Best wishes for 2010

I wish you a very happy, healthy and prosperous New Year

For those of us who have received the "gift of life" by an organ transplant every new year is special as we plan and hope for another year of optimal health as we continue to enjoy our second chance at life with family and friends. It's sad that someone had to die (except for living donation) in order for an organ recipient to live, but I hope that the donor families will take comfort in knowing that their loved ones did not die in vain as they continue to live within the recipient and help that person to live on.

DonateLife Float in Rose Parade

Be sure to watch for the DonateLife Float in the annual New Year's Rose Parade. Click on the above link for all the details.

“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Register to be an organ and tissue donor & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”

Register to be a donor in Ontario or Download Donor Cards from Trillium Gift of Life Network. NEW for Ontario: recycleMe.org - Learn The Ins & Outs Of Organ And Tissue Donation. Register Today! For other Canadian provinces click here

In the United States, be sure to find out how to register in your state at ShareYourLife.org or Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov

In Great Britain, register at NHS Organ Donor Register

In Australia, register at Australian Organ Donor Register

Your generosity can save up to eight lives with heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas and small intestine transplants. One tissue donor can help up to 100 other people by donating skin, corneas, bone, tendon, ligaments and heart valves

Has your life been saved by an organ transplant? "Pay it forward" and help spread the word about the need for organ donation - In the U.S. another person is added to the national transplant waiting list every 11 minutes and 18 people die each day waiting for an organ or tissue transplant.

Contraband cigarettes are big in teen market

HealthCanal.com

Up to 30% of teen smokers are buying First Nations or Native brands – at 1/3 price of brand-name cigarettes

(Toronto) – Teens who smoke are buying cheaper contraband cigarettes in large numbers across Canada, according to a study co-authored by Dr. Russell Callaghan of the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH). The study was published Dec. 26 by the Canadian Medical Association Journal.

The untaxed contraband cigarettes are available in a thriving underground market from some First Nations and Native organizations in Ontario and Quebec and, at $3-$4, sell for about a third of the price of legitimate or name brands. Previous studies have found that adult smokers of the contraband cigarettes are less likely to try to quit smoking. This has troubling implications for teens who use these cigarettes while developing their smoking habit, however, “the use of contraband cigarettes by teens is not considered in most of our health promotion activities directed at teens,” says Dr. Callaghan.

This study helps to round out the picture of teen smoking in Canada, he adds. “Increasing the price of cigarettes in stores, or taking them off the open shelves in convenience stores, is not going to be an effective way to reach those teens who access contraband cigarettes,” he says.

Numbers highest in Ontario, Quebec

The study asked teens in secondary schools across Canada about their smoking choices. Of the 2,849 who smoke, about 17.5 % use First Nations or Native brand cigarettes. The numbers are even higher in central Canada, with 26.3 % in Ontario and 30% of teen smokers in Quebec buying the contraband smokes. In contrast, less than 4% of teens in Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador use the contraband cigarettes.

More than 40,000 high school students in grades nine to 12 filled out the 2006/2007 Youth Smoking Survey across 10 provinces. The students who identified themselves as smoking at least one cigarette a day were asked which brand they usually smoked.

Issues of the contraband-cigarette trade and First Nations jurisdictions and are complex, adds Dr. Callaghan. “Now we know that policy directed at teen smokers needs to take their access to contraband cigarettes into consideration,” he says.

Funding for this study came from the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, in a grant to CAMH.

“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Register to be an organ and tissue donor & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”

Register to be a donor in Ontario or Download Donor Cards from Trillium Gift of Life Network. NEW for Ontario: recycleMe.org - Learn The Ins & Outs Of Organ And Tissue Donation. Register Today! For other Canadian provinces click here

In the United States, be sure to find out how to register in your state at ShareYourLife.org or Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov

In Great Britain, register at NHS Organ Donor Register

In Australia, register at Australian Organ Donor Register

Your generosity can save up to eight lives with heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas and small intestine transplants. One tissue donor can help up to 100 other people by donating skin, corneas, bone, tendon, ligaments and heart valves

Has your life been saved by an organ transplant? "Pay it forward" and help spread the word about the need for organ donation - In the U.S. another person is added to the national transplant waiting list every 11 minutes and 18 people die each day waiting for an organ or tissue transplant.

Researchers Discover Gene Therapy To Prevent Progression Of Emphysema

HealthCanal.com

(Boston) – Researchers from Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) have discovered a new gene therapy that may prevent the progression of emphysema.

The study, which appears on-line in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, describes a method to express therapeutic genes in lung tissue for a lifetime after only a single treatment.

Alpha-1 Anti-trypsin Deficiency (also commonly called "genetic COPD") is the most common inherited form of emphysema seen in young people due to a mutation in the Alpha-1 Anti-trypsin gene. This genetic disease predisposes affected individuals to early emphysema and cirrhosis of the liver.

According to the researchers, gene transfer into specific cell lineages in vivo remains an attractive yet elusive approach for correcting inherited mutations. Although a variety of techniques have been developed to deliver DNA molecules to cells in vitro, in vivo gene transfer has been limited in many cell types by inefficient gene delivery as well as the limited life-span of differentiated cell types

Using mice, the BUSM researchers discovered a system to deliver genes selectively to as many as 70 percent of a mouse lung’s alveolar macrophages (AM), a key cell type contributing to emphysema.

“We applied this novel approach to achieve sustained in vivo expression of normal human alpha-1 antitrypsin (hAAT) protein at levels able to ameliorate emphysema in mice,” said senior author Darrell Kotton, MD, an associate professor of medicine and pathology and co-director, Center for Regenerative Medicine at BUSM. “The lung macrophages carrying the therapeutic gene survived in the lungs air sacks for the two-year lifetime of the treated mice following a single intra-tracheal injection of the lentiviral vector we had engineered,” he added.

Kotton and his colleagues utilized this method of gene transfer to achieve localized secretion of therapeutic levels of human alpha-1 antitrypsin (hAAT) protein in lung epithelial lining fluid. “The progression of emphysema in mice exposed to elastase was significantly improved by the gene therapy as evidenced by improvements in lung compliance and alveolar size,” said Andrew Wilson, MD, lead author of the study and an assistant professor of medicine at BUSM.

According to the researchers after 24 weeks of sustained gene expression, no humoral or cellular immune responses to the human hAAT protein were detected. “Our results challenge the dogma that lung macrophages are short-lived and suggest these differentiated cells as a target cell that may be considered for in vivo gene therapy applications including the sustained correction of hAAT deficiency,” added Wilson.

“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Register to be an organ and tissue donor & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”

Register to be a donor in Ontario or Download Donor Cards from Trillium Gift of Life Network. NEW for Ontario: recycleMe.org - Learn The Ins & Outs Of Organ And Tissue Donation. Register Today! For other Canadian provinces click here

In the United States, be sure to find out how to register in your state at ShareYourLife.org or Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov

In Great Britain, register at NHS Organ Donor Register

In Australia, register at Australian Organ Donor Register

Your generosity can save up to eight lives with heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas and small intestine transplants. One tissue donor can help up to 100 other people by donating skin, corneas, bone, tendon, ligaments and heart valves

Has your life been saved by an organ transplant? "Pay it forward" and help spread the word about the need for organ donation - In the U.S. another person is added to the national transplant waiting list every 11 minutes and 18 people die each day waiting for an organ or tissue transplant.

