April 19, 2007
A news photo caught my eye last week. Four Pakistani men are holding up their shirts, displaying long surgical scars. The caption explained they had each sold a kidney to a “transplant tourist.” (News of Delaware County)
April 19, 2007
Listen carefully because it’s a little different from what much of the media has been and will be reporting this week: This country is making amazing advances in using stem cells to treat and cure many dreadful diseases. Notice I … Read More
April 18, 2007
Back at the first of the year, I peered into my obviously on-the-fritz crystal ball and predicted that Justice Kennedy would reverse his earlier position and vote to strike down the federal partial birth (intact dilation and extraction, or D … Read More
April 18, 2007
This is really a bad idea: A Missouri legislator named Dr. Rob Schaaf wants the state to stop buying and distributing important vaccines that are crucial to maintaining the health of children because they were derived from the cells of … Read More
April 18, 2007
The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine is again having trouble. It’s president and chief scientific officer, Zach Hall, has resigned for health reasons, while at the same time, its head consultant on funding construction projects has also quit. Beyond these … Read More
April 18, 2007
The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld a law that banned a type of late-term abortion, a ruling that could portend enormous social, legal and political implications for the divisive issue. (CNN) See also (FOXNews)
April 18, 2007
Argentine scientists said on Tuesday they had created four cloned and genetically modified calves capable of producing human insulin in their milk, a step they said could cut the cost of treating diabetes. (Reuters)
April 18, 2007
People receiving dialysis at large for-profit dialysis centers may be getting over-treated for anemia, a common complication in people with kidney disease, and that might be putting their health at risk, a new study contends. (HealthDay)
April 18, 2007
By the age of five, a child can understand spoken language, distinguish a cat from a dog, and play a game of catch. These are three of the many things humans find easy that computers and robots currently cannot do. … Read More
April 18, 2007
Canadian scientists and engineers have developed a robot with a keen sense of touch that will let doctors perform microscopic operations on the brain using the most vivid visuals yet, they said on Tuesday. (Reuters)
April 18, 2007
The lower house of the Russian parliament will not support a euthanasia bill pending in the upper house, a senior Duma member said Tuesday. (RIA Novosti)
April 17, 2007
There is a proposal in Russia to permit euthanasia. One opponent. a doctor and member of the Duma, warns that legalizing euthanasia would be a way of “seizing organs:” From the story: If a law allowing euthanasia appears in Russia, … Read More
April 17, 2007
One of the most momentous decisions in medicine is the “do not resuscitate” order, or DNR. This doesn’t mean no treatment, nor does it mean no life-sustaining treatment. It means that if a patient suffers cardiac arrest, no CPR will … Read More
April 17, 2007
Senator Edward M. Kennedy is leading efforts in Congress to pass legislation to overhaul the Food and Drug Administration. Such reform is needed, because the FDA has repeatedly failed to protect the public from drugs and medical devices that prove … Read More
April 17, 2007
A Texas House committee voted to bar state funding for embryonic stem cell research, regardless of whether restrictions on federal funding for the research are lifted in the future. (News-Journal)
April 17, 2007
A Florida legislator says she wanted to make the debate over stem-cell research “purely about science.” (Tampa Tribune)
April 17, 2007
Most physicians in the United States believe that religion and spirituality have a positive effect on patients’ health, according to a survey published last week, and that God at least occasionally intervenes on their behalf. (New York Times)
April 17, 2007
The first dozen Parkinson’s patients to have holes drilled in their skulls for a novel gene therapy attempt weren’t harmed – and hints at some improvement have researchers embarking on a larger study to see if the treatment really may … Read More
April 17, 2007
One argument for stem cell research is that it might generate fresh replacement cells for those destroyed by such horrific diseases as ALS, the paralyzing nervous system disorder popularly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. (San Francisco Chronicle)
April 17, 2007
Even as in vitro fertilization becomes more popular, some of the practices involved in its use are causing concern. Health authorities in Britain recently initiated a public consultation regarding putting limits on the number of embryos that can be implanted. … Read More
April 17, 2007
We are given emotive stories of how somatic cell nuclear transfer will miraculously cure those with degenerative diseases. We are presented with images of people suffering and told they will be cured by experimenting with specially created embryos. But how? … Read More
April 17, 2007
It is not enough merely to deplore the state’s mistaken legal embrace of eugenics. (News-Sentinel)
April 17, 2007
We are currently planning to help the first British couple have a baby free from the risk of developing early-onset Alzheimer’s disease (EOAD). Preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) for this disease, which affects individuals in middle age (40s and 50s) – … Read More
April 17, 2007
Angela Hickley, whose daughter Jackie died of complications from egg harvesting, is the center of this informational video on the events of International Women’s Day that brought a coalition of pro-life and pro-choice advocates to Capitol Hill for a congressional … Read More
April 16, 2007
Designer “spare parts” for ruptured tendons and torn ligaments. Stem cell injections to heal and build muscle. Medical therapeutics that would allow star athletes to extend their careers by years, if not decades. (ABC News)
