Blood Weekly articles from January 2000

Blood Weekly archives from January 2000

Importance of ABO Compatibility Expands.
January 13, 2000... 2000 JAN 13 - (NewsRx.com) -- by Cathy Clark, Senior Editor -- The importance of ABO compatibility no longer is limited to red cell matching. ABO-incompatible plasma may lead to increased early mortality in bone marrow transplant...

Assay Detects Immunoglobulin A Deficient Donors.
January 13, 2000... 2000 JAN 13 - (NewsRx.com) -- A simple, rapid assay detects blood donors who are deficient in immunoglobulin A, according to researchers in Spain. With the aim of building panels of immunoglobulin A (IgA) deficient blood donors, C. Sanz...

Amniotic Fluid Index Affects Erythropoietin Levels.
January 13, 2000... 2000 JAN 13 - (NewsRx.com) -- There may be a correlation between amniotic fluid index and cord blood erythropoietin levels, according to a report from Japan. Doi and colleagues performed a study to determine whether low amniotic fluid...

"Mad Cow" Disease and CJD Appear To Be One and the Same.
January 13, 2000... 2000 JAN 13 - (NewsRx.com) -- Genetically engineered mice have helped prove that 50 or so people with a rare brain-wasting illness caught it by eating beef from cattle with mad cow disease, researchers said on December 20, 1999. The mice...

Two Techniques Work Equally Well for HCV RNA Quantification.
January 13, 2000... 2000 JAN 13 - (NewsRx.com) -- Researchers from Taiwan recently conducted a study comparing performance characteristics and clinical applications of two different techniques for analyzing serum hepatitis C virus (HCV) RNA levels. "HCV RNA...

Interleukin-4 Causes Both Maturation and Apoptosis.
January 13, 2000... 2000 JAN 13 - (NewsRx.com) -- Interleukin-4 can cause both maturation and apoptosis of human mast cells, according to a report from the United States. Although stem cell factor (SCF) appears to be the major growth factor for human mast...

Cyclosporine A and Anti-CD80 Combo Affects Survival.
January 13, 2000... 2000 JAN 13 - (NewsRx.com) -- Cyclosporin A, combined with anti-CD80 monoclonal antibody, resulted in increased skin graft survival time, according to a report from the Netherlands. Costimulation via the B7/CD28 pathway is an important...

American Academy of Pediatrics Publishes Precautions.
January 13, 2000... 2000 JAN 13 - (NewsRx.com) -- Having the AIDS virus or two other life-threatening blood-borne viral diseases is no reason for an athlete to be forced out of play, the American Academy of Pediatrics advises. Just the same, the physicians'...

Treatment: Factor IX Complex Performs Better than Plasma.
January 13, 2000... 2000 JAN 13 - (NewsRx.com) -- Factor IX complex concentrate (FIXCC) is more effective than fresh frozen plasma (FFP) in accelerating the correction of warfarin-related anticoagulation in the presence of intracranial hemorrhage and causes fewer...

Liposome Technology Shows Promise in Dendritic Cell Therapy for Cancer.
January 13, 2000... 2000 JAN 13 - (NewsRx.com) -- Data on laboratory maturation of dendritic cells using the liposomal encapsulated MUC1 produced by Biomira, Inc., were presented at the American Association of Blood Banks Meeting held in San Francisco, California,...

Prudent Use of Recombinant Factor IX Recommended for Infants.
January 13, 2000... 2000 JAN 13 - (NewsRx.com) -- The prophylactic administration of recombinant factor IX in premature infants needs to be studied further, according to a recent report. Intracranial hemorrhage in infants with severe hemophilia can cause...

High Throughput Nucleic Acid Amplification Assay System Is Feasible.
January 13, 2000... 2000 JAN 13 - (NewsRx.com) -- Researchers have shown the feasibility of an automated, high sensitivity, and high throughput assay system to concurrently detect HIV and hepatitis viral nucleic acids in plasma samples. Previous reports have...

Prototype Assay Confirms Presence of Core Antigen.
January 13, 2000... 2000 JAN 13 - (NewsRx.com) -- Researchers from the United States have developed a prototype confirmatory assay for hepatitis C virus (HCV) core antigen. J. Peterson and colleagues of Ortho-Clinical Diagnostics reported they developed the...

