Colorado Receives Federal Monies to Expand Cord Blood Banking

According a Denver CBS television affiliate, the government is giving the Rocky Mountain state a one million dollar grant to assist in the expansion of its inventory of umbilical cord blood.

The money is part of a twelve million dollar effort to give six different banks more funding. The United State Department of Health and Human Services wants to help the University of Colorado's bank nearly double its cord blood inventory.

The story states, "The need for Hispanic, Asian and African-American cord blood is considered critical and the grant includes guidelines for collecting it from minority populations. Brian Freed, a professor of medicine at the CU medical school, said there will be a special emphasis on Hispanic donors in Colorado."

You can read the original source material here.

MedGadget makes blood banking / traditional banking comparison...

Here's some interesting analogy in action... The folks at MedGadget discuss umbilical cord blood banking in an article called "Tied in Knots over Umbilical Cord Blood Bank."

The post addresses concerns that Indian blood banks may not be sufficiently regulated with respect to eligible purchasers of cord blood. That should definitely be a subject of concern for anyone with an affiliation of any sort to the cord blood banking industry.

The article also draws an interesting series of parallels between traditional "money banks" and "cord blood banks." The write:


"Cord Blood Banks are a lot like real ones:

The more people participate, the better the value for everyone.

It's free to make a deposit, but withdrawals come with all kinds of fees.

US banks are pretty well regulated. The rest of the world has its colorful outliers.

People fear that India, which is coming into the cord banking world now with LifeCell, may not be too stringent on who gets to buy their blood -- and people may be dying to donate."

You can read MedGadget's piece, in its entirety, here.

Heritage Cities = Great Trip Idea!

Many travelers only think about London when considering British vacations. That's a mistake, because it leads many people to miss out on some of what are known as Britain's "heritage cities." Places like Bath, Chester, York, Oxford and Brighton can make incredible vacation destinations.

Consider Brighton in May, for instance. I bet you didn't know this, but every May, Brighton hosts an amazing mult-day arts festival that features everything from outdoor theater to street dances--and most options cost less than most one-month mobile phone deals. A trip to the historically significant and exciting heritage city of Brighton can be affordable, entertaining and a departure from the "oh, look, its Big Ben" London holiday.

Grab your contract phones, pack your bags and head off to Brighton or one of Britain's other "heritage cities." You'll have a blast and will probably save so much money on your trip that you'll be able to spring for the latest mobile phone once you get back home!

ViaCord is busting out the Cute Stuff...

I just finished writing a post about Corcell's free PDF offering the "facts about cord blood banking." I usually don't spend a lot of time with the corporate forces in the field, but stopping by the Corcell page inspired me to check out a few others.

ViaCord has a very well-designed site that provides their take on the umbilical cord blood banking issue. Definitely a professional job all the way around and you can tell they took care and time in building it.

However, I am a little put off by all the Cute. I am referring to the multiple baby pictures on the page.

I have nothing against wee ones, of course, but there is something off-putting when the marketing approach for any service so obviously plucks at heart strings.

I am sure that the Madison Ave. wizards who came up with this are pretty darn sure that it get results, so what do I know?

Anyway, whether you agree (I do) or disagree with the idea of private cord blood banking, you might want to take a look at ViaCord and think about whether the IDEA or the EMOTIONS are governing the decision.

Corcell offers guide for those in the medical field...

Corcell has a PDF available for download all about cord blood banking, banking options, etc. It is apparently designed for people who are currently working in the medical field.

Considering the source, you can bet your bottom dollar that it will be Thumbs Up across the board for umbilical cord blood banking. You can also bet that it will contain some interesting research and information no matter how you feel about the practice.

Excerpt:

"As a health care provider or other medical professional, you have more than likely come across a significant amount of information regarding umbilical cord blood stem cells from television news stories, newspaper articles, websites, professional medical journals, and curious patients interested in gaining a clearer understanding of their value. Fortunately, these are exciting times for the advancement of umbilical cord blood stem cell treatment."

You can find out more here.

NetResults for IMers who want to get results...

