News

Sickle cell anemia (SCA) is associated with lifelong complications and a high mortality rate in developing countries. Researchers have now developed a low-cost paper-based diagnostic test that allows clinicians to diagnose SCA earlier, significantly reducing the burden of the disease sickle cell anemia in resource-limited areas. The research paper, “Validation…

The American Society of Hematology (ASH), concerned with the causes and treatment of blood diseases, has formally established the ASH Bridge Grant program, an annual commitment of $3 million in research awards to support promising projects, including the study of sickle cell anemia. The formal establishment of the program…

In a discovery that appears to turn textbook knowledge on its head, researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School found that damaged or old red blood cells — and the iron they carry — are in fact mainly taken care of by the liver and not, as previously…

Women with sickle cell disease have a high risk of complications during pregnancy, according to new research from French Guiana. The findings also show that women with the more severe SS-type sickle cell disease are more likely to have premature babies, and to suffer health problems themselves, than women with…

An evolutionary force, called balancing selection, appears to be responsible for maintaining defects in our DNA associated with diseases, such as sickle cell anemia, because the mutation’s damaging effects might be offset — in a biological way of thinking — by its potential benefits. The study, “Excess of deleterious mutations…

Researchers conducted a study with the aim of developing and validating a Sickle Cell Antibiotic Adherence Level Evaluation (SCAALE) for the accurate assessment of adherence to antibiotic use, a crucial treatment in the management of children with sickle cell disease. The SCAALE proved to be a detailed measurement of adherence…

A multidisciplinary team of researchers recently created a computer simulation model that shows how the spleen regulates red blood cell circulation. The model could provide a new tool to study the spleen’s role in controlling diseases that affect the shape of red blood cells, such as sickle cell anemia and malaria. The research…

Global biopharma Bristol-Myers Squibb has joined the public-private Angola Sickle Cell Initiative to provide Angolan children who have sickle cell disease with an effective therapy unavailable to many patients in the West African country. The initiative is a collaborative project of the Angola Ministry of Health, the…

Researchers investigated the use of hydroxyurea, a drug approved to treat sickle cell anemia in adults, in young children in New York State who are receiving this treatment. The findings reveal that pediatric use of hydroxyurea is widespread and increasing, but that incomplete adherence may limit the treatment’s full disease-modifying effects. The study,…

Researchers developed a project using what are termed “quality improvement methods” to increase the number of sickle cell anemia (SCA) babies and toddlers between the ages of 24-27 months who undergo transcranial Doppler ultrasonography (TCD) to detect the risk of stroke. The findings show the intervention resulted in significantly improved TCD…