Donate Life Float in Rose Parade January 1st

One of my favorite things to do on New Year's Day is to sit back and relax with my feet up and watch the Rose Parade. I always look for the Donate Life Float and just by chance a few years ago I came across KTLA-TV from Los Angeles while flipping channels. KTLA takes us behind the scenes with close-ups of the floats and interviews with the designers and riders. They come on the air at 6 a.m. PST (9 a.m. EST) and continue with the parade starting at 8 a.m. PST (11 a.m. EST). Many cable companies and other providers carry KTLA as a super station. In my area Rogers Cable carries it on channel 344.

When people say "Yes" to organ, eye and tissue donation, New Life Rises, giving hope and healing to those in need of life-saving transplants. In Donate Life's seventh Rose Parade float entry, a phoenix, the mythical symbol of life coming out of death, rises into the sky, representing those who give life in their passing and the people whose lives are renewed by their gifts.

From a bed of nurturing flames, the majestic phoenix rises anew, its tail feathers adorned with 76 Floragraphs
– memorial portraits created with floral materials – depicting loved ones who gave life to those in need. The bird soars high above 24 Float riders – all transplant recipients, living donors, and family members of deceased donors – seated along a monument inspired by the National Donor Memorial's Wall of Names. A garden inspired by the memorial's Wall of Tears leads the float with 2,000 dedicated roses, each carrying a personal message of love, gratitude and hope to a donor, recipient or candidate for transplant.

More than 85 million Americans have said "Yes" to saving lives by enrolling with their state organ and tissue donor registries. Join them today by visiting Donate Life America at www.donatelife.net.

Coordinated by Donate Life America member OneLegacy, the Donate Life float is supported by nearly 60 official partners from across the nation, including organ and tissue recovery organizations, tissue banks, state donor registries, transplant centers and affiliated organizations.

Joining OneLegacy as top-level benefactors are Astellas Pharma US, Inc., a fifth-year sponsor of five float riders through the “Ride of a Lifetime” contest and supporter of 1,000 volunteer decorators; the American Association of Tissue Banks (AATB); the Dignity Memorial network, North America’s largest network of funeral, cremation and cemetery service providers and sponsor four floragraphs; Donate Life America; and UNOS and the National Donor Memorial. All float partners encourage parade viewers to save lives by registering in their states to be organ, eye and tissue donors and donating blood in their communities.

The Pasadena Tournament of Roses is a volunteer organization that annually hosts the Rose Parade and Rose Bowl Game® presented by Citi. The 121st Rose Parade will take place Friday, Jan. 1, 2010, at 8 a.m. (PST) featuring majestic floral floats, high-stepping equestrian units and spirited marching bands.

Following the Rose Parade, the 96th Rose Bowl Game presented by Citi will kick off at 2:10 p.m. and feature the No. 8 BCS-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes versus the No. 7 BCS-ranked Oregon Ducks in The Granddaddy of Them All®. The Rose Bowl Game will be broadcast exclusively on ABC and on ESPN

On Jan. 7, the Tournament of Roses will also host the No. 1 and No. 2 BCS-ranked teams in the 2010 Citi BCS National Championship Game. The Game will kick off at 5 p.m. (PST) from the historic Rose Bowl Stadium. For additional information about the Tournament of Roses® please visit the official website at http://www.tournamentofroses.com.

For more information about the Donate Life Rose Parade Float, visit the official float website at http://www.donatelifefloat.org.

“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Register to be an organ and tissue donor & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”

Register to be a donor in Ontario or Download Donor Cards from Trillium Gift of Life Network. NEW for Ontario: recycleMe.org - Learn The Ins & Outs Of Organ And Tissue Donation. Register Today! For other Canadian provinces click here

In the United States, be sure to find out how to register in your state at ShareYourLife.org or Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov

In Great Britain, register at NHS Organ Donor Register

In Australia, register at Australian Organ Donor Register

Your generosity can save up to eight lives with heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas and small intestine transplants. One tissue donor can help up to 100 other people by donating skin, corneas, bone, tendon, ligaments and heart valves

Has your life been saved by an organ transplant? "Pay it forward" and help spread the word about the need for organ donation - In the U.S. another person is added to the national transplant waiting list every 11 minutes and 18 people die each day waiting for an organ or tissue transplant.

Plan Now to Quit Smoking for New Year’s

Cigarette smoking causes an estimated 438,000 deaths, or about 1 of every 5 deaths, each year, according to estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Adults who smoke cigarettes die 14 years earlier than nonsmokers. The leading cause of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or COPD, including emphysema, is tobacco smoking. COPD is projected to be the third leading cause of death worldwide by 2020 due to an increase in smoking rates and demographic changes in many countries. As of 2005, the most common reason for lung transplantation in the United States was chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or COPD, including emphysema.


Success Comes After Making a Plan, Receiving Support from Loved Ones

By Leslie White HealthCanal.com

If you’re a smoker who’s considering quitting as part of your new year’s resolutions, you may want to start creating your plan for success.

“Research shows that if a person makes a plan, builds a support system of family, friends and professionals, that they have a greater chance of successfully quitting smoking and beating nicotine addiction,” said Scott McIntosh, Ph.D., director of the Greater Rochester Area Tobacco Cessation Center and associate director of the Smoking Research Program at the James P. Wilmot Cancer Center at the University of Rochester Medical Center. “Quitting smoking is the best decision anyone can make to improve their overall health.”

Earlier this month, the World Health Organization reported that smoking contributes to the deaths of 5 million people each year.

Twelve simple tips for quitting:

1. Make a plan for quitting. Talk to your doctor about strategies such as cold turkey versus nicotine replacement therapies.


2. If you can give up cigarettes for 24 hours, you double your chance for success.


3. Tell your friends, family and co-workers that you plan to quit and rally them to help you stick with it.


4. Consider using nicotine replacements – gum, patch or Zyban – to help you quit.


5. Use resources available from the *New York State Smokers’ Quitline: 1-866-NY-QUITS (1-866-697-8487) and www.nysmokefree.com the New York Smokers’ Quitsite.


6. Avoid risky situations or behaviors that were comfortable when smoking.


7. Remove all ashtrays, lighters, matches and cigarettes from the house. Just seeing them can make you want to smoke.


8. Start eating sugarless hard candy or chewing crunchy vegetables – like carrot sticks – to keep your mouth busy. Consider using cinnamon candy, because its “burning” sensation mimics the feeling of smoking and kills the craving.


9. Drink a lot of water. It helps keep you feeling “full,” and prevents you from overeating and gaining weight. It also helps “cleanse” your body of the toxins from years of smoking.


10. Practice breathing deeply or take a walk when you’re craving a cigarette. Smoking involves taking long deep breaths, but now it’ll be fresh air rather than chemicals entering your lungs.


11. Remind yourself why you are quitting - and reward yourself every day you make it without smoking cigarettes.


12. Age doesn’t matter - older smokers are less likely to try to quit, but when they do try, they are more likely to succeed.

Help with quitting

*For the UK and North America click on the link for a list of major English-speaking charities, helplines and organizations for people who want to give up smoking and need further help or advice. helpwithsmoking.com

Smoking bans in public places

Breathing in second-hand smoke can be a big detriment to those trying to quit smoking. To help you avoid exposure here is list of smoke-free US States and Canadian Provinces as well as efforts around the world to ban smoking.

Canada: Canadian anti-smoking bans

United States: US anti-smoking bans

Global anti-smoking efforts

Double-lung transplant to carry Olympic Torch

Kurt Penner, left , and Merv Sheppard at London Air Show, 6-27-04

(Click image for larger view)

Congratulations to my fellow lung transplant recipient Kurt Penner, who received his "gift of Life' at Toronto General Hospital in 2002 and has been selected from the millions who applied to be part of the Olympic Torch Relay. We were both patients at TGH and I met Kurt, his wife Lila and their family. We've been friends every since. We both have been advocates for organ and tissue donation since then, working with Trillium Gift of Life Network.

Kurt will carry the 37 inch and three-and-a-half pound torch on Sunday, December 27 in Woodstock, Ontario at 10 a.m. along Parkinson Road. This is one of the stops on the 27th as it makes it way from London, Ontario to the twin cities of Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario.

Kurt and his family were volunteers at the 1988 Olympics in Japan and in 1998 they visited their son who was working at the Olympics there for CBC. Kurt has taken part in three transplant games and won several medals.

Kurt entered a RBC Bank contest where he had to submit an application and state how he would make the community and country a better place to live. Kurt said he wanted to continue to promote organ donation and improve lives within his community and also to honor his donor.

The Olympic Flame began its 45,000 kilometer (27,961 miles) journey across Canada, on October 30 in Victoria BC, visiting over 1000 communities and places of interest. Twelve thousand torchbearers will carry the Olympic Flame from coast to coast to coast in what is the longest relay held within the borders of any Host Country in history.

The relay will culminate at BC Place on February 12, 2010, with the lighting of the Olympic Cauldron, signaling the start of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games.

See when the 2010 Olympic Torch Relay will be in your town.

“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Register to be an organ and tissue donor & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”

Register to be a donor in Ontario or Download Donor Cards from Trillium Gift of Life Network. NEW for Ontario: recycleMe.org - Learn The Ins & Outs Of Organ And Tissue Donation. Register Today! For other Canadian provinces click here

In the United States, be sure to find out how to register in your state at ShareYourLife.org or Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov

In Great Britain, register at NHS Organ Donor Register

In Australia, register at Australian Organ Donor Register

Your generosity can save up to eight lives with heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas and small intestine transplants. One tissue donor can help up to 100 other people by donating skin, corneas, bone, tendon, ligaments and heart valves

Has your life been saved by an organ transplant? "Pay it forward" and help spread the word about the need for organ donation - In the U.S. another person is added to the national transplant waiting list every 11 minutes and 18 people die each day waiting for an organ or tissue transplant.

Merry Christmas

Seasons Greetings, Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas to all.

Here's a heart warming story that appeared in the Waterloo Region Record (Ontario) December 24th and I think it's very timely for today's blog post.

Kitchener, Ontario - —It seems the Christmas spirit is alive
and well in Waterloo Region.

Early Wednesday morning, Donna Poplawski and
her 17-year-old son Robert Ferguson were woken by a
knock at the door of their Kinzie Avenue home. Upon
answering the door, Ferguson was greeted by a young
couple who handed him a $50 gift card to Food Basics.

“He rushed up the stairs and said ‘Mom, someone
just gave us a gift card,’” said Poplawski. “I thought it
might have been stolen or a prank.”

Enclosed with the gift card was a receipt, proving
that the card was real and purchased legitimately.
The couple didn’t give their names or any information,
but Robert could see they had a stack of cards.

“I think they were just going door to door handing
them out,” said Poplawski. “It’s overwhelming, because
we live in low-income housing, and we really
need food right now.”

“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Register to be an organ and tissue donor & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”

Register to be a donor in Ontario or Download Donor Cards from Trillium Gift of Life Network. NEW for Ontario: recycleMe.org - Learn The Ins & Outs Of Organ And Tissue Donation. Register Today! For other Canadian provinces click here

In the United States, be sure to find out how to register in your state at ShareYourLife.org or Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov

In Great Britain, register at NHS Organ Donor Register

In Australia, register at Australian Organ Donor Register

Your generosity can save up to eight lives with heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas and small intestine transplants. One tissue donor can help up to 100 other people by donating skin, corneas, bone, tendon, ligaments and heart valves

Has your life been saved by an organ transplant? "Pay it forward" and help spread the word about the need for organ donation - In the U.S. another person is added to the national transplant waiting list every 11 minutes and 18 people die each day waiting for an organ or tissue transplant.

Lung patient pledges money for charity

HELPING good causes: Rachael Wakefield is waiting for a lung transplant but has pledged money raised for her to charity.

Special present from Rachael as she waits for gift of life

by Sue Carr Tameside Advertiser

A YOUNGSTER battling a crippling lung disease who was recently granted a place on the transplant list is to give the money donated to help her to charity.

Rachael Wakefield, 21, was just 13 when she was struck down with the disease but was told she didn’t ‘fit the criteria’ for a transplant in the UK.

Her tragic story touched the hearts of many who donated money to send her to the world’s leading lung transplant clinic in America.

Now, after specialists finally agreed to add her name to the donor list, Rachael has decided to split the fund between the five charities who have helped her since becoming ill.

Among the beneficiaries is Willow Wood Hospice in Ashton where she spent six weeks last year.

Rachael suffers from hypersensitivity pneumonitis, more commonly known as bird fancier’s lung, which was triggered by dust from the family’s pet cockatiel’s droppings which wafted into the air. It is harmless to most people but can trigger chronic breathing difficulties in a minority of people.

Mum Lynnette, of Rosewood Close, Dukinfield, said: "When she was in Willow Wood we were warned to prepare for the worst, we didn’t think she was going to come out alive.

"She still goes to the day hospice every Thursday – it just gives us both a bit of a break – and they couldn’t be any better, they are just absolutely fantastic."

Other charities to receive a boost are Wales Air Ambulance, organ donor charity Live Life Then Give Life and Wythenshawe Hospital which will treat Rachael if and when a transplant becomes available.

A donation will also go to the Willow Foundation which grants wishes for seriously-ill adults and earlier this year arranged for her favourite comedian Peter Kay to ring her on her 21st birthday.

The family thanked everyone who had made a donation, but for now there’s only one thing they’re hoping for this Christmas – the phone call which could save her life.

Rachael, a former Droylsden Girls School pupil, said: "In the last couple of weeks my health has got worse and I’m now on a ventilator 24 hours a day.

"I went to see my doctor but he said there’s nothing more we can do and we’re running out of time."

Registering to donate any or all of your organs takes just a couple of minutes. Call 0300 1232323 or visit http://www.organdonation.nhs.uk

“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Register to be an organ and tissue donor & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”

Register to be a donor in Ontario or Download Donor Cards from Trillium Gift of Life Network. NEW for Ontario: recycleMe.org - Learn The Ins & Outs Of Organ And Tissue Donation. Register Today! For other Canadian provinces click here

In the United States, be sure to find out how to register in your state at ShareYourLife.org or Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov

In Great Britain, register at NHS Organ Donor Register

In Australia, register at Australian Organ Donor Register

Your generosity can save up to eight lives with heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas and small intestine transplants. One tissue donor can help up to 100 other people by donating skin, corneas, bone, tendon, ligaments and heart valves

Has your life been saved by an organ transplant? "Pay it forward" and help spread the word about the need for organ donation - In the U.S. another person is added to the national transplant waiting list every 11 minutes and 18 people die each day waiting for an organ or tissue transplant.

Transplant memories revisited

This story about an organ recipient developing a taste for foods that his donor was fond of is another in a long line of similar reports. One such earlier story was about a heart recipient who started listening to classical music and buying classical cd's after receiving the heart of a musician. This phenomenon of "cellular transference" or "transplant memories" has not been proven as far as I know but these stories keep cropping up.

The joy of a heart's desire - why organ donation is a wonderful gesture

By Richard Noone: The Daily Telegraph - Australia

IT seemed too real to be mere coincidence - and it brought joy to Kaden Delaney's family.

Kaden's parents Greg and Shelley spent two years finding David Waters, whose life was saved when he received their son's heart after he died in a car crash. But in an exchange of emails they learned Mr Waters amazingly had developed a taste for Burger Rings - which was Kaden's favorite snack treat.

The Delaney's second eldest son was left brain dead after rolling his brother's car into an embankment near their home in Orange, in the state's Central West, in April 2006. In line with his wishes, they donated the 17-year-old's heart, lungs, liver, pancreas and kidneys.

Two years and countless key internet word searches later Mrs Delaney tracked down Mr Waters, the recipient of Kaden's heart.

The 24-year-old from Adelaide suffered a stiffening of the heart ventricles and had months to live.

When they began email contact Mr Waters asked: "Did Kaden like Burger Rings? That's all I seemed to want to eat after my surgery."

Mrs Delaney responded: "I have been informed by a reliable source - Talby, (Kaden's brother) that Kaden loved Burger Rings."

Mr Waters replied: "I certainly think I have got some traits from him, Burger Rings right after the op, I never used to eat them before."

The theory the brain is not the only organ to store memories or personality traits and memory as a process can form in other parts of the body such as the heart has been coined "cellular memory".

The most famous reported case was American Claire Sylvia, a heart-lung transplant recipient, who documented her sudden craving for beer, chicken nuggets and green peppers in a best-selling memoir after discovering her donor was an 18-year-old male who died in a motorcycle accident.

Westmead Millennium Institute professor and president of the International Transplantation Society Jeremy Chapman said the phenomenon had not been proven.

"There is no scientific basis of such a claim," he said. "There's so much fiction around transplants."

“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Register to be an organ and tissue donor & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”

Register to be a donor in Ontario or Download Donor Cards from Trillium Gift of Life Network. NEW for Ontario: recycleMe.org - Learn The Ins & Outs Of Organ And Tissue Donation. Register Today! For other Canadian provinces click here

In the United States, be sure to find out how to register in your state at ShareYourLife.org or Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov

In Great Britain, register at NHS Organ Donor Register

In Australia, register at Australian Organ Donor Register

Your generosity can save up to eight lives with heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas and small intestine transplants. One tissue donor can help up to 100 other people by donating skin, corneas, bone, tendon, ligaments and heart valves

Has your life been saved by an organ transplant? "Pay it forward" and help spread the word about the need for organ donation - In the U.S. another person is added to the national transplant waiting list every 11 minutes and 18 people die each day waiting for an organ or tissue transplant.

Reconditioned lungs used in UK transplant

It's gratifying to see that more centers, such as the Freeman Hospital in the UK, are using the Ex-vivo (outside the body) Lung Perfusion System that allows surgeons the opportunity to assess and treat injured donor lungs, while they are outside the body, to make them suitable for transplantation. Read my earlier post on the World-first Toronto XVIVO Lung Perfusion System.

Research breakthrough gives new life to lungs for transplantation

BBC News

Donor lungs normally rejected as too damaged can now be 'reconditioned' for transplant, say doctors.

Cystic fibrosis patient James Finlayson is the first in the UK to receive lungs revived using oxygen, nutrients and antibiotics.

Newcastle-based scientists and surgeons suggest it could eventually double the number of available organs.

Current shortages mean that many patients die waiting for their operation.

The fragile nature of the lung means that it is far more vulnerable to damage during the final hours of life.

At present, four out of five potential donor lungs turn out to be unsuitable, but the recent operation at the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle was the first in the UK to use one of these 'rejected' organs.

The technique involves connecting the lungs to a heart bypass machine then pumping a tightly-controlled solution of oxygen, proteins, antibiotics and nutrients over the damaged tissues.

This helps reduce inflammation, and even allows some damage to be repaired.

Regular checks are made on the ability of the lung to do its job of exchanging oxygen and maintaining airway pressure.

After approximately six hours, the lung has been improved sufficiently to be transplanted into the patient.

'Poor condition'

Mr Finlayson was discharged from hospital at the end of November, and is said to be recovering well.

Professor Andrew Fisher, from the Institute of Cellular Medicine at Newcastle University, said that the lung chosen for the pioneering operation had been in such poor condition that it would have been "rejected outright" by any transplant centre in the world.

He said: "We now have the potential to double the number of lungs available for transplant - it will offer new hope to a great number of patients."
Canadian surgeons have been using the technique for approximately a year longer, and Professor Fisher said that early signs showed similar survival rates for patients given "reconditioned" lungs.

He said that other UK transplant centres were now involved in work to use the technique more widely, but that greater investment would be needed in transplant services if the number of operations were to rise significantly.

The research was funded by the Cystic Fibrosis Trust, and a spokesman said that hundreds of people with the disease, and other lung conditions, could benefit.

She said: "At present, around half of those with Cystic Fibrosis on the transplant list die waiting for donor lungs."

Dr Keith Prowse of the British Lung Foundation said: "This is a very exciting procedure and if it leads to more lungs being available for transplant operations, it will be a hugely welcome development.

"There is an increasing demand for lung transplants but just not enough lungs available."

“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Register to be an organ and tissue donor & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”

Register to be a donor in Ontario or Download Donor Cards from Trillium Gift of Life Network. NEW for Ontario: recycleMe.org - Learn The Ins & Outs Of Organ And Tissue Donation. Register Today! For other Canadian provinces click here

In the United States, be sure to find out how to register in your state at ShareYourLife.org or Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov

In Great Britain, register at NHS Organ Donor Register

In Australia, register at Australian Organ Donor Register

Your generosity can save up to eight lives with heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas and small intestine transplants. One tissue donor can help up to 100 other people by donating skin, corneas, bone, tendon, ligaments and heart valves

Has your life been saved by an organ transplant? "Pay it forward" and help spread the word about the need for organ donation - In the U.S. another person is added to the national transplant waiting list every 11 minutes and 18 people die each day waiting for an organ or tissue transplant.

Desperate Indonesians sell organs online

Inquirer.net

Agence France-Presse
First Posted 11:01:00 12/18/2009

JAKARTA - Cash-strapped Indonesians are cutting out the middleman and selling their organs online, exploiting a loophole in local laws and fueling a dangerous and illegal trade in human body parts.

Hundreds of advertisements have appeared on Indonesian personal advertising websites offering kidneys for as little as 50 million rupiah (5,300 dollars) each.

Among the usual cars, jewelry and beauty products, one advertisement on www.iklanoke.com (Iklanoke) states: "16-year-old male selling a kidney for 350 million rupiah or in exchange for a Toyota Camry."

Many of the advertisers – students, professionals and even housewives – are not shy about using their real names or leaving their contact numbers.

Most insist they are disease-free and do not smoke, consume alcohol or take drugs.

Family debts and outstanding bank loans are driving them to desperate measures, they say.

Eighteen-year-old high-school student Elisa said her family had debts worth tens of thousands of dollars after a fire razed their home in Jakarta and her father's grocery store failed.

"We now live at my grandmother's house. My mother works as a cook and my father helps out at an uncle's grocery store, but their earnings are only enough to buy food," Elisa told Agence France-Presse (AFP) by phone.

"I owe my school six months in fees. I often cry thinking about our fate. A movie I saw said selling kidneys is a quick way to get loads of cash. I want to sell mine so I can buy a new house and pay my school fees," said the eldest of four siblings.

She rejected two Indonesian buyers who couldn't meet her asking price of 800 million rupiah, she said.

Interested local and foreigner buyers are willing to pay up to 200 million rupiah for a kidney, sellers say.

Another seller, 22-year-old graphic designer Andi, said a European and a Chinese have separately offered to buy his kidney for 200 million rupiah – four times his asking price.

"They wanted to see a health report from a doctor and asked if I would go overseas for transplant. After a few emails, I never heard from them again," he said.

Andi said he wanted to repay his elderly foster parents for "looking after me like their own", he said.

Organ trading is outlawed in Indonesia and carries a penalty of up to 15 years' jail and a 300-million-rupiah fine.

Officials however admit that sellers get away with it because websites such as Iklanoke go largely unmonitored and the law is vague and difficult to enforce.

"The health law states that organ transplants can only be carried out for humanitarian purposes but it doesn't define the meaning of humanitarian," Indonesia Interpol department chief Anas Yusuf said.

"So it's hard to prove if a transplant is carried out for humanitarian or commercial reasons."

He said Interpol was aware of cases of organ trading in Indonesia, although government officials contacted by AFP said they had no data on the size of the illegal market.

"Negotiations between sellers and buyers are carried out in private so unless they're reported, we won't know. Also, transplants are usually carried out overseas so it's hard to prosecute offenders," Yusuf said.

Two Indonesian men were jailed and fined in Singapore in July 2008 for their involvement in the organ trade. The judge said that while they had agreed to sell their kidneys, syndicates had exploited their disadvantaged backgrounds.

General practitioner and lawmaker Subagyo Partodiharjo said much of the grisly trade was controlled by an "organ mafia" which approached poor people in remote villages in Java.

"I suspect it could be them posting the advertisements on behalf of the sellers," Partodiharjo said.

Public education on the risks of organ transplants and stricter monitoring of the Internet could help reduce the illegal trade, lawmakers said.

"The poor are usually ignorant of the health risks involved and are tempted by the money. Local governments need to inform people not to resort to selling organs to get money," Partodiharjo said.

Twenty-six-year-old telecommunications officer Jhon, who is offering to sell his kidney, liver and cornea, said desperate people would do anything to pull their families out of debt.

"I know about the law, I know about the health risks. Nobody wants to lose a body part and become a handicapped," he said.

"It's a last resort. If I can't earn enough to pay off my family's debt by December, I have no choice. For them, I'm willing to give up everything... my kidneys, my heart, my eyes, even my life," he said.

“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Register to be a donor & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”

Register to be a donor in Ontario or Download Donor Cards from Trillium Gift of Life Network. NEW for Ontario: recycleMe.org - Learn The Ins & Outs Of Organ And Tissue Donation. Register Today! For other Canadian provinces click here

In the United States, be sure to find out how to register in your state at ShareYourLife.org or Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov

In Great Britain, register at NHS Organ Donor Register

In Australia, register at Australian Organ Donor Register

Your generosity can save up to eight lives with heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas and small intestine transplants. One tissue donor can help up to 100 other people by donating skin, corneas, bone, tendon, ligaments and heart valves

Has your life been saved by an organ transplant? "Pay it forward" and help spread the word about the need for organ donation - In the U.S. another person is added to the national transplant waiting list every 11 minutes and 18 people die each day waiting for an organ or tissue transplant.

Transplant recipients risk infections from pets and other factors like food

The following article in Science Daily is timely because many of us are indoors at this time of year for holiday gatherings and also just because it's too darn cold outside. Out pets are inside more too and this closeness can lead to risks of infection for those with suppressed immune systems.

wiseGEEK.com notes that "although your pet is most often a source of enjoyment, lurking behind that lovable, furry exterior can be a number of nasty germs that can make you and your family sick. Virtually all pets, including dogs, cats, birds, rodents and reptiles, carry illnesses that can be transmitted to humans. Some of the infections pets carry include fungi, bacteria, parasites and viruses. Infections pets carry can be transmitted through scratching, biting, saliva, waste, dander and ticks or fleas." For a comprehensive overview click here.

Transplant Guide Highlights Daily Infection Risks from Factors Like Pets and Food

Science Daily (Dec 18, 2009) - Keeping pets healthy can reduce infection risks for people who have received solid organ transplants and veterinarians should be seen as an integral part of the healthcare team. That's just one of the key pieces of advice from a safe living article published in an infectious diseases supplement in the American Journal of Transplantation.

The supplement -- the second issue of guidelines authored by members of the American Society of Transplantation's Infectious Diseases Community of Practice -- provides advice on the infection-related challenges facing clinicians caring for people who have received solid organ transplants. These include respiratory viral infections -- a vital issue during the current pandemic -- guidance on vaccinations and advice on how to handle patients with conditions such as HIV, herpes, Candida and viral hepatitis.

"Transplant recipients face a heightened infection risk long after the initial post transplant period and have to adapt their lives to minimise exposure to potential sources" says Dr Robin K Avery from the Cleveland Clinic, Ohio, USA.

"Our paper aims to highlight the infection risks that transplant recipients experience in their daily lives. These include pet ownership, food safety, safe sex, sporting activities and work-related issues."

