I recently purchased Kaleidagraph™ 4.0 for providing graphical representation of the groups of data in the studies of our toxicology experiments. I was studying 3 hour exposure of Styrene Oxide Racemic, Styrene Oxide R and Styrene Oxide S at 2 different concentrations with Clara Cell Isolates from mice lungs then monitoring the relative expression levels of Clara Cell Protein, a ~10 kDa (CC10) protein. Expression levels were determined by Western analysis and measurement of band intensity (pixels per unit area/ intensity of pixels) on exposed film after application of enhanced chemiluminensce (ECL) reagent (GE Healthcare).
After isolation of Clara Cells and other cell groups from the lungs, cells were exposed to Styrene Oxide. Following cell lysis and removal of some of the cellular components, proteins from the cells were separated by SDS-PAGE. Proteins were transferred to PVDF membrane and detected with primary and secondary antibodies. The membrane was then treated with ECL reagent, the film was exposed for five minutes and then developed. The developed film was then placed on a scanner and scanned. The data files were exported into Un-Scan It™ software. A twelve by thirty-six region was partitioned off (protein bands) and the number and intensity of pixels were determined utilizing the Un-Scan It™ software. These values were then exported into the Kaleidagraph™ 4.0 spreadsheet and graphing software.
Kaleidagraph™ 4.0 provided a number of graphical and statistical representations which helped to analyze our data. These included curve fitting of the kinetics of the ECL HRP reaction, 3 hour summaries of the data sets, as well as other statistical groupings and comparisons of the data. The Kaleidagraph™ 4.0 software provided me with ample versatility and numerous options for production of professional level charts, graphs and statistical evaluation.
I purchased Kaleidagraph™ 4.0 because of its inexpensive price, low resource demands (memory, hard drive and time of use), ease of use, wide variety of statistical options and mostly because of its similarity to the now unavailable CricketGraph™. I had used CricketGraph™ for the statistical evaluation of immunology, protein and molecular biology assays; manufacturing validation; and luminometry work that I had done with Alkaline Phosphatase (as well as other scientific and manufacturing studies).
With Kaleidagraph™ 4.0, I utilized enzyme kinetic evaluation of samples, calculation of mean, standard deviation, and skewness and curtness of data groups. It provided me with a nice statistical evaluation of my data group as well as box and whisker plots of each data set and group summaries. I used the spreadsheet to subtract background and had the software run statistics on columns of the data groups. Kaleidagraph™ did a nice job on all aspects and offers a number of options for graphical representation/analysis of your work. Kaleidagraph™ 4.0 has a large number of options that help to make numerous specific manipulations of your data set in order to produce clear and concise graphical presentations. KaleidaGraph™ 4.0 has the versatility to use almost any color, line width, font, and placement of the graphic on your paper or screen view.
I spent some time looking at the KaleidaGraph 4.0™ and comparing it to CricketGraph™.; there are many similarities between the 2 programs. The graphs that were produced were ample reminders to the adage “a picture is worth a thousand words”. KaleidaGraph™ provided a very rapid graphical and statistical evaluation of my data in a short period of time. If you are new user of statistical and graphing software, the learning curve is much shorter and will provide your desired results in a shorter period of time. It is inexpensive software that can be purchased as an individual or group. There are different pricing levels for academic versus industrial use.
One of the things that I did not care for was changing the format (number of significant figures and scientific notation) of the data within the data cells. I felt there were too many steps required to do so.
Kaleidagraph 4.0™ can be downloaded off the web or ordered from the company - Synergy Software company - www.synergy.com/.
It offers numerous features for the beginner and intermediate individual. It is a significant addition to your scientific tools in the analysis of your data and I recommend it.
David D. Webster
Former Research Tech. VII/Scientist II
Purdue University/Boehringer Mannheim
Health Sciences/Diagnostics-Biochemical Product Development