August 1, 2006, is National Minority Donor Awareness Day. The National Marrow Donor Program has nearly 4.9 million registered donors, but whites are by far the largest group, represented by ... Read More

Research presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology in June 2006 reported on the results of an international, multicenter trial of thalidomide and dexamethasone (Thal/Dex) ... Read More

Malmo University Hospital researchers linked data from the Malmo Primary Sjogren's Syndrome Register, Swedish Cancer Register, and Cause-of-Death Register in Sweden to calculate the incidence of lymphoma and other cancers ... Read More

On July 13, 2006, Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc., announced that it had purchased the former Dow manufacturing facility in Smithfield, Rhode Island. According to the company's press release, the facility will ... Read More

Pharmaceutical company Shire plc announced on Monday, July 24, 2006, that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved its drug Elaprase (idursulfase) for marketing. Elaprase is the first ... Read More

Polycythemia vera (PV) is a bone marrow disorder (myeloproliferative disorder) in which there is an overproduction of red blood cells. Polycythemia vera occurs in about 1 in 100,000 individuals, most ... Read More

The 16th Annual EDNF Conference will be held at the Renaissance Hotel in Houston, Texas, during July 20–22, 2006. The conference will present information and research about the connective-tissue disorder ... Read More

The 10th Annual International Fragile X Conference takes place July 19-23, 2006, in Atlanta Georgia. Sponsored by the National Fragile X Foundation, the conference will include an FX Awareness Walk ... Read More

During July 18-22, 2006, the 7th International Workshop held under the auspices of the European Working Group on Gaucher Disease will take place in Cambridge, England. Hosted by the team ... Read More

Did you know the U.S. government has vaccinated more than 39,000 people against smallpox since January 2003? That if you were vaccinated in the 1950's or 60's you are no ... Read More

The 2006 FSMA Conference for Families and Professionals takes place July 14-15 in San Diego, California. In addition to workshops, professionals will be on hand to give one on one ... Read More

Physicians often test the urine of pregnant women with sickle cell trait (carriers of the sickle cell gene) in the belief that these women are at greater risk for developing ... Read More

From July 10-11, 2006, the 5th International 22q11.2 Microdeletion Syndrome Conference will be held in Marseilles, France. Presentations at the conference will focus on the basic science behind the syndrome, ... Read More

Some rare disorders tend to occur more frequently in certain ethnic groups. Ashkenazi Jews have a higher risk for a number of rare disorders, so Rabbi Josef Ekstein founded Dor ... Read More

In order to learn more about female fertility in cystic fibrosis (CF), researchers in Greece compared 18 females with the disorder, ages 12 to 23 years, with 18 age-matched females ... Read More

The June 9, 2006, issue of Mortality & Morbidity Weekly Report described an increase in human cases of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome reported during January-March 2006 from Arizona, New Mexico, North ... Read More

The XI International Congress on Neuromuscular Diseases is being held from July 2-7, 2006, in Istanbul, Turkey. Researchers and scientists from around the world will discuss major topics in neuromuscular ... Read More

West Nile virus and eastern equine encephalitis (EEE) are the most well-known of the encephalitis viruses carried by mosquitoes. This year is becoming a nasty one for mosquitoes in the ... Read More