Banking on the Neighborhood? Inequalities in Older Adults' Access to Local Banking and Neighborhood Perceptions

OBJECTIVES

Access to local banking represents an understudied dimension of neighborhood-based inequalities that could significantly influence older adults' perceptions of their neighborhood spaces in ways that matter for disparities in well-being. We evaluate disparities in banking access and then examine how local banking access informs older adults' perceptions of neighborhood collective efficacy and danger, above and beyond other neighborhood socioeconomic characteristics.

METHODS

We use nationally representative data from older adults in the United States who were interviewed at Round 3 of the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project, linked with data on banks in respondents' residential and surrounding census tracts from the National Establishment Time-Series database, in a series of bivariate and multivariable regression analyses.

RESULTS

White older adults and those with higher levels of education have significantly greater local banking access than Black and Hispanic older adults and those with lower levels of education. Higher rates of local banking institutions are associated with significantly lower perceptions of neighborhood danger, but not with perceived collective efficacy. This finding emerges when accounting for neighborhood concentrated disadvantage and physical disorder.

DISCUSSION

Local banks may represent neighborhood investment and the broader economic vitality of a community, as well as the ability of communities to meet older adults' everyday needs in ways that enhance older residents' feelings of safety. Increasing access to local financial institutions may help attenuate neighborhood-based contributors to inequalities in health and well-being among the older adult population.

Last twenty-years activity of cardiovascular tissue banking in Barcelona

The Barcelona Tissue Bank was established from the merge of two previous multi-tissue banks. Potential donors are screened by Donor Center staff and multi-tissue retrieval is performed by specialized own teams. Tissue processing and preservation is performed in clean room facilities by specialised personnel. After quality control of both donor and all tissues results, the heart valves and vascular segments are stored until medical request. The aim of this report is to present the cardiovascular tissue activity and retrospectively evaluate the outcomes of the changes performed in last 20 years. Cardiovascular tissue from 4088 donors was received, specifically 3115 hearts and 2095 vascular segments were processed and evaluated. A total of 48% of the aortic valves, 68% of the pulmonary valves and 75% of the vascular segments were suitable for transplant. The main reason for discarding tissue was macroscopic morphology followed by microbiological results, for both valves and arteries. Altogether, 4360 tissues were distributed for transplantation: 2032 (47%) vascular segments, 1545 (35%) pulmonary valves and 781 (18%) aortic valves. The most common indication for aortic valve surgery was the treatment of endocarditis, while for pulmonary valves, it was congenital malformation reconstruction. Vascular segments were mainly used for reconstruction after ischemia. During this period, a number of changes were made with the goal of enhancing tissue quality, safety and efficacy. These improvements were achieved through the use of a new antibiotic cocktail, increasing of donor age criteria and changing the microbiological control strategy.

Design and impact assessment of policies to overcome oversupply in China's national carbon market

China has adopted a national carbon emissions trading market to promote emission reductions, but until now, overallocation of allowances suffer low carbon prices and thus to unfulfilled emission reduction goals. We report a general equilibrium modeling that indicates the flexible compliance and price adjustment mechanism of the carbon market, along with explores the solution to the oversupply of allowances in the China's national carbon market. We find that, under the current policy, the initial loose allowance allocation decreases the overall carbon price, and simultaneously the total amount of banked carbon allowances reaches 4.880 billion tons in 2030, resulting in the level of carbon price cannot achieve NDC (Nationally Determined Contribution) targets. However, by introducing carbon market price adjustment schemes, we observe that the cumulative amount of allowances can effectively reduce, enabling the carbon price rising. Importantly, the amount of the supply of allowances decreases most under the benchmark decrease scenario, which increases the emission reduction pressure of the enterprises from the beginning, leading to the largest economic losses, the price-based adjustment mechanism raises the carbon price to expected level at the minimize economic losses, and the quantity-based adjustment mechanism is more sensitive to policy parameters compared to the price -based adjustment mechanism. These findings offer a promising avenue for selecting cost-effective price adjustment mechanism to improve price mechanism design for national carbon markets.

The effect of Arabic language type on banking chatbots adoption

Recently many banks around the world are adopting chatbots to communicate with their customers. However, the success of banking chatbots relay on customer adoption of this new technology. Although chatbots use in the banking sector is expanding globally, the Arabic world is still behind in using the technology, and chatbot applications in the Arab world are still immature. One reason behind this lag is the complexity of the Arabic language. This study comes to bridge the gap in the literature regarding what technology aspects affect customer adoption of bank chatbots in the Arabic world, and which type of Arabic language is the most effective in communicating with Arabic language speakers. UTAUT2 was used to figure what factors afect customer adoption. The data for this study was collected from two separate groups, with a total of 429 participants. Results showed that there is a significant difference between the model testing Arabic Fusha and Dialect Fusha. Results showed that Effort expectancy influences adoption only when dialect Arabic is used. Performance expectancy was also found to have no effect on the adoption of bank chatbot in both groups.

