Varsha,
The message you show below is not an error. It is just a warning. Errors
and warnings are very different. An error will cause NONMEM to stop and
usually give you some clue to the problem. A warning does not mean there
is a problem -- it is just a clue that there may be a problem and its up
to the user to do some thinking. There may be nothing for you to worry
about.
As others have pointed out the message you show often turns up in
NONMEM VI because the OMEGA estimate is close to 0. Many people found
this message irritating when NONMEM VI first came out so in later
versions you can tell NONMEM (via NM-TRAN) abbreviated code) not to
issue this kind of warning.
In the end it is up to you to make a decision about whether the model is
reasonable or not. NONMEM has no idea. Indeed it has been discussed many
times on this list that there is typically no difference between models
which NONMEM reports as successful versus those that NONMEM terminates
because of rounding errors. You have to learn to take responsibility for
modelling decisions and not pay too much attention to the messages that
NONMEM issues.
Nick
Varsha Mehta wrote:
Dear NONMEM users:
I have a data set for 30 infants where I am running a 2 COMPT PK model. I got
the following error message for the covariance step. I need some help with
trying to fix this error. Any suggestions? should I increase the upper
boundries of initial estimates?
MINIMIZATION SUCCESSFUL
NO. OF FUNCTION EVALUATIONS USED: 289
NO. OF SIG. DIGITS IN FINAL EST.: 3.0
0PARAMETER ESTIMATE IS NEAR ITS BOUNDARY
THIS MUST BE ADDRESSED BEFORE THE COVARIANCE STEP CAN BE IMPLEMENTED
any help is appreciated.
Thanks
Varsha Mehta, MS(CRDSA), Pharm.D., FCCP
Clinical Associate Professor
Pharmacy, Pediatrics and Communicable Diseases
Clinical Pharmacist Neonatal Critical Care
University of Michigan
(O) 734-936-8985
(F) 734-936-6946
[email protected]
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--
Nick Holford, Professor Clinical Pharmacology
Dept Pharmacology & Clinical Pharmacology
University of Auckland, 85 Park Rd, Private Bag 92019, Auckland, New Zealand
[email protected] tel:+64(9)923-6730 fax:+64(9)373-7090
mobile: +33 64 271-6369 (Apr 6-Jul 20 2009)
http://www.fmhs.auckland.ac.nz/sms/pharmacology/holford
