PLoS medicine
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To coincide with the introduction in the United States of the Sunshine Act, Genevieve Pham-Kanter discusses what we need to look for to fight hidden bias and deliberate or unconscious corruption. Please see later in the article for the Editors' Summary.
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Multicenter Study
The kSORT assay to detect renal transplant patients at high risk for acute rejection: results of the multicenter AART study.
Development of noninvasive molecular assays to improve disease diagnosis and patient monitoring is a critical need. In renal transplantation, acute rejection (AR) increases the risk for chronic graft injury and failure. Noninvasive diagnostic assays to improve current late and nonspecific diagnosis of rejection are needed. We sought to develop a test using a simple blood gene expression assay to detect patients at high risk for AR. ⋯ The kSORT blood QPCR assay is a noninvasive tool to detect high risk of AR of renal transplants. Please see later in the article for the Editors' Summary.
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Childhood asthma and obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), both disorders of airway inflammation, were associated in recent observational studies. Although childhood OSA is effectively treated by adenotonsillectomy (AT), it remains unclear whether AT also improves childhood asthma. We hypothesized that AT, the first line of therapy for childhood OSA, would be associated with improved asthma outcomes and would reduce the usage of asthma therapies in children. ⋯ In a very large sample of privately insured children, AT was associated with significant improvements in several asthma outcomes. Contingent on validation through prospectively designed clinical trials, this study supports the premise that detection and treatment of adenotonsillar tissue morbidity may serve as an important strategy for improving asthma control. Please see later in the article for the Editors' Summary.