Approximately one in eight U.S. women will develop breast cancer during her lifetime. Because the earliest stages of breast cancer are asymptomatic, the process of breast cancer diagnosis is often initiated by detecting an abnormality through self-examination, physical examination by a clinician, or screening mammography. If the initial assessment suggests that the abnormality could be breast cancer, the woman is likely to be referred for a biopsy-a sampling of cells or tissue from the suspicious lesion. Three techniques for obtaining samples from suspicious breast lesions are available:...

Sudden cardiac death (SCD) is the most common cause of cardiovascular death worldwide, accounting for approximately 300,000 deaths in the U.S. annually, although estimates have ranged from 200,000 to 450,000 deaths. Operationally, SCD is most frequently defined as a cardiac death that occurred within 1 hour of cardiac symptom onset and without another probable cause of death. Studies from epidemiological cohorts from the 1970s through the 1990s suggest that 88 to 91% of deaths that occur within 1 hour of symptom onset are arrhythmic in nature. The temporal definition of SCD strongly...

In spite of significant gains in detection and treatment, breast cancer continues to have a broad impact in the United States, with an estimated 234,580 individuals with new diagnoses in 2013. About 33 percent of individuals with breast cancer diagnosed between 2001 and 2007 had regional metastases, with a 5-year relative survival rate of 84 percent. Approximately 5 percent were diagnosed with distant metastases, most commonly to the bones, lungs, liver, or brain, and had a 5-year relative survival rate of only 23 percent. Several imaging modalities, including magnetic resonance imaging...

Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is a leading cause of vision loss in the United States and occurs as a result of pathologic changes of the retinal vasculature. In 2005-2008, the estimated crude prevalence among Americans over the age of 40 with diabetes was 28.5 percent. Although the prevalence of vision-threatening DR is approximately 4.4 percent, the number of affected Americans 40 years or older is expected to triple from 1.2 million in 2005 to 3.4 million in 2050. The prevalence and severity of DR increases with the duration of diabetes; however, it is inversely correlated to glycemic and blood...

Over 450,000 patients in the U.S. have end stage renal disease (ESRD). There are important morbidity and survival advantages to receiving renal transplantation versus dialysis. Human leukocyte antigens (HLA) are a set of human major histocompatibility complex derived glycoproteins that are expressed on cell surfaces and allow for discrimination of self from non-self. HLA have been classified into two major groups, Class I (HLA-A, HLA-B, and HLA-C) and Class II (HLA-DP, HLA-DQ, and HLA-DR). Recognition of the antigens displayed by the transplanted organ (alloantigen) is the prime event...