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Category: Biostats/pets

P-Value, the False Idol (revisited)

Posted On September 11, 2019September 4, 2019 By Christopher Lee DVM MPH DACVPM1 Comment

VetZone vet zone dog cat veterinary medicine veterinarian technician tech health CE continuing education preventive diplomate ACVPM DACVPM health Christopher Anthony Lee Kayla Wells MPH DVM biostats epidemiology blue line dot meaning positive predictive value negative sensitivity specificity confirm confirmatory test p-value p value worth felv fiv leukemia feline diagnostic IDEXX test SNAP false idol Irene of Athens Constantine VI Byzantine Empress

The most powerful woman in the world blinded her own son to uphold her beliefs Gorgeous, brilliant, and powerful, the Empress Irene perched upon her throne and contemplated her Eastern Roman Empire. She sought to reunite it with the West through marriage with none other than Charlemagne. Luckily for the great Carolingian king, pleuritis killed […]

Category: Immunology

Of Cabbages, Kings, and Paratopes

Posted On March 19, 2018March 19, 2018 By Christopher Lee DVM MPH DACVPMcomment

Giving up ultimate power for peace, gardening and cabbages The Roman emperor Diocletian helped demarcate the separation between the Roman and Byzantine empires. While not a new concept to the realm, Diocletian split the ruling of Rome into eastern and western regions. However, his decision to retire, struck his subjects as a new and perplexing […]

Category: Biostats/pets/science

Do These Definitions Ring a Bell Curve?

Posted On February 22, 2018March 18, 2018 By Christopher Lee DVM MPH DACVPMcomment

The Ancient Roman Calendar Consisted of Ten Months If the words September, October, November, and December have ever triggered the numbers 7, 8, 9, and 10 in your head, they do so with good reason. The ancient Romans divided the year into ten months with a month-less winter period at the end where the astronomers […]

Category: Biostats/pets/science

When a Blue Dot or Line does not mean a Blue Dot or Line

Posted On February 6, 2018March 18, 2018 By Christopher Lee DVM MPH DACVPM1 Comment

A closer look at Predictive Values When waging war and winning battles, successful generals consider timing a critical factor. Shall we move at dawn or wait till their supplies run lower? Few empires have witnessed the consistent military success as Rome. For roughly one thousand years, they expanded their empire, obliterated their enemies, and reigned […]

Category: Biostats

I positively predict value with prevalence

Posted On January 2, 2018March 18, 2018 By Christopher Lee DVM MPH DACVPMcomment

It has been fifteen minutes, fifteen long minutes. You look at the two blue lines that have been formed in your point-of-care test. One blue line would indicates that the control is working and that the result is negative. Two blue lines is a positive test. You just tested positive for Zombie disease. But how […]

Category: Infectious Disease Posts

I Just Don’t Give a Gram!

Posted On November 21, 2017May 15, 2019 By Christopher Lee DVM MPH DACVPMcomment

Vetzone vet zone dog cat veterinary medicine veterinarian technician tech health CE continuing education gram positive negative gram-positive gram-negative Hans Christian dye stain typing monoderm diderm bacteria cocci rods staphylococcus typhoid anthrax

Gosh, Gram it! Why is it that every time I take a class or read an article that involves bacteria, there is an insistence on explaining whether it is gram-negative or gram-positive? Who cares? After all, you culture bacteria, perform an antibiotic sensitivity test, then prescribe the correct antibiotic. Done and done. No gram-nonsense involved […]