Harvard Health Content API

Transplants of their own stem cells may help people with multiple sclerosis (MS), a small new study suggests. The study included 21 people with MS. They were randomly divided into 2 groups. One group had stem cells removed from their own bone marrow. Then they received drugs that treat MS by suppressing the immune system. Finally, the stem cells were injected back into the body. The other group received immune-suppressing drugs, followed by another drug, mitoxantrone. These treatments were repeated every month for 6 months. During a 4-year follow-up, people who got the stem-cell treatment had 79% fewer new abnormal areas shown on a brain scan than those in the other group. The stem-cell group also developed no new MS-related inflammation in the brain, compared with 56% of the other group.

Taking iron pills can help restore hemoglobin and iron in the body faster after blood donation, a study has found. Hemoglobin is made up of iron and protein. It is the part of red blood cells that carries oxygen throughout the body. The new study included 215 blood donors. They were divided into 2 groups based on their iron levels before they gave blood. After giving blood, half of each group was randomly assigned to take a daily iron pill (ferrous gluconate). The other half did not take the pills. People in the lower-iron group who took the pills returned to 80% of their hemoglobin level before donation in about 5 weeks. Recovery time was shorter, about 4 weeks, for the pill takers who had higher iron levels before donation. Those who did not take iron pills took longer to recover hemoglobin levels — 23 weeks in the low-iron group and 11 weeks in the high-iron group.