Hematotoxicity Predictions Not Always Accurate.
January 13, 2000... 2000 JAN 13 - (NewsRx.com) -- Current methods of prediction of bone marrow radiation absorbed dose (RAD) in non-Hodgkin's B cell lymphoma (NHL) patients undergoing radioimmunotherapy (RAIT) may not correlate with actual marrow radiation...

Recombinant Clotting Factor with Sucrose Appears Safe and Effective.
January 13, 2000... 2000 JAN 13 - (NewsRx.com) -- Recently reported findings indicate that sucrose-formulated recombinant factor VIII is safe and effective for the treatment of hemophilia A. The full-length, recombinant factor VIII (rFVIII) preparation has...

Safety of Recombinant Clotting Factor with Sucrose Is Assessed.
January 13, 2000... 2000 JAN 13 - (NewsRx.com) -- The safety and efficacy remain undetermined for a sucrose-formulated recombinant factor VIII in patients with hemophilia A who previously were untreated or who received minimal treatment. A full-molecule,...

Local Blood Donations Decline.
January 13, 2000... 2000 JAN 13 - (NewsRx.com) -- Concerns are growing at LifeSource Blood Services, the non-profit organization that provides blood products to more than 160 hospitals and home health agencies in the Chicago, Illinois, area. Scheduled blood drives...

Collaboration Will Develop New Technology To Inactivate Pathogens.
January 13, 2000... 2000 JAN 13 - (NewsRx.com) -- Boston Biomedica, Inc., and the Consortium for Plasma Science, LLC, announced an agreement has been reached to collaborate on the development and commercialization of BBI's proprietary Pressure Cycling Technology...

Testing System Selected by Australian Red Cross Blood Service To Screen Blood Supply.
January 13, 2000... 2000 JAN 13 - (NewsRx.com) -- Chiron Corporation announced that the Australian Red Cross Blood Service (ARCBS) will use the company's nucleic acid testing (NAT) system to screen the country's entire blood supply for hepatitis C (HCV) and the...

Desktop Blood Analyzer Launched.
January 13, 2000... 2000 JAN 13 - (NewsRx.com) -- Careside, Inc., modeling itself on the personal computer industry, launched sales of a desktop blood analysis system it says offers a fast, efficient way to get blood test results. "We have created a...

Company Reports Breakthrough in Development of Antibody Against Luey.(Pathobiotek Diagnostics Inc.; anti-bloodborne bacterium agent)
January 13, 2000... 2000 JAN 13 - (NewsRx.com) -- Pathobiotek Diagnostics Inc., a developer of products for the diagnosis and evaluation of treatment for multiple sclerosis (MS) and other immune disorders, announced that significant progress has been made in the...

Human Stem Cell Research Leads Top Ten List of the Best Scientific Advances in 1999.
January 13, 2000... 2000 JAN 13 - (NewsRx.com) -- The most important scientific advance of 1999, according to the journal Science, was the progress scientists made towards controlling how human stem cells, extraordinary cells capable of giving rise to all the...

Boy Cured by Experimental Blood Cell Transfusion.
January 13, 2000... 2000 JAN 13 - (NewsRx.com) -- A 13-year-old boy who underwent an experimental blood cell transfusion was declared cured of sickle cell anemia on December 13, 1999. Doctors had replaced the boy's bone marrow with stem cells from the...

Flocor Phase III Study Results Announced.
January 13, 2000... 2000 JAN 13 - (NewsRx.com) -- CytRx Corporation announced that its independent Data and Safety Monitoring Board (DSMB) has examined the efficacy and safety results for the company's drug for the treatment of the vaso-occlusive crisis of sickle...

Escalating-Dose Regimen Has Less Graft-Versus-Host Disease.
January 20, 2000... 2000 JAN 20 - (NewsRx.com) -- by Cathy Clark, Senior Editor -- The administration of donor lymphocytes in an escalating dose regimen rather than a single large dose was associated with low incidence of graft-versus-host disease, according to a...

Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Levels Predict Outcome.
January 20, 2000... 2000 JAN 20 - (NewsRx.com) -- Cellular vascular endothelial growth factor level is an independent predictor of outcome in some patients with acute myeloid leukemia, according to researchers in the United States. Vascular endothelial growth...

IV Heparin Most Frequently Selected Option.
January 20, 2000... 2000 JAN 20 - (NewsRx.com) -- Intravenous heparin was the anticoagulation therapy most preferred by physicians performing elective surgery, according to a recent report. J. D. Douketis performed a study to determine physicians'...

