NACCulator

Converts a CSV data file exported from REDCap into the NACC's UDS3 fixed-width format.

Note: NACCulator requires Python 3.

HOW TO Convert from REDCap to NACC

Once the project data is exported from REDCap to the CSV file data.csv, run:

$ pip3 install git+https://github.com/ctsit/nacculator.git
$ redcap2nacc <data.csv >data.txt

This command will work only in the simplest case; UDS3 IVP data only. If there are no errors, then submit the data.txt file to NACC.

Note: output is written to STDOUT; errors are written to STDERR; input is expected to be from STDIN unless a file is specified using the -file flag.

Usage

$ redcap2nacc -h
usage: redcap2nacc [-h]
                   [-fvp | -ivp | -tfp | -np | -m | -csf | -f {cleanPtid,replaceDrugId,fixHeaders,fillDefault,updateField,removePtid,removeDateRecord,getPtid}]
                   [-lbd | -ftld] [-file FILE] [-meta FILTER_META] [-ptid PTID]
                   [-vnum VNUM] [-vtype VTYPE]

Process redcap form output to nacculator.

optional arguments:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -fvp                  Set this flag to process as fvp data
  -ivp                  Set this flag to process as ivp data
  -tfp                  Set this flag to process as telephone follow-up data
  -np                   Set this flag to process as np data
  -m                    Set this flag to process as m data
  -csf                  Set this flag to process as NACC BIDSS CSF data
  -f {cleanPtid,replaceDrugId,fixHeaders,fillDefault,updateField,removePtid,removeDateRecord,getPtid}, --filter {cleanPtid,replaceDrugId,fixHeaders,fillDefault,updateField,removePtid,removeDateRecord,getPtid}
                          Set this flag to process the filter
  -lbd                  Set this flag to process as Lewy Body Dementia data
  -ftld                 Set this flag to process as Frontotemporal Lobar                                     Degeneration data
  -file FILE            Path of the csv file to be processed.
  -meta FILTER_META     Input file for the filter metadata (in case -filter is
                          used)
  -ptid PTID            Ptid for which you need the records
  -vnum VNUM            Ptid for which you need the records
  -vtype VTYPE          Ptid for which you need the records

Example - Process a Neuropathology form:

$ redcap2nacc -np -file data.csv >data.txt

Example - Processing LBD Follow-up visit packets:

redcap2nacc -lbd -fvp -file data.csv >data.txt

Both LBD and FTLD forms can have IVP or FVP arguments.

Example - Run data through the cleanPtid filter:

$ redcap2nacc -f cleanPtid -meta nacculator_cfg.ini <data.csv >data.txt

HOW TO Filter Data Using NACCulator

If your data is not clean enough to be processed by NACCulator, there are some built in functions to clean (read transform) the data.

In order to properly use the filters, the first step is to check and validate that nacculator_cfg.ini has the proper settings for the filter to run. The config file contains sections with in-code filter function name. Each of these sections contains elements necessary for the filter to run. The filters described below will discuss what is required, if anything. If the filter requires the config, it must be passed with the -meta flag like the example above shows.

• cleanPtid

  Filter config required This filter requires a section in the config called filter_clean_ptid. This section will contain a single key filepath which will point to a csv file of ptids to be removed. All the records whose ptid with same packet and visit num found in the passed meta file will be discarded in the output file.

  Example meta file:

  Patient ID,Packet type,Visit Num,Status
  110001,I,1,Current
  110001,M,M1,Current
  110003,I,001,Current
  110003,F,002,Current
  

• replaceDrugId

  This filter replaces the first character of non empty fields of columns drugid_1 to drugid_30 with character "d".

  This filter does not require any meta data file as of now.

• fixHeaders

  Filter config required This filter requires a section in the config called filter_fix_headers with as many keys as needed to replace the necessary columns. See example below. This filter fixes the column names of any column found in the filter mapping. This filter does not check for any data. It always replaces the column names if found.

