This issue will focus on the global state of hematology and will include articles such as: The Global Burden of Anemia, Iron Deficiency Anemia: Problems in Diagnosis and Therapy, Progress Towards the Control and Management of the Thalassemias, Problems and Approaches for Blood Transfusion in the Developing Countries, and many more!

An important milestone in medicine has been the recent completion of the Human Genome Project. The identification of 30,000 genes and their regulatory proteins provides the framework for understanding the metabolic basis of disease. This advance has also laid the foundation for a broad range of genomic tools that have opened the way for targeted genetic testing in a number of medical disorders. This book is designed to be the first major text to discuss genomics-based advances in disease susceptibility, diagnosis, prognostication, and prediction of treatment outcomes in various areas of medicine. After building a strong underpinning in the basic concepts of genomics, the authors of this book, all leaders in the field, proceed to discuss a wide range of clinical areas and the applications now afforded by genomic analysis.

Hemoglobin is an iron-containing protein in red blood cells that transports oxygen to tissues throughout the body. The abundance, stability, and oxygen-carrying properties of hemoglobin can be altered by genetic mutations. More than 1000 hemoglobin disorders are known; hemoglobinopathies (e.g., sickle cell disease) and thalassemias are some of the most common human genetic diseases worldwide. Written and edited by experts in the field, this collection from Cold Srping Harbor Perspectives in Biology covers all aspects of hemoglobin and its diseases. Contributors examine the structure, expression, and evolution of the globin genes, the assembly of globin subunits into functional forms of hemoglobin, and the numerous variants that result from genetic alterations. The pathophysiological consequences of hemoglobin disorders (e.g., ineffective erythropoiesis and aberrant iron homeostasis), their clinical manifestations, and epidemiological trends are also described. This book includes discussions of management and treatment strategies for hemoglobin disorders, such as transfusions, iron- chelating agents, gene therapy, and stem cell transplantation. It is an indispensable reference for biochemists, geneticists, cell and developmental biologists, physiologists, and all who are interested in reducing the medical burden of these common genetic diseases.