After warning for years that athletes would try to dope their genes, scientists are finding ways to catch them. The tests are still being refined in animals, but will likely be run years from now on samples taken at the upcoming Winter Olympics and stored. (Wired)

In a case that could have far-reaching implications for medical research and health care based on genetics, groups representing thousands of doctors, scientists and patients went to court Tuesday to argue that no one should be able to patent human genes, a question that has long been controversial in scientific circles. (USA TODAY)

PIG lungs could be transplanted into humans to overcome a shortage of donor organs after a Melbourne medical breakthrough. Scientists from The Alfred hospital have kept pig lungs alive and functioning with human blood, paving the way for animal-human transplants in as little as five years. (Herald Sun)

The new movie “Extraordinary Measures” is based on the true story of a father who starts a company to develop a treatment for the rare genetic disease threatening to kill two of his children before they turn 10. (New York Times)

UK media coverage of plans to expand the list of conditions for which pre-natal genetic diagnosis (PGD) is permissible in the UK implies that some of the disorders are not serious. (PHG Foundation)

The latest issue of the Hastings Center Report features articles on “medicalized” weapons that temporarily incapacitate targets, sharing the benefits of newly found biological resources, and applications of GINA (the Genetic Information Nondisclosure Act) (EurekAlert)

IVF clinics are destroying embryos with relatively minor genetic conditions such as thalassaemia, the blood disorder suffered by Pete Sampras. (Telegraph)

Need a gene promoter? You may soon be able to order one from a catalog. California synthetic biologists are launching a production facility that will provide free, standardized DNA parts for scientists around the world. (The Scientist)

JAMA (Vol. 303; No. 1; January 6, 2010) is now available by subscription only.

Articles include:

• “Optogenetics Illuminates Brain Function” by Bridget M. Kuehn, 20.
• “Obesity Prevalence Among Low-Income, Preschool-Aged Children- United States, 1998-2008″ by JAMA, 28-30.

The Journal of Law, Medicine, & Ethics (Volume 37, Issue 4, Winter 2009) is now available by subscription only.

Articles include:

• “Commentary: Emerging Technologies Oversight: Research, Regulation, and Commercialization” by Robbin Johnson, 587-593.
  
• “Evaluating Oversight of Human Drugs and Medical Devices: A Case Study of the FDA and Implications for Nanobiotechnology” by Jordan Paradise, Alison W. Tisdale, Ralph F. Hall, and Efrosini Kokkoli; 598-624.
• “Gene Therapy Oversight: Lessons for Nanobiotechnology” by Susan M. Wolf, Rishi Gupta, and Peter Kohlhepp; 659-684.
• “Science, Ethics, and the ‘Problems’ of Governing Nanotechnologies” by Linda F. Hogle, 749-758.
• “Introduction: Comparative Health Law and Policy: What, If Anything, Can We Learn from Other Countries?” by Diane Hoffmann, 790-791.
• “Realization of the International Human Right to Health in an Economically Integrated North America” by Eleanor D. Kinney, 807-818.
• “Tobacco Industry Use of Corporate Social Responsibility Tactics as a Sword and a Shield on Secondhand Smoke Issues” Lissy C. Friedman, 819-827.

Children conceived from donor sperm during the fertility-industry boom of the 1980s are now becoming adults, and many of them believe they have a basic right to know their genetic heritage. In Canada, as in many other countries, sperm donors are anonymous. But some countries have changed that policy. Debate remains, however, about which rights are more important: the donor’s right to privacy or the offspring’s right to full identity. (CMAJ)

BioSocieties (Volume 4, Issue 04, December 2009) is now available by subscription only.

Articles include:

• “Informed Consent in Forensic DNA Databases: Volunteering, Constructions of Risk and Identity Categorization” by Helena Machado and Susana Silva, 335-348.
• “Models of Cloning, Models for the Zoo: Rethinking the Sociological Significance of Cloned Animals” by Carrie Friese, 367-390.
• “The Practice of Genetic Counselling- A Comparative Approach to Understanding Genetic Counselling in China” by Suli Sui, 391-405.
• “Changing Brains: The Emergence of the Field of Adult Neurogenesis” by Beatrix P. Rubin, 407-424.
• “The Cerebral Subject and the Challenge of Neurodiversity” by Francisco Ortega, 425-445.

Journal of Medical Ethics (Volume 36, Issue 01, January 2010) is now available by subscription only.

