Journal of Medical Ethics (Volume 35, Number 7, July 2009) is now available by subscription only.

Articles Include:

• “More than cautionary tales: the role of fiction in bioethics” by Sarah Chan, 398-399.
• “HIV testing of junior doctors: exploring their experiences, perspectives and accounts” by L R Salkeld, S J McGeehan, E Chaudhuri, and I M Kerslake, 402-406.
• “The ethics of the placebo in clinical practice revisited” by P Louhiala, 407-409.
• “Reconsidering prenatal screening: an empirical–ethical approach to understand moral dilemmas as a question of personal preferences” by E García, D R M Timmermans, and E van Leeuwen, 410-414.
• “Bone marrow transplantation in the prevention of intellectual disability due to inherited metabolic disease: ethical issues” by P Louhiala, 415-418.
• “Understanding respect: learning from patients” by N W Dickert and N E Kass, 419-423.
• “Exploring morally relevant issues facing families in their decisions to monitor the health-related behaviours of loved ones” by D Gammon, E K Christiansen, and R Wynn, 424-428.
• “Is all fair in biological warfare? The controversy over genetically engineered biological weapons” by J M Appel, 429-432.
• “Genetic enhancements and expectations” by K Sorensen, 433-435.
• “Belgian euthanasia law: a critical analysis” by R Cohen-Almagor, 436-439.
• “Vulnerability in palliative care research: findings from a qualitative study of black Caribbean and white British patients with advanced cancer” by J Koffman, M Morgan, P Edmonds, P Speck, and I J Higginson, 440-444.
• “Limits to research risks” by F G Miller and S Joffe, 445-449.
• “Split views among parents regarding children’s right to decide about participation in research: a questionnaire survey” by  U Swartling, G Helgesson, M G Hansson, and J Ludvigsson, 450-458.

Last October, I broke news of a very exciting new technique for genetic screening of embryos. Genome-wide karyomapping, developed by Alan Handyside, of the Bridge Centre in London, potentially marks a step change for the field, as it has the capacity to transform the range of genetic mutations and variations that can be detected.

Critically, there is no need to know the precise sequence of a mutation or variation for which you wish to test. Instead, SNPs and haplotypes are used to track how an embryo’s chromosomes are put together, and whether sections that include the DNA in which you’re interested have been passed on. (Times Online)

A ‘genetic’ ‘MoT’ that can spot almost all inherited diseases in an IVF-created embryo could be available within a year. The £2,500 test can detect around 15,000 genetic conditions, including cystic fibrosis, Huntington’s disease and some types of cancer, autism and mental retardation. It also counts the number of chromosomes in the embryos, potentially increasing the chances of pregnancy and cutting the odds of miscarriage. (Daily Mail)

Understanding the biology of mental illness would be a paradigm shift in our thinking about mind. It would not only inform us about some of the most devastating diseases of humankind but, because these are diseases of thought and feeling, it would also tell us more about who we are and how we function. I naively thought we were on the verge of such a paradigm change in 1983, when James Gusella and Nancy Wexler were tracking down the gene that causes Huntington’s disease. I expected that within 10 years we would have found the major genes that contribute to schizophrenia, depression, and autism. Since then, there has been a lot of enthusiasm about genes and mental illness and some false starts, but surprisingly little progress. (Newsweek)

Roll over, Mendel. Watson and Crick? They are so your old man’s version of DNA. And that big multibillion-dollar hullabaloo called the Human Genome Project? To some scientists, it’s beginning to look like an expensive genetic floor pad for a much more intricate—and dynamic—tapestry of life that lies on top of it. (Newsweek)

The US National Institutes of Health (NIH) is gearing up to begin a review of about 1,000 biomedical research grant applications for the Italian government, an experimental collaboration that comes at an inconvenient time for the US funding agency. [Premium (Nature News)]

The European Society of Human Genetics (ESHG) has issued draft recommendations for the regulation of genetic testing for common complex disorders, and is seeking comment from ‘the human genetics community’. The document notes the scope for improved diagnosis, prognosis, management and prevention for common disorders based on emerging genomic knowledge, but contrasts it with the slow delivery of tangible benefits. (PHG Foundation)

Princeton researchers have created a Rosetta Stone for the human body, a website that offers clues to the role DNA plays in aging and disease by helping scientists make sense of the vast jumble of information emerging from genetics research. (Princeton University)

The price of getting your DNA sequenced just dropped in half–to $48,000.

