Researchers from Weill Cornell Medical College may have discovered the precise role of a gene in one of the world's most common blood disorders, beta-thalassemia, commonly known as Cooley's anemia. Along with sickle-cell anemia, Cooley's anemia is the most commonly inherited disease in the world, affecting many people of Mediterranean descent, and 20 out of every 100,000 African-Americans. The World Health Organization estimates that between 50,000-100,000 children are born with the disease each year. The research is published in a recent issue of the journal Blood, the official publication of the American Society of Hematology (ASH). In Cooley's anemia, hemoglobin -- the oxygen-carrying molecule on red blood cells -- is mutated and non-functioning, resulting in a low red-blood-cell count. Common symptoms of the disease...
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