Financial Abuse in a Banking Context: Why and How Financial Institutions can Respond

Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) is a global social problem that includes using coercive control strategies, including financial abuse, to manage and entrap an intimate partner. Financial abuse restricts or removes another person's access to financial resources and their participation in financial decisions, forcing their financial dependence, or alternatively exploits their money and economic resources for the abuser's gain. Banks have some stake in the prevention of and response to IPV, given their unique role in household finances and growing recognition an equitable society is one inclusive of consumers with vulnerabilities. Institutional practices may unwittingly enable abusive partners' financial control as seemingly benign regulatory policy and tools of household money management exacerbate unequal power dynamics. To date, business ethicists have tended to take a broader view of banker professional responsibility, especially post-Global Financial Crisis. Little scholarship examines if, when and how a bank should respond to societal issues, such as IPV, traditionally outside their 'remit' of banking services. I extend existing understandings of 'systemic harm' to conceptualise the bank's role in addressing economic harm in the context of IPV, viewing IPV and financial abuse through a consumer vulnerability lens to translate theory into practice. Two in-depth stories of financial abuse further illustrate the active role banks can and should take in combating financial abuse.

Disentangling the sources of bank inefficiency: a two-stage network multi-directional efficiency analysis approach

To disentangle the sources of bank inefficiency, this paper presents an extended two-stage network multi-directional efficiency analysis (NMEA) approach by taking the internal structure of the banking system into account. The proposed two-stage NMEA approach extends the conventional "black-box" MEA approach, providing a unique efficiency decomposition and identifying which variables drive the inefficiency for banking systems with a two-stage network structure. An empirical application of Chinese listed banks from 2016 to 2020 during the 13th Five-year Plan reveals that the overall inefficiency of sample banks is primarily sourced from the deposit-generating subsystem. Additionally, different types of banks display differentiated evolution modes over different dimensions, confirming the importance of applying the proposed two-stage NMEA approach.

Did the paycheck protection program hit the target?

This paper provides a comprehensive assessment of financial intermediation and the economic effects of the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), a large and novel small business support program that was part of the initial policy response to the COVID-19 pandemic in the US. We use loan-level microdata for all PPP loans and high-frequency administrative employment data to present three main findings. First, banks played an important role in mediating program targeting, which helps explain why some funds initially flowed to regions that were less adversely affected by the pandemic. Second, we exploit regional heterogeneity in lending relationships and individual firm-loan matched data to study the role of banks in explaining the employment effects of the PPP. We find the short- and medium-term employment effects of the program were small compared to the program's size. Third, many firms used the loans to make non-payroll fixed payments and build up savings buffers, which can account for small employment effects and likely reflects precautionary motives in the face of heightened uncertainty. Limited targeting in terms of who was eligible likely also led to many inframarginal firms receiving funds and to a low correlation between regional PPP funding and shock severity. Our findings illustrate how business liquidity support programs affect firm behavior and local economic activity, and how policy transmission depends on the agents delegated to deploy it.

Did the paycheck protection program hit the target?

This paper provides a comprehensive assessment of financial intermediation and the economic effects of the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), a large and novel small business support program that was part of the initial policy response to the COVID-19 pandemic in the US. We use loan-level microdata for all PPP loans and high-frequency administrative employment data to present three main findings. First, banks played an important role in mediating program targeting, which helps explain why some funds initially flowed to regions that were less adversely affected by the pandemic. Second, we exploit regional heterogeneity in lending relationships and individual firm-loan matched data to study the role of banks in explaining the employment effects of the PPP. We find the short- and medium-term employment effects of the program were small compared to the program's size. Third, many firms used the loans to make non-payroll fixed payments and build up savings buffers, which can account for small employment effects and likely reflects precautionary motives in the face of heightened uncertainty. Limited targeting in terms of who was eligible likely also led to many inframarginal firms receiving funds and to a low correlation between regional PPP funding and shock severity. Our findings illustrate how business liquidity support programs affect firm behavior and local economic activity, and how policy transmission depends on the agents delegated to deploy it.

COVID-19 and the Economy: Summary of research and future directions

This article presents a literature review of the 81 articles accepted in the Finance Research Letters Special Issue titled "COVID-19 and the Economy". The articles are classified into five broad areas (investments and asset pricing, the macroeconomy and banking, commodities, corporate finance, and other topics). We summarize the key findings of the articles by area and highlight the influence of the articles as measured by Google Scholar citations. We conclude by presenting directions for future research.

Monetary policy spillovers under COVID-19: Evidence from lending by U.S. foreign bank subsidiaries

This paper uses Call Report data to examine the impact of home country monetary policy on foreign bank subsidiary lending in the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic. Examining a large sample of foreign bank subsidiaries and domestic U.S. banks, we find that foreign bank lending growth was positively associated with both lower home country policy rates and negative home country rates. Point estimates indicate that a one standard deviation decrease in home country policy rates was associated with a 3.5 percentage point increase in lending growth, while negative home country policy rates added an additional 3.0 percentage points on average. Disparities in sensitivity to home country rates also exist by bank size, as large banks exhibited more responsiveness to home country policy rate levels, but were less responsive to negative policy rates. Easier home country policy rates are also found to impact negatively on growth in capital ratios and bank income, in keeping with expanded foreign subsidiary activity. However, income responses to negative home country rates are mixed, in a manner suggesting balance sheet adjustment to changes in relative home and host country conditions. Overall, our findings confirm that the bank lending channel for global monetary policy spillovers was active during the pandemic crisis.

