Composing data graphics as a literary act

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CDC

The table has 10 visit column groups, each split into Pap and Biop subcolumns, and 19 rows. In each row one pair of cells (2 in the last row) is shaded yellow with red bold text; these highlighted pairs step from the first visit at the top left down to the tenth visit near the bottom right, so they form a staircase across the table. Many cells are empty, especially in the Biop subcolumns and toward the right of the upper rows. At the left, 2 brackets with labels point to the header row and to the rows. A legend of abbreviations and a footnote with a red asterisk sit below the table. In the transcription below, cells are separated by vertical bars and empty cells are left empty.

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VST 1 | VST2 | VST3 | VST4 | VST5 | VST6 | VST7 | VST8 | VST9 | VST10
Pap | Biop | Pap | Biop | Pap | Biop | Pap | Biop | Pap | Biop | Pap | Biop | Pap | Biop | Pap | Biop | Pap | Biop | Pap | Biop
N | C1 | A | | A | | A | | S | | | | | | | | S | C1 | S |
N | C1 | N | NO | A | | N | | N | | N | NO | N | | N | | N | | A |
N | C1 | A | | S | | S | Cnos | S | | S | | | | | | | | |
N | C1 | A | | S | C1 | A | | A | C1 | | | | | | | | | |
N | | N | C1 | S | | A | | S | | S | C1 | S | | S | | | | A |
N | | N | C1 | | | S | | S | C1 | | | | | S | | S | | S |
A | | N | C1 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | N | C1 | N | | N | | S | NO | S | | S | HP | A | | S | | A |
N | | N | | N | Cnos | A | | S | | | | S | | S | NO | S | | S |
A | C1 | A | C1 | A | | N | C1 | N | | S | | A | | S | NO | S | NO | |
N | | N | | A | | N | | N | C1 | A | | N | | | | | | |
A | NO | N | | N | | N | | N | C1 | N | NO | A | | N | NO | N | | |
S | C1 | A | | S | | A | | S | AB | S | AB | N | Cnos | N | | N | NO | N |
A | | A | NO | N | NO | N | | N | | N | | A | | N | C1 | | | A | NO
N | | N | | N | NO | N | | S | C1 | A | | N | UK | N | C1 | N | | N | NO
A | | A | | N | NO | N | | A | | | | A | NO | A | | N | C1 | |
N | | N | | N | | A | | A | NO | N | | N | | A | NO | A | | N | C1
A | | A | NO | N | | N | | N | | N | | A | | A | NO | N | | N | C1
A | | N | | N | C1 | A | | N | C1 | A | HP | S | | S | C1 | S | C3 | A | C1
Pap=Pap smear result, Biop=Biopsy result,N=Normal Pap, A=ASCUS Pap, S=SIL Pap, NO=Normal Biopsy, AB=
Abnormal Biopsy, HP=Condyloma, C1= CIN I, C3=CIN III, Cnos= CIN not otherwise specified (unknown
grade),UK= Unknown Biopsy
* HIV negative till visit 5, seroconverted between visit 4 and visit 5.

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19 rows of single glyphs in up to 10 columns, 4 glyph types (red filled dot, black filled dot, thick black ring, thin open circle) depict results per visit as given in the legend; alternate rows shaded pale yellow; the last row marked with an asterisk at its left

Horizontal

10 columns, visits 1 to 10, labels rotated

Vertical

19 unlabeled rows; legend below the grid

Visible pattern

The red dots step down from the first column at the top to the tenth column near the bottom, a staircase from upper left to lower right; the last row has 2 red dots, toward the left. Several upper rows are short or have gaps, ending by about visit 5 or skipping visits, while most rows in the lower half span nearly all 10 columns. Black filled dots and thick rings are mixed throughout, and thin open circles appear more often to the right of the red dots than to the left.

