Deep vein thrombosis was often thought to be aggravated by sitting in the economy section of an airplane, but new research suggests the condition is more affected by whether or not passengers sit by a window. According to Fox News, researchers with the American College of Chest Physicians have found that patients who take the window seat on a commercial flight of longer than four hours are at a higher risk of deep vein thrombosis (DVT) than those who sit in a middle or aisle seat.

This remains true regardless of whether you sit in economy, business, or first class sections of an airplane, they said.

“Traveling in economy does not increase your risk of developing a blood clot, even during long-distance travel,” said researcher Mark Crowther of McMaster University in Ontario. “However, remaining immobile for long periods of time will.”

Lack of movement is exactly why DVT is more of a concern for passengers sitting near the window, Crowther said. People sitting in window seats are less likely than other passengers to get up and go to the bathroom, or just walk around in general.

“Long-distance travelers sitting in a window seat tend to have limited mobility, which increases their risk for DVT,” he explained. “This risk increases as other factors are present.”

People with sickle cell trait can usually live normal lives without too much fuss over their health, but extreme conditions like dehydration and harsh physical training can put their lives in danger. Thant’s why the NCAA wants to require testing of all Division I athletes to identify those at risk.

The new NCAA rule was instituted in 2010 after a string of deaths in college athletes brought attention to the condition. Athletes with sickle cell trait can put their lives at risk when their red blood cells “sickle” and reduce the flow of blood to the body’s organs.

But now experts in blood disorders say the NCAA rule doesn’t make sense, National Public Radio reports.

“When we looked at the NCAA policy, we thought it was wrong,” said Dr. Janis Abkowithz of the American Society of Hematology. “We thought it was insufficient and overly broad.”

According to Abkowitz, screening without intervention or counseling can lead to misconceptions about living with sickle cell trait. For example, people face much higher risks of cardiac problems due to extreme exercise than they do from sickle cell trait, she said.

The society is moving to ask the NCAA to review its approach to the condition and instead institute something similar to the approach taken by the U.S. Army. According to NPR, the Army stopped screening for the condition in 1996 and instead asks members to pay attention to heat acclimatization, proper hydration and rest periods.

“Yes, you can play, and here’s how,” should be the message from the NCAA, Abkowitz said.

Last month, a three-judge panel ruled that bone marrow donors ought to be eligible for $3,000 scholarships, housing allowances and other charitable donations. The move from the San Francisco court was intended to encourage people who are matched with blood disease patients to donate their much needed bone marrow. But now, the Washington Post reports that the Obama administration is opposed to the change.

According to the newspaper, officials in the White House asked the appeals court to overturn the decision because it violates the National Organ Transplant Act—a piece of legislation that specifically outlaws the sale of bone marrow and other body parts. Fines and imprisonment for up to five years await those who violate the law.

But the libertarian group Institute for Justice believes that this portion of the law is faulty. The Arlington-based nonprofit is filing a constitutional challenge against the Organ Transplant Act, arguing that medical advances have made extracting bone marrow as easy as blood donation. When the act was written in 1984, this was not the case. Thick needles were inserted into a donor’s hip bones and cells were then extracted from the marrow.

Now, a process called apheresis makes donating marrow relatively easy. Donors are injected with a medication that ups the number of cells in the blood stream, and then relax in a recliner as a machine collects the extra blood stream cells and recycles the blood back into the donor.

Regardless of the politics, health advocates agree more bone marrow donations are needed in the United States. According to the group MoreMarrowDonors.org, thousands of Americans die every year because they cannot find matching bone marrow donors. They believe compensation could help encourage more people to donate.

Soul singer Etta James was diagnosed with a terminal illness early last year when doctors discovered her leukemia had taken a turn for the worse, and her condition was announced to the public in mid-December. According to ABC News, the 73-year-old legend also has dementia and Hepatitis C. She was released from her California hospital Friday to remain with her family.

