societies. The study of agriculture is known as; the collection, summarization, and analysis of data from those experiments; and the interpretation of, and inference from, the results.

Biostatistics and the history of biological thought

Biostatistical reasoning and modeling were of critical importance to the foundation theories of modern biology. In the early 1900s, after the rediscovery of Mendel's Gregor Johann Mendel was an Augustinian priest and scientist, who gained posthumous fame as the figurehead of the new science of genetics for his study of the inheritance of certain traits in pea plants. Mendel showed that the inheritance of these traits follows particular laws, which were later named after him. The significance of Mendel's work work, the conceptual gaps in understanding between genetics Genetics , a broad discipline of biology, is the science of heredity, genes, DNA, mutation, etc., and their functions and aspects in living organisms. The fact that living things inherit traits from their parents has been used since prehistoric times to improve crop plants and animals through selective breeding. However, the modern science of and evolutionary Darwinism Darwinism is a set of movements and concepts related to ideas of transmutation of species or evolution, including ideas with no connection to the work of Charles Darwin. The meaning of Darwinism has changed over time, and varies depending on who is using the term. In the United States, Darwinism is often used by creationists as a pejorative term led to vigorous debate between biometricians such as Walter Weldon and Karl Pearson Karl Pearson FRS established the discipline of mathematical statistics and Mendelians such as Charles Davenport, William Bateson William Bateson was a British geneticist, a Fellow of St. John's College, Cambridge. He was the first person to use the term genetics to describe the study of heredity and biological inheritance, and the chief populariser of the ideas of Gregor Mendel following their rediscovery in 1900 by Hugo de Vries and Carl Correns and Wilhelm Johannsen Wilhelm Johannsen was a Danish botanist, plant physiologist and geneticist. He was born in Copenhagen. While very young, he was apprenticed to a pharmacist and worked in Denmark and Germany beginning in 1872 until passing his pharmacist's exam in 1879. In 1881, he became assistant in the chemistry department at the Carlsberg Laboratory under the. By the 1930s statisticians and models built on statistical reasoning had helped to resolve these differences and to produce the neo-Darwinian modern evolutionary synthesis The modern evolutionary synthesis is a union of ideas from several biological specialties which forms a logical account of evolution. This synthesis has been accepted by nearly all working biologists. The synthesis was produced over about a decade (1936–1947), and the development of population genetics (1918–1932) was the stimulus. This showed.

The leading figures in the establishment of this synthesis all relied on statistics and developed its use in biology.

• Sir Ronald A. Fisher Sir Ronald Aylmer Fisher, FRS was an English statistician, evolutionary biologist, eugenicist and geneticist. He was described by Anders Hald as "a genius who almost single-handedly created the foundations for modern statistical science," and Richard Dawkins described him as "the greatest of Darwin's successors" developed several basic statistical methods in support of his work The Genetical Theory of Natural Selection
• Sewall G. Wright used statistics in the development of modern population genetics Population genetics is the study of allele frequency distribution and change under the influence of the four main evolutionary processes: natural selection, genetic drift, mutation and gene flow. It also takes into account the factors of population subdivision and population structure. It attempts to explain such phenomena as adaptation and
• J. B. S Haldane's John Burdon Sanderson Haldane FRS , known as Jack (but who used 'J.B.S.' in his printed works), was a British-born geneticist and evolutionary biologist. He was one of the founders (along with Ronald Fisher and Sewall Wright) of population genetics book, The Causes of Evolution, reestablished natural selection as the premier mechanism of evolution by explaining it in terms of the mathematical consequences of Mendelian genetics.

