Whom to Biopsy

Alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency: whom to test, whom to treat?

Alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency (AATD) is the major identified genetic risk factor for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The biochemical events leading to lung destruction in AATD are well understood, and most of our understanding of the pathogenesis of COPD in general has been acquired through the study of AATD. There is a growing appreciation that early diagnosis of AATD can affect...

Whom to Biopsy: Prediagnostic Risk Stratification with Biomarkers, Nomograms, and Risk Calculators.

This article describes markers used for prostate biopsy decisions, including prostrate-specific antigen (PSA), free PSA, the prostate health index, 4Kscore, PCA3, and ConfirmMDx. It also summarizes the use of nomograms combining multiple variables for prostate cancer detection.

Thrombophilia screening: whom to test?

In this issue of Blood, Holzhauer et al have determined a novel method of identifying patients with protein C, protein S, and antithrombin deficiency who are at increased risk of developing venous thromboembolism (VTE; see figure). Children with VTE and their relatives were screened for inherited thrombophilia including proteins C and S and antithrombin deficiency; and Factor (F)V G1691A and FI...

I-15: Offering Fertility Services to Whom? With Specific Regards to The Welfare of The Child

Whom to Befriend to Influence People

Alice wants to join a new social network, and influence its members to adopt a new product or idea. Each person v in the network has a certain threshold t(v) for activation, i.e adoption of the product or idea. If v has at least t(v) activated neighbors, then v will also become activated. If Alice wants to activate the entire social network, whom should she befriend? More generally, we study th...