Red Blood Cells

A former college football player at Lock Haven University was sentenced to life in prison because a jury could not agree on whether he deserved the death penalty for murdering the brother of an Olympic wrestler. The jury voted 7-5 in favor of the death penalty yesterday for Fabian Desmond Smart, of Clyo, Ga. Death sentences require a unanimous decision in Pennsylvania. Smart was convicted last week of the January 1999 murder of Jason McMann, the older brother of Olympic wrestler Sara McMann.

Question: I'm a nursing student who recently cared for a homeless man who developed alcohol withdrawal and something described as "refeeding syndrome. " Can you tell me more about that? He was pretty sick. Answer: A homeless man is the classic setting where you'll come across "refeeding syndrome. " It can be seen in anyone who is profoundly malnourished. Anorexia is another setting where it has been seen. It was first seen in World War II concentration-camp victims who died soon after refeeding.

For the more than 50,000 Americans with sickle cell anemia, treatment up to now has been piecemeal efforts to alleviate their pain and try to prevent complications such as infections. Now, scientists are targeting the underlying cause of this deadly inherited disease, which mostly affects black people. It is characterized by defective red blood cells that clog blood vessels and damage organs. At a national meeting on sickle cell disease in Philadelphia this week, researchers were upbeat.

Eric Lindros' blood count is low. He is five pounds under his playing weight of 236 pounds. But the Flyers center and team captain said he was relieved to learn that it is a virus that has made him ill and fatigued - and not something more serious. "I've been really concerned about what's going on with me," Lindros said last night from his South Jersey home. "That's why I went to see Dr. [Larry] Kaiser. I wanted to hear it from Kaiser if there was something else. " Kaiser, the chief of thoracic surgery at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, assured Lindros on Thursday that there was no connection between his low count of red blood cells and the virus.

The Inquirer is presenting one profile a day of participants in Sunday's Blue Cross Broad Street Run. See full coverage at www.philly.com/broadstreetrun. By Michael Vitez INQUIRER STAFF WRITER In 2009, in his Chester County kitchen, Tom Kramer turned frustration and desperation into inspiration. He would turn what he loved — running, training — into a cause that could save the life of his wife, Pam, and the lives of many like her. Pam has a rare form of blood cancer, myelofibrosis, that eats away at her bone marrow and will eventually be fatal.

When 18 Belgian and Dutch bicycle racers mysteriously dropped dead in the late 1980s, doctors suspected a powerful antianemia drug called Erythropoietin, or Epo. But no test existed to prove that the athletes had taken it. Since then, anecdotal evidence suggests that cyclists and other endurance athletes have abused this new drug, hoping its blood-enriching effect would give them a competitive edge, albeit a dangerous and illegal one. ...

Allan J. Erslev, 84, a hematology researcher and professor at Jefferson Medical College for 43 years, died Wednesday at the Quadrangle in Haverford, where he had lived since 1989. In 1953, Dr. Erslev was the first researcher to prove conclusively that erythropoietin - a natural hormone that produces red blood cells - resides in the kidneys. Dr. Erslev and other researchers spent 25 years studying how to mass-produce the hormone, called EPO, through genetic engineering. When the hormone was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 1989, it was immediately used to treat patients who needed a boost in red blood cells.

U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter, in a letter released yesterday, urged state and federal health officials to continue to monitor cases of a rare blood cancer in northeastern Pennsylvania and vowed to find federal funding to support further study. Specter's announcement came a day after a federal health agency announced that a two-year survey found an elevated number of cases of polycythemia vera in Schuylkill, Carbon and Luzerne Counties. But scientists found no link between the disease and toxic chemical dumps in the area.

To make sure it has sufficient blood supply to treat American casualties in any combat in Afghanistan, the Pentagon may restrict the Red Cross and other civilian groups from collecting blood on military bases. The last time the Defense Department imposed such a restriction was during the 1991 Persian Gulf war. The restriction would help ensure that service personnel would be able to donate blood when it was needed to treat those wounded in combat. "We're trying to make sure there's a steady supply of blood available if we need it," said Army Col. Michael Fitzpatrick, director of the Armed Forces Blood Program Office.

In a new prenatal test that doctors say offers the most direct method ever of diagnosing blood disorders in a fetus, obstetricians can now retrieve blood samples from the umbilical cord of a fetus and immediately perform a transfusion if needed. The test, known as percutaneous umbilical blood sampling, or PUBS, is being used to detect anemia, hemophilia and other blood abnormalities as well as for overall genetic analysis in mid-pregnancy. The test can be done beginning in the 17th week of pregnancy.