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Cooccurrence of CIN biopsy with
normal Pap smear, visits 1–10
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
*
Normal Pap, CIN biopsy
Other normal Pap
ASCUS on Pap
SIL on Pap
* Became HIV+ between
visits 4 and 5

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19 rows of single glyphs in up to 10 columns, 4 glyph types (red filled dot, black filled dot, thick black ring, thin open circle) depict results per visit as given in the legend; alternate rows shaded pale yellow; the last row marked with an asterisk at its left

Horizontal

10 columns, visits 1 to 10, labels rotated

Vertical

19 unlabeled rows; legend below the grid

Visible pattern

The red dots step down from the first column at the top to the tenth column near the bottom, a staircase from upper left to lower right; the last row has 2 red dots, toward the left. Several upper rows are short or have gaps, ending by about visit 5 or skipping visits, while most rows in the lower half span nearly all 10 columns. Black filled dots and thick rings are mixed throughout, and thin open circles appear more often to the right of the red dots than to the left.

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Cooccurrence of CIN biopsy with
normal Pap smear, visits 1–10
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
*
Normal Pap, CIN biopsy
Other normal Pap
ASCUS on Pap
SIL on Pap
* Became HIV+ between
visits 4 and 5

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26 rows of dots, one row per person, in 3 fills (white, gray, black) depicting Pap results as given in the legend; dots within a row unevenly spaced

Horizontal

Time difference from hysterectomy (years), -6 to 6, ticks every year; data from about -5.8 to 5.9; dashed vertical guide at 0

Vertical

26 unlabeled rows in 2 bracketed groups, 19 above and 7 below, group labels rotated; legend inside the upper left

Visible pattern

In the upper group (CIN present), the rows shift leftward going down: the top rows run from about -1 to 5 years and the bottom rows from about -6 to about 0.5. In that group black and gray dots are dense to the left of zero, though some upper rows have black and gray dots out to about 4 years. In the lower group the rows together span about -4 to 6 years and nearly every dot is white, with a few gray dots in one row between about -3.5 and -1.5.

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Normal
ASCUS
SIL+
CIN present (n=19)
CIN absent (n=7)
-6 -5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6
Time difference from hysterectomy (years)

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26 rows of dots, one row per person, in 3 fills (white, dark gray, black) depicting Pap results as given in the legend; dots within a row unevenly spaced, some touching

Horizontal

Time difference from hysterectomy (years), -6 to 6, ticks every year; data from about -5.8 to 5.9; dotted vertical guide at 0

Vertical

26 unlabeled rows in 2 bracketed groups, 19 above and 7 below, group labels rotated; legend inside the upper left

Visible pattern

In the upper group (CIN present), the rows shift leftward going down: the top rows run from about -1 to 5 years and the bottom rows from about -6 to about 0.5. In that group black and gray dots are dense to the left of zero, though some upper rows have black and gray dots out to about 4 years. In the lower group the rows together span about -4 to 6 years and nearly every dot is white, with a few gray dots in one row between about -3.5 and -1.5.

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Abnormal Vaginal Cytology in HIV-Infected and At-Risk
Women After Hysterectomy
Pangaja Paramsothy, MPH,* Ann Duerr, MD, PhD, MPH,† Charles M. Heilig, PhD,†
Susan Cu-Uvin, MD,‡ Jean R. Anderson, MD,§ Paula Schuman, MD,¶ and Robert S. Klein, MD** for the
HIV Epidemiology Research (HER) Study Group
Normal
ASCUS
SIL+
CIN present (n=19)
CIN absent (n=7)
-6 -5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6
Time difference from hysterectomy (years)
FIGURE 2. Papanicolaou test results for 26 HIV-infected
women who had a hysterectomy during the study. Papanico-
laou smears were obtained semiannually; from the cervix prior
to hysterectomy and from the vaginal cuff afterward. CIN pres-
ent or absent based on surgical pathology, cervical biopsy, and
self-reported history of cervical cancer before the study.

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9 boxes joined by 8 arrows in a tree that branches one to 2 to 6; beside each of the 6 boxes at the right, a bracket enclosing a list of one to 4 reasons with counts

Horizontal

4 columns from left to right: the enrollment box, the boxes under the heading Treatment, the boxes under the heading Follow-up, and the bracketed reasons

Vertical

2 branches, upper and lower, each splitting into 3 boxes stacked top to bottom

Visible pattern

The single box at the left splits into an upper and a lower box under Treatment, and each of those splits into 3 boxes under Follow-up, giving a column of 6 boxes. Each of the 6 has a bracket at its right listing one to 4 reasons with counts; the bracket beside the lowest box repeats that box's count.