With the new service, being offered by Illumina ( ILMN - news - people ), a San Diego biotechnology company, patients will sit down with a physician, get a prescription and then, after a period of time allowing them to have second thoughts, will receive an Apple ( AAPL - news - people ) computer loaded with their DNA sequence and software for reading it. On the computer (the customer’s to keep), will be the patient’s entire genome–the encoding of all 3 billion DNA letters in the body. (Forbes)

The race for biomedical and genetic enhancement will-in the twenty-first century-be what the space race was in the previous century, according to members of the World Future Society. Scientists can already screen fertilized human eggs for 1,000 genetic disorders. Within a decade, researchers will be able to detect most of the world’s congenital diseases in the embryo; this could will enable humans to live to ages of two hundred years old. Some genetics expert predict science will soon be able to genetically “enhance” embryos with the potential for super-intelligence, phenomenal strength, or preternatural ability. What is possible? What are the moral and ethical implications of these new technologies? (PR Leap)

The notions of biomedical enhancement and our possible posthuman future are very much, so to speak, topics du jour in the bioethical literature. Over the past few years a number of books have appeared that address the ethical issues that surround our using medical technology not simply to treat disorders, but to increase our capacities beyond their normal range, perhaps even to the point where we no longer can be counted as human. These include landmark works by John Harris (Enhancing Evolution) and Michael Sandel (The Case Against Perfection), along with other excellent and thought-provoking works by the likes of Jürgen Habermas and Francis Fukuyama, as well as a first-rate edited collection (Human Enhancement) produced by Julian Savulescu and Nick Bostrom. (Metapsychology)

The American Journal of Bioethics (Volume 9, Issue 6 & 7, 2009) is now available by subscription only.

Articles Include:

• “A Pragmatic Consideration of Ethical Issues Relating to Personal Genomics ” by Andro R. Hsu,  Joanna L. Mountain, Anne Wojcicki, and Linda Avey, 1-2.
• “Social Networkers’ Attitudes Toward Direct-to-Consumer Personal Genome Testing ” by Amy L. McGuire, Christina M. Diaz, Tao Wang, and Susan G. Hilsenbeck, 3-10.
• “Personal Genome Testing: Do You Know What You Are Buying? ” by Heidi C. Howard and Pascal Borry, 11-13.
• “Direct-to-Consumer Personal Genome Testing: The Problem Is Not Ignorance–It Is Market Failure ” by Christopher F. C. Jordens, Ian H. Kerridge, and Gabrielle N. Samuel, 13-15.
• “Genethics 2.0: Phenotypes, Genotypes, and the Challenge of Databases Generated by Personal Genome Testing ” by Karin Esposito and Kenneth Goodman, 19-21.
• “How Attitudes Research Contributes to Overoptimistic Expectations of Personal Genome Testing” by Eline Bunnik, A. Cecile J. W. Janssens, and Maartje Schermer, 23-25.
• “We Are the Genes We’ve Been Waiting For: Rational Responses to the Gathering Storm of Personal Genomics” by Misha Angrist, 30-31.
• “Challenges in the Use of Direct-to-Consumer Personal Genome Testing in Children” by Holly K. Tabor and Maureen Kelley, 32-34.
• “Research 2.0: Social Networking and Direct-To-Consumer (DTC) Genomics” by Sandra Soo-Jin Lee and LaVera Crawley, 35-44.
• “Direct-to-Consumer Genomics, Social Networking, and Confidentiality” by David B. Resnik , 45-46.
• “Personal Genomics: Democratization, or Empowerment, or ‘Something’ ” by Chris MacDonald and Nancy Walton, 46-48.
• “Direct-To-Consumer Genetics and Health Policy: A Worst-Case Scenario? ” by Timothy Caulfield, 48-50.
• “Genetic Privacy: Might There Be a Moral Duty to Share One’s Genetic Information? ” by Heidi Malm, 52-54.
• “The Role of Empirical Research in Bioethics” by Alexander A. Kon, 59-65.
• “Categorizing Empirical Research in Bioethics: Why Count the Ways?” by Jeremy Sugarman, Nancy Kass, and Ruth Faden , 66-67.

