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French_Toast wrote:I don't mean to be rude here when I say this, but it might come off as such because I'm tired and beginning to get sick, so bear with me.

When you're new to an event, and you come to the forums for help, please do not just ask "What do I need to know to be good at this event" or "What is this event about." You waste everyone's time. You should have a copy of the rules, and they list everything you need to know. If you have questions about what a certain part of the rules mean, or don't understand a certain topic, feel free to ask, and people will be more than happy to help. But don't walk in here and say "Teach me" and expect to get anything worthwhile out of it.

Anyways, looking forward to this event again this year, hoping to grab a gold for the first time. Gonna be rough since Solon is the reigning champion in the event, but I should be able to sneak one out, or get it at regionals when Solon isn't there.

Um, excuse me? I asked for help on this because I lost my copy of the rules, so i asked so I could get working. And also, even though you think I didn't get anything out of this, I learned that the wiki existed and how to get to the practice tests. And while I can't speak for everyone, I feel your comment was slightly rude, although I can see where you were coming from. Sorry if this angers you. I'm not looking for a fight.

So, I'm doing this event again this year, and I was wondering: What food-borne illnesses do you guys memorize the symptoms and stuff of - if any at all? I have some basics down, like Botulism, Clostridium, E. coli, Listeriosis, Salmonela, Shigella, and Staphylococcus. I've taken multiple tests where they have matching questions on associated foods and symptoms, and also others where food-borne illness is only incorporated in the outbreak, so I was just wondering if you guys had any other food-borne illnesses that are pretty common and often appear on tests. Thanks in advance!

prelude to death wrote:So, I'm doing this event again this year, and I was wondering: What food-borne illnesses do you guys memorize the symptoms and stuff of - if any at all? I have some basics down, like Botulism, Clostridium, E. coli, Listeriosis, Salmonela, Shigella, and Staphylococcus. I've taken multiple tests where they have matching questions on associated foods and symptoms, and also others where food-borne illness is only incorporated in the outbreak, so I was just wondering if you guys had any other food-borne illnesses that are pretty common and often appear on tests. Thanks in advance!

That list you have should be plenty. (I'd include Trichinosis, though.)
The most important ones are E. Coli and Salmonella.

Can someone explain the difference between Cohort and Case Control? For instance, when one would be used as opposed to the other? I know one compares the exposed and non-exposed vs those with the disease and not - however, what is the real difference between Odds ratio and Relative Risk?

danny9696 wrote:Can someone explain the difference between Cohort and Case Control? For instance, when one would be used as opposed to the other? I know one compares the exposed and non-exposed vs those with the disease and not - however, what is the real difference between Odds ratio and Relative Risk?

Well, I just started learning this event, but I'm pretty sure relative risk is "the association between an exposure and a disease. It estimates the likelihood of developing the disease in the exposed group as compares to the unexposed group." Basically, it determines how likely it is that something caused the disease. Odds ratio is kind of finding out the percent chance of contracting a disease. Say if a restarunt was suspected of making people sick. The odds ratio would conclude something like "People who ate at Restaurant A were 5.8 x more likely to contract Hepatitas A then people who did not eat there." I know this is kind of a confusing explanation. Sorry! I hope this is a little less confusing then I think it is.

Phrases in quotation marks and examples were taken directly from my Training Handout. If you recieved it, it has a lot of info on odds ratio and relative risk.

silverheart7 wrote:

danny9696 wrote:Can someone explain the difference between Cohort and Case Control? For instance, when one would be used as opposed to the other? I know one compares the exposed and non-exposed vs those with the disease and not - however, what is the real difference between Odds ratio and Relative Risk?

Well, I just started learning this event, but I'm pretty sure relative risk is "the association between an exposure and a disease. It estimates the likelihood of developing the disease in the exposed group as compares to the unexposed group." Basically, it determines how likely it is that something caused the disease. Odds ratio is kind of finding out the percent chance of contracting a disease. Say if a restarunt was suspected of making people sick. The odds ratio would conclude something like "People who ate at Restaurant A were 5.8 x more likely to contract Hepatitas A then people who did not eat there." I know this is kind of a confusing explanation. Sorry! I hope this is a little less confusing then I think it is.

Phrases in quotation marks and examples were taken directly from my Training Handout. If you recieved it, it has a lot of info on odds ratio and relative risk.

Association between an exposure and disease meaning the correlation between the two.

Additionally, a cohort study is a type of observational study where a group of people is chosen based on their exposure status, meaning if they have been exposed to a certain factor. They are then observed to see if they develop the outcome of interests, aka the disease or illness.

A case-control studies is a type of observational study where a group of people are chosen based on their disease status, meaning if they have the disease. Potential exposures are then looked into based on what the people participating in the study have been exposed to.

Relative risk is used in a cohort study, where as Odds ratio is used in a case-control study

danny9696 wrote:Can someone explain the difference between Cohort and Case Control? For instance, when one would be used as opposed to the other? I know one compares the exposed and non-exposed vs those with the disease and not - however, what is the real difference between Odds ratio and Relative Risk?

While they are used in two different scenarios, it's important to understand that they are basically the same thing, but from different "points of view." With odds ratio, you are comparing the odds of getting infected from the exposure, and with relative risk you are comparing the risk of being infected from exposure to the risk of being infected without exposure. They are basically trying to find the same thing. Besides knowing which type of study to use them in, you should also think which is necessary. In a case control, you are working backwards from the cases. You have determined (a) source, and you are trying to find the significance of that source in causing disease. With a cohort, you are working forward from the source, and to determine whether disease followed a certain path, you must find the significance of disease onset from that path.

In addition, I'd suggest also looking into things like absolute risk, and other measures of risk, such as excess risk, and risk difference.

Excess Risk: [(a+c)/a]-[(a+c)/b]
Risk Difference: [a/(a+c)]-[b/(b+d)]

Besides risk, and at a high school level, mathematics becomes extremely hard, and you'll be asked to both figure out and calculate numerous measures. Here are some I've commonly seen:

Cumulative Incidence Ratio: Number of new cases in a period of time / total population at risk (average population if changing w/time)
Point Prevalence: Cases in population / total population
Period Prevalence: Number of new cases in a certain time period / average population at the time
Case Fatality: Deaths / Total Population with disease [it's expressed per period of time]
Mortality Rate: Deaths / Total Population [it's expressed per period of time]
Rate Ratio: Incidence rate of a certain population / incidence rate of another population

And most of those should be expressed by per 10,000 or 100,000 people (whichever is specified or more appropriate)

If I wrote any of them wrong, please correct me, these are from the top of my head, and if there are others, please post them.

Thanks

I was wondering, are there any other specifics besides Food-bourne for Disease detectives?

defender_of_uracil wrote:I was wondering, are there any other specifics besides Food-bourne for Disease detectives?

Not this year, but maybe in past years???

silverheart7 wrote:

defender_of_uracil wrote:I was wondering, are there any other specifics besides Food-bourne for Disease detectives?

Not this year, but maybe in past years???

In a way, Food-Borne Illness is sort of a moot focus because even when the focus was Population Growth (back in 2009-2010), event writers still tended to include food-borne scenarios and questions.