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98 enrolled
 25 incomplete study treatment
  8 incomplete follow-up (< 6 months)
   2 ineligible
   3 refusal
   3 toxicity
  2 incomplete follow-up (≥ 6 months)
   2 toxicity
  15 complete follow-up
   3 nonadherence
   1 pregnant
   10 toxicity
   1 failure
 73 complete study treatment
  4 incomplete follow-up (< 6 months)
   1 ineligible
   2 lost
   1 death
  12 incomplete follow-up (≥ 6 months)
   7 lost
   5 death
  57 complete follow-up
   57 complete

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A published table of clinical features of participants who stopped study treatment because of adverse events, with footnotes.

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Several hundred circles in rows, one row per participant: orange filled circles and open black circles; a box frame around the plot; no legend

Horizontal

spec_day, labeled 0 to 2000 every 500; data from about −90 to about 1950, with a little excess space at both ends inside the box frame

Vertical

id_order_pre, 0 to 100, labeled every 20; rows evenly spaced at about 1 to 98

Visible pattern

Orange filled circles form a narrow column close to 0 that runs through nearly every row, with a few strays to the left, to about −90, and to the right, to about 350. Open circles are dense from about 0 to 400 days, thin out between about 500 and 800, and gather again in a loose column near 900 to 1000 that spans most rows. Three open circles lie far to the right, between about 1200 and 2000.

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Mtb culture status for all 98 participants

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Circles in 33 rows, one row per participant: orange filled circles and open black circles; a box frame around the plot; no legend

Horizontal

spec_day, labeled 0 to 400 every 100; data from about −60 to about 400

Vertical

id_order_pre, labeled 0 to 80 every 20; 33 rows at uneven intervals

Visible pattern

Compared with the previous slide, the field is clipped at about 400 days and holds only 33 rows, which fall in clusters separated by wide empty gaps: a few rows near the bottom, a pair low in the field, a thick band through the middle and a group near the top. Orange circles gather at the left, in a column near 0 and a looser spread between about 0 and 100 days, with a handful farther right, to about 390. Open circles spread fairly evenly from about 40 to 400 days.

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Mtb culture status for 33 participants with late positives

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Circles in 33 evenly spaced rows, one row per participant: orange filled circles and open black circles; a box frame around the plot; no legend

Horizontal

spec_day, labeled 0 to 400 every 100; data from about −60 to about 400

Vertical

id_order_pre_, labeled 0 to 30 every 5; 33 evenly spaced rows at 1 to 33

Visible pattern

Compared with the previous slide, the same points sit in 33 evenly spaced rows that fill the frame. Orange circles form a column at 0 in almost every row and a second, looser band between about 30 and 70 days, with a few scattered farther right, to about 390. Open circles begin around 40 to 70 days, giving the open field a ragged left edge, and continue to about 400.

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Mtb culture status for 33 participants with late positives, evened out

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Circles in 33 rows, one row per participant: orange filled circles with black outlines and open circles with gray outlines; a dotted vertical guide at 0 and a dashed one at 112 days; no frame; no legend

Horizontal

Days from start of therapy, −28 to 392, labeled every 28; data from about −60 to the right end of the axis

Vertical

Participant order, 33 rows labeled with index numbers redacted; no axis line

Visible pattern

Compared with the previous slide, the same points keep their rows and order, the frame gives way to a labeled horizontal axis and 2 guides, and open circles are drawn in light gray. Orange circles sit mostly to the left of the guide at 112: a column at 0 in nearly every row and a looser band between about 28 and 84 days. Only a handful lie beyond it, scattered between about 120 and 390. Gray circles fill the rows from about 28 to 392, often at roughly regular intervals.

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Mtb culture status for 33 participants, improved annotation

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Circles in 33 rows, orange filled or gray open; in each row a thin gray line starting at 0 followed by a thick gray line; a dotted vertical guide at 0 and a dashed one at 112 days

Horizontal

Days from start of therapy, −28 to 392, labeled every 28

Vertical

Participant order, 33 rows labeled with index numbers redacted; no axis line

Visible pattern

In each row a thin line runs from 0 into a thick line. Most thick lines end between about 170 and 200 days; a few in the top rows run longer, to about 240 to 300, and a few rows near the top and bottom end short, before about 112. Orange circles stay mostly at 0 and between about 28 and 84, on or near the lines, while the gray circles beyond the line ends continue to about 392.

