May 31, 2012
Advancements in human genetic research could lead to improved patient care, but safeguards are needed to protect against the misuse of people’s genetic data, the American Heart Association says. (US News & World Report)
May 31, 2012
Republicans opened a new front in their battle against abortion Thursday, by calling a House vote on legislation to ban abortions conducted for the purposes of sex selection. (Wall Street Journal)
May 31, 2012
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is hoping city residents will drink a lot less this summer — less soda, that is. (TIME)
May 31, 2012
Rats with a spinal cord injury that left their hind legs completely paralyzed learned to walk again on their own after an intensive training course that included electrical stimulation of the brain and the spine, scientists reported on Thursday. (NY … Read More
May 31, 2012
New Genetics and Society (Volume 31, Issue 2, June 2012) is now available by subscription only. Articles include: “Oöcytes for research: inspecting the commercialization continuum” by Kathrin Braun & Susanne Schultz, 135-157. “Consuming genomes: scientific and social innovation in direct-to-consumer … Read More
May 30, 2012
Calling abortion an act of murder and an insidious plan to reduce the Turkish population, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan called on Tuesday for legislation to restrict women’s access to the procedure. (NY Times)
May 30, 2012
The percentage of Americans who say they are “pro-choice†reached a record low, according to a Gallup poll released Wednesday, but the political impact of the new data remain unclear given the volatile nature of the abortion issue. (LA Times)
May 30, 2012
Across all age groups there was no overall increased risk of breast cancer associated with IVF. However researchers at the University of Western Australia found women who had IVF treatment at a younger age had a higher risk of developing … Read More
May 30, 2012
Our genome — the blueprint for what makes us who we are — can provide valuable clues about our health and potentially help us predict our risk for various diseases. But a new study shows that knowledge of our DNA … Read More
May 30, 2012
The Journal of the American Medical Association (Volume 307, Issue 20, May 23, 2012) is now available by subscription only. Articles include: “Assessing Value in Health Care Programs” by Kevin G. Volpp, George Loewenstein, David A. Asch, 2153-2154. “The Journey … Read More
May 29, 2012
The Journal of the American Medical Association (Volume 307, Issue 19, May 16, 2012) is now available by subscription only. Articles include: “Achieving Equity in Global Health: So Near and Yet So Far” by Zulfiqar A. Bhutta, K. Srinath Reddy, … Read More
May 29, 2012
The illegal trade in kidneys has risen to such a level that an estimated 10,000 black market operations involving purchased human organs now take place annually, or more than one an hour, World Health Organisation experts have revealed. (Guardian)
May 29, 2012
Will Turner, 94, has never had an emergency room experience quite like this. At Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City, he found thick mattresses to prevent bedsores, skid-proof floors, and curtains designed to produce less noise. (MSNBC)
May 29, 2012
Efforts in the medical world to reduce the amount of time patients spend waiting for appointments can have unintended consequences. (Wall Street Journal)
May 29, 2012
More than 17,000 people have signed an online petition urging US President Barack Obama to require all scientific journal articles resulting from US taxpayer-funded research to be made freely available online. The signatures, obtained within a week of the petition’s … Read More
May 29, 2012
California lawmakers are weighing a bill aimed at protecting their state’s citizens from surreptitious genetic testing but scientists are voicing their growing concerns that, if passed, such a law would have a costly and damaging effect on research. (Nature News)
May 29, 2012
Imagine a tiny snake robot crawling through your body, helping a surgeon identify diseases and perform operations. (Washington Post)
May 29, 2012
Facebook’s move to allow users to add their organ-donor registration status as a “life event†on their profile pages led to a surge in donor sign-ups and earned the company plaudits from physicians and other professionals in the transplant community. … Read More
May 29, 2012
Growing artificial organs might help solve the transplantation shortage, but one major hurdle still exists: it is difficult to get blood vessels to grow all the way through a large organ. A gel that allows blood vessels to grow in … Read More
May 28, 2012
Journal of Medical Ethics (Volume 38, Issue 6, June 2012) is now available by subscription only. Articles include: “Is the commercialisation of human tissue and body material forbidden in the countries of the European Union?” by Christian Lenk, Katharina Beier. … Read More
May 25, 2012
The Supreme Court of Canada decided Thursday to hear an appeal by doctors over who has the final authority to end a comatose patient’s life. (CTV)
May 25, 2012
Unnecesary procedures, high doses of powerful drugs and risky interventions are being employed as couples spend thousands of pounds trying to conceive, it was reported. (Telegraph)
May 25, 2012
Eight leading pharmaceutical companies have approved 10 recommendations aimed at improving transparency to address what they call a “credibility gap†that faces industry-funded clinical research. (American Medical News)
May 25, 2012
Even well-educated, well-to-do patients have trouble asking their physicians questions about treatment options or expressing their medical preferences and values, said a study drawing on focus groups with older adults in the San Francisco Bay Area. (American Medial News)
May 25, 2012
Germany’s medical association has adopted a declaration apologizing for sadistic experiments and other actions of doctors under the Nazis. (Washington Post)
