Gene may open door for new sickle cell therapies

piggy submitted, created time 1 month 2 days (www.reuters.com)

U.S. researchers have discovered a gene switch that could lead to better treatments for sickle cell disease and thalassemia, two inherited blood disorders that affect millions of people, they said on Thursday.

Learning how to activate this switch might help doctors direct the body to make healthier blood cells -- in this case, replicating conditions found in the womb.
People with these blood disorders either make too little or abnormal forms of hemoglobin, the protein in red blood cells that is vital for carrying oxygen to the body's tissues

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Stable Blood Sugar Curbs Diabetes Complications

sea-maid submitted, created time 1 month 2 weeks (www.reuters.com)

In people with type 1 diabetes, adequate control of blood sugar over the long haul helps reduce the risk of diabetes-related eye and kidney disease, new data suggest.

The findings stem from a look at 1,441 type one diabetic patients followed for roughly nine years as part of the pivotal Diabetes Control and Complications Trial (DCCT)

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Relationship between glycated haemoglobin levels and mean glucose levels over time

yangqin submitted, created time 1 year 2 months (www.springerlink.com)

Aims/hypothesis HbA1c, expressed as the percentage of adult haemoglobin that is glycated, is the most widely used measure of chronic glycaemia. Achieving near-normal HbA1c levels has been shown to reduce long-term complications and the HbA1c assay is recommended to determine whether treatment is adequate and to guide adjustments. However, daily adjustments of therapy are guided by capillary glucose levels (mmol/l)

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MIT scholars discover key blood protein

Hecate submitted, created time 1 year 2 months (www.eurekalert.org)

Ah, some blood-based news just weeks before Halloween. It seems that a team led by Dr. Jane-Jane Chen of MIT has uncovered a protein, nicknamed HRI for short, that regulates the body's iron recycling system. This may have consequences for people suffering from protoporphyria.

(You will have to click into the article for the full name. This is good news, but I don't want to give myself carpal tunnel syndrome for it.)

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Age-related changes in adaptation to severe anemia in childhood in developing countries

channel submitted, created time 1 year 7 months (www.pnas.org)

Severe forms of anemia in children in the developing countries may be characterized by different clinical manifestations at particular stages of development. Whether this reflects developmental changes in adaptation to anemia or other mechanisms is not clear. The pattern of adaptation to anemia has been assessed in 110 individuals with hemoglobin (Hb) E {beta}-thalassemia, one of the commonest forms of inherited anemia in Asia

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Better assessment of transfusions could save blood

DNA2004 submitted, created time 1 year 11 months (www.biologynews.net)

Nearly 95 percent of patients admitted to hospital intensive care units are affected by anemia. Consequently, these patients receive a large number of red blood cell (RBC) transfusions in order to restore proper hemoglobin levels. New research shows that alternative treatments may lead to fewer transfusions, conserving critical blood supplies in hospitals. The report is published in Seminars in Dialysis.

Phlebotomy, the removing of blood from the body, has been seen as a major factor contributing to anemia, but recent research shows that it may not be the primary cause

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