Rapid advances in biology and genetics are raising fresh concerns about the spreading practice of patenting human genes. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has granted patents to at least 4,382 human genes, including genes related to Alzheimer’s, asthma, cancer, muscular dystrophy and other serious diseases. (Yahoo! News)

BioSocieties (Volume 4, Issue 1, March 2009) is now available by subscription only.

Articles Include:

• “Who’s Credible? Expressions of Consensus and Conflict in Focus Groups about DNA Patenting” by Morten Andreasen, 25-43.
• “Between Soma and Society: Neuroscience and the Ontology of Psychopathy” by Martyn Pickersgill, 45-60.
• “Critical Neuroscience: Linking Neuroscience and Society through Critical Practice” by Suparna Choudhury, Saskia Kathi Nagel and Jan Slaby, 61-77.
• “The Implications of Memory Research and ‘Memory Erasers’: A Conversation with Yadin Dudai” by Joelle M. Abi-Rached and Yadin Dudai, 79-90.

Books Forum:

• “Books Forum: Confronting the AIDS Epidemic” by Javier Lezaun, 91-92.
• “Explaining AIDS in South Africa: A Role for History A review of When bodies remember: Experiences and politics of AIDS in South Africa by Didier Fassin. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2007″ by Manjari Mahajan, 93-95.
• “The Risks of Representation A review of João Biehl, Will to live: AIDS therapies and the politics of survival. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2007″ by Christine Cynn, 95-98.
• “AIDS on the Scale of the Social A review of Robert Thornton, Unimagined community: Sex, networks, and AIDS in Uganda and South Africa. University of California Press, 2008″ by Ann Kelly, 99-103.
• “Explaining the Epidemic A review of Helen Epstein, The invisible cure: Africa, the West, and the fight against AIDS. New York: Farrar Straus Giroux, 2007″ by Johanna Crane, 103-107.

The European Society of Human Genetics (ESHG) has published a set of recommendations concerning genetic testing of asymptomatic minors in a clinical context. The recommendations follow a period of public consultation and are accompanied by a background paper discussing some of the general considerations with regards to the provision of genetic tests to minors. (PHG Foundation)

The American Journal of Human Genetics (Volume 84, Issue 5, May 15, 2009) is now available by subscription only.

Articles Include:

• “Multilocus Bayesian Meta-Analysis of Gene-Disease Association” by Paul J. Newcombe, Claudio Verzilli, Juan P. Casas, Aroon D. Hingorani, Liam Smeeth, and John C. Whittaker, 567.
• “The Diversity Present in 5140 Human Mitochondrial Genome” by Luísa Pereira, Fernando Freitas, Verónica Fernandes, Joana B. Pereira, Marta D. Costa, Stephanie Costa, Valdemar Máximo, Vincent Macaulay, Ricardo Rocha, and David C. Samuels, 628.
• “Genome-wide Insights into the Patterns and Determinants of Fine-Scale Population Structure in Humans” by Shameek Biswas, Laura B. Scheinfeldt, and Joshua M. Akey, 641.

Book Reviews Include:

• “Genetic Effects on Environmental Vulnerability to Disease” by Heather M. Ochs-Balcom, 557.

In a controversial achievement, Japanese scientists announced on Wednesday they had created the world’s first transgenic primates, breeding monkeys with a gene that made the animals’ skin glow a fluorescent green. (PhysOrg)

Whether it is a new skin care product that promises to “reactivate” the youth in your genes or tests that offer nutrition advice tailored to your DNA, the age of consumer genetics is here. (Boston Globe)

In Mexico scientists are seeking volunteers who are obese, diabetic or suffering from cancer or other diseases, in order to study their genes. The results will help fill in a genetic map of the Mexican population. (IPS)

Increasingly, biologists are finding that non-genetic variation acquired during the life of an organism can sometimes be passed on to offspring—a phenomenon known as epigenetic inheritance. An article forthcoming in the July issue of The Quarterly Review of Biology lists over 100 well-documented cases of epigenetic inheritance between generations of organisms, and suggests that non-DNA inheritance happens much more often than scientists previously thought. (ScienceDaily)