Elevated Insulin Levels Associated With Impaired Function.
January 20, 2000... 2000 JAN 20 - (NewsRx.com) -- Elevated levels of fasting insulin are associated with impairment of the bodily system that helps prevent blood clots from blocking blood vessels, according to an article in the January 12, 2000, issue of The...

Intraoperative Transfusion Associated with Poor Postop Performance.
January 20, 2000... 2000 JAN 20 - (NewsRx.com) -- Intraoperative transfusions of packed red cells was associated with worse postoperative performance in a study of cardiac surgery patients. E. Fransen and colleagues performed a study to investigate whether...

Bivalirudin Is Effective in Patients with Cardiac Disease.
January 20, 2000... 2000 JAN 20 - (NewsRx.com) -- Bivalirudin is safer than and as effective as heparin in treating patients with ischemic heart disease, according to a report from the United States. Current treatment strategies for percutaneous coronary...

Scientists Develop Non-Invasive Procedure for Detecting Fetal Anemia.
January 20, 2000... 2000 JAN 20 - (NewsRx.com) -- Yale University scientists have successfully used a non-invasive technology called Doppler ultrasound to detect whether or not a fetus is anemic, eliminating the risks accompanying traditional invasive tests for...

Pseudotyped Retroviral Vector Efficient in Vascular Tissues.
January 20, 2000... 2000 JAN 20 - (NewsRx.com) A novel pseudotyped retroviral vector has proven its ability for gene transfer in vascular tissues without pseudotransduction, report researchers from the United States. Up to this point, retroviral vectors have...

Anti-Rejection Drug Works Better To Prevent Harmful Blood Clots.
January 20, 2000... 2000 JAN 20 - (NewsRx.com) -- The anti-rejection drugs that keep people alive after a heart transplant also increase the threat of potentially fatal blood clots. But a University of Maryland Medical Center study finds that one popular...

Cold Needed To Preserve Livers for Transplant Also Can Kill Certain Cells.
January 20, 2000... 2000 JAN 20 - (NewsRx.com) -- A team of Duke University Medical Center researchers has figured out why donated livers can suffer a mysterious injury that impairs their ability to perform well once transplanted. They found out that the cold...

Plasmodium Sex Ratio Determined by Host Immune System.
January 20, 2000... 2000 JAN 20 - (NewsRx.com) -- Malaria parasites have evolved an unusual strategy for adapting to their host's immunological defenses: they produce more male offspring instead of females. Many animals adjust the sex ratio of their offspring...

Tourniquets a Source of Infection in Hospital Environment.
January 20, 2000... 2000 JAN 20 - (NewsRx.com) -- Cross-infection between patients in hospitals is a cause of much morbidity, particularly where resistant bacteria, such as Meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, occur. As part of control of this and other...

Fatal Familial Insomnia Differs from Other Prion Diseases.
January 20, 2000... 2000 JAN 20 - (NewsRx.com) Evaluation of selective neuronal vulnerability in human prion diseases demonstrated differences in the pathogenesis of fatal familial Insomnia (FFI). Human transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs), or...

Human Prion Protein Pictured.
January 20, 2000... 2000 JAN 20 - (NewsRx.com) -- When twisted into abnormal shapes, short proteins called prions may cause a range of diseases that turn their victims' brains into something resembling a sponge before killing them. Now researchers have...

Roller Coaster Rides May Trigger Blood Clots on the Brain.
January 20, 2000... 2000 JAN 20 - (NewsRx.com) -- Riding roller coasters may increase the risk of developing potentially harmful blood clots on the brain's surface, according to a case study in the January 11, 2000, issue of Neurology, the scientific journal of...

Erythropoietin Raises Hematocrit Concentrations in Critically Ill.
January 20, 2000... 2000 JAN 20 - (NewsRx.com) -- Recombinant human erythropoietin effectively raised hematocrit concentrations and reduced blood transfusion requirements in critically ill patients, according to a recent report. H. L. Corwin and colleagues...

Improved Survival in HIV Infected Hemodialysis Patients.
January 20, 2000... 2000 JAN 20 - (NewsRx.com) -- Highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) improves the survival of HIV infected hemodialysis (HD) patients, reported researchers from the United States. "HIV infected HD patients have a very high morbidity...

