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Too many American tourists looking for cheap cosmetic surgeries alongside their beach time are winding up dead in the Dominican Republic, a new report finds.

Between 2009 and 2022, 93 people -- almost all young or middle-aged women -- have died after undergoing tummy tucks, liposuction or buttock enhancement procedures in that country's clinics, reports a team from the U.S. Centers for Di...

Casgevy, a groundbreaking treatment that was approved to treat sickle cell disease in December, was given the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's blessing on Tuesday to treat another inherited blood disorder.

Casgevy is the first CRISPR-based medicine, where gene editing is used to develop the treatment, to be approved for use in the United States.

The one-time dose permanently chan...

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Friday approved two milestone gene therapies for sickle cell disease, including the first treatment ever approved that uses gene-editing technology.

Casgevy, developed by Vertex Pharmaceuticals of Boston and CRISPR Therapeutics of Switzerland, is the first medicine available in the United States to treat a genetic disease using the CRISPR gene-edit...

It's possible that the cause of spontaneous, recurring brain hemorrhages can be passed through blood transfusion, researchers say.

The likelihood of this happening is very slim, however.

Still, “blood transfusions are relatively common, which makes possible negative effects an important public health issue,” said study co-author

  • Cara Murez HealthDay Reporter
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  • September 12, 2023
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  • When astronauts travel to space, the experience depletes their red blood cells and bone, according to a new study.

    Fortunately, it appears their bodies can eventually replenish them after they've returned to Earth, thanks to fat stored in the bone marrow.

    “We found that astronauts had significantly less fat in their bone marrow about a month after returning to Earth,” said seni...

    The 15th century prince who inspired the literary vampire Dracula may have had medical issues that caused him to cry tears of blood, according to researchers unearthing this ancient mystery.

    The prince, who was also a military leader, was known as Vlad III, Voivode of Wallachia and as Vlad the Impaler. He was also called Vlad Drăculea, translating to “the son of the dragon," and may b...

    Whether the gender of a blood donor could affect the recipient's survival was an unanswered question in medicine. Until now.

    “Some observational studies had suggested female donor blood might be linked with a higher risk of death among recipients compared to male donor blood, but our clinical trial found that isn't the case,” co-lead author

  • Cara Murez HealthDay Reporter
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  • April 13, 2023
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  • An experimental injectable drug appears effective in reducing bleeds in patients with hemophilia A and B, according to a pair of new clinical trials.

    Two-thirds of people with treatment-resistant hemophilia who were treated with the drug fitusiran had no bleeds at all after nine months, versus just 5% of people treated with drugs that enhance clotting, according to a trial published onlin...

    U.S. Food & Drug Administration policies that have limited blood donations from men who have sex with men may soon ease.

    At the moment, FDA policy does not allow blood donation from men who have had sex with other men in the past three months. That's already a shorter timeframe than in the past, when the agency required a one-year gap.

    The agency is now considering switching to ques...

    A single blood test that can screen for more than 50 cancers seems to work fairly well in the real world, a preliminary study reveals.

    Researchers found that of over 6,600 apparently healthy people aged 50 and older, the blood test detected a possible cancer "signal" in roughly 1%. When those individuals had more extensive testing, cancer was confirmed in 38%.

    Experts called

    A network that receives and supplies blood for transfusions nationwide is calling for more diverse blood donors.

    Less than 20% of blood donations are from people of color, but those donations are essential. Frequently transfused patients often require blood from donors with similar ethnic and racial backgrounds.

    Those who need frequent transfusions include people with

  • By Cara Murez HealthDay Reporter
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  • September 6, 2022
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  • The risk of suffering a stroke at an early age may depend partly on a person's blood type, a large study suggests.

    When it comes to the risk of ischemic stroke — the kind caused by a blood clot — studies have hinted that blood type plays a ...

    The thickness of a person's blood can be a matter of life or death if they contract COVID-19, a new study suggests.

