Brain Transplantation Research Articles

The Role of Stem Cell Therapies in the Treatment of Neurodegenerative Diseases.

Cellular replacement therapy and genetic transfer in injured brains provide new pathways for treating human neurological illnesses. Current progress in the field focuses on the production of neurons and glial cells from many types of stem cells, such as embryonic, induced pluripotent, mesenchymal, and neural stem cells. This has led to a significant increase in research on brain transplantation treatments. Extended neurodegeneration results in the progressive decline of certain neuronal subtypes or whole neuronal cells. An analysis of the progress made in induced pluripotent and mesenchymal stem cells reveals their significant promise in disease modeling, regeneration, and medication screening. The requirement for stem cells in neurodegenerative disease studies has been crucial in recent years. Stem cells provide the potential for replacing impaired neurons, comprehending disease needs modeling, and creating efficient treatments, but they have many challenges in culturing and acceptability to the host immune cells. The need to use their potential in discovering novel therapies for diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis leads to promising therapy. This review examines the function of stem cells in the pathogenesis and treatment of Huntington's disease, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, and multiple sclerosis. This review further examines hurdles such as immunological reactions and delivery systems intending to overcome these problems. This article offers a detailed viewpoint on the use of stem cell-based nanotherapies as revolutionary treatments for various neurological illnesses.

Engineering of Rhesus Monkey Pluripotent Stem Cells for Noninvasive Survey and Remote Control after Brain Allotransplantation

Advanced technologies of targeted differentiation and genetic engineering in pluripotent stem cells (PSCs) offer production of purposefully designed cells for transplantation. Here, we engineer rhesus monkey PSCs (rhPSCs) to produce safe and functional neural progenitors and neurons, which could be noninvasively surveyed and controlled after brain transplantation. RhPSCs expressing hM3Dq-mCherry exhibited normal karyotype and had the ability to equally self-renew and differentiate into functional neurons as that of the mCherry expressing control. After allotransplantation into monkey prefrontal cortex, the hM3Dq-mCherry expressing rhPSC-derived cortical progenitors survived and matured gradually, which could be long-term surveyed by [18F]-Fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography ([18F]FDG-PET) and electroencephalogram (EEG) following clozapine-N-oxide (CNO) administration. Remote activation of transplanted neurons caused increased [18F]-Fluorodeoxyglucose uptake started at 3 months and reached a plateau 9-12 months post-transplantation. EEG analysis revealed a decrease in the high delta spectrum power while an increase in the beta power after CNO delivery. Notably, no seizure-like spikes were observed even after repeated CNO exposure. Magnetic resonance (MR) imaging found no overgrowth in all allografts. Expression of herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase (HSVtk), a Ganciclovir (GCV)-induced suicide gene in rhPSCs further assured the safety without sacrificing the functional outcome of brain grafts. Our study offers a feasible strategy for long-term noninvasive survey and remote control of brain-grafted neurons.

Brain Death, Organ Donation, and Transplantation: The Precious Gift of Restoring Life.

Brain Death, Organ Donation, and Transplantation: The Precious Gift of Restoring Life.

Introduction

Introduction to Filozofski vestnik 44/2 (2023), special issue, The Body in The Field of Tensions between Biopolitics and Necropolitics: Analyzing the Future of the Prosthetic Body in the 21st Century, ed. Marina Gržinić and Jovita Pristovšek.

Brain Death and Organ Transplantation in Nepal: Navigating Cultural, Legal, and Ethical Landscapes.

Organ transplantation after brain death is challenging in Nepal due to cultural beliefs, legal frameworks, and ethical considerations. The Human Body Organ Transplantation (Regulation and Prohibition) Act (HBOTA) has not met with substantial success after its amendment. This review critically appraises the current state of brain death and organ transplantation in Nepal. It explores challenges, evaluates progress, and provides recommendations. Literature review of databases was conducted to find articles on brain death, organ donation, and transplantation in Nepal. Analysis of cultural, legal, ethical, and practical factors influencing implementation. Key challenges include limited awareness, religious beliefs, infrastructure gaps, and family consent barriers. HBOTA amendments in 2016 enabled brain death donations, however, donation rates remain low. Strategies are needed to improve public education, resources, personnel training, and collaboration. Cultural sensitivity and stakeholder engagement are crucial. A multifaceted approach addressing cultural, legal, ethical and practical dimensions is essential to improve organ donation rates in Nepal. Despite progress, substantial challenges persist requiring evidence-based strategies focused on awareness, capacity building, policy improvements, and culturally appropriate community engagement.

Thought experiments, sentience, and animalism

Animalism is prima facie the most plausible view about what we are; it aligns better with science and common sense, and is metaphysically more parsimonious. Thought experiments involving the brain, however, tend to elicit intuitions contrary to animalism. In this paper, I examine two classical thought experiments from the literature, brain transplant and cerebrum transplant, and a new one, cerebrum regeneration. I argue that they are theoretically possible, but that a scientifically informed account of what would actually happen shows that in none of the cases would the person be separated from the animal. Our intuitions in these cases, when adequately informed by neuroscience, do not conflict with animalism – rather, they suggest a correction of the animalist position: the persisting animal should be at least minimally sentient. Sentience animalism is a new formulation of the animalist account of personal identity that allows us to reconcile facts about our biological persistence conditions with the intuition that human persistence should involve some kind of psychological continuity.

Perceived similarity explains beliefs about possibility.

No one has ever performed a successful brain transplant or traveled the Milky Way, but people often see these events as within the realm of possibility. Across six preregistered experiments (N = 1,472) we explore whether American adults' beliefs about possibility are driven by perceptions of similarity to known events. We find that people's confidence in the possibility of hypothetical future events is strongly predicted by how similar they think the events are to events that have already happened. We find that perceived similarity explains possibility ratings better than how desirable people think the events are, or how morally good or bad they think it would be to accomplish them. We also show that similarity to past events is a better predictor of people's beliefs about future possibilities than counterfactual similarity or similarity to events in fiction. We find mixed evidence regarding whether prompting participants to consider similarity shifts their beliefs about possibility. Our findings suggest that people may reflexively use memories of known events to guide their inferences about what is possible. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

P02.02.B LOSS OF ELAVL2 PROMOTES MAINTENANCE AND TUMORIGENIC COMPETENCE IN GLIOBLASTOMA

Abstract BACKGROUND IDH1 wild type glioblastoma (GBM) is the most frequent and aggressive brain tumor in adults. It has been proven that it is driven by glioma stem cells (GSCs) that govern tumor growth and determine treatment resistance. GSCs transit between active and quiescent states, whose balance is likely dependent on both cell-autonomous and microenvironmental signals. MATERIAL AND METHODS transgenic cell lines were produced by retroviral infection following standard protocols, as well as zebrafish growths and orthotopic mouse brain transplants. Transgenic Drosophila lines were crossed with conventional procedures. Phenotypic evaluations, iClip protocol were conducted with standard methods as well. RESULTS in our study, we identified the gene ELAVL2, encoding the HuB protein, as commonly lost in GBM. We demonstrated that the ELAVL2 deletion occurs collaterally with the CDKN2A/B deletion, very close in the 9p21 region, but it is also present as an independent event. Rescue of HuB expression on a panel of ELAVL2-null GSCs affects their invasive ability and shifts their cell state toward differentiation, with loss of self-renewal and multipotency. A reduction in the proportion of quiescent cells determines an increased cytotoxicity of the drug temozolomide (TMZ).We validated these results in vivo, in two different animal models, showing that the tumorigenic potential of xenotransplanted ELAVL2-rescued GSCs is greatly reduced with respect to the ELAVL2-null GSCs in zebrafish and in the mice brain. We also analyzed the effects of ELAVL2 silencing, through RNAi, in a GBM genetic model in D. melanogaster, observing an increased brain volume when Rbp9, the ELAVL2 ortholog in Drosophila, is silenced. Profiling of HuB target mRNAs in GSCs highlighted genes associated with PTEN and stem cells related pathways. PTEN is upregulated in ELAVL2-rescued GSCs and mediates part of the effects of HuB, as PTEN knock-down in the same cells interferes with cell growth and TMZ-sensitivity. In our Rbp9-silenced Drosophila genetic model PTEN overexpression rescues the Rbp9 phenotype, reducing brain volume. CONCLUSION our results, both in vitro and in vivo, indicate that ELAVL2 acts as a tumor suppressor in GBM and its selective loss increases the fitness of GSCs, thus resulting in increased GBM aggressiveness. ELAVL2 promotes activation and neuronal commitment of quiescent GSCs and PTEN is one of the mediators of ELAVL2 in tumor development.

Determination Of Awareness and Knowledge Level on Brain Death, Organ Donation and Transplantation in Intensive Careers in Konya

Aim: It is shown that there is a lack of social and individual information on organ transplantation and donation, and as a result, organ donation is not sufficient due to social and individual insensitivity. In our study, we aimed to evaluate the level of awareness, attitude and knowledge about brain death, organ donation and transplantation in intensive care workers of hospitals in xxxx.
 Materials and Methods: A total of 219 healthcare professionals, 144 nurses and 75 doctors, who agreed to meet face-to-face with the researcher, who were working in xxxx province state hospitals, university hospitals and private hospital intensive care units, were included in the study. The data of the study were collected using the 'Data Collection Form', which was created as a result of the literature review and includes demographic information.
 Results: A total of 219 health care workers participated in the study with 144 (65.8%) intensive care nurses and 75 (34.2%) intensive care physicians. There was an organ donation card of 13.2% (n: 29) of the participants. There were 16,7% (n: 24) nurses and 6,7% (n: 5) doctor donation cards in doctors. In the case of brain death, 56.9% of participants wanted their organs to be donated. In the case of brain death, 58.7 of those who did not accept organ donation did not feel ready. 21% (n: 46) previously participated in organ / tissue donation and transplantation, 16.9% (n: 37) previously participated in brain death related trainings. Among the doctors who participated in the study 37.8% (n: 28) Electroencephalography (74%) and Radionuclide Cerebral Scintigraphy (62%) are the most common supportive tests used for the diagnosis of brain death.
 Discusion: Nursing and doctors' support of tissue / organ donation and transportation does not affect having donation card. There is no significant difference between the general knowledge levels of anesthesia and other branch physicians about brain death, but anesthesia doctors have been found to be more experienced in diagnosing brain death. We believe that the positive attitudes of the intensive care workers on this subject and the sufficient level of knowledge will positively affect the amount of organ donation.

Knowledge of Technical Nursing Professionals About the Subject of Brain Death and the Process of OrganDonation and Transplantation

Background: The low percentage of effective organ donations result from challenges encountered by the team in identifying and maintaining potential donors, the need for knowledge regarding the subject, and the health system’s structural adversities. It is the role of nursing to act actively throughout the family decision-making process, expanding the focus beyond the donation of organs and tissues, respecting the suffering of the family and providing integrated care to those involved. Objective: This study aims to verify the knowledge of technical nursing professionals working in an intensive care unit about brain death, organ donation, and transplantation. Method: A cross-sectional study in which the nursing technicians personnel from the General Adult Intensive Care Unit of a university hospital were interviewed and invited to answer a questionnaire containing demographic variables (age and gender), work (work shift, workload, another job, time in the position and if you have already witnessed the performance of a clinical test, and complementary examination of brain death), and the questions related to the process of organ donation and brain death, with descriptive and multiple choice questions. Result: A total of 137 nursing technicians were included in the study, predominantly female (80%). Of these, 97 (71%) did not consider themselves capable of answering questions about organ donation and transplants. When questioned about participation in events and training that addressed the subject of brain death, organ donation and transplants, 112 employees (82%) had never participated. When asked about “which professionals can diagnose brain death?,” 26% correctly answered the professional who is qualified to perform the diagnosis of brain death. Ninety percent of the study participants correctly stated that you must notify your family to be a donor. However, 50% of the technicians believe that it is necessary to register with an identification document valid in the country. Erroneously, 79% of the interviewees answered that it would not be required for the patient to be on mechanical ventilation to start the investigation of brain death. Conclusion: We concluded that there is a deficit in the knowledge of nursing technicians in intensive care units of the referred hospital regarding brain death and organ donation for transplantation.

IPSCs-Derived Neurons and Brain Organoids from Patients.

Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) can be differentiated into specific neurons and brain organoids by adding induction factors and small molecules in vitro, which carry human genetic information and recapitulate the development process of human brain as well as physiological, pathological, and pharmacological characteristics. Hence, iPSC-derived neurons and organoids hold great promise for studying human brain development and related nervous system diseases in vitro, and provide a platform for drug screening. In this chapter, we summarize the development of the differentiation techniques for neurons and brain organoids from iPSCs, and their applications in studying brain disease, drug screening, and transplantation.

