Course Objectives
There was given a course at the EuroMISE Center of Charles University and Academy of Sciences of Czech Republic. The objectives of the course were to provide theoretical and practical knowledge in statistics for clinical and epidemiological research and practice. The course will be prepared in wide European cooperation, especially with EU universities and institutes in Germany (Heidelberg, Marburg, Neuherberg), France (Bordeaux) and Ireland (Dublin).

Set up of the course
During all parts of the course in the morning sections, lectures and demonstrations were be presented. In the afternoons, practical exercises were given so that hands-on experiences could be obtained. To this aim a network of workstations was available at the EuroMISE Center.
During the course hand-outs and books were available to all participants. All materials were in English.

Course Programme

DATE	TOPIC (1^st Week 9^th - 13^th June)	Universities, Institutions (Teachers)
Monday, June 9	Course outline. Introduction to statistical methodology and software STATISTICA. Basic concepts, descriptive statistics, normal and binomial distribution, Poisson distribution, Sampling, Estimation, Confidence intervals, Sample size	University of Dublin, Charles University and Academy of Sciences (M. O´ Regan, J.Zvárová , E.Ettlerová, M. Štefek)
Tuesday, June 10	Hypotheses testing, overview of statistical tests (binomial test, one and two sample t-test), test for rates, rank tests, Wilcoxon test/Utest, Mann-Whitney test/Matched pair signed rank test parametric vc. nonparametric, independent vc. dependant groups. Examples using Statistica.	University of Heidelberg, Charles University and Academy of Sciences (N. Viktor, , E.Ettlerová, M. Štefek)
Wednesday, June 11	Linear regression analysis, analysis of variance, correlation analysis (Pearson, Spearman, Kendall's tau). Examples using STATISTICA	University of Dublin, Ireland, Charles University and Academy of Sciences (M.O´Regan, M. Štefek)
Thursday, June 12	Analysis of categorial data, contingency tables (CHI-square, Fisher, Yates, McNemar test).Analysis of association of risk factors and diseases. Examples using STATISTICA and Epidemiology Tools programs	University of Dublin, Ireland, Charles University and Academy of Sciences (O'Regan, , M. Štefek)
Friday, June 13	Types of epidemiological studies, case-control and cohort studies, measures of disease frequency and effect of risk factors. Examples using EPIINFO program	Charles University, State Health Institute (J. Dáňová, M.Malý)

DATE	TOPIC (2^nd Week 16^th - 20^th June)	Universities, Institutions (Teachers)
Monday, June 16	Interaction and confounding in medicine (stratification, effect modification, confounding), Logistic regression. Examples using STATISTICA	University of Bordeaux, France, Charles University and Academy of Sciences (R. Salmi, K. Zvára, M. Štefek)
Tuesday, June 17	Measurement in medicine. Basic concepts (Precision, Accuracy).Principles of Bayesian decision making. Characteristics of diagnostics tests, ROC methodology. Discriminant analysis. Examples using STATISTICA and Bayes programs	MEDIS Insitute, Germany, Charles University and Academy of Sciences (R. Holle, J. Zvárová , M. Štefek)
Wednesday, June 18	Experiment, statistical parameters of measurement error, rates agreement and diagnostic validity. Survival analysis	MEDIS Institute, Germany, Charles University and Academy of Sciences (R. Holle, K. Hrach, K.Eben,)
Thursday, June 19	Clinical trials I:Therapeutic clinical trials: Objectives, Classification, Justification, EthicsMethodology: Internal validity (systematic and random errors), external validityMisuse of statistics in biomedical research	University of Marburg, Germany, Academy of Sciences (H. Schaffer)
Friday, June 20	Clinical trials II: Planning, running a trial. Data analysis and presentation of results.Meta-Analysis. Closing of the course	University of Marburg,University of Heidelberg, Germany, Charles University and Academy of Sciences (H. Schaffer, A.Koch, J. Zvárová)