OBJECTIVE: This work provides an overview of the incentives used for plasma donation in Europe and beyond. The overview can provide new ideas to blood establishments.
METHODS: We conducted a systematic online search of incentives used and asked national experts to validate the data across all European Union countries as well as other European and non-European countries. We categorized the data into level of incentive (using the Nuffield Council on Bioethics\' rungs [2011]) and country.
RESULTS: We analysed more than 490 organizations across 26 countries. Our findings reveal different incentives used in these countries. Snacks and pre-donation health checks are commonly provided. In addition, loyalty programmes, small gifts, vouchers, lotteries, travel compensations and time off from work extend the strategic incentive portfolio. Only seven countries offer financial compensation ranging from the equivalent of 10-35€ for European countries. In countries with a decentralized model, where more than one organization collects plasma, we observe that more diversified incentive strategies are generally used, including monetary and non-monetary incentives. In countries with a centralized model, where only one organization is allowed to collect plasma, financial compensation is usually not offered. Centralized plasma collection without financial compensation relies on a wider range of non-monetary incentives than with financial compensation.
CONCLUSIONS: The country group analysis offers valuable insights into the relationship between incentive strategies and the prevailing centralized versus decentralized plasma collection model. This overview provides a broader understanding of incentives used by blood establishments and offers avenues for future practice.

Postmortem brain donation for medical research is a little-known form of organ donation. While most brain research is carried out using animal models, many neurological diseases are uniquely human. Greater availability of human postmortem brain tissue from diseased individuals and controls would therefore improve the development of treatments for neurological and neuropsychiatric diseases. Globally, organ donation for medical research is dwarfed by organ donation for transplantation. In 2021, 36% of Australians were registered organ donors for transplantation, with public \"in-principle\" support even higher, at 76%. In contrast, there are little data on Australian or international brain donation rates for research. A 30-item online survey was conducted to ascertain knowledge of, and attitudes toward, brain donation in Australia. Of the respondents, 12/237 (5%) were current brain donors and excluded from further analysis. Of the remaining 225, 75% were registered organ donors for transplant. The vast majority (n = 189/225, 84%) of respondents supported or strongly supported the principle of brain donation. However, of those registered for transplantation or whole-body donors, 93/170 (55%) were not aware that brain donation was possible, while 50%, alternatively or also, thought that registering as an organ donor for transplantation rendered them a brain donor by default. Only 9/225 (4%) respondents indicated that they would definitely not donate their brain in the future, while 27 remained unsure. There is prominent public support for brain donation in Australia, with 84% of respondents willing to donate their brain. Yet, the extent of public misconceptions on brain donation for research suggests the need for further education on all types of organ donation, so individuals may make informed decisions.

Genome editing technologies have the potential to transform our understanding of how genetic variation gives rise to complex traits through the systematic engineering and phenotypic characterization of genetic variants. However, there has yet to be a system with sufficient efficiency, fidelity, and throughput to comprehensively identify causal variants at the genome scale. Here we explored the ability of templated CRISPR editing systems to install natural variants genome-wide in budding yeast. We optimized several approaches to enhance homology-directed repair (HDR) with donor DNA templates, including donor recruitment to target sites, single-stranded donor production by bacterial retrons, and in vivo plasmid assembly. We uncovered unique advantages of each system that we integrated into a single superior system named MAGESTIC 3.0. We used MAGESTIC 3.0 to dissect causal variants residing in 112 quantitative trait loci across 32 environmental conditions, revealing an enrichment for missense variants and loci with multiple causal variants. MAGESTIC 3.0 will facilitate the functional analysis of the genome at single-nucleotide resolution and provides a roadmap for improving template-based genome editing systems in other organisms.