Monetary policy spillovers under COVID-19: Evidence from lending by U.S. foreign bank subsidiaries

This paper uses Call Report data to examine the impact of home country monetary policy on foreign bank subsidiary lending in the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic. Examining a large sample of foreign bank subsidiaries and domestic U.S. banks, we find that foreign bank lending growth was positively associated with both lower home country policy rates and negative home country rates. Point estimates indicate that a one standard deviation decrease in home country policy rates was associated with a 3.5 percentage point increase in lending growth, while negative home country policy rates added an additional 3.0 percentage points on average. Disparities in sensitivity to home country rates also exist by bank size, as large banks exhibited more responsiveness to home country policy rate levels, but were less responsive to negative policy rates. Easier home country policy rates are also found to impact negatively on growth in capital ratios and bank income, in keeping with expanded foreign subsidiary activity. However, income responses to negative home country rates are mixed, in a manner suggesting balance sheet adjustment to changes in relative home and host country conditions. Overall, our findings confirm that the bank lending channel for global monetary policy spillovers was active during the pandemic crisis.

The influence of earnings management on bank efficiency: the case of frontier markets

Frontier market banks fill key funding gaps in the markets they serve, resulting in increased evaluation (a positive) and earnings management (EM) (a negative). Examination of a large sample of banks in 22 frontier market countries from 2001 to 2018 reveals a downward trend in efficiency, indicating that loan quality issues persist despite increasing economic growth in the respective countries. Using stochastic frontier analysis to quantify efficiency and random effects and truncated regression to investigate the EM-efficiency relation, this study demonstrates that efficiency is negatively associated with EM. Furthermore, there was no clear relationship between bank size and efficiency, which counters economic efficiency theory and implies that frontier market banks absorb higher non-performing loan costs. The findings herein support prospect theory by demonstrating that managers engage in risk-seeking behaviour while making risk-averse decisions. Overall, the study's implications suggest that banks employ alternative loan provision practices to optimise resource allocation and, by extension, performance.

A new method for obtaining bankable and expandable adult-like microglia in mice

Background

The emerging role of microglia in neurological disorders requires a novel method for obtaining massive amounts of adult microglia. We aim to develop a new method for obtaining bankable and expandable adult-like microglia in mice.

Methods

The head neuroepithelial layer (NEL) that composed of microglial progenitor and neuroepithelial cells at mouse E13.5 was dissected and then cultured or banked. Microglia (MG) isolated from the cultured NEL by magnetic-activated cell sorting system were obtained and named NEL-MG.

Results

The NEL included microglia progenitors that proliferate and ramify over time with neuroepithelial cells as feeder. In functional analysis, NEL-MG exhibited microglial functions, such as phagocytosis (microbeads, amyloid β, synaptosome), migration, and inflammatory response following lipopolysaccharide (LPS) stimulation. NEL was passage cultured and the NEL-MG exhibited a higher expression of microglia signature genes than the neonatal microglia, a widely used in vitro surrogate. Banking or long-term passage culture of NEL did not affect NEL-MG characteristics. Transcriptome analysis revealed that NEL-MG exhibited better conservation of microglia signature genes with a closer fidelity to freshly isolated adult microglia than neonatal microglia. NEL-MG could be re-expandable when they were plated again on neuroepithelial cells.

Conclusions

This new method effectively contributes to obtaining sufficient matured form of microglia (adult-like microglia), even when only a small number of experimental animals are available, leading to a broad application in the field of neuroscience.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12974-021-02351-4.

COVID-19, volatility dynamics, and sentiment trading

In this paper, we study how different categories of crucial COVID-19 information influence price dynamics in stock and option markets during the period from 01/21/20 to 01/31/21. We present a theoretical model in which the behavioral traders make perceptual errors based on the intensity of sentiment arising from different types of news. In addition to the magnitude and direction of the news and its payoff relevance to security prices, other factors such as fear, emotion, and social media can influence the sentiment level. Using Google search data, we construct novel proxies for the sentiment levels induced by five categories of news, COVID, Market, Lockdown, Banking, and Government relief efforts. If the relative presence of behavioral traders in the stock market exceeds that in the option market, different predictions obtain for the effect of sentiment indices on jump volatility of the VIX index, the S&P 500 index, and the S&P 500 Banks index. We find that the jump component in the VIX index is increasing significantly with COVID index, Market index, Lockdown index, and Banking index. However, only COVID index and Market index increase the jump component of realized volatility of the stock indices (S&P 500 index and S&P 500 Banks index). The Government relief efforts index decreases this jump component. Banking and Lockdown index reduce jump volatility in the S&P 500 index and S&P 500 Banks index, but only with a delay of 5 days. These results are consistent with the predictions of our model.

Bank systemic risk around COVID-19: A cross-country analysis

Using 1,584 listed banks from 64 countries during the COVID-19 pandemic, we conduct the first broad-based international study of the effect of the pandemic on bank systemic risk. We find the pandemic has increased systemic risk across countries. The effect operates through government policy response and bank default risk channels. Additional analysis suggests that the adverse effect on systemic stability is more pronounced for large, highly leveraged, riskier, high loan-to-asset, undercapitalized, and low network centrality banks. However, this effect is moderated by formal bank regulation (e.g., deposit insurance), ownership structure (e.g., foreign and government ownership), and informal institutions (e.g., culture and trust).