    Patients hospitalized with COVID-19 who have higher blood viscosity are at greater risk of dying from COVID-related complications, the researchers found.

    "This study demonstrates the importance of checking for blood viscosity in COVID-19 patients early in hospital admi...

    While California works to restore its landscape after years of historic wildfires, new research could transform the way in which veterinarians treat animals recovered from damaged forests.

    The study found that cats who inhaled smoke or suffered burns are at risk for forming deadly clots. Not only that, the scientists were able ...

    Cancer patients' blood type may play a role in their risk for dangerous blood clots, researchers say.

    Cancer and its treatments increase the risk for venous thromboembolism (VTE). That includes de...

    COVID-19 increases people's risk of dangerous blood clots and bleeding for months after infection, researchers say.

    The new findings suggest that COVID-19 is an independent risk factor for deep vein thrombosis, pulmonary embolism and bleeding.

    "Our findings arguably support [treatment] to avoid thrombotic events, especially for high-risk patients, and strengthen the importance of va...

    Astronauts can develop a condition called space anemia because their bodies destroy more red blood cells than normal when in space, a groundbreaking study shows.

    Assessments of 14 astronauts over six months between space missions found that 54% more blood cells were destroyed while they were in space than when they were on Earth, according to findings published Jan. 14 in

  • Robert Preidt
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  • January 17, 2022
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  • A three-month sexual abstinence rule for blood donations from sexually active gay and bisexual men should be dropped by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, critics urge as the country struggles with a blood shortage.

    Right now, based on the slight chance of infection with HIV, men who have sex with men must abstain from sex with other men for 90 days before being eligible to donate blo...

    There's an urgent need for blood donations as the United States' blood supply drops to one of its lowest levels in over a decade, the America Red Cross said Tuesday.

    In the past few weeks, blood centers nationwide have reported "a dangerously low level" of less than a one-day supply of certain critical blood types, which means that lifesaving blood may not be available for some patients w...

    A gene therapy that could provide a permanent cure for sickle cell disease continues to show success through a third wave of patients, researchers report.

    The therapy, LentiGlobin, restored normal blood function in 35 sickle cell patients who had the one-time procedure, according to clinical trial findings published Dec. 12 in the

  • Dennis Thompson HealthDay Reporter
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  • December 13, 2021
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  • Gene therapy shows promise in reducing, and even halting, potentially life-threatening bleeding events in people with hemophilia, researchers report.

    Hemophilia A is the most common inherited bleeding disorder, affecting one in 5,000 males worldwide. It's caused by a missing coagulation factor called FVIII.

    The current standard of care involves regular infusions of the FVIII protein...

    For decades, doctors have struggled with the fact that the benefit of any blood-thinning pill came with the added risk of excess bleeding.

    Now, an experimental anti-clotting pill called milvexian has been found to be effective in patients who had knee replacement surgery -- without adding any excess risk for bleeding.

    The study focused on these patients because they're known to be a...

    While deaths from sepsis have dropped in the United States since 2000, older Americans remain particularly susceptible to the life-threatening bacterial infection, new government data shows.

    Sepsis strikes roughly 2 million people each year and is the cause of one in three hospital deaths in the United States, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

    "S...

    Treating sickle cell anemia with the drug hydroxyurea may also reverse related heart abnormalities, a new study suggests.

    Heart issues are common among people with sickle cell disease. Among them are enlargement of the heart and an impaired ability to relax heart muscles, a condition called diastolic dysfunction that can lead to heart disease and heart failure and death. Long-term treatme...

    Barnacles may be the bane of ships, but they could point to new ways to quickly halt severe bleeding, researchers report.

    Barnacles are small crustaceans that attach to rocks, ship hulls and even other animals, such as whales. Their ability to cling to surfaces that are often wet and dirty caught the attention of researchers trying to find new ways to seal wounds in emergency situations.<...

    There's a severe blood shortage in the United States due to a recent surge in trauma cases, organ transplants and elective surgeries, the American Red Cross says.

    The Red Cross is appealing to Americans to roll up their sleeves and donate blood immediately.

    "Our teams are working around the clock to meet the extraordinary blood needs of hospitals and patients -- distributing about 7...

    The AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine may be linked with rare cases of low blood platelet levels, a new study suggests.

    Platelets are blood cells that help prevent blood loss when vessels are damaged. Low platelet levels may cause no symptoms, but they can lead to an increased risk of bleeding or clotting.

    Researchers analyzed data from 5.4 million people in Scotland, including 2.5 milli...

    COVID-19 does not pose a threat to the safety of the United States' blood supply under existing donor screening guidelines, researchers report.

    For the study, the investigators reviewed the results of tests for the presence of SARS-CoV-2 in nearly 18,000 pools of donated blood, representative of over 257,800 single blood donations that were collected between March and September 2020 from ...

    Certain blood types may increase a person's risk of different health problems, a new study suggests.

    The research confirms some previous findings and reveals new links between blood types and diseases, according to the authors of the study published April 27 in the journal eLife.

    "There is still very little information available about whether people with RhD-positive or RhD...

    Blood plasma from people recovering from COVID-19 could help prevent severe illness in older patients newly infected with the virus, a small new Argentinian study finds.

    The findings give new hope to the notion that so-called "convalescent plasma" might have a role to play in treating COVID-19. Earlier studies had been disappointing, showing the treatment had little effect on people with...

    The American Red Cross is urging COVID-19 survivors to donate blood plasma for hospital patients who need it to recover.

    As an incentive to help boost the national convalescent plasma shortage, the Red Cross has teamed up with the National Football League and is offering donors a chance to win two tickets to next year's Super Bowl LVI in Los Angeles.

    The Red Cross is especially aski...

    Sickle cell disease increases the risk of death or serious complications from COVID-19 infection, a pair of new studies suggests.

    People with sickle cell disease -- a genetic blood disorder predominantly found in Black people -- are 6.2 times more likely to die from COVID-19 than the general Black population of the United States, one study found.

    "Sickle cell disease patients should...

    A pair of studies shed new light on why a relatively rare blood cancer -- acute myeloid leukemia (AML) -- is more deadly among Black patients.

    The takeaways: Where patients live and their access to quality health care matter. And even when Black people with AML have the same access to treatment as white patients, their survival is shorter -- something genetic differences might explain.

    A pair of new gene therapies promise a potentially lasting cure for sickle cell disease by subtly altering the genetic information in patients' bone marrow cells, researchers report.

    Both therapies work by switching on a gene that promotes production of fetal hemoglobin, said Dr. Lewis Hsu, chief medical officer of the Sickle Cell Disease Association of America.

    Sickle cell dis...

    If you use an oxygen concentrator and a pulse oximeter at home, proper use is crucial, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration says.

    Conditions such as asthma, lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, the flu and COVID-19 can all cause oxygen levels in the body to drop. When levels are too low, oxygen therapy may be required to boost them.

    One way to get extra oxygen i...

    There's more evidence that blood type may affect a person's risk for COVID-19 and severe illness from the disease.

    The findings are reported in a pair of studies published Oct. 14 in the journal Blood Advances.

    In one, researchers compared more than 473,000 people in Denmark with COVID-19 to more than 2.2 million people in the general population.

    Among the C...

    Hospitalized COVID-19 patients face an increased risk of developing dangerous blood clots, a new review indicates.

    The odds of a clot are highest for the most critically ill patients. Analysis of 66 studies found that 23% of COVID-19 patients in an intensive care unit (ICU) developed a blood clot in the leg, known as a deep vein thrombosis (DVT).

    Overall prevalence of ...

    Antibodies against COVID-19 in people who've recovered from the disease begin to vanish about three months after they develop symptoms, researchers say.

