Wednesday, August 3, 2022
No Result
View All Result
Asbarez.com
NEWSLETTER
ՀԱՅ
  • Home
  • Top Stories
  • Community
  • Arts & Culture
    • Art
    • Books
    • Music
    • Theatre
    • Critics’ Forum
  • Op-Ed
    • Editorial
    • Opinon
    • Letters
  • Columns
    • By Any Means
    • My Turn
    • Three Apples
    • Community Links
    • Critics’ Forum
    • My Name is Armen
    • Living in Armenia
  • Videos
  • Sports
  • Home
  • Top Stories
  • Community
  • Arts & Culture
    • Art
    • Books
    • Music
    • Theatre
    • Critics’ Forum
  • Op-Ed
    • Editorial
    • Opinon
    • Letters
  • Columns
    • By Any Means
    • My Turn
    • Three Apples
    • Community Links
    • Critics’ Forum
    • My Name is Armen
    • Living in Armenia
  • Videos
  • Sports
No Result
View All Result
Asbarez.com
ՀԱՅ
No Result
View All Result

Watertown Hosts ABMDR Lecture on Stem Cell Harvesting Center

by Contributor
March 6, 2015
in Featured Story, Latest, News, Top Stories
0
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Dr. Frieda Jordan during her lecture at the Armenian Cultural and Educational Center.

Event is followed by ABMDR Boston Support Group appreciation evening

WATERTOWN—On February 27, Dr. Frieda Jordan, president of the Armenian Bone Marrow Donor Registry (ABMDR), delivered a much-anticipated lecture in Watertown, Massachusetts, at the Armenian Cultural and Educational Center (ACEC).

Dr. Jordan’s presentation was dedicated to the registry’s Stem Cell Harvesting Center in Yerevan and its pioneering and ongoing work in bringing cutting-edge molecular technologies to Armenia. The lecture was organized by the Armenian-American Medical Association (AAMA) and the Armenian Biotech Group of the Greater Boston Area, and sponsored by ACEC and the ABMDR New England Support Group.

In his opening remarks, ACEC president Dr. George Bashirians welcomed the attendees, who included doctors and medical professionals, the ABMDR New England Support Group, and numerous members of the local Armenian community, including representatives of various organizations and churches. Dr. Bashirians invited AMAA president Dr. Armen Arslanian as well as Dr. Ashot Papoyan, director of the Armenian Biotech Group of the Greater Boston Area, to introduce their respective organizations.

Dr. Frieda Jordan with event organizers and supporters, including Armenian Cultural and Educational Center president George Bashirians, PhD (fifth from left), ABMDR Board member Alvart Badalian (third from right), Armenian Biotech Group of Greater Boston Area president Ashot Papoyan, PhD (second from right), and Armenian-American Medical Association president Armen Arslanian, MD (far right).

Subsequently Dr. Arslanian, who also served as the event’s master of ceremonies, introduced Dr. Jordan. As she presented the history and life-saving mission of ABMDR’s Stem Cell Harvesting Center, Dr. Jordan spoke at length about the facility’s unique work in immunogenetics, including cord-blood banking, as well as diversification into various therapeutic treatments. In the past several years, Dr. Jordan said, the Stem Cell Harvesting Center has had an instrumental role in saving Armenian and non-Armenian patients’ lives by facilitating bone marrow stem cell transplants.

Dr. Jordan followed her lecture with a highly informative Q&A session. Afterwards ten attendees joined the ranks of ABMDR as potential bone marrow donors, and a reception was held in the ACEC hall.

Dr. Jordan stated that she hoped to see increased collaboration between ABMDR and other professional organizations. She also thanked Carolyn Mugar and Ara Nazarian for sponsoring the purchase of a specialized microscope for the ABMDR adipose tissue research project, which is currently being implemented at the Stem Cell Harvesting Center.

Commenting on the success of the event, Dr. George Bashirians said, “It was heartwarming to have patients and patients’ families among the attendees. They totally appreciated the life-saving activities of ABMDR and encouraged everyone to get more involved and build up their families’ ‘insurance policies’ by helping increase the size of the registry, just in case in the future they need to find a bone marrow stem cell donor among its ranks.”

