Today cord blood (CB) is a valuable source of hematopoietic stem cells to treat many hematological disorders. One of the limitations of CB utilization is the reduced number of nucleated cells ...including stem cells. Therefore, CB banks around the world have developed strategies in an attempt to improve donor selection and the quality of the CB inventory. This study aimed to determine the impact of passive smoking and caffeine consumption on CB quality. CBs were obtained from mothers who gave birth at King Abdulaziz Medical City. All mothers gave their informed consent. Personal interviews about the mother's demographics, smoking status and exposure, and caffeine consumption executed, followed by a chart review to analyze maternal and neonatal factors. Laboratory testing was performed on all collected CB units. Using descriptive statistics, maternal and newborn factors were analyzed.
T
-test or Mann–Whitney U Test, as appropriate, for continuous variables analysis to study the effect of second hand smoking and coffee consumption for the primary outcome. Our study demonstrated a reduction in CB MNC, including lymphocytes, in caffeine consumers among pregnant donors, as well as a reduction in cell potency activities, including total CFU and BFU-E. The effect of passive cigarette smoking on the same cohort was insignificant. Outcome of this study will help in optimizing the quality and quantity of stem cell harvesting from CB to get the maximum benefit and such knowledge will raise the awareness among pregnant women.
Pediatric Hematology Unit, University of Turin, piazza Polonia 94, 10126 Turin, Italy. fabio.timeus@unito.it
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Cord blood (CB) is a valuable source of stem cells. Most CB ...units are still cryopreserved in single bags in the world's CB banks. Thawing a single CB unit, dividing it into two parts, expanding the smaller one and refreezing the other would optimize ex vivo expansion of CB progenitors prior to transplantation: expanded and unexpanded cells could be infused together to accelerate early engraftment. DESIGN AND METHODS: The feasibility of refreezing CB samples was investigated by evaluating the effect of 3 successive cryopreservation procedures in 9 CB units. The number and viability of WBC, BFU-E, CFU-GM, CFU-MIX, LTC-IC, and the absolute CD34+ cell count were assessed at time 0 and after each thawing. The percentage of CD34 cells expressing CD38, L-selectin, VLA-4, VLA-5, H-CAM, LFA-1 and CXCR4 was also evaluated. RESULTS: After three freezing and thawing procedures, WBC counts decreased, while lymphocytes were unchanged. Viability was 90% of basal values after the first thawing and did not change. BFU-E decreased significantly only after the third thawing. CFU-GM and CFU-MIX did not change significantly, nor did LTC-IC, CD34+ cell counts and CAM and CXCR4 expression on CD34+/ CD38-- cells. INTERPRETATION AND CONCLUSIONS: These data show that two successive freeze-thaw procedures do not significantly affect the clonogenic potential and CAM expression of cord blood progenitors. This information could be exploited to devise new options in ex vivo expansion procedures and quality controls prior to transplantation.
We examine the publications by Central Banks (CB) and International Monetary Organizations (IMO) in renowned finance journals over the past two decades. Unsurprisingly, the most productive CB in ...financial research are the Federal Reserve Board, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Although the worldwide CB have, more or less, increased productivity over the years, more than a few CB in Europe have made noticeable progress and revealed sizeable upsurge in financial research productivity. Also noteworthy is that the most productive central bank researchers are affiliated with a few highly productive institutions whereas the majority of them have prior or concurrent academic experience.
Abstract Umbilical cord blood transplants are now used to treat numerous types of immune- and blood-related disorders and genetic diseases. Cord blood (CB) banks play an important role in these ...transplants by processing and storing CB units. In addition to their therapeutic potential, these banks raise ethical and regulatory questions, especially in emerging markets in the Arab world. In this article, the authors review CB banking in five countries in the region, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates, selected for their different CB banking policies and initiatives. In assessing these case studies, the authors present regional trends and issues, including religious perspectives, policies, and demographic risk factors. This research suggests strong incentives for increasing the number of CB units that are collected from and available to Arab populations. In addition, the deficit in knowledge concerning public opinion and awareness in the region should be addressed to ensure educated decision-making.