Investigating into the dual role of loan loss reserves in banking production process

This paper considers the use of loan loss reserves (LLRs) in the banking production process and treats it as one variable with a dual role. We establish a three-stage network Data Envelopment Analysis model to address this issue. Using a sample of 43 Chinese commercial banks over the period 2011-2019, the results show that the banks with the ratio between LLRs and total loans less than 1% have higher level of efficiency compared to the ones holding the ratio greater than 1%. The results show that when excluding LLRs in the production process, the efficiency scores are significantly inflated. We find that small and medium sized banks are more efficient than their big counterparts, however, the results show that big banks hold more than enough amounts of LLRs than the one required by the regulatory authority. When LLRs are excluded from the production process, it shows that big banks perform better than small and medium sized banks. Our findings show that less liquid banks perform better than the ones with higher levels of liquidity no matter in which way LLRs are treated. Finally, we find that lower capitalized banks, compared to the ones with high levels of capitalization, are less efficient. however, it shows that higher capitalized banks consistently keep more than 1% LLRs out of total loans.

IT adoption and bank performance during the Covid-19 pandemic

This paper examines the impact of pre-2020 information technology (IT) adoption on bank performance during the initial stages of the Covid-19 pandemic. We show that high IT adopters performed better in terms of market returns, Tobin's q and lending. Our findings also suggest that higher pre-crisis IT investments are associated with more loans issued under the US Paycheck Protection Program, and lower rates of loan modifications due to Covid-19. This study corroborates other recent findings that technology adoption fosters banks' resilience during crises, ultimately enhancing financial stability.

Sperm cryopreservation in adolescents with cancer

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate whether sperm banking is under-used in adolescents with cancer.

STUDY DESIGN

We reviewed our 33 years long experience of semen cryopreservation and identified male subjects with cancer aged 14-21 years who banked their sperm. We hypothesized as a referring model a constant rate of referral in every age category (uniform distribution). In addition, we evaluated whether the distribution of the referrals per age varied according to historical periods and compared semen quality in the different age groups.

RESULTS

Overall, 317 subjects were selected. A sharp increase with age emerged (p < 0.001): the number of cases augmented from 4 at age 14 years to 79 at age 21 years. This significant increase persisted even when focussing only on subjects older than 16-18 years. An improvement of the distribution of cases per age group emerged when limiting the analysis to the last decade of activity; however, the increase remained significant (p < 0.001). Finally, we investigated whether semen quality differed according to age groups and failed to show marked differences, suggesting that sperm banking even at the youngest ages could be of potential benefit.

CONCLUSIONS

This study confirmed that sperm banking is under-used in adolescents with cancers. Future studies should better clarify the determinants of this low referral and identify interventions that can improve the situation.

Manufacturing and banking canine adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells for veterinary clinical application

BACKGROUND

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have generated a great amount of interest in recent years as a novel therapeutic application for improving the quality of pet life and helping them free from painful conditions and diseases. It has now become critical to address the challenges related to the safety and efficacy of MSCs expanded in vitro. In this study, we establish a standardized process for manufacture of canine adipose-derived MSCs (AD-MSCs), including tissue sourcing, cell isolation and culture, cryopreservation, thawing and expansion, quality control and testing, and evaluate the safety and efficacy of those cells for clinical applications.

RESULTS

After expansion, the viability of AD-MSCs manufactured under our standardized process was above 90 %. Expression of surface markers and differentiation potential was consistent with ISCT standards. Sterility, mycoplasma, and endotoxin tests were consistently negative. AD-MSCs presented normal karyotype, and did not form in vivo tumors. No adverse events were noted in the case treated with intravenously AD-MSCs.

CONCLUSIONS

Herein we demonstrated the establishment of a feasible bioprocess for manufacturing and banking canine AD-MSCs for veterinary clinical use.

Culture, Expansion and Differentiation of Human Bone Marrow Stromal Cells

Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSC) are a rare, heterogeneous and multipotent population that can be isolated from several tissues. MSC were originally discovered in the bone marrow and studied for their capacity to maintain hematopoietic cells. We will describe here methods to isolate, culture, and bank MSC from human bone marrow. Then, characterization protocols by flow cytometry, clonogenic assays and doubling time evaluation will be developed. Finally, in vitro MSC culture and differentiation into osteoblasts, adipocytes, and chondrocytes will be explained. Thus, this chapter will detail all bases to work on MSC with consensus and clear methods and protocols.

Impact of social capital on tone ambiguity in banks' 10-K filings

We examine whether the social capital index of the county where the bank is headquartered is associated with the ambiguity of tone measures constructed from the textual analysis of banks' 10-K filings. We hypothesize and find that banks located in high social capital areas exhibit lower ambiguous tone in their 10-K filings. Furthermore, the impact of social capital on management's 10-K disclosure for banks located in high social capital areas is not mitigated during recessionary periods when management may have more unfavorable news to report. Unlike other studies that suggest that social norms can be forsaken when motive and opportunity exist, our results suggest that social capital is reasonably entrenched in banks' reporting. In contrast, we find that banks located in low social capital areas report more ambiguously during recessionary periods when management may have to report unfavorable news.