    This suggests that sooner is better for recovered COVID-19 patients to donate antibody-containing blood plasma for convalescent plasma treatment, according to the authors of a small study published Oct. 1 in the journal Blood.<...

    If you're unfortunate enough to be admitted to the hospital with COVID-19, a common blood marker may predict how severe your illness might become, new research shows.

    The blood marker is called "red cell distribution width" (RDW) -- basically, the greater the variance in the size of red blood cells, the poorer a patient's prognosis, the study authors explained.

    A COVID-19 pa...

    Using the donated blood plasma of COVID-19 survivors to treat patients in the throes of severe coronavirus illness has met with some controversy. But a small new study suggests it could have real merit.

    The study of 39 patients with severe COVID-19 who were treated at one New York City hospital found the treatment appeared to bump up survival, researchers said.

    Plasma is th...

    Researchers may have found a way for people with severe hemophilia to take their standard treatment less often, if the results of an early trial pan out.

    In what experts called a feat of bioengineering, scientists were able to create a "fusion protein" that may extend the interval between treatments for hemophilia -- from about every couple of days to once a week.

    The early ...

    Most strokes strike when an artery in the brain suddenly becomes blocked, but new research shows a rarer cause of strokes is becoming more common.

    It's called cerebral venous thrombosis (CVT), and it happens when a vein in the brain is clogged. While CVT is estimated to cause less than 1% of all strokes, scientists discovered it is now more prevalent and affecting a different demo...

    Blood plasma transfusions from people who have developed antibodies to the new coronavirus appear to be safe for many COVID-19 patients, a large study suggests.

    The experimental treatment -- called convalescent plasma therapy -- is popular because no drug has been approved specifically to treat coronavirus infection.

    A week after 20,000 COVID-19 patients deemed at risk for ...

    A mainstay of 18th-century medicine -- the lowly leech -- has made something of a comeback in the 21st century. That's largely due to powerful blood thinners the parasitic worm secretes naturally.

    Now, genetic research could give a major boost to the medical use of leeches, scientists say.

    An international team sequenced the genome of a European leech called Hirudo medici...

    The American Red Cross will test all blood, platelet and plasma donations for COVID-19 antibodies so donors can learn whether they've been exposed to the new coronavirus.

    "We recognize that individuals and public health organizations desire more information about COVID-19, and as an organization dedicated to helping others, the Red Cross is fortunate to be able to help during this pan...

    Teens who donate blood are at significant risk for long-term iron deficiency, a new study warns.

    The concern comes as 16- to 18-year-olds have emerged as one of the fastest-growing groups of blood donors nationwide. But this study of nearly 31,000 teens who gave blood more than once between 2016 and 2018 found that roughly one in 10 were already iron-deficient when they donated for t...

    The blood plasma of people who have recovered from the new coronavirus infection may help critically ill COVID-19 patients recover, a new study finds.

    Of 25 sick patients given plasma transfusions, 19 improved and 11 left the hospital, the researchers reported. None of the patients had side effects from the transfusion.

    "While physician scientists around the world scrambled ...

    As U.S. hospitals resume procedures put on hold by the coronavirus outbreak, there's an urgent need for blood and platelet donations, the American Red Cross says.

    Following a sharp decline in demand for blood products that began in early April, hospitals' needs have recently spiked 30%.

    "Blood donors are essential to ensuring the continued health of their community by ma...

    A new blood test might help doctors predict whether someone's multiple sclerosis may soon get worse.

    The test looks for a substance called neurofilament light chain. It's a nerve protein that can be detected when nerve cells die. People with higher levels of it were more likely to have worsening MS effects within the next year.

    "In a disease like MS that is so unpredictabl...

    Could blood plasma drawn from people who've recovered from COVID-19 help prevent new coronavirus infections or ease symptoms in those already infected?

    Two groups of researchers aim to find out.

    One clinical trial, from doctors at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, Montefiore Health System and Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City, will try to determine whether ...