Red Blood Cells News and Research

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New federal drug label recommendations for CKD patients

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently recommended that clinicians be more conservative when they prescribe chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients with drugs that treat red blood cell deficiencies. But the drug label's recommendations fall short, according to two commentaries appearing in an upcoming issue of the Clinical Journal of the American Society Nephrology.

20 Jan 2012

Platelet receptor could help with diseases that impact RBCs

A receptor found on blood platelets whose importance as a potential pharmaceutical target has long been questioned may in fact be fruitful in drug testing, according to new research from Michigan State University chemists.

20 Jan 2012

Quotient's ALBAcyte Reagent Red Blood Cell products receive U.S. FDA license

Quotient Biodiagnostics, Inc., a supplier of innovative and high-quality transfusion diagnostic products to hospitals, blood banks and other healthcare institutions, is pleased to announce that its range of ALBAcyte Reagent Red Blood Cell products have been licensed for sale in the USA by the Food and Drug Administration.

19 Jan 2012

US faces shortage of donated blood

A person is in need of a blood donation every two seconds in the United States, according to statistics from America's Blood Centers, a network of non-profit community blood centers across the country. Because there is no known substitute for human blood, and it cannot be artificially manufactured, the entire process relies on generous donations from people willing to give. Unfortunately, there is currently a shortage of donated blood across the country.

18 Jan 2012

Sangart commences MP4CO Phase 1b study in sickle cell disease

Sangart, Inc., a global biopharmaceutical company dedicated to developing life-saving medicines specifically designed to enhance the perfusion and oxygenation of ischemic (oxygen deprived) tissues through targeted oxygen and other gas delivery, today announced the initiation of a Phase 1b study designed to evaluate the safety of MP4CO treatment in patients with sickle cell disease.

12 Jan 2012

IUPUI launches Institute for Mathematical Modeling and Computational Science

The School of Science at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis has launched the Institute for Mathematical Modeling and Computational Science, an interdisciplinary endeavor dedicated to solving perplexing problems in such diverse fields as medicine, the environment, and computer science. iM2CS's parallel mission is to train a new generation to identify and solve the scientific issues with which they will be faced.

11 Jan 2012

Researchers discover a way to make cigarette smoking less toxic

From a health care perspective, the best cigarette is no cigarette, but for the millions of people who try to quit smoking every year, researchers from Cornell University may have found a way to make cigarette smoking less toxic.

4 Jan 2012

Correcting anemia can preserve kidney function in many transplant recipients

Correcting anemia, a red blood cell deficiency, can preserve kidney function in many kidney transplant recipients, according to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Journal of the American Society Nephrology.

23 Dec 2011

Malaria vaccine shows early success

An experimental vaccine for malaria has been developed by British scientists. It has shown early potential to neutralize many, perhaps all, strains of the deadliest malaria parasite.

21 Dec 2011

University of Oxford scientists develop new candidate malaria vaccine

A new candidate malaria vaccine with the potential to neutralise all strains of the most deadly species of malaria parasite has been developed by a team led by scientists at the University of Oxford.

21 Dec 2011

Study examines relationship between malaria, salmonella infection

People with malaria are more prone to developing bacterial infections, particularly from salmonella, and "researchers at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine [LSHTM] have discovered that the increased vulnerability to salmonella infections is a side effect of the body's attempts to protect itself from the damaging effects of the malaria infection," according to an LSHTM press release.

20 Dec 2011

Link between malaria and salmonella infections

The link between malaria and salmonella infections has been explained for the first time, opening the way to more effective treatments.

19 Dec 2011

More than half of older patients with anemia do not need transfusions after hip surgery

More than half of the older, anemic patients in a New England Journal of Medicine study did not need blood transfusions as they recovered from hip surgery, according to new research co-authored by University of Maryland School of Medicine scientists.

15 Dec 2011

Research assesses safety and efficacy of pre-operative transfusions, hydroxyurea therapy for SCD

Research assessing the safety and efficacy of hydroxyurea therapy in pediatric patients with sickle cell disease (SCD) and the use of pre-operative transfusions for patients with SCD who undergo low- and moderate-risk elective surgery will be presented today at the 53rd Annual Meeting of the American Society of Hematology.

12 Dec 2011

Biochip can quickly predict blood poisoning

Is the patient suffering from blood poisoning? To answer this question, the doctor draws a blood sample and sends it to a central laboratory for testing. This takes up valuable time, which could cost the patient his life. In future, physicians will be able to analyze blood there and then and have the results within twenty minutes.

12 Dec 2011

Positive dose-escalation/expansion data from Array BioPharma's ARRY-614 Phase 1 MDS study

Array BioPharma Inc. today announced positive dose-escalation/expansion data for its novel, small molecule dual p38/Tie2 inhibitor, ARRY-614.

12 Dec 2011

FDA advisory panel OKs anemia drug peginesatide

Once approved by the FDA, the once-monthly injection could capture a share of the $3 billion U.S. market for anemia drugs used for kidney dialysis patients, currently dominated by Amgen Inc's blockbuster Epogen. Affymax, which developed the drug with partner Takeda Pharmaceutical Co Ltd, is also expected to price its product below Epogen.

8 Dec 2011

New gene editing technique can heal sickle cell patients with their own cells

Researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies have developed a way to use patients' own cells to potentially cure sickle cell disease and many other disorders caused by mutations in a gene that helps produce blood hemoglobin.

8 Dec 2011

BCX4945 proves effective at clearing malaria infections

An antimalarial agent developed by researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University proved effective at clearing infections caused by the malaria parasite most lethal to humans - by literally starving the parasites to death. The novel research, carried out on a small number of non-human primates, could bolster efforts to develop more potent therapies against one of the world's leading killers.

8 Dec 2011

Research: lncRNA affects apoptosis and plays a role in RBC development

A long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) regulates programmed cell death during one of the final stages of red blood cell differentiation, according to Whitehead Institute researchers. This is the first time a lncRNA has been found to play a role in red blood cell development and the first time a lncRNA has been shown to affect programmed cell death.

8 Dec 2011