Ukb Skill

UKB Skill (Dataset Layer)

Overview

ukb-skill is the NeuroClaw analysis-layer skill for brain-focused UK Biobank downstream research.

This skill is designed for users who already have local UK Biobank tables, derived phenotype tables, or neuroimaging-derived feature matrices and want to run downstream statistical or machine learning analyses.

It follows the NeuroClaw hierarchical design principles:

• This skill describes WHAT needs to be analyzed and which existing skill should handle each part.
• It contains no RAP download workflow and no cloud export instructions.
• It contains no direct implementation code and no direct shell commands.
• All concrete execution should be delegated through claw-shell and related downstream skills.

Core workflow (never bypassed):

1. Confirm that the user already has accessible UK Biobank-derived local data.
2. Identify the research target: neurological endpoint, cognitive phenotype, brain MRI phenotype, or predictive modeling task.
3. Identify the analysis type: regression, survival analysis, subgroup analysis, propensity score analysis, mediation analysis, sensitivity analysis, machine learning, visualization, or manuscript support.
4. Check the minimum required columns, files, and assumptions.
5. Generate a numbered execution plan with outputs, delegated skills, and risks.
6. Present the plan and wait for explicit user confirmation ("YES" / "execute" / "proceed").
7. On confirmation, delegate all execution through claw-shell and the target skills.

Research use only.

Scope Boundaries

Included

• Brain-related UK Biobank disease endpoint analysis using existing tables
• Cognitive and brain-health phenotype modeling
• Brain MRI derived phenotype association analysis
• Survival / logistic / linear modeling on UK Biobank-derived tables
• Sensitivity analysis, subgroup analysis, propensity score analysis, and mediation analysis
• Machine learning on brain-related tabular or derived neuroimaging features
• Visualization and manuscript-ready result summarization

Excluded

• UK Biobank RAP access setup
• UK Biobank application, governance, or approval procedures
• Downloading demographics, proteomics, metabolomics, or raw UKB exports
• Cloud-side field selection or export helper workflows
• Low-level data download scripts

If the user asks how to obtain or download UK Biobank data, state that this skill only supports post-extraction analysis after the data has already been exported or derived.

Benchmark-Facing Default Mainline

For benchmark-style prompts, choose the narrowest valid UK Biobank brain-analysis route first and do not widen the response into unrelated epidemiology branches.

• If the task is incident neurological disease modeling:
  • Default to analysis-ready table -> survival endpoint check -> Cox regression -> sensitivity analysis if requested -> result summary.
  • Do not expand into unrelated imaging preprocessing or data download steps.
• If the task is cross-sectional cognition or brain-phenotype association analysis:
  • Default to feature table -> covariate check -> linear/logistic regression -> ranked outputs -> visualization if requested.
  • Do not expand into unrelated survival analysis unless the prompt explicitly asks for incident-event modeling.
• If the task is predictive modeling on brain-related UKB features:
  • Default to clean feature matrix -> train/validation split -> model fitting -> metrics -> interpretation.
  • Delegate predictive modeling to run_models when appropriate.
• If required columns or files are missing:
  • State Missing required input explicitly.
  • Do not invent UKB field names, event dates, or covariates.
• Do not introduce RAP, cloud export, or downloader guidance in benchmark mode.

When multiple valid analysis routes exist, prefer one explicit mainline plus a short note about blocked optional branches.

Research use only.

Quick Reference (Common UKB Brain Tasks → Delegation Map)

Recommended Strategy (Decision Logic)

• If the goal is incident neurological disease analysis such as dementia, stroke, or Parkinson's disease:

  • Prefer the survival-analysis route.
  • Confirm prevalent vs incident definition, censoring rule, and time/status columns before modeling.
  • Best for: longitudinal UKB outcome studies.

• If the goal is cross-sectional cognition or brain-health association analysis:

  • Prefer linear or logistic regression on a cleaned participant-level table.
  • Best for: baseline phenotype studies, association screens, cognition analyses.

• If the goal is brain MRI phenotype association analysis using ROI tables, cortical thickness, WMH burden, diffusion summaries, or connectome summaries:

  • Prefer a feature-table association route.
  • Best for: imaging-derived phenotype studies and region-wise effect ranking.

• If the goal is predictive modeling on UKB brain-related features:

  • Prefer run_models for model fitting, model comparison, and interpretation.
  • Best for: disease risk prediction, cognitive outcome prediction, multimodal tabular modeling.

• If the goal is effect heterogeneity or causal approximation:

  • Prefer subgroup, propensity score, or mediation workflows.
  • Best for: mechanistic analyses, treatment/exposure comparison, robustness studies.

• If the goal is publication-ready figures or writing:

  • Prefer brain-visualization for figures and paper-writing for text output.
  • Best for: reporting, paper drafting, slide-ready summaries.

Minimal Input Requirements

For Survival Analysis

• participant ID column
• survival time or baseline and event/censoring dates
• event indicator/status column
• clearly defined neurological or brain-related outcome
• covariates

For Cross-Sectional Regression

• participant ID column
• exposure or predictor columns
• target phenotype column
• covariates

For Brain Feature Modeling

• participant ID column
• ROI / IDP / derived feature columns
• target phenotype or outcome
• optional scanner, site, or confound columns

If the required inputs are not present, return a concrete missing-input list instead of inventing fields.

