Red herrings in crossmatching kidneys for transplant

Red herrings and rotten fish

Geoffrey B. West ∗, Van M. Savage, James Gillooly, Brian J. Enquist, William. H. Woodruff, James H. Brown 1 Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM 87545, USA. 2 The Santa Fe Institute, 1399 Hyde Park Road, Santa Fe, NM 87501, USA. 3 Department of Biology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131, USA. 4 Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona, Tucson...

MEFV mutations - therapeutic guides or red herrings?

Background/question Familial Mediterranean Fever (FMF) is a hereditary inflammatory disorder characterised by self-resolving attacks of fever and serositis common in populations from Mediterranean ancestry [1]. Mutations affecting MEFV gene is believed to be responsible for the disease phenotype[1]. The correlation between the genotype and phenotype is not very strong, indicating the presence o...

Chasing red herrings: making sense of the colors while mapping.

Do red herrings swim in circles? Controlling for the endogeneity of time to death.

Studies on the effect of ageing on health care expenditure (HCE) have revealed the importance of controlling for time-to-death (TTD). These studies, however, are subject to possible endogeneity if HCE influences the remaining life expectancy. This paper introduces a 10-year observation period on monthly HCE, socioeconomic characteristics and survivor status to first predict TTD and then use the...

Kidney transplant failure: failing kidneys, failing care?

Kidney transplant failure is an important cause of dialysis initiation in the United States. In 2011, this group represented 4.7% of patients new to dialysis, a 30% increase in the number of patients initiating dialysis after transplant failure since 2000 (1). Improvements in short-term kidney allograft survival have surpassed improvements in long-term graft survival (2). Therefore, the transpl...