Yeretskeen Natasha Aljalian addressing the attendees at the ABMDR volunteer-appreciation evening.

The following evening, Dr. Jordan joined ABMDR volunteers and the New England Support Group for a volunteer-appreciation event, hosted by Mr. and Mrs. Kegham and Rubina Varjabedian at their home in Boston. During the celebratory event, Dr. Jordan answered questions regarding the current work and future goals of the registry while members of the Support Group discussed upcoming activities in New England.

One of the highlights of the evening was a talk delivered by Yeretskeen Natasha Aljalian of St. James Armenian Church of Watertown, whose young son, Gabriel, has been battling leukemia. “ABMDR is a crucial life-saving organization,” Aljalian said. “Its work is so important — for Armenian children like our son Gabriel, who at the age of 3 began his battle against leukemia, and also for all Armenians fighting other blood cancers or disorders. We never expected leukemia to knock on our door. Sadly it will knock on other doors, including Armenian ones. Thankfully, Gabriel, now 6, is in remission and has completed his years of treatment. But for so many — and frankly for our own child should he relapse — ABMDR is the primary hope to save their lives. I only wish people would truly understand the scope, and importance, of supporting its remarkable work.”

Dr. Jordan presents the ABMDR Volunteer of the Year Award to Marilyn Bazarian of the New England Support Group.

Toward the conclusion of the evening, Dr. Jordan presented the ABMDR New England Volunteer of the Year Award to Marilyn Bazarian for her outstanding dedication. As she accepted the award, Bazarian said, “I am honored to have been chosen as a Volunteer of the Year. However, this really is a team award. Without the new England Support Group and the Walkathon team members, I would not have been able to achieve one-tenth of what has been achieved. So to all of you, this is your award and I thank you all for your hard work and support.”

The ABMDR New England Support Group will hold its fourth annual walkathon, Walk of Life, in mid-September.

About the Armenian Bone Marrow Donor Registry: Established in 1999, ABMDR, a nonprofit organization, helps Armenians and non-Armenians worldwide survive life-threatening blood-related illnesses by recruiting and matching donors to those requiring bone marrow stem cell transplants. To date, the registry has recruited over 26,000 donors in 24 countries across four continents, identified 2,482 patients, and facilitated 20 bone marrow transplants.

For more information, call (323) 663-3609 or visit abmdr.am.

Contributor

Contributor

Next Post

Stepanakert Says Seven Azeri Servicemen Killed Overnight

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recommended

Through Use of Force, Azerbaijan is Forcing Concessions from Artsakh, Says Human Rights Defender

Through Use of Force, Azerbaijan is Forcing Concessions from Artsakh, Says Human Rights Defender

5 hours ago
Russia Again Blames Azerbaijan for Ceasefire Violation

Russia Again Blames Azerbaijan for Ceasefire Violation

7 hours ago

Connect with us

  • About
  • Advertising
  • Subscribe
  • Contact

© 2021 Asbarez | All Rights Reserved | Powered By MSDN Solutions Inc.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Top Stories
  • Community
  • Arts & Culture
    • Art
    • Books
    • Music
    • Theatre
    • Critics’ Forum
  • Op-Ed
    • Editorial
    • Opinon
    • Letters
  • Columns
    • By Any Means
    • My Turn
    • Three Apples
    • Community Links
    • Critics’ Forum
    • My Name is Armen
    • Living in Armenia
  • Videos
  • Sports

© 2021 Asbarez | All Rights Reserved | Powered By MSDN Solutions Inc.

