{"id":47099,"date":"2020-04-03T19:53:46","date_gmt":"2020-04-03T18:53:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/?p=47099"},"modified":"2020-04-10T15:09:02","modified_gmt":"2020-04-10T14:09:02","slug":"jeffrey-aronson-when-i-use-a-word-modelling-viral-reproduction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2020\/04\/03\/jeffrey-aronson-when-i-use-a-word-modelling-viral-reproduction\/","title":{"rendered":"Jeffrey Aronson: When I Use a Word . . . Modelling viral reproduction"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2014\/12\/jeffrey_aronson.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-32935\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2014\/12\/jeffrey_aronson.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"127\" height=\"160\" \/><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Here\u2019s an extract from a recent newspaper report: \u201cThe key aim of social distancing is to get this figure below one, at which point the outbreak would begin to peter out.\u201d The figure to which this report refers is the basic reproduction number (or reproductive ratio) of a virus, called R<sub>0<\/sub> (R nought or R zero). It is estimated using data fed into epidemiological models, statistical and mathematical.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">I have previously <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2016\/09\/30\/jeffrey-aronson-when-i-use-a-word-drugs-and-medicaments\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">discussed<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> the IndoEuropean root MED, to measure and hence to ponder, judge, or prescribe, as a source of words about medicine and medicines. Its o-grade form, MOD, has given rise to another wide range of words, via many Latin words such as modus, a measured amount, and modulus, a unit adopted as a standard of measurement. English words derived from these include mood, mode, modal, and modicum, modus, modulus, module, and modiolus, moderate and immoderate, modest and immodest, modern and modify, commode, commodious, commodity, and accommodate, mould, and of course model.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">A model was originally (15<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">th<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> century) a set of designs for a proposed structure, and by analogy something that accurately resembles or represents something else, especially on a small scale. Later (17<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">th<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> century) it came to mean a small-scale three-dimensional representation, such as a maquette. But the idea of a model as a mathematical construct, simplifying a concept in a way that allowed computation, didn&#8217;t emerge until the end of the 19<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">th<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> century. Here it is in a paper from 1894 (Figure 1).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-47103\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2020\/04\/aronson_modellling_again.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"628\" height=\"738\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2020\/04\/aronson_modellling_again.png 722w, https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2020\/04\/aronson_modellling_again-255x300.png 255w, https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2020\/04\/aronson_modellling_again-640x752.png 640w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 628px) 100vw, 628px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Nowadays we recognize all kinds of statistical and mathematical models. They may be in purely mathematical form, with equations that embody a set of assumptions about the way in which a set of data behaves, such as the extent to which a sample was randomly generated and the probability distribution of the data. Or they may be in the form of a structural model in which, for example, compartments representing certain segments of a population or aspects of physiological or pharmacological processes are linked by mathematical representations of what happens when there is transfer from one compartment to another.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">For example, in Markov models used in <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pmc\/articles\/PMC3612711\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">pharmacoeconomics<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> the compartments typically represent disease states, between which individuals may move as their health state changes according to transition probabilities specific to each state and each period of time during which a change occurs (e.g. due to a therapeutic intervention). Figure 2 shows a pharmacological example\u2014including both compartmental and non-compartmental analyses.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-47104\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2020\/04\/aronson_modellling_again2.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"628\" height=\"794\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2020\/04\/aronson_modellling_again2.png 718w, https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2020\/04\/aronson_modellling_again2-237x300.png 237w, https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2020\/04\/aronson_modellling_again2-640x809.png 640w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 628px) 100vw, 628px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/projecteuclid.org\/euclid.aos\/1035844977\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Formally<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> a statistical model consists of the data set and a set of probability distributions supposedly associated with the set; in Bayesian models there is also an associated presumed prior distribution, which will be adjusted as more data accrue.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Such models can be used to estimate the basic reproduction number of a virus, R<sub>0<\/sub>, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www1.health.gov.au\/internet\/publications\/publishing.nsf\/Content\/mathematical-models~mathematical-models-models.htm~mathematical-models-2.2.htm\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">defined<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> as the number of cases that are expected to occur on average in a homogeneous population as a result of infection by a single individual, when the whole population is susceptible at the start of an epidemic, before immunity starts to develop and before any attempt has been made to immunize the population.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">If one person develops the infection and passes it on to two others, the R<sub>0<\/sub> is 2. If the average R<sub>0<\/sub> in the population is greater than 1, the infection will spread. The higher the value of R<sub>0<\/sub>, the faster an epidemic will progress, although R<sub>0<\/sub> does not specify how fast. If R<sub>0<\/sub> is less than 1, the infection will spread only slowly, and it will eventually die out.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">R<sub>0<\/sub> is estimated from data collected in the field and entered into mathematical models. The estimated value depends on the model used and the data that inform it. A <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/10672508\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">typical model<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> is based on three factors: individual susceptibility to the infection, the rate at which infections actually occur, and the rate of removal of infection from the population, by either recovery or death. As immunity develops in the population the value of the reproduction number changes; it is then called the effective reproduction number (R<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">e<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">). When R<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">e<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> falls below 1 the infection will die out. That, as the newspaper report told us, is what we are currently waiting for.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Next week I shall discuss how well the models work.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><em><strong>Jeffrey Aronson<\/strong>\u00a0is a clinical pharmacologist, working in the Centre for Evidence Based Medicine in Oxford&#8217;s Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences. He is also president emeritus of the British Pharmacological Society.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left\"><strong>Competing interests:<\/strong> None declared.<\/p>\n<table>\n<tbody>\n<tr style=\"border: 1px solid black\">\n<td style=\"border: 1px solid black;text-align: center\"><b>This week&#8217;s interesting integer: 268<\/b><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u25cf<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Like <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2020\/02\/21\/jeffrey-aronson-when-i-use-a-word-anamnesis\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">262<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, 268 is an untouchable number, an integer that cannot be expressed as the sum of all the proper divisors of any other number. For example, the proper divisors of 9 are 1 and 3, whose sum is 4; therefore 4 is a touchable number, since it is the sum of the proper divisors of 9. There is no integer whose proper divisors add up to 268. Untouchable numbers are also called non-aliquot numbers.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left\">\u25cf Prime connections:<br \/>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400\">(a)<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Twin primes are consecutive primes (e.g. 41 and 43). 268 is<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">related to twin primes in two different ways:<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0(i) the 268<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">th<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> prime is <\/span><b>1721<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> and the 269<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">th<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> is <\/span><b>1723<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u00a0<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0(ii) 6 \u00d7 268 + 1 = <\/span><b>1607<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> and 6 \u00d7 268 \u2013 1 = <\/span><b>1609<\/b><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400\">(b)<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The 268<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">th<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> prime, 1721, minus 268 equals another prime, 1453<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400\">(c)<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">And the average of the squares of all the prime factors of 268 (2, 2, and 67) is also prime: (2<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">2<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> + 2<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">2<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> + 67<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">2<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">)\/3 = 1499<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400\">(d)<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">268 is the sum of two consecutive primes (131 + 137)<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u25cf 268 is palindromic in base 8 (414)<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u25cf 268 is an even lucky number, so called because it survives the following sieving process:<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400\">(a)<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">List the even integers, starting with 2:<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u00a0\u00a0<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30 32 34 36 38 40 42 44 46 48 50 52 54 56 \u2026<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400\">(b)<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Remove every fourth number:<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u00a0<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">2 4 6 10 12 14 18 20 22 26 28 30 34 36 38 42 44 46 50 52 54 58 60 62 66 68 70 \u2026<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400\">(c)<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The first lucky number to survive is 6, so now remove every sixth number:<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400\">2 4 6 10 12 18 20 22 26 28 34 36 38 42 44 50 52 54 58 60 \u2026<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400\">(d)<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The next lucky number to survive is 10, so now remove every tenth number:<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u00a0\u00a0<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">2 4 6 10 12 18 20 22 26 34 36 38 42 44 50 52 54 58 \u2026<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400\">(e)<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Now remove every twelfth number and so on; the list that emerges is as follows:\u00a0<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u00a0\u00a0<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">2 4 6 10 12 18 20 22 26 34 36 38 42 44 50 52 54 58 68, 70 76, 84, 90, 98, 100, 102,<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400\">108, 114,116, 118, 130, 132, 138, 140, 148, 159, 164, 170, 172, 178,182, 186, 196,\u00a0<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400\">198, 212, 214, 218, 228, 230, 234, 244, 246, 260, 262, 268, \u2026<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">See also <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2020\/02\/14\/jeffrey-aronson-when-i-use-a-word-painkillers-a-linguistics-based-approach\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Interesting integer 261<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Here\u2019s an extract from a recent newspaper report: \u201cThe key aim of social distancing is to get this figure below one, at which point the outbreak would begin to peter [&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"btn btn-secondary understrap-read-more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2020\/04\/03\/jeffrey-aronson-when-i-use-a-word-modelling-viral-reproduction\/\">More&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":38359,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5762],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-47099","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-jeff-aronsons-words"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Jeffrey Aronson: When I Use a Word . . . 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