This reflective narrative chronicled a nurse's lived experience in bridging grief and hope through the Eye Tissue Retrieval Program of Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center (BGHMC), the first eye bank in the Cordillera region. Anchored in compassion, cultural sensitivity, and indigenous values, the story illuminated how nursing care extends beyond clinical practice to embrace empathy, ethics, and human connection. Drawing from real encounters with donor families, the article highlighted how nurses facilitate the transformation of loss into legacy, and sorrow into service. Challenges encountered—such as cultural beliefs, time constraints in tissue retrieval, and limited awareness—were discussed in the context of eye-banking practices in developing countries. The narrative concluded by honoring the courage of donors and their families, while underscoring the enduring role of nurses as healers, advocates, and bridges of light in the journey from grief to sight.

Professor Salvador Salceda described the history of Philippine eye banking as “a fascinating if not frustrating one”. This is evident in his Geminiano de Ocampo Medical Research Foundation Centennial Lecture where he traced the ebb and flow of Philippine eye banking from 1948 until the birth of the Eye Bank Foundation of the Philippines in 1994 and the start of operations of its Medical Eye Bank in 1995.1 The story of Philippine eye banking remains a fascinating one, but it has fortunately also been blessed with many moments of success and satisfaction even while still laden with frustration. In an editorial about the Eye Bank in 2005, I wrote that “while the achievements after ten years of operations can be considered a success story, we have really only started to plant the seeds”.2 And now, thirty years hence, after the COVID-19 pandemic that saw the number of cornea retrieval procedures plunge throughout the world, I believe we are starting to reap the harvest from the seeds planted throughout the last three decades.
Eye Banks

Humans ; Milk, Human ; Singapore ; Milk Banks ; Tissue Donors

PURPOSE: To evaluate changes in the expression of androgen receptor (AR) and its variants (ARVs) in human prostate cancer (PCa) tissues according to disease status, and its prognostic significance following radical prostatectomy (RP). MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 282 PCa cases were evaluated, which included 252 localized PCa, 8 metastatic castration resistant prostate cancer (CRPC), and 22 benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) cases. Samples were collected from patients who underwent RP or transurethral resection and were stored in ethically approved tissue banks. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction, Western blotting, and immunohistochemistry were performed for AR and ARVs. Each tissue was confirmed as cancerous (greater than 80%) using hematoxylin and eosin staining. AR and ARVs expression was compared according to disease status. The biochemical recurrence free survival (BCRFS) rates in men with localized PCa was analyzed according to AR and ARV7 expression using the Kaplan-Meier curve. RESULTS: Only 58 of the 252 localized PCa were included in the analysis because of insufficient cancer tissue. AR and ARV7 mRNA expression was higher in the CRPC tissue than in the localized PCa tissue (p=0.025, p=0.002, respectively). In localized PCa tissue, high AR mRNA and protein level was associated with a low BCRFS rate (log-ranked, p=0.019, p < 0.001, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Overall AR and ARV7 mRNA expression levels were increased in CRPC tissues compared to localized PCa and BPH tissues. High AR protein and mRNA expression in the tumor tissue may be considered a predictive factor of BCRFS following RP.
Blotting, Western ; Castration ; Eosine Yellowish-(YS) ; Hematoxylin ; Humans* ; Immunohistochemistry ; Male ; Passive Cutaneous Anaphylaxis ; Prostate* ; Prostatectomy ; Prostatic Hyperplasia ; Prostatic Neoplasms* ; Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Receptors, Androgen* ; Recurrence ; RNA, Messenger ; Tissue Banks

In terminally ill patients, organ transplantation could be recommended as the treatment of choice. In Korea, living donor liver or kidney transplantation is much more frequent than deceased donor transplantation due to organ shortages from deceased donors. ABO or HLA incompatibility in transplantation can be a major barrier in living donor transplantation. Currently, the rate of ABO incompatible organ transplantation accompanied by desensitization is 20~25% of living donor transplantation, and the blood bank laboratory plays an active role by plasmapheresis. The desensitization of HLA incompatible transplantation in highly sensitized patients is more difficult than that of ABO incompatible transplantation. The HLA antibody is not easy to remove and it is difficult to prevent sensitization. In addition, setting the target treatment goals and predicting the treatment outcomes based on the HLA antibody results are problematic. Therefore, a range of desensitization protocols have been attempted and various therapeutic goals have been introduced. This article reviews the various desensitization methods for antibody removal focusing on HLA incompatible kidney transplantation, and discusses the prognosis of desensitization methods for antibody removal based on the literature.
Blood Banks ; Humans ; Kidney Transplantation ; Korea ; Liver ; Living Donors ; Organ Transplantation ; Plasmapheresis ; Prognosis ; Terminally Ill ; Tissue Donors ; Transplantation ; Transplants

Advances in cellular and molecular biology underpin most current therapeutic advances in medicine. Such advances for neurological and neurodegenerative diseases are hindered by the lack of similar specimens. It is becoming increasingly evident that greater access to human brain tissue is necessary to understand both the cellular biology of these diseases and their variation. Research in these areas is vital to the development of viable therapeutic options for these currently untreatable diseases. The development and coordination of human brain specimen collection through brain banks is evolving. This perspective article from the Sydney Brain Bank reviews data concerning the best ways to collect and store material for different research purposes.
Aging ; pathology ; physiology ; Biomedical Research ; methods ; Brain ; pathology ; physiopathology ; Humans ; Neurodegenerative Diseases ; pathology ; physiopathology ; therapy ; Tissue Banks ; Tissue Preservation

Brain ; pathology ; China ; Humans ; Organ Preservation ; standards ; Tissue Banks ; ethics ; standards

Autopsy ; Biomedical Research ; ethics ; legislation & jurisprudence ; Brain ; pathology ; Humans ; Tissue Banks ; ethics ; legislation & jurisprudence

Brain ; pathology ; China ; Humans ; Tissue Banks ; ethics ; legislation & jurisprudence

BACKGROUND: A massive blood transfusion (MT) requires significant efforts by the Blood Bank. This study examined blood product use in MT and emergency O Rh Positive red cells (O RBCs) available directly for emergency patients from the Trauma Center in Ajou University Hospital. METHODS: MT was defined as a transfusion of 10 or more RBCs within 24 hours. The extracted data for the total RBCs, fresh frozen plasma (FFP), platelets (PLTs, single donor platelets (SDP) and random platelet concentrates (PC)) issued from Blood Bank between March 2016 and November 2017 from Hospital Information System were reviewed. SDP was considered equivalent to 6 units of PC. RESULTS: A total of 345 MTs, and 6233/53268 (11.7%) RBCs, 4717/19376 (24.3%) FFP, and 4473/94166 (4.8%) PLTs were used in MT (P < 0.001). For the RBC products in MT and non-MT transfusions, 28.0% and 34.1% were group A; 27.1% and 26.0% were group B; 37.3% and 29.7% were group O, and 7.5% and 10.2% were group AB (P < 0.001). The ratios of RBC:FFP:PLT use were 1:0.76:0.72 in MT and 1:0.31:1.91 in non-MT (P < 0.001). A total of 461 O RBCs were used in 36.2% (125/345) of MT cases and the number of O RBCs transfused per patient ranged from 1 to 18. CONCLUSION: RBCs with the O blood group are most used for MT. Ongoing education of clinicians to minimize the overuse of emergency O RBCs in MT is required. A procedure to have thawed plasma readily available in MT appears to be of importance because FFP was used frequently in MT.
Blood Banks ; Blood Platelets ; Blood Transfusion ; Education ; Emergencies ; Hospital Information Systems ; Humans ; Plasma ; Tertiary Healthcare* ; Tissue Donors ; Trauma Centers