A simple, efficient and economical method for isolating and culturing human umbilical cord blood­derived mesenchymal stromal cells.

Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) hold broad therapeutic potential in various diseases, however, it is difficult to produce sufficient numbers of MSCs for clinical application, therefore, improved culture systems are required. The present study aimed to develop a novel method for isolating and culturing human umbilical cord blood­derived mesenchymal stromal cells (hUCB­MSCs). A sequential culture method was developed that uses two types of culture media to optimize the isolation and culture of hUCB­MSCs. First, DMEM supplemented with mesenchymal stem cell growth supplement was used to improve the colony formation and primary culture success rates of hUCB­MSCs. Then, after removing the heterogeneous cell population, ordinary DMEM was used from the fourth passage. This method obtained hUCB­MSCs with high culture efficiency and at a greatly reduced cost. The optimal culture conditions were determined and the hUCB­MSCs were phenotypically characterized after passaging. Taken together, this simple, efficient and economical method can produce a large number of high­quality hUCB­MSCs in <1 month, therefore facilitating the future clinical applications of hUCB­MSCs.

Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education Self-Study for Pathology: One Institution's Experience and Lessons Learned.

CONTEXT.­: The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) established a new system for accreditation of residency and fellowship programs in 2013. One key aspect of the Next Accreditation System is the 10-year self-study, which requires programs to conduct a comprehensive self-evaluation, including development of program aims and analysis of strengths, weaknesses, and environmental context, in order to plan improvements and take the program to the next level. OBJECTIVE.­: To provide a review of the recent changes and current state of ACGME accreditation, with a focus on the new 10-year self-study, and to share our institution's experience with conducting the first self-study of our pathology residency and accredited fellowship programs in 2018. DATA SOURCES.­: Review of English-language literature, published resources from the ACGME, and materials/data from our department's 2018 self-study. CONCLUSIONS.­: The self-study process now required for ACGME accreditation is a useful way to assess program strengths and weaknesses in the context of current environmental and institutional factors, and helps develop an effective framework for improvements geared at achieving program aims and taking the program to the next level. Additionally, conducting residency and fellowship self-studies together allows for collaboration, effective use of shared resources, and the development of a cohesive educational mission.

Multisite Assessment of Aging-Related Tau Astrogliopathy (ARTAG).

Aging-related tau astrogliopathy (ARTAG) is a recently introduced terminology. To facilitate the consistent identification of ARTAG and to distinguish it from astroglial tau pathologies observed in the primary frontotemporal lobar degeneration tauopathies we evaluated how consistently neuropathologists recognize (1) different astroglial tau immunoreactivities, including those of ARTAG and those associated with primary tauopathies (Study 1); (2) ARTAG types (Study 2A); and (3) ARTAG severity (Study 2B). Microphotographs and scanned sections immunostained for phosphorylated tau (AT8) were made available for download and preview. Percentage of agreement and kappa values with 95% confidence interval (CI) were calculated for each evaluation. The overall agreement for Study 1 was >60% with a kappa value of 0.55 (95% CI 0.433-0.645). Moderate agreement (>90%, kappa 0.48, 95% CI 0.457-0.900) was reached in Study 2A for the identification of ARTAG pathology for each ARTAG subtype (kappa 0.37-0.72), whereas fair agreement (kappa 0.40, 95% CI 0.341-0.445) was reached for the evaluation of ARTAG severity. The overall assessment of ARTAG showed moderate agreement (kappa 0.60, 95% CI 0.534-0.653) among raters. Our study supports the application of the current harmonized evaluation strategy for ARTAG with a slight modification of the evaluation of its severity.