Method of Dialysis Does Not Affect Mortality Rate.
January 20, 2000... 2000 JAN 20 - (NewsRx.com) -- Mortality rates are the same in HIV patients with end stage renal disease (ESRD) who are treated with either hemodialysis (HD) or peritoneal dialysis (PD), researchers from the United States reported. Mahesh...

Treatment Should Be Conservative.
January 20, 2000... 2000 JAN 20 - (NewsRx.com) -- The treatment of hemorrhaghic hemangioma syndrome should be conservative, because it is a self-limiting disease, researchers indicated. Antonio Gentil Martins reported on eight patients with this rare...

Dot Blot Test Detects Infection in Vaccine Recipients.
January 20, 2000... 2000 JAN 20 - (NewsRx.com) -- The commercially available dot blot test can defect Borrelia burgdorferi infection in vaccine recipients. Serology is used routinely as an aid for diagnosing Lyme borreliosis, despite concerns about the...

Intravenous Immunoglobulin Promotes Immunocorrection.
January 20, 2000... 2000 JAN 20 - (NewsRx.com) -- Intravenous immunoglobulin can be helpful in treating steroid-resistant nephrotic syndrome, according to researchers working in Russia. E. Moscaleva and colleagues reported their findings at the XXXVI Congress...

Companies Offer Settlement on Tainted Blood.
January 20, 2000... 2000 JAN 20 - (NewsRx.com) -- Two US medical firms and a Dutch organization have offered to pay up to $2.36 million to Dutch hemophiliacs infected with the AIDS virus during blood transfusions in the 1980s, officials said on January 5, 2000....

6th Annual Blood Product Safety, 3rd Annual TSE: Perception vs. Reality Conferences Announced.
January 20, 2000... 2000 JAN 20 - (NewsRx.com) -- Cambridge Healthtech Institute (CHI), a premier provider of biotechnical conferences, is pleased to announce its Sixth Annual Blood Product Safety Conference and third annual TSE: Perception vs. Reality conference....

Clinical Study for Personal Hemodialysis System Underway.
January 20, 2000... 2000 JAN 20 - (NewsRx.com) -- Aksys, Ltd., announced that 24 patients have been enrolled in the clinical study required for the US Food and Drug Administration approval of the Personal Hemodialysis System (PHD(TM)). The study will take...

Recombinant Factor VIII Product Under Inventory Management.
January 20, 2000... 2000 JAN 20 - (NewsRx.com) -- On December 10, 1999, Baxter Hyland Immuno announced the implementation of an inventory management system concerning their recombinant factor VIII product, Recombinate. Baxter Hyland Immuno noted a significant...

Cell Genesys Issued Second Patent for Lentiviral Gene Therapy Technology.
January 20, 2000... 2000 JAN 20 - (NewsRx.com) -- Cell Genesys, Inc. announced that the company has been issued a second patent (US Patent No. 5,994,136) from the US Patent Office covering the company's third-generation lentiviral gene delivery system. The...

Patent Issued Covering Unique Approach to Transplantation and Blood Cell Cancers.
January 20, 2000... 2000 JAN 20 - (NewsRx.com) -- BioTransplant Incorporated and its collaborator, The Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), announced the award of a patent which covers BioTransplant's novel approach to transplantation and blood cell cancer...

Cell Salvage and Autotransfusions Reduce Transfusion Requirements.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 27, 2000... 2000 JAN 27 - (NewsRx.com) -- by Cathy Clark, Senior Editor -- The routine use of red cell salvage and autotransfusions is an effective way to reduce transfusion requirements in elective abdominal aortic aneurysm repair, according to...

Epinephrine Improves Outcome during Aortic Perfusion.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 27, 2000... 2000 JAN 27 - (NewsRx.com) -- The addition of epinephrine to patients receiving cardiac life support may increase vital organ perfusion pressures and improve outcome. Occlusion of the descending aorta and infusion of oxygenated...

Aprotinin and Lysine Analogs Decrease Blood Transfusion.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 27, 2000... 2000 JAN 27 - (NewsRx.com) -- Pharmacological strategies, such as aprotinin and lysine analogues, decrease mortality and the proportion of patients receiving a blood transfusion, according to a report from the Netherlands. Excessive...

Ticlopidane Is Involved in Platelet Inhibition.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 27, 2000... 2000 JAN 27 - (NewsRx.com) -- The antiplatelet agent ticlopidine elicits subtle potentiation of the platelet-inhibitory capacity of abciximab to the agonist ADP, according to a report from the United States. Ticlopidine and abciximab are...