In addition to providing cord blood information, I am interested in internet marketing. It's a great way to make money online and has the potential for huge earnings. The problem is that finding helpful information can be exceedingly difficult. So many of the sites you see are more interested in selling you something than in giving you valuable info.

That's why I was happy to hear that the search engine optimization gurus over at USWeb are starting an internet marketing blog. Called NetResults, this site will probably end up on the favorites list of many, many internet marketers.

They plan on tackling everything from successfully marketing within the Web 2.0 movement to more "mechanical" aspects of the industry like backend options and server matters. You can bet that with its USWeb pedigree, NetResults will also have some great info on how to make the search engines work to your advantage.

If you have an interest in IM, keep your eyes on NetResults. It promises to provide real, quality information without all of the hype that we so often find when looking at IM blogs.

Q & A on Cord Blood Banking

A Yahoo!7Answers discussion about cord blood banking features a worth-reading discussion of whether banking a child's cord blood for later medical use at a private facility is worth the cost of the investment.

As you'd probably guess, the answers vary considerably. Some of the participants make good points, others are clearly suffering from a lack of information.

If I were trying to make the cord blood decision, I don't think I'd rely exclusively on the opinions of random non-experts, but the conversation itself is interesting and probably thought-provoking to those who are addressing the topic of cord blood banking for the first time.

Take a look at the answers here.

India gearing up to be major cord blood player...

India is gearing up to be a major player in the international cord blood banking industry. They already have multiple umbilical cord blood banks in operation and plan more of them in the future.

A NewKerala article notes: "India's first cord blood stem-cell bank, LifeCell, was launched two years back. Reliance Life Sciences too has entered into the field. Cryobanks recently announced setting up seven banks across the country."

It also states: "Many therapies are expected over the next two to five years that promise cure for several diseases. And storage banks are also multiplying across the country, promising to store them at about half the cost in US."

If you are interested in the cord blood banking field, check out the full story. Not only does it discuss India's role in this fast-growing field, it also discusses the potential medical advances that might come about as a result of umbilical cord blood research. It's definitely worthy of your attention.

Link Popularity Notes

Ever wonder how search engines decide which sites come up first in the list after you enter a query for a particular term? They use secret algorithms that assess many different factors. They look at on page structure, the nature of the content on the page and one other thing that is more important than most anything else--link popularity.

If you have a lot of sites linking to yours, the search engines naturally assume you must be doing something right. Inbound links are a vote of confidence in the eyes of Google and the other big engines. Those who have a ton of inbound links invariably rank higher than their competitors.

Obviously, you want as much search engine traffic as you can get. That means you want those links. Building a healthy link total, however, can be very tough. You either have to supply something the world will naturally want to link to or you have to try to organize link trades. There is another way…

You could get in touch with an outfit like Blogitive. Blogitive takes information about your site and puts it into the waiting hands of its army of bloggers. They will write about what you are doing AND will provide those critical links back to your site. No trades. No need to dream up incredibly popular viral content. Just get in touch with Blogitive and find out how you can boost your link totals in a hurry!

Cord Blood America goes to Greece.

A press release from the people at Cord Blood America, Inc. announces that they will begin an umbilical cord blood banking operation in Greece. The program will be a partnership between the self-proclaimed "umbilical cord stem cell preservation company" and a Greek company, identified as a.bourkas Co. United, Athens.

A spokesperson for CBAI states:

"This is our first venture in the international stem cell market and we are confident the global distribution model we will develop in Greece will prove useful elsewhere in the world, as the extraordinary wisdom of banking umbilical cord blood cells continues to spread among families all across the globe. Testing sales and marketing patterns through the distributor model in Greece is a logical step for Cord Blood America. We hope to draw conclusions from this that will lead to further international business development initiatives."

Looks like stem cell research and cord blood banking continues to grow as an international industry. If youd like to read more of what the folks at CBAI have to say, you can read the original press release, in its entirety, here.

Mom-to-be laments online cord blood banking campaign...

The Chattanooga Times recently ran an editorial piece from a pregnant woman who felt overwhelmed by the nature and quantity of online information regarding parenting. There's apparently just too much out there and it was hard for her to sort through all of it.

