In the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum, erythrocytic trophozoites hydrolyse haemoglobin to provide amino acids for parasite protein synthesis. Cysteine protease inhibitors block parasite haemoglobin hydrolysis and development, indicating that cysteine proteases are required for these processes. Three papain-family cysteine protease sequences have been identified in the P. falciparum geno...

BACKGROUND The Dialysis Outcomes and Practice Patterns Study (DOPPS) is a prospective, observational study based on data collected from nationally representative samples of haemodialysis facilities. The burden of anaemia in haemodialysis patients is substantial, leading to considerable morbidity, mortality and reduced quality of life. This study examines anaemia management and outcomes based on...

Children with congenital cyanotic heart disease become adapted to some extent to anoxaemia. A well-recognized response is an increase of haemoglobin concentration; this increase might also be accompanied by a change in the type of haemoglobin formed. Foetal haemoglobin is more favourable than adult haemoglobin for oxygen uptake, and postnatal anoxaemia might promote the production of foetal hae...

Most healthy humans have a haemoglobin concentration of 12 to 15 g/dL and most intensivists now transfuse packed red blood cells for haemoglobin <7 g/dL. Higher haemoglobin is associated with improved intermediate and clinical outcomes after subarachnoid hemorrhage (from ruptured brain aneurysm) or neurotrauma. An observational study in a recent issue shows that higher haemoglobin was associate...

The Neisseriaceae family of bacteria causes a range of diseases including meningitis, septicaemia, gonorrhoea and endocarditis, and extracts haem from haemoglobin as an important iron source within the iron-limited environment of its human host. Herein we report crystal structures of apo- and haemoglobin-bound HpuA, an essential component of this haem import system. The interface involves long ...

Optoacoustic imaging (OAI) can detect haemoglobin and assess its oxygenation. However, the lack of a haemoglobin signal need not indicate a lack of perfusion. This study uses a novel method to assist the co-registration of optoacoustic images with dynamic contrast enhanced ultrasound (DCE-US) images to demonstrate, in preclinical tumour models, the value of combining haemoglobin imaging with a ...

In Libya, haemoglobin estimation is not used routinely to assess the fitness of blood donors. We examined the importance of including this parameter in donor selection. Venous blood samples were collected from the bleed line at the end of the donation process from 1339 healthy adult male blood donors, aged 18-60 years, in Al-Jala Women Hospital in Tripoli, Libya. Haemoglobin concentration was m...

Autoxidation of oxyhaemoglobin (oxyHb) to methaemoglobin was measured at different temperatures in haemoglobin solutions from Atlantic hagfish, river lamprey, common carp, yellowfin tuna and pig. The aims were to evaluate the impact of the absent distal histidine in hagfish haemoglobin, the importance of oxyHb being either monomeric (hagfish and lamprey) or tetrameric (carp, tuna and pig) and t...

OBJECTIVE This study was aimed at investigating the effectiveness and safety of once-weekly epoetin beta for anaemic cancer patients receiving chemotherapy. METHODS A total of 104 patients with a haemoglobin level of </=11.0 g/dL were enrolled. Patients received a once-weekly subcutaneous dose of 36 000 IU epoetin beta for 12 weeks. If the increase in the haemoglobin level was <1.0 g/dL after...

INTRODUCTION The aim of the study was to compare haemoglobin and red cell counts between patients known to be infected with a range of leptospiral serovars. METHODS The study retrospectively compared the haemoglobin and red cell count results from the first blood samples taken from 207 patients at presentation to a Queensland Health hospital. RESULTS Significant differences were observed in...