成都静脉曲张科(绵阳有没有治疗血管瘤的医院) (今日更新中)

WASHINGTON, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- U.S. researchers have corrected sickle cell disease in adult laboratory mice that had been bred to have the inherited blood disorder by activating production of a special blood component, according to a study published online Thursday in the journal Science.Sickle cell disease results from an abnormality in hemoglobin, the protein found in red blood cells that is responsible for transporting oxygen throughout the body. People living with sickle cell disease have two copies of an altered gene that produces sickle hemoglobin instead of normal adult hemoglobin. Sickle hemoglobin changes shape after releasing its oxygen, causing the red blood cell to become stiff, misshapen and sticky, and slowing blood flow to tissues. This process damages organs and causes pain.The study tested a new approach to increasing the production of a third form of hemoglobin -- fetal hemoglobin. Production of fetal hemoglobin predominates before birth, but turns off thereafter as adult hemoglobin production takes over. People with sickle cell disease are unable to make normal adult hemoglobin, and instead make sickle hemoglobin starting in infancy.An elevated level of fetal hemoglobin within the red blood cell reduces the tendency of sickle hemoglobin to change the shape of red blood cells. Considerable research has shown that the drug hydroxyurea increases production of fetal hemoglobin and reduces the number of pain crises and other complications of sickle cell disease in adults and children. However, not all patients respond well to hydroxyurea, and adverse side effects are a concern.The current study explores a more targeted approach to increasing fetal hemoglobin production. It builds upon earlier studies that discovered a protein called BCL11A normally suppresses the production of fetal hemoglobin soon after birth. The researchers viewed the BCL11A protein as a target for therapy and decided to see what would happen if they blocked production of the protein.The paper details how the research team silenced the mouse gene that produces the BCL11A protein in mice with sickle cell disease. Silencing the gene turned off production of the BCL11A protein and allowed the adult mice to continue to produce fetal hemoglobin. It appears to have eliminated disease symptoms without affecting other aspects of blood production."This discovery provides an important new target for future therapies in people with sickle cell disease," said Susan Shurin, acting director of the U.S. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, which co-funded the study. "More work is needed before it will be possible to test such therapies in people, but this study demonstrates that the approach works in principle."Approximately 100,000 Americans live with sickle cell disease. It is most prevalent in people of African, Hispanic, Mediterranean, and Middle Eastern descent. There is no widely available cure for sickle cell disease. Bone marrow transplants have cured some patients, but the treatment is not without risk and most patients do not have relatives who can donate compatible and healthy bone marrow to them.

BEIJING, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- China's industrial enterprises saw their profits increase 25.3 percent year-on-year in the first ten months of 2011, slowing down from the year's previously recorded figures, official data showed Sunday.Growth in the January-October period was 1.7 percentage points lower from that of the first three quarters, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said in a statement.It marked a gradual downshift from the 34.3-percent year-on-year growth seen during the January-February period and the 28.7-percent growth seen during the first half of the year.Profits realized in the first ten months amounted to 4.12 trillion yuan (650 billion U.S. dollars), the NBS said.The NBS compiled the figures using data collected from a pool of industrial businesses with at least 20 million yuan in annual sales revenues each.In October alone, industrial profits expanded 12.5 percent year-on-year to 438.3 billion yuan, the NBS said.Among 39 industries surveyed, 36 sectors reported profit growth in the first ten months. The oil refining, coking and nuclear-fuel processing sector saw profit plunge 89.8 percent year-on-year.Private businesses posted the fastest profit growth, with a year-on-year rise of 44.3 percent, followed by collectively owned enterprises of 33 percent, equity-holding companies of 30.3 percent, state-owned enterprises of 16.6 percent and overseas-funded firms of 11.6 percent.China's industrial production growth rate will moderate due to economic turmoil in Europe and the United States and weakening domestic demand brought about by a tightened monetary policy, Huang Libin, an official with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said last week.China saw its economic growth slow to 9.1 percent in the third quarter of this year from 9.5 percent in the second quarter and 9.7 percent in the first quarter.

UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 28 (Xinhua) -- China's progress in meeting a development goal on children's health can serve as an inspiration to other countries working towards the same objective, Dr. Renee Van de Weerdt, chief of maternal, newborn and child health at the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) told Xinhua in an interview Friday.Van de Weerdt said that "the example of China is very encouraging because it means it can be done, even in a very big country with a very big population."China is on track to meet the fourth Millennium Development Goal (MDG), one of the eight development targets that the international community has pledged to meet by 2015. MDG 4 requires that each country reduce its rate of mortality for children under age five to two-thirds of what it was in 1990.According to Van de Weerdt, most deaths of children under five take place in the first month of life. After the first month, the most prevalent causes of death are pneumonia and diarrhea.ACHIEVING THE GOAL WORLDWIDEThe international community has been doing "relatively well" in working towards achieving MDG 4, Van de Weerdt said.The UN Interagency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (IGME) stated in their 2011 Report on Levels and Trends in Child Mortality that the number of under-five deaths worldwide has dropped from more than 12 million in 1990 to 7.6 million in 2010."We really continue to see progress," Van de Weerdt said. "The number of children that die every year continues to drop so we are really pleased to see that progress. Unfortunately, the progress isn't sufficient to really be able to say that if we continue at this pace we would achieve MDG 4 by 2015."Some regions, according to Van de Weerdt, like Latin America and parts of Asia are making more headway towards the goal than others that are currently lagging behind.

WASHINGTON, Dec. 7 (Xinhua) -- Drugs that affect the levels of an important brain protein involved in learning and memory reverse cellular changes in the brain seen during aging, according to an animal study published Wednesday in the Journal of Neuroscience. The findings could one day aid in the development of new drugs that enhance cognitive function in older adults.Aging-related memory loss is associated with the gradual deterioration of the structure and function of synapses (the connections between brain cells) in brain regions critical to learning and memory, such as the hippocampus.Recent studies suggested that histone acetylation, a chemical process that controls whether genes are turned on, affects this process. Specifically, it affects brain cells' ability to alter the strength and structure of their connections for information storage, a process known as synaptic plasticity, which is a cellular signature of memory.In the current study, Cui-Wei Xie, of the University of California, Los Angeles, and colleagues found that compared with younger rats, hippocampi from older rats have less brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) -- a protein that promotes synaptic plasticity -- and less histone acetylation of the Bdnf gene. By treating the hippocampal tissue from older animals with a drug that increased histone acetylation, they were able to restore BDNF production and synaptic plasticity to levels found in younger animals."These findings shed light on why synapses become less efficient and more vulnerable to impairment during aging," said Xie, who led the study. "Such knowledge could help develop new drugs for cognitive aging and aging-related neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease," she added.

WASHINGTON, Nov. 11 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Friday approved HEMACORD, the first licensed hematopoietic progenitor cells-cord cell therapy.HEMACORD is indicated for use in hematopoietic stem cell transplantation procedures in patients with disorders affecting the blood forming system. For example, cord blood transplants have been used to treat patients with certain blood cancers and some inherited metabolic and immune system disorders."The use of cord blood hematopoietic progenitor cell therapy offers potentially life-saving treatment options for patients with these types of disorders," said Karen Midthun, director of FDA's Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, in a statement.HEMACORD contains hematopoietic progenitor cells (HPCs) from human cord blood. Cord blood is one of three sources of HPCs used in transplants. The other two are bone marrow and peripheral blood. Once these HPCs are infused into patients, the cells migrate to the bone marrow where they divide and mature. When the mature cells move into the bloodstream they can partially or fully restore the number and function of many blood cells, including immune function.

来源：资阳报