April 24, 2008
When transplanted, the cells also improved heart function in mice. The findings have a number of implications, the most immediate of which would be to use the cells to test drugs. (HealthDay)
April 23, 2008
What is a human life worth? For centuries, that question has been asked in the context of the cost of keeping people alive. In recent years, however, it has expanded to include the value of creating people in other than … Read More
April 23, 2008
Does Botox get into the brain? Troubling research contradicts earlier findings about the treatment. (Newsweek)
April 23, 2008
The U.S. program to help elderly people pay for medicines has made them less likely to trim spending on things like food and housing to buy drugs, but the sickest still skip medications due to cost. (Reuters)
April 23, 2008
Congress reached an agreement clearing the way for a bill to prohibit discrimination by employers and health insurers on the basis of genetic tests. (New York Times)
April 23, 2008
The Irish Council for Bioethics has given its qualified backing to the contentious practice of stem-cell research. (Belfast Telegraph)
April 22, 2008
If you had died 50 years ago, your body would have stood a pretty good chance of serving science. In the 1960s, autopsy rates at US hospitals exceeded 50 percent. Pathologists weren’t necessarily looking for what killed people — they … Read More
April 22, 2008
These days, all medical schools have some type of education in topics like the physician-patient relationship and breaking bad news. But knowing how to respond to a personal wave of stress or sadness remains a major challenge. Is crying O.K.? … Read More
April 22, 2008
Euro MPs have called for an EU-wide organ donor card to tackle the shortage of organs for transplant. (BBC)
April 22, 2008
The BTK case was an early use of an emerging tool in law enforcement: analyzing the DNA of a suspect’s relatives. In the BTK example, police had a suspect and were looking to tie him to the crime. But now, … Read More
April 22, 2008
Your DNA falls into the realm of “the world’s information,” and it seems that Google (GOOG), as part of its corporate mission, is making a play to organize that, too. The Internet giant received heavy press in 2007 when it … Read More
April 22, 2008
The newest skin creams beckon with an air of scientific gravitas, holding out the hope that now, at last, medicine has triumphed over the visible aging process. With tantalizing biological references and understated packaging, the products are among the first … Read More
April 22, 2008
There is an unacceptable ambiguity used in ethical parlance: the mistaken use of “bioethics” and “medical ethics” interchangeably. (The Current)
April 22, 2008
Until the Human Tissue Authority has properly assessed the implications, it will not change the rules for deceased donation. (Times Online)
April 22, 2008
A new nonprofit institution plans to build a $115 million stem cell research facility in San Diego that would open by 2010. (The Associated Press)
April 21, 2008
Rather than simply proving, for example, that the blood on a suspect’s clothes does or does not match that of a murder victim, these “second generation” DNA tests seek to shed light on the biological traits and psychological states of … Read More
April 21, 2008
Is posting raw results online, for all to see, a great tool or a great risk? (Scientific American)
April 21, 2008
Outrage over a recent spate of incidents spurs fresh efforts to overturn the Feres doctrine, a 1950 Supreme Court decision denying active-duty service members the right to sue over medical errors. (Los Angeles Times)
April 21, 2008
The bionic eye, known as Argus II, works via the camera which transmits a wireless signal to an ultra-thin electronic receiver and electrode panel that are implanted in the eye and attached to the retina. (BBC)
April 21, 2008
It’s not just the technology that’s changed since the 1980s; it’s also the economic environment in which science and medicine have to operate. We are living in an age when human organs, genes, eggs and other body parts are fast … Read More
April 21, 2008
The consensus view is that we’ll muddle through many of the issues that vex us today — including climate change and terror threats. And we’ll hit upon so many medical and technological wonders that today’s 50-year-olds will have a fair … Read More
April 18, 2008
Recently a baby with two faces – two pairs of eyes; two pairs of lips, two noses and one pair of ears – was born in India. Were they devastated? No. Indeed, the female infant, Lali, is seen as being … Read More
April 18, 2008
The world risks “scientific apartheid” between rich and poor countries unless research and technology is better used to benefit the poor, says one of Africa’s leading science experts. (SciDev)
April 18, 2008
Last week in Discoblog, we discussed a case involving a 15-year-old boy, Alex Koehne, whose undiagnosed lymphoma was spread to four other people through the transplanting of his organs. Two of the organ recipients have died, and the other two … Read More
April 18, 2008
The network builds on cancer research centers first established in 2002 to bring laboratory advances quickly to patients. Each center will receive $4 million from the Department of Health and Cancer Research United Kingdom to develop new treatments. (Associated Press)
