A basic consideration in the evaluation of professional medical literature is being able to understand the statistical analysis presented. One of the more frequently reported statistical methods involves correlation analysis where a correlation coefficient is reported representing the degree of linear association between two variables. This article discusses the basic aspects of correlation analysis with examples given from professional journals and focuses on the interpretations and limitations of the correlation coefficient. No attention was given to the actual calculation of this statistical value.
To better understand salmon GI tract microbial community dynamics in relation to diet, a feeding trial was performed utilising diets with different proportions of fish meal, protein, lipid and energy levels. Salmon gut dysfunction has been associated with the occurrence of casts, or an empty hind gut. A categorical scoring system describing expressed digesta consistency was evaluated in relation to GI tract community structure. Faster growing fish generally had lower faecal scores while the diet cohorts showed minor differences in faecal score though the overall lowest scores were observed with a low protein, low energy diet.The GI tract bacterial communities were highly dynamic over time with the low protein, low energy diet associated with the most divergent community structure. This included transiently increased abundance of anaerobic (Bacteroidia and Clostridia) during January and February and facultatively anaerobic (lactic acid bacteria) taxa from February onwards. The digesta had enriched populations of these groups in relation to faecal cast samples. The majority of samples (60-86%) across all diet cohorts were eventually dominated by the genus Aliivibrio.The results suggest that an interaction between time of sampling and diet is most strongly related to community structure. Digesta categorization revealed microbes involved with metabolism of diet components change progressively over time and could be a useful system to assess feeding responses.
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