December 17, 2014
(The Guardian) – Last week, we learned that 43% of men and 50% of women in England are taking at least one prescription medication. Of those surveyed by the Health and Social Care Information Centre, 22% of men and 24% … Read More
December 17, 2014
(Scientific American) – So imagine my surprise when this speaker gave a strong defense of the UMN’s IRB without disclosing on his slides that he was paid almost $14,000 as an expert witness for the UMN in a suit brought … Read More
December 17, 2014
(ABC.net) – You’re a human and so you’re a person—case closed. Tommy is a chimpanzee and there is nothing more to say. Last week the Supreme Court Appellate Division in upstate New York rejected a bid to extend legal personhood … Read More
December 16, 2014
(CNN) – The Senate confirmed Vivek Murthy as surgeon general on Monday night as Democrats — in the final days of their majority control of the chamber — overcame stiff opposition from the National Rifle Association. The 51 to 43 … Read More
December 16, 2014
(ABC News) – Retired UCLA pediatric neurology professor Dr. Alan Shewmon wrote an official declaration this fall that although he hadn’t personally examined Jahi, the videos and what he understands from others who examined her “leave no doubt that Jahi … Read More
December 16, 2014
(Wired) – Providers’ relationship with life science companies has been difficult, to say the least. But it has become clear that to move the needle on improving healthcare, these stakeholders will have to learn to work together. Providers guard a … Read More
December 16, 2014
(UPI) – The federal spending bill passed last week is full of buried provisions, allocations and defunding in its more than 1,600 pages. One of the quieter add-ins was a measure that essentially ends the federal ban on medical marijuana. … Read More
December 16, 2014
(Washington Post) – Investigators poring through thousands of government labs turned up another two dozen potentially dangerous biological materials that were not properly accounted for, including the toxin ricin and a deadly form of avian flu, during a far-reaching inventory … Read More
December 16, 2014
(Medical Xpress) – Scientists at Indiana University and colleagues at Stanford and the University of Texas have demonstrated a technique for “editing” the genome in sperm-producing adult stem cells, a result with powerful potential for basic research and for gene … Read More
December 16, 2014
(Forbes) – Despite more comprehensive health insurance under the Affordable Care Act that includes mandatory coverage for mental health services, the noted TV newsmagazine 60 Minutes Sunday shined a light on the issue of patients denied treatment by doctors who never even saw … Read More
December 16, 2014
(Medical Xpress) – “Media reports about behavioural genetics unintentionally induce unfounded beliefs, therefore going against the educational purpose of scientific reporting,” writes the University of Montreal’s Alexandre Morin-Chassé, following his study of 1,500 Americans. “Among other things, we wanted to … Read More
December 16, 2014
(Medscape) – Stromal (mesenchymal) stem cells from patients’ own eyes may replace corneal transplants, suggests a study published in the December 10 issue of Science Translational Medicine. Sayan Basu, MD, from L. V. Prasad Eye Institute in Hyderabad, India, and … Read More
December 16, 2014
(U.S.A. Today) – The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to weigh in on a controversial Arizona law that would have restricted medication abortions. Planned Parenthood Arizona and Tucson Women’s Center filed the federal lawsuit alleging the law wasn’t intended to … Read More
December 16, 2014
(Vox) – A couple of things helped lessen the controversy. By the late 2000s, researchers discovered other ways to create cells similar to embryonic stem cells without destroying human embryos, a promising advance that helped defuse the culture-war aspect. Then, in … Read More
December 16, 2014
(University of Michigan Health) – As American health care workers and military personnel provide aid in countries impacted by Ebola virus disease, and Ebola cases are reported in the United States, health experts are considering how to reduce the already … Read More
December 15, 2014
(American Medical Association) – “The AMA has taken a clear stand that the participation of physicians in torture and coercive interrogation is a violation of core ethical values. We firmly believe that U.S. policies on detainee treatment must comport with the … Read More
December 15, 2014
(CBS News) – A year ago, 13-year-old Jahi McMath underwent a tonsillectomy and tissue removal at Children’s Hospital in Oakland, California, to treat sleep apnea. The girl suffered massive bleeding, had a heart attack and was declared brain-dead Dec. 12, … Read More
December 15, 2014
(MIT Technology Review) – In a step toward sophisticated artificial cells, scientists have engineered a silicon chip that can produce proteins from DNA, the most basic function of life. The system, though relatively simple, suggests a path to mimicking life … Read More
December 15, 2014
(Washington Post) – For a man at a highly rated hospital surrounded by the technology of medical miracles, Marik sounded a note of striking skepticism: Patients too often suffer in vain attempts to prolong life, he said, because of the … Read More
December 15, 2014
(Fox News) – Less than one quarter of one percent of abortion procedures result in major complications, a very low rate that is comparable to minor outpatient procedures in the U.S., according to a study of more than 50,000 women.“We … Read More
December 15, 2014
(The Telegraph) – Doctors in France will have the right to put terminally-ill patients into a deep sleep until they die, under plans unveiled on Friday that reignited a national debate on euthanasia. Apart from Belgium, the Netherlands and Switzerland, … Read More
December 15, 2014
(ABC News) – From the early stages of the CIA’s coercive interrogations of terror detainees, the agency’s health professionals were intimately involved. Front-line medics and psychologists monitored and advised on abusive tactics, even as they sometimes complained about the ethical … Read More
December 15, 2014
(Phys.org) – Scientists at the University at Buffalo and other institutions have turned cells normally used as model cells, known as immortalized cells, into stem or, as they call it, “stem-like” cells, using nothing more than mechanical stress. They have … Read More
December 15, 2014
(Medical Xpress) – Previous research has shown that lung transplant recipients who live near major roads are at higher risk of developing bronchiolitis obliterans syndrome, in which the body’s immune system attacks the new lung. But this research didn’t establish … Read More
December 15, 2014
(The Guardian) – Sick of losing patients to international competitors, US states are spending millions of dollars, passing legislation and even revamping cities to make themselves more attractive to domestic medical tourists – people like Losen, who cross state lines … Read More
