April 21, 2009
In an effort to provide Alzheimer’s and schizophrenia patients with better, safer medicines, biotech and big pharma have embarked on drug discovery programs targeting multiple cognitive mechanisms. Several of the resulting medications have progressed to late-stage clinical development. For patients … Read More
April 21, 2009
Genetically engineered immune cells may have helped two patients with advanced