Accessibility

Accessibility modes

Epilepsy Safe Mode
Dampens color and removes blinks
This mode enables people with epilepsy to use the website safely by eliminating the risk of seizures that result from flashing or blinking animations and risky color combinations.
Visually Impaired Mode
Improves website's visuals
This mode adjusts the website for the convenience of users with visual impairments such as Degrading Eyesight, Tunnel Vision, Cataract, Glaucoma, and others.
Cognitive Disability Mode
Helps to focus on specific content
This mode provides different assistive options to help users with cognitive impairments such as Dyslexia, Autism, CVA, and others, to focus on the essential elements of the website more easily.
ADHD Friendly Mode
Reduces distractions and improve focus
This mode helps users with ADHD and Neurodevelopmental disorders to read, browse, and focus on the main website elements more easily while significantly reducing distractions.
Blindness Mode
Allows using the site with your screen-reader
This mode configures the website to be compatible with screen-readers such as JAWS, NVDA, VoiceOver, and TalkBack. A screen-reader is software for blind users that is installed on a computer and smartphone, and websites must be compatible with it.

Online Dictionary

    Readable Experience

    Content Scaling
    Default
    Text Magnifier
    Readable Font
    Dyslexia Friendly
    Highlight Titles
    Highlight Links
    Font Sizing
    Default
    Line Height
    Default
    Letter Spacing
    Default
    Left Aligned
    Center Aligned
    Right Aligned

    Visually Pleasing Experience

    Dark Contrast
    Light Contrast
    Monochrome
    High Contrast
    High Saturation
    Low Saturation
    Adjust Text Colors
    Adjust Title Colors
    Adjust Background Colors

    Easy Orientation

    Mute Sounds
    Hide Images
    Virtual Keyboard
    Reading Guide
    Stop Animations
    Reading Mask
    Highlight Hover
    Highlight Focus
    Big Dark Cursor
    Big Light Cursor
    Navigation Keys

    Asbarez.com Accessibility Statement

    Accessibility Statement

    • www.asbarez.com
    • August 3, 2022

    Compliance status

    We firmly believe that the internet should be available and accessible to anyone, and are committed to providing a website that is accessible to the widest possible audience, regardless of circumstance and ability.

    To fulfill this, we aim to adhere as strictly as possible to the World Wide Web Consortium’s (W3C) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 (WCAG 2.1) at the AA level. These guidelines explain how to make web content accessible to people with a wide array of disabilities. Complying with those guidelines helps us ensure that the website is accessible to all people: blind people, people with motor impairments, visual impairment, cognitive disabilities, and more.

    This website utilizes various technologies that are meant to make it as accessible as possible at all times. We utilize an accessibility interface that allows persons with specific disabilities to adjust the website’s UI (user interface) and design it to their personal needs.

    Additionally, the website utilizes an AI-based application that runs in the background and optimizes its accessibility level constantly. This application remediates the website’s HTML, adapts Its functionality and behavior for screen-readers used by the blind users, and for keyboard functions used by individuals with motor impairments.

    If you’ve found a malfunction or have ideas for improvement, we’ll be happy to hear from you. You can reach out to the website’s operators by using the following email

    Screen-reader and keyboard navigation

    Our website implements the ARIA attributes (Accessible Rich Internet Applications) technique, alongside various different behavioral changes, to ensure blind users visiting with screen-readers are able to read, comprehend, and enjoy the website’s functions. As soon as a user with a screen-reader enters your site, they immediately receive a prompt to enter the Screen-Reader Profile so they can browse and operate your site effectively. Here’s how our website covers some of the most important screen-reader requirements, alongside console screenshots of code examples:

    1. Screen-reader optimization: we run a background process that learns the website’s components from top to bottom, to ensure ongoing compliance even when updating the website. In this process, we provide screen-readers with meaningful data using the ARIA set of attributes. For example, we provide accurate form labels; descriptions for actionable icons (social media icons, search icons, cart icons, etc.); validation guidance for form inputs; element roles such as buttons, menus, modal dialogues (popups), and others. Additionally, the background process scans all of the website’s images and provides an accurate and meaningful image-object-recognition-based description as an ALT (alternate text) tag for images that are not described. It will also extract texts that are embedded within the image, using an OCR (optical character recognition) technology. To turn on screen-reader adjustments at any time, users need only to press the Alt+1 keyboard combination. Screen-reader users also get automatic announcements to turn the Screen-reader mode on as soon as they enter the website.