Thus, instead of improving her research skills, developing an ability to separate wheat from chaff, or attempting to ingest as much knowledge as possible, she decided to surrender.

In her complaints about the online world of baby info, she specifically critiquest the cord blood banking industry and its blanket coverage. She writes:

"Parenting Web sites also have some sort of Mafia deal with the cord-blood banking companies. I don't have any strong feelings either way about cord blood banking, but I was a little bit taken aback by the marketing campaign, which came via e-mail, snail mail and by stork-carried telegram, mysteriously after I signed up for these e-mail alerts. OK, not really that last one. But sheesh, cord blood bank people! I get the message! I'm dealing with a lot of information here, and I could use a little less to wade through."

I don't know why cord blood banking critics or advocates should cut down on the information supply because some woman writing in a Tennessee paper feels overloaded. It's an important issue and those with opinions and positions should feel free to say what's on their mind.

You can read the piece here.

Online degree options...

If you want a business degree online, you need to pick up the phone and dial 888-CAPELLA. That will put you in touch with the folks at Capella University, which offers distance learning programs in a wide variety of disciplines. Whether you're interested in graduate studies or need to wrap up a four year degree, Capella can help. This recognized college has been in operation since 1993 and boasts an impressive enrollment of over 16,000 students from all around the world.

The nice thing about Capella is that it's the "real deal." We've all seen the media coverage of bogus online diploma mills that do very little other than steal money from their students. That's not the Capella strategy. Capella is based here in the USA (Minnesota, to be exact) and can be proud of its accreditation by The Higher Learning Commission. Further proof of its credibility can be found in its ongoing membership in the Chicago-based North Central Association of Colleges and Schools.

Capella offers many different online degree options. Multiple bachelors plans and graduate programs are available, as are specialized certification courses. Getting the degree you need doesn't necessarily require participating in the traditional college plan. Check with Capella and see how they can make your life easier by providing great distance learning options.

Syracuse students have split opinions on cord blood facility, stem cell research...

The Daily Orange notes that:

"Gov. George E. Pataki recently announced that the center, a collaboration of the state health department, the State University of New York's Upstate Medical University and the New York State Blood and Tissue Council, will be opened to research stem cells."

The facility will utilize umbilical cord blood for research purposes.

The article shows that the students at Syracuse have mixed reactions to the news. While some seem excited at the prospect of beating diseases like cancer, others have reservations about stem cell research and cloning.

You can read the Orange article to learn how a handful of Syracuse students felt about the presence of the new research center.

New York Blood Center to receive federal funds...

According to this recently-issued media release,

"New York Blood Center (NYBC) announced today that it will receive $3 million of a $12 million federal Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) award as allocated by Congress, to help establish a national cord blood inventory. The funding will be used to help build a national public inventory of 150,000 high-quality cord blood units, thereby increasing transplant opportunities for patients suffering from various blood diseases, who before the use of cord blood, had relied strictly on bone marrow transplantation for treatment and survival."

It looks like the federal government is beginning to get serious about the creation and maintenance of a national cord blood inventory, doesn't it? With stem cell research from embryos a political hot potato, more and more attention may end up being focused on umbilical cord blood banking than what some may have expected.

Notes on VoIP!

VoIP used to be the next big thing. Now, it's THE big thing. If you are still paying traditional fees for long-distance, etc., and are relying on an old-school phone company, it is time to get up to speed and embrace Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) telephony.
ViaTalk, a division of HostRocket, provides top-notch internet phone service via VoIP. They can take care of business or residential customers.

Their comprehensive broadband VoIP service features great tech support and a powerful fiber optic network to provide crystal clear calls all the time. ViaTalk packages offer all of the bonus features you'd expect, plus some you probably wouldn't. Of course, it's VoIP, which makes it an incredibly cost effective internet phone service.

Internet phone service isn't something you might want to do someday. It is THE money-saving telephone solution for TODAY. ViaTalk's broadband phone service is a perfect example of why new technology is destroying the old phone companies!