This project is the descriptive epidemiological meta-regression tool, DisMod-MR, which grew out of the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) Study 2010. DisMod-MR has been developed for the Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington from 2008-2013.

A motivating example: descriptive epidemiological meta-regression of Parkinson's Disease

All examples: http://nbviewer.ipython.org/github/ihmeuw/dismod_mr/tree/master/examples/

The file requirements.tex lists the Python packages necessary to run DisMod-MR. Unfortunately, PyCPPAD is not available with pip/easy_install.

DisMod-MR has been installed successfully by at least one person outside of my immediate peer group. She says "I ended up using Anaconda and then manually installing all the required packages individually. There were also errors when I install a new package that required me to re-install previous ones and restart the computer several times. Using easyinstall was helpful. I also had to install GCC at some point. I hope these would be helpful for making it easier for new users."

This installation section could be more detailed. Here is a little bit more from the first successful install outside of IHME:

I was able to set-up pycppad. One lesson learned was that using pycppad with the Anaconda Python distribution makes the kernel die (at least for OS X).

The method that I've found to be less prone to errors (at least for OS X) is:

• Use the pre-installed python that comes with OS X (better to have other python distributions uninstalled)

• Install SciPy which contains most of the dependencies (and includes easy install if I remember correctly)

• Install the remaining dependencies using easy install (in my case, only simplejson I think)

For the consistent model:

• Install boost (http://www.boost.org/doc/libs/1_54_0/libs/python/doc/index.html)

get boost from boost.org follow instructions from http://www.boost.org/doc/libs/1_54_0/more/getting_started/unix-variants.html#easy-build-and-install

Issue the following commands in the shell (don't type $; that represents the shell's prompt):

$ cd path/to/boost_1_54_0 <-- change to the directory where you saved the boost files $ ./bootstrap.sh --help

Select your configuration options and invoke ./bootstrap.sh again without the --help option. Unless you have write permission in your system's /usr/local/ directory, you'll probably want to at least use

$ ./bootstrap.sh --prefix=path/to/installation/prefix <-- I recommend having administrator privileges and not having to specif y the installation path

to install somewhere else. Also, consider using the --show-libraries and --with-libraries=library-name-list options to limit the long wait you'll experience if you build everything. Finally,

$ ./b2 install

will leave Boost binaries in the lib/ subdirectory of your installation prefix. You will also find a copy of the Boost headers in the include/ subdirectory of the installation prefix, so you can henceforth use that directory as an #include path in place of the Boost root directory.

install cmake http://www.cmake.org/cmake/resources/software.html

• Install cppad (http://www.coin-or.org/CppAD/)

go to cppad installer directory issue following commands from terminal: cmake ./ make install

• Configure the setup.py file for pycppad to point to the directories and library files for boost and cppad

• Build and install pycppad

Other notes:

• I sometimes got errors about not finding a C compiler even though I had gcc installed; this was solved by making a symbolic link

PS Xcode and Command Line Tools should also be installed on OS X

I was able to set-up the age-standardising part of the model on a Windows system. The installation had some differences from OS X. In a nutshell:

• I was only able to make a 32-bit installation work for now.

• Some prerequisites: install specifically Visual Studio C++ 2008 Express Edition (not the later versions!); also had to install gcc, gfortran, g++ via MinGW (then had to set path manually in the environment variables)

• Installed Python and set path manually in environment variables

• Had to use unofficial SciPy Stack installer from http://www.lfd.uci.edu/~gohlke/pythonlibs/

• Installed other remaining dependencies via command line (in my case, networkx and pymc)

• In the case of pymc, had to force to build using mingw32 but then had to install the built files using easy_install (that's just how I got it to work somehow)

• Write tests before code

• Write equations before tests

• Test quantitatively with simulation data

• Test qualitatively with real data

• Automate tests

• Use a package instead of DIY

• Test the package

• Optimize code later

• Optimize code for readability before speed

• .py files should be short, less than 500 lines

• Functions should be short, less than 25 lines