Currently, approximately 19 million people with a migration background live in Germany. The majority of those descend from regions where the population has a genetically different distribution of HLA antigens when compared to the HLA frequencies usually found in North Western Europe. In case of severe haematological disorders of these individuals, allogeneic stem cell transplantation may be the treatment of choice. However, finding appropriate histocompatible hematopoietic stem cell donors continues to be a major challenge. If no matching sibling donors are available, there are only few suitable donors with a similar genetic background available in international blood stem cell donor registries. The \"BluStar.NRW\" project aimed to recruit new blood and hematopoietic stem cell donors with a migration background and to noticeably increase the number of suitable donors for patients within this group. Since December 2017, a total number of 9100 blood and stem cell donors with a migration background were recruited and typed for this project. HLA typing for HLA-A, -B, -C, -DRB1, -DQB1, and -DPB1 was performed by Next Generation Sequencing. We assessed the proportion of rare alleles according to HLA frequency tables, as defined by a frequency of <1:1000. The rare HLA allele frequencies according to HLA frequency tables of the BluStar.NRW cohort were compared with a matched control donor cohort: Rare HLA-A, -B, -C, -DRB1 and -DQB1 alleles occurred three times more frequent than in the control group, but rare HLA-DPB1 alleles occurred more frequently in the control cohort. This difference was highly significant for all HLA alleles (p < 0.0001 for HLA-A, -B, -C, -DRB1, -DPB1; p = 0.0002 for HLA-DQB1). In addition, the distribution of rare alleles differed between the two groups. To date, 29 work-ups were initiated, 12 PBSC, one BM and three DLI were collected so far out of the BluStar.NRW cohort. The apheresis probability is twofold higher (0.18% vs. 0.07%) compared to the control group which clearly shows a serious medical need. However, 13 work-ups were cancelled in the BluStar.NRW donor cohort which represents an almost twice as higher cancellation rate (45% vs. 25%). This single registry analysis with a large sample cohort clearly indicates that hematopoietic stem cell donors with a migration background represent an adequate donor pool to serve patients of comparable ethnicity.

UNASSIGNED: Given the current shortage of blood donors in the USA, researchers have tried to identify different strategies to attract more young people and spread the voice of donors\' needs.
UNASSIGNED: A systematic literature review is conducted to investigate the current mobile applications used to track, attract, and retain donors. We also provide some preliminary results of a pilot study, based on a cross-sectional survey of 952 participants (aged 18 to 39), about the willingness of donors to use mobile apps as tools for encouraging blood donation. The data is collected using a 20-item questionnaire, which includes four constructs of the Theory of Planned Behavior to assess the respondents\' willingness to donate blood. A range of statistical techniques, including univariate analysis, multivariate analysis, and structural equation modeling, were utilized to analyze the collected data.
UNASSIGNED: The 37 research articles, selected after applying several exclusion criteria, are classified into five main categories. The majority of the research (44.1%) is about using mobile apps to find blood donors and blood centers, followed by publications on using mobile apps to encourage blood donation (26.4%) and to recruit blood donors (14.7%). The remaining studies are about retaining blood donors (8.8%) and using mobile apps for scheduling donations (5.8%). Our pilot case study suggests that 73% of participants have favorable perceptions toward a blood donation mobile app.
UNASSIGNED: Many efforts have been undertaken to employ mobile apps to make blood donations more convenient and create communities around donating blood. The case study findings suggest a high level of readiness of using mobile apps for blood donation among the younger generation.

UNASSIGNED: The blood shortage in China has become a nationwide issue, which poses a threat to critical medical treatments and puts patients at risk. To address this problem, blood donation recruitment and retention campaigns have been launched, with university students being recognized as an important target audience. To recruit this particular population effectively, it is crucial to comprehend their motivations for donating blood.
UNASSIGNED: This study used a modified and extended Ajzen\'s Theory of Planned Behavior to explain the determinants of blood donation intention among N = 1165 China\'s young adults through an online cross-sectional survey, utilizing a snowball sampling technique to recruit participants.
UNASSIGNED: In line with previous TPB-based studies, we found positive associations between attitude (β = 0.071, p < .01), subjective norms (β = 0.264, p < .001), and self-efficacy (β = 0.536, p < .001) with blood donation intention. Attitude and self-efficacy mediated the relationships between anxiety, altruism, and social norm with blood donation intention (β = 0.817, p < .01, 95%CI [0.737, 0.909]; β = 1.31, p < .01, 95%CI [1.203, 1.409]; β = 1.301, p < .01, 95%CI [1.209, 1.403]). Attitude also mediated the relationship between altruism and social norm with blood donation intention (β = .456, p < .01, 95%CI [0.38, 0.53]; β = 0.447, p < .01, 95%CI [0.374, 0.52]).
UNASSIGNED: Our results highlight the significance of utilizing communication strategies, such as promoting altruism and reducing donation anxiety, as well as creating a supportive social environment. These strategies can improve attitudes and intentions toward blood donation, leading to an increase in blood donation rates.

The World Health Organization and National Blood Transfusion Council, Government of India, advocate regular repeat nonremunerated voluntary blood donors as the safest of all donors to meet the blood requirements of the country. Recruitment and retention of individuals as voluntary blood donors requires the adoption of novel and varied strategies protecting the voluntary nonremunerated nature of blood donation. In this review article, we are focusing on how addressing the donor suggestions and concerns has created a win-win situation for blood donors and blood transfusion services.

