Bioethics & Health News
January 31

January 31, 2006

Primary Care About to Collapse, Physicians Warn

Primary care — the basic medical care that people get when they visit their doctors for routine physicals and minor problems — could fall apart in the United States without immediate reforms, the American College of Physicians said Monday.
(Reuters)

Muscle Stem Cells Transformed Into Cartilage

Researchers say they have turned adult muscle stem cells into cartilage, and used them in animals to heal the kind of damage caused by arthritis. That is potentially good news for the many people who now face joint-replacement surgery because there is no available technique to repair cartilage damage from osteoarthritis, the wear-and-tear condition that afflicts many older people.
(HealthDay)

Concern Over ‘Spare Part’ Babies

Children created as so-called “saviour siblings” to aid a sick brother or sister must be monitored to ensure their wellbeing, experts suggest.
(BBC)

Test Expands Donor Pool for Kidneys

For many years, transplant surgeons around the world rejected use of organs from cadaver donors age 60 or older because they tended not to last as long as organs taken from younger people.
(New York Times)

Study: Key Bone Marrow Cells Hide at Edges

Scientists have found blood stem cells hiding out in the edges of bone marrow, and said on Monday their finding could help ease lifesaving stem cell transplants for diseases such as cancer.
(Reuters)

Fatalism, Ignorance Keep Many From Needed Cancer Checks

A sense of futility in preventing or fighting cancer may be holding many Americans back from getting the early detection tests they need, a new American Cancer Society survey finds.
(HealthDay)