This year marks the 200th anniversary of the first successful human-to-human blood transfusion, conducted by James Blundell, an English obstetrician working just across the Thames from The Economist’s offices. Today blood is big business—with global exports worth more, in 2016, than global exports of aeroplanes. But that trade is distorted …
Researchers in Cameroon, led by Judith Anchang-Kimbi of the University of Buea, have found that testing placental tissue shortly after birth is the best way to accurately diagnose malaria in pregnant women. Medical staff across Sub-Saharan Africa have struggled to diagnose specific types of malaria parasites in pregnant women, who …
zoology Undersea myths The mystery behind the underwater display of natural glow, seen by sailors time and again, has been solved. It is the bioluminescent marine fireworm that secretes a mucous which gives out a green glow to attract mates and ward off predators. Reported in the March issue of …
"Pakistan has more than 80,000 thalassaemia patients, and 250,000 patients require lifetime blood transfusions" stated Dr Mohammad Ata, Clinical Professor Shifa College of Medicine, here at a seminar on Monday, organised by Shifa Foundation Falahi to mark and raise awareness about international thalassaemia day. Dr Mohammad Ata said that Pakistan …
The federal health ministry has put plans for the introduction of a national thalassaemia prevention and control programme on the back burner on the pretext of a
Blood-transfusion services are vital to maternal health because haemorrhage and anaemia are major causes of maternal death in South Asia. Unfortunately, due to continued governmental negligence, blood-transfusion services in India are a highly-fragmented mix of competing independent and hospital-based blood-banks, serving the needs of urban populations. This paper aims to …
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention collected health, housing, and environmental data in a single integrated national survey for the first time in the United States in 1999
Arsenic exposure is associated with human cancer. Telomerase-containing human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT) can extend telomeres of chromosomes, delay senescence, and promote cell proliferation leading to tumorigenesis. The goal of this study was to investigate the effects of As on hTERT mRNA expression in humans and in vitro.
Blood test made easy with paper and adhesive tapes TESTING of blood for iron, glucose and protein levels is a time-consuming and costly affair requiring a series of chemical tests in a laboratory. Researchers from the Harvard University in US invented a device called the 3D
Chicago: Normal cells in the blood that play a role in healing wounds may also be creating the right conditions for cancer cells to spread, US researchers said. They said fibrocytes, blood cells derived from bone marrow, could explain how healthy cells become habitats for cancer. "Cancer cells do not …
Researchers, investigating how blood vessel growth keeps cancers alive, claim to have made a breakthrough that could boost the chances of successfully treating life-threatening tumours. A team at the Western Australian Institute for Medical Research, led by Ruth Ganss, has found that a gene called RGS5 can reverse angiogenesis - …
FDA Officials Say They Have Found A Clear Link Between Tainted Heparin And 81 Deaths In US Gardiner Harris Washington: A contaminated blood thinner from China has been found in drug supplies in 11 countries, and federal officials said Monday they had discovered a clear link between the contaminant and …
India will soon produce and provide the blood clotting proteins F8 and F9 free of cost to patients suffering from the world's oldest known hereditary bleeding disorder
thalassemia patients who undergo expensive treatment to remove extra iron from their system may now take to homoeopathy. Scientists have found a homoeopathic remedy that is inexpensive and without side-effects. The remedy, they say, lessens the frequency of blood transfusions. Thalassemia is caused by a defect in genes that code …
transfusion of stored blood is unsafe. It not only carries infections, but also invites serious problems such as heart attack. The process of extracting blood from a donor and storing it before transfusion could severely handicap the capabilities of extracted blood to provide oxygen to a recipient. A new study …
FIVE-YEAR-OLD Arvind Baghel has a hole in his heart and requires urgent surgery. Preparations for the operation have been underway at a hospital in Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh
the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (ipcc) estimates that the range of stabilised atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration by 2050 will be between 450 parts per million (ppm) and 550 ppm. A paper published in the journal Current Science (Vol 90, No 12) argues that these concentration levels have not been …
