There is no doubt that the blood transfusion saves lives. Haemorrhages, malignant diseases of the blood, coagulation disorders do not necessarily constitute a threat to human life when the transfusion of blood or its components can be used. Unfortunately, despite numerous actions promoting honorary blood donation, there is a huge disproportion between the number of donors and the actual demand for blood in hospitals. The needs are massive – in Poland alone 2 000 000 transfusions are performed a year. Read full text »

Approximately 10% women are thought to be affected with endometriosis. An understanding of its pathogenesis seems to be rather poor, though the scale of the problem is large. Limited to conventional hormonal therapies and surgical intervention, women usually suffer from adverse effects that make the disease even more psychically and psychologically debilitating. Recent advances in the field of discovering endometriosis’ etiology lead to surprising findings. The underestimated potential of statins gives hope for their application in endometriosis treatment. New selective estrogen modulators might also come in handy. What is more, the greater insight into the role of stem cells in development of endometrial lesions may result in therapy targets that no one ever thought of. Read full text »

One day, blind people may have their sight restored thanks to a new method of molecular therapy. It makes use of genes acquired from an unlikely source, algae. Recently a group of American scientists proved, that the therapy is successful in murine model. During a described trial (1), solution containing viruses, which carry the algal genes, was injected into the eyes of blind mice. It turned out that retinal cells became sensitive to light and mice could easily find their way out of a maze. According to WHO (2), it has been estimated that about 39 million people worldwide suffer from a severe vision impairment. Perhaps we could put an end to this problem by using a power of nature mixed with technological advance. Read full text »