February 28, 2006
One of the things that hinders progress in addressing the challenge of 45 million uninsured in our country is the possibility of making things worse rather than better. Currently, the charge is that the new Medicare prescription drug program has … Read More
February 28, 2006
On Tuesdays, The New York Times runs the “Cases” column in which a physician shares a bit of their personal experience. The column is insightful for those of us who are not physicians but have a keen interest in doctor-patient … Read More
February 28, 2006
Medicare Red Tape Snares Drugs (USA Today) US States to Recoup Costs of Medicare Drug Glitches (Reuters) Doctors Take Note: Even the Whiners Sometimes Get Sick (New York Times) Confusing Studies Don’t Alter Health Advice (AP) Stigma Still Shadows Psychiatric … Read More
February 27, 2006
California Stem Cell Institute Trial Starts Today (via Los Angeles Times) Three groups (People’s Advocate, National Tax Limitation Foundation, California Family Bioethics Council) filed two lawsuits, which have been combined into a single trial, asserting that the lack of direct … Read More
February 24, 2006
FDA Balancing Act (via The Wall Street Journal) The FDA will soon debate the question “Should a promising drug that carries a known and deadly side effect still be allowed on the market?” The drug in question, Tysabri, a drug … Read More
February 23, 2006
Fake Findings Used to Secure $16M Grant (via Pittsburg Tribune Review) University of Pittsburgh scientist Gerald Schatten received a $16.1 million, 5-year grant from the National Institutes of Health based largely on the now discredited South Korean cloning research. The … Read More
February 22, 2006
Transparency Vital in Clinical Trials (Wall Street Journal [subscription required]) Pharmaceutical company Northfield Laboratories is currently running a clinical trial of a blood substitute called PlyHeme. The Wall Street Journal (subscription required) raises questions about the fact that an earlier … Read More
February 20, 2006
Type 1 Diabetes Research (via BBC) A research team at the University of Minnesota has cured type I diabetes in monkeys by transplanting islet cells from pigs and combating rejection with a combination of drugs. The team is hoping to … Read More
February 17, 2006
Stem Cell Showdown in the Show Me State Missouri is currently in the midst of a debate over whether the state government should fund cloning and embryonic stem cell research. Yesterday, at the Missouri Press Association Day at the state … Read More
February 16, 2006
HSA A survey to be released today reveals that CEOs view increasing healthcare costs as an impediment to expanding their workforces. Many employers are asking employees to shoulder more of the cost, and a majority is experimenting with initiatives like … Read More
February 15, 2006
Clinical Trials of Non-Embryonic Stem Cells (Washington Times) Johns Hopkins is currently running a trial to see if mesenchymal stem cells from bone marrow can regenerate a damaged heart.” While the results will not be known for several months, the … Read More
February 14, 2006
Egg Donation for Cloning to Expand in Britain (BBC, The Times) Currently in the UK egg donation for research purposes is restricted to women who are already undergoing medical treatment. This is not providing enough eggs for the scientists who … Read More
February 13, 2006
U.S. Senator Jim Talent (R-MO) has removed his name from a bipartisan bill (Brownback, R-KS and Landrieu, D-LA) to ban all forms of human cloning. Talent is emphasizing alternative techniques for obtaining stem cells (altered nuclear transfer or ANT), and … Read More
February 13, 2006
60 Minutes last night aired a report on the surplus embryo situation in the United States. Currently, there are approximately 400,000 frozen embryos in fertility clinics around the country. As the report identified, the couples to whom these embryos belong … Read More
February 10, 2006
The National Institutes of Health and pharmaceutical companies Pfizer and Affymetrix are joining forces to form the Genetic Association Information Network. The goal is to identify key combinations of genetic variations that might indicate whether a person is at an … Read More
February 10, 2006
Op-ed: The Losing Battle Against Doping The Olympics are back. Yes, that time is upon us when you try to figure whether those judging the skating performances are drunk, insane or both, how anyone can really take seriously as athletics … Read More
February 9, 2006
Surprising, but not shocking news from The Scientist: With the Torino Winter Olympics due to kick off on Friday (February 10), anti-doping authorities are still hoping that the spectre of gene doping — the misuse of gene therapy to boost … Read More
February 9, 2006
Cancer Deaths Fall, Ending 70-Year Trend The war on cancer may have reached a dramatic turning point: For the first time in more than 70 years, annual cancer deaths in the United States have fallen.(AP) Global Warming a Major Health … Read More
February 8, 2006
Abortion Foes Gain on New Front A new front in the debate over abortion is emerging in legislatures across the nation. Abortion foes are gaining ground with proposals to require doctors to tell women seeking abortions that their fetuses might … Read More
February 7, 2006
Face Transplant Patient Displays Features The Frenchwoman who received the world’s first partial face transplant showed off her new features Monday, and her scar: a faint, circular line of buckled skin around her nose, lips and chin. But where she … Read More
February 6, 2006
Face Transplant Patient Goes Public The Frenchwoman who received the world’s first partial face transplant showed off her new features to the public Monday, saying in a heavily slurred voice that she now looks “like everyone else” and hopes to … Read More
February 3, 2006
I somehow doubt that most Americans will read in their newspapers or hear on the radio what may prove to be the most profound paragraph in the State of the Union address. The President addressed many vital issues, but among … Read More
February 3, 2006
President’s Health Reform Agenda Draws Mixed Reviews President Bush drew mixed reaction Wednesday to his broadly outlined strategy for taming health-care costs and reducing the ranks of the uninsured in his State of the Union address Tuesday evening.(HealthDay) Obese ‘Can … Read More
February 2, 2006
U.S. Scientists Create Bird Flu Vaccine That Thwarts Deadly Strain Scientists have succeeded in creating a genetically engineered vaccine that protects mice from several different strains of the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus. Experts hope the same vaccine or a … Read More
February 1, 2006
One’s Own Stem Cells May Treat Lupus For all of her 20s, when Edjuana Ross should have been relishing the thrill of early adulthood, she was instead in and out of hospitals, battling a disease that attacked her skin, brain … Read More