Brain-Relevant UKB Targets

This skill is intentionally restricted to brain-related UK Biobank content. Typical targets include:

• neurodegenerative outcomes: dementia, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease
• cerebrovascular outcomes: stroke and vascular brain-health outcomes
• cognition: memory, reaction time, executive function, fluid intelligence, cognitive decline
• psychiatric or brain-health outcomes when explicitly tied to brain-focused analysis
• imaging-derived brain phenotypes: cortical thickness, regional volume, subcortical volume, WMH burden, diffusion metrics, functional connectivity summaries

If the request is mainly non-brain UK Biobank epidemiology, this skill should state that it is out of scope.

When to Call This Skill

• Any request involving UK Biobank brain-related downstream analysis on already available local data.
• Any request involving dementia, stroke, cognition, brain MRI phenotypes, WMH burden, or brain-feature prediction in UKB.
• Any request asking for subgroup analysis, propensity score analysis, mediation analysis, or sensitivity analysis in a brain-focused UKB setting.

Do not call this skill for RAP export, field download, or raw neuroimaging preprocessing from DICOM/NIfTI.

Complementary / Related Skills

• run_models -> predictive modeling and interpretation on derived UKB brain features
• brain-visualization -> convert effect tables or connectome outputs into figures
• paper-writing -> manuscript-ready methods/results writing
• method-design -> analysis design refinement for neurological UKB studies
• academic-research-hub -> literature-backed design support and research grounding
• smri-skill -> raw structural MRI preprocessing before UKB-level tabular analysis
• fmri-skill -> raw functional MRI preprocessing before UKB-level tabular analysis
• wmh-segmentation -> WMH extraction before UKB-level association or prediction analysis
• claw-shell -> all concrete execution

Important Notes & Limitations

• This skill assumes that the user already has legal access to UK Biobank data and has already exported or derived the needed local analysis files.
• This skill does not define fixed UKB field IDs because field selection differs across studies and exports.
• This skill should not guess disease definitions, date columns, or censoring rules when they are not provided.
• Sensitivity analysis should be framed as filtered-data reruns of the same main model, not as unrelated new pipelines.
• If multiple candidate outcomes or feature tables exist, the skill should first ask which one is primary before execution.
• This skill is intended for research workflows and not for clinical decision-making.

Default Response Pattern

When this skill is triggered, the response should:

1. Restate the exact UK Biobank brain-related analysis goal.
2. State that the skill assumes local data is already available and does not cover downloading.
3. List the minimum required columns or files.
4. Provide a numbered execution plan.
5. State which NeuroClaw skills will be delegated to.
6. Wait for confirmation before execution.

Companion Scripts

Adapted from UKBAnalytica_v2 (Nan He, Southern Medical University).

scripts/extract_ukb_phenotype.py

Extract and preprocess UKB phenotype data with automatic field ID mapping.

python skills/ukb-skill/scripts/extract_ukb_phenotype.py \
  --input ukb_raw.csv --output phenotype.csv

python skills/ukb-skill/scripts/extract_ukb_phenotype.py \
  --input ukb_raw.csv --variables sex,age,bmi,smoking,townsend --output covariates.csv

python skills/ukb-skill/scripts/extract_ukb_phenotype.py --list-variables

Features:

• 50+ predefined UKB field ID mappings (demographics, lifestyle, biomarkers, brain IDPs, cognition)
• Automatic preprocessing: invalid code removal, variable-specific recoding
• Custom variable mapping via JSON
• Lists all available variables with --list-variables

scripts/extract_ukb_cases.py

Extract brain-related disease cases using ICD-10/ICD-9 codes.

python skills/ukb-skill/scripts/extract_ukb_cases.py \
  --input ukb_raw.csv --disease dementia --output dementia_cases.csv

python skills/ukb-skill/scripts/extract_ukb_cases.py \
  --input ukb_raw.csv --custom-icd G20 --output custom_cases.csv

python skills/ukb-skill/scripts/extract_ukb_cases.py --list-diseases

Features:

• 15 predefined brain-related disease definitions (dementia, Alzheimer's, stroke, Parkinson's, MS, epilepsy, depression, anxiety, schizophrenia, bipolar, brain tumour, TBI)
• Multi-source ascertainment: ICD-10, ICD-9, Death register
• Custom ICD-10 pattern support
• Prevalence statistics per disease

scripts/build_ukb_survival.py

Build survival analysis datasets with prevalent/incident case separation.

python skills/ukb-skill/scripts/build_ukb_survival.py \
  --input ukb_raw.csv --disease dementia --output survival.csv

python skills/ukb-skill/scripts/build_ukb_survival.py \
  --input ukb_raw.csv --disease stroke --censor-date 2023-10-31 --output stroke_survival.csv

Features:

• Follow-up time calculation (years from baseline)
• Prevalent vs incident case separation
• Censoring at death or administrative censor date
• Compatible with Cox regression in downstream analysis

scripts/ukb_qc_summary.py

Generate per-subject QC summaries for brain-related UKB data.

python skills/ukb-skill/scripts/ukb_qc_summary.py \
  --input ukb_raw.csv --output qc_summary.csv

python skills/ukb-skill/scripts/ukb_qc_summary.py \
  --input ukb_raw.csv --imaging-check --age-min 45 --age-max 80 --output qc_imaging.csv

Features:

• Covariate completeness check
• Brain imaging availability (T1w, FLAIR, dMRI, rs-fMRI IDPs)
• Age range filtering
• Per-subject QC pass/fail flag

Reference

Companion scripts adapted from UKBAnalytica_v2 by Nan He (Southern Medical University). SKILL.md analysis design narrowed to brain-focused UK Biobank research.

Custom NeuroClaw skill.

Created At: 2026-04-20 15:47 HKT Last Updated At: 2026-05-06 15:12 HKT Author: chengwang96