March 9, 2009
EXACT replicas of a man’s thumb bones have been made for the first time using a 3D printer. The breakthrough paves the way for surgeons to replace damaged or diseased bones with identical copies built from the patients’ own cells. … Read More
March 9, 2009
When President Obama lifts restrictions on funding for human embryonic stem cell research today, he will also issue a presidential memorandum aimed at insulating scientific decisions across the federal government from political influence, officials said yesterday. (Washington Post)
March 9, 2009
Scientists don’t often turn the microscope on themselves, and when they do, the results sometimes prove disappointing. (USA Today)
March 9, 2009
While lifting the Bush administration’s restrictions on federally financed human embryonic stem cell research, President Obama intends to avoid the thorniest question in the debate: whether taxpayer dollars should be used to experiment on embryos themselves, two senior administration officials … Read More
March 6, 2009
We rarely associate hip surgery with swaying palms, spas, or a personal concierge who carries your bag. Even more rare is the idea that these amenities are the fringe benefit of a surgery that costs half the price. And what … Read More
March 6, 2009
Radio New Zealand understands Cabinet will sign off on disbanding the council on Monday. The council was set up in 2002 to advise on the cultural, ethical and spiritual aspects of biotechnology. (Radio New Zealand News)
March 6, 2009
A Georgia measure that would place first-in-the-nation restrictions on the number of embryos fertility doctors may implant likely won’t pass this year after it was shipped to a subcommittee on Thursday for more study. “The Ethical Treatment of Human Embryos … Read More
March 6, 2009
Fertility experts were quick to note that science didn’t support Steinberg’s marketing pitch. Although embryos created through assisted reproduction can be tested for some genetic defects, the science of selecting cosmetic traits based on DNA data is not even close … Read More
March 6, 2009
Doctors who act contrary to the wishes of dying or comatose patients could be judged to be causing harm and struck off under new rules from the medical regulator. The General Medical Council (GMC) will publish draft guidance this month … Read More
March 6, 2009
In a striking instance of biologists’ new prowess at manipulating human cells, researchers at the Whitehead Institute in Cambridge, Mass., have converted skin cells from people with Parkinson’s disease into the general type of neuron that the disease destroys. (New … Read More
March 5, 2009
Nobody wants to have surgery on a battlefield; the idea of having it performed by a robot spider probably doesn’t make it sound any less harrowing. But as far as Peter Berkelman is concerned, a robot is better than nothing. … Read More
March 5, 2009
When vision fails, it’s often the result of damage to the eye caused by an injury or degenerative disease. In an attempt to restore such vision loss, researchers for more than a decade have been working to develop an optical … Read More
March 5, 2009
Sick or injured African-American patients wait about an hour longer than patients of other races before being transferred to an inpatient hospital bed following emergency room visits, according to a new national study published in the journal Academic Emergency Medicine. … Read More
March 5, 2009
Two women brought the lawsuit against the Korean government, MizMedi Hospital and Hanyang University Hospital in April 2006. The women had donated eggs for Hwang’s research at those hospitals. (Nature News)
March 5, 2009
In a discussion with the theme Assisted Procreation – Morality and Law, Rev. Prof. Emmanuel Agius, the dean of the Faculty of Theology and lecturer of philosophical ethics and moral theology at the University of Malta, and a member of … Read More
March 5, 2009
When physicians at University College in London last month announced the birth of what they described as the world’s first “breast-cancer gene-free baby,” a designer infant pre-screened for the BRCA1 cancer gene, critics focused public debate on the question of … Read More
March 5, 2009
It could be called one of the dark and enduring secrets of modern practice. Several physicians say, on condition of absolute anonymity, that they earn tens of thousands of dollars annually by recruiting patients for clinical trials. One even admits … Read More
March 5, 2009
Bills introduced in the Minnesota Legislature would ban sex-selection abortions and human cloning in the state. Advocates of banning sex-selection abortions say new technologies are making it possible to determine the sex of a child within weeks of conception. The … Read More
March 5, 2009
Scientists may be growing impatient, but President Obama has been rightly taking his time in addressing a campaign promise to lift the ban on federal funding for research using new lines of stem cells to be taken from human embryos. … Read More
March 5, 2009
At the kind invitation of the Government of Mexico, the sixteenth (ordinary) session of the International Bioethics Committee of UNESCO (IBC) will be held in Mexico City, from 4 to 6 May 2009. Created in 1993, IBC is a body of 36 independent experts … Read More
March 5, 2009
Studies in Family Planning (Volume 40, Issue 1, March 2009) is now available by subscription only. Articles Include: “The Persistence of Induced Abortion in Cuba: Exploring the Notion of an ‘Abortion Culture’” by Danièle Bélanger and Andrea Flynn, 13-26. “Do Women Increase … Read More
March 5, 2009
JAMA (Volume 301, Number 8, February 25, 2009) is now available by subscription only. Articles Include: “Professional Monopolies in Medicine” by Mark O. Baerlocher and Allan S. Detsky, 858-860. “Health Workforce Planning and Medical Student Career Choice” by Frederick M. Perkins, 824. “Future … Read More
March 4, 2009
The American Journal of Bioethics (Volume 9, Issue 3, 2009) is now available by subscription only. Articles Include: “Physician-Assisted Death in the Pacific Northwest” by Nancy S. Jecker, 1-2. “Is Health Worker Migration a Case of Poaching?” by Jeremy Snyder, … Read More
March 4, 2009
Journal of Medical Ethics (Volume 35, Issue 3, March 1, 2009) is now available by subscription only. Articles Include: “Learning from the economic crisis: public health and private ventures” by Tom Koch, 145-146. “What is happening during case deliberations in … Read More
March 4, 2009
A controversial Italian doctor known for his work allowing post-menopausal women to have children has claimed in an interview to have cloned three babies who are now living in eastern Europe. (PhysOrg)
