Author Correction: Convalescent plasma for hospitalized patients with COVID-19: an open-label, randomized controlled trial (Nature Medicine, (2021), 27, 11, (2012-2024), 10.1038/s41591-021-01488-2)

In the version of this Article initially published, there was an omission in the member list for the CONCOR-1 Study Group. Valérie Arsenault (Héma-Québec, Montreal, Quebec, Canada) has now been included in the CONCOR-1 Study Group in the online version of the article

FUNCTION OF CHEMORECEPTOR ORGANS IN SPATIAL ORIENTATION OF THE LOBSTER, HOMARUS AMERICANUS: DIFFERENCES AND OVERLAP

Volume: 163Start Page: 144End Page: 15

The Missing Pieces to the Cold-Stored Platelet Puzzle

Cold-stored platelets are making a comeback. They were abandoned in the late 1960s in favor of room-temperature stored platelets due to the need for longer post-transfusion platelet recoverability and survivability in patients with chronic thrombocytopenia. However, the current needs for platelet transfusions are rapidly changing. Today, more platelets are given to patients who are actively bleeding, such as ones receiving cardiac surgeries. It has been established that cold-stored platelets are more hemostatically effective, have reduced bacterial growth, and have longer potential shelf lives. These compelling characteristics led to the recent interest in bringing back cold-stored platelets to the blood systems. However, before reinstating cold-stored platelets in the clinics again, a thorough investigation of in vitro storage characteristics and in vivo transfusion effects is required. This review aims to provide an update on the recent research efforts into the storage characteristics and functions of cold-stored platelets using modern investigative tools. We will also discuss efforts made to improve cold-stored platelets to be a better and safer product. Finally, we will finish off with discussing the relevance of in vitro data to in vivo transfusion results and provide insights and directions for future investigations of cold-stored platelets

Ultraviolet-Based Pathogen Inactivation Systems: Untangling the Molecular Targets Activated in Platelets

Transfusions of platelets are an important cornerstone of medicine; however, recipients may be subject to risk of adverse events associated with the potential transmission of pathogens, especially bacteria. Pathogen inactivation (PI) technologies based on ultraviolet illumination have been developed in the last decades to mitigate this risk. This review discusses studies of platelet concentrates treated with the current generation of PI technologies to assess their impact on quality, PI capacity, safety, and clinical efficacy. Improved safety seems to come with the cost of reduced platelet functionality, and hence transfusion efficacy. In order to understand these negative impacts in more detail, several molecular analyses have identified signaling pathways linked to platelet function that are altered by PI. Because some of these biochemical alterations are similar to those seen arising in the context of routine platelet storage lesion development occurring during blood bank storage, we lack a complete picture of the contribution of PI treatment to impaired platelet functionality. A model generated using data from currently available publications places the signaling protein kinase p38 as a central player regulating a variety of mechanisms triggered in platelets by PI systems

Current Understanding of the Relationship between Blood Donor Variability and Blood Component Quality

While differences among donors has long challenged meeting quality standards for the production of blood components for transfusion, only recently has the molecular basis for many of these differences become understood. This review article will examine our current understanding of the molecular differences that impact the quality of red blood cells (RBC), platelets, and plasma components. Factors affecting RBC quality include cytoskeletal elements and membrane proteins associated with the oxidative response as well as known enzyme polymorphisms and hemoglobin variants. Donor age and health status may also be important. Platelet quality is impacted by variables that are less well understood, but that include platelet storage sensitive metabolic parameters, responsiveness to agonists accumulating in storage containers and factors affecting the maintenance of pH. An increased understanding of these variables can be used to improve the quality of blood components for transfusion by using donor management algorithms based on a donors individual molecular and genetic profile.Other UBCNon UBCReviewedFacult