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Mtb culture status for 33 participants, showing therapy

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Circles in 33 rows, orange filled or gray open; in each row a thin gray line starting at 0 followed by a thick gray line; a dotted vertical guide at 0 and a dashed one at 112 days

Horizontal

Days from start of therapy, −28 to 392, labeled every 28

Vertical

Participant order, 33 rows labeled with index numbers, now in a new order (redacted); no axis line

Visible pattern

The right ends of the thick lines now step down from upper right to lower left, from about 300 days in the top row to about 80 in the bottom row, a staircase whose long middle stretch ends between about 170 and 200. The bottom few rows end before the second guide. Orange circles stay in a column at 0 and a looser band between about 28 and 84, with a few farther right; gray circles continue past the line ends to about 392.

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Mtb culture status for 33 participants, by duration of therapy

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Circles in 33 rows, orange filled or gray open; thin and thick gray lines per row; a dotted vertical guide at 0 and a dashed one at 112 days; 6 orange circles ringed in orange, each with a rotated orange label

Horizontal

Days from start of therapy, −28 to 392, labeled every 28

Vertical

Participant order, 33 rows labeled with index numbers (redacted); no axis line

Visible pattern

The chart is the sorted version, with its staircase of thick lines stepping down from upper right to lower left. Six orange circles are ringed and labeled; they lie between about 100 and 330 days, all but one at or beyond the right end of the thick line in their row. Five labels read Relapse? and one reads Failure?, spread from the upper rows to the bottom row.

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Mtb culture status for 33 participants, with late positives annotated
Relapse?
Relapse?
Relapse?
Failure?
Relapse?
Relapse?

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98 rows, one per participant, each a horizontal line in up to 3 colored segments (orange, then green, then blue); dotted lines join the segment ends across neighboring rows; markers: filled black circles, open circles, filled and open diamonds, and filled squares; no legend. Overlaid: 3 yellow squares around markers, with yellow arrows to a callout on a pale translucent box that fades the rows behind it

Horizontal

Days since start of TB therapy, 0 to 400, labeled every 40; data from about −55, with lines running a little past 400

Vertical

Participant index, 98 rows numbered from top to bottom in very small type, in 6 groups separated by small gaps; no group labels

Visible pattern

Orange segments start near 0 and end around 50 to 70 days in most rows; green segments follow to between about 110 and 200 in most rows, and the dotted lines trace those uneven ends down the chart, jogging right to about 300 in the bottom rows. Blue segments run on to the right edge in most rows, while lines in the top group are the shortest. Filled black circles cluster at and to the left of 0, open circles fall at roughly regular intervals along the lines, and diamonds lie mainly in the upper groups between about 70 and 175 days. The 3 boxed markers are filled squares near 120 and 320 to 330 days, in the upper and middle parts of the chart.

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63 rows, one per participant, each a horizontal line in up to 3 colored segments (orange, then green, then blue); dotted lines join the segment ends across neighboring rows; markers per a 5-entry legend at upper right (filled circle, open circle, filled diamond, open diamond, filled square); no key for the line colors; 6 section labels. Overlaid: 4 yellow squares, 3 around markers with arrows to one callout and one around the row labels at the break, with an arrow to a second callout; the callouts' pale translucent boxes fade 2 bands of rows

Horizontal

Days since start of TB therapy, −60 to 420, labeled every 60; data from about −50 to 420

Vertical

Participant index, 63 rows numbered 1 to 43 and 79 to 98 from top to bottom, with a short dotted break between 43 and 79; 6 labeled sections of 8, 3, 14, 4, 12 and 22 rows

Visible pattern

Compared with the previous slide, the rows are spread into 6 labeled sections with a legend, and the middle of the last section is cut out at a marked break. Orange segments start near 0 and end around 50 to 70 days; green segments end between about 85 and 200 in most rows and later in the bottom few, with the dotted lines tracing their ends. Lines in the top section end by about 200 days and those in the fourth by about 270; in the other sections most rows run to the right edge. Filled circles cluster at and to the left of 0, open circles fall along the lines, and diamonds lie mostly in the top 3 sections between about 70 and 175 days. The 3 squares boxed for the first callout lie near 120 and 330 days. Rows behind the 2 callout boxes are faded.

