No abstract

The practice of travelling abroad to receive unproven and unregulated stem cell treatments has become an increasingly problematic global phenomenon known as 'stem cell tourism'. In this paper, we examine representations of nine major clinics and providers of such treatments on the microblogging network Twitter. We collected and conducted a content analysis of Twitter posts (n = 363) by these establishments and by other users mentioning them, focusing specifically on marketing claims about treatment procedures and outcomes, discussions of safety and efficacy of stem cell transplants, and specific representations of patients' experiences. Our analysis has shown that there were explicit claims or suggestions of benefits associated with unproven stem cell treatments in approximately one third of the tweets and that patients' experiences, whenever referenced, were presented as invariably positive and as testimonials about the efficacy of stem cell transplants. Furthermore, the results indicated that the tone of most tweets (60.2 %) was overwhelmingly positive and there were rarely critical discussions about significant health risks associated with unproven stem cell therapies. When placed in the context of past research on the problems associated with the marketing of unproven stem cell therapies, this analysis of representations on Twitter suggests that discussions in social media have also remained largely uncritical of the stem cell tourism phenomenon, with inaccurate representations of risks and benefits for patients.

Although utility analysis (UA) could be an important tool to show the utility of human resource (HR) activities, little is known about its usage. Only Macan and Highhouse (1994) showed that it is used by nearly half of the surveyed US industrial/organizational psychologists and HR professionals. As an extended and refined update of this study, we surveyed Swiss HR managers about their UA usage. Furthermore, we tried to replicate the predictors of the attitude toward UA indicated by Macan and Highhouse’s exploratory results, and used previous theorizing to add predictors. The results revealed that only 8% HR managers used UA. The demand for utility information, the plausibility of UA, and the nonuse of other utility approaches were significant predictors.

EnACT welcomes participation from both the stem cell and cell therapy communities, recognizing that there is significant overlap in these fields, that the challenges are similar and that many translational researchers and companies work with multiple cell types."Enabling advanced cell therapies (EnACT): invitation to an online forum on resolving barriers to clinical translation Stem cell (SC) therapies hold the promise of improved outcome for diseases and conditions for which there are currently limited or no treatment options [1]. As research advances towards the clinic, it becomes increasingly important to reduce significant organizational and institutional barriers to progress. Barriers include: ensuring that essential knowledge flows to those who need it; developing precompetitive tools to assist in therapeutic development; facilitating regulatory assessment; and effectively managing intellectual assets in a highly collaborative and networked field. These barriers may be overcome by pre-emptive and effective public policy guided by a realistic assessment of these barriers to translational research [2][3][4].In this editorial, we introduce EnACTan online forum to be opened on 15 October 2012 for international translational cell therapy research communities to address solutions to key nonscience barriers (Figure 1). EnACT welcomes participation from both the SC and cell therapy communities, recognizing that there is significant overlap in these fields, that the challenges are similar and that many translational researchers and companies work with multiple cell types. However, the focus is on translational SC research. We will seed EnACT with issues identified in 22 key informant interviews conducted in Canada and the USA in 2011-2012, as well as from policy reports and other publications. If additional barriers are identified, they will be added to EnACT, allowing participants to comment and propose solutions.EnACT will be structured to recognize the complexity and diversity of products and procedures that may be characterized as SC-based therapies [5,6]. Some therapies comprise the direct Keywords: business models n commercialization n ethics n incentives n intellectual property rights n public policy n regulation n stem cell therapy