scholarly journals Validation of novel multiplex technologies

2017 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Levent Akyüz
Keyword(s):  
Sample Size ◽  
Ex Vivo ◽  
Small Sample Size ◽  
Therapy Monitoring ◽  
Safety Data ◽  
Serum Markers ◽  
Small Sample ◽  
Advantages And Disadvantages ◽  
Early Phase Clinical Trials

The parallel analysis of multiple factors, such as cytokines, from small sample size is an interesting approach for assessment of in vivo activation signatures and functionality after ex vivo stimulation. One interesting application is for therapy monitoring, such as safety data, pharmacodynamics, evidences for mode-of-action and side effects, particularly useful for accompanying early phase clinical trials. There are different platforms for Multiplex analysis of ligands available. We compared in this study the performance of three different platforms (Luminex Bio-Plex® 200, MesoScale Discovery®, Ella®) which use different ways of achieving parallel measurements of biomarkers from small liquid sample size. We show examples of in house assessment of intra- and inter-assay variations, determination of range and recovery for classical immunological serum markers and discuss advantages and disadvantages for these three platforms in relation to the question addressed.

Halal certification or ingredient disclosure

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 765-781
Author(s):  
Shuko Takeshita
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Sample Size ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Small Sample Size ◽  
Small Sample ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Tourist Destinations ◽  
Advantages And Disadvantages ◽  
Factors Influencing ◽  
Low Diversity

Purpose The purpose of this study is to clarify what is really needed to attract Muslim tourists by comparing the two main approaches to serving food with halal certification or with ingredient disclosure. Design/methodology/approach This research adopted a comparative analysis of a Group promoting “halal certification” and a Group promoting “ingredient disclosure” mainly from the tourists’ perspective. Taito Ward, Tokyo, encourages restaurants to obtain halal certification, while the approach of Takayama City is to disclose the ingredients. The study compares the advantages and disadvantages of these two approaches and also investigates factors influencing them. Findings This study revealed that Muslim tourists would like to see both halal certification and ingredient disclosure. The reason why Taito Ward and Takayama City pursue different strategies can be summarized in three points: the types of food offered in the two areas, the vastly different scales of the two areas as tourist destinations and the different perspectives of their respective advisors. Research limitations/implications The limitations of this study include the small sample size and the low diversity of the origins of Muslim tourists. However, this research is still significant because few academic studies on halal certification have been done from the tourists’ perspective. Originality/value There are many things that could be done to attract Muslim tourists. Even without halal certification, there are many restaurants that can cater to Muslims in Japan. A little consideration and thoughtfulness on the part of restaurants can enhance the probability of attracting Muslim tourists.

Probing the ultrastructure of the mitotic and meiotic spindle in eggs: An expeditious approach based on semi-thin (0.25 μm) serial sections

1983 ◽  
Vol 41 ◽  
pp. 552-555
Author(s):  
Conly L. Rieder ◽  
S. Bowser ◽  
R. Nowogrodzki ◽  
K. Ross ◽  
G. Sluder
Keyword(s):  
Small Sample Size ◽  
Small Sample ◽  
Meiotic Spindle ◽  
Serial Sections ◽  
Mitotic Apparatus ◽  
Thin Sections ◽  
Cell Cycles ◽  
Ultrastructural Studies

Eggs have long been a favorite material for studying the mechanism of karyokinesis in-vivo and in-vitro. They can be obtained in great numbers and, when fertilized, divide synchronously over many cell cycles. However, they are not considered to be a practical system for ultrastructural studies on the mitotic apparatus (MA) for several reasons, the most obvious of which is that sectioning them is a formidable task: over 1000 ultra-thin sections need to be cut from a single 80-100 μm diameter egg and of these sections only a small percentage will contain the area or structure of interest. Thus it is difficult and time consuming to obtain reliable ultrastructural data concerning the MA of eggs; and when it is obtained it is necessarily based on a small sample size.We have recently developed a procedure which will facilitate many studies concerned with the ultrastructure of the MA in eggs. It is based on the availability of biological HVEM's and on the observation that 0.25 μm thick serial sections can be screened at high resolution for content (after mounting on slot grids and staining with uranyl and lead) by phase contrast light microscopy (LM; Figs 1-2).

Application of Ultrasound Elastography for Assessing Intestinal Fibrosis in Inflammatory Bowel Disease: Fiction or Reality?

2020 ◽  
Vol 21 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roberto Gabbiadini ◽  
Eirini Zacharopoulou ◽  
Federica Furfaro ◽  
Vincenzo Craviotto ◽  
Alessandra Zilli ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Inflammatory Bowel Disease ◽  
Sample Size ◽  
Bowel Disease ◽  
Small Sample Size ◽  
Shear Wave Elastography ◽  
Small Sample ◽  
Ultrasound Elastography ◽  
Invasive Technique ◽  
Intestinal Fibrosis ◽  
Inflammatory Bowel

Background: Intestinal fibrosis and subsequent strictures represent an important burden in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). The detection and evaluation of the degree of fibrosis in stricturing Crohn’s disease (CD) is important to address the best therapeutic strategy (medical anti-inflammatory therapy, endoscopic dilation, surgery). Ultrasound elastography (USE) is a non-invasive technique that has been proposed in the field of IBD for evaluating intestinal stiffness as a biomarker of intestinal fibrosis. Objective: The aim of this review is to discuss the ability and current role of ultrasound elastography in the assessment of intestinal fibrosis. Results and Conclusion: Data on USE in IBD are provided by pilot and proof-of-concept studies with small sample size. The first type of USE investigated was strain elastography, while shear wave elastography has been introduced lately. Despite the heterogeneity of the methods of the studies, USE has been proven to be able to assess intestinal fibrosis in patients with stricturing CD. However, before introducing this technique in current practice, further studies with larger sample size and homogeneous parameters, testing reproducibility, and identification of validated cut-off values are needed.