      These adjustments are compatible with all popular screen readers, including JAWS and NVDA.

    2. Keyboard navigation optimization: The background process also adjusts the website’s HTML, and adds various behaviors using JavaScript code to make the website operable by the keyboard. This includes the ability to navigate the website using the Tab and Shift+Tab keys, operate dropdowns with the arrow keys, close them with Esc, trigger buttons and links using the Enter key, navigate between radio and checkbox elements using the arrow keys, and fill them in with the Spacebar or Enter key.Additionally, keyboard users will find quick-navigation and content-skip menus, available at any time by clicking Alt+1, or as the first elements of the site while navigating with the keyboard. The background process also handles triggered popups by moving the keyboard focus towards them as soon as they appear, and not allow the focus drift outside of it.

      Users can also use shortcuts such as “M” (menus), “H” (headings), “F” (forms), “B” (buttons), and “G” (graphics) to jump to specific elements.

    Disability profiles supported in our website

    • Epilepsy Safe Mode: this profile enables people with epilepsy to use the website safely by eliminating the risk of seizures that result from flashing or blinking animations and risky color combinations.
    • Visually Impaired Mode: this mode adjusts the website for the convenience of users with visual impairments such as Degrading Eyesight, Tunnel Vision, Cataract, Glaucoma, and others.
    • Cognitive Disability Mode: this mode provides different assistive options to help users with cognitive impairments such as Dyslexia, Autism, CVA, and others, to focus on the essential elements of the website more easily.
    • ADHD Friendly Mode: this mode helps users with ADHD and Neurodevelopmental disorders to read, browse, and focus on the main website elements more easily while significantly reducing distractions.
    • Blindness Mode: this mode configures the website to be compatible with screen-readers such as JAWS, NVDA, VoiceOver, and TalkBack. A screen-reader is software for blind users that is installed on a computer and smartphone, and websites must be compatible with it.
    • Keyboard Navigation Profile (Motor-Impaired): this profile enables motor-impaired persons to operate the website using the keyboard Tab, Shift+Tab, and the Enter keys. Users can also use shortcuts such as “M” (menus), “H” (headings), “F” (forms), “B” (buttons), and “G” (graphics) to jump to specific elements.

    Additional UI, design, and readability adjustments

    1. Font adjustments – users, can increase and decrease its size, change its family (type), adjust the spacing, alignment, line height, and more.
    2. Color adjustments – users can select various color contrast profiles such as light, dark, inverted, and monochrome. Additionally, users can swap color schemes of titles, texts, and backgrounds, with over 7 different coloring options.
    3. Animations – epileptic users can stop all running animations with the click of a button. Animations controlled by the interface include videos, GIFs, and CSS flashing transitions.
    4. Content highlighting – users can choose to emphasize important elements such as links and titles. They can also choose to highlight focused or hovered elements only.
    5. Audio muting – users with hearing devices may experience headaches or other issues due to automatic audio playing. This option lets users mute the entire website instantly.
    6. Cognitive disorders – we utilize a search engine that is linked to Wikipedia and Wiktionary, allowing people with cognitive disorders to decipher meanings of phrases, initials, slang, and others.
    7. Additional functions – we provide users the option to change cursor color and size, use a printing mode, enable a virtual keyboard, and many other functions.

    Browser and assistive technology compatibility

    We aim to support the widest array of browsers and assistive technologies as possible, so our users can choose the best fitting tools for them, with as few limitations as possible. Therefore, we have worked very hard to be able to support all major systems that comprise over 95% of the user market share including Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, Opera and Microsoft Edge, JAWS and NVDA (screen readers), both for Windows and for MAC users.

    Notes, comments, and feedback

    Despite our very best efforts to allow anybody to adjust the website to their needs, there may still be pages or sections that are not fully accessible, are in the process of becoming accessible, or are lacking an adequate technological solution to make them accessible. Still, we are continually improving our accessibility, adding, updating and improving its options and features, and developing and adopting new technologies. All this is meant to reach the optimal level of accessibility, following technological advancements. For any assistance, please reach out to