Red Blood Cells News and Research

RSS

New discovery on blood doping and anemia

A stunning discovery by German scientists may make blood doping and the treatment of severe anemia as easy as washing your hair.

21 Sep 2007

N-acetylcysteine may not be as safe as once thought

Certain preparations taken to enhance athletic performance or stave off disease contain an anti-oxidant that could cause harm.

5 Sep 2007

Another U.S. food scare for ground beef and E.coli

Consumers in the United States have been issued yet another warning about contaminated food.

3 Sep 2007

Discovery of novel cause of iron overload in patients with thalassemia

According to the study, thalassemia patients overproduce a protein called GDF15, which suppresses the production of a liver protein, hepcidin, which in turn leads to an increase in the uptake of dietary iron in the gut.

30 Aug 2007

New technology for keeping liver cells alive inside bioartificial liver-assist devices

Such devices enable people who are suffering from acute liver failure to survive while their own liver cells regenerate, or until they receive a liver transplant. The person's blood or plasma circulates through the device. Inside, living cells -- usually pig or human liver cells -- perform normal liver functions.

24 Aug 2007

Critical blood shortage in southeastern Michigan

The American Red Cross Southeastern Michigan Blood Services Region is issuing an urgent appeal for blood donors. Recent extraordinary patient needs and consistent low donor turnout this month have caused the local blood supply to drop to critically low levels.

21 Aug 2007

New findings on cholesterol metabolism

A team of researchers investigating cholesterol and lipid transport has performed experiments that cast serious doubt on the dominant hypothesis of how the body rids its cells of "bad" cholesterol (LDL) and increases "good" cholesterol (HDL).

17 Aug 2007

New techniques for measuring blood volume

The July issue of The American Journal of Medical Sciences presents a special symposium on the measurement and clinical implications of blood volume and its measurement.

16 Aug 2007

Vitamin B1 deficiency key to vascular problems for diabetic patients

Researchers at Warwick Medical School, University of Warwick, have discovered that deficiency of thiamine - vitamin B1 - may be key to a range of vascular problems for people with diabetes.

8 Aug 2007

Scientists tackle gene doping in athletes

Gene doping has the potential to spawn athletes capable of out-running, out-jumping and out-cycling the strongest of champions.

7 Aug 2007

New research may lead to future gene therapies for patients with sickle cell anemia and beta-thalassemia

Virginia Commonwealth University researchers studying hemoglobin genes, mutations of which play a role in genetic blood disorders like sickle cell anemia and beta-thalassemia, have identified two proteins that are responsible for regulating overlapping groups of genes during the development of red blood cells.

7 Aug 2007

New tool for use in addressing lead poisoning

Lead in goat blood might not be on the top of your shopping list, but for U.S. medical personnel who each year perform more than 2 million human blood measurements, Standard Reference Material (SRM) 955c from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) can't be beat.

6 Aug 2007

Discovery of mechanism in malaria parasite that helps it adapt to infected individuals

Plasmodium falciparum is responsible for the most severe forms of human malaria.

6 Aug 2007

Unlocking proteins from their cellular shell

Applying physical stress to cells, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have demonstrated that everyday forces can alter the structure of proteins tucked within cells, unfold them and expose new targets in the fight against disease.

3 Aug 2007

First case of successful ovarian tissue transplantation between two, nonidentical sisters

A woman, whose ovaries had failed due to damage caused by chemotherapy and radiotherapy, has received a successful ovarian transplant from her genetically non-identical sister.

3 Aug 2007

Discovery of molecular pathway that detects and eliminates defective messenger RNAs from red blood cells

Other such pathways - known as surveillance pathways - operate in a more general way, in many cell types. Knowing how this specific surveillance system works can help researchers better understand hereditary diseases, in this case, thalassemia, a form of anemia, which is the most common genetic disorder worldwide.

3 Aug 2007