scholarly journals Confirming known planetary trends using a photometrically selected Kepler sample

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonah T Hansen ◽  
Luca Casagrande ◽  
Michael J Ireland ◽  
Jane Lin
Keyword(s):  
Sample Size ◽  
Robust Statistics ◽  
Narrow Band ◽  
Small Sample Size ◽  
Small Sample ◽  
Fitting Algorithm ◽  
Statistical Studies ◽  
The Rich ◽  
Host Stars ◽  
High Metallicity

Abstract Statistical studies of exoplanets and the properties of their host stars have been critical to informing models of planet formation. Numerous trends have arisen in particular from the rich Kepler dataset, including that exoplanets are more likely to be found around stars with a high metallicity and the presence of a “gap” in the distribution of planetary radii at 1.9 R⊕. Here we present a new analysis on the Kepler field, using the APOGEE spectroscopic survey to build a metallicity calibration based on Gaia, 2MASS and Strömgren photometry. This calibration, along with masses and radii derived from a Bayesian isochrone fitting algorithm, is used to test a number of these trends with unbiased, photometrically derived parameters, albeit with a smaller sample size in comparison to recent studies. We recover that planets are more frequently found around higher metallicity stars; over the entire sample, planetary frequencies are 0.88 ± 0.12 percent for [Fe/H] < 0 and 1.37 ± 0.16 percent for [Fe/H] ≥ 0 but at two sigma we find that the size of exoplanets influences the strength of this trend. We also recover the planet radius gap, along with a slight positive correlation with stellar mass. We conclude that this method shows promise to derive robust statistics of exoplanets. We also remark that spectrophotometry from Gaia DR3 will have an effective resolution similar to narrow band filters and allow to overcome the small sample size inherent in this study.

scholarly journals In vivo assessment of a single adenine mutation in 5′UTR of Endothelin-1 gene in paediatric cases with severe pulmonary hypertension: an observational study

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Abhishek Kumar ◽  
Minati Choudhury ◽  
Sakshi Dhingra Batra ◽  
Kriti Sikri ◽  
Anushree Gupta
Keyword(s):  
Pulmonary Hypertension ◽  
Congenital Heart ◽  
Small Sample Size ◽  
Small Sample ◽  
Severe Pulmonary Hypertension ◽  
Endothelin 1 ◽  
Circulating Levels ◽  
In Vivo Assessment

Abstract Objective Endothelin-1 plays an important role in the pathogenesis of severe pulmonary hypertension. The + 139 ‘A’, adenine insertion variant in 5′UTR of edn1 gene has been reported to be associated with increased expression of Endothelin-1 in vitro. The aim of present study was to explore the association of this variant with the circulating levels of Endothelin-1 in vivo using archived DNA and plasma samples from 38 paediatric congenital heart disease (cyanotic and acyanotic) patients with severe pulmonary hypertension. Results The plasma Endothelin-1 levels were highly varied ranging from 1.63 to75.16 pg/ml. The + 139 ‘A’ insertion variant in 5′UTR of edn1 was seen in 8 out of 38 cases with only one acyanotic sample demonstrating homozygosity of inserted ‘A’ allele at + 139 site (4A/4A genotype). The plasma Endothelin-1 levels in children with homozygous variant 3A/3A genotype were comparable in cyanotic and acyanotic groups. Lone 4A/4A acyanotic sample had ET-1 levels similar to the median value of ET-1 associated with 3A/3A genotype and was absent in cyanotic group presumably due to deleterious higher ET-1 levels. The discussed observations, limited by the small sample size, are suggestive of homozygous adenine insertion variant posing a risk in cyanotic babies with Severe Pulmonary Hypertension.

scholarly journals The use of diversity indices for local assessment of marine sediment quality

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Shinya Hosokawa ◽  
Kyosuke Momota ◽  
Anthony A. Chariton ◽  
Ryoji Naito ◽  
Yoshiyuki Nakamura
Keyword(s):  
Community Structure ◽  
Sample Size ◽  
Small Sample Size ◽  
Benthic Communities ◽  
Sediment Quality ◽  
Diversity Indices ◽  
Small Sample ◽  
Species Density ◽  
Local Case ◽  
Two Indices

AbstractDiversity indices are commonly used to measure changes in marine benthic communities. However, the reliability (and therefore suitability) of these indices for detecting environmental change is often unclear because of small sample size and the inappropriate choice of communities for analysis. This study explored uncertainties in taxonomic density and two indices of community structure in our target region, Japan, and in two local areas within this region, and explored potential solutions. Our analysis of the Japanese regional dataset showed a decrease in family density and a dominance of a few species as sediment conditions become degraded. Local case studies showed that species density is affected by sediment degradation at sites where multiple communities coexist. However, two indices of community structure could become insensitive because of masking by community variability, and small sample size sometimes caused misleading or inaccurate estimates of these indices. We conclude that species density is a sensitive indicator of change in marine benthic communities, and emphasise that indices of community structure should only be used when the community structure of the target community is distinguishable from other coexisting communities and there is sufficient sample size.

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