The last analysis in our study showed that there are optimal follow-up times which minimise the sample size needed per group if all infectious parameters and the fraction developing PID are fixed (Fig. 5).
This would be especially useful for studies of novel agents (where little is known about the treatment) or for rare disorders, where it is appropriate to minimise the sample size.
It is possible to determine a value of this factor that minimises the sampling variance of the estimator, but this value will be variable specific.
For constant progression to PID, a follow-up time of 294 days minimises the sample size needed to 4574 per group with a RR of 0.358 and a PID incidence of 0.0056 per year.
For progression to PID at the end, a follow-up time of 328 days minimises the sample size needed to 4106 per group with a RR of 0.359 and a PID incidence of 0.0063 per year.
We minimised the sample consumption by using a microfluidic flow cell which enables to record multiple co-additions to improve the signal-to-noise ratio while keeping the sample consumption at realistic levels of milligram amounts of protein for a full step-scan experiment.
To minimise sample-to-sample variability, repeated multivariate measurements in the same object (organ or tissue, e.g. PT-AT in lung) across patients should be designed, but prediction and validation on the genome scale with small sample size is a great methodical challenge.
The apparatus is designed for qualitative sampling of microcrustaceans (e.g. Cladocera, Copepoda, Ostracoda) and minimises disturbance at the sampling site.
Hair traps were only deployed at main setts to minimise the possibility of sampling badgers from neighbouring social groups.