COVID-19 implications for banks: evidence from an emerging economy

The COVID-19 pandemic is damaging economies across the world, including financial markets and institutions in all possible dimensions. For banks in particular, the pandemic generates multifaceted crises, mostly through increases in default rates. This is likely to be worse in developing economies with poor financial market architecture. This paper utilizes Bangladesh as a case study of an emerging economy and examines the possible impacts of the pandemic on the country's banking sector. Bangladesh's banking sector already has a high level of non-performing loans (NPLs) and the pandemic is likely to worsen the situation. Using a state-designed stress testing model, the paper estimates the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on three particular dimensions-firm value, capital adequacy, and interest income-under different NPL shock scenarios. Findings suggest that all banks are likely to see a fall in risk-weighted asset values, capital adequacy ratios, and interest income at the individual bank and sectoral levels. However, estimates show that larger banks are relatively more vulnerable. The decline in all three dimensions will increase disproportionately if NPL shocks become larger. Findings further show that a 10% NPL shock could force capital adequacy of all banks to go below the minimum BASEL-III requirement, while a shock of 13% or more could turn it to zero or negative at the sectoral level. Findings call for immediate and innovative policy measures to prevent a large-scale and contagious banking crisis in Bangladesh. The paper offers lessons for other developing and emerging economies similar to Bangladesh.

Identifying the systemically important banks of Turkey with the CoVaR method

The purpose of this paper is to measure the systemic risk contributions of Turkish banks and to identify the systemically important banks of Turkey during the period from 2005 to 2016. We apply the conditional value-at-risk (CoVaR) method proposed by Adrian and Brunnermeier (2009) using quantile regression. The study includes thirteen major banks of Turkey, including both public and private banks, out of a total of 52 banks. The banks are ranked in terms of their systemic risk contribution to the Turkish financial system based on their asset returns, macroeconomic variables and individual bank variables. The study reveals that Akbank, Garanti, Yapi Kredi and Isbank have the highest systemic risk contribution to the financial system when adding macroeconomic variables to the model. This ranking is changed to Yapi Kredi, Garanti, TEB, Sekerbank and Akbank when taking into account bank-specific variables. One surprising result is that risk in isolation and the spillover risks of public banks are smaller than in large private banks. Furthermore, the marginal systemic risk contributions of public banks are smaller than those of private banks. In conclusion, authorities improve the regulatory framework according to the context of CoVaR in addition to monitor the idiosyncratic risks of banks.

Financial performance of rural banks in Indonesia: A two-stage DEA approach

This study aims to analyze the efficiency performance of conventional and Islamic rural banks in Indonesia, specifically, Bank Perkreditan Rakyat (BPR) and Bank Pembiayaan Rakyat Syariah (BPRS). Using a DEA approach, the results indicate that both BPR and BPRS are still inefficient in terms of the intermediation role but are efficient in production. Furthermore, the Tobit estimation show that these two efficiency results are positively affected by location and the capital adequacy ratio (CAR). These rural banks operating in cities tend to have a higher level of efficiency than otherwise. Moreover, the higher the capital, the more efficient both Islamic and conventional rural banks in terms of production and intermediation.

Accountants perception of the factors influencing auditors' ethical behaviour in Nigeria

This paper examines the perception of accountants (chartered and non-chartered) of the personal factors influencing auditors' ethical behaviours in Nigeria. Data were obtained from 152 accountants (80 chartered and 72 non-chartered) in Lagos State Nigeria through the use of a well-structured questionnaire. The data collected were analysed using nonparametric tests (Wilcoxon rank-sum test and Mann–Whitney test) to check for differences in the perceptions of chartered and non-chartered accountants of the personal factors influencing auditors' ethical behaviours. The results showed that, except for auditors' age, there is a consensus in the perceptions of both chartered and non-chartered accountants of the personal factors influencing auditors' ethical behaviours. While there were significant divergent views on whether age influences auditors' ethical behaviours, fear of sanction, religion, upbringing, conscience, gender, and personal values were found to be influencers of auditors' ethical behaviours. The study offers value to professional accounting bodies in that it provides empirical explanations to guide the pursuit of sustainable and resilient ethical values among accounting professionals.

Algorithmic portfolio tilting to harvest higher moment gains

Many financial portfolios are not mean-variance-skewness-kurtosis efficient. We recommend tilting these portfolios in a direction that increases their estimated mean and third central moment and decreases their variance and fourth central moment. The advantages of tilting come at the cost of deviation from the initial optimality criterion. In this paper, we show the usefulness of portfolio tilting applied to the equally-weighted, equal-risk-contribution and maximum diversification portfolios in a UCITS-compliant asset allocation setting.