These individuals and the work of other biostatisticians, mathematical biologists Mathematical and theoretical biology is an interdisciplinary academic research field with a range of applications in biology, medicine and biotechnology. The field may be referred to as mathematical biology or biomathematics to stress the mathematical side, or as theoretical biology to stress the biological side. It includes at least four major, and statistically inclined geneticists helped bring together evolutionary biology Evolutionary biology is a sub-field of biology concerned with the origin of species from a common descent and descent of species, as well as their change, multiplication and diversity over time. Someone who studies evolutionary biology is known as an evolutionary biologist. To philosopher Kim Sterelny, "the development of evolutionary biology and genetics Genetics , a broad discipline of biology, is the science of heredity, genes, DNA, mutation, etc., and their functions and aspects in living organisms. The fact that living things inherit traits from their parents has been used since prehistoric times to improve crop plants and animals through selective breeding. However, the modern science of into a consistent, coherent whole that could begin to be quantitatively Statistics is the formal science of making effective use of numerical data relating to groups of individuals or experiments. It deals with all aspects of this, including not only the collection, analysis and interpretation of such data, but also the planning of the collection of data, in terms of the design of surveys and experiments modeled.

In parallel to this overall development, the pioneering work of D'Arcy Thompson in On Growth and Form also helped to add quantitative discipline to biological study.

Despite the fundamental importance and frequent necessity of statistical reasoning, there may nonetheless have been a tendency among biologists to distrust or deprecate results which are not qualitatively The term qualitative data is used to describe certain types of information. This is the almost the converse of quantitative data, in which items are more precisely described data in terms of quantity and in which numerical values are used. However, data originally obtained as qualitative information about individual items may give rise to apparent. One anecdote describes Thomas Hunt Morgan Thomas Hunt Morgan was an American embryologist who won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1933 for discoveries relating the role the chromosome plays in heredity banning the Friden calculator from his department at Caltech The California Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Pasadena, California, United States. Caltech has six academic divisions with a strong emphasis on sciences and engineering. Its primary 124-acre (50 ha) campus is located approximately 11 miles (18 km) northeast of downtown Los Angeles, saying "Well, I am like a guy who is prospecting for gold along the banks of the Sacramento River in 1849. With a little intelligence, I can reach down and pick up big nuggets of gold. And as long as I can do that, I'm not going to let any people in my department waste scarce resources in placer mining Placer mining is the mining of alluvial deposits for minerals. This may be done by open-pit (also called open-cast mining) or by various forms of tunneling into ancient riverbeds. Excavation may be accomplished using water pressure (hydraulic mining), surface excavating equipment or tunneling equipment."^[1] Educators are now adjusting their curricula to focus on more quantitative concepts and tools.^[2]

Education and training programs

Almost all educational programmes in biostatistics are at postgraduate Postgraduate education involves learning and studying for degrees or other qualifications for which a first or Bachelor's degree generally is required, and is normally considered to be part of tertiary or higher education. In North America, this level is generally referred to as graduate school level. They are most often found in schools of public health, affiliated with schools of medicine, forestry, or agriculture or as a focus of application in departments of statistics.

In the United States ^ b. English is the de facto language of American government and the sole language spoken at home by 80% of Americans age five and older. Spanish is the second most commonly spoken language, while several universities have dedicated biostatistics departments, many other top-tier universities integrate biostatistics faculty into statistics or other departments, such as epidemiology Epidemiology is the study of factors affecting the health and illness of populations, and serves as the foundation and logic of interventions made in the interest of public health and preventive medicine. It is considered a cornerstone methodology of public health research, and is highly regarded in evidence-based medicine for identifying risk. Thus departments carrying the name "biostatistics" may exist under quite different structures. For instance, relatively new biostatistics departments have been founded with a focus on bioinformatics Bioinformatics is the application of statistics and computer science to the field of molecular biology and computational biology Computational biology is an interdisciplinary field that applies the techniques of computer science, applied mathematics and statistics to address biological problems. The main focus lies on developing mathematical modeling and computational simulation techniques. By these means it addresses scientific research topics with their theoretical and, whereas older departments, typically affiliated with schools of public health Public health is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals." It is concerned with threats to the overall health of a community based on population health analysis. The, will have more traditional lines of research involving epidemiological studies and clinical trials Clinical Trials are conducted to allow safety and efficacy data to be collected for health interventions . These trials can take place only after satisfactory information has been gathered on the quality of the non-clinical safety, and Health Authority/Ethics Committee approval is granted in the country where the trial is taking place as well as bioinformatics. In larger universities where both a statistics and a biostatistics department exist, the degree of integration between the two departments may range from the bare minimum to very close collaboration. In general, the difference between a statistics program and a biostatistics one is twofold: (i) statistics departments will often host theoretical/methodological research which are less common in biostatistics programs and (ii) statistics departments have lines of research that may include biomedical applications but also other areas such as industry (quality control For instance, the parameters for a pressure vessel should include not only the material and dimensions, but also operating, environmental, safety, reliability and maintainability requirements), business and economics Economics is the social science that is concerned with the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek οἰκονομία from οἶκος (oikos, "house") + νόμος (nomos, "custom" or "law"), hence "rules of the house(hold)". Current and biological areas other than medicine.