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Positive culture
Negative culture
Hepatic event
Nonhepatic event
Failure/relapse
Incomplete treatment, incomplete follow-up < 60 days
Incomplete treatment, incomplete follow-up ≥ 60 days
Incomplete treatment, complete follow-up
Complete treatment, incomplete follow-up < 60 days
Complete treatment, incomplete follow-up ≥ 60 days
Complete treatment, complete follow-up

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27 rows, one per participant, each a horizontal line in up to 3 colored segments (orange, then green, then blue); dotted lines join the segment ends across neighboring rows; markers per a 5-entry legend at upper right (filled circle, open circle, filled diamond, open diamond, filled square); no key for the line colors; 4 section labels. Overlaid: 4 yellow squares around markers, 3 of them with arrows to a callout whose pale translucent box fades several rows

Horizontal

Days since start of TB therapy, −60 to 420, labeled every 60; data from about −50 to 420

Vertical

Participant index, 27 rows numbered 1 to 25, then 43 and 79, from top to bottom, in 4 labeled sections of 8, 3, 14 and 2 rows

Visible pattern

Compared with the previous slide, only the first 3 sections remain, followed by a new section of 2 rows that keep their indexes from the last one, and the chart is drawn larger. Orange segments start near 0 and end around 50 to 70 days; green segments end between about 90 and 200, the dotted lines zigzagging between those ends. Blue segments are short or absent in the top section and run to the right edge in most lower rows. Filled circles cluster at and to the left of 0, open circles fall along the lines, and diamonds lie in the upper 3 sections between about 70 and 175 days. Three of the 4 boxed markers are filled squares, near 120 days in the third section and near 330 in the second and last; the fourth is a filled circle near 240 days in the last row.

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Positive culture
Negative culture
Hepatic event
Nonhepatic event
Failure/relapse
Incomplete treatment, incomplete follow-up < 60 days
Incomplete treatment, incomplete follow-up ≥ 60 days
Incomplete treatment, complete follow-up
Complete treatment, late positive culture

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27 rows, one per participant, each with up to 3 horizontal line segments in the legend's 3 styles (thin light gray, thick gray, dashed light gray), carrying 5 kinds of markers per the legend: circled plus, small filled circle, small open circle, asterisk and x; an 8-entry legend at upper right (3 line styles, 5 markers). Overlaid: 4 yellow squares around markers; 3 red outlined shapes with a soft red glow (2 rectangles and a slanted parallelogram); in the legend, a yellow box around 3 marker entries and a red box around 2

Horizontal

Days since start of tuberculosis therapy, −30 to 390, labeled every 30; data from about −45, with dashed follow-up lines running to the right edge, just past 390; no reference lines

Vertical

Participant index, 27 rows numbered 1 to 27 from the top, in 4 labeled sections of 8, 2, 15 and 2 rows

Visible pattern

Thin lines start at 0 in nearly every row, and thick lines take over between about 30 and 70 days and end between about 70 and 200. Dashed lines end between about 100 and 250 days in the top section and run to the right edge in most rows below. Filled circles cluster at and to the left of 0, and open circles fall along the lines at roughly regular intervals. The red shapes enclose the asterisks and x marks: a small rectangle in the top section around 85 to 120 days, a wider one in the second section from about 70 to 175, and a slanted band through the third section from upper left (about 70 to 140 days) to lower right (about 120 to 195). The yellow squares mark the 3 circled plus signs, near 120 and 325 days, and one filled circle near 235 days in the last row.

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Prestudy treatment
Study treatment
Follow-up
Treatment failure/relapse
Other positive culture
Negative culture
Hepatic adverse event
Nonhepatic adverse event
Incomplete treatment, incomplete follow-up < 6 months
Incomplete treatment, incomplete follow-up ≥ 6 months
Incomplete treatment, complete follow-up
Complete treatment, late positive culture

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Squares in a grid, 1 per cell, filled black or hollow, and x marks; many cells blank; no legend. Translucent tan boxes laid over the lower rows carry the labels given in the slide text, and gold outlines group the column labels.

