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)

In the rarefied world of fashion magazines, beauty editors have often relied on a coterie of prominent dermatologists and plastic surgeons to keep them current on advances in cosmetic medicine. This symbiotic relationship has benefited magazines eager for beauty scoops and doctors seeking visibility — and patients. (New York Times)

A Californian biomedical company, iPierian, has been granted the first patent issued outside Japan for the genetic reprogramming technology used to create induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells. (Nature News)

Even Superman needed to retire to a phone booth for a quick change. But now scientists at the Stanford University School of Medicine have succeeded in the ultimate switch: transforming mouse skin cells in a laboratory dish directly into functional nerve cells with the application of just three genes. The cells make the change without first becoming a pluripotent type of stem cell — a step long thought to be required for cells to acquire new identities. (PhysOrg)

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)

Surgeons from UC Davis Medical Center have demonstrated that artificial muscles can restore the ability of patients with facial paralysis to blink, a development that could benefit the thousands of people each year who no longer are able to close their eyelids due to combat-related injuries, stroke, nerve injury or facial surgery. (UC Davis Health System)

Medicine, Health Care, and Philosophy (Volume 13, Number 1, February 2010) is now available by subscription only.

Articles include:

• “Molecular Medicine and Concepts of Disease: The Ethical Value of a Conceptual Analysis of Emerging Biomedical Technologies” by Marianne Boenink, 11-23.
• “Rational Suicide: Philosophical Perspectives on Schizophrenia” by Jeanette Hewitt, 25-31.
• “‘It’s Intense, You Know.’ Nurses’ Experience in Caring for Patients Requesting Euthanasia,” by Yvonne Denier, Bernadette Dierckx De Casterlé, Nele De Bal, and Chris Gastmans; 41-48.
• “How to Reveal Disguised Paternalism” by Niels Lynoe, Niklas Juth, and Gert Helgesson; 59-65.
• “Problems Faced with Legislating for IVF Technology in a Roman Catholic Century” by Pierre Mallia, 77-87.

NanoEthics (Volume 3, Number 3, December 2009) is now available by subscription only.

Articles include:

• “Moral Imagination, Trading Zones, and the Role of the Ethicist in Nanotechnology” by Michael E. Gorman, Patricia H. Werhane, and Nathan Swami; 185-195.
• “The Mind and the Machine. On the Conceptual and Moral Implications of Brain-Machine Interaction” by Maartje Schermer, 217-230.
• “Ambient Intelligence and Persuasive Technology: The Blurring Boundaries Between Human and Technology” by Peter-Paul Verbeek, 231-242.
• “Tensions and Opportunities in Convergence: Shifting Concepts of Disease in Emerging Molecular Medicine” by Marianne Boenink, 243-255.
• “Playing God in Frankenstein’s Foosteps: Synthetic Biology and the Meaning of Life” by Henk van den Belt, 257-268.

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.

Some progressives have progressed so far that they’ve become technophobic reactionaries. (Reason Magazine)

Five years after a budget-busting $3 billion was allocated to embryonic stem cell research, there have been no cures, no therapies and little progress. So supporters are embracing research they once opposed. (Investors)

Cancer researchers who have the greatest ability to influence research are also the researchers with the greatest financial ties to the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries, according to a report released today. (Reuters)

Legendary philosopher Peter Singer once imagined a scenario where a pill could double human lifespan, and argued that such a world would never be as happy as one without the medicine. Science fiction author and philosopher Russell Blackford disagrees. (io9)

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 first decade of the 21st century brought a number of discoveries, mistakes and medical advances that influenced medicine from the patient’s bedside to the medicine cabinet. In some cases, these advances changed deeply rooted beliefs in medicine. In others, they opened up possibilities beyond what doctors thought was possible years ago. (ABC News)

A U.S. Food and Drug Administration panel’s recommendation that some adults with no prior heart problems should take the cholesterol-busting statin Crestor appears to have pitted cardiologists against many primary care physicians over the best use of the popular drug. (ABC News)

The Australian National Health and Medical Research Council should have consulted the public before giving the green light to xenotransplantation, says a former member of the Council. (ABC Science)

All the pressure on drugmakers to fess up publicly about the money they pay doctors is, er, paying off. Just take a look at GlaxoSmithKline’s first-ever report on how much it forked over to U.S. doctors and other health professionals for speaking and consulting gigs. For the three months ending in June, the drug maker paid $14.6 million to about 3,700 people, or an average of about $3,900. (NPR)

As a thick, gray haze began to descend over the words in her schoolbooks, and eventually the faces of loved ones, Barbara Campbell barely grasped that she was going blind. (CNN)

The Government’s peak health policy body has lifted a five-year ban on transplanting animal organs into humans. In 2004, the National Health and Medical Research Council banned clinical trials involving xenotransplantation - the medical use of animal body products in humans. (ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation))