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

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

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

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

Sperm banking from recruited donors is an important way to help infertile couples who want to achieve pregnancy by therapeutic artificial insemination, even in the era of in vitro fertilization. Korea has the lowest population density of newborns among all Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development countries, with a total fertility rate of 1.17 and an annual birth rate of 300,000 or less as of 2017. This situation emerged due to various causes, including late marriage, fecundity problems, and air pollution. Nevertheless, we have imposed strict limits on basic research and clinical activities, including the operation of sperm banks, in the field of human reproduction under the 2005 Bioethics and Safety Act. Therefore, cryopreserved sperm for artificial insemination is almost absent in the sperm banks of major human reproduction centers. To resolve this difficult situation, as well as to increase the operation of sperm banks in Korea to the global standard level, the author evaluates the underlying reasons for donor sperm use by azoospermic patients from medical, ethical, legal, religious, and cultural perspectives, and then proposes a plan to resolve this situation including highly regulated standard operating procedures to ensure comprehensive safety practices for voluntary sperm donors and infertile couples, as well as to build an ideal sperm donation program.
Air Pollution ; Bioethics ; Birth Rate ; Family Characteristics ; Fertility ; Fertilization in Vitro ; Humans ; Infant, Newborn ; Insemination, Artificial ; Korea ; Marriage ; Population Density ; Pregnancy ; Reproduction ; Sperm Banks ; Spermatozoa ; Tissue Donors

The rate of acetabular cup revision arthroplasty is gradually rising along with an increased risk of osteolysis and prosthesis loosening over time and an increase in life expectancy. The goals of revision total hip arthroplasty are: i) implant stability through reconstruction of large bone defects, ii) restoration of range of motion and biomechanics of the hip joint, and iii) normalization of uneven limb lengths. In acetabular cup revision arthroplasty, stable fixation of acetabular components is difficult in the presence of severe bone loss (e.g., evidence suggests that it is challenging to achieve satisfactory results in cases of Paprosky type 3 or higher bone defects using conventional techniques). The author of this study performed acetabular revision to manage patients with large areas of defective bones by filling in with morselized impaction allografts. These allografts were irradiated frozen-stored femoral heads acquired from a tissue bank, and were applied to areas of an acetabular bone defect followed by insertion of a cementless cup. When this procedure was insufficient to obtain primary fixation, a tri-cortical or structural allograft using a femoral head was carried out. Structural stability and bone incorporation were confirmed via long-term follow-up. This study aims to review conventional surgical techniques and verify the utility of surgical procedures by analyzing the author's surgical methods and discussing case reports.
Acetabulum ; Allografts ; Arthroplasty ; Arthroplasty, Replacement, Hip ; Extremities ; Follow-Up Studies ; Head ; Hip Joint ; Humans ; Life Expectancy ; Osteolysis ; Prosthesis Failure ; Range of Motion, Articular ; Tissue Banks