Whose Blood Is It, Anyway? Current Issues in Biology, Volume 1 Scientific American

Whose Blood Is It, Anyway? Concept Review Since 1998, hundreds of lives have been saved by blood contained in the placenta and umbilical cord. This blood contains hematopoietic stem cells which can develop into many kinds of blood cells and be used to treat many diseases. The cells have been used to treat leukemia, sickle cell disease and severe combined immunodeficiency syndrome.

Whose Blood Is It, Anyway? Concept Review The first cord blood transfusion occurred in 1972, but its potential was not fully realized until 1989. Cord blood is better for transplantation than child or adult bone marrow because it is less likely to cause graft-versus-host disease.

Whose Blood Is It, Anyway? Concept Review Umbilical cord blood transplantation has many advantages over bone marrow transplant. The size of the donor pool is much larger. Cord blood is readily available from a blood bank’s freezer.

Whose Blood Is It, Anyway? Concept Review Cord blood transplantation is not without risks. The stem cells might contain genetic mistakes that could cause a disease in a recipient. It contains relatively small numbers of stem cells in a single sample.

Whose Blood Is It, Anyway? Testing Your Comprehension Immediately after birth, blood can be collected from the umbilical cord and ________, also called the after birth. a) uterus b) placenta c) uvula d) stem cells

Whose Blood Is It, Anyway? Testing Your Comprehension Immediately after birth, blood can be collected from the umbilical cord and ________, also called the after birth. b) placenta

Whose Blood Is It, Anyway? Testing Your Comprehension Which of these conditions is least likely to be successfully treated using cord blood stem cells? a) leukemia b) sickle cell disease c) breast cancer d) immune disorders, such as sever combined immunodeficiency (SCID)

Whose Blood Is It, Anyway? Testing Your Comprehension Which of these conditions is least likely to be successfully treated using cord blood stem cells? c) breast cancer

Whose Blood Is It, Anyway? Testing Your Comprehension Why are immune cells extracted from umbilical cord blood better for transplantation than those in child or adult bone marrow? a) They are less likely to cause cancer. b) They are less likely to cause graft-versus-host disease. c) They are denser and thus easier to transplant. d) They can develop into more types of cells.

Whose Blood Is It, Anyway? Testing Your Comprehension Why are immune cells extracted from umbilical cord blood better for transplantation than those in child or adult bone marrow? b) They are less likely to cause graft-versus-host disease.

Whose Blood Is It, Anyway? Biology In Society For-profit companies will charge large fees to preserve a newborn’s cord blood for possible use by the family later? Is that right when the chance a child will ever need his or her cord blood ranges from 1 in 10,000 to 1 in 200,000? Strongly Agree Disagree A. E. C. B. D. Discussion points may include what the public health effects would be if public health agencies sent the message that excess weight is not a risk factor only to find out that this maverick view is wrong. This concern must be balanced against the harm of falsely warning people against a non-existent health risk. When is it appropriate to reverse the prevailing recommendations concerning “healthy weight”?

Whose Blood Is It, Anyway? Biology In Society React to the following statement: I would consider umbilical cord blood banking for my baby. Strongly Agree Disagree A. E. C. B. D.

Whose Blood Is It, Anyway? Thinking About Science Assume that a mother and father are both heterozygous with different alleles for a particular HLA gene (and thus have four different alleles for that gene). What are the odds that their two children will have HLA alleles for this gene that match each other? a) 100% b) 50% c) 25% d) 0% This question provides an opportunity to explore the differences between correlation and causality.

Whose Blood Is It, Anyway? Thinking About Science Assume that a mother and father are both heterozygous with different alleles for a particular HLA gene (and thus have four different alleles for that gene). What are the odds that their two children will have HLA alleles for this gene that match each other? c) 25% The article stresses the point that, even though mild obesity and an elevated incidence of diabetes are correlated, it is unclear if obesity causes type 2 diabetes.  Discussion may center on the idea that correlation suggests a causal link, but this link must be further explored through controlled studies.  Students may also want to debate whether answer b, that the correlation makes it likely that obesity leads to diabetes, is an equally valid answer or whether it is dangerous to draw this strong a conclusion from correlation alone.