Related papers: Statistical Modeling for Practical Pooled Testing …
A key requirement in containing contagious diseases, such as the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, is the ability to efficiently carry out mass diagnosis over large populations. Some of the leading testing procedures, such as…
The COVID-19 pandemic has had and continues to have major impacts on planned and ongoing clinical trials. Its effects on trial data create multiple potential statistical issues. The scale of impact is unprecedented, but when viewed…
We propose `Tapestry', a novel approach to pooled testing with application to COVID-19 testing with quantitative Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) that can result in shorter testing time and conservation of reagents…
We present a method for efficient estimation of the prevalence of infection in a population with high accuracy using only a small number of tests. The presented approach uses pool testing with a mix of pool sizes of various sizes. The test…
Efficient personnel scheduling plays a significant role in matching workload demand in organizations. However, staff scheduling is sometimes affected by unexpected events, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, that disrupt regular operations.…
We propose a novel testing and containment strategy in order to contain the spread of SARS-CoV2 while permitting large parts of the population to resume social and economic activity. Our approach recognises the fact that testing capacities…
We propose a mathematical model based on probability theory to optimize COVID-19 testing by a multi-step batch testing approach with variable batch sizes. This model and simulation tool dramatically increase the efficiency and efficacy of…
Detection of rare traits or diseases in a large population is challenging. Pool testing allows covering larger swathes of population at a reduced cost, while simplifying logistics. However, testing precision decreases as it becomes unclear…
Pooled testing is a common strategy for public health disease screening under limited testing resources, allowing multiple biological samples to be tested together with the resources of a single test, at the cost of reduced individual…
Bayesian adaptive designs have gained popularity in all phases of clinical trials with numerous new developments in the past few decades. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the need to establish evidence for the effectiveness of vaccines,…
Large-scale testing is considered key to assess the state of the current COVID-19 pandemic. Yet, the link between the reported case numbers and the true state of the pandemic remains elusive. We develop mathematical models based on…
We consider the optimal strategy for laboratory testing of biological samples when we wish to know the results for each sample rather than the average prevalence of positive samples. If the proportion of positive samples is low considerable…
Group testing can save testing resources in the context of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. In group testing, we are given $n$ samples, one per individual, and arrange them into $m < n$ pooled samples, where each pool is obtained by mixing a…
Background: In the context of ongoing debate over data confidentiality versus shared use of research data, as raised following the new EU General Data Protection Regulation, we seek to find alternate techniques that can balance these two…
We study the problem usually referred to as group testing in the context of COVID-19. Given $n$ samples taken from patients, how should we select mixtures of samples to be tested, so as to maximize information and minimize the number of…
This paper presents methods to choose individuals to test for infection during a pandemic such as COVID-19, characterized by high contagion and presence of asymptomatic carriers. The smart-testing ideas presented here are motivated by…
Population-wide screening is a powerful tool for controlling infectious diseases. Group testing enables such screening despite limited resources. Viral concentration of pooled samples are often positively correlated, either because…
We develop a statistical model for the testing of disease prevalence in a population. The model assumes a binary test result, positive or negative, but allows for biases in sample selection and both type I (false positive) and type II…
We argue that frequent sampling of the fraction of infected people (either by random testing or by analysis of sewage water), is central to managing the COVID-19 pandemic because it both measures in real time the key variable controlled by…
The COVID-19 pandemic has led to an unprecedented response in terms of clinical research activity. An important part of this research has been focused on randomized controlled clinical trials to evaluate potential therapies for COVID-19.…