A Report from a Workshop of the International Stem Cell Banking Initiative, Held in Collaboration of Global Alliance for iPSC Therapies and the Harvard Stem Cell Institute, Boston, 2017

This report summarizes the recent activity of the International Stem Cell Banking Initiative held at Harvard Stem Cell Institute, Boston, MA, USA, on June 18, 2017. In this meeting, we aimed to find consensus on ongoing issues of quality control (QC), safety, and efficacy of human pluripotent stem cell banks and their derivative cell therapy products for the global harmonization. In particular, assays for the QC testing such as pluripotency assays test and general QC testing criteria were intensively discussed. Moreover, the recent activities of global stem cell banking centers and the regulatory bodies were briefly summarized to provide an overview on global developments and issues. stem cells2019;37:1130–1135

Fresh osteochondral grafting in the United States: the current status of tissue banking processing

The use of musculoskeletal allografts has become increasingly popular among surgeons. The purpose of this review is to highlight the procurment and delievery process of fresh osteochondral allografts in the United States. The four distributors of fresh osteochondral allografts in the United States were contacted. Surveys containing quantitative and qualitative sections concerning the procurement and processing of osteochondral allograft tissue were obtained. Our results showed an average of 13 ± 4.24 years of experience with osteochondral allografts. The average donor age ranged from 13.5 ± 3 to 37.5 ± 5 years, with an average age of 27 ± 2.83 years. All donors were between ages 12 and 45 years old. The percentage of screened donors that were accepted for allograft transplant was consistent at 70-75% for 3 out of the 4 tissue banks. The percentage of grafts that expire without implantation ranged from 20% to 29%. Maximum shipping time varied between 24 and 96 hours. Each tissue bank used its own proprietary storage medium. The time from donor death to the harvest of allograft tissue was < 24 hours. The most commonly requested osteochondral allograft tissue for all banks was the medial femoral condyle. The market share of fresh allografts is as follows: Joint Restoration Foundation (JRF) 59.9%, Muskuloskeletal Transplant Foundation (MTF) 15.3%, LifeNet Health (LN) 14.5%, and Regeneration Technology Incorporated (RTI) 10.2%, with approximately 4700 fresh allografts distributed in 2018. This compiled data from the four tissue banks that supply fresh osteochondral allograft in the United States  provides important background information for patients and orthopaedic surgeons.

Repurposing the public cord blood bank inventory in Korea to enhance cord blood use

To enhance public cord blood (CB) use, we examined the current status of CB banking and tried to suggest revision of the banking standard. We retrospectively analyzed the use of stored public CB units between 2011 and 2016 using data from the CB information center in Korea. A total of 19,871 CB units were registered, and 363 units were selected for transplantation. The transplanted CB units contained significantly higher numbers of CD34+ cells than the average numbers in the stored CB units (5.5 × 10^6 vs. 3.2 × 10^6, p < 0.01). They also contained more total nucleated cells (TNCs) than the average of the stored CB units (13.7 × 10^8 vs. 10.7 × 10^8, p < 0.01). Only 49% of the stored CB units contained>10 × 10^8 TNCs, while 81% of the units transplanted contained >10 × 10^8 TNCs. The average length of cryopreservation of the transplanted CB units was 4.58 years and 95% of them had been stored for less than 10 years. During the study period, 18,763 CB units were requested for research, but only 5,888 were released. This discrepancy was mostly due to errors in regulatory and/or networking elements of the CB supply system. The data suggest that preserving CB units for less than 10 years and increasing the required minimum TNC count to 10 × 10^8 would produce an inventory containing units that were more useful for CBT. CB units that did not meet the requisite quality standards could be used for research, and systems for their fair distribution to researchers are needed.

Biobanking of Urine Samples

Urine is a major repository of biometabolites, some proteins, and DNA. Within the past few decades, it has become increasingly apparent that certain infectious, neoplastic, and congenital diseases can be investigated using urine samples for diagnostic and prognostic purposes. In this chapter, a number of pertinent urine analytes and methods of banking urine samples for future analyses are discussed.

Stem cell banking: Are South Indian mothers aware?

Umbilical cord blood (UCB) is an important source of stem cells, the heart of regenerative medicine. As the globalization and population of the world continues to increase, we are faced with an inundation of new diseases, affecting millions of people. Research work considering stem cells is essential for developing therapy for various conditions. Reduced availability of UCB serves as a hindrance to promote further research. Hence, India being one of the most densely populated countries in the world, can be considered a potential UCB repository. In this study 428 mothers of children born in the period from 2012 to 2017 were asked to fill questionnaires that evaluated their awareness regarding stem cell banking. This investigation deliberates if expectant mothers in this region are aware of stem cell banking and if there is a significant pattern regarding awareness based on parameters like age, educational qualification, locality, annual income and consulted hospitals. Although, majority of the women were unaware of this facility, knowledge was heightened in wealthy, educated, women from urban areas who consulted private hospitals. Hence, great efforts need to be made to further the awareness of expectant mothers in South India regarding UCB storage and donation.

Cryobanking Pluripotent Stem Cells

Cryobanking human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs), be they human embryonic (hESCs) or induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), is essential for their use in research and cell-based therapeutics. Working and master cell banks can be generated with a desired level of quality assurance applied during cell freezing and storage. Conventional vitrification has evolved to more advanced control rate freezing, culminating in a myriad of published protocols with variable proficiencies and clinical efficacies. Notwithstanding, standardized and reliable protocols are necessary for basic science through to applied research and clinical product development. This chapter details several methods for hPSC cryopreservation, suitable for routine application, high-quality research, and adaptable for clinical compliance.

