Parlin, A General Microcomputer Program for Parallel-Line Analysis of Bioassays

Open Access
Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Commonly used manual and calculator methods for analysis of clinically important parallel-line bioassays are subject to operator bias and provide neither confidence limits for the results nor any indication of their validity. To remedy this, the authors have written a general program for statistical analysis of these bioassays for the IBM® Personal Computer and its compatibles. The program has been used for analysis of bioassays for specific coagulation factors and inflammatory lymphokines and for radioimmunoassays for prostaglandins. The program offers a choice of no transform, logarithmic, or logit transformation of data, which are fitted to parallel lines for standard and unknown. It analyzes the fit for parallelism and linearity with an F test, and calculates the best estimate of the result and its 95% confidence limits. Comparison of results calculated by PARLIN with those previously obtained manually shows excellent correlation (r > 0.99). Results obtained using PARLIN are quickly available with current assay technics and provide a complete evaluation of the bioassay at no increase in cost.