Questions tagged [statistics]
The study of the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data.
175
questions
-1
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25 views
Since a mutation is unlikely to both occur and then actually benefit the organism, how does evolution, mathematically speaking, account for this?
I know that the general explanation is that even though beneficial mutations may be unlikely, organisms reproduce so quickly and there are so many of them that evolution "rolls the dice" ...
2
votes
2answers
66 views
Definition of semiquantitative
I'd like to understand differences between how biologists and statisticians deal with uncertainty. As a concrete example, I'd like to understand if "semi-quantitative" can be defined in ...
1
vote
1answer
48 views
Why is it often assumed that biological samples from mice follow the normal distribution?
I am analysing Western blot data. In the experiment, I am looking at the expression level of a certain protein of interest in the brains of wild-type and knockout mice. I have seen online that many ...
0
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0answers
18 views
Apply Shannon-Weiner index to evaluate single-cell sample balance?
I would like to identify single-cell clusters where each sample is evenly represented in it. Is it OK to calculate the Shannon-Weiner index from the sample counting data of each cluster? I am worrying ...
2
votes
1answer
60 views
What is the best method to check for differential gene expression in large dataset? I want to identify aging differentially expressed genes
My data is RNAseq data and I want to know which all genes (which I am looking for) are differentially expressed with age. I have tried the Kruskal-Wallis test and fold change methods. Do you have any ...
4
votes
1answer
71 views
Beta-diversity for data with zeros
Background
I am looking into enterotyping the gut microbiome data, obtained by shotgun sequencing. This essentially means performing the Principal Coordinates Analysis (PCoA) of the beta-diversity ...
0
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0answers
56 views
Relationship between BMI and age?
I'm trying to study how age as a confounder may affect the relationship between commute mode and BMI (and design a research proposal).
To explain age as a potential confounder, I compared age to ...
0
votes
1answer
85 views
Confusion about how to compute probabilities for linked genes
I am confused about how to compute probabilities for linked genes.
The problem that I am solving is this:
P generation: AAbbddEEff X aaBBDDeeFF. If A and B are 40 centimorgan apart, what is the ...
0
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0answers
42 views
What statistical test would you recommend to compare two animal behavior sampling methods?
I am doing a lab where I am comparing the scanning method and focal animal method. Each method will give me the following:
Scanning method: occurrence frequency for each behavior (%),
focal animal ...
0
votes
1answer
108 views
Deviation from Hardy Weinberg equilibrium (HWE)
I have a set of 10 genes, each gene contains around 15 SNPs. I have tested the deviation from Hardy Weinberg equilibrium (HWE) for all SNPs. All of the SNPs didn't deviate from HWE, except 5 SNPs in ...
1
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0answers
24 views
Using coefficient of variation (CV) for GCaMP6 'synchronised episode' spikes, good idea or not?
Using GCaMP6 we have recorded fluorescence activity of kisspeptin neurons that exhibit synchronised pulsatile firing activity. I measured the intervals between each episode, which are quite variable. ...
3
votes
2answers
183 views
Is the coronavirus getting less dangerous?
Please note
This question is based on data from the UK government's web site (data from the ONS). I am not taking this data as accurate, but am using this as it is the only source of data I can find, ...
3
votes
1answer
90 views
Probability of all alleles represented in a sample
I'm trying to wrap my head around some formulas presented in the 1992 paper from Chakraborty Sample Size Requirements for Addressing the Population Genetic Issues of Forensic Use of DNA Typing, but I ...
0
votes
1answer
76 views
Why do coronavirus cases graphs have a sinusoidal like shape?
Some screenshots from a canadian website:
See this sinusoidal shape? Why is it there? Shouldn't it be a single curve?
My main guess is when cases are counted: is it possible that they are counted ...
4
votes
1answer
133 views
Are sizes of potatoes normally distributed?
I'm currently researching the variability of sizes of potatoes when all of the potatoes in question have been harvested from a single field. One question keeps coming up in my statistical analyses: ...
2
votes
0answers
28 views
Exhalation in human breath, through mouth or nose: which is most usual?
Until now I believed that breath exhalation through the mouth is common for most human beings, and this fact is implicit in several technical contexts of which I can think (sports, music, medical ...