Horizontal

48 columns, evenly spaced, with rotated coded labels in 8 groups of 6 by prefix, from left: gsasp, strng, inspt, npasp, stool, urine, blood, fnasp; within each group the labels run fm, xp, mg, each with the suffixes _1 and _2. Gold outlines enclose each group's labels, the gsasp group as 3 pairs; the overlay labels sit above the groups they name.

Vertical

About 25 rows, each labeled at left with a number (redacted)

Visible pattern

Hollow squares fill most of the first 6 groups of columns. A few rows are mostly filled squares across those groups, and filled squares are scattered through the other rows. Several rows hold marks only in every other column over part of their width, and 1 row near the bottom holds only a few filled squares, partly under an overlay box. The blood group holds marks in only 1 column, mostly hollow squares with a few x marks, down the lower two-thirds of the rows; the fnasp group holds marks in only 2 rows. X marks are few and scattered.

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Rows labeled with study numbers; 48 columns labeled with rotated variable names.

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Circles set side by side in pairs, up to 2 per column position, each filled black, hollow, or smaller and light gray; many positions blank or holding a single circle; no legend. Tan boxes laid over the bottom rows carry the block labels given in the slide text.

Horizontal

24 column positions, 8 in each of 3 blocks marked by gold brackets at the bottom and named by the overlay labels. In each block the specimens run gsasp, npasp, inspt, strng, stool, urine, blood, fnasp, and each position carries 2 stacked rotated labels ending _1 and _2. A wide blank gap sits between stool and urine in the Xpert block.

Vertical

25 rows, each labeled at left (redacted); no grouping

Visible pattern

Filled circles concentrate in the top rows of all 3 blocks and thin out downward; the lower rows are mostly hollow circles. In the FM block, filled circles appear only in the top 5 rows and 2 rows further down. The Xpert block is dense with filled circles through about the 9th row, with scattered filled circles below. In the MGIT block, filled circles reach further, through about the 18th row, and are scattered below; the gray circles appear only in this block. In FM the blood and fnasp positions are empty, and in Xpert the blood position is empty; the fnasp positions of Xpert and MGIT hold marks in only 2 rows, and the blood position of MGIT holds single circles in about half the rows. Several rows hold single circles rather than pairs, and 1 row is blank except for a single filled circle in each block.

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Rows labeled with study participant codes; 48 columns labeled with rotated variable names.

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Circles set side by side in pairs, up to 2 per column position, each filled black, hollow, or smaller and light gray; some positions blank or holding a single circle; no legend.

Horizontal

21 column positions in 8 bracketed groups labeled beneath, from left GA, IS, NPA, string, stool, urine, blood, FNA; within each group rotated labels name the tests, FM, Xpert and MGIT. GA, IS, NPA, string, stool and urine have all 3, stool with a wide blank gap before MGIT; blood has MGIT only; FNA has Xpert and MGIT.

Vertical

34 rows in 2 groups separated by a gap, 7 above and 27 below, each labeled at left with a fraction; within each group the numerators descend from top to bottom (37 to 2 above, 32 to 1 below).

Visible pattern

In both groups filled circles are dense in the top rows and thin out downward; the lowest rows of the lower group are almost entirely hollow circles. The GA, IS, NPA and string groups hold most of the filled circles, more often in their Xpert and MGIT columns than in FM, where filled circles appear only in the top few rows of each group. The stool and urine groups are mostly hollow circles below their top several rows. The blood column holds single circles in about half the rows, and the FNA columns hold marks in only 4 rows. Gray circles are few and appear mostly in MGIT columns, most of all in stool MGIT. A few rows hold single circles rather than pairs, and 1 row in the lower group holds only 3 filled circles, all in the NPA group.

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37/42
20/25
18/39
15/25
13/29
11/31
2/42
32/40
27/39
20/24
15/37
14/34
14/37
13/33
9/38
9/41
7/40
5/27
5/34
5/39
3/3
3/26
3/34
2/23
2/33
2/41
2/43
1/15
1/31
1/35
1/37
1/40
1/42
1/43
FM Xpert MGIT (GA, IS, NPA, string, stool, urine)
MGIT (blood)
Xpert MGIT (FNA)
GA IS NPA string stool urine blood FNA

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Circles set side by side in pairs, up to 2 per column position, each filled black, hollow, or smaller and light gray; some positions blank or holding a single circle; a column of fractions at the far right; no legend.

