A new risk malignancy index to predict ovarian cancer: a bicentric preliminary study.

Purpose: Ovarian cancer is the most common cause of gynecologic cancer death. Considering that diagnosis of ovarian cancer is done in advanced stage in most cases, the purpose of this study was to construct a "new risk malignancy index" (NRMI) to assess the risk of ovarian cancer in women with a pelvic mass.

Methods: The index includes the classical vaginal ultrasound and CA125 tumor marker along with risk and protective factors for ovarian malignancy.

Pharmacological preconditioning for short-term ex vivo expansion of human umbilical cord blood hematopoietic stem cells by filgrastim.

Although umbilical cord blood (UCB) hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (UCBT) has emerged as a promising haematological reconstitution therapy for leukemias and other related disorders, the insufficient UCB stem cell dosage still hinders better clinical outcomes. Previous research efforts, by focusing on ex vivo UCB expansion capabilities have sought to benefit from well-known mechanisms of self-renewal characteristics of UCB stem cells. However, the long-term (> 21 days) in vitro culture period and the low neutrophil recovery significantly reduce the transplantability of such ex vivo expanded UCB stem cells.