  Currently, below replacements are used:

  config:
  c1s_2a_npsylan: c1s_2_npsycloc
  c1s_2a_npsylanx: c1s_2a_npsylan
  b6s_2a1_npsylanx: c1s_2a1_npsylanx
  fu_otherneur: fu_othneur
  fu_otherneurx: fu_othneurxs
  fu_strokedec: fu_strokdec
  

• fillDefault

  This filter is used to set some predefined fields to their corresponding predefined values. Below are the current defaults :

  nogds    -> 0
  arthupex -> 0
  arthloex -> 0
  arthspin -> 0
  arthunk  -> 0
  

  If field is blank, always it will be updated to default value.

• updateField

  This filter is used to update non blank fields. Currently, only adcid is updated to 41.

• removePtid

  Filter config required This filter requires a section in the config called filter_remove_ptid with a single key called ptid_format. The value for that key is a regex string to match ptids that are to be kept.

  This filter is used to remove ptids that may have a different set of ids for a different study, or help limit which ids show up in the final result.

  config:
  ptid_format: 11\d.*
  

• removeDateRecord

  This filter is used to remove records who may be missing visit dates. It searches for rows missing the visit day, month, or year. If any of those fields are missing, it removes the row.

• getPtid

  This filter is used to get information about a single PatientID. You need to use the -ptid flag to specify the patient ID. You can use the -vnum to get the records with particular visit number and Patient ID or use -vtype to get records with particular visit type and Patient ID.

    $ redcap2nacc -f getPtid -ptid $SOME_PATIENT_ID -vnum $SOME_VISIT_NUM -vtype $SOMEVISIT_TYPE <data.csv >data.txt
  

Example Workflow

Once you have edited the nacculator_cfg.ini file with your API token and desired filters, you can get a filtered CSV file of the REDCap data with:

$ python3 run_filters.py nacculator_cfg.ini

This will create a run folder ($run_folder) with the current date that contains the csv and each iteration of filter, ending with final_update.csv.

Next, you will need to split apart the IVP and FVP visits:

$ bash split_ivp_fvp.sh $run_folder/final_update.csv

The resulting files will not be in the run folder created by run_filters.py. They will be in the base directory. You can move them if you would like to, but you will need to modify the filepaths in the following commands.

Next, you will need to run the actual redcap2nacc program to produced the fixed width text file for NACC. As you have split the IVP and FVP visits, you will run the program twice, using each flag once.

$ redcap2nacc -ivp <initial_visits.csv >$run_folder/iv_nacc_complete.txt 2>$run_folder/ivp_errors.txt
$ redcap2nacc -fvp <followup_visits.csv >$run_folder/fv_nacc_complete.txt 2>$run_folder/fvp_errors.txt

This will place the text files in the run folder created earlier, as well as a log of the run which will have any errors encountered.

Development

Quickstart

$ git clone https://github.com/ctsit/nacculator.git nacculator
$ cd nacculator
$ python3 -mvenv venv
$ source venv/bin/activate
$ pip install -e .

Files

This is not exhaustive, but here is an explanation of some important files.

• nacc/: top-level Python package for all things NACC.

• nacc/redcap2nacc.py: converts a CSV data file exported from REDCap into NACC's UDS3 fixed-width format.

• nacc/uds3/blanks.py: specialized library for "Blanking Rules".

• nacc/uds3/ivp/forms.py: UDS3 IVP forms represented as Python classes.

• tools/generator.py: generates Python objects based on NACC Data Element Dictionaries in CSV.

• tools/preprocess/run_filters.py and tools/preprocess/run_filters.sh: pulls data from REDCap based on the settings found in nacculator_cfg.ini (for .py) and filters_config.cfg (for .sh).

Generating New Forms

Warning: read the warnings in the ./nacc/uds3/ivp/forms.py first!

Note: executing generator.py from within tools is an important step as the script assumes any corrected DEDs are stored under a folder in the current working directory called corrected.

$ python3 tools/generator.py tools/uds3/ded/csv/ >nacc/uds3/ivp/forms.py
$ edit nacc/uds3/ivp/forms.py

Testing

To run all the tests:

$ make tests

To run only the tests in a file:

$ python3 tests/WHICHEVER_test.py

Resources

• UDS3 FVP forms: https://www.alz.washington.edu/NONMEMBER/UDS/DOCS/VER3/