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The Value of Saving Umbilical Cord Blood

The AHA! Team — Wed, 06 Nov 2024 06:06:28 +0000

Duke Health – Jessica M. Sun, MD, a pediatric hematologist/oncologist at Duke Children’s, explains why you might want to save your child’s umbilical cord blood. What is umbilical cord blood? Umbilical cord blood is a baby’s blood left in the placenta (also called the afterbirth) after the baby is born and the umbilical cord is cut. Historically, umbilical cord blood was discarded with the placenta as medical waste. Over the past few decades, cord blood has been shown to contain stem cells and early precursor cells that can be used for life-saving stem cell transplantation for children and adults in need of a stem cell transplant. Cord blood is more tolerant of a new host and can be used without full matching, providing increased access to transplantation for patients who cannot find a matched donor. How is umbilical cord blood used in medicine? Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation can be an effective therapy for children and adults with certain cancers, immune deficiencies, bone marrow failure syndromes, and some genetic diseases including inborn errors of metabolism and hemoglobinopathies. Traditionally, stem cells used for transplantation were obtained from bone marrow or blood. More recently, cord blood has become an alternative source of stem cells for transplantation. A major limitation to stem cell transplantation therapy is the ability to find a suitable donor. Only 20 to 25% of patients in need of a transplant have relative who is a “match” and can serve as their donor. Of those without a related donor, only 10 to 50% of patients (depending on their race and ethnicity) will find a matched unrelated bone marrow donor through the National Marrow Donor Program and other donor registries. Cord blood transplantation does not require as strict matching as bone marrow, so many people who cannot find a matched bone marrow donor can find a suitable cord blood donor. It is estimated that more than 4,000 cord blood transplants are being performed each year around the world. Cord blood and cells derived from birthing tissues are also being studied as a source of stem cells for other purposes, including regenerative therapies for tissues damaged by injury or disease. Duke researchers are currently studying whether an infusion of cord blood can help a child with cerebral palsy, children born with hydrocephalus, and babies with birth asphyxia. We are also studying whether a cell manufactured from cord blood can help repair the lining of nerve cells in the brains of children with leukodystrophies and adults with primary progressive multiple sclerosis. However, these applications remain unproven and are currently the subject of ongoing research. How is umbilical cord blood collected and stored? Umbilical cord blood can be collected without risk to the mother or infant donor. Cord blood can be collected from the placenta, either during the third stage of labor or within 10 to 15 minutes after delivery of the placenta, by sterilely puncturing one of the umbilical veins with a needle and allowing the cord blood to drain into a sterile bag containing an anticoagulant to prevent clotting. After collection from the placenta, some of the red blood cells are usually removed and the volume of the cord blood collection is reduced. For long-term storage, cells undergo specialized freezing procedures and are stored in special freezers under liquid nitrogen. Maximal storage time, or expiration date, is unknown, but cells are likely to remain usable for decades. Cord blood units from public banks have been successfully transplanted after 18 years in storage. What are the options for cord blood storage? There are two main types of cord blood banks, public and private. In general, public banks are nonprofit entities supported by federal or private funding. After the mother consents, public banks collect cord blood from healthy full-term pregnancies at no cost to the donor’s family. In giving consent, the infant’s mother acknowledges that the donation is voluntary and gives up all rights to the cord blood for the public good. The mother also agrees to allow her medical records and the baby’s newborn records to be reviewed, gives a detailed family medical history, and allows a sample of her own blood to be taken for infectious disease testing. Units passing screening tests designed to eliminate risks of transmitting genetic or infectious diseases are typed, placed in the search registry, and are available to any suitable patient in need of transplantation. Units that do not meet criteria for public banking may be discarded or used for research purposes. Private cord blood banks are generally for-profit companies that store “directed donations” intended for future use by the child or a family member. Using a kit provided by the bank, the cord blood is collected by the physician, midwife, or nurse delivering the baby and shipped back to the company’s banking facility. The parents of the infant are charged an initial fee for collection and processing of the cord blood and then an annual fee for storage. Varying degrees of testing is performed on the units, and minimal standards are used to determine whether a unit is eligible for processing and banking. The majority of private collections are undertaken as an investment in the unknown potential for cord blood to be used to treat serious illnesses in the future. Most obstetricians and pediatricians feel that routine cord blood storage in healthy babies is unnecessary. In this regard, it is important to note that a child’s own cord blood would not be used for transplantation of a child with leukemia or other cancers, in part due to concern for contamination with cancerous cells, and it would not be used to treat a genetic condition because the cord blood would contain the same genetic problem. Currently, directed donation of umbilical cord blood for another family member is recommended when a first-degree relative has a high risk pediatric cancer that can be treated with transplantation therapy, a hemoglobinopathy or other transfusion-dependent blood disorder, a congenital immune deficiency, or an inborn error of metabolism. How can I donate my child’s umbilical cord blood? It is always a good idea to discuss options for cord blood banking with your obstetric provider or pediatrician. To privately store your baby’s cord blood for possible future use by the child or a family member, you may contact one of the many private cord blood banks to arrange collection, shipment, and payment. Additional information about cord blood banking, including a list of private banks, can be found through the Parent’s Guide to Cord Blood Foundation. To donate your baby’s cord blood for public use, first check whether the hospital at which you plan to deliver works with a cord blood bank to collect cord blood for public donation. In North Carolina, public collections are available at Duke, UNC, Womack Army Medical Center, and Rex Hospitals. If your hospital does not participate in public cord blood banking, there are a few public cord blood banks, including the Carolinas Cord Blood Bank at Duke, that offer a free kit program so that public donations may be collected at other hospitals. Interested parents should contact the bank (919-668-2071) at least six weeks before the baby’s due date to learn more about the program. Currently, public donations are limited to mothers who have a healthy pregnancy, are 18 years or older, and are pregnant with a single baby. More information about public cord blood donation is available through the National Marrow Donor Program. To read the original article click here.

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The Biggest Lie Ever Told; The War on Red Meat

The AHA! Team — Wed, 30 Oct 2024 05:07:23 +0000

Al Sears, MD, CNS – I’ve spent the past two decades traveling thousands of miles around the world to visit and observe the last remaining native cultures still in existence. A lot of my colleagues question my research methods. That’s because most modern doctors only treat – and most researchers only study – sickness. They don’t consider health. They see a disease and prescribe a pill. That’s not how I see it. I focus on what healthy people have in common… What protects them from getting sick in the first place. And I feel I owe it to my patients – and you – to visit these cultures and pass on their knowledge before it’s lost. Like the Maasai in Kenya. Visiting them was remarkable. I didn’t see one overweight person the entire time I was there.1 Everyone I came across in every village was lean and strong. And they have almost zero heart disease. In fact, they don’t suffer from any of the chronic diseases that have become the world’s worst killers. There’s a good reason for that… It’s a secret inherent in their native diet. A diet that includes almost no grains but plenty of red meat, fat, protein, and bone marrow — all things that are missing or extremely limited in the modern Western diet. Of course, this is exactly the opposite of what the American Heart Association and nearly every standard American doctor recommends…yet, the rate of heart disease among the Maasai is almost zero. There’s no obesity. And the Maasai don’t suffer from chronic aging problems like our culture does. From all my experiences with patients and in all my travels around the world, from Africa to Bali to South America, here’s what I’ve learned: You CAN avoid disease and obesity, and the chronic conditions that plague us in the West. But it has nothing to do with following standard medicine’s recommendations. Instead, you want to be strong, muscular, robust, lean, happy, healthy, and eat the foods you were born to eat. You have a natural desire for them. Dropping weight will come easier and faster. You will wake up charged with energy that will last the whole day, you’ll stay strong and healthy, and you’ll never have to fear heart disease. I’ve helped hundreds of people use this approach. I’ve watched them make a remarkable transition. They are becoming leaner, healthier, and they stay free of heart disease. Unfortunately, the modern medical establishment has been nagging you for over 50 years to eliminate red meat from your diet. They claim that eating red meat causes raises cholesterol, causes heart disease, and can eventually kill you. I call it the biggest lie ever told. Red meat doesn’t cause disease. As a matter of fact, we evolved to eat meat. Our primal ancestors thrived on its fat and protein. And without it, we never would have made it to the 21st century. Almost every cell in your body needs both the protein and the fat from meat to survive. You use protein to build and repair tissues. It’s an important building block of bones, muscles, cartilage, skin, hair, nails, and blood. You need protein to make enzymes, hormones, and other body chemicals. And the fat helps you transport nutrients around your body and deliver them where they’re needed. Vitamins A, D, E, K, and CoQ10 can’t even be absorbed without fat. But there is a problem with today’s red meat… Ranchers aren’t interested in the quality of their beef. They care about making a profit. So they feed their cattle a combination of grain and corn. But cattle evolved to eat grass. Today’s meat factories make cows diseased. So they’re pumped full of antibiotics. The antibiotics make them sick, and they’re given more drugs. It’s an endless unnatural cycle. These animals are also injected with growth hormones so they can be sent to slaughter that much sooner. Because they are confined to a crowded feedlot, they never get any exercise. The result is an unhealthy ratio of omega-3s to inflammation-causing omega-6s. And it’s this chronic inflammation from omega-6s that leads to heart disease and cancer… Eat Like Your Ancestors Avoid commercially raised red meat. I can’t say this enough… You should stay away from factory-farmed meat. Choose grass-fed, pasture-raised, hormone-free beef. I consider this to be perhaps the healthiest food you can eat. Compared to grain-fed animals, products from grass-fed animals have 10 times more omega-3 fats, more vitamins B, E, D, and K2, more CoQ10 and zinc, and more antioxidants like glutathione and superoxide dismutase (SOD).1 Choose bison meat. All bison are grass-fed. In fact, this animal would rather starve than eat corn. Nutritionally, bison has more protein, iron, and B12 than most beef. But what makes it a top meat choice is that it has more omega-3s — and a better omega-3 to omega-6 ratio. Eat “salad-bar” beef. This is what my friend Joel Salatin calls his pasture-raised, grass-fed meat. He gave it the name because the cattle he raises get to graze in an open “salad bar.” His animals are never exposed to hormones, antibiotics, herbicides, pesticides, or other toxins. You can check out and order from his website at polyfacefarms.com. To Your Good Health, Al Sears, MD, CNS References: 1. Daley CA, et al. “A review of fatty acid profiles and antioxidant content in grass-fed and grain-fed beef.” Nutr J. 2019;9:10. To read the original article click here.

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Miniature 3D Bone Marrow Model Could Lead to Personalized Treatment for Blood Platelet Disorders

AHA Publisher — Fri, 04 Jun 2021 07:00:18 +0000

eLife via News-Medical – A new miniature 3D model of human bone marrow has been described today in the open-access eLife journal. The model may help clinicians predict which patients will benefit from a new therapy for blood platelet disorders, such as Inherited Thrombocytopenias – a group of familial disorders that inhibit the production of platelets. It could also enable further study of these disorders and give scientists a new tool to test experimental treatments. Platelets are cells that are necessary for the blood to clot and stop bleeding. Having too few platelets can lead to internal or serious bleeding after surgery or injuries, which is usually treated with therapies that cause clotting. Recent studies have shown that a drug called Eltrombopag increases the production of platelets, but not all patients appear to benefit from it. “Patients with the same apparent form of platelet disorder may respond differently to treatment with Eltrombopag,” says first author Christian Di Buduo, Research Assistant Professor at the Department of Molecular Medicine, University of Pavia, Italy. To help determine which patients might benefit from the drug, Di Buduo and colleagues developed a mini 3D model of human bone marrow that combines a scaffolding of silk protein and culture of patient-derived cells to recreate the human bone marrow environment where platelets are produced. “This device is a significant improvement over previous models, requiring only a very small sample of blood to recreate platelet production,” Di Buduo explains. The team then tested what happened when they added Eltrombopag to a blood sample from a patient with a platelet disorder that had previously been treated with the drug. Their results showed that the number of platelets produced in the model corresponded to how each patient had responded to treatment with Eltrombopag. The increase in the number of platelets collected from the model was comparable to the increase in the number of platelets in patients’ blood following treatment. The authors say the model could eventually lead to personalized treatment for platelet disorders by helping clinicians match patients to the best treatment. “This easy-to-reproduce system may also help scientists better understand what goes wrong in these disorders and how treatments work, as well as provide them with a new tool for testing new drugs that may lead to improved therapies in the future.” (Alessandra Balduini, Senior Author, Principal Investigator and Professor at the University of Pavia) To read the original article click here.

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How I Protect My Employees With Bone Broth

AHA Publisher — Sat, 23 May 2020 07:00:59 +0000

Al Sears, MD, CNS – Every other Friday, I have a catered lunch delivered to the office. As you might imagine, it’s a Paleo menu. But the favorite part of this tradition isn’t the food… it’s the bottles of bone broth I pass out afterward. I created my own “Immune System Enhancing Broth,” and the entire stock disappears within minutes. Today, I’ll share the recipe so you can make it at home. And I’ll show you just how powerful this ancient brew really is… There’s a reason humans have been harvesting bone marrow for thousands of years. It powers up your immunity like nothing else. Even Animals Understand the Power of Bone Marrow In the animal kingdom there is great wisdom. After a kill, animals always go for the organs first… and they’ve developed techniques for cracking the bones to extract marrow. Even birds will grab pieces of bone in their beaks and drop them onto rocks to get at the marrow inside. Tragically, our modern culture has largely vilified bone marrow since the 1950s. Ever since Ancel Keys tried to convince us fat was “bad” and erroneously concluded fat was the cause of disease, bone marrow was considered “junk food.” That shows you how divorced from reality our medical establishment has become… bone marrow is a rich factory of life-giving biological factors like red blood cells, most white blood cells, and two forms of stem cells. The bone marrow is such a rich source of nutrients, it’s one of the foods that allowed our ancient ancestors to evolve into the modern humans we are today. Our big brains are the result of consuming bone marrow and organ meat. Our hunter-gatherer ancestors would take otherwise indigestible animal parts like bones, hooves and knuckles and boil them down into a broth they could drink. That was one way they could extract the marrow and share it with the tribe. The rich mixture of vitamins, minerals, amino acids and healthy fats in bone broth not only nourish your body, they help protect you from outside pathogens. 4 Ways Bone Broth Helps You Fight a Virus Reduce inflammation: Bone broth contains several inflammation-reducing compounds that heal your gut. Since 80% of our immune system is directly linked to the health of our gut and our gut lining, a healthy gut means a better ability to fight infection. This in large part is due to the glycosaminoglycans (or GAGS). They help to restore the intestinal lining. They also play a role in maintaining collagen and elastin content between tissue fibers.1 Clear your respiratory system: One notable study showed that bone broth diminishes the presence of white blood cells associated with inflammation in the upper respiratory system. This encourages a more effective immune response and helps symptoms clear up more quickly. Helps you breathe more easily: Bone broth contains two powerful amino acids. The first, cysteine, effectively breaks down mucus to help clear out passageways so you can breathe more easily. Another amino acid called glycine increases the production of immune cells to reduce inflammatory responses that may damage your lungs.2 Boost immune cells: And another compound in bone broth known as mucopolysaccharides has been shown to increase the function B and T cells. These are two of your body’s most important immune system cells.3 Here’s the Recipe for My Own Immune System Enhancing Bone Broth: Ingredients: 2 pounds of grass-fed lamb and 2 pounds of pastured chicken bones, including the chicken’s neck, feet and wings 3 celery stalks, chopped 1 medium onion, quartered 3 carrots, chopped (feel free to throw in other vegetables) 6 garlic cloves 1 tsp. each of parsley, thyme, sage, rosemary and Pau D’Arco 1/2 cup of shiitake mushrooms 1 tsp. each of turmeric and ashwagandha 1 Tbsp. whole peppercorns 4 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar 2 bay leaves Pink Himalayan sea salt to taste 10 pints of cold water Directions: Place all ingredients in a 10-quart stock pot. Cover with water. Let sit for around 60 minutes. Bring the pot to a boil and then reduce to a simmer. Skim off any impurities that rise to the top. When nothing else rises to the top, add water to keep the level just above the bones. Simmer for 15 to 24 hours. Then turn up the heat just a bit for the final simmer-down. This will concentrate the nutrients. Turn down the heat and let simmer for another hour or two. Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly. Discard solids and strain remainder through a colander. To read the original article click here. For more articles from Al Sears, MD click here. References: 1. Aquino RS and Park PW. “Glycosaminoglycans and infection.” Front Biosci (Landmark Ed). 2016;21:1260–1277. 2. Wheeler MD, et al. “Dietary glycine blunts lung inflammatory cell influx following acute endotoxin.” Am J Physiol Lung Cell Mol Physiol. 2000;279(2):L390-L398. 3. Wrenshall L, et al. “Modulation of macrophage and B cell function by glycosaminoglycans.” J Leukoc Biol. 1999;66(3):391-400.

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