In this week’s press release:
- Could anemia be used to assess the burden and control of neglected tropical diseases"
- Translating pharmacogenomics: challenges on the road to the clinic
Please mention PLoS Medicine in your report and use the links below to take your readers straight to the online articles:
FROM THE PLoS MEDICINE MAGAZINE SECTION:
Could anemia be used to assess the burden and control of neglected tropical diseases"
In this week's PLoS Medicine, a team of researchers argues that measuring anemia could be a good way of monitoring the burden and control of neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) such as schistosomiasis and intestinal worms.
Imelda Bates (Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, UK) and colleagues say that the prevalence of anemia in a community might be a good indicator of the burden of NTDs in that community since anemia prevalence is objective and quantifiable, anaemia is a major complication of several NTDs, it can be measured even in the most remote areas, and it changes in a predictable fashion with alterations in the burden of NTDs.
Citation: Bates I, McKew S, Sarkinfada F (2007) Anaemia: A useful indicator of neglected disease burden and control. PLoS Med 4(8): e231.
IN YOUR ARTICLE, PLEASE LINK TO THIS URL, WHICH WILL PROVIDE ACCESS TO THE PUBLISHED PAPER: http://medicine.plosjournals.org/perlserv/?request=get-document&doi=10.1371/journal.pmed.0040231
PRESS-ONLY PREVIEW OF THE ARTICLE: http://www.plos.org/press/plme-04-08-bates.pdf
Related image for press use: http://www.plos.org/press/plme-04-08-bates.jpg
Caption: Haemoglobin Colour Scale. The colour of a finger prick blood sample, soaked into chromatography paper, is compared with the colour of blood of known haemoglobin content depicted on the scale in 2 g/dl increments from 4 g/dl to 14 g/dl.
CONTACT:
Imelda Bates
Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine
Disease Control Strategy Group
Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine
Liverpool, L3 5QA
United Kingdom
+44 151 705 3115
ibates@liverpool.ac.uk
Translating pharmacogenomics: challenges on the road to the clinic
In a research in translation paper, Jesse J. Swen and colleagues review the limited successes of pharmacogenomics (individualized drug dosing based on hereditary factors) and discuss the remaining challenges to its widespread clinical use.
Citation: Swen JJ, Huizinga TW, Gelderblom H, de Vries EGE, Assendelft WJJ, et al. (2007) Translating pharmacogenomics: Challenges on the road to the clinic. PLoS Med 4(8): e209. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.0040209
IN YOUR ARTICLE, PLEASE LINK TO THIS URL, WHICH WILL PROVIDE ACCESS TO THE PUBLISHED PAPER: http://medicine.plosjournals.org/perlserv/?request=get-document&doi=10.1371/journal.pmed.0040209
PRESS-ONLY PREVIEW OF THE ARTICLE: http://www.plos.org/press/plme-04-08-guchelaar.pdf
CONTACT:
Henk-Jan Guchelaar
Leiden University Medical Center
Clinical pharmacy & Toxicology
P.O. Box 9600
Leiden, NL 2300 RC
Netherlands
+31 71526 2790
h.j.guchelaar@lumc.nl
About PLoS Medicine
PLoS Medicine is an open access, freely available international medical journal. It publishes original research that enhances our understanding of human health and disease, together with commentary and analysis of important global health issues. For more information, visit http://www.plosmedicine.org
About the Public Library of Science
The Public Library of Science (PLoS) is a non-profit organization of scientists and physicians committed to making the world's scientific and medical literature a freely available public resource. For more information, visit http://www.plos.org
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