February 21, 2008
Toxicology experiments on nanomaterials often seem to run the same way: put some nanoparticles, carbon nanotubes, quantum dots, or other kind of nanosized structures in a petri dish, water column, soil sample, or lab test tube of choice. Then expose … Read More
February 21, 2008
Created 60 years ago as a cornerstone of the British welfare state, the National Health Service is devoted to the principle of free medical care for everyone. But recently it has been wrestling with a problem its founders never anticipated: … Read More
February 21, 2008
A state legislative committee has modified the stem cell bill headed for floor debate, removing a section about reproductive cloning that had irked groups opposing any use of human embryos for cloning purposes. (AP)
February 21, 2008
The point of contention — and one virtually certain to be repeated when the two Democratic survivors face off at a debate in Texas Thursday night — is whether the government should mandate that individuals carry health insurance. Both Obama … Read More
February 21, 2008
The bill, which still has to be approved in a second reading to take effect, fuelled passionate debates in Luxembourg, where Catholic values remain firmly entrenched. The medical community was mostly against it. (AFP)
February 21, 2008
The ballot proposal would reverse part of a constitutional amendment narrowly approved by voters in 2006 that ensured all federally allowed stem cell research and treatments can occur in Missouri. That measure allowed the use of an embryonic cloning technique, … Read More
February 21, 2008
Scientists reported on Wednesday that they were able to control diabetes in mice by harnessing human embryonic stem cells. The work raised the prospect that the embryonic cells might one day be used to provide insulin-producing replacement cells to treat … Read More
February 20, 2008
I admit that I am pleasantly surprised. The pro cloning bias among the political elite and media in Missouri make it almost impossible to get the straight information to the people of MO about this crucial ethical issue. When a … Read More
February 20, 2008
I am still taken aback by the Hastings Center Report publishing a pro infanticide article–bringing that agenda into the heart of the bioethics mainstream. As is my wont, I wrote about it. This is a piece just published in the … Read More
February 20, 2008
France’s Roman Catholic Church has called for embryos to be given a clear legal status following a court decision that let parents of miscarried fetuses enter them with a name in the official civil registry. (Washington Post)
February 20, 2008
Human stem cells helped repair stroke-related brain damage in rats, Stanford University researchers report. (HealthDay)
February 19, 2008
I wrote the other day about the hype merchant, William Neaves of the Stowers Institute, continuing to tout embryonic stem cells–which he usually intentionally confuses with human cloning–as moving on the fast track to provide cures: The rapid pace of … Read More
February 19, 2008
Can you imagine? Say, you are hit by a car and are rushed to the hospital by ambulance. It arrives at the entrance, and instead of being taken into the ER for immediate treatment–you are left waiting for hours so … Read More
February 19, 2008
I just learned about this blog, “Medical Futility,” that tracks futility care cases. The author is a law professor named Thaddeus Pope who, from what I have seen of his entries, clearly supports Futile Care Theory. In reading his entries, … Read More
February 19, 2008
Scores of doctors have been slain, cancer patients have to hunt down their own drugs _ even IV fluid is in short supply. On Tuesday, a former deputy health minister and the head of the ministry’s security force will stand … Read More
February 19, 2008
It’s a new way to push for patient safety: Don’t pay hospitals when they commit certain errors. Medicare will start hitting hospitals where it hurts in October, and other insurers are hot on the trail. (The Associated Press)
February 19, 2008
Essentially, “synthetic biologists” hope to make cells act more like computers and less like biological systems. To understand why they would want cells to act less like biological systems, it helps to understand some recent history of human genetics research. … Read More
February 19, 2008
In the complex, expensive and emotionally charged world of fertility treatment, doctors are sounding a call to arms to reverse the soaring rate of multiple births. (New York Times)
February 19, 2008
In the past couple of months there have been reports of breakthroughs in embryonic stem cells research – with one group of scientists indicating they had derived embryonic stem cells from adult skin cells and another group reporting they could … Read More
February 19, 2008
Less than a dozen years after Dolly the sheep became the world’s first cloned mammal, grocers and restaurateurs are digesting the fact that milk and meat from cloned animals could soon filter into their supply chains. (San Francisco Chronicle)
February 18, 2008
Bobby Schindler has a column in today’s Washington Times entitled “False Compassion.” He writes about some notable food and fluids cases past and present in an overall piece against dehydrating people with cognitively impairments. He concludes strongly: Make no mistake: … Read More
February 18, 2008
US scientists are taking the first step towards testing potentially hazardous chemicals on cells grown in a laboratory, without using live animals. Two government agencies are looking into the merits of using high-speed automated robots to carry out tests. The … Read More
February 18, 2008
UK scientists hope to mend shattered bones and damaged cartilage using a patient’s own stem cells. They are developing a “bioactive scaffold” to protect the stem cells and encourage them to grow into bone or cartilage when placed in the … Read More
February 18, 2008
With the number of stem-cell lines rapidly increasing, technology developers are working to improve systems for culturing and efficient differentiation — all with an eye on the clinic. The explosion in stem-cell research that followed the isolation of human embryonic … Read More
February 18, 2008
by Leon Kass In his State of the Union address President Bush spoke briefly on matters of life and science. He stated his intention to expand funding for new possibilities in medical research, to take full advantage of recent breakthroughs … Read More