Risk of HLA Homozygous Cord Blood Transplantation: Implications for Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell Banking and Transplantation

Clinical application of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS) in autologous settings has just begun. To overcome the high time and cost barriers in the individual production of autologous iPS, the use of allogeneic iPS with a homozygous human leukocyte antigen (HLA) haplotype (HLA‐homo HP) has been proposed. Cord blood transplantation (CBT) is a suitable model for evaluating the allogeneic immunogenicity of iPS transplantation from HLA‐homo donors. We analyzed 1,374 Japanese single cord blood transplant pairs who were retrospectively typed as HLA‐A, ‐B, ‐C, ‐DRB1, ‐DQB1, and ‐DPB1. Among these, six pairs with donor HLA homo—patient‐HLA hetero (homo‐hetero) were found, all of which showed favorable neutrophil engraftment. Multivariate analysis revealed a significantly elevated engraftment risk (HR = 1.59) compared with hetero‐hetero pairs with HLA 1‐2 locus mismatch (789 pts) and comparative risk (HR = 1.23) compared with hetero‐hetero pairs with 0 mismatch (104 pts). These results for CBT with HLA‐homo HP cord blood carry an important implication, namely the possibility that HLA‐homo iPS transplantation results in favorable engraftment. Furthermore, we obtained detailed information on HLA alleles and haplotypes of HLA‐homo. All donor HLA‐homo HPs had a common specific ethnicity and high conservation of the HLA region, and one of two patient heterogeneous HPs invariably shared the same HP as donor HLA‐homo HP, and another non‐shared patient HP was mismatched with 1 to 4 HLA alleles of HLA‐A, ‐B, ‐C, and ‐DRB1 loci in the GVH direction. These findings indicate that patients possessing a single common HLA haplotype have a higher chance of yielding HLA‐homo iPS. Stem Cells Translational Medicine2018;7:173–179

Amniotic Fluid Stem Cells: A New Era in Regenerative Medicine

Regenerative medicine has become an emerging field which focuses on repair, replacement or regeneration of cells, tissues and the entire organs. The regeneration may occur in patient's own body by using their system as a bioreactor, e.g., cell therapy that involves transplantation of stem cells capable of proliferating, differentiating and replacing damaged host cells. As the field of regenerative medicine advances, and sources of stem cells has been intensified. Though embryonic and adult tissues can be used for isolation of pluripotent stem cells, the amniotic fluid (AF) has been proposed as an alternative source of stem cells for tissue regeneration. AF cells could be banked and used for either allogeneic or autologous transplantation.

Dental Pulp Stem Cells: Current Advances in Isolation, Expansion and Preservation

Dental pulp stem cells (DPSCs) are mesenchymal stem cells with high self-renewal potential that have the ability to differentiate into several cell types. Thus, DPSCs have become a promising source of cells for several applications in regenerative medicine, tissue engineering, and stem cell therapy. Numerous methods have been reported for the isolation, expansion, and preservation of DPSCs. However, methods are diverse and do not follow specific rules or parameters, which can affect stem cell properties, adding more variation to experimental results. In this review, we compare and analyze current experimental evidence to propose some factors that can be useful to establish better methods or improved protocols to prolong the quality of DPSCs. In addition, we highlight other factors related to biological aspects of dental tissue source (e.g., age, genetic background) that should be considered before tooth selection. Although current methods have reached significant advances, optimization is still required to improve culture stability and its maintenance for an extended period without losing stem cell properties. In addition, there is still much that needs to be done toward clinical application due to the fact that most of DPSCs procedures are not currently following good manufacturing practices. The establishment of optimized general or tailored protocols will allow obtaining well-defined DPSCs cultures with specific properties, which enable more reproducible results that will be the basis to develop effective and safe therapies.

Clinical-scale expansion of mesenchymal stromal cells: a large banking experience

Background

Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSC) are largely investigated in clinical trials aiming to control inappropriate immune reactions (GVHD, Crohn’s disease, solid organ transplantation). As the percentage of MSC precursors in bone marrow is very low, these must be expanded in vitro to obtain therapeutic cell doses. We describe here the constitution of an allogeneic human third-party MSC bank from screened healthy volunteer donors in compliance with quality specifications and ISCT-release criteria and report follow-up of different aspects of this activity since 2007.

Methods

68 clinical-grade large-scale MSC cultures were completed and analyzed. The whole process was described, including volunteer donor screening, bone marrow collection, mononuclear cell isolation and expansion over 4 weeks, harvesting, cryopreservation, release, administration and quality controls of the cells (including microbiology, phenotype, and potency assays).

Results

From 59 validated donors, 68 cultures were completed (mean of final yields: 886 × 10⁶ cells/culture) and a total of 464 MSC aliquots have been produced and stored in liquid nitrogen (mean of 132.8 × 10⁶ cells/bag). Each MSC batch underwent extensive testing to verify its conformity with EBMT and ISCT release criteria and was individually validated. As of June 1 2015, 314 bags have been released and infused to patients included in 6 different clinical protocols. All thawed MSC units satisfied to release criteria and no infusion-related toxicity was reported.

Conclusion

In conclusion, despite low passage cultures, we have been able to create an allogeneic “off-the-shelf” MSC bank with a large number of frozen aliquots and report here an efficient clinical-grade MSC banking activity in place for more than 7 years. Our challenge now is to produce MSC in compliance with good manufacturing practices (GMP) as, in the meantime, MSC have become considered as advanced therapy medicinal products (ATMP). Another significant challenge remains the development of relevant potency assay.

Brain tumors: Special characters for research and banking

A brain tumor is an intracranial neoplasm within the brain or in the central spinal canal. Primary malignant brain tumors affect about 200,000 people worldwide every year. Brain cells have special characters. Due to the specific properties of brain tumors, including epidemiology, growth, and division, investigation of brain tumors and the interpretation of results is not simple. Research to identify the genetic alterations of human tumors improves our knowledge of tumor biology, genetic interactions, progression, and preclinical therapeutic assessment. Obtaining data for prevention, diagnosis, and therapy requires sufficient samples, and brain tumors have a wide range. As a result, establishing the bank of brain tumors is very important and essential.

The effect of lateral banking on the kinematics and kinetics of the lower extremity during lateral cutting movements

There are many aspects of cutting movements that can limit performance, however, the implementation of lateral banking may reduce some of these limitations. Banking could provide a protective mechanism, placing the foot and ankle in orientations that keep them out of dangerous positions. This study sought to determine the effect of two banking angles on the kinematics and kinetics of the lower extremity during two athletic maneuvers. Kinematic and kinetic data were collected on 10 recreational athletes performing v-cuts and side shuffle movements on different banked surfaces (0°, 10°, 20°). Each sample surface was rigidly attached to the force platform. Joint moments were calculated and compared between conditions using a repeated measures ANOVA. Banking had a pronounced effect on the ankle joint. As banking increased, the amount of joint loading in the transverse and frontal planes decreased likely leading to a reduction in injury risk. Also an increase in knee joint loading in the frontal plane was seen during the 20° bank during the v-cut. Conversely loading in the sagittal plane at the ankle joint increased with banking and coupled with a reorientation of the ground reaction vector may facilitate a performance increase. The current study indicates that the 10° bank may be the optimal bank, in that it decreases ankle joint loading, as well as increases specific performance variables while not increasing frontal plane knee joint loading. If banking could be incorporated in footwear it may be able to provide a protective mechanism for athletes.

Applications of stem cells in interdisciplinary dentistry and beyond: an overview

In medicine stem cell–based treatments are being used in conditions like Parkinson's disease, neural degeneration following brain injury, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and autoimmune diseases. In dentistry, recent exciting discoveries have isolated dental stem cells from the pulp of the deciduous and permanent teeth, from the periodontal ligament, and an associated healthy tooth structure, to cure a number of diseases. The aim of the study was to review the applications of stem cells in various fields of dentistry, with emphasis on its banking, and to understand how dental stem cells can be used for regeneration of oral and non-oral tissues conversely. A Medline search was done including the international literature published between 1989 and 2011. It was restricted to English language articles and published work of past researchers including in vitro and in vivo studies. Google search on dental stem cell banking was also done. Our understanding of mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) in the tissue engineering of systemic, dental, oral, and craniofacial structures has advanced tremendously. Dental professionals have the opportunity to make their patients aware of these new sources of stem cells that can be stored for future use, as new therapies are developed for a range of diseases and injuries. Recent findings and scientific research articles support the use of MSC autologously within teeth and other accessible tissue harvested from oral cavity without immunorejection. A future development of the application of stem cells in interdisciplinary dentistry requires a comprehensive research program.

Redefining the potential applications of dental stem cells: An asset for future

Recent exciting discoveries isolated dental stem cells from the pulp of the primary and permanent teeth, from the periodontal ligament, and from associated healthy tissues. Dental pulp stem cells (DPSCs) represent a kind of adult cell colony which has the potent capacity of self-renewing and multilineage differentiation. Stem cell-based tooth engineering is deemed as a promising approach to the making of a biological tooth (bio-tooth) or engineering of functional tooth structures. Dental professionals have the opportunity to make their patients aware of these new sources of stem cells that can be stored for future use as new therapies are developed for a range of diseases and injuries. The aim of this article is to review and understand how dental stem cells are being used for regeneration of oral and conversely nonoral tissues. A brief review on banking is also done for storing of these valuable stem cells for future use.

Reasons to Eliminate Umbilical Cord Blood Units before Cryopreservation

Hematopoietic stem cells collected from umbilical cord blood (UCB) are widely considered a potential alternative to bone marrow. Research on UCB has now developed with the establishment of cord blood banks throughout the world. The aim of our study is to improve the efficiency of our bank because of the high cost and the administrative effort involved in its organization, finding a correlation between the terms of UCB units discarding, such as the low volume and for the low cell counts, and the obstetrics causes. This process has been made to cut the cost of the research and to improve the final result of each bank. We obtained, in 15 months, 683 cord blood units by blood withdrawal from the placenta. The units were cryopreserved within 24 h of collection, in a volume of at least 60 ml with a nucleated cells total of more than 800 per 10(6). Specific analyses of the unit blood to exclude bacterial contamination were undertaken. Of the 683 bags collected, 340 (49.75%) were discarded, and 343 were banked. The main reasons for rejecting the UCB units were: low volume; low cell counts; clinical history; bacterial contamination; freezing problems; unit misidentification; and no informed consent. We suggest that regular monitoring of the reasons for the rejection of the UCB units could give a significant effort to the bank organization, and identifying those units that are suitable before the cryopreservation could save precious resources.