A strategy of splitting individual high volume cord blood units into two half subunits prior to processing increases the recovery of cells and facilitates ex vivo expansion of the infused haematopoietic progenitor cells in adults.

This study was designed to maximize the recovery of the desirable cell populations contained in the cord blood (CB) freezing bag, in order to optimize donor selection for adolescents and adults. To evaluate this hypothesis, high volume CB units (CBUs) were categorized into three volume collection groups (120-139, 140-159 and >or=160 ml) and were randomly split before volume reduction into two half low volume CBUs; (a) and (b). Using the SEPAX Cell Processing System, all CBUs were standardized to 26 ml. In 128 high volume split CBUs, the WBC, mononuclear cell and CD34+ cell recoveries were significantly higher (P

Effect of ketotifen on childhood asthma: a double-blind study.

Ketotifen was administered orally, for 3 months, to 40 children aged 3-14 years with chronic extrinsic asthma of moderate severity in a double-blind placebo-controlled study. A significant clinical improvement with concomitant reduction of antiasthmatic drugs was found in the group receiving the active drug compared with the placebo group (p less than 0.05). The continued administration of ketotifen in an open study to a group of 21 children comprised of patients belonging to both groups (active-placebo) for a period of 15-18 months resulted in disappearance of symptoms in 10 children (47.6%) and moderate improvement in 7 (33.3%).