Articles include:

• “Clinical Ethics: Ascribing Intentions in Clinical Decision-making” by L A Jansen and J S Fogel, 2-6.
• “Clinical Ethics: ‘It’s Crucial They’re Treated as Patients’: Ethical Guidance and Empirical Evidence Regarding Treating Doctor-Patients” by F E fox, G J Taylor, M F Harris, K J Rodham, J Sutton, J Scott, and B Robinson; 7-11.
• “Ethics: When Physicians Forego the Doctor-patient Relationship, Should They Elect to Self-Proscribe or Curbside? An Empirical and Ethical Analysis” by J K Walter, C W Lang, and L F Ross; 19-23.
• “Law, Ethics and Medicine: The Right Not to Know and Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis for Huntington’s Disease” by E Asscher and B-J Koops, 30-33.
• “Research Ethics: Payment for Participation in Research: A Pursuit for the Poor?” by M Stones and J McMillan, 34-36.
• “Research Ethics: An Investigation of Patients’ Motivations for their Participation in Genetics-related Research” by N Hallowell, S Cooke, G Crawford, A Lucassen, M Parker, and C Snowdon; 37-45.
• “Teaching and Learning Ethics: A Practical Approach to Teaching Medical Ethics” by S Mills and D C Bryden, 50-54.

Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics (Volume 19, Issue 01, January 2010) is now available by subscription only.

Articles include:

• “Not Dead Yet: Controlled Non-Heart-Beating Organ Donation, Consent, and the Dead Donor Rule” by Dale Gardiner and Robert Sparrow, 17-26.
• “Just Caring: In Defense of Limited Age-Based Healthcare Rationing” by Leonard M. Fleck, 27-37.
• “Actualizable Potential, Reproduction, and Embryo Research: Bringing Embryos into Existence for Different Purposes or Not at All” by Ingmar Persson and Julian Savulescu, 51-60.
• “Consequentialism Without Consequences: Ethics and Embryo Research” by Sarah Chan and John Harris, 61-74.
• “Choosing Deafness with Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis: An Ethical Way to Carry On a Cultural Bloodline?” by Silvia Camporesi, 86-96.
• “When is My Genetic Information Your Business? Biological, Emotional, and Financial Claims to Knowledge” by Ruth Wilkinson, 110-117.
• “Dignity: One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Still Counting” by Doris Schroeder, 118-125.
• “Human Rights and Genetic Technologies” by D. Micah Hester and Alissa Swota, 126-127.
• “Human Rights and American Bioethics: Resistance is Futile” by George J. Annas, 133-141.

A “slippery slope” to “a world of eugenics,” as bioethics authorities once worried, or a healthy life for a teenage girl? Once at the center of a science controversy, Molly Nash, 15, represents the human answer to the debate over a genetic screening technique, ” pre-implantation genetic diagnosis,” (PGD) that made headlines a decade ago. (USA TODAY)

At stake in a court case is whether any human gene or test based on it can be covered by a patent. (Los Angeles Times)

JAMA (Volume 302; Number 23; December 16, 2009) is now available by subscription only.

Articles include:

• “Health Insurance Cooperatives: Lessons from the Great Depression” by Michael R. Grey, 2587-2588.
• “The Global Breast Cancer Disparity: Strategies for Bridging the Gap” by Jonas A. Souza and José Bines, 2589-2590.
• “Mentoring: What’s In a Name?” by Dario Sambunjak and Ana Marusic, 2591-2592.
• “Late-Life Dementias: Does This Unyielding Global Challenge Require a Broader View?” by Thomas J. Montine and Eric B. Larson, 2593-2594.
• “Gene Therapy Repair of Donor Lungs Improves Outlook for Transplantation” by M.J. Friedrich, 2530.
• “Cord Blood Transplants” by Joan Stephenson, 2531.

Biologists have developed an efficient way to genetically modify human embryonic stem cells. Their approach, which uses bacterial artificial chromosomes to swap in defective copies of genes, will make possible the rapid development of stem cell lines that can both serve as models for human genetic diseases and as testbeds on which to screen potential treatments, they say. (PhysOrg)

Only five years ago scientists knew almost nothing about the genetic factors that influence common diseases.

Although major mutations that cause devastating but rare conditions such as cystic fibrosis had been identified, the inherited contribution to major causes of death and ill health such as diabetes and heart disease remained opaque. (Times Online)

Humanity has always longed to possess the regenerative powers of other living things. The Mexican walking fish can regrow a severed limb, and if you cut the freshwater hydra into pieces, each will become a new creature.

The idea of possessing such powers is the stuff of ancient myths and science fiction. But with a new technique known as cell reprogramming, the reality may be soon upon us. (The Age)

The mapping of the human genome has created enticing possibilities for the early detection of grave diseases. Genetic research, however, has run headlong into a tricky legal issue: Should human genes ever be the subject of patent protection? (Wall Street Journal)