When to use VALUE and TEXT_VALUE

The columns VALUE and TEXT_VALUE in the ACTIVITY table should report the primary outcome of an experiment.

An entry to the ACTIVITY table should only have a VALUE or a TEXT_VALUE, not both.

Use VALUE for numeric data

Examples of an activity TYPE likely to have a VALUE are an IC50, MIC, Ki or % Inhibition. Where your data have a number and a unit, the number is the VALUE, the unit goes in the UNITS field (e.g. 18.5 uM). Only numbers can be reported in the VALUE field.

Use TEXT_VALUE for categorical or other text data

Examples of an activity TYPE likely to have a TEXT_VALUE are Activity (e.g. Active), Toxicity (e.g. Not Toxic) or Biotransformation (e.g. Compound metabolized).

Where a depositor wishes to include the observation ‘NA’ it should be recorded in the TEXT_VALUE field, regardless of the field any other observations have been entered in.

Use ACTIVITY_COMMENT for context and interpretation

The ACTIVITY_COMMENT field is a flexible text field that can contain:

• An observation or interpretation of this primary outcome.

• Text that provides additional context for the results.

For example:

• An interpretation like ‘Active’ for a numerical VALUE.

• A comment on the result such as ‘Dose-dependent effect’.

• A threshold value. Especially where a TEXT_VALUE gives a category, and the ACTIVITY_COMMENT can define the threshold for categorisation. E.g. ‘Drug Adaptive Fold Change Threshold 20.832%.’

Datasets with no clear primary outcome value

It is unusual to have data with no clear primary outcome. Where a depositor believes the VALUE and a TEXT VALUE are equally weighted for the outcome of an experiment, they should inform us so that we know this will be the case.

For example, if the binary outcome of an experiment (Active/Inactive) was considered to be as informative as the % Inhibition values, it would be possible to record both of these outcomes

We do not accept ACTIVITY records where both fields are populated in a single row. We will accept an ACTIVITY file which has 2 records for the same observation, i.e. one record providing the VALUE (with the TEXT_VALUE left blank) and one providing the TEXT_VALUE (with the VALUE left blank).

In this case, the records must be identical in all fields other than VALUE, TEXT_VALUE, and ACTIVITY_ID, as each record would need a unique ACTIVITY_ID. If a depositor wishes to further clarify that the two entries were linked, this can be done using the ACTIVITY_COMMENT field.