Hormesis has been widely observed and debated in a variety of context in biomedicine and toxicological sciences. Detecting its presence can be an important problem with wide ranging implications. However, there is little work on constructing an efficient experiment to detect its existence or estimate the threshold dose. We use optimal design theory to develop a variety of locally optimal designs to detect hormesis, estimate the threshold dose and the zero-equivalent point (ZEP) for commonly used models in toxicology and risk assessment. To facilitate use of more efficient designs to detect hormesis, estimate threshold dose and estimate the ZEP in practice, we implement computer algorithms and create a user-friendly web site to help the biomedical researcher generate different types of optimal designs. The online tool facilitates the user to evaluate robustness properties of a selected design to various model assumptions and compare designs before implementation.

中文翻译：

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一种基于网络的工具，用于设计实验研究以检测兴奋作用和估计阈值剂量

在生物医学和毒理学的各种背景下，兴奋作用已被广泛观察和辩论。检测它的存在可能是一个具有广泛影响的重要问题。然而，在构建有效的实验以检测其存在或估计阈值剂量方面几乎没有工作。我们使用优化设计理论开发各种局部优化设计，以检测毒理学和风险评估中常用模型的阈值剂量和零当量点 (ZEP)。为了在实践中促进使用更有效的设计来检测兴奋作用、估计阈值剂量和估计 ZEP，我们实施了计算机算法并创建了一个用户友好的网站，以帮助生物医学研究人员生成不同类型的优化设计。