“Etta James was released from the hospital this afternoon,” said her agent, Lupe de Leon. “She is home with her husband and family by her side. Her condition remains stable.”

James was taken off respiratory assistance in the hospital last week, de Leon added.

“We all think it’s best for her to be at home,” he said.

Her estate conservator Artis Mills and her two sons, Donto and Sametto James, have been involved in a debate over how to best pay for her healthcare bills. According to PopularCritic.com, Mills requested $500,000 to be drawn from the estate to manage expenses while James’ sons wanted a lower sum of $100,000. A Riverside County judge settled on an amount of $350,000.

“Mr. Mills’ aim is to keep her alive as long as possible,” Donto James said of the dispute. “That’s my aim too.”

Known for her renditions of “I’d Rather Go Blind and “All I Could Do Was Cry,” James has won four Grammys and 17 Blues Music Awards in her lifetime. In 1993, she was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and in 2003, she received a Lifetime Achievement Grammy. Her hit single “At Last” was covered by Beyonce when President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama shared their inauguration dance in January of 2009.

Blood donation levels drop significantly in January due to cold weather and the scramble of the post-holiday season, the American Red Cross said. According to Advance Newspapers, blood donors are often kept from keeping appointments due to inclement weather and busy schedules during the month, meaning a drop in the amount of blood the Red Cross collects at the beginning of the year.

But hospitals in the United States can’t afford a decrease in blood donation. According to the Red Cross, patients nationwide need about 44,000 blood donations every day to provide for cancer care, surgeries and the treatment of disease and trauma.

NBC’s news affiliate in San Antonio, Texas reported just one example of the decrease in blood donation during the cold weather months. According to data from the South Texas Blood and Tissue Center, the number of annual donors has dropped from 134,675 people in 2009 to just 16,482 people in 2011.

Anna Arce, a Marrow Recruitment Specialist at the Center, told NBC that she believes some people are kept at bay from donating blood because of the time commitment involved during an already busy time of year.

“I think it’s fear of the unknown,” Arce said. “It’s easy to sign up and have a cheek swab and fill out a consent form. But the actual commitment, I think that actually scares people.”

Information on blood donor schedules and locations can be found by visiting redcrossblood.org or calling 1-800-RED CROSS (1-800-733-2767).

Amag Pharmaceuticals received approval from the Canadian government Monday to market and sell its anemia drug Feraheme in the country. According to the Associated Press, Amag will receive a $3 million milestone payment once commercial sales begin.

Feraheme has already been available in the United States for more than two years, where it is marketed as an iron deficiency treatment for adults with chronic kidney disease. It is administered in two 501-milligram doses over a three- to eight-day period. It can also be used as a single dose of 1,020 milligrams if administered through an infusion pump.

Amag also plans to get European approval to sell the drug overseas, the AP said.

The approval comes as Amag has been struggling to meet profit expectations and control losses. After losing CEO Brian Pereira and Chief Commercial Officer Gary Zieziula in November, the pharmaceutical company hired Jefferies & Co. to help advise its board as it considers strategic options.

Amag suffered a major loss earlier in the year when it tried to buy Allos Therapeutics Inc. for its possession of the lymphoma drug Folotyn. Shareholders in the company voted the deal down in October, however.

The company, whose shares fell 41 cents in morning trading Monday, plans to restructure its operation and slice off 25 percent of jobs. A possible sale of Amag is also under, the AP said.

A new drug treating chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) has managed to treat nearly half of patients who had stopped responding to drugs currently available, Fox Health News reported. According to the in-house trial from Ariad Pharmaceuticals, about 47 percent of 449 leukemia patients taking ponatinib had a “major response” to the drug.

That means at least two-thirds of their bone marrow was normal, Fox noted.

Of these 47 percent, 39 percent reached complete remission of their leukemia. All those who participated had already stopped responding to drugs sold by Novartis AG and Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.