Bone Marrow Cells are Good Targets for Gene Transfer.(Brief Article)
January 27, 2000... 2000 JAN 27 - (NewsRx.com) -- The use of bone marrow (BM) cells may facilitate the development of gene therapy protocols for numerous diseases, suggested a study from the United States. "Marrow cells are currently the most widely utilized...

Interleukin-7 Has Novel Role In Maintaining T Cells.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 27, 2000... 2000 JAN 27 - (NewsRx.com) -- Interleukin-7 has a novel and important role in the maintenance and maturation of naive CD4(+) T cells, according to a recent report. The capacity of the immune system to respond efficiently to new antigens...

Immunoglobulin Administration Beneficial to Anemic Fetuses.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 27, 2000... 2000 JAN 27 - (NewsRx.com) -- Immunoglobulin administration to fetuses can improve fetal hemolysis, researchers from Austria reported. "The purpose of this study was to examine fetal tolerance of high-dose intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG),...

Long-Term Immune Recovery Unaffected by Ex Vivo Manipulation.
January 27, 2000... 2000 JAN 27 - (NewsRx.com) -- Long-term immunologic recovery seems unaffected by ex vivo manipulation in selected patients. CD34(+) stem cell selection induces extensive T-cell depletion as a consequence of ex vivo manipulation. The impact...

Tranexamic Acid Helps Reduce Need for Allogeneic Blood.
January 27, 2000... 2000 JAN 27 - (NewsRx.com) -- In patients undergoing total knee replacement, tranexamic acid administration was superior to normovolemic hemodilution in terms of reduced allogeneic transfusion requirements. Both acute normovolemic...

HCV Infection in PBMC Not Related to Viremia.
January 27, 2000... 2000 JAN 27 - (NewsRx.com) -- Hepatitis C virus infection of peripheral blood mononuclear cells is not a significant factor in virus-related viremia. Although the liver is the main target for hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, HCV RNA of...

Effect of Erythropoietin Compared to Blood Transfusion.
January 27, 2000... 2000 JAN 27 - (NewsRx.com) -- Erythropoietin (EPO) was beneficial in delivering oxygen to peripheral tissues in hemodialysis patients, according to a report from Greece. Anemia in hemodialysis (HD) patients is partially compensated by an...

RIBA Assay Compares Favorably to Genotyping.
January 27, 2000... 2000 JAN 27 - (NewsRx.com) -- A RIBA assay is a simple, inexpensive test to obtain information about hepatitis C virus (HCV) types among HCV infected hemodialysis patients, researchers indicated. Specific HCV genotype may be a predictor of...

Investigational New Drug Application Submitted for Oncology Indication.
January 27, 2000... 2000 JAN 27 - (NewsRx.com) -- Transkaryotic Therapies, Inc, (TKT) announced the completion of dosing for the pivotal Phase III clinical trials of Gene-Activated erythropoietin (GA-EPO) in the United States and United Kingdom by its partner,...

America's Blood Centers Says Colds & Flu Are Y2K Bugs for Nation's Blood Supply.
January 27, 2000... 2000 JAN 27 - (NewsRx.com) -- A relentless cold and flu season, two weeks of holiday-reduced blood donation, and loss of blood drives due to fear of Y2K problems have plunged the nation's blood supplies to critically low levels, according to...

Company Acquires Rights to Blood Filtration Technique to Remove Viruses.
January 27, 2000... 2000 JAN 27 - (NewsRx.com) -- Aethlon Medical Inc., (formally known as Bishop Equities Inc.) announced that it has acquired the rights to a new medical device technology designed to remove various viruses from the blood. Aethlon Medical is...

Quantech Receives FDA Clearance for Quantitative hCG Pregnancy Test.
January 27, 2000... 2000 JAN 27 - (NewsRx.com) -- Quantech Ltd. announced that it has received clearance from the US Food and Drug Administration to market a quantitative hCG pregnancy test. The Quantech test measures levels of hCG in a woman to determine...

Clot-Buster Therapy for Stroke Successful in Rural Hospitals.
January 27, 2000... 2000 JAN 27 - (NewsRx.com) -- By getting support from regional medical centers, smaller hospitals located in rural areas can effectively treat stroke patients with clot-busting medication, according to a study in this month's Stroke: Journal of...