Brain transplantation of genetically corrected Sanfilippo type B neural stem cells induces partial cross-correction of the disease

Sanfilippo syndrome type B (mucopolysaccharidosis type IIIB) is a recessive genetic disorder that severely affects the brain due to a deficiency in the enzyme α-N-acetylglucosaminidase (NAGLU), leading to intra-lysosomal accumulation of partially degraded heparan sulfate. There are no effective treatments for this disorder. In this project, we carried out an exvivo correction of neural stem cells derived from Naglu -/- mice (iNSCs) induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) using a modified enzyme in which human NAGLU is fused to an insulin-like growth factor II receptor binding peptide in order to improve enzyme uptake. After brain transplantation of corrected iNSCs into Naglu -/- mice and long-term evaluation of their impact, we successfully detected NAGLU-IGFII activity in all transplanted animals. We found decreased lysosomal accumulation and reduced astrocytosis and microglial activation throughout transplanted brains. We also identified a novel neuropathological phenotype in untreated Naglu -/- brains with decreased levels of the neuronal marker Map2 and accumulation of synaptophysin-positive aggregates. Upon transplantation, we restored levels of Map2 expression and significantly reduced formation of synaptophysin-positive aggregates. Our findings suggest that genetically engineered iNSCs can be used to effectively deliver the missing enzyme to the brain and treat Sanfilippo type B-associated neuropathology.

Book Review: Prosthetic Body Parts in Nineteenth-Century Literature and Culture by Ryan Sweet

Book Review: <i>Prosthetic Body Parts in Nineteenth-Century Literature and Culture</i> by Ryan Sweet

Thermophysical Properties and Heat Transfer Performance of Novel Dry-Ice-Based Sustainable Hybrid Lubri-Coolant

It is a well-known fact that the consumption of conventional cutting fluids in metalworking industries leads to severe health and environmental issues. Owing to the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) increasing regulations regarding pollution and contamination, there is a dire need for a greener fluid with excellent cooling and lubrication characteristics to diminish the environmental impact of cutting fluids, as well as to improve machinability. Cryogens are greener and excellent coolants but poor lubricants, while ester oils are excellent lubricants and poor coolants. Therefore, a hybrid lubri-coolant cutting fluid with synergistic cooling and lubrication characteristics could be a desideratum to replace conventional cutting fluid. To investigate a newly proposed hybrid lubri-coolant, thermophysical properties (density, thermal conductivity, specific heat, and viscosity), heat transfer properties (surface temperature, heat flux, and heat transfer coefficient), and machinability properties (tool life, etc.) are key characteristics of the fluids that decide phase change and heat dissipation capabilities during their application in machining. In the current experimental study, hybrid ethanol–ester oils with/without dry ice (−78 °C) are proposed as cutting fluids and holistically investigated in terms of thermo-physical properties, heat transfer properties, and machinability properties under different cutting conditions. Experimental findings have depicted a 20%, 10%, and 5% decrease in density, specific heat, and viscosity, respectively, with a 15% increase in the thermal conductivity of the fluid with the addition of dry ice. The dry-ice-based hybrid lubri-coolant sprayed onto a Ti-6Al-4V plate enhanced the heat transfer coefficient significantly by 17% compared to hybrid lubri-coolant without dry ice. Besides, hybrid ethanol–ester oil dry ice was treated as a trendsetter and indicated an 11% improvement of the tool life at a cutting speed of 75 m/min and a feed rate of 0.04 mm/z. Therefore, dry-ice-based hybrid lubri-coolant can be applied as a cutting fluid by practitioners in aerospace, automotive, prosthetic body parts manufacturing, and manufacturing industries.

PROTOTYPE OF 3D PRINTING ON RIBCAGE

Medical 3D printing is emerging as a clinically relevant imaging tool in Directing preoperative and intraoperative planning in many surgical specialties and will therefore likely lead to interdisciplinary collaboration between engineers, radiologists, and surgeons. 3D printer technology is one of the innovations brought by the industrial age. It has been in our lives for many years. This miracle manufacturing method has been frequently preferred for medical applications in recent years. The main aim of this project is to minimise the time and cost for the design and manufacturing of the prosthesis. Getting the DICOM file from the MRI or CT scan which gives the body part dimensions (or) views of the body part in different directions . AUTODESK MESHMIXER and 3D SLICER software’s are used to extract and design the 3D prosthetic body part in this project, flexible Biomaterial is gone to be used for the flexibility in the respiration process. There are a lot uses of 3D printing technology in surgery, pharmaceutical industry, disease modelling, development of customized implants and prostheses, organ printing, vet medicine and tissue engineering applications have been explained and this new method compared with traditional methods that used in the biomedical field. In addition, this study includes future opportunities that are expected to become widespread and developed in the future. Keywords: 3D Printing, DICOM File, AUTODESK MESHMIXER, 3D Slicer.

