Blood Cells

A virus may be the cause of Kawasaki syndrome, a mysterious disease that causes life-threatening heart abnormalities in children and is especially prevalent among youngsters of Japanese and Korean descent, according to Harvard Medical School researchers. In studies on the white blood cells of Kawasaki syndrome patients, the researchers have detected a key viral enzyme, called reverse transcriptase, which is normally not present in blood cells.

During this period, the structure of the fetus is completed to the extent that major abnormalities--or good health-- can be determined. MONTH FOUR Weeks 15-16: Amniocentesis can be performed to check for birth defects MONTH FIVE Weeks 16-18: Substantial cardiac defects can be determined. The fetus is fully formed, about 5 inches long. Fetal heart beats twice as fast as mother's. Weeks 18-20: Stem cells begin to occupy the fetal bone marrow. Fetus begins to move.

A genetically engineered hormone with the potential for revolutionizing the treatment of infections has passed its first human safety trial, UCLA and Harvard medical scientists said in a report published today. In experiments conducted in Los Angeles and Boston, the hormone was given to 16 AIDS patients suffering from a wide variety of viral, bacterial and fungal infections that typically afflict people with acquired immune deficiency syndrome.

Biopool International announced it has received FDA approval to market a new screening product for use in hospital blood banks and commercial laboratories. The screening test--called the Fetal D Tection Kit--is able to detect whether blood cells from an infant entered the mother's system during pregnancy. The determination is necessary when the mother's blood type is D negative and her infant's is D (Rh) positive.

Researchers have perfected an inexpensive and efficient way to convert types A, B and AB blood into type O, the universal-donor blood that can be given to anyone -- an achievement that promises to make transfusions safer and to relieve shortages of type O blood. The team reported Sunday in the journal Nature Biotechnology that it isolated bacterial enzymes that safely remove from red blood cells the sugar molecules that provoke an immune reaction in the recipient.

Tori Lee Glezos, the first patient to receive a bone-marrow transplant at an Orange County hospital, is ill with an infection and pneumonia, but her spirits are high, and her doctors say they believe that her chances for survival are still strong. Doctors at Childrens Hospital of Orange County had predicted that 9-year-old Tori would suffer some kind of infection before the transplanted marrow took root and began producing disease-fighting white blood cells.

News came today that singer Etta James is terminally ill with chronic leukemia; the Riverside Press-Enterprise also reports that the 73-year-old is suffering from kidney failure and dementia. Leukemia is a cancer of the blood and bone marrow, where blood cells are produced. When abnormal cells are created they disrupt the function of healthy cells. The disease can be acute or chronic; in acute leukemia, common in children, immature or early blood cells multiply quickly, and immediate treatment is usually necessary.

Just two weeks into a scheduled two months of daily radiation for Stage 4 throat cancer, Michael Douglas sits in his darkened living room. The treetops of Central Park are just visible through a crack in the drawn curtains, and in the shadowy afternoon light, Douglas appears his always-handsome self. But he sips frequently from an aloe drink to soothe the sores in his mouth, and when he speaks, it is as if he is addressing a dozing child, gently turning the words over in his mouth for maximum effect without projecting.