The Inquirer is presenting one profile a day of participants in Sunday's Blue Cross Broad Street Run. See full coverage at www.philly.com/broadstreetrun. By Michael Vitez INQUIRER STAFF WRITER In 2009, in his Chester County kitchen, Tom Kramer turned frustration and desperation into inspiration. He would turn what he loved — running, training — into a cause that could save the life of his wife, Pam, and the lives of many like her. Pam has a rare form of blood cancer, myelofibrosis, that eats away at her bone marrow and will eventually be fatal.

Question: I'm a nursing student who recently cared for a homeless man who developed alcohol withdrawal and something described as "refeeding syndrome. " Can you tell me more about that? He was pretty sick. Answer: A homeless man is the classic setting where you'll come across "refeeding syndrome. " It can be seen in anyone who is profoundly malnourished. Anorexia is another setting where it has been seen. It was first seen in World War II concentration-camp victims who died soon after refeeding.

U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter, in a letter released yesterday, urged state and federal health officials to continue to monitor cases of a rare blood cancer in northeastern Pennsylvania and vowed to find federal funding to support further study. Specter's announcement came a day after a federal health agency announced that a two-year survey found an elevated number of cases of polycythemia vera in Schuylkill, Carbon and Luzerne Counties. But scientists found no link between the disease and toxic chemical dumps in the area.

A former college football player at Lock Haven University was sentenced to life in prison because a jury could not agree on whether he deserved the death penalty for murdering the brother of an Olympic wrestler. The jury voted 7-5 in favor of the death penalty yesterday for Fabian Desmond Smart, of Clyo, Ga. Death sentences require a unanimous decision in Pennsylvania. Smart was convicted last week of the January 1999 murder of Jason McMann, the older brother of Olympic wrestler Sara McMann.

Allan J. Erslev, 84, a hematology researcher and professor at Jefferson Medical College for 43 years, died Wednesday at the Quadrangle in Haverford, where he had lived since 1989. In 1953, Dr. Erslev was the first researcher to prove conclusively that erythropoietin - a natural hormone that produces red blood cells - resides in the kidneys. Dr. Erslev and other researchers spent 25 years studying how to mass-produce the hormone, called EPO, through genetic engineering. When the hormone was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 1989, it was immediately used to treat patients who needed a boost in red blood cells.

To make sure it has sufficient blood supply to treat American casualties in any combat in Afghanistan, the Pentagon may restrict the Red Cross and other civilian groups from collecting blood on military bases. The last time the Defense Department imposed such a restriction was during the 1991 Persian Gulf war. The restriction would help ensure that service personnel would be able to donate blood when it was needed to treat those wounded in combat. "We're trying to make sure there's a steady supply of blood available if we need it," said Army Col. Michael Fitzpatrick, director of the Armed Forces Blood Program Office.

Mark Karcher was back at McGonigle Hall yesterday. This time, though, it was much later in the day than those famed early-morning Temple practices, and John Chaney wasn't barking in his ear. Karcher returned wearing a Sixers jersey and scored almost every time he touched ball, duplicating shots he made hundreds of times from those same spots in his two seasons at Temple. "It felt like home," said Karcher, the Sixers' second-round draft pick. "When I was playing, it felt like I was back in my Temple days.

Eric Lindros' blood count is low. He is five pounds under his playing weight of 236 pounds. But the Flyers center and team captain said he was relieved to learn that it is a virus that has made him ill and fatigued - and not something more serious. "I've been really concerned about what's going on with me," Lindros said last night from his South Jersey home. "That's why I went to see Dr. [Larry] Kaiser. I wanted to hear it from Kaiser if there was something else. " Kaiser, the chief of thoracic surgery at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, assured Lindros on Thursday that there was no connection between his low count of red blood cells and the virus.

When 18 Belgian and Dutch bicycle racers mysteriously dropped dead in the late 1980s, doctors suspected a powerful antianemia drug called Erythropoietin, or Epo. But no test existed to prove that the athletes had taken it. Since then, anecdotal evidence suggests that cyclists and other endurance athletes have abused this new drug, hoping its blood-enriching effect would give them a competitive edge, albeit a dangerous and illegal one. ...

After 40 hospitalizations, four transfusions, two operations, pneumonia, inexplicable fevers and a life-threatening loss of blood from his spleen, 5- year-old Kyle Smith has entered a new phase of sickle cell disease. His red blood cells, distorted into rigid half-moon shapes, sometimes jam the tiny vessels of his blood system and starve the muscles and bones of oxygen, creating a pain deeper and more severe than most people will ever experience. Such pain - unpredictable, intermittent and lifelong - is a hallmark of sickle cell disease.