Competing interests: I have read the journal's policy and have the following conflicts: TS is a Senior Statistics and Monitoring Specialist at UNICEF and manages the WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring ...Programme for Water Supply and Sanitation; CB consults for UNICEF, the World Bank, and WHO; CB is on an advisory committee for a CLTS project undertaken by PLAN International USA and is paid for this work; CB is a member of the Board of Trustees of WaterAid; CB is Chair of the Advisory Committee of One Drop Foundation; CB is a member of the Strategic Advisory Group of the WHO-UNICEF Joint Monitoring Program and the UN Water GLAAS Report; CB is a past board member of WaterCan (now WaterAid Canada). Piped supplies on premises not only reduce the time and effort required to collect water, and thereby increase the amount of water available for personal and domestic needs but also are more likely to provide water that meets required standards for drinking water quality.
Competing interests: I have read the journal's policy and have the following conflicts: TS is a Senior Statistics and Monitoring Specialist at UNICEF and manages the WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring ...Programme for Water Supply and Sanitation; CB consults for UNICEF, the World Bank, and WHO; CB is on an advisory committee for a CLTS project undertaken by PLAN International USA and is paid for this work; CB is a member of the Board of Trustees of WaterAid; CB is Chair of the Advisory Committee of One Drop Foundation; CB is a member of the Strategic Advisory Group of the WHO-UNICEF Joint Monitoring Program and the UN Water GLAAS Report; CB is a past board member of WaterCan (now WaterAid Canada). Piped supplies on premises not only reduce the time and effort required to collect water, and thereby increase the amount of water available for personal and domestic needs but also are more likely to provide water that meets required standards for drinking water quality.
Purpose
This research aims to propose the SMiLe method (Social Metric for Life Cycle), developed to identify potential impact pathways from correlations between the subcategories and their effects on ...the human health endpoint. We used multivariate data analysis in the S-LCA context to obtain the impact pathways and obtain the characterization model.
Method
The proposed method was developed in three stages: (I) area of protection (AoP) definition; (II) estimation technique selection; (III) development of the cause-effect chain and characterization model. For stage I, AoP was well-being and the endpoint category, human health, indicated by the life expectancy at birth (LEX). As estimation techniques, the exploratory factor analysis (EFA), covariance-based SEM (CB-SEM), and partial least squares SEM (PLS-SEM) were respectively used in the exploratory step (analysis of the relationships between indicators representing the subcategories), confirmatory stage (validation of impact pathways), and predictive step (obtaining the characterization model). The three estimation techniques used socioeconomic indicators from 189 countries to represent the subcategories.
Results and discussion
As a result of the data collection, it was possible to develop a database of 21 indicators, representing 15 subcategories related to four stakeholders, including data from various international sources, such as the World Bank and the International Labour Organization. The EFA and CB-SEM results showed that it was possible to identify and confirm that the subcategories used in this study were organized in two factors (social dimensions) related to “Economy and competitiveness” and “Access to water, sanitation and conflict prevention”. Finally, through the PLS-SEM, there was a strong correlation between these social dimensions and the life expectancy at birth.
Conclusions
Using social indicators related to subcategories and multivariate techniques, such as EFA and SEM, it was possible to identify and estimate two impact pathways, Economy and competitiveness and Access to water, sanitation and conflict prevention related to the endpoint human health. Moreover, the results of the PLS-SEM presented in this study can be used as a characterization model, allowing to obtain the effects of each impact pathway on the life expectancy at birth. Future advances include the possibility of identifying new impact pathways from the subcategories, with the use of exploratory techniques and methodological advances in already identified pathways.
Established at Bretton Woods in 1944, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) are among the most controversial international organizations in the world today. The reasons for this ...have much to do with the impact of the Bank's policies on the least advantaged countries of the world in Asia and elsewhere, as is illustrated in this Notes From the Field section. Although less emphasized in this section than the impact of the Bank, the IMF, with its demands for "structural adjustment" and the "conditionalities" attached to that concept, is equally controversial and onerous in its effects on the poorest countries of the world.
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