As for side effects, Ariad Chief Executive Officer Harvey Berger told reporters that “the side effect profile [of ponatinib] is every bit as good as other drugs in this class.” Specifically, side effects observed in the trial included rash, thrombocytopenia, dry skin, abdominal pain and headache. Four patients with advanced leukemia died during the trial, and Ariad was unable to rule out the possibility that the drug was related to their deaths.

The next step for the company is to launch a trial of the drug in patients newly diagnosed with CML, Fox said.

Ariad has not yet decided whether it will apply for a European partner for the drug, but it does plan to apply for approval of ponatinib in the United States toward the middle of next year.

Gene therapy boosted output of a blood clotting factor, improving quality of life in a group of six men with hemophilia B, a study from St. Jude Children's Research Hospital showed.

"It is a small trial in that only six patients have been treated thus far, but it has been rather successful and I think it will encourage further use of this approach in the very near future, both by us and others," senior author Dr. Andrew Davidoff, chairman of surgery at the Memphis hospital, told HealthDay. "At this point, we're a little shy of being able to call it a cure, but it's a good start."

Researchers used a "vector," a virus that doesn't lead to disease, to deliver a gene containing factor IX, the blood clotting protein, to the patients, two each of whom received a low-, medium- or high-dose. Later, factor IX levels rose in the patients from less than 1 percent to between 2 and 12 percent. 

After treatment, four of the six were able to discontinue protein injections to prevent bleeding episodes, and have not spontaneously bled since. Two other patients have increased time between needing factor IX injections. 

The hemophilia B gene variant bars blood from clotting normally, and about 1 in 25,000 males inherit it. Hemophilia A affects about 1 in 5,000 males born in the United States. Davidoff said the hemophilia A protein is much larger and more likely to cause the body to generate an immune respone.

A chemotherapy add-on drug taken off the market last year has been found to be effective in older adults with leukemia, according to study results presented at a conference this week.

"This new study is really quite tantalizing," Dr. Charles Abrams, American Society of Hematology secretary and associate chief of hematology/oncology at the University of Pennsylvania, said of Pfizer's Mylotarg. "This is a drug that wasn't studied fully enough." 

Pfizer Inc voluntarily stopped selling Mylotarg, known generically as gemtuzumab, after a study showed adding it to chemotherapy did not prolong survival for patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML), and showed more deaths in the first few months of treatment with the drug. The drug contains an antibody targeting a protein found on the surface of AML cells and a cancer-killing toxin. AML causes abnormal cells to form in bone marrow. About 13,000 Americans get it each year.

A French study looked at newly-diagnosed patients from ages 50 to 70 given Mylotarg and chemotherapy. After two years, 41.4 percent were still alive, versus only 15.6 percent of patients who got chemotherapy alone.

Mylotarg patients survived 34 months overall, and patients who got chemotherapy alone survived 19 months.

A new malaria study has revealed compounds that attack the parasite while it still lies dormant in the liver, and could lead to more effective treatments for the disease.

The compounds known as imidazolopiperazines attack the parasites in the livers of mice, but "we have no data on whether the compounds will work on dormant [parasites] in humans," Elizabeth Winzeler of The Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, Calif. told LiveScience. "At this point and we can only infer from animal models."

Malaria, transmitted by the bite of mosquitoes, is caused by parasite species Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax. They incubate and multiply in the liver before attacking the red blood cells, causing a variety of symptoms including fever and convulsions. In 2009, 800,000 people died of the disease, the World Health Organization said.

Winzeler's team screened 5,697 compounds that attack P. falciparum in the blood, testing them on parasites from mouse livers.

About 20 percent of the compounds worked, the most effective being imidazolopiperazines . Researchers infected mice with malaria parasites and treated them with the compounds. The mice did not develop malaria symptoms, even weeks after treatment.

Winzeler said researchers still must determine how the compounds work and how effective they are in treating humans. Experts told LiveScience that the fight against malaria must be a "multi-pronged" approach, including vaccines, bed nets and drugs that target different parasite stages.

The study appeared Nov. 17 in the journal Science.