119. diagnostic assay An assay appropriated to use in clinical decision-making for an individual patient. Such assays generally fall into one of six categories:
• Assays that screen for disease in an apparently healthy population;
• Assays used to aid in the diagnosis of a particular disease; • Assays that monitor a disease or the efficacy of its treatment; • Assays that stratify risk for a particular disease; • Assays that prognose the natural course of a disease or condition; • Assays that predict response to a therapeutic intervention (often called a ‘companion diagnostic’).
120. diastereoisomer Stereoisomers of a compound, with multiple chiral centers, that have different absolute configurations at one or more, but not all, chiral centers. Such compounds have different physicochemical properties, and, in theory, can be resolved under conventional methods of chromatography.
121. digestion The enzymatic digestion of a macromolecule (usually protein) into smaller fragments (peptides) prior to analysis.
