Haematopoietic stem cell transplantation is often used as a therapy for patients with certain blood, metabolic or immune system disorders. The United States' National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP) works to facilitate such life-saving transplants by coordinating the donor search and match process. However, concern exists that the NMDP Registry is underutilized and under-representative of racial and ethnic minorities. African-Americans and Hispanics are somewhat under-represented within the total number of donors, and it is estimated that the Registry is used by only approximately one-third of patients needing transplants. The NMDP has instituted programmes that address such concerns, resulting in an increase in both the total number of donors and the minority representation on the Registry. It has also increased efforts to recruit donors of umbilical cord blood, often a viable alternative source of haematopoietic stem cells. Over the past 8 years, the Registry has grown by more than 30% to contain over seven million donors, and the proportional distribution of racial and ethnic groups on the Registry has steadily approached their proportional distribution in the US population. Continued efforts on the part of the NMDP to maintain a Registry that is large in number and ethnically diverse should help ensure access to haematopoietic stem cell transplants for all patients who need them. The procedures and experience of the NMDP and its Registry may have implications for registries elsewhere in the world as they confront similar issues of number and diversity.

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The peregrine falcon (Falco peregrinus) and the gyrfalcon (Falco rusticolus) are top avian predators of Arctic ecosystems. Although existing monitoring efforts are well established for both species, collaboration of activities among Arctic scientists actively involved in research of large falcons in the Nearctic and Palearctic has been poorly coordinated. Here we provide the first overview of Arctic falcon monitoring sites, present trends for long-term occupancy and productivity, and summarize information describing abundance, distribution, phenology, and health of the two species. We summarize data for 24 falcon monitoring sites across the Arctic, and identify gaps in coverage for eastern Russia, the Arctic Archipelago of Canada, and East Greenland. Our results indicate that peregrine falcon and gyrfalcon populations are generally stable, and assuming that these patterns hold beyond the temporal and spatial extents of the monitoring sites, it is reasonable to suggest that breeding populations at broader scales are similarly stable. We have highlighted several challenges that preclude direct comparisons of Focal Ecosystem Components (FEC) attributes among monitoring sites, and we acknowledge that methodological problems cannot be corrected retrospectively, but could be accounted for in future monitoring. Despite these drawbacks, ample opportunity exists to establish a coordinated monitoring program for Arctic-nesting raptor species that supports CBMP goals.

Scoping reviews, in which the literature on a given topic is systematically collated and summarized, aid literature searches and highlight knowledge gaps on a given topic, thus hastening scientific progress and informing conservation efforts. Because much research and conservation is targeted at the species level, ornithology and bird conservation would benefit from scoping reviews of individual species. We present and apply a framework for scoping reviews for three disparate raptor species: California Condor Gymnogyps californianus, Harpy Eagle Harpia harpyja and Gyrfalcon Falco rusticolus. We consulted expert panels to develop appropriate search strings and lists of essential literature, i.e. ‘benchmark articles’. We searched Web of Science, Scopus and Google Scholar. Searches for California Condor, Harpy Eagle and Gyrfalcon returned 268, 138 and 343 articles, respectively, that discuss, review or collect empirical data for the focal species. Our searches returned all benchmark articles identified by species experts, indicating that the searches captured the most important work on each species. We coded each study according to the topic addressed, country and month in which data were collected. We also coded threats, stresses and conservation actions addressed by studies, following definitions used by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) during Red List assessments. Literature summaries for each species include the number of studies addressing certain topics, monthly timing of research and global maps of research focus. Our coding scheme revealed important knowledge gaps for each species. Effects of conservation actions on wild individuals were less studied for California Condors. Harpy Eagles were less studied outside of Brazil and Panama, and Gyrfalcons were less studied outside of their breeding season. Scoping reviews of the world's bird species would help to identify critical knowledge gaps, thereby aiding the global effort to assuage the sixth mass extinction.