January 5, 2007
A baby album for Rebekah Markham’s soon-to-be-born child could include something extra special: photos of police officers using flat-bottomed boats to rescue the youngster’s frozen embryo from a sweltering hospital in the chaotic aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. (AP)
January 5, 2007
The debate of whether to put more money into stem cell research is expected to heat up again during the spring legislative session. Comptroller Dan Hynes says he’ll re-introduce a plan he pushed last year, calling for as much as … Read More
January 5, 2007
Scientists in Taiwan have developed a simple, five-gene test aimed at showing which lung cancer patients most need chemotherapy, as similar tests now do for people with breast cancer and lymphoma. (AP)
January 5, 2007
The British Medical Journal is launching a competition to decide the greatest medical breakthrough. (BBC)
January 5, 2007
The parents of a severely disabled 9-year-old girl given doses of estrogen to stunt her growth and a hysterectomy to prevent menstrual cycles defended their treatment decisions as necessary for their child’s quality of life. (Reuters, AP)
January 5, 2007
Magneto-encephalography, or MEG, scanners are proving to be one of the most powerful tools in the hands of scientists using the machines to observe important details about epilepsy, brain tumors, emotions, pain perception and more. (Wired)
January 5, 2007
A three-year-old leukemia victim was given a life-saving infusion of her own cord blood, marking the first time a child with this disease served as their own blood donor, American doctors said (AFP)
January 5, 2007
Two Alexandria Democrats want to open Virginia’s doors to embryonic stem cell research during a time when a majority of the state legislature wants to close them. (Potomac News)
January 5, 2007
Gov. Jennifer Granholm on Thursday signed into law several bills designed to help create a statewide network of umbilical cord blood stem cell banks. (The Detroit News)
January 5, 2007
I don’t usually agree with Art Caplan, and he doesn’t usually agree with me. But he has it right in this piece that imposing a hysterectomy, mastectomy, and hormonal treatments on a disabled girl to make sure she remained small–while … Read More
January 5, 2007
Michigan has the most enlightened biotech regulatory policy in the country. First, it outlaws all human cloning. Second, it welcomes biotech companies that do ethical research and has a thriving biotech sector. Finally, today, the governor signed into law a … Read More
January 5, 2007
UK scientists, who want to make human/animal hybrid cloned embryos for use in stem cell research, are warning that unless they are permitted to proceed as they desire, hundreds of thousands of patients may die. Enough already. We’ve heard it … Read More
January 4, 2007
Stem Cell Hype vs Hope We are often told that those with illnesses and disabilities–especially celebrities such as Michael J. Fox and Mary Tyler Moore–should be listened to since they have absolute moral authority due to their conditions. Well, James … Read More
January 4, 2007
The Cornerites continue to discuss eugenics. Derbyshire agrees with Stuttaford’s comment that increasing the human capacity to love would be a terrible idea. “Capacity to Love.” He quotes a poem, that seems to say (I am not sure) that love … Read More
January 4, 2007
I have had several requests from readers to comment on the story of the cognitively disabled girl named Ashley, whose parents subjected her to hormone treatments and invasive surgeries (hysterectomy, mastectomy) to keep her “small.” The point of these “treatments” … Read More
January 4, 2007
Critics question surgery to keep child from growing too big for family care (Tribune Newspapers)
January 4, 2007
I have done a little more reading from the Edge, the self-described meeting place of the “most interesting minds” in the world. As some of you will recall from an earlier posting, the Edge is asking the brilliantly interesting among … Read More
January 4, 2007
Taken from the extracted wisdom teeth of young adults. And the beat goes on.
January 4, 2007
“Prioritizing nanotechnology risk research isn’t rocket science,” said Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies chief scientist Andrew Maynard. Dr. Maynard’s remark is in his testimony today before the federal government’s first public meeting focused exclusively on research needs and priorities for the … Read More
January 4, 2007
Legislation to protect the rights of the newly conceived should allow for in vitro fertilisation to take place within the national health service, former university rector Fr Peter Serracino Inglott said. (The Times Of Malta)
January 4, 2007
Magneto-encephalography, or MEG, scanners are proving to be one of the most powerful tools in the hands of scientists using the machines to observe important details about epilepsy, brain tumors, emotions, pain perception and more. (Wired)
January 4, 2007
With South Korea’s birth rate at its lowest ever, medical students are resorting to robots to practice bringing babies into the world. (Reuters)
January 4, 2007
The House of Commons health committee has become a key audience for the debate’s opposing voices because it is finally weighing regulations to implement a sweeping 2004 law governing assisted reproductive technologies – such as donor insemination and in vitro … Read More
January 4, 2007
Paying to have a newborn’s umbilical cord blood stored as an insurance policy against future disease is a bad idea, says the nation’s top pediatric health group. (FOX News)
January 4, 2007
Using stem cells harvested from the extracted wisdom teeth of young adults, researchers have successfully generated tooth root and supporting tooth ligaments to support a crown restoration in experiments using miniature pigs. (ABC)
