Allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant is safe and curative treatment modality for many hematologic diseases. Expanding alternative donor options such as haploidentical hematopoietic stem cell transplantation and umbilical cord blood, taken together with enhanced outcomes of matched unrelated donors, has resulted in a advisable donor for most patients with an hematopoietic stem cell tran...

Acute and chronic wounds are characterized by breakdown of the integrity of the soft tissue envelope surrounding any portion of the body. Flaps and grafts are the two main surgical procedures utilized to repair soft tissue loss. A simple skin graft applied as a thin layer harvested with a dermatome, a scalpel or a special knife may provide a durable coverage. A free skin graft is a piece of ski...

Lung transplantation is the treatment of choice for end-stage pulmonary diseases. A limited donor supply has resulted in 4,000 patients on the waiting list. Currently, 10-20% of donor organs offered for transplantation are deemed suitable under the selection criteria, of which 15-25% fail due to primary graft dysfunction (PGD). This has spawned efforts to re-examine the current selection criter...

BACKGROUND Donor lymphocyte infusions can induce remissions in patients with relapse after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Nevertheless, some grafted patients never display any signs of alloreactivity, either following allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation or after donor lymphocyte infusions. Consequently, they do not develop graft-versus-host disease and freque...

When purified CBA lymph node T cells were mixed with sheep erythrocytes (SRC) and filtered from blood to lymph through irradiated syngeneic mice for 1-2 days, the donor cells lost their capacity to stimulate anti-SRC responses by CBA B cells; the response to a third-party antigen (horse erythrocytes) was unaffected and active suppression was not involved. This process of specific negative selec...

The two main goals of blood banks are to ensure consistent and safe blood components to reduce morbidity and mortality in their surrounding communities. To achieve these goals, blood banks worldwide have implemented multiple methods including continuous improvements in the donor selection and retention, serological testing for transfusion transmissible infectious agents, standard written proced...

Natural killer (NK) cells are increasingly used in clinical studies in order to treat patients with various malignancies. The following review summarizes platform lectures and 2013-2015 consortium meetings on manufacturing and clinical use of NK cells in Europe and United States. A broad overview of recent pre-clinical and clinical results in NK cell therapies is provided based on unstimulated,...

 Abstract Background: The retroauricular-temporal or Washio flap has been introduced for reconstruction of partial nose and cheek defects, and has many advantages. We decided to evaluate the extended use of this technique in order to repair full thickness nasal defects. Methods: Superficial temporal and retroauricular arteries are identified with Doppler flowmetry. Selection points A, B, C and ...