The pan-cancer analysis of whole genomes The expansion of whole-genome sequencing studies from individual ICGC and TCGA working groups presented the opportunity to undertake a meta-analysis of genomic features across tumour types. To achieve this, the PCAWG Consortium was established. A Technical Working Group implemented the informatics analyses by aggregating the raw sequencing data from different working groups that studied individual tumour types, aligning the sequences to the human genome and delivering a set of high-quality somatic mutation calls for downstream analysis (Extended Data Fig. 1). Given the recent meta-analysis

Although acute exacerbation of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) has become well recognised, the reported incidence and outcomes are highly variable, and risk factors are unknown. The aim of this study was to estimate the incidence, risk factors and impact of acute exacerbations, and other known causes of rapid deterioration.This was a retrospective review of 461 patients with IPF (269 cases were biopsy-proven).The median follow-up period was 22.9 months. Rapid deterioration requiring hospitalisation occurred in 163 (35.4%) patients, with multiple episodes in 42 patients. Acute exacerbation was the most frequent cause (55.2%), followed by infection. The 1-and 3-yr incidences of acute exacerbation were 14.2 and 20.7%, respectively. Never having smoked and low forced vital capacity (FVC) were significant risk factors. The in-hospital mortality rate was 50.0%, and the 1-and 5-yr survival rates from the initial diagnosis were 56.2 and 18.4%, respectively. Acute exacerbation was a significant predictor of poor survival after the initial diagnosis, along with increased age, low FVC and diffusing capacity of the lung for carbon monoxide, and steroid use with or without cytotoxic therapy.1-and 3-yr incidences of acute exacerbation were 14.2 and 20.7%, respectively. Never having smoked and low FVC were risk factors. Acute exacerbation had a serious impact on the overall survival of the patients with IPF.

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The clinical usefulness of ex vivo interferon-c assays may largely depend on the assay format and epidemiological status of tuberculosis (TB) in the region studied.From July 2004 to June 2005 a prospective comparison study was undertaken at a tertiary referral hospital in South Korea. The results of tuberculin skin tests (TST) and the commercially available QuantiFERON-TB Gold (QFT-G) and T SPOT-TB (SPOT) assays were compared in an intermediate TB-burden country.Of the 224 participants studied, results from all three tests (TST, QFT-G, and SPOT) were available in 218; 87 with active TB and 131 at a low risk for TB. Using 10 mm as a cut-off for TST, SPOT sensitivity (96.6%) was significantly higher than that seen for TST (66.7%) and QFT-G (70.1%). QFT-G showed superior specificity over TST (91.6 versus 78.6%). Although the specificity of QFT-G was higher than that of SPOT (91.6 versus 84.7%), the difference was not statistically significant.Whilst some differences were found in the performance of the two commercialised interferon-c assays, they seemed to be superior in their detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection compared with tuberculin skin tests. The most appropriate choice of interferon-c assay to use may depend on the clinical setting.