Samples from ten patients with sepsis and four with SIRS from the validation cohort and, additionally, from ten with sepsis and ten with SIRS from an extension of the validation cohort (Supplementary Table S4) were subjected to flow cytometric determination of CD15 blood counts for both the precursor populations and the mature granulocytes referred to as polymorphonuclear neutrophils (PMNs) (Supplementary Figure S1). The gene discussed is FUT4; the disease is systemic inflammatory response syndrome.