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Predictive diagnosis by molecular methods will change the scientific basis of prognostics. At the same time, it will change the ethical dimensions of the relation among patients, their doctors and other providers of care.
Plasma HIV RNA determinations are an important prognostic marker of disease progression and, when used appropriately, provide a valuable tool for the management of individual patients. But what constitutes appropriate use?
Microsatellite mutations are useful markers of both tumor clonality and genomic instability but the origin of the mutator mutations responsible is still not well understood (pages 676–681).
