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Lew's solution was to view the slide as an array, a 2-dimensional (2D) matrix where each visible area had a unique 2-dimensional address on the slide. The sections were very thin so that all the grains at a location were visible; the Z-axis in this case could be ignored. Lew's system used a list of random number XY positions, which were applied to each slide. Dr. Vinichaichol would go to these areas and count whatever grains were there. If there were no cells, there were zero counts. And suddenly everything fell together. The new method was what Dr. Fitzgerald needed. This result was published in 1968 in the American Journal of Pathology Fitzgerald, P. et.al., 53(6):953-970, "Pancreatic acinar cell regeneration. V. Analysis of variance of the autoradiographic labeling index (thymidine-H3)."

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