Chuanpu,

In all stable problems that I tried, parametrization

ETA()
$OMEGA
0.1  ; estimated

was equivalent (in terms of the estimated value and objective function) to

THETA(*)*ETA()
$OMEGA
1 FIXED

Also,

H0: THETA=0, vs. H1: THETA<>0

is the same as

H0: OMEGA=0, vs. H1: OMEGA>0

 since OMEGA=THETA^2

In theta-form, the problem has two identical solution

THETA()=SQRT(OMEGA)    and    THETA()= -SQRT(OMEGA)

Leonid


--------------------------------------
Leonid Gibiansky, Ph.D.
President, QuantPharm LLC
web:    www.quantpharm.com
e-mail: LGibiansky at quantpharm.com
tel:    (301) 767 5566



On 8/30/2010 1:41 PM, Hu, Chuanpu [CNTUS] wrote:
*From:* Hu, Chuanpu [CNTUS]
*Sent:* Monday, August 30, 2010 8:46 AM
*To:* 'Mark Sale'
*Cc:* 'nmusers'
*Subject:* RE: [NMusers] Block versus diagonal omega

Mark,

Nice thought – the test can be conducted, but the devil is in the
details. This has to do with the intricacies of the role alternative
hypothesis plays in hypothesis testing:

For the original parameterization testing OMEGA, the hypothesis test is

H0: OMEGA=0, vs. H1: OMEGA>0

For the THETA parameterization testing OMEGA, the hypothesis test is

H0: THETA=0, vs. H1: THETA<>0

So without getting into the math, the intuitive argument is that the
alternative hypotheses in the 2 situations are different, therefore it
is logical that the testing criteria must change. The world of math does
not contain contradictions even though it may appear so at times. J

Chuanpu

*From:* Mark Sale [mailto:[email protected]]
*Sent:* Sunday, August 29, 2010 9:19 AM
*To:* Hu, Chuanpu [CNTUS]
*Cc:* nmusers
*Subject:* RE: [NMusers] Block versus diagonal omega

Chuanpu,
Do I extrapolate correctly then that:

V = THETA(1)*EXP(THETA(2)*ETA(1))
.
.
.
$OMEGA
(1,FIXED).

Can be tested (THETA(2) <> 0), since it is not a truncated distribution?
might be an interesting exercise to do this with LRT and compare to the
randomization test with the usual specification.


Mark


--- On *Fri, 8/27/10, Hu, Chuanpu [CNTUS] /<[email protected]>/* wrote:


From: Hu, Chuanpu [CNTUS] <[email protected]>
Subject: RE: [NMusers] Block versus diagonal omega
To: "Mark Sale - Next Level Solutions" <[email protected]>,
"Eleveld,DJ" <[email protected]>
Cc: "nmusers" <[email protected]>
Date: Friday, August 27, 2010, 4:33 PM

Theoretically, the NONMEM objective function drop for adding a diagonal
element follows a mixture chi-square distribution, from which follows
that using the “usual” chi-square distribution would be conservative.
This has to do with 0 being on the boundary of possible values. (See
Pinheiro and Bates, Mixed Effects Models in S and S-PLUS, Springer,
2000.) As this boundary issue does not apply to off-diagonal elements,
the “usual” chi-square distribution should be fine (with the usual
statistical asymptotic caveats).

I’d like to mention that, while the “find the best fit” mindset may be
suitable for the typical exploratory setting, the p-values from repeated
(e.g., stepwise) tests are not statistically interpretable. To have
valid p-values, confirmatory analyses would be needed, which in my mind
deserves a wider use. J

Chuanpu

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Chuanpu Hu, Ph.D.

Director, Pharmacometrics

Pharmacokinetics

Biologics Clinical Pharmacology

Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson

C-3-3

200 Great Valley Parkway

Malvern, PA 19355

Tel: 610-651-7423

Fax: (610) 993-7801

E-mail: [email protected] </mc/[email protected]>

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