Concept explainers
To review:
The decision of the federal government to allocate $79 million (about 40 cents per adult) for a public cord blood collection and storage network is wise or not.
Introduction:
After the birth of the baby, the mother’s body expels the umbilical cord and the placenta from her body, which is then cut out by a health professional. After birth and loss of physical connection with the mother, the baby starts surviving on its own. These discarded portions contain some amount of cord blood (about 50 milliliters), which along with the other blood components is rich in immature stem cells. These stem cells have the capability to divide and produce immature blood cells, which can further form platelets, RBCs (red blood cells), and WBCs (white blood cells).
There are many people who get diagnosed with a type of stem cell cancer that is acute leukemia in the bone marrow. The person diagnosed with this needs to be treated with the help of chemotherapy and radiations for killing the cells of cancer, this is then followed by bone marrow transplantation.
Explanation of Solution
The decision taken by the federal government, who allocated $79 million (about 40 cents per adult) for a public cord blood collection and storage network, is a very good decision. This is because there are many people who are diagnosed with acute leukemia and need to have a bone marrow transplant to get fully cured of this cancer.
Three antigens HLA-B, (human leukocyte antigen-B), HLA-A, and HLA-DR, each having two forms, are involved in a good bone marrow transplantation between the recipient (patient) and the donor. An ideal match for the patient would be having all the same six forms matching to the donor, that is, a 6/6 match. Thus, this seems to be highly difficult and only about 10% of the patients are able to find out their compatible donors.
Due to this reason, the cord blood has become so important because the stem cells in the cord blood are immature, so the transplant of cord blood would lead to fewer transfusion reactions. Transfusion reactions are the ones where the patient's immune system rejects the blood of the donor. Thus, less or even no transfusion reaction would enable a match of 5/6 or 4/6 to be sufficient for transplantation of the bone marrow between the donor and the patient.
Further, keeping all this in mind having a public cord blood collection would be really beneficial as here, people can be able to find their perfect donor from a large pool of cord blood collection. However, if this public cord blood collection is not present, then the patient might have to struggle a lot for a compatible donor or can even end up getting no compatible donor at all.
Therefore, a child born to a healthy family may or may not need its cord blood, but if this child's cord blood is donated into a public cord collection, then anyone going through problems like leukemia can easily access it. Hence, the decision of the federal government for a public cord blood collection was a very good decision.
Want to see more full solutions like this?
Chapter 7 Solutions
HUMAN BIOLOGY: CONCEPTS - 9780134312729
- You implant an FGF10-coated bead into the anterior flank of a chicken embryo, directly below the level of the wing bud. What is the phenotype of the resulting ectopic limb? Briefly describe the expected expression domains of 1) Shh, 2) Tbx4, and 3) Tbx5 in the resulting ectopic limb bud.arrow_forwardDesign a grafting experiment to determine if limb mesoderm determines forelimb / hindlimb identity. Include the experiment, a control, and an interpretation in your answer.arrow_forwardThe Snapdragon is a popular garden flower that comes in a variety of colours, including red, yellow, and orange. The genotypes and associated phenotypes for some of these flowers are as follows: aabb: yellow AABB, AABb, AaBb, and AaBB: red AAbb and Aabb: orange aaBB: yellow aaBb: ? Based on this information, what would the phenotype of a Snapdragon with the genotype aaBb be and why? Question 21 options: orange because A is epistatic to B yellow because A is epistatic to B red because B is epistatic to A orange because B is epistatic to A red because A is epistatic to B yellow because B is epistatic to Aarrow_forward
