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 …
long distance air travel in the cramped seats of economy class can cause fatal blood clots, confirm doctors at Ulleval University Hospital in Oslo, Norway. A study by the clinic at Tokyo's Narita airport showed that in the past eight years 25 passengers had died due to blood clots after …
amidst the gloom cast by the knowledge that there is very little hope of survival for the increasing number of people with hiv/aids, there is some good news. At least in respect to transmitting the virus to their spouses. A recently-published study claims that hiv -infected people are less likely …
complications may arise during pregnancy when a foetus has red blood cells that carry proteins inherited from the father, but the mother's red blood cells lack these proteins. Because of this mismatch between mother and foetus, antibodies produced by the mother's immune cells can destroy the foetus' red blood cells, …
It is a familiar experience for the tippler. You have one too many drinks, which include strong beers, and every thing turns fuzzy, the room begins to spin and soon you are flat on the floor. Though this is not unusual, there has not been a credible scientific explanation for …
IN MAKING blood vessels, or for that matter, that remarkable pump that unfailingly works, nature has no match. But scientists from Organogenesis, a biotech company in Canton, Massachusetts, USA, say they have come close by drawing on natural ingredients. Using pig intestines, a cow protein and the blood-thinning agent heparin, …
Jaques Fresco of Princeton University, New Jersey, USA, and his colleagues have found a cunning way to repair the mutation that causes sickle-cell anaemia. They have designed a DNA strand that hooks on to the mutant gene, b -globin. When exposed to radiation, a chemical called psoralen attached to the …
hepatitis c is stalking Calcutta. According to reports, one blood bank alone has detected 40 cases in the last seven months. Doctors in the city has warned that like hiv and hepatitis b , all blood units must be screened for this virus before transfusion. Doctors say that the mode …
The US Army has developed a new blood-clotting bandage that will be available soon. Bleeding is the most common cause of death for those wounded in battle, and the first-aid and other emergency departments need such bandages until the patients are transferred to the hospital. The new bandages involve freeze-drying …
People suffering from hypertension who lie awake at night may be at a greater risk of heart damage than those who sleep through the night. Researchers at the University of Pavia in Italy examined the effect of lack of sleep on blood pressure and heart rate. They monitored 36 people …
Journeys by plane, car or train that last more than five hours lead to an increase in the risk of venous thrombo-embolic disease, the formation of blood clots or air bubbles in blood vessels. Emile Ferrari from the Hopital Pasteur, Nice, France, studied 160 patients who suffered with the above-mentioned …
Cutting back on blood transfusions for the critically ill can actually improve some patients' chances of survival, according to a study that may have a far-reaching impact on the treatment of the critically ill. After studying over 830 critically ill and anaemic patients in hospitals across Canada, Paul C Hebert …
How do vampires suck blood? Well, the mythical nocturnal terrors may be using a protein that makes blood sucking easy. Chemists have uncovered the structure of a protein in the saliva of bloodsucking insects that helps them extract a bigger meal from their victims. The protein
Matching blood from the scene of a crime to a suspect may soon be easier, thanks to an antibody test. Researchers say the test is quicker than conventional DNA tests, and also much cheaper. The test exploits "individual-specific autoantibodies' that are specific to each person. Scientists at Miragen, a biotech …
going by how easy it has been for scientists to turn adult brain cells to blood, it will not be difficult to use a patient's own tissue and grow replacement organs. Earlier, scientists thought such radical identity swaps involved nuclear transfer, a technique that
BLOOD donors are usually looked upon as altruists. But what most people, including the donors themselves, do not know is that by donating blood they are only prolonging their lives. Finnish researchers claim that they have discovered striking evidence that blood donors are far less likely to succumb to heart …
UK's child haemophiliacs are to be given genetically-engineered clotting agents to remove any risk of their contracting Creutzfeltd-Jacob disease (CJD), a government spokesperson announced recently. A number of Britons could be incubating the new variant of CJD linked to meat from mad cow disease-infected cattle. Haemophiliacs, who receive clotting factors …
in the not-so-distant future, a new born's umbilical cord may symbolise a new lease of life for patients suffering from terminal diseases. A team of biologists at Tata Memorial Centre's Cancer Research Institute (cri) in Mumbai, India, has developed an inexpensive alternative for invasive and often-precarious procedure of bone marrow …
jasbir kaur, 23, died at a private nursing home in west Delhi on February 3, after childbirth due to severe bleeding. The doctor who treated her said that timely blood supply could have saved her. "We had to wait for nine days for a transfusion," said Mam Chand, brother of …