Background: A declining need for red blood cells coupled with strengthening demand for plasma-derived medicines has led to a strong focus on moving whole blood donors to plasmapheresis. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the four-year policies of the Iranian Blood Transfusion Organization (IBTO) in terms of plasmapheresis recruitment of first-time donors and its effect on plasmapheresis outcome.   Materials and Methods: Plasmapheresis data related to 16 centers from 2016 to 2019 was obtained from IBTO software. This information includes; (1) blood donation number, (2) plasmapheresis donation number, (3) number of plasmapheresis donors, (4) plasmapheresis donor demographic data, (5) plasmapheresis donor status, (6) frequency of plasma donation for each donor, (7) volume of plasma and (8) the prevalence of transfusion-transmissible infections (TTIs) in plasmapheresis donors. Results: The result of this study demonstrated that plasmapheresis collection centers have recruited 85,515 (91%) first-time and 8,595(9%) regular and repeated donors from 2016 to 2019 years. Plasmapheresis to blood donation index was increased from 0.2% in 2016 to 4.9% in 2019. The mean donation number was 2 times per year. The trend of the yearly Whole Blood Donation (WBD) Index decreased from 26.69 to 24.11/1000 for the general population. The total volume of collected source plasma was 49,203 liters during this period. However, 46,000 liters of recovered plasma were decreased due to less WBD. Furthermore, the results indicated that the prevalence of HCV was significantly higher in first-time donors compared to repeated and regular donors (P = 0.000). Conclusion: It is concluded that during four years, the net volume of plasma did not increase and plasmapheresis led to reducing WBD in our country. Moreover, first-time plasmapheresis donors can be associated with challenges such as increasing screening costs and compromising the safety of plasma resources. Therefore IBTO decided to stop the project and focus on its main role to prepare safe and sufficient blood components through WB collection and also single donor platelet and concurrent plasma by plateletpheresis.

BACKGROUND: In 2021, over 100 000 people were awaiting solid organ transplantation, yet only 44 634 transplants were performed. The aim of this study is to evaluate trends in donor availability, waitlist additions, and transplants performed in the United States from 2001 to 2021.
METHODS: This was a retrospective analysis to evaluate trends in donor availability, waitlist additions, and solid organ transplants for the 4 most common organs requiring transplants (kidney, liver, heart, and lung) between 2001 and 2021 according to OPTN data.
RESULTS: Between 2001 and 2021, the overall number of transplants performed, donors available, and waitlist additions increased by 71%, 61%, and 54%, respectively. The number of kidney transplant waitlist additions significantly increased compared to other organs (P < .001). For each kidney transplant performed, there was a 2.25 increase in waitlist additions throughout the study period (P < .001). For each liver and heart transplant performed, there was a .92 and .80 increase in waitlist additions, respectively (P < .001). Lung transplants increased the most by 138% and there was an increase in waitlist additions for every transplant by 1.0 (P < .001).
CONCLUSIONS: There was an absolute increase in the annual number of transplants, donor recruitment, and patients added to the waitlist between 2001 and 2021. Kidney transplant waitlist additions are increasing at a rate outpacing the rates of donor recruitment and transplantation.

BACKGROUND: Stories are powerful in their ability to disseminate information in a meaningful way. We hypothesized that a stem cell donation story library optimized for social media could support the education and recruitment of committed unrelated hematopoietic stem cell donors from needed demographic groups.
METHODS: We developed Why We Swab, a library of stories on stem cell donation (facebook.com/WhyWeSwab; instagram.com/WhyWeSwab; twitter.com/WhyWeSwab), and evaluated its impact across social and traditional media as well as on eligible potential donors\' knowledge and attitudes towards donation.
RESULTS: As of December 2021, the library included 28 story arcs featuring 45 storytellers from diverse ancestral backgrounds, including 8 donor-recipient stories. Overall, the stories reached >92,000 people across social media. Notably, stories were republished by 18 print/ broadcast media outlets in Canada and by major medical organizations. A series of stories shown to 33 eligible potential donors improved mean total scores on a donation knowledge test (64% to 85%, p < 0.001), reduced mean ambivalence scale scores (3.85 to 2.70, p < 0.001), and improved participants\' willingness to register as donors (45% to 73%, p < 0.005). Data are also shown demonstrating that stakeholders valued the library and that its deployment was associated with improved donor recruitment outcomes in Canada.
CONCLUSIONS: Why We Swab is accessible and relevant to a wide audience, including stem cell donor registries and recruitment organizations seeking to improve their recruitment efforts as well as to blood and organ & tissue donation organizations who can adapt the Why We Swab model to their audiences.