- A sample of blood was taken from the above individual and prepared for haemoglobin analysis. However, when water was added the cells did not lyse and looked normal in size and shape. The technician suspected that they had may have made an error in the protocol – what is the most likely explanation? The cell membranes are more resistant than normal. An isotonic solution had been added instead of water. A solution of 0.1 M NaCl had been added instead of water. Not enough water had been added to the red blood cell pellet. The man had sickle-cell anaemia.arrow_forwardA sample of blood was taken from the above individual and prepared for haemoglobin analysis. However, when water was added the cells did not lyse and looked normal in size and shape. The technician suspected that they had may have made an error in the protocol – what is the most likely explanation? The cell membranes are more resistant than normal. An isotonic solution had been added instead of water. A solution of 0.1 M NaCl had been added instead of water. Not enough water had been added to the red blood cell pellet. The man had sickle-cell anaemia.arrow_forwardWith reference to their absorption spectra of the oxy haemoglobin intact line) and deoxyhemoglobin (broken line) shown in Figure 2 below, how would you best explain the reason why there are differences in the major peaks of the spectra? Figure 2. SPECTRA OF OXYGENATED AND DEOXYGENATED HAEMOGLOBIN OBTAINED WITH THE RECORDING SPECTROPHOTOMETER 1.4 Abs < 0.8 06 0.4 400 420 440 460 480 500 520 540 560 580 600 nm 1. The difference in the spectra is due to a pH change in the deoxy-haemoglobin due to uptake of CO2- 2. There is more oxygen-carrying plasma in the oxy-haemoglobin sample. 3. The change in Mr due to oxygen binding causes the oxy haemoglobin to have a higher absorbance peak. 4. Oxy-haemoglobin is contaminated by carbaminohemoglobin, and therefore has a higher absorbance peak 5. Oxy-haemoglobin absorbs more light of blue wavelengths and less of red wavelengths than deoxy-haemoglobinarrow_forward
- With reference to their absorption spectra of the oxy haemoglobin intact line) and deoxyhemoglobin (broken line) shown in Figure 2 below, how would you best explain the reason why there are differences in the major peaks of the spectra? Figure 2. SPECTRA OF OXYGENATED AND DEOXYGENATED HAEMOGLOBIN OBTAINED WITH THE RECORDING SPECTROPHOTOMETER 1.4 Abs < 0.8 06 0.4 400 420 440 460 480 500 520 540 560 580 600 nm 1. The difference in the spectra is due to a pH change in the deoxy-haemoglobin due to uptake of CO2- 2. There is more oxygen-carrying plasma in the oxy-haemoglobin sample. 3. The change in Mr due to oxygen binding causes the oxy haemoglobin to have a higher absorbance peak. 4. Oxy-haemoglobin is contaminated by carbaminohemoglobin, and therefore has a higher absorbance peak 5. Oxy-haemoglobin absorbs more light of blue wavelengths and less of red wavelengths than deoxy-haemoglobinarrow_forwardWhich ONE of the following is FALSE regarding haemoglobin? It has two alpha subunits and two beta subunits. The subunits are joined by disulphide bonds. Each subunit covalently binds a haem group. Conformational change in one subunit can be transmitted to another. There are many variant ("mutant") forms of haemoglobin that are not harmful.arrow_forwardWhich ONE of the following is FALSE regarding haemoglobin? It has two alpha subunits and two beta subunits. The subunits are joined by disulphide bonds. Each subunit covalently binds a haem group. Conformational change in one subunit can be transmitted to another. There are many variant ("mutant") forms of haemoglobin that are not harmful.arrow_forward
- During a routine medical check up of a healthy man it was found that his haematocrit value was highly unusual – value of 60%. What one of the options below is the most likely reason? He will have a diet high in iron. He is likely to be suffering from anaemia. He lives at high altitude. He has recently recovered from an accident where he lost a lot of blood. He has a very large body size.arrow_forwardExplain what age of culture is most likely to produce an endospore?arrow_forwardExplain why hot temperatures greater than 45 degrees celsius would not initiate the sporulation process in endospores?arrow_forward
- Understanding Health Insurance: A Guide to Billin...Health & NutritionISBN:9781337679480Author:GREENPublisher:Cengage
Human Heredity: Principles and Issues (MindTap Co...BiologyISBN:9781305251052Author:Michael CummingsPublisher:Cengage Learning