Evaluation of cell-free DNA approaches for multi-cancer early detection

In the Circulating Cell-free Genome Atlas (NCT02889978) substudy 1, we evaluate several approaches for a circulating cell-free DNA (cfDNA)-based multi-cancer early detection (MCED) test by defining clinical limit of detection (LOD) based on circulating tumor allele fraction (cTAF), enabling performance comparisons. Among 10 machine-learning classifiers trained on the same samples and independently validated, when evaluated at 98% specificity, those using whole-genome (WG) methylation, single nucleotide variants with paired white blood cell background removal, and combined scores from classifiers evaluated in this study show the highest cancer signal detection sensitivities. Compared with clinical stage and tumor type, cTAF is a more significant predictor of classifier performance and may more closely reflect tumor biology. Clinical LODs mirror relative sensitivities for all approaches. The WG methylation feature best predicts cancer signal origin. WG methylation is the most promising technology for MCED and informs development of a targeted methylation MCED test

An ode to Fred Riggs

Fred Riggs’s creative scholarly career in the field of comparative public administration brought him worldwide recognition, especially in Asia where he contributed to development of public administration in India, Indonesia, Korea, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Thailand. He was awarded the Order of the White Elephant by the King of Thailand in 1983; and was honoured in a major festschrift by 20 authors published in India in 1992. He was in Who’s Who in the World and in America. His writings were translated into many languages, including Italian, French, Korean, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish. He lectured on every continent, including the countries of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia, Sudan, and Tanzania. Fred Riggs was a doyen of Public Management theory. He passed away on 9 February 2008. This article was written in honour of him

Equal employment, affirmative action and diversity

This reflective short piece attempts to untangle the semantic confusion between Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO), Affirmative Action (AA) and Diversity – all trying to better the lot of minorities in public service. It also tries to take a brief look at the relative advantages and disadvantages of each, and points out future directions. It draws upon the experience of three countries: India, the most populous democracy with the longest and exhaustive experience with AA (known there as ‘‘reservations’’); the United States, the longest working democracy, where AA is very controversial; and the Republic of South Africa, whose experience is relatively nascent (Tummala, 1999)