Statistical method for quantifying mobile phase selectivity in one- and two-dimensional overpressured layer chromatography.

A method for selecting mobile phases for either one-dimensional (1-D) or two-dimensional (2-D) planar chromatography is described and is applied to the separation of steroids by overpressured layer chromatography [Formula: see text] a form of forced-flow thin-layer chromatography [Formula: see text] using both normal- and reversed-phase chromatography. Two metrics are used for evaluating the separation quality of simulated chromatograms for each of 100 (or more) subsets of a set of 30 steroids in each of 15 1-D, and 105 2-D systems. The subsets vary in size between five and 25 steroids. Butyl acetate/toluene on silica gel and aqueous 2,2,2-trifluoroethanol are, on average, the highest and second highest ranked 1-D systems, respectively, for separating all subset sizes. These two systems are the constituent members of the system that is, on average, the highest ranked 2-D system for all subset sizes. The probability of the above systems being highest ranked decreases with decreasing subset size. There is only a 17% probability of butyl acetate/toluene on silica being the best system for separating a subset of five steroids, while there is a 3% probability of this being the worst system for this subset size. The spot capacity of each system can be estimated by considering 100 subsets of each size and noting the largest subset size that yields an acceptable value of one of the metrics used for measuring separation quality. The mobile phase selectivity may be quantified using the actual values of either of the two separation metrics, or by a nonparametric approach. The latter is used in such a way that a difference of unity in the ranking (for a given subset size) of two systems corresponds to a 95% probability that the higher ranked system will yield the better separation.

Kinetic assay of cytotoxic T lymphocyte clones. I. Methodology and data analysis.

A kinetic assay for cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) clones expanded briefly in culture is described. The Hill equation for allosteric kinetics is used to fit curves to dose-response data. In this assay, K0--the target cell concentration required for half-maximal velocity of killing--is determined for clones generated from a population's most frequent CTL precursors. Because each clone's K0 is a constant under given conditions and a description of relative cytolytic efficiency, K0 values can be used to compare the clonal composition of disparate or dynamic populations. The parameter n is the target concentration exponent in the Hill equation and the slope of the line in the Hill plot. This parameter further specifies the shape of a clone's dose response curve, describing a clone's responsiveness to changes in target cell concentration. Because the assay is designed for small, undetermined effector cell concentrations, maximum velocities are not compared. The method described herein requires minimal supplies, equipment, and biological materials.

Statistical analysis of clinical, radiographic, and histologic features of temporomandibular arthropathy.

For a variety of reasons, the past few years have brought about a tremendous emphasis on conditions affecting the temporomandibular joint and associated structures. Although important advances are being made relative to the diagnosis and treatment of these conditions, a myriad of problems remain for the practitioner who tries to sort through the literature or who attends courses in order to determine a means for properly diagnosing and treating these patients. This article attempts to develop correlations between certain clinical and radiographic findings documented by histologic evaluation as a beginning guide to more sound diagnosis.

Statistical comparison of blood glucose as determined by several test-strip procedures and by a hexokinase procedure.

We report a new statistical tool for comparing several dry-reagent strip procedures for whole blood glucose, which produce data in both digital and ordinal form, with results by the well-studied hexokinase-glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase procedure coupled to NAD+-NADH. Our use of "ordinal comparison unit" allows for a more equitable comparison of such data. These strip procedures produce biases of -2.21 to 1.74 ordinal comparison units over the range of glucose values corresponding to hypoglycemia and hyperglycemia, as compared with results by the hexokinase procedure, but they are essentially equivalent when compared with each other.