The Future of the Literary Text in the Posthuman Condition

Posthuman” does not mean after human or beyond human. It is only a reconfiguration of what it means to be human in the rapidly changing technological scenario. Though the Enlightenment concept of the human as autonomous, as a rational creature who by the use of the faculty of reason, can give any shape to the self as s/he wishes, has been discredited by Darwin’s theory of evolution, Marx’s dialectical materialism, and Freud’s psychoanalysis, yet the biological and the technological world had not infringed upon the human, thereby reducing all claims of autonomy to sarcasm, as they do in the present era. The posthuman denotes, Cary Wolfe says, “the embodiment and embeddedness of the human being is not just its biological but also its technological world (Qtd Seldon etal 284). N. Katherine Haylesin How We Became Posthuman: Virtual Bodie in Cybernetics, Literature and Informatics (1999) contends that normal human beings become post-human by using prosthetic body parts adopting computer technologies. Donna Haraway has indeed conceived of the humans as cyborgs who are part human and part machine, the machine being a prosthetic extension of the human. In this age of Information Technology and social media, a natural corollary of the posthuman condition is Digital Humanities: This essay explores how the post human condition and digital humanities impact the interactive composition and interpretation of the literary text.

Exploring the efficacy of tumor electric field therapy against glioblastoma: An in vivo and in vitro study.

AimsTumor electric fields therapy (TTFields) is emerging as a novel anti‐cancer physiotherapy. Despite recent breakthroughs of TTFields in glioma treatment, the average survival time for glioblastoma patients with TTFields is <2 years, even when used in conjugation with traditional anti‐cancer therapies. To optimize TTFields‐afforded efficacy against glioblastoma, we investigated the cancer cell‐killing effects of various TTFields paradigms using in vitro and in vivo models of glioblastoma.MethodsFor in vitro studies, the U251 glioma cell line or primary cell cultures prepared from 20 glioblastoma patients were treated with the tumor electric field treatment (TEFT) system. Cell number, volume, and proliferation were measured after TEFT at different frequencies (100, 150, 180, 200, or 220 kHz), durations (24, 48, or 72 h), field strengths (1.0, 1.5, or 2.2V/cm), and output modes (fixed or random sequence output). A transwell system was used to evaluate the influence of TEFT on the invasiveness of primary glioblastoma cells. For in vivo studies, the therapeutic effect and safety profiles of random sequence electric field therapy in glioblastoma‐transplanted rats were assessed by calculating tumor size and survival time and evaluating peripheral immunobiological and blood parameters, respectively.ResultsIn the in vitro settings, TEFT was robustly effective in suppressing cell proliferation of both the U251 glioma cell line and primary glioblastoma cell cultures. The anti‐proliferation effects of TEFT were frequency‐ and “dose” (field strength and duration)‐dependent, and contingent on the field sequence output mode, with the random sequence mode (TEFT‐R) being more effective than the fixed sequence mode (TEFT‐F). Genetic tests were performed in 11 of 20 primary glioblastoma cultures, and 6 different genetic traits were identified them. However, TEFT exhibited comparable anti‐proliferation effects in all primary cultures regardless of their genetic traits. TEFT also inhibited the invasiveness of primary glioblastoma cells in transwell experiments. In the in vivo rat model of glioblastoma brain transplantation, treatment with TEFT‐F or TEFT‐R at frequency of 200 kHz and field strength of 2.2V/cm for 14 days significantly reduced tumor volume by 42.63% (TEFT‐F vs. control, p = 0.0002) and 63.60% (TEFT‐R vs. control, p < 0.0001), and prolonged animal survival time by 30.15% (TEFT‐F vs. control, p = 0.0415) and 69.85% (TEFT‐R vs. control, p = 0.0064), respectively. The tumor‐bearing rats appeared to be well tolerable to TEFT therapies, showing only moderate increases in blood levels of creatine and red blood cells. Adverse skin reactions were common for TEFT‐treated rats; however, skin reactions were curable by local treatment.ConclusionTumor electric field treatment at optimal frequency, strength, and output mode markedly inhibits the cell viability, proliferation, and invasiveness of primary glioblastoma cells in vitro independent of different genetic traits of the cells. Moreover, a random sequence electric field output confers considerable anti‐cancer effects against glioblastoma in vivo. Thus, TTFields are a promising physiotherapy for glioblastoma and warrants further investigation.