Avoiding infection should be an important part of everyday life. For example, transplant recipients should be advised to:

• Wash hands frequently and thoroughly to prevent infections transmitted by direct contact, such as food, pets and gardening, even if gloves are used. Patients should avoid changing baby's diapers if possible.


• Reduce the risk of respiratory infections by avoiding crowded places like shopping malls when their immune system is suppressed. Avoid smoking and exposure to tobacco smoke, which can raise the risk of bacterial and viral infections, and marijuana use, because of its association with fungal spores.


• Prevent waterborne infections by only drinking water from safe sources and avoid inadvertent water ingestion during activities such as swimming, diving, boating, using a hot tub or going on water rides at amusement parks.


• Steer clear of foodstuffs like unpasteurised cheese, salad dressings made with uncooked eggs, raw seed sprouts, cold cuts and smoked seafood.


• Balance the psychological benefits of pet ownership with the potential infection risk. A variety of infections can be transmitted to humans from animals like young cats, reptiles, rodents, chicks and ducklings. Animal feces are also dangerous, so cleaning out cages and litter boxes should be avoided or disposable gloves and face masks worn. Ideally the transplant recipient should wait at least a year before getting a new pet.


• Practice safe sex by using latex condoms with casual partners.


• Discuss any travel plans with clinicians to identify particular risks like Malaria and carry antibiotics to take if they develop diarrhea. Patients should be aware that vaccinations may be ineffective and advised to take out emergency evacuation insurance. Advice on food safety should also be provided. (Note: Visit the Centers For Disease Control (CDC) for travel warnings and alerts)


• Consider work-related issues, especially if the patient is in healthcare, works with animals, in construction or outdoors. A temporary career change may not be possible for psychological, financial and social reasons and making the work environment safer is often the best approach.


• Return to safe sports, such as athletics, but discuss any that might pose an enhanced infection risk, like hunting, fishing or scuba diving.


• Take precautions to avoid West Nile Virus, which can cause severe disease in transplant recipients, by avoiding going out during peak mosquito feeding periods and using insect repellents that contain DEET.

"Transplant recipients are living longer and more and more are returning to active lives, including work and recreation" says Dr Avery, who co-authored the paper with Professor Marian G Michaels from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. "With careful thought and detailed patient education, many potential infection risks can be prevented.

"Occupational counselling can enable transplant recipients to find safer ways to do the jobs that they love and knowing the risks posed by food, animals and environmental factors can help them stay out of hospital and lead healthy, meaningful and long lives."

Story Source:
Adapted from materials provided by Wiley-Blackwell, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Register to be a donor & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”

Register to be a donor in Ontario or Download Donor Cards from Trillium Gift of Life Network. NEW for Ontario: recycleMe.org - Learn The Ins & Outs Of Organ And Tissue Donation. Register Today! For other Canadian provinces click here

In the United States, be sure to find out how to register in your state at ShareYourLife.org or Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov

In Great Britain, register at NHS Organ Donor Register

In Australia, register at Australian Organ Donor Register

Your generosity can save up to eight lives with heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas and small intestine transplants. One tissue donor can help up to 100 other people by donating skin, corneas, bone, tendon, ligaments and heart valves

Has your life been saved by an organ transplant? "Pay it forward" and help spread the word about the need for organ donation - In the U.S. another person is added to the national transplant waiting list every 11 minutes and 18 people die each day waiting for an organ or tissue transplant.

Portable artificial lung keeps patient alive for transplant

In addition to this article about bridge-to-transplant devices, also read my previous post about how surgeons at Toronto General Hospital (TGH) used the Novalung to save the life of a 16-year-old girl. The German-made machine is hooked up to both of the patient's legs. Blood is pumped from one leg and into a machine that removes the carbon dioxide, and re-oxygenates the blood, before it goes back into the body through the other leg. The machine essentially temporarily replaces the patient's lungs when they fail.

By R&Dmag.com

A 50-year-old former marathon runner with end-stage cystic fibrosis became one of the few in the world and the first in New York to use a new portable artificial lung to extend her life while waiting for a lung transplantation.

A standard respiratory ventilator was no longer effective at keeping the patient alive because her lungs had become too diseased.

Administered by the transplant team at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center, the device provided oxygen to the patient without her needing to rely on a ventilator. Bypassing her lungs, it oxygenated her blood directly through a two-way connection to a vein in her chest.

"The portable ECMO device, which works like an artificial lung, saved this woman's life," says Dr. Matthew Bacchetta, the thoracic surgeon at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center who led the transplant surgery. He is also assistant professor of surgery at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. "By connecting her to this machine, she was able to get the oxygen her body desperately needed. At the same time, she was able to eat, walk around, even talk on her own. As a result, she regained the strength needed to undergo a major surgery. This was a huge factor in making her transplant surgery a success."

The artificial lung is a state-of-the-art technology first developed in the early 1980s for neonatal care. Known as ECMO (extracorporeal membrane oxygenation), the machine oxygenates blood by pumping blood in and out of multiple tubes connected to a patient. A "membrane oxygenator" imitates the gas exchange process of the lungs, removing carbon dioxide and adding oxygen.

The artificial lung used for this patient at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia is constructed of components made by companies in the United States and Germany. A notable feature is a special cannula, or tube, that allows for a single connection, as opposed to the standard two connections, between the patient and the machine. This innovation makes it possible for patients to walk around with the portable oxygenator.

A standard respiratory ventilator requires patients to be sedated with a tube inserted in the mouth to oxygenate the patient's own lungs. In addition, patients on respirators are at risk for pneumonia, severe systemic infection, multi-organ failure and death.

"Just as left ventricular assist devices have saved the lives of countless patients with heart failure, we expect this machine may do the same for lung patients," Dr. Joshua R. Sonett, chief of general thoracic surgery and surgical director of the lung transplant program at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center and professor of clinical surgery at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. "And as the technology further develops, we might even see portable artificial lungs used as a longer-term treatment for some patients not eligible for transplantation."

Cystic Fibrosis
Cystic fibrosis is ranked as one of the most widespread life-shortening genetic diseases. The lung disease results from clogging of the airways due to mucosa build-up, which causes inflammation. Inflammation and infection cause injury and structural changes to the lungs, leading to a variety of medical problems. Respiratory failure is the most common cause of death.

“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Register to be a donor & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”

Register to be a donor in Ontario or Download Donor Cards from Trillium Gift of Life Network. NEW for Ontario: recycleMe.org - Learn The Ins & Outs Of Organ And Tissue Donation. Register Today! For other Canadian provinces click here

In the United States, be sure to find out how to register in your state at ShareYourLife.org or Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov

In Great Britain, register at NHS Organ Donor Register

In Australia, register at Australian Organ Donor Register

Your generosity can save up to eight lives with heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas and small intestine transplants. One tissue donor can help up to 100 other people by donating skin, corneas, bone, tendon, ligaments and heart valves

Has your life been saved by an organ transplant? "Pay it forward" and help spread the word about the need for organ donation - In the U.S. another person is added to the national transplant waiting list every 11 minutes and 18 people die each day waiting for an organ or tissue transplant.