Applications of biostatistics

• Public health Public health is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals." It is concerned with threats to the overall health of a community based on population health analysis. The, including epidemiology Epidemiology is the study of factors affecting the health and illness of populations, and serves as the foundation and logic of interventions made in the interest of public health and preventive medicine. It is considered a cornerstone methodology of public health research, and is highly regarded in evidence-based medicine for identifying risk, health services research, nutrition Nutrition is the provision, to cells and organisms, of the materials necessary (in the form of food) to support life. Many common health problems can be prevented or alleviated with a healthy diet, and environmental health Environmental health is the branch of public health that is concerned with all aspects of the natural and built environment that may affect human health. Other terms that concern or refer to the discipline of environmental health include environmental public health and environmental health and protection
• Design and analysis of clinical trials Clinical Trials are conducted to allow safety and efficacy data to be collected for health interventions . These trials can take place only after satisfactory information has been gathered on the quality of the non-clinical safety, and Health Authority/Ethics Committee approval is granted in the country where the trial is taking place in medicine Medicine is the science and art of healing. It encompasses a range of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness. Before scientific medicine, healing arts were practised in accordance with alchemical treatments and ritual practices that developed out of religious and cultural traditions
• Population genetics Population genetics is the study of allele frequency distribution and change under the influence of the four main evolutionary processes: natural selection, genetic drift, mutation and gene flow. It also takes into account the factors of population subdivision and population structure. It attempts to explain such phenomena as adaptation and, and statistical genetics in order to link variation in genotype The genotype is the genetic constitution of a cell, an organism, or an individual usually with reference to a specific character under consideration. For instance, the human albino gene has two recessive alleles, recessive a and recessive a. It is a generally accepted theory that inherited genotype, transmitted epigenetic factors, and non- with a variation in phenotype A phenotype is any observable characteristic or trait of an organism: such as its morphology, development, biochemical or physiological properties, behavior, and products of behavior . Phenotypes result from the expression of an organism's genes as well as the influence of environmental factors and the interactions between the two. This has been used in agriculture to improve crops and farm animals (animal breeding). In biomedical research, this work can assist in finding candidates for gene A gene is a unit of heredity in a living organism. It is normally a stretch of DNA that codes for a type of protein or for an RNA chain that has a function in the organism. All living things depend on genes, as they specify all proteins and functional RNA chains. Genes hold the information to build and maintain an organism's cells and pass genetic alleles An allele (pronounced /ˈæliːl/ , /əˈliːl/ (US); from the Greek αλληλος allelos, meaning each other) is one of two or more forms of the DNA sequence of a particular gene that can cause or influence predisposition to disease in human genetics Human genetics describes the study of inheritance as it occurs in human beings. Human genetics encompasses a variety of overlapping fields including: classical genetics, cytogenetics, molecular genetics, biochemical genetics, genomics, population genetics, developmental genetics, clinical genetics, and genetic counseling. Genes can be the common
• Anaysis of genomics Genomics is the study of the genomes of organisms. The field includes intensive efforts to determine the entire DNA sequence of organisms and fine-scale genetic mapping efforts. The field also includes studies of intragenomic phenomena such as heterosis, epistasis, pleiotropy and other interactions between loci and alleles within the genome. In data, for example from microarray A microarray is a multiplex lab-on-a-chip. It is a 2D array[clarification needed] on a solid substrate that assays large amounts of biological material using high-throughput screening methods or proteomics Proteomics is the large-scale study of proteins, particularly their structures and functions. Proteins are vital parts of living organisms, as they are the main components of the physiological metabolic pathways of cells. The term "proteomics" was first coined in 1997 to make an analogy with genomics, the study of the genes. The word & experiments ^[3][4]. Often concerning diseases or disease stages ^[5].
• Ecology Ecology is the scientific study of the distributions, abundance and relations of organisms and their interactions with the environment. Ecology includes the study of plant and animal populations, plant and animal communities and ecosystems. Ecosystems describe the web or network of relations among organisms at different scales of organization, ecological forecasting Ecological forecasting uses knowledge of physics, ecology and physiology to predict how ecosystems will change in the future in response to environmental factors such as climate change. The ultimate goal of the approach is to provide people such as resource managers and designers of marine reserves with information that they can then use to
• Biological sequence analysis ^[6]
• Systems biology Systems biology is a term used to describe a number of trends in bioscience research, and a movement which draws on those trends. Proponents describe systems biology as a biology-based inter-disciplinary study field that focuses on complex interactions in biological systems, claiming that it uses a new perspective . Particularly from year 2000 for gene network inference or pathways analysis

