April 7, 2008
ransplants of brain cells given to Parkinson’s disease patients survive for 10 years or more, three teams of researchers reported on Sunday, but at least some of the transplants were damaged. (Reuters)
April 6, 2008
Will Saletan, with whom I often disagree but whose journalism and pondering in the area of biotechnology is top notch, has an article out in Slate about how sex selection is coming to America. From his column: Two days ago, … Read More
April 6, 2008
Parkinson’s Patients who received fetal cadaver tissue grafts and whose brains were studied after they died, showed that the disease continued to affect healthy tissue and thus cell grafts may not function long term. From the story: “These findings give … Read More
April 6, 2008
I was speaking in beautiful Eugene, Oregon yesterday–and so was Hillary Clinton. (For some reason she made the front page of the Register Guard instead of me.) During the Q and A session, she was asked about Oregon’s assisted suicide … Read More
April 4, 2008
Geneticist Carl Bruder of the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and his colleagues closely compared the genomes of 19 sets of adult identical twins. In some cases, one twin’s DNA differed from the other’s at various points on their genomes. … Read More
April 4, 2008
By dosing mice with eyedrops containing gene probes that then travel to the brain, Harvard researchers are using magnetic resonance imaging to observe the brains of living animals. The method could allow doctors to directly diagnose problems such as tumors, … Read More
April 4, 2008
When Australian scientists failed to find a virus to control one of the most insidious invasive species, they decided to build one. Is it worth the risk? (The Scientist)
April 4, 2008
The human mind has always been an object of study, and seeing how the average person uses only 10 percent of their brain, we cannot control our own consciousness. But, what if there are those who can control all the … Read More
April 4, 2008
On this new frontier, Americans increasingly turn to the Internet to solicit organs from people they don’t know. Some travel to China, India and other parts of the developing world to buy organs taken from executed prisoners or people so … Read More
April 4, 2008
For Indian doctors, western shores could be greener. But for an increasing number of foreign patients, Indian hospitals are fast becoming their first choice. Over 1.5 lakh medical tourists travelled to India in 2002 alone, bringing in earnings of $300 … Read More
April 3, 2008
In the wake of their loss, the Schindler family created the Terri Schindler Schiavo Foundation to stand up for the intrinsic equal dignity of profoundly disabled people and to hold the line against bioethical agendas such as assisted suicide and … Read More
April 3, 2008
I have had some buzz today that a new futile care case may have come to the fore after an Illinois nursing home, the North Logan Healthcare Center in Danville, was fined for violating a patient’s advance directive declaring that … Read More
April 3, 2008
Legalised killing is unacceptable. We must consider the radical alternative – palliative care. (Times Online)
April 3, 2008
The two Sacramento sheriff detectives tailed their suspect, Rolando Gallego, at a distance. They did not have a court order to compel him to give a DNA sample, but their assignment was to get one anyway — without his knowledge. … Read More
April 3, 2008
The fact that these fetal cells aren’t destroyed by the mother’s immune system points to an immune system suppression mechanism that may be harnessed to help prevent transplant rejection, said the researchers, who added that these stem cells may provide … Read More
April 3, 2008
The crux of McCain’s healthcare plan is to end a tax break for employers who provide health insurance premiums now utilized by many workers. That would be replaced with a tax credit worth as much as $5,000 per family for … Read More
April 3, 2008
Now it appears that embryonic stem cells may be nearly ready for something altogether different: treating patients. This is according to a briefing after the first-ever meeting of the Global Forum of the International Society for Stem Cell Research, recently … Read More
April 3, 2008
Britain is set to have its most comprehensive debate on abortion in two decades as those who oppose abortion rights seek to restrict one of the more liberal laws on this side of the Atlantic. In coming weeks, the lower … Read More
April 3, 2008
A patient’s willingness to participate in a clinical trial may be unaffected by the disclosure of a researcher’s financial interests in the study, unless the amount of money a researcher stands to earn depends on the results of the trial, … Read More
April 3, 2008
Cairo, Egypt, 12-14 August 2008 The suggested topic for this forum is: “Challenges to Ethical Considerations in Research in the East Mediterranean and Arab Region: Research Subjects, Researchers and Research Ethics Committees Perspectives”. Presentations will address one of the topics … Read More
April 2, 2008
Charlie Brown is elected President of the United States and calls for sacrifice. The American people respond:
April 2, 2008
You might think I’d object to animal-human hybrid embryos on moral grounds. I do, but it’s their bad science I really take exception to. (Guardian Unlimited)
April 2, 2008
Stem-cell therapies are often touted as the future of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. But one of the challenges to developing such therapies is creating an environment in which stem cells can grow. An additional hurdle involves designing a vehicle … Read More
April 2, 2008
A new analysis of the American clinical trial process suggests that the system for testing new drugs has routinely excluded or under-represented women, older people, minorities, disabled individuals and rural populations for decades. (HealthDay)
April 2, 2008
The findings “suggest that in a sub-population with a traditional son preference, the technologies are being used to generate male births when preceding births are female,” co-authors Douglas Almond and Lena Edlund said of their findings, appearing in Tuesday’s edition … Read More