Wish comes true for kids on flight to North Pole

isaac Evans has it all: A stocking and a visit from Santa in Richmond aboard the Children's Wish Foundation annual flight to the North Pole in search of Santa on Dec. 16.

Photograph by: Wayne Leidenfrost, The Province

By Lena Sin, The Province, British Columbia, Canada

“Welcome to Flight 960 to the North Pole,” Capt. Pierre Bergeron announced over the intercom.

“Yeah kids, you heard me right, we’re goin’ to the North Pole!”

Buckled up and ready for takeoff, the 47 “wish kids” and their families erupted in deafening screams and applause as the Air Transat flight started to taxi down the runway.

The festive, 90-minute flight was sponsored by Air Transat and organized by the Children’s Wish Foundation, which grants wishes to children with life-threatening illnesses.

Two-year-old Aiden Phillips was among the lucky kids who left Vancouver International Airport at noon aboard the Flight in Search of Santa on Wednesday.

After watching him undergo a liver transplant at the age of six months and spend 20 days in intensive care last year after a severe allergic reaction to his medication, his mother, Lonnie Phillips, was relieved to be spending time with her family away from the hospital.

“We persevered and made it through, and now finally he’s growing and talking,” she said. “It’s really nice to be all together and do something special.

“It’s just really exciting to see the glow on their faces.”

After searching for Santa to no avail, the kids started to feel restless and began chanting, “We want Santa! We want Santa!”

Their wish was granted when Santa Claus and Mrs. Claus burst into the aisles, followed by a gaggle of elves who helped hand out gifts.

Three-year-old Aliza Hassan’s eyes widened as she was handed a stocking full of stickers, toys and sweets.

“I have a ring pop!” she squealed joyously, as she began opening her gifts.

Aliza received a bone-marrow transplant last year after being diagnosed with a blood disorder, explained her father, Khwaja Hassan.

“It’s been very, very tough, lots of time in the hospital,” he said. “But she’s having great fun now.”

This is the fourth straight year that Air Transat has sponsored the Flight in Search of Santa. In addition, they presented the Children’s Wish Foundation with a check for $850,000 on Wednesday.

“It’s amazing. Some of these kids have never been on a plane before, so to see them up in the sky to find Santa is pretty incredible,” said Rod Ramage, Air Transat’s regional manager for Western Canada.

“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Register to be a donor & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”

Register to be a donor in Ontario or Download Donor Cards from Trillium Gift of Life Network. NEW for Ontario: recycleMe.org - Learn The Ins & Outs Of Organ And Tissue Donation. Register Today! For other Canadian provinces click here

In the United States, be sure to find out how to register in your state at ShareYourLife.org or Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov

In Great Britain, register at NHS Organ Donor Register

In Australia, register at Australian Organ Donor Register

Your generosity can save up to eight lives with heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas and small intestine transplants. One tissue donor can help up to 100 other people by donating skin, corneas, bone, tendon, ligaments and heart valves

Has your life been saved by an organ transplant? "Pay it forward" and help spread the word about the need for organ donation - In the U.S. another person is added to the national transplant waiting list every 11 minutes and 18 people die each day waiting for an organ or tissue transplant.

Scientists record first injured human donor lungs repair with gene therapy

This ground-breaking research in lung transplantation will have a global impact and I am very fortunate to have had the opportunity to see the initial lung perfusion technique being perfected using pig lungs. The senior scientist leading this research, Dr. Shaf Keshavjee, is the surgeon that performed my lung transplant more than 7 years ago and I am very pleased to report on this outstanding success.

Scientists hope to reduce inflammation in lungs donated for transplantation by maintaining them in a special perfusion chamber and using gene therapy to administer interleukin-10. (Photo credit: Nathan Sulyma, RN/Toronto General Hospital)

FOR the first time in the world, transplant surgeons at Toronto General Hospital, University Health Network, Canada, used a new technique to repair an injured donor lung that was unsuitable for transplant, and then successfully transplanted it into a patient. They said the use of this technique could significantly expand the lung donor organ pool and improve outcome after transplantation. CHUKWUMA MUANYA writes with agency reports.
Chukwuma Muanya The Guardian

FOR the first time, scientists in the McEwen Centre for Regenerative Medicine, University Health Network, Canada, have successfully used gene therapy to repair injured human donor lungs, making them potentially suitable for transplantation into patients. This technique could significantly expand the number of donor lungs by using organs that are currently discarded, and improve outcomes after transplantation.


In their pioneering work, a team of researchers led by Dr. Shaf Keshavjee, above, Senior Scientist at the McEwen Centre for Regenerative Medicine, University Health Network and Director of the Lung Transplant Program, University Health Network developed a technique of ex vivo gene delivery to donor lungs, before they are implanted into a recipient's body.

The technique was shown to be simple and effective in improving lung function. Their results, "Functional Repair of Human Donor Lungs by IL-10 Gene Therapy," are published in the October 28, 2009 edition of the journal Science Translational Medicine.

"This work is a big step in using regenerative strategies to repair injured lungs," says Keshavjee, who is also Director, Latner Thoracic Research Laboratories and Professor and Chair, Division of Thoracic Surgery at the University of Toronto. "For the first time, we hope to improve the health of donor lungs that we could not have used before by using gene therapy to decrease inflammation and repair cells before transplantation."

Keshavjee also emphasizes that clinical trials on humans would be the next step in testing this promising approach before it could be used on patients waiting for lung transplants. In these future clinical trials, lungs repaired with the gene therapy will be offered to patients waiting for a life-saving lung transplant.

The process of gene therapy used on injured lungs will be carefully explained to the patients and, if they consent, the patients will be potentially transplanted with the repaired lungs should no other suitable donor lungs become available.

"This work opens the door for a variety of therapies that could potentially be applied to repair various injuries in other donor organs to improve the safety and outcome of transplants," adds Keshavjee.

Using a novel approach to overcome some of the challenges of gene therapy, the researchers first developed a strategy to preserve lungs at normal body temperature, with the lungs kept outside the body in a protective dome.

The Toronto XVIVO Lung Perfusion System continuously pumps a bloodless solution of oxygen, proteins and nutrients into injured donor lungs, mimicking normal physiological conditions. This makes it possible for the injured cells to begin repairing themselves, and also sets the stage for more sophisticated repair techniques to be applied to donor lungs.

Working with pig and then human donor lungs, which were unsuitable for transplantation, the researchers first placed the lungs on the Toronto XVIVO Lung Perfusion System to warm them to normal body temperature. Then, using a specially engineered adenovirus vector -- a common cold virus -- the researchers used a bronchoscope to inject the vector with an added IL-10 gene through the windpipe into the human lungs.

The study found that lungs maintained on the Toronto Lung Perfusion System alone, the control group, did not deteriorate and remained stable. However, the donor lungs that received the gene therapy, in addition to the ex vivo perfusion, significantly improved their function with regards to blood flow throughout the lungs and their ability to take in fresh oxygen and get rid of carbon dioxide. The boosted IL-10 effect lasts for up to 30 days in the lung.

The authors state that transplanting lungs which function better from the start would lead to more predictable, safer outcomes, shorter periods of mechanical ventilation and shorter intensive care unit stays for patients.

