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Mystery of resistance to malaria solved in new study

(Medical Xpress) -- Malaria is a disease caused by parasites passed to humans via the bites of infected mosquitoes. Globally, the disease causes over a million deaths every year, and is especially rife in ...

Medical research created Nov 11, 2011 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (16) | comments 2 | with audio podcast report

Diabetes, hypertension prevalent with spinal stenosis

(HealthDay)—Nonelderly, older adults with lumbar spinal stenosis (LSS) have a higher prevalence of diabetes and hypertension than those without stenosis, according to a study published in the April 20 issue ...

Diabetes created May 07, 2013 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Could an old antidepressant treat sickle cell disease?

(Medical Xpress)—An antidepressant drug used since the 1960s may also hold promise for treating sickle cell disease, according to a surprising new finding made in mice and human red blood cells by a team ...

Medical research created Feb 19, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Might lefties and righties benefit differently from a power nap?

People who like to nap say it helps them focus their minds post a little shut eye. Now, a study from Georgetown University Medical Center may have found evidence to support that notion.

Neuroscience created Oct 17, 2012 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (7) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

Why a hereditary anemia is caused by genetic mutation in mechanically sensitive ion channel

A genetic mutation that alters the kinetics of an ion channel in red blood cells has been identified as the cause behind a hereditary anemia, according to a paper published this month in the Proceedings of the National Ac ...

Medical research created Mar 08, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

New technology measures blood flow to monitor sickle cell disease

More than 60 years ago, scientists discovered the underlying cause of sickle cell disease: People with the disorder produce crescent-shaped red blood cells that clog capillaries instead of flowing smoothly, like ordinary, ...

Medical research created Feb 29, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Photoacoustic tomography can 'see' in color and detail several inches beneath the skin

Every new imaging technology has an aura of magic about it because it suddenly reveals what had been concealed, and makes visible what had been invisible. So, too, with photoacoustic tomography, which is allowing ...

Medical research created Mar 22, 2012 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (8) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

New gene therapy approach developed for red blood cell disorders

A team of researchers led by scientists at Weill Cornell Medical College has designed what appears to be a powerful gene therapy strategy that can treat both beta-thalassemia disease and sickle cell anemia. They have also ...

Genetics created Mar 27, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (5) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Scientists reverse sickle cell anemia by turning on fetal hemoglobin

Not long after birth, human babies transition from producing blood containing oxygen-rich fetal hemoglobin to blood bearing the adult hemoglobin protein. For children with sickle cell disease, the transition from the fetal ...

Medical research created Oct 13, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Discovery of nitric oxide delivery mechanism may point to new avenue for treating high blood pressure

(Medical Xpress)—Researchers at the University of Virginia School of Medicine have shed new light on blood pressure regulation with the discovery of an unexpected mechanism by which hemoglobin controls the delivery of nitric ...

Medical research created Nov 14, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (5) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Diabetes self-care improves slowly, US report finds

(HealthDay)— More Americans are meeting diabetes care goals, but nearly half still aren't achieving major targets for controlling blood sugar, blood pressure and cholesterol, government health officials ...

Diabetes created Apr 24, 2013 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Teen type 1 diabetes outcomes up with internet interventions

(HealthDay)—Internet-based psycho-educational programs are beneficial for young patients with type 1 diabetes as they transition into adolescence, according to a study published online April 11 in Diabetes Ca ...

Diabetes created Apr 22, 2013 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

In diabetes, gastric emptying remains stable over time

(HealthDay)—Gastric emptying of solids and liquids and gastrointestinal symptoms remain stable over time in patients with long-term type 1 and type 2 diabetes, according to a study published online Aug. ...

Diabetes created Aug 24, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

'Half-match' bone marrow transplants wipe out sickle cell disease in selected patients

In a preliminary clinical trial, investigators at Johns Hopkins have shown that even partially-matched bone marrow transplants can eliminate sickle cell disease in some patients, ridding them of painful and debilitating symptoms, ...

Medical research created Sep 20, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast

White matter structural changes ID'd in children with T1DM

(HealthDay)—Children with type 1 diabetes have significant structural differences in the white matter of their brain compared to healthy children, which correlates with hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) values, according ...

Diabetes created Sep 17, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Hemoglobin

Hemoglobin (English pronunciation: /hiːməˈɡloʊbɪn/; also rendered as haemoglobin and abbreviated Hb or Hgb) is the iron-containing oxygen-transport metalloprotein in the red blood cells of all vertebrates, with the exception of the fish family Channichthyidae, as well as the tissues of some invertebrates. Hemoglobin in the blood carries oxygen from the respiratory organs (lungs or gills) to the rest of the body (i.e., the tissues) where it releases the oxygen to burn nutrients to provide energy to power the functions of the organism, and collects the resultant carbon dioxide to bring it back to the respiratory organs to be dispensed from the organism.

In mammals, the protein makes up about 97% of the red blood cells' dry content, and around 35% of the total content (including water).[citation needed] Hemoglobin has an oxygen binding capacity of 1.34 ml O2 per gram of hemoglobin, which increases the total blood oxygen capacity seventy-fold compared to dissolved oxygen in blood. The mammalian hemoglobin molecule can bind (carry) up to four oxygen molecules.

Hemoglobin is involved in the transport of other gases: it carries some of the body's respiratory carbon dioxide (about 10% of the total) as carbaminohemoglobin, in which CO2 is bound to the globin protein. The molecule also carries the important regulatory molecule nitric oxide bound to a globin protein thiol group, releasing it at the same time as oxygen.

Hemoglobin is also found outside red blood cells and their progenitor lines. Other cells that contain hemoglobin include the A9 dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra, macrophages, alveolar cells, and mesangial cells in the kidney. In these tissues, hemoglobin has a non-oxygen-carrying function as an antioxidant and a regulator of iron metabolism.

Hemoglobin and hemoglobin-like molecules are also found in many invertebrates, fungi, and plants. In these organisms, hemoglobins may carry oxygen, or they may act to transport and regulate other things such as carbon dioxide, nitric oxide, hydrogen sulfide and sulfide. A variant of the molecule, called leghemoglobin, is used to scavenge oxygen, to keep it from poisoning anaerobic systems, such as nitrogen-fixing nodules of leguminous plants.

For more information about Hemoglobin, read the full article at Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.

Related topics: diabetes , red blood cells