The Cord Blood Working Group of the World Marrow Donor Association created a survey for cord blood banks (CBBs) aimed to identify and understand the main technical procedures currently used by public CBBs worldwide regarding cord blood units (CBUs) available for unrelated hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. These technical procedures include CBU collection, (pre-) processing, packaging, testing, storage and transport. The survey was an online survey created with SurveyGizmo and was completed individually by each CBB at the end of 2017. The information is valuable to transplant centers, CBBs as well as the global industry of public cord blood banking. In general, we can conclude from this survey that the majority of CBBs are up to standard in terms of CBB technologies. Areas of improvement include accreditation, increase standardization in testing and setting of total nucleated cells thresholds for acceptance a CBU for public use. Furthermore, there is a need for a consensus in the way CBBs operate in term of reservation and release to facilitate a more straightforward access to the therapy. K E Y W O R D S cord blood banks, cord blood units, public cord blood banks, unrelated hematopoietic stem cell transplantation
We enrolled 78 obese adults (31 male and 47 female) and randomized them to one of the three following groups for an 8‐week intervention: guided weekly health coaching with a behavior change curriculum (HC), utilization of a physical activity monitor and associated web tool for self‐monitoring with minimal health coaching (AM), or combination of weekly health coaching and use of a physical activity monitor and associated web tool (COMBO). The objective was to determine the relative influence of the 3 interventions on weight loss and clinical risk factors for cardiovascular disease (CVD). Percent body fat was measured by handheld Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis (BIA), and waist circumference (WC) was measured at the umbilicus. Weight reduction was significant for all groups (−4.21 ± 3.08 kg; p < 0.0001). Significant intervention effects were observed for BMI (p < 0.0001), percent body fat (p = 0.0008), WC (p < 0.0001), diastolic blood pressure (p = 0.0004), total cholesterol (p = 0.0003), triglycerides (p = 0.0001), and fasting plasma glucose (p = 0.0001). Anthropometric and clinical outcomes did not differ across treatment groups (p >; 0.05); however, trends were observed for larger effects in the COMBO group. These results indicate efficacy of both a guided intervention and a self‐monitoring device for behavior change and subsequent weight loss, with the potential for a combination of the strategies to improve results.
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