About three-quarters of the variation of guaranteed first-round money is explained by draft position, Rishe's analysis shows.

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An optimist may point out that the positive variation in the first month of the second quarter could suggest better days ahead.

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They carried out the first genome-wide analysis of the genetic variation between different regions of the same tumour using samples of kidney cancer.

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Hence the careful wording of pub quiz questions about the first woman MP, which usually include some variation of the phrase "to sit in the Commons".

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But first, it is not clear how much is caused by natural variation only.

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For example, a recent (2007) study by Sebat et al. found a clear link between ASD and de novo copy number variation (de novo mutations are those that arise for the first time in the children).

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The first thing is a surprisingly large and therefore potentially informative variation in performance.

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In a variation on the theme, Avigdor Kahalani, the minister for internal security, suggests that the army should first bomb Beirut's power plants and water supply, to force the authorities to rein in Hizbullah and thus allow Israel to withdraw safely from the southern zone.

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