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Researchers find gene regulator that plays key role in DS-AMKL

Between 5 and 10 percent of babies with Down syndrome develop a transient form of leukemia that usually resolves on its own. However, for reasons that haven't been clear, 20 to 30 percent of these babies progress to a more serious leukemia known as Down syndrome acute megakaryoblastic leukemia (DS-AMKL), which affects the blood progenitor cells that form red blood cells and platelets.

1 Mar 2010

Salmonella-infected mice help understand how symptoms of HLH develop

A new University of Colorado at Boulder study shows mice infected with the bacteria salmonella develop clinical signs consistent with a deadly and poorly understood human inflammatory disease, a finding that may lead to new therapies.

26 Feb 2010

Multiple, independent European blood centers to report on INTERCEPT Blood System for platelets and plasma

Cerus Corporation announced today that investigators from blood centers in Sweden, Belgium, France and Slovenia will present their experience with the INTERCEPT Blood System for platelets and plasma during a leading international transfusion safety meeting, the XIIth International Haemovigilance Seminar taking place in Dubrovnik, Croatia from February 17 to 19.

18 Feb 2010

Children's Hospital of Philadelphia awarded two grants to research into cellular therapies for blood disorders

The new decade may herald an era of cell therapy -- treating human diseases by delivering highly specific beneficial cells. In the wake of an NIH decision late last year permitting federally funded researchers to use new lines of human embryonic stem cells, the door has opened more widely to stem cell research.

16 Feb 2010

Cerus enters into collaborative agreement with EFS for development of INTERCEPT Blood System

Cerus Corporation announced today that it has entered into a collaborative agreement with France's national transfusion service, the Etablissement Français du Sang (EFS), for the development of the company's INTERCEPT Blood System for red blood cells.

10 Feb 2010

NYBC calls for blood donation to meet winter needs

New York Blood Center (NYBC) serving New York City, Long Island, Hudson Valley and New Jersey calls upon the community to please donate blood and platelets, as the tri-state area braces for a huge predicted winter snowstorm. Healthy people of all blood types and ethnicities are encouraged to donate this week.

10 Feb 2010

ASA Effect test: A tool to identify patients who do not respond to ASA therapy

A convenient test is now available in Canada that determines if the ASA a patient is taking to prevent heart attack and stroke is working. ASA Effect(TM) is offered through LifeLabs Medical Laboratory Services and its network of collection and testing centres.

10 Feb 2010

Phase 1 trial of Cerus' INTERCEPT red blood system meets primary endpoint

Cerus Corporation announced today that its Phase 1 trial of red blood cells treated with the INTERCEPT Blood System met its primary endpoint, with preliminary analysis demonstrating that greater than 75 percent of treated cells continued to circulate 24 hours following transfusion. The INTERCEPT red blood cell system is a pathogen inactivation treatment the company is developing to protect against transmission of infectious diseases through red blood cell transfusions. An estimated 70 million units of red blood cells are transfused worldwide each year.

9 Feb 2010

Sports Medicine Clinic offers PRP therapy to heal injured ligaments, tendons and muscles

The Sports Medicine Clinic at the University of Virginia Health System is using a cutting-edge therapy called platelet rich plasma (PRP) to help heal injured ligaments, tendons and muscles.

29 Jan 2010

Discovery challenges understanding of blood cell development

University of Utah researchers led an international team of scientists that is the first to report on the previously undescribed ability of platelets to reproduce themselves in the circulation. Their revolutionary findings were published online Jan. 19, 2010, in the journal Blood.

27 Jan 2010

Researchers discover how cells flatten out as they adhere to internal bodily surfaces

Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine have discovered how cells in the body flatten out as they adhere to internal bodily surfaces, the first step in a wide range of important processes including clot formation, immune defense, wound healing, and the spread of cancer cells.

18 Jan 2010

Cerus' INTERCEPT platelets therapeutically effective even after seven days of storage

Cerus Corporation announced today that INTERCEPT-treated platelet components were found to be effective for patient support following extended six and seven day storage in a clinical study conducted at four sites in Europe. These data further confirm the safety and therapeutic efficacy of platelets treated with the INTERCEPT Blood System, a pathogen inactivation treatment designed to protect against transfusion-transmitted diseases.

18 Jan 2010

Older patients with acute myeloid leukemia may benefit from decitabine drug

Older patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) might benefit from a drug that reactivates genes that cancer cells turn off, according to research at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and collaborating institutions.

12 Jan 2010

NYBC calls for blood donation in recognition of National Blood Donor Month

New York Blood Center (NYBC) and its divisions in Manhattan, Long Island, Hudson Valley, Brooklyn/Staten Island, and New Jersey call upon the community to please donate blood, in recognition of National Blood Donor Month, and to help save lives.

30 Dec 2009

Treprostinil drug reduces breathlessness in PAH patients, says study

Patients with a rare, deadly disease that mostly affects young women felt a dramatic reduction in breathlessness using an approved drug, according to study results published online today in The Journal of Heart and Lung Transplantation.

18 Dec 2009

Synthetic platelets halt blood-clotting time

Blood loss is a major cause of death from roadside bombs to freeway crashes. Traumatic injury, the leading cause of death for people age 4 to 44, often overwhelms the body's natural blood-clotting process.

17 Dec 2009

FDA grants approval to market InterSol platelet additive solution

Fenwal Inc., a global medical technology company focused on improving blood collection, separation, safety and availability, announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has granted Fenwal approval to market InterSol® platelet additive solution.

15 Dec 2009

Celebrex stops aspirin from doing its job effectively

Millions of Americans take Celebrex for arthritis or other pain. Many, if they are middle-aged or older, also take a low-dose aspirin tablet daily to reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke. Yet they may be getting little protection, because Celebrex keeps the aspirin from doing its job effectively, a new study suggests.

15 Dec 2009

Genentech announces positive results from Phase II study of T-DM1

Genentech, Inc., a wholly owned member of the Roche Group, today announced positive results from a Phase II study of trastuzumab-DM1 (T-DM1). As assessed by independent review, T-DM1 shrank the tumors (also known as objective response) in 33 percent of women with advanced (metastatic) HER2-positive breast cancer that had worsened following previous treatment.

14 Dec 2009

Phosphatases can prevent inflammation and formation of blood clots

Polyphosphate from blood platelets plays a key role in inflammation and the formation of blood clots, scientists from the Swedish medical university Karolinska Institutet have shown. The study, which is presented in the prestigious scientific journal Cell, describes how this mechanism can be used in treatment.

11 Dec 2009