Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have demonstrated that living human nerve cells can be engineered into a network that could one day be used for transplants to repair damaged to the nervous system. (ScienceDaily)

The main obstacle to using “reprogrammed” human stem cells – the danger that they might turn cancerous – has been solved, claims a US company.

PrimeGen, based in Irvine, California, says that its scientists have converted specialised adult human cells back to a seemingly embryonic state – using methods that are much less likely to trigger cancer than those deployed previously.

The company also claims to be able to produce reprogrammed cells faster and much more efficiently than other scientists. (New Scientist)

On a winter night in 2006, a disabled and brain damaged man named Ruben Navarro was wheeled into an operating room at a hospital here. By most accounts, Mr. Navarro, 25, was near death, and doctors hoped that he might sustain other lives by donating his kidneys and liver. (New York Times)

All girls in Sweden should be offered vaccines to help prevent cervical cancer as part of the country’s free vaccination program, the National Board of Health and Welfare said Tuesday. (AFP)

Trials of a “silicon womb” that holds test-tube embryos inside the womb to expose them to more natural conditions will shortly begin in the UK. Researchers say the new device may produce better quality embryos and reduce the need to harvest so many eggs from infertile women. (New Scientist)

THE CLOSEST you can come to heresy in today’s healthcare policy debate is to suggest that managed care can help and that capitation is the best way to pay for it. No presidential candidate even whispers the terms. What a shame. (Boston Globe)

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is launching a new effort meant to strengthen its oversight of prescription drugs after they win approval, an agency official said on Tuesday.

The plan, called “Safety First,” includes creation of a new database of possible side effects from medicines, plus clear schedules for following up on concerns about them. (Reuters)

Treatment with adult stem cells harvested from blood or bone marrow may benefit some patients with certain kinds of cardiovascular disorders and autoimmune diseases, a new U.S. analysis shows. (HealthDay)

Government spending on health care could nearly double by 2017 to more than $2 trillion, according to a new federal study, reflecting a surge that promises to complicate the campaign debate about health care. (Wall Street Journal)