Medical Article Essays - Stem Cells, Cord Blood, Umbilical Cord

Medical Article December 21, 1999 The Hope, and Hype, of Cord Blood By DENISE GRADY Should parents pay a blood bank to store the blood from their newborn baby's umbilical cord and placenta, in case that child or another family member ever needs it to treat cancer or leukemia? Expectant parents are being urged to do so by companies that have sprung up during the past few years to sell cord-blood banking as a form of biological insurance against such dreaded diseases. The pitch is based on reports in medical journals, such as a major study published last week in the New England Journal of Medicine, showing that cord blood can sometimes be used in place of a bone marrow transplant. Like bone marrow, cord blood is rich in stem cells, which can churn out many different types of cells to rebuild a patient's blood supply and immune system after high doses of radiation and chemotherapy. And a patient's own cord blood, or that from a relative, is more likely than cord blood from an unrelated donor to be a good tissue match and to be accepted by the recipient's body. Some experts in bone-marrow transplantation and blood banking frown on the cord-blood business, arguing that people are being frightened into wasting money on a service they will probably never need. Moreover, private companies are growing in tandem with public banks, and some scientists worry that private banking will limit public access to cord blood. They are concerned because the cord blood in private banks remains the property of the donor family and is not available to patients seeking a compatible donor. But the companies say that however remote the possibility that the blood will be needed, people who choose to bank their own cord blood have a right to do so. In most cases their cord blood would be thrown away in the delivery room if they did not pay to bank it. There are only a few cord-blood banks in the United States, and most hospitals do not have specially trained staff members to collect the blood. Like bone marrow, cord blood must be matched to the recipient by tests for six inherited traits that determine an individual's tissue type. Cord blood does not have to be as precisely matched as bone marrow, but still, the closer the match, the better the odds of success. The weaker the match, the more likely it is that the recipient's body will reject the transplant, or the transplant will attack the recipient's tissues, in a life-threatening reaction called graft versus host disease. The companies that freeze cord blood and bank it point out that a person's own cord blood is a perfect match, and a sibling's cord blood a more likely match than a specimen from a stranger. And so, the argument goes, the best way to protect an entire family from the unthinkable is to save the newborns' cord blood. Promotional literature for one company, Cord Blood Registry, in San Bruno, Calif., emphasizes that people with cancer in the family may have a special interest in cord-blood banking, along with those who have the hardest time finding matches, which includes members of racial minorities, especially families in which the parents are of different races. According to a spokeswoman, Scoti Kaesshaefer, the company reaches parents-to-be by promoting itself to doctors, nurses and childbirth educators, and by leaving information at hospitals. Among the promotional materials the company provided to the New York Times were copies of articles from other newspapers suggesting that cancer among children is on the rise. The company also has a Web site and an 800 number with a recorded greeting that instructs callers to have their credit cards ready. The idea of saving one's own cord blood seems to be catching on. Cord Blood Registry, which describes itself as the largest private cord-blood banking firm in the United States, has stored 10,000 samples during the past three years: 1,500 in 1995, 3,000 in 1996 and 6,000 in 1997. The company charges an initial fee of $1,200 to collect a sample and freeze it, and then $95 a year to keep it stored in liquid nitrogen at the blood bank at the University of Arizona. Customers include people with perfectly healthy children, who just want extra peace of mind, as well as some families who have lost a child to leukemia or another disease and fear for the health of their other children. In its three

Top Tips for Doing College Homework

Top Tips for Doing College Homework In contrast to the academic requirements of high school, college courses present a much heavier, more consistent workload. And with everything else that college students have to manage jobs, personal life, relationships, physical health, cocurricular obligations it can sometimes seem like getting your homework done is an impossible feat. At the same time, however,  not  getting your work done is a recipe for disaster. So, what tips and tricks can you use to get your homework done in college? Tips for Successfully Doing College Homework Use these tips to create a process that works for you and your personal study style. Use a Time Management System Put all major assignments and their due dates in your time management system.  A key part of staying on top of your homework is knowing whats coming; no one, after all, wants to realize on Tuesday that they have a major midterm on Thursday. To avoid surprising yourself, make sure all of your major homework assignments and their due dates are documented in your calendar. That way, you wont inadvertently sabotage your own success simply because youve mismanaged your time. Schedule Homework Time Schedule times to do homework each week, and keep those appointments.  Without designated time for addressing your  to-dos, youre more likely to cram at the last minute, which adds to your anxiety levels. By putting homework on your calendar, youll have the time allocated in your already-too-busy schedule, youll reduce your stress by knowing when, exactly, your homework will be done, and youll be better able to enjoy whatever else you have planned since youll know your homework is already taken care of. Sneak in Your Homework Use small increments of time whenever possible.  You know that 20-minute bus ride you have to and from campus every day? Well, thats 40 minutes a day, 5 days a week which means that if you did some reading during the ride, youd get more than 3 hours of homework done during your commute. Those little increments can add up: 30 minutes between classes here, 10 minutes waiting for a friend there. Be smart about sneaking in small bits of homework so that you can conquer the bigger assignments piece by piece. You Cant Always Get It All Done Understand that you cant always get all your homework done.  One of the biggest skills to learn in college is how to gauge what you  cant  get done. Because sometimes, there really is only so many hours in a day, and the basic laws of physics mean you cant accomplish everything on your to-do list. If you just cant get all your homework done, make some smart decisions about how to choose what to do and what to leave behind. Are you doing great in one of your classes, and skipping the reading one week shouldnt hurt too much? Are you failing another and definitely need to focus your efforts there? Hit the Reset Button Dont get caught up in the get-caught-up trap.  If you fall behind on your homework, its easy to think and hope that youll be able to catch up. So youll set a plan to catch up, but the more you try to catch up, the more you fall behind. If youre falling behind on your reading and are feeling overwhelmed, give yourself permission to start anew. Figure out what you need to get done for your next assignment or class, and get it done. Its easier to cover the material you missed when youre studying for an exam in the future than it is to fall further and further behind right now. Use Your Resources Use class and other resources to help make doing your homework more productive and efficient.  You might, for example, think that you dont need to go to class because the professor only covers whats already been addressed in the reading. Not true. You should always go to class for a variety of reasons and doing so can make your homework load lighter. Youll better understand the material, be better able to absorb the work you do out of class, be better prepared for upcoming exams (thereby saving you studying time and improving your academic performance), and overall just have a better mastery of the material. Additionally, use your professors office hours or time in an academic support center to reinforce what youve learned through your homework assignments. Doing homework shouldnt just be a to-do item on your list; it should be an essential part of your college academic experience.