Statistical methods are beginning to be integrated into medical informatics Health informatics, Health care informatics or medical informatics is the intersection of information science, computer science, and health care. It deals with the resources, devices, and methods required to optimize the acquisition, storage, retrieval, and use of information in health and biomedicine. Health informatics tools include not only, public health informatics, bioinformatics and computational biology.

Biostatistics journals

• Biometrics
• Biometrika
• Biostatistics
• International Journal of Biostatistics, The
• Canadian Journal of Epidemiology and Biostatistics
• Journal of Agricultural, Biological, and Environmental Statistics
• Journal of Biopharmaceutical Statistics
• Pharmaceutical Statistics
• Statistical Applications in Genetics and Molecular Biology
• Statistics in Biopharmaceutical Research
• Statistics in Medicine
• Turkiye Klinikleri Journal of Biostatistics

Related fields

Biostatistics shares several methods with quantitative fields such as:

• computational biology
• computer science,
• operations research,
• psychometrics,
• statistics,
• econometrics, and
• mathematical demography

See also

• Ecological forecasting
• Group size measures
• Machine Learning
• Network Biology
• Quantitative parasitology
• Systems Biology

References

1. ^ Charles T. Munger (2003-10-03). "Academic Economics: Strengths and Faults After Considering Interdisciplinary Needs". http://www.tilsonfunds.com/MungerUCSBspeech.pdf.
2. ^ "Spotlight:application of quantitative concepts and techniques in undergraduate biology". http://www.reinventioncenter.miami.edu/Spotlights/BioMath.htm.
3. ^ Helen Causton, John Quackenbush and Alvis Brazma (2003). "Statistical Analysis of Gene Expression Microarray Data". Wiley-Blackwell.
4. ^ Terry Speed (2003). "Microarray Gene Expression Data Analysis: A Beginner's Guide". Chapman & Hall/CRC.
5. ^ Frank Emmert-Streib and Matthias Dehmer (2010). "Medical Biostatistics for Complex Diseases". Wiley-Blackwell.
6. ^ Warren J. Ewens and Gregory R. Grant (2004). "Statistical Methods in Bioinformatics: An Introduction". Springer.

External links

• The International Biometric Society
• The Collection of Biostatistics Research Archive
• Guide to Biostatistics (MedPageToday.com)
• Biostatistician

Journals

• Statistical Applications in Genetics and Molecular Biology
• Statistics in Medicine
• The International Journal of Biostatistics
• Journal of Agricultural, Biological, and Environmental Statistics
• Journal of Biopharmaceutical Statistics
• Biostatistics
• Biometrics
• Biometrika
• Biometrical Journal
• Genetics Selection Evolution

Categories: Biostatistics | Bioinformatics | Public health | Demography

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