"It's as if gene therapy turbocharges each individual cell to manufacture many more proteins in its own IL-10 factory," explains Keshavjee, "This protein down-regulates or decreases the inflammatory potential of cells injured before and during the transplant process. It also has the capacity to turn down the recipient's immune system which rejects the transplanted organ."

The IL-10 gene is found normally in animal and human cells, and plays a role in inhibiting the immune response to infection or foreign materials such as transplanted organs. The researchers found that the lungs begin producing the new IL-10 anti-inflammatory proteins about six hours after insertion.

More than 80 per cent of potential donor lungs are injured and show inflammation during the process of brain death and intensive care related complications, and cannot be used for transplantation. Moreover, inflammation and organ rejection are the two main complications after transplant surgery.

"Everything we can do to prevent lung injury, especially in the first 72 critical hours after surgery, would have a significant impact on survival and quality of life after transplantation," notes Dr. Marcelo Cypel, a transplant surgical fellow at Toronto General Hospital who is the first author of the paper. Cypel adds that patients who have severe early lung injury are at greater risk of dying after surgery, and have higher rates of organ rejection later on.

Currently, more than 50 patients are waiting for either a lung or heart-lung transplant in Ontario, Canada. About 20 per cent of those on the wait list will die before they receive a lung transplant. In Canada, the number of people waiting for a lung transplant has doubled in the past 10 years, with 252 Canadians waiting to receive a lung transplant in 2006, compared to 119 in 1997. Two hundred and ninety-nine (299) Canadians died while waiting for a lung transplant between 1997 and 2006.

It is estimated that the number of donor organs available for lung transplants could easily be doubled with this technique to treat and improve donor lungs.

Other members of the team who contributed to this study include: Mingyao Liu, Matt Rubacha, Jonathan Young, Shin Hirayama, Masaki Anraku, Masaaki Sato, Marc de Perrot, Thomas Waddell of the McEwen Centre for Regenerative Medicine and the University of Toronto; Jeffrey Medin, Ontario Cancer Institute, Princess Margaret Hospital; and Arthur Slutsky, St. Michael's Hospital.

The study was supported by grants from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Center for Gene Therapy, National Institutes of Health, U.S.

“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Register to be a donor & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”

Register to be a donor in Ontario or Download Donor Cards from Trillium Gift of Life Network. NEW for Ontario: recycleMe.org - Learn The Ins & Outs Of Organ And Tissue Donation. Register Today! For other Canadian provinces click here

In the United States, be sure to find out how to register in your state at ShareYourLife.org or Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov

In Great Britain, register at NHS Organ Donor Register

In Australia, register at Australian Organ Donor Register

Your generosity can save up to eight lives with heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas and small intestine transplants. One tissue donor can help up to 100 other people by donating skin, corneas, bone, tendon, ligaments and heart valves

Has your life been saved by an organ transplant? "Pay it forward" and help spread the word about the need for organ donation - In the U.S. another person is added to the national transplant waiting list every 11 minutes and 18 people die each day waiting for an organ or tissue transplant.

Mayo Clinic partners for patient housing

One of the major roadblocks for patients traveling to distant centers for treatment is the financial hardships they face with expenses for travel, housing and meals, etc. At the same time they must maintain their existing residence back home. The Mayo Clinic Florida and it's partners are to be congratulated for this initiative that will be certain to help lift the burden of worry for transplant and cancer patients.

Jacksonville Business Journal

JACKSONVILLE — Mayo Clinic Florida and St. Andrew’s Lighthouse say they are partnering to build an $8.8 million extended-stay facility to house cancer and organ transplant patients and their families.

The Gabriel House of Care, a 30-bedroom hospitality house, will be built on a 4.5-acre lakeside site on Mayo Clinic’s campus in Jacksonville. It will be leased to and managed by St. Andrew’s Lighthouse, a Jacksonville not-for-profit that provides extended-stay housing to patients visiting local hospitals for specialized medical treatment.

Mayo Clinic is raising $13.5 million for the project, some of which will fund future operations and expansion. St. Andrew’s Lighthouse is also embarking on a campaign to raise funds to support the operational needs of the house.

The facility has been named in honor of an organ donor to Jorge and Leslie Bacardi of Nassau, Bahamas, who made the lead gift. Jorge Bacardi was the recipient of an organ who they named “Gabriel” before later learning that the donor was Christopher Gregory, a 19-year-old student from Baltimore, Md., who died from a brain aneurysm.

Ground breaking for the facility is set for March. Construction is expected to take about a year.

Both Mayo Clinic and St. Andrew’s Lighthouse representatives say the growing number of patients residing in Jacksonville for extended periods has created a need for specialized housing, similar to the hospitality houses Mayo Clinic has at its hospitals in Arizona and Minnesota.

Joan Weber, project director at Mayo Clinic, said the hospital will perform about 330 transplants by the end of the year.

“We knew from the time we started that we needed something bigger in order to meet the need,” said Ed Asher, executive director of St. Andrew’s Lighthouse, which also works with Brooks Rehabilitation Hospital and the University of Florida Proton Beam Research Institute. “Mayo’s transplant center has grown to one of the largest transplant centers in the country, so a lot of people are traveling here, and housing is a big component of that because they don’t always know how long they will be here.”

Depending on the treatment protocol, cancer patients may stay for six-to-eight weeks, but transplant patients waiting for a donor are frequently required to be on call in the immediate area, meaning their stay could be weeks to months or longer. Hotels can become very expensive, and the two existing St. Andrews houses are only able to house eight families.

The Gabriel House will be designed to be as much like a home as possible with furnished bedrooms with a private bathroom and full access to amenities including a stocked family kitchen, laundry and living room. There will also be an industrial kitchen for large events, in addition to meeting rooms for support groups, a library, chapel, game room, computer lab and exercise facility. The idea behind so many common areas is that patients and their families who are going through similar treatments can share their experiences and provide support to each other.

“It can be a really hard experience,” Asher said. “People come scared and sick, and so we try to make it as homey as possible.”

Weber said the unique needs of patients and their families for affordable, extended-stay housing makes Gabriel House a great benefit to patients.

“This has been a long-term goal of ours and we’re glad to see it come to fruition,” Weber said.

“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Register to be a donor & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”

Register to be a donor in Ontario or Download Donor Cards from Trillium Gift of Life Network. NEW for Ontario: recycleMe.org - Learn The Ins & Outs Of Organ And Tissue Donation. Register Today! For other Canadian provinces click here

In the United States, be sure to find out how to register in your state at ShareYourLife.org or Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov

In Great Britain, register at NHS Organ Donor Register

In Australia, register at Australian Organ Donor Register

Your generosity can save up to eight lives with heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas and small intestine transplants. One tissue donor can help up to 100 other people by donating skin, corneas, bone, tendon, ligaments and heart valves

Has your life been saved by an organ transplant? "Pay it forward" and help spread the word about the need for organ donation - In the U.S. another person is added to the national transplant waiting list every 11 minutes and 18 people die each day waiting for an organ or tissue transplant.