Horizontal

27 column positions in 4 bracketed blocks labeled beneath, from left FM (6: GA, NPA, IS, ST, stool, urine), Xpert (7, adding FNA), MGIT (8, adding blood and FNA) and Xpert or MGIT (6); rotated column labels; a column of fractions at the right edge.

Vertical

32 rows numbered 1 to 32, in 2 bracketed groups separated by a gap: HIV+ (rows 1 to 7) and HIV− (rows 8 to 32).

Visible pattern

In each group the right-hand fractions descend from 6/6 at the top to 1/6 or 1/1 at the bottom, and filled circles thin out from top to bottom in step. Within each block, filled circles reach further down in the left-hand columns than in the right-hand ones, so they gather toward the upper left and hollow circles toward the lower right. The FM block is mostly hollow circles except in the top few rows of each group. The Xpert block has more filled circles, and the MGIT and Xpert or MGIT blocks have the most, reaching about two-thirds of the way down the HIV− group in their left-hand columns. Gray circles appear only in the MGIT block. The blood and FNA columns hold marks in only a few rows, and the last 2 rows hold only a few marks each.

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HIV+
HIV−
FM: GA NPA IS ST stool urine
Xpert: GA NPA IS ST stool urine FNA
MGIT: GA NPA IS ST stool urine blood FNA
Xpert or MGIT: GA NPA IS ST stool urine
Right column, rows 1 to 7: 6/6, 5/6, 5/6, 5/5, 4/5, 4/4, 1/6
Right column, rows 8 to 32: 6/6, 5/6, 5/6, 5/6, 5/6, 4/6, 4/6, 4/6, 3/6, 3/6, 3/6, 3/6, 3/6, 2/6, 2/6, 2/6, 2/6, 2/6, 2/6, 1/6, 1/6, 1/6, 1/6, 1/4, 1/1

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Elements

Circles set side by side in pairs, up to 2 per column position, each filled black, hollow, or smaller and light gray; some positions blank or holding a single circle; thin gray lines run along each row from the row number to a fraction at the far right; no legend.

Horizontal

27 column positions in 4 bracketed blocks labeled beneath, from left Fluorescence microscopy (6: GA, NPA, IS, ST, Stool, Urine), Xpert (7, adding FNA), MGIT (8, adding Blood and FNA) and Xpert or MGIT (6); rotated column labels with tick marks; a column of fractions at the right edge.

Vertical

32 rows numbered 1 to 32 with tick marks, in 2 bracketed groups separated by a gap: HIV+ (rows 1 to 7) and HIV- (rows 8 to 32).

Visible pattern

In each group the right-hand fractions descend from 6/6 at the top to 1/6 or 1/1 at the bottom, and filled circles thin out from top to bottom in step. Within each block, filled circles reach further down in the left-hand columns than in the right-hand ones, so they gather toward the upper left and hollow circles toward the lower right. The Fluorescence microscopy block is mostly hollow circles except in the top few rows of each group. The Xpert block has more filled circles, and the MGIT and Xpert or MGIT blocks have the most, reaching about two-thirds of the way down the HIV- group in their left-hand columns. Gray circles appear only in the MGIT block. The blood and FNA columns hold marks in only a few rows, and the last 2 rows hold only a few marks each.

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Figure 1. Participant-Level Mycobacterial Results for 32 Children Tested for Tuberculosis Between October 2013 and August 2015
in Kisumu County, Kenya
HIV+
HIV-
Fluorescence microscopy: GA NPA IS ST Stool Urine
Xpert: GA NPA IS ST Stool Urine FNA
MGIT: GA NPA IS ST Stool Urine Blood FNA
Xpert or MGIT: GA NPA IS ST Stool Urine
Right column, rows 1 to 7: 6/6, 5/6, 5/6, 5/5, 4/5, 4/4, 1/6
Right column, rows 8 to 32: 6/6, 5/6, 5/6, 5/6, 5/6, 4/6, 4/6, 4/6, 3/6, 3/6, 3/6, 3/6, 3/6, 2/6, 2/6, 2/6, 2/6, 2/6, 2/6, 1/6, 1/6, 1/6, 1/6, 1/4, 1/1

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CDC

xkcd strips 539 ("Boyfriend"), 833 ("Convincing"), and 523 ("Decline")