BACKGROUND Beta thalassemia major has a considerable impact on quality of life. The purpose of this study was to determine the life satisfaction of beta-thalassemic children and adolescents compared to healthy controls. METHODS This research, conducted in 2009, was a controlled, cross-sectional study in which beta-thalassemic patients, who were being followed-up by the Thalassemic Center in B...

The a-thalassemic mouse has a hereditary microcytic anemia. almost certainly has a shortened RBC life span. and is a potential candidate for cell replacement therapy. In a routine study of bone marrow repopulating capacity using hemoglobin as a cell marker. normal donor marrow cells. but not a-thalassemic donor marrow cells. completely replaced the host cells. Further analysis showed that at le...

To further define the nature of abnormal iron deposits on the membranes of pathologic red blood cells, we have used sickle cell anemia (HbSS), HbSC, and @-thalassemic erythrocytes (RBCs) to prepare inside-out membranes (IOM) and insoluble membrane aggregates (AGGs) containing coclustered hemichrome and band 3. Study of IOM from HbSC and thalassemic patients showed that amounts of heme iron and,...

Human β-thalassemia major is one of the most prevalent genetic diseases characterized by decrease/absence of β-globin chain production with reduction of erythrocyte number. The main cause of death of treated β-thalassemia major patients with chronic blood transfusion is early cardiac complications that have been attributed to secondary iron overload despite optimal chelation. Herein, we investi...

OBJECTIVE To study the prevalence of and risk factors for abnormal glucose tolerance in transfusion-dependent beta-thalassemic patients. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS A total of 89 transfusion-dependent beta-thalassemic patients were interviewed. Diabetes was previously diagnosed in 14 of them. In the remaining 75 patients, 68 participated in an oral glucose tolerance test. Potential risk facto...

Iron overload results in significant morbidity and mortality in β-thalassemic patients. Insufficient hepcidin is implicated in parenchymal iron overload in β-thalassemia and approaches to increase hepcidin have therapeutic potential. We have previously shown that exogenous apo-transferrin markedly ameliorates ineffective erythropoiesis and increases hepcidin expression in Hbb(th1/th1) (thalasse...

Background and Objectives. In non-thalassaemic women serum erythropoietin (Epo) level increases during pregnancy, whereas that of soluble transferrin receptor (STFR) drops slightly in the first two trimesters to attain the original values in the third trimester. In this study the time-course of these two parameters was explored in β-thalassemic and nonβ-thalassemic women, both pregnant and not.

OBJECTIVE There are some reports in which a condition of zinc deficiency and its associated outcomes with a change in concentration of serum copper among the thalassemic patients has been highlighted. The aim of this prospective study was to determine the serum zinc and copper levels in children with beta-thalassemia major. METHODS In this cross sectional study all children under 12 years aff...

Human parvovirus B19 infection was studied in 60 thalassemic patients in Thailand. Seroprevalence, persistence of parvovirus B19 and their genotypes were identified in blood samples. Prevalence of anti-parvovirus B19 IgG and DNA found in thalassemic patients were 38% and 13%, respectively. Anti-parvovirus B19 IgM could be detected in 4% of these positive anti-parvovirus B19 IgG patients. The se...