The 2018 Revision of the ISBER Best Practices: Summary of Changes and the Editorial Team's Development Process.

An increased need for specimens of reliable and consistent quality for research purposes requires the development of standardized policies and practices for the collection, handling, storage, retrieval, and distribution of specimens and specimen-related data. Providers of specimen resources should strive to incorporate new technologies and state-of-the-science approaches and thus ensure the availability of fit-for-purpose research specimens. Strategies to achieve quality outcomes and performance improvements often include adherence to established standards and implementation of best practices. Although standards represent a rigid set of guidelines that define exactly how a task should be completed, best practices are recommended actions and principles that demonstrate an awareness of standards, solve problems, can be replicated, and work in a given context. Adoption of best practice elements will vary based on the goals and circumstances of a given initiative, and in some instances, may not be possible to implement or may represent an aspirational achievement. In an effort to harmonize the scientific, technical, legal, and ethical issues relevant to repositories of biological and environmental specimens, the International Society for Biological and Environmental Repositories (ISBER) has released the updated ISBER Best Practices: Recommendations for Repositories (ISBER Best Practices). The document provides a comprehensive tool to guide repository professionals in both managerial and technical aspects such as practical details on repository governance, development, and operation; regulatory compliance; and ethical, legal, and social issues relevant to repositories. This summary describes the process for revising the document and summarizes the new topics, updates, and areas of expansion included in the fourth edition of ISBER Best Practices.

How is your biobank handling disaster recovery efforts?

Recent years have seen a great many natural disasters-superstorms, droughts, earthquakes, among others-as well as, in the biobanking world, the constant threat of man-made disaster with everything from freezer malfunctions to theft. To help inform the increasingly important issue of protection from, and recovery after, disasters, Biopreservation and Biobanking put forth the question to our community of experts: How is your biobank handling disaster recovery efforts? Following is a selection of responses. Additionally, please see the Supplementary Information for contingency planning recommendations for biobanks and a threats assessment checklist from Intelsius ( supplementary material can be accessed from the online article at www.liebertpub.com/bio ).

A cognitive training intervention improves modality-specific attention in a randomized controlled trial of healthy older adults.

Age-related deficits in cognitive and sensory function can result in increased distraction from background sensory stimuli. This randomized controlled trial investigated the effects of a cognitive training intervention aimed at helping healthy older adults suppress irrelevant auditory and visual stimuli. Sixty-six participants received 8 weeks of either the modality-specific attention training program or an educational lecture control program. Participants who completed the intervention program had larger improvements in modality-specific selective attention following training than controls. These improvements also correlated with reductions in bimodal integration during selective attention. Further, the intervention group showed larger improvements than the control group in non-trained domains such as processing speed and dual-task completion, demonstrating the utility of modality-specific attention training for improving cognitive function in healthy older adults.