282,504 research outputs found
Data Exploration, Quality Control and Testing in Single-Cell qPCR-Based Gene Expression Experiments
Cell populations are never truly homogeneous; individual cells exist in
biochemical states that define functional differences between them. New
technology based on microfluidic arrays combined with multiplexed quantitative
polymerase chain reactions (qPCR) now enables high-throughput single-cell gene
expression measurement, allowing assessment of cellular heterogeneity. However
very little analytic tools have been developed specifically for the statistical
and analytical challenges of single-cell qPCR data. We present a statistical
framework for the exploration, quality control, and analysis of single-cell
gene expression data from microfluidic arrays. We assess accuracy and
within-sample heterogeneity of single-cell expression and develop quality
control criteria to filter unreliable cell measurements. We propose a
statistical model accounting for the fact that genes at the single-cell level
can be on (and for which a continuous expression measure is recorded) or
dichotomously off (and the recorded expression is zero). Based on this model,
we derive a combined likelihood-ratio test for differential expression that
incorporates both the discrete and continuous components. Using an experiment
that examines treatment-specific changes in expression, we show that this
combined test is more powerful than either the continuous or dichotomous
component in isolation, or a t-test on the zero-inflated data. While developed
for measurements from a specific platform (Fluidigm), these tools are
generalizable to other multi-parametric measures over large numbers of events.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figure
Vertical intra-industry trade and the EU accession: The case of Hungarian agri-food sector
The aim of this paper is to examine the relationship between the factor endowment and the
pattern of intra-industry trade. Our empirical analysis relates to Hungary’s intra-industry trade
in agri-food products with 26 member states of the EU over the period 1999-2010.
Estimations reject the comparative advantage explanation of vertical intra-industry trade and
provide partial support the prediction of Flam and Helpman model. Findings highlight that
nature of factor endowments play also important role in explanation of vertical intra-industry
trade. Other variables like market size and distance confirm the theoretical expectations. In
addition, trade with new member states positively, whilst the EU accession ambigouosly
influence the share of vertical IIT
- …