Optimizing sampling efficiency of stereological studies in biology: or 'do more less well!'.
The aim of the sampling design for stereology is to obtain the maximal amount of quantitative structural information at a given total cost or effort. Principles of such optimal designs are discussed and methods for generating them are illustrated by a biological example. In general, the variation between different individuals--the biological variation--is the major determinant of overall efficiency, whereas the variation between single microscopic features is unimportant. It follows that the expenditure of time and/or money in order to increase the precision of the individual measurements is irrational in almost all studies where the emphasis is on the biological results.
D000818:Animals; D001485:Basement Membrane / Q000648:ultrastructure; D002196:Capillaries / Q000648:ultrastructure; D003921:Diabetes Mellitus, Experimental / Q000473:pathology; D006652:Histological Techniques; D007678:Kidney Glomerulus / Q000098:blood supply; D008854:Microscopy, Electron / Q000379:methods*; D051381:Rats; D013048:Specimen Handling / Q000379:methods*; D013223:Statistics as Topic