One year after PM Jose Sócrates announced the creation of Lusocord, a public stem cell bank, Portuguese daily Público hails its success, topping 1400 donations of umbilical cord blood since the beginning of 2009. Cord blood is collected because it contains stem cells, which can be used in the treatment of blood diseases and genetic disorders. By the 2010, end the Centro de Histocompatibilidade do Norte (Northern Histocompatibility Center) – the bank’s Oporto-based administrator- hopes to reach three thousand donations. By the end of this semester, Lusocord storage will be used throughout the world for research, transplants and to treat children suffering from leukemia. The continued success of this bank relies only one thing only – the generosity of the nation’s pregnant women, the Lisbon daily notes.
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