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By Sean Marshall
New news from Wailea Hawaii, reports from Helio.com an ocular sugary news site state that “spectral domain optical coherence tomography may be used to gauge retinal anatomic changes in eyes with sickle cell retinopathy.” Retinopathy for those who don’t know is a when the eyes retinal degrade and begin to thin, those with sickle cell often suffer from this. The article focused on the work of Jennifer I. Lim M.D. at the 2015 Retina conference, an annual optometrist conference. Her work would suggest that many people suffering from sickle cell disease will also succumb to some sort of retinal degradation in their lifetime. The article explained that “in a study including 128 eyes of 64 sickle cell anemia patients and 24 eyes of 12 age- and race-matched controls it was identified in 36 sickle cell eyes (56%) and no control eyes.” Unfortunately the “it” that the study is referring to is sickle cell retinal thinning other such data included “visual acuity in sickle cell eyes with focal macular thinning ranged from 20/15 to 20/200. Most eyes had 20/20 vision and were asymptomatic.” Lastly it was reveled that in another phase of the study “optic nerve and retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness was measured in 151 eyes of 88 sickle cell patients and 55 eyes of 30 controls. Results showed that sickle cell retinopathy eyes with macular thinning had thinner mean peripapillary RNFL in the nasal and superotemporal sectors than controls.” If you would like to read the full article it can be found here: http://www.healio.com/ophthalmology/retina-vitreous/news/online/%7B8adc13a7-25df-4297-a8f7-e719d3567f7c%7D/sickle-cell-retinopathy-associated-with-retinal-thinning Other news this week included new ways to model sickle cell behavior. An article from the Massachusetts institute of technology news has posted an article online about the development of a new type of machine that could “analyze the behavior of blood from sickle cell disease patients.” The device is being crafted Ming Dao a research scientist from MIT’s department of Materials Science and Engineering. The device is suppose to “measure how long it takes blood cells to become dangerously stiff, which is when they become more likely to get trapped in blood vessels.” Another feature of the device is that according to the article it explains that the microfluidic device “mimics the conditions inside a blood vessel as oxygen leaves the blood.” The article also went on to say that “the cell flows through a narrow channel that wraps around a compartment containing oxygen. The oxygen then diffuses the gas compartment to the microfluidic channel allowing researchers to control how much oxygen cells are exposed to.” This may be a lot to take in bit essentially the device would stop the effects of strokes on sickle cell patients while monitoring for upcoming health risks. If you would like to read the whole article click the link: http://newsoffice.mit.edu/2015/microfluidic-device-predict-sickle-cell-behavior-0119 If there are any comments questions or concerns email us at [email protected]
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By Sean Marshall
New statistics out of India over the weekend prove sickle cell anemia is still present and still a treat. According to an article found in The Times of India there is “a 26 point decline in maternal mortality rate over the last four years.” However the article also references that areas where there are still large rates of mortality is caused by sickle cell. According to the article the study of MMR (maternal mortality rates) was taken in the Indian region of Navasari where according to Health Office Dr. M. T. Charri “Anemia is one problem that we have been fighting since long. The region has high numbers numbers of sickle cell anemia patients.” The cause of all this is “the lack of training of health staff members as well as low numbers at primary health facilities.” Other important aspects of the article was the fact that maternal mortality rates, which is often caused by sickle cell, is “the leading cause of death to women who die of pregnancy related causes.” What makes the article so important is that it is based off of a country wide study. This means that India is now fully aware of the problems caused by sickle cell and can now hopefully take action. If you would like to read the article for yourself you can find it here: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/vadodara/State-records-steady-slide-in-maternal-mortality/articleshow/45842131.cms A magazine out of Bermuda has reported that a bone marrow transplant between two sisters may have cured sickle cell. The Royal Gazette has reported that Aquilah Salaam a long time sufferer of sickle cell disease has been cured from the bone marrow of her sister Siddeeqah Ray. Both women were in the hospital on the 18th of November, the bone marrow transplant was done on the 19th but it wasn't until the Christmas eve when Saleem was completely cured. The article as a whole mainly covered the life of Saleem before and after her transplant. Despite it being very moving it didn’t supply any details involving the pressurizer itself. None the less it is good to know there are those who have overcome sickle cell. Give it a read you won't regret it. If you would like to read the full article you can find it here: http://www.royalgazette.com/article/20150114/ISLAND18/150119885 If there are any comments questions or concerns email us at [email protected] Sickle Cell News January 5th the 11th
Welcome back to the sickle cell news. After a long hiatus we are back and have many new updates in the medical world to share. News this week included a story out of Boston Medical Center. In an article written by Healthcannel.com, an online website dedicated to health issues effecting Boston, the Boston Medical Center has “significantly improved influenza, or flu, vaccination rates among pediatric patients with sickle cell disease during the last two flu seasons.” It was explained in the article that children suffering from sickle cell disease are at a higher risk of complications from the flu and “are hospitalized at a rate 56 times that of children without SCD, according to a previous study.” It was also explained that children with sickle cell disease often need the flu shot to stand a chance during flu season. Luckily due to the studies and records being made as early as 1978 there have been improvements to how well people with sickle cell disease react to flu vaccinations. As the article explained “BMC then implemented several quality improvement methods to achieve the substantial increase to a 90 percent vaccination rate.” The article seemed to end on a high note when it explained that “the BMC (Boston Medical Center) has surpassed Healthy People’s 2020 goal of having 80 percent of children aged 6 months to 21 years old vaccinated against the flu. If you would like to learn more about the issue you can find the original article here: http://www.healthcanal.com/infections/flu/58806-bmc-pediatric-sickle-cell-disease-patients-achieve-near-perfect-influenza-vaccination-rate.html Other good news included issues involving babies born in London England. According to the Nottingham Post "life saving treatment could be given to more children after public health officials outlined plans to screen more babies with life threatening conditions." The reason why this is so big for sickle cell disease is because of on of the quotes in the article Public health minister for England Jane Ellison said, "expanding the screening has the potential to make a huge difference to the lives of babies born with rare genetic disorders.” He also said that "detecting the disorders early can help prevent babies being severely disabled or even dying, which is absolutely vital for the families affected." This whole method of early testing for rare genetic disorders can apply to sickle cell and one of the diseases. It was mentioned in the article that sickle cell anemia was one of the other rare genetic disorders being checked for. As long as this procedure goes through it can and most likely show the large numbers of sickle cell sufferers and also allow for early treatment. If you would like to read the online version of the article click here: http://www.nottinghampost.com/Babies-debilitating-genetic-conditions-receive/story-25806218-detail/story.html If you have any comments questions or concerns email us at [email protected] |
AboutThis section is solely to let our Sickle Soldiers tell their story trials & tribulations alongside things they feel are wrong in the Sickle Cell Community Archives
March 2016
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