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 …
a protein isolated from buffalo blood induces forward motility of goat sperm, an essential quality that makes fertilisation possible in animals and humans, claims a research team from the Indian Institute of Chemical Biology, Kolkata. Known as the forward motility stimulating factor (fmsf), it has been shown to activate goat …
defective blood-testing kits sold to West Bengal government clinics, blood banks and hospitals may have resulted in thousands of people receiving hiv or Hepatitis B- and C-infected blood. Infections through blood transfusion are being reported across the state. The government is seizing kits and has issued a warning to all …
It has long been known that 20 gene regulators control the development of blood cells from blood stem cells in the bone marrow. All these regulators have a common genetic element, called PU.1, which plays a crucial role in regulating blood cell formation. PU.1 guides the development of two major …
survivors of the October 8, 2005, earthquake in Pakistan-administered Kashmir and northern areas of Pakistan risk deadly diseases such as hiv / aids, hepatitis B, cerebral malaria and syphilis. Chances of unscreened blood transfusions are rife. Farhana Memon, program manager and secretary, Sindh Blood Transfusion Authority (sbta) said, "There are …
Bhola Singh is dead... Bhola Singh was a farmer from village Balloh, district Bhatinda, Punjab. He is part of a story with a beginning and an end. But it has no middle. Thus what follows is a fragment. But it is not fiction. Punjab practices intensive agriculture that needs pesticides. …
Pesticides have become integral part of villagers in Punjab. Bhatinda district in Punjab, an important cotton belt of the country irrigated by canal water grows largely cotton and rice crop
for andhra farmers: The government has formed a 13-member commission to examine the agricultural system of Andhra Pradesh and formulate an action plan to strengthen it so that the high rate of suicides by farmers can be checked. The state's agriculture minister N Raghuveera Reddy said the commission will also …
ever wondered why people have different blood groups? A study shows that blood groups evolved to confer upon humanity defence against viral and bacterial diseases. Humans either have blood group a, b, ab or o. Each type occurs at different frequencies across the world. Robert Seymour and his colleagues from …
During the first study of its kind, researchers discovered that a chemical leaching out of bags storing donated blood poses acute health hazards for patients who need frequent transfusions. The findings have wide-reaching implications, as blood banks across the world store blood in polyvinyl chloride (PVC) bags, made with the …
a group of haemophiliacs, who contracted aids and Hepatitis b through blood transfusion, recently filed a lawsuit in the federal court in San Francisco against four manufacturers of clotting agents. The two components of blood
The Union ministry of health and family welfare recently announced that blood donors found hiv positive would be informed of their infection and asked to seek confirmatory tests. This is in contrast to the existing policy, where blood tested hiv positive is discarded without the donor being told about it. …
In a landmark judgement, a Japanese court has found a former top official in the health ministry guilty of supplying blood contaminated by HIV. The case is said to be significant by many experts as Japanese bureaucrats are rarely punished for inaction. The Tokyo district court handed down a one-year …
Scientists have demonstrated that undifferentiated human embryonic stem cells can be turned into blood cells. The work, conducted at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA, demonstrates that undifferentiated stem cells can be coaxed to become primitive types of blood cells that later develop into more mature types of blood cells that, …
A patient's own cells could be used to carry vital drugs to diseased organs. Researchers in Ireland are developing a device, which loads red blood cells with a drug, then injects the cells back into a patient's body. The blood cells, already "sensitised' could then be burst open by a …
The Chinese health ministry will enforce a ban on the system of donating blood for money. This decision comes following a report about more than 80 per cent residents of the Donghu village in Henan province being affected by the hiv virus. The villagers blame the government-owned blood banks for …
Pre-flight genetic testing could help guard against flight-related deep vein thrombosis (DVT). Flight-related DVT occurs when a passenger's blood clots sitting in cramped conditions. The condition can be fatal if the clots reach the lung. Gillian Turner, a medical geneticist at the University of Newcastle in New South Wales, says …
At Brazil's main airports leaflets will be distributed warning passengers of the danger of contracting potentially fatal blood clots on long-haul flights. The threat of suffering deep-vein thrombosis while sitting on the cramped seats of the economy class sections of long distance flights has recently hit the headlines across the …
Measuring the blood sugar level can help physicians predict if a patient is at the risk of developing heart disease. Blood glucose (sugar) might, like cholesterol and blood pressure, be used as an indicator of heart disease risk. This could help identify individuals at higher absolute risk of heart disease. …
Rainwater harvesting and recharging of groundwater will be undertaken in 500 villages of Karnataka by the state department of rural development. The department will spend Rs 10 crore for the purpose. The Goa government will soon impose a ban on the use of all types of plastic material used for …
