Health & Fitness

Sickle cell anemia is an inherited blood disorder where red blood cells become sickle/crescent shaped. It causes frequent infections, swelling in the hands and legs, pain, severe tiredness and delayed growth or puberty. Treatment typically focuses on controlling symptoms and may include pain medicines during crises; hydroxyurea to reduce the number of pain episodes; antibiotics and vaccines to prevent bacterial infections and blood transfusions. While a remedy for this severe disease has remained elusive, a recent study in the New England Journal of Medicine (Biologic and Clinical Efficacy of LentiGlobin for Sickle Cell Disease/Kanter et. al.), if proven applicable, may be a possible cure.

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Researchers have used an ancient fish to reel in new insights about human biology and, in particular, how and why a widely used medication works to abort pregnancies (in people, not fish).

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Chemical engineers tested how different-sized polymer nanoparticles circulate in the body and interact with platelets, the cells that promote blood clotting. Such particles could be used to help stop internal bleeding after traumatic injuries.

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Epidemiological data have long linked depression with Alzheimer’s disease (AD), a neurodegenerative disease characterized by progressive dementia that affects nearly 6 million Americans. Now, a new study identifies common genetic factors in both depression and AD. Importantly, the researchers found that depression played a causal role in AD development, and those with worse depression experienced a faster decline in memory.

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Annual MRI screenings starting at ages 30 to 35 may reduce breast-cancer mortality by more than 50% among women who carry certain genetic changes in three genes, according to a comparative modeling analysis. The predictions involve pathogenic variants in ATM, CHEK2 and PALB2 genes -- which collectively are as prevalent as the much-reported BRCA1/2 gene mutations.

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