Anemia News and Research

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Anemia is a decrease in normal number of red blood cells (RBCs) or less than the normal quantity of hemoglobin in the blood. However, it can include decreased oxygen-binding ability of each hemoglobin molecule due to deformity or lack in numerical development as in some other types of hemoglobin deficiency. The three main classes of anemia include excessive blood loss (acutely such as a hemorrhage or chronically through low-volume loss), excessive blood cell destruction (hemolysis) or deficient red blood cell production (ineffective hematopoiesis). Anemia is the most common disorder of the blood. There are several kinds of anemia, produced by a variety of underlying causes. Anemia can be classified in a variety of ways, based on the morphology of RBCs, underlying etiologic mechanisms, and discernible clinical spectra, to mention a few.

FDA approves Entereg (alvimopan) to restore bowel function

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Entereg (alvimopan) today to accelerate the restoration of normal bowel function in patients 18 years and up who have undergone partial large or small bowel resection surgery. Entereg will be used in hospitalized patients who can receive no more than 15 doses.

20 May 2008

NYT examines limited options for disabled children who reach age 18

The New York Times on Wednesday examined how as "medical advances have allowed patients who might have died as children to survive into adulthood, the patients are falling into a void in a health care system that has yet to develop institutions for the young and 'medically fragile.'"

19 May 2008

Scientists unravel how smoking causes cancer

Scientists have for the first time pinpointed a protein that explains how smoking can directly lead to genetic changes that cause cancer - research published in the British Journal of Cancer reveals.

15 May 2008

Hearing to focus on direct-to-consumer ads for prescription drugs

Officials for Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, Merck and Schering-Plough on Thursday will testify at a House Energy and Commerce Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee hearing that Democrats hope will "lay the groundwork for future legislation to tighten controls on drug marketing," the Wall Street Journal reports.

8 May 2008

Erythropoietin gene linked to severe diabetic eye, kidney diseases

Researchers at the John A. Moran Eye Center at the University of Utah and collaborative institutions have identified a gene called erythropoietin (EPO) that contributes to increased risk of severe diabetic eye and kidney diseases, called retinopathy and nephropathy.

6 May 2008

Extra iron for infants who don't need it might delay development

A new study suggests that extra iron for infants who don't need it might delay development -- results that fuel the debate over optimal iron supplement levels and could have huge implications for the baby formula and food industry.

5 May 2008

Tissue-specific blood stem cell line established from embryonic stem cells

A research team at the Umea Center for Molecular Medicine (UCMM) in Sweden, led by Professor Leif Carlsson, has managed to specifically establish and isolate the tissue-specific stem cell that produces blood cells (blood stem cell) by using genetically modified embryonic stem cells.

28 Apr 2008

Monkey malaria - the next bird flu?

An expert at the NIH has highlighted the threat of an emergent highly virulent form of malaria, questioning whether the disease has made the jump from animal to man.

22 Apr 2008

Social networking, malaria and philanthropy partnership

Philanthropy just got easier and a lot more accessible to the public thanks to the social networking power of the Internet and a ground-breaking partnership between a young British entrepreneur, a global health think tank and an African medical research institute.

20 Apr 2008

New hope for blood disorder anaemia

A new understanding of how red blood cell production is controlled could lead to improvements in the treatment of the blood disorder anaemia, according to West Australian medical researchers.

13 Apr 2008

Iron deficiency cause

The discovery of a gene for a rare form of inherited iron deficiency may provide clues to iron deficiency in the general population – particularly iron deficiency that doesn't respond to iron supplements - and suggests a new treatment approach.

13 Apr 2008

Special filter quickly and effectively removes deadly vCJD protein from blood

Amid concern that recipients of certain blood transfusions may risk infection with a deadly protein responsible for the human form of mad cow disease, researchers in Canada now report development of a special filter that quickly and effectively removes the protein from blood.

9 Apr 2008

Proteolix's Carfilzomib granted orphan drug designation

Proteolix, Inc. has announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted orphan drug designation to carfilzomib, a selective blocker of proteasome activity for the treatment of multiple myeloma.

3 Apr 2008

Chemotherapy-induced anemia increases risk of local breast cancer recurrence

Patients with breast cancer who developed anemia during chemotherapy had nearly three times the risk of local recurrence as those who did not, according to a study published in the April 1 issue of Clinical Cancer Research¸ a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.

2 Apr 2008

New method for rapid screening large numbers of antigens

A team of Washington State University scientists has devised a method that could lead to the development of vaccines against some of the most troubling infectious diseases we face diseases that have so far been difficult or impossible to vaccinate against.

26 Mar 2008

Uterine fibroid embolization effective in cases where focused ultrasound failed

Uterine fibroid embolization (UFE), a minimally invasive interventional radiology treatment for uterine fibroids, provides significant relief of symptoms for women whose focused ultrasound (FUS) treatment failed, according to a study released during the Society of Interventional Radiology's 33rd Annual Scientific Meeting in Washington, D.C. Primary care physicians and gynecologists can feel confident in informing patients that a failed FUS treatment does not require subsequent gynecological surgery.

19 Mar 2008

Increased hepcidin expression: A novel oncogenic signalling mechanism

Historically anaemia, which is associated with colorectal cancer, has been attributed to blood loss.

19 Mar 2008

Most women unaware of uterine fibroid embolization

A study presented at the Society of Interventional Radiology's 33rd Annual Scientific Meeting shows of 105 patients in the Atlanta metro area, only 18 percent of the women who saw a private practice gynecologist were told about uterine fibroid embolization (UFE), a minimally invasive treatment for uterine fibroids provided by interventional radiologists.

19 Mar 2008

Scientists identify potential therapy targets for schistosomiasis

A research team supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Roadmap and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) has identified chemical compounds that hold promise as potential therapies for schistosomiasis, a parasitic disease that afflicts more than 200 million people worldwide.

18 Mar 2008