Whole Blood Thiamine in Organ Donors After the Neurologic Determination of Death.

Metabolic resuscitation of organ donors and the attenuation of oxidative stress incurred by organs following brain death and transplantation have the potential to improve organ yield and allograft function. Thiamine (vitamin B1) is a vital coenzyme in both energy metabolism and the production of antioxidants that has not been studied in the donor population. To determine the frequency of subclinical thiamine deficiency in brain-dead organ donors and its correlation with demographics, length of hospitalization, donor management, lactic acidosis, and the requirement for vasoactive support. Prospective cohort study of brain-dead donors managed at a single organ procurement organization's organ recovery facility. A total 64 donors were enrolled; 24 donors had thiamine levels drawn upon arrival and 40 donors had levels drawn at the time of organ procurement. Whole blood thiamine levels were inversely correlated with the time from death (P = .007) and 20% (8/40) of donors had levels below the normal range at the time of organ procurement. Demographic features of the donor were not associated with thiamine levels although longer hospital stays prior to death were associated with lower levels (P < .05). The presence and resolution of lactic acidosis was not associated with whole blood thiamine level. Higher thiamine levels were associated with earlier discontinuation of vasoactive support (P = .04). Whole blood thiamine deficiency was not uncommon at the time of organ procurement. Thiamine may be associated with the requirement for hemodynamic support.

Community-Made Selves

ABSTRACT Conventionalists hold that the sorts of events that one survives—such as teletransportation, or a brain transplant—is at least partly determined by our attitudes. But, if Conventionalism is true, whose attitudes directly determine whether one survives? Do the individual’s attitudes do all of the work, as Private Conventionalists hold, or do the community’s attitudes also contribute, as Public Conventionalists hold? There has recently been a greater push towards Private Conventionalism, while explicit arguments for Public Conventionalism are difficult to find. In this paper, I attempt to rectify the situation by presenting my case for Public Conventionalism.

Does the Media Contribute to Raising Awareness of Organ Donation? Evidence From Brazil

Background: Brazil has the second biggest transplant system in the world. The organ donation rates, however, are still low. To persuade the population towards the theme, media interventions are broadcast regularly. Thus, this article analyses how media intervention in the form of advertising campaigns, telenovelas, and TV news can raise the rates of donations, and then, reduce the shortage of organs in Brazil. Method: We obtained data from the Brazilian Association for Organ Transplantation (ABTO), the Brazilian Health Ministry (HM), the Brazilian Institute for Geography and Statistics (IBGE), Globoplay, and other media sources to build a panel with quarterly data from 2009 to 2019, by state. Then we used fixed-effect panel regression models, with healthcare supply, and demographics as control variables to ascertain the effect of the media variable on organ donations during this period. Findings: The results indicate that media interventions can increase the number of organ donations. The coefficient of media interventions is significant and positive for telenovelas (95% C.I 0.156-0.164), not significant individually for news or government advertising campaigns. It makes telenovela's representations of organ donation an effective tool of awareness. We tested the combinations of the different types of interventions, and the joint effect of telenovelas and news reaches the highest impact on organ donations (99% C.I 0.198-0.208). Some important variables were found significantly related to organ donation as well; as the numbers of brain death notifications (99% C.I 0.113-0.117) and transplant beds (95% C.I 0.153-0.161). Interpretation: Institutional campaigns can learn several strategies from the entertainment media. Empirically, the presence of media interventions in the form of telenovelas impacts organ donation as much as improvements in the healthcare system. This suggests that one of the main problems affecting organ shortage is public opinion, and that opinion is responsive to the right incentives. Funding Information: There was no funding source for this study. Declaration of Interests: We declare no competing interests.