Beyond the Binary: Advancing Gender-Inclusive Data Policy for Health Equity in the US National Provider Identifier System.

Achieving health equity requires data systems that recognize and reflect provider diversity. The National Provider Identifier (NPI) system underpins United States health care administration, yet its gender data standards remain outdated, conflating sex and gender and lacking inclusive options. These deficiencies undermine research, equity initiatives, and the visibility of transgender and nonbinary providers.

Mixed Autoimmune Hemolytic Anemia: A Systematic Review of Epidemiology, Clinical Characteristics, Therapies, and Outcomes.

Mixed autoimmune hemolytic anemia (AIHA) is a rare and clinically complex hematologic disorder defined by the simultaneous presence of both warm and cold autoantibodies, resulting in severe and often treatment-resistant hemolysis. Due to variability in diagnostic criteria and limited data, a comprehensive understanding of its epidemiology, clinical characteristics, and management remains incomplete. To address these gaps, we performed a systematic literature review employing stringent diagnostic criteria to evaluate epidemiologic patterns, clinical features, and therapeutic outcomes.

Medical, Societal, and Ethical Considerations for Directed Blood Donation in 2025.

In the United States and other high-income countries, blood donation primarily relies on anonymous, voluntary donors. However, directed blood donation-where people donate for a specific recipient-has resurged, particularly due to misinformation surrounding COVID-19 vaccination. Requests for "nonvaccinated" blood, driven by misconceptions about vaccine safety, have led to legislative attempts to mandate compliance.

A Descriptive 5-Year Analysis of the Demographics and Therapies for Patients With Immune Thrombotic Thrombocytopenic Purpura in the USA: A Multicenter Study of 390 Disease Episodes From 2017 to 2021.

Immune thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (iTTP) is characterized by microangiopathic hemolytic anemia, thrombocytopenia, and microvascular occlusion secondary to acquired ADAMTS13 deficiency. Contemporary data regarding iTTP treatment practices in the US, including the use of caplacizumab, are lacking. We aimed to characterize the demographics and therapies, including medications and apheresis practices, in patients with iTTP in the US.

Celebrating 70 Years of Health Law at BU.

This essay celebrates the BU Health Law Program upon its 70th anniversary, offering reflections on the founders of the program, Fran Miller, George Annas, and Wendy Mariner ("FGW," endearingly), and their contributions to the field.Current faculty offer reflections, including: Several speak to scholarly research, including Elizabeth McCuskey on health care finance, Aziza Ahmed on human rights, Dionne Lomax on antitrust, Christopher Robertson on trust, and Kathy Zeiler on the marketplace. Other contributors speak to the student experience, with Dianne McCarthy on mentorship, Laura Stephens on demanding excellence, Michael Ulrich on teaching, and Larry Vernaglia on merging law and public health.

Gender Composition of Invited Speakers and Session Chairs at American Society for Apheresis Annual Meetings Between 2019 and 2024.

Disparities persist throughout medicine, including among conference speakership invitations. The National Institutes of Health have highlighted the importance of diversity at academic conferences. We assessed the gender composition of speakers at the American Society for Apheresis (ASFA) annual meeting.

Management challenge of a rare concomitant platelet glycoprotein IV/CD36 and IIb/IIIa deficiencies: Case illustration.

Introduction/background: Platelet membrane glycoproteins (GPs) serve several functions, the most significant of which is their role in primary hemostasis. Among these, GP IIb/IIIa is the primary fibrinogen receptor and is essential for platelet aggregation. Its deficiency or dysfunction impairs platelet aggregation, leading to Glanzmann thrombasthenia, a rare autosomal recessive bleeding disorder.

Paying to publish: A cross-sectional analysis of article processing charges and journal characteristics among 87 pathology journals.

Article processing charges are increasingly being levied on authors via publication fees to provide open access to readers. These charges may impose challenges to early career physicians seeking to publish research but pathology journal article processing charges have not been investigated to date. We aimed to quantify pathology journal article processing charges and investigate the potential associated factors.

Providing red blood cells to facilitate organ transplant via normothermic perfusion techniques: A single-center experience.

Background: Normothermic regional perfusion (NRP) and normothermic machine perfusion (NMP) are organ procurement and transport techniques that can improve organ quality, facilitate longer transport, and reduce postoperative complications, increasing organ availability and improving outcomes. NRP and NMP often require allogeneic red blood cells (RBCs). Our academic transfusion service began providing RBCs to support NRP and NMP for adult heart transplant (HT), orthotopic liver transplant (OLT), and multiorgan transplant (MOT) in August 2020.

The seasonal distribution of immune thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura is influenced by geography: Epidemiologic findings from a multi-center analysis of 719 disease episodes.

Prior studies have suggested that immune thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (iTTP) may display seasonal variation; however, methodologic limitations and sample sizes have diminished the ability to perform a rigorous assessment. This 5-year retrospective study assessed the epidemiology of iTTP and determined whether it displays a seasonal pattern. Patients with both initial and relapsed iTTP (defined as a disintegrin and metalloprotease with thrombospondin type motifs 13 activity <10%) from 24 tertiary centers in Australia, Canada, France, Greece, Italy, Spain, and the US were included.

RhD-Alloimmunization in Adult and Pediatric Trauma Patients.

The actual risk of providing RhD-positive units to RhD-negative recipients remains debatable. There is no standard of care in the United States (US) to guide transfusion decisions regarding RhD type for patients with an unknown blood type, except for women of childbearing age and neonates. The risk of alloantibody formation by an RhD-negative patient exposed to RhD-positive blood is reported to be from 3% to 70%.

Transfusion Support in Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation: A Contemporary Narrative Review.

Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) is a cornerstone of modern medical practice, and can only be performed safely and effectively with appropriate transfusion medicine support. Patients undergoing HSCT often develop therapy-related cytopenia, necessitating differing blood product requirements in the pre-, peri-, and post-transplant periods. Moreover, ensuring optimal management for patients alloimmunized to human leukocyte antigens (HLA) and/or red blood cell (RBC) antigens, as well as for patients receiving ABO-incompatible transplants, requires close collaboration with transfusion medicine and blood bank professionals.

Apheresis practice variation during the COVID-19 pandemic: Results of a survey.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic affected healthcare delivery across all specialties including apheresis. To describe the changes in apheresis service practices that occurred during the pandemic, the American Society for Apheresis (ASFA) Apheresis Medicine Attending Physician Subcommittee conducted a survey study.

Study Design And Methods: A 32-question survey was designed and distributed to 400 ASFA physician members on September 7, 2022.

Rh immune globulin immunoprophylaxis after RhD-positive red cell exposure in RhD-negative patients via transfusion: A survey of practices.

Background: Current Association for the Advancement of Blood & Biotherapies (AABB) standards require transfusion services to have a policy on Rh immune globulin (RhIG) immunoprophylaxis for when RhD-negative patients are exposed to RhD-positive red cells. This is a survey of AABB-accredited transfusion services in the United States (US) regarding institutional policies and practices on RhIG immunoprophylaxis after RhD-negative patients receive RhD-positive (i.e.

Analysis of editor in chief gender and associated journal variables among 126 pathology journals.

Objectives: Gender equity studies have shown that women are underrepresented in journal editor in chief positions, which confer major professional opportunities and influence. We sought to systematically investigate editor in chief gender and journal attributes within pathology.

Methods: We constructed a journal data set using the Scimago Journal & Country Rank and Clarivate Journal Citation Reports databases.