November 2, 2015
(Medscape) – Patients waiting for a lung transplant can suffer from depression, anxiety, and stress — which can potentially affect transplant outcome — but a previous diagnosis of a mood disorder is not predictive of who is at risk, new … Read More
October 27, 2015
(Time) – The unusual story that came before the first successful pediatric heart transplant. It’s been exactly 31 years since Dr. Leonard Bailey transplanted a baboon heart into an infant known as Baby Fae. She lived for 21 days after … Read More
October 23, 2015
(Thomas Reuters Foundation) – Puerto Rico is trying to build its medical tourism industry, from a current level of about $80 million a year to $300 million by 2017, as part of efforts to heal its chronically sick economy. A … Read More
October 22, 2015
(The Epoch Times) – The World Health Organization Guiding Principle 1 of the Guiding Principles on Human Cell, Tissue and Organ Transplantation requires consent from the donor to organ removal for the purpose of transplantation. Guiding Principle 10 requires traceability … Read More
October 19, 2015
(Eurekalert) – Investigators at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) and the Harvard Stem Cell Institute (HSCI) have established a highly efficient method for making kidney structures from stem cells that are derived from skin taken from patients. The kidney structures … Read More
October 16, 2015
(The Economist) – Until now, though, two technical problems have stood in the way of routinely transplanting animal organs into people. One is that the recipient’s immune system must be persuaded to tolerate a big chunk of foreign tissue. The … Read More
October 16, 2015
Journal of Perinatology (vol. 35, no. 10, 2015) is available online by subscription only. Articles include: “Anencephalic Organ Donation after Cardiac Death: A Case Report on Practicalities and Ethics” by R.J. Powers, D. Schultz, and S. Jackson “Ethics and Professionalism … Read More
October 15, 2015
(Yahoo! News) – After years of crippling debt, Bangladeshi villager Rawshan Ara decided to follow in her family’s footsteps — and sell a kidney on the black market to raise cash. Like many of her neighbours in this poor farming … Read More
October 15, 2015
Bone Marrow Transplantation (vol. 50, no. 10, 2015) is available online by subscription only. Articles include: “Umbilical Cord Blood Donation: Public or Private?” by K.K. Ballen, F. Verter, and J. Kurtzberg
October 14, 2015
BMC Medical Ethics (vol. 16, September 2015) is available online by subscription only. Articles include: “Assessing the Detection, Reporting and Investigation of Adverse Events in Clinical Trial Protocols Implemented in Cameroon: A Documentary Review of Clinical Trial Protocols” by A. Ebile, et … Read More
October 13, 2015
(The Telegraph) – Pig organs could soon be transplanted into patients after Harvard University scientists discovered a way to genetically modify pig DNA so it is more compatible with humans. Scientists have spent decades trying to engineer pig tissue so … Read More
October 12, 2015
(Popular Science) – Social media sites like Facebook are known for connecting people around the world as never before. They are also facilitating a somewhat illegal practice of buying and selling organs, according to an investigation from Al Jazeera. Though … Read More
October 8, 2015
(Australian Broadcasting Corporation) – Adult skin cells have been reprogrammed to make the most mature human kidneys yet to be grown in a dish, say researchers. The mini kidneys have hundreds of filtering units and blood vessels and appear to … Read More
October 8, 2015
(Scientific American) – For decades, scientists and doctors have dreamed of creating a steady supply of human organs for transplantation by growing them in pigs. But concerns about rejection by the human immune system and infection by viruses embedded in … Read More
October 2, 2015
(Medical Xpress) – Over 100,000 people in the US are waiting for a kidney transplant. Most of the kidneys that were transplanted in 2014 (about 17,000 transplants) are from deceased donors. Kidneys donated from living donors last longer, but the … Read More
September 30, 2015
(New Scientist) – Uterus transplants have been given the go-ahead in the UK. From next year, 10 women will receive a donated uterus as part of a clinical trial, following the success of a similar trial in Sweden. Ethical approval … Read More
September 21, 2015
(Fox News) – Aggressive state efforts to ban the use of fetal tissue in research are alarming some scientists who say such measures will set back efforts to cure the world’s deadliest diseases, including cancer, diabetes and Alzheimer’s. But lawmakers … Read More
September 18, 2015
(Smithsonian) – Last month, surgeons at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, in Bethesda, Maryland, managed to keep one of Revivicor’s genetically modified pig hearts alive inside a baboon’s stomach for 945 days. They were testing the baboon’s immune … Read More
September 17, 2015
The Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics (vol. 43, no. 2, 2015) is available online by subscription only. Articles include: “INTRODUCTION: Intersections in Reproduction: Perspectives on Abortion and Assisted Reproductive Technologies” by Judith Daar and Kimberly Mutcherson “Membership Has Its Privileges? … Read More
September 16, 2015
(Associated Press) – Covert videos released by an anti-abortion group have opened a window on a largely unknown corner of science: the middlemen who supply researchers with human fetal cells from elective abortions. For decades, these typically small companies or … Read More
September 14, 2015
(News-Medical) – One week ago, surgical teams took part in a record-setting day of organ transplantation at Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas. Surgeons on the medical staff performed nine organ transplants on seven patients in one calendar day. The … Read More
September 10, 2015
(The China Post) – HIV/AIDS patients are to become eligible to be transplant donors by next year, according to statements made by the Health and Welfare Ministry’s Department of Medical Affairs yesterday. The changes to the policy on organ transplantation … Read More
September 10, 2015
Clinical Ethics (vol. 10, no. 3, 2015) is available online by subscription only. Articles include: “The Decline of Medical Confidentiality Medical Information Management: The Illusion of Patient Choice” by Ingrid Ann Whiteman “Proposed Guidelines for the Protection of Vulnerable Subjects in … Read More
September 3, 2015
(Scientific American) – Although racial disparities continue to plague the health care system there is one bright spot: the gap in kidney transplants appears to have closed. For the first time rates of such transplants among white and black patients … Read More
September 3, 2015
(CNN) – An anti-abortion group released its ninth video Tuesday accusing a new company of illegally buying parts from aborted fetuses at Planned Parenthood locations. The latest video focuses on Advanced Bioscience Resources, Inc., a biomedical company that works with Planned … Read More