2
votes
0answers
83 views
How to fit simulated with measured data having systematic errors?
Consider a given time series of measured data, i.e. the number of persons tested positive for COVID-19. And consider a simulation - consisting of a model, possibly fed with some parameters estimated a ...
2
votes
1answer
55 views
Controlling for phylogenetic signal - what is statistically appropriate?
I am currently collaborating with a fellow PhD student. We are both in the same Biology department, but my collaborator is more of a natural historian, so I am handling the statistical side of things. ...
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votes
1answer
57 views
Analysing bird diversity data across 2 sites and 2 time periods - Ordinal data. Shannon's and Jaccard?
I am looking for the best way to analyse the data below to measure and compare the bird diversity between 3 sites and across 2 time periods - basically are they different from each other and have they ...
4
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0answers
35 views
ABO allele frequencies: Why use the EM algorithm?
In textbooks and lecture notes and slides posted online, determining allele frequencies using blood type information (ABO), under the assumption of Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium, is accomplished using ...
4
votes
1answer
253 views
What percentage of individuals infected with COVID-19 don't have symptoms?
There are various statistics estimating mortality of COVID-19 infections, based on how many diagnosed people have died. These numbers are used by various media to extrapolate how many people will die ...
1
vote
1answer
105 views
Which proteins are part of the most different protein complexes?
Let n be the number of different protein complexes (as defined here) that a protein may be a stable part of for a considerable amount of time (and not only transiently). Which proteins have the ...
2
votes
0answers
30 views
Genes and proteins with a significantly inbalanced composition
According to Wikipedia, the median size of a protein-coding gene is 26,288 bp which makes it possible (from statistical considerations) that the nucleotides C, G, A, T appear in roughly equal amounts ...
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0answers
16 views
How many metabolites are in the metabolome of (almost) all eucaryotic cells?
Which small biomolecules (up to the size of amino acids) are present in (almost) every eucaryotic cell and thus part of its biochemical network, constantly and inevitably being produced and ...
1
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0answers
17 views
Correlation seen with low billirubin levels but not the gene that causes Gilbert's syndrome
I was reading the following study on associations between bilirubin and CAD (coronary artery disease). They looked at the bilirubin association, and the genes that cause Gilbert's syndrome, which ...
2
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0answers
60 views
Detect differentially expressing cells
I have data (RNA expression values, obtained with in situ hybridization) collected from 1mio human cells. For each cell, I have the expression value of a negative control (non-human RNA) and single-...
1
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1answer
116 views
Confusion about read counts distribution in RNA-seq
While reading old DESeq paper (Anders and Huber 2010) I came across following line.
If reads were independently sampled from a population with given,
fixed fractions of genes, the read counts ...
1
vote
2answers
335 views
Why isn't life expectancy normally distributed?
Lots of phenomenon in nature can be plotted onto some sort of normal distribution, and that makes intuitive sense to me (such as human height). Why then, does global human life expectancy drop off so ...
-1
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1answer
62 views
Help on selecting 2 tests - unsure if they are paired or non-paired statistical test
I have data that measures the temperature of flowers and leaves on different plant species. These are the comparisons I am trying to make:
Comparing the flower and leaf of the same plant at the same ...
2
votes
2answers
64 views
What does "genetic correlations" mean as opposed to just correlations?
I'm reading the paper "Large-scale GWAS reveals insights into the genetic architecture of same-sex sexual behavior". In Fig. 4 shows "Genetic correlations of same-sex sexual behavior with various ...
0
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0answers
56 views
Mammal Statistics about Natural Death Versus Being Killed?
Is there data determining what percentage of mammals die a natural death (disease, old age) and what percentage die due to being killed and/or eaten by other mammals?
In watching wildlife ...
0
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1answer
24 views
Easy Hardy Weinberg Equilibrium [duplicate]
Hi
My friend and I get 2 different answers to this question. I would like to know how to calculate the value of q. My friend says that 500/1500=q because there are 500 recessive alleles in the ...
2
votes
1answer
32 views
Vegetation Monitoring - Why permanent plots
Why do most vegetation monitoring programs rely on permanent plots?
Take the context of a single ecological restoration site, for example. Let's say the variable of interest is cover by plant ...
0
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0answers
41 views
Frequency of nucleotide sequences of specific length in DNA
How frequently would you find the nucleotide sequence GGATATCCGC (5' to 3' direction) by chance in a DNA molecule?
On average, how many times do you expect to find a specific 20 nucleotide sequence in ...
0
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1answer
42 views
Identifying statistically significant gene rich and gene poor regions
I am just wondering If there any adapted way of Identifying significant gene rich and gene poor regions in each chromosome for a given genome say mm10?
0
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1answer
53 views
Proof of mechanisms and causal relationships in biology [closed]
Statistical methods in biology are strongly encouraged: they are quantifiable, unbiased, and usually the only ones that are accepted as evidence.
However, it doesn't seem like the whole picture.
Say,...
5
votes
1answer
770 views
Where are the statistics for vaccine side effects?
My son told me that that during a discussion at school someone mentioned statistics about side effects of vaccines (I assume that the discussion was about standard vaccines in France). The numbers ...
1
vote
2answers
82 views
Is there any relationship between the height of a tree and the number of branches emerging from the main stem?
Is there any relationship between the height of a tree and the number of branches emerging from the main stem?
I am particular interested in spruce or fir.
0
votes
1answer
160 views
Statistical Analysis for Blood Sugar Measurements
I've conducted a lab aimed towards finding the impact of soluble fiber intake on the change in blood sugar levels. Following an 8 hour fast, I had test subjects consume a fixed amount of carbohydrates,...
1
vote
1answer
87 views
How to determine the number of parameters in a phylogenetic model?
I want to calculate the AIC for a phylogeny that I inferred via maximum likelihood. To calculate the AIC I need to know the number of parameters in the model. But how do I determine this?
1
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0answers
21 views
How many samples to run an association study on B-Cell receptors
We are trying to find biomarkers on the B-Cell receptor VDJ regions. To do this we plan to run Single cell RNA-Seq (using the solution from 10x genomics https://www.10xgenomics.com/solutions/vdj/) to ...
3
votes
2answers
69 views
Book about ordination in ecology
This is a question I posted on Cross Validated few weeks ago but no response has been given so far.
I am looking for a book that would cover a lot of different ordinations techniques (indirect ...
1
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0answers
73 views
Epidemic threshold on a directed network
I am trying to understand the equations used in a paper
(https://www.nature.com/articles/srep00469.pdf)
Mainly I'm trying to understand how the epidemic thershold was calculated using the ...
2
votes
0answers
35 views
Amount of animals to use for animal trials [closed]
I am working on an independent research project involving animal models. I am unsure how to deterine how many animals (rats) to use for the project. The rats will be injected with different solutions ...
0
votes
1answer
43 views
Chart of intra-species genetic diversity across species / phyla?
I am looking for information on how genetic diversity within a species (not between species) differs between taxa. In other words: Is the "spread" in the genetic pool, if measured, for instance, in ...
4
votes
0answers
57 views
What is a good approximate functional form for an equation relating plant growth to sunlight?
Question is in the title. I've got daily measurements of daily mean shortwave radiation at the surface, and annual measurements of plant growth (some measure, be it height or biomass or something).
...
2
votes
1answer
107 views
Why does drinking milk lead to increased fractures?
Milk has always been associated with strong bones due to the high amount of protein and calcium in it. Yet reading it up on wikipedia,
A study published in The BMJ that followed more than 45,000 ...
3
votes
1answer
76 views
Log-tranformation and GWAS
Before doing any GWAS (genome-wide association study) it is necessary to check for the normality of the phenotypic distribution. If the phenotype is normally distributed only once it is log-...
1
vote
1answer
1k views
Calculating CV for intra-assay ELISA
Sorry if this is in the wrong thread.
I have to calculate CV for intra-assay ELISA sample OD's. My problem is that i'm finding people are using sample standard deviation in their CV formula, though ...
1
vote
1answer
86 views
Is there a statistical analysis test I can perform that will give me a estimate of total population from my own smaller data sets?
Doing my dissertation on the long term trends in moth populations. I am looking at the trends of specific species. Is there a method to obtain an estimate of total population from smaller samples?
