this week in sickle cell news May 11th to the 17th

By Sean Marshall

Strange yet fascinating news this week involving sickle cell disease and erectile dysfunction. It was reported by News Sentinel,, a news agencies working out of Fort Wayne Indiana, that new information has come to light explaining hwy men with sickle cell diseases suffer from a statistical likely hood of priapism when taking erectile dysfunction medicine over men who do no have sickle cell disease.

The act of priapism for those who don;t know is defined by the Mayo Clinic as “priapism is a prolonged erection of the penis. The unwanted, persistent erection isn't caused by sexual stimulation or arousal, and priapism is usually painful.”

It was explained that ED drugs cause excessive blood flow to the penis and since men who have sickle cell disease have sickle red blood cells the often “causes deformed red blood to get stuck in the penis, maintaining an erection.” This left unchecked can lead to serious heart risks. Unfortunate the leading way to solve this issue once it has occurred treatments involving “medications injected that help the blood flow, drain, or stagnated blood can be extracted with a large needle.”

The most important thing to take from this is to always contact your doctor about any prior medical conditions before taking any drug.

The original article can be found here: http://www.news-sentinel.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20150511/LIVING/150509746

Other more uplifting news this week features new discoveries about human genome mapping that could allow doctors and scientist a way to cure sickle cell disease. It was explained by The Medical Daily as well as the Health Site that “scientists at the University of South Wales n Australia have discovered a gene editing technique that could lead to new treatments of sickle cell anemia and other blood disorders.”

For those who have been following This Week in Sickle Cell News this may sound familiar. Several moths ago this was all theoretical but as of recently a new gene editing technique known as TALEN has now made it possible. This is all done by “introducing a naturally occurring genetic mutation back into the cells.” This then allows doctors and scientists the ability to “increase the oxygen carrying capability of the hemoglobin,” this would essential relive many of the symptoms and damaging effects of sickle cell anaemia.

This process is often refereed to as changing one of the sequences or letters in someones DNA. Everything else mentioned in the article is a rehash of what was said a few months ago. But to catch up anyone who missed it. The process changes adult hemoglobin to share similar traits of hemoglobin found in a fetes, thereby tricking the body into producing a protein molecule that delivers more oxygen to red blood cells. The red blood cells then get enough oxygen to avoid turning into a sickle shape granting relief from sickle cell anemia.

Both articles can be found here: http://www.medicaldaily.com/sickle-cell-anemia-cure-foreseeable-after-scientists-use-gene-editing-revert-333340\

and here: http://www.thehealthsite.com/news/a-new-technique-might-help-to-deal-with-sickle-cell-anemia/

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