title: A two-stage stepwise estimation procedure.
abstract: This article proposes a two-stage simultaneous confidence procedure for the comparisons of k pairs of population means, without using multiplicity adjustment of more than two populations. The proposed procedure can be broadly applied to parametric or nonparametric models. It is robust and versatile because its derivation only utilizes a partitioning approach in conjunction with a bivariate adjustment, without any assumption on the underlying distribution. To elucidate the application, the proposed procedure is intertwined with the estimation of the therapeutic window of a drug. It provides confidence limits for the efficacy and the toxicity of the effective doses, highest ineffective dose, safe doses, and lowest unsafe dose, simultaneously. Such estimation information facilitates follow-up studies in clinical trials. As an illustrative example, the new procedure is applied to analyze a data set on molecular cancer therapeutics regarding the apoptotic killing effects of different chemical compounds on two leukemia cell lines.
authors.affiliation: Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio 43403, USA. jchen@bgnet.bgsu.edu
authors.forename: John T
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000187:drug effects*; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D003198:Computer Simulation; D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D006801:Humans; D008954:Models, Biological; D015233:Models, Statistical; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy*; D016008:Statistical Distributions
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents