Directions, emergency, giving clear

It should be clearly understood that a p value does not give direct information about the size of any effect that has occurred. A compound may elicit an increase in response by a given amount, but whether a study finds this increase to be statistically significant will depend on the size of the study and the variability of the data. In a small study, a large and important effect may be missed, especially if the endpoint is imprecisely measured. In a large study, on the other hand, a small and unimportant effect may emerge as statistically signficant. 

Thus SMb emerges from equation (13.12) as an important, normalized variable characterizing the progress of the reaction. It has units of kilogram-moles, but does not refer directly to any of the chemical species involved in the reaction, neither reactants nor products. Because of its importance, we choose to give Mb a special name, namely the kilogram-moles of reaction , with the units kmol rxn. SMb is the increase in the kilogram-moles of reaction, with the same units as Mb- It is clear from equation (13.12) that an increase of one kmol rxn implies that c kmol of chemical C... 

Study of the initial rates of bisubstrate and trisubstrate reactions in both directions, and in the presence and absence of products, wOl usually eliminate many possible reaction pathways and give a reasonably good idea of the main features of the mechanism, but it will not usually reved the existence of minor alternative pathways. Even if a clear mechanism does emerge from the initial rate and product inhibition studies, it is valuable to confirm its validity independently. The important technique of isotope exchange can often satisfy these requirements. 

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