EMORY | nursing

F r o n t P a g eTHE ONR

THE LATEST NEWS FROM THE OFFICE OF NURSING RESEARCH

Register for the Innovations in Symptom Science Conference: Part 1 - the Microbiome

Also Inside: NEW RESEARCH AWARDS | BIOSTATISTICIAN HELP

April 7, 2014 Scholars’ Day for Em-ory Nursing Students and Fellows. 1:00pm - 3:00pm poster viewing.

VOLUME 2 | ISSUE 2 | MARCH 2014

Dr. Deb Bruner was awarded $2.8 million in NIH grants in 2013, the highest amount of support given to any nurse researcher in the world.

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Twitter Updates FROM THE ASSOCIATE DEAN FOR RESEARCH

I would like to thank all of you for once again keeping us very busy in the Office of Nursing Research! During the first half of this year, we have submitted 48 proposals, which is 37% more than last year at this time. Most of our proposals have been reviewed – an accom-plishment itself in this day and age - and many have received excellent scores and are awaiting word on funding. Most importantly, the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing is once again demonstrat-ing its commitment to discovering new knowledge that will be trans-lated into improved outcomes for patients and families around the world.

Exciting happenings in the School include our big Scholars Day Re-search Conference and the Davis Lecture that were held on April 7th. More than 30 student and fel-low posters were presented in the plaza that after-noon, followed by Dr. Heather Young, PhD, RN, FAAN who gave the Davis Lecture.

Stop into the ONR anytime for cof-fee, to submit a Proposal Initiation Form (PIF), or just to chat.

Betsy and the ONR Team

page 2 | NIH Top Researcher page 3 | ONR Newspage 4 | Microbiome Conference

New ReseaRch awaRds & OtheR spONsORed pROjects

Dr. Carolyn Reilly, PhD, RN received a Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG) award for her study on “The Relationship be-tween Radiation

Dose Volume and Adverse Cardiovas-cular Disease Outcomes in Thoracic Cancer Survivors”. This study will investigate the growing problem of cardiovascular disease experienced in patients after cancer treatment, with the goal of identifying risk and symptoms early to allow for better intervention.

Dr. Charles Downs, PhD, ACNP-BC received the first an-nual Dean’s Research Development Award for his project with Dr. Melissa Faulkner

to develop and test a model of anhe-donia in mice with Type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM), while simultane-ously, and using the same theoret-ical framework, evaluating with Dr. Faulkner depressive symptomology in young adults with T1DM. By ob-taining human data, as well as data from the animal model, these faculty will investigate mechanisms of symp-toms using an animal model while evaluating/validating biomarkers and mechanisms in human models.

Dr. Downs also received the pres-tigious Parker B. Francis Award to evaluate the effect of RAGE signaling on epithelial sodium channel activity, a strong influence on lung fluid clear-ance and pulmonary function.

Dr. Usula Kelly, PhD, ANP-BC, PMHNP-BC with the assistance of Dr. Carolyn Clevenger, RN, DNP, GNPP-BC will partner with the SBIRT

training team in the Department of Family Medicine at Mercer University to incorporate training for screening, brief intervention, and referral to treatment (SBIRT) for at-risk alcohol and drug use in existing APRN program curric-ulum.

Dr. Lisa Muirhead, DNP, RN, APRN-BC, ANP received an award from the US Department of Vet-eran Affairs to train more nurses to care for our country’s

veterans. Many faculty are working with Lisa in carrying out this timely and worthy initiative.

THE ONR FRONTPAGE | www.nursing.emory.edu/research | www.twitter.com/emoryonr2

Dr. Deb Bruner ranks No.1 for NIH Grants

Influential cancer researcher Deborah Watkins Bruner, PhD, RN, FAAN, is the top-ranked nurse researcher in the country in total grant support from the National

Institutes of Health (NIH). Dr. Bruner was awarded $2.8 million in NIH research grants in 2013—the highest amount of support given to any nurse researcher in the world.

Dr. Bruner consistently ranks high in NIH research funding. She is ranked among the top two percent of NIH investigators from all disciplines for funding. In 2012, she was once again the top-ranked nurse researcher in the world with more than $4.4 million in NIH funding. Please join us in congratulating Dr. Bruner on her outstanding success.

THE ONR FRONTPAGE | www.nursing.emory.edu/research | www.twitter.com/emoryonr3

YO U C A N U S ENEWS

Gift Card Policy

ONR has developed a proce-dure for the purchase,

tracking, and disposition of gift cards used as participant incentives that is similar to the current university policy for the Participant Stipend Fund. Gift cards are considered the same as cash and must be managed and monitored with the same level of detail. With the new procedure, it is mandatory that gift card purchases and disbursements are recorded on a tracking log, and then reconciled annually at the end of the grant budget period. Any unused gift cards remaining at the end of a project must be returned to the vendor for a credit, transferred to a discretionary account, or transferred to another study that the unused cards will di-rectly benefit.

Sample Size Where Should I Begin?

The goal of most clinical trials is to “detect” a significant

difference between groups, usually 2 (control versus intervention). Addi-tionally, the goal is that the difference to be detected should be “clinically significant or relevant” as well. So, to determine the sample size needed for any study, the goal is to deter-mine how many subjects are needed in each group to find at least a “mod-

erate” effect size that is statistically significant (p-value < 0.05 usually) at 80% power. If we look at this from a t-test point of view comparing the mean responses in 2 groups, a mod-erate effect size is defined as a mean difference in the response between the 2 groups that is at least half as large as the variability (i.e. standard deviation) in that response. For ex-ample, a mean difference between 2 groups of 5 relative to a pooled stan-dard deviation between the groups of 10 is an effect size of 5/10=0.5. Similar effect sizes can also be cal-culated for correlation, linear regres-sion, analysis of variance, chi-square tests, and logistic regression vary but the underlying principles are the same as for a 2-group t-test. Keeping in mind that most clinically relevant effects are moderate to large, to detect a moderate effect size, regard-less of analytical method, the recom-mended sample size falls in the range of 80 to 130 subjects (40 to 65 per group). While the final exact sample size determination should consider attrition, recruitment feasibility in terms of availability of subjects and length of study, number of follow-up time points, and number of variables to be tested in the final models, the recommended sample size of 80-130 is a solid estimate to always begin with relative to study planning and budgeting. For further sample size/power analysis assistance, please make an appointment to meet with an ONR statistician (Melinda Higgins, Bryan Williams or Sudeshna Paul).

Need to schedule time with a

B i o s t a t i s t i c i a n ?

Melinda Higgins, PhdAssociate Professor, Research

Office Hours: Thursdays 9 - 11amE-mail: melinda.higgins@emory.edu Phone: (404) 727-5180

Bryan Williams, PhD Associate Professor, Research

Office Hours: Wednesdays 12 - 2pmE-mail: bryan.williams@emory.edu Phone: (404) 727-4698

Sudeshna Paul, PhD Assistant Professor, Research

Office Hours: Fridays 10 -12pmE-mail: sudeshna.paul@emory.edu Phone: (404) 727-8747

THE ONR FRONTPAGE | www.nursing.emory.edu/research | www.twitter.com/emoryonr4

Innovations in Symptom Science: Part 1

T h e Mi c ro bi om eSeptember 2 & 3, 2014 Atlanta, GA

Keynote Speaker:

Rob Knight, PhDAssistant ProfessorUniversity of Colorado

Register online at http://microbiome.whindo.com for $225.00 early bird access to the full conference before July 31, 2014.

Registration is now open

Agenda:Tuesday, September 2, 6:00pm - 8:30pmWednesday, September 3, 8:00am - 4:00pm