There is significant variability in the quality of deceased-donor kidneys that are used for transplantation. The quality of the donor kidney has a direct effect on important clinical outcomes such as acute rejection, delayed graft function, and patient and allograft survival. Expanded-criteria donors (ECDs) refer to older kidney donors (> or =60 yr) or donors who are aged 50 to 59 yr and have t...

BACKGROUND The present study explored the process of disclosure in gamete donation families in the UK. METHODS Interviews were conducted with 23 mothers and 15 fathers who had told their 7-year-old child about the nature of their conception. Twelve children were interviewed about what they understood and how they felt about their donor conception (DC). RESULTS The majority of families had d...

BACKGROUND This case study of donor human milk banking and the ethics that govern interested parties is the first time the ethics of donor milk banking has been explored. METHODS AND RESULTS Two different models of ethics and their direct impact on donor milk banking are examined: biomedical ethics and public health ethics. How these models and principles affect different aspects of donor hum...

Renal transplantation improves survival of patients with end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) (Wolfe, McCullough et al. 2009). In most countries, including the United States and Australia, there continues to be a growing disparity between the limited availability of deceased-donor kidneys compared to potential transplant candidates. In contrast, livedonor kidney transplantation has been steadily inc...

In the U.S., the growth of the organ transplantation waiting list significantly outpaces the supply of donated organs. Among the many initiatives aiming to boost the supply, the donor priority rule, under which a registered organ donor—in case of needing a transplant—is given priority to receive an organ over a nondonor, has been considered by policy makers in the U.S. In this paper, we model t...

BACKGROUND The present study was conducted to evaluate seasonal variability in the quality of pre- and post-thaw semen parameters among sperm bank donors. METHODS The first two consecutive ejaculates during the months March (spring, 92 males), June (summer, 97 males), September (autumn, 81 males) and December (winter, 97 males) were analysed. A comparison was made between sperm parameters fro...

Lung transplantation is still limited by the shortage of suitable donor organs. This results in long waiting times for listed patients with a substantial risk (10-15%) of dying before transplantation. All efforts to increase donor awareness through legislation, public campaigns, and training of transplant coordinators and medical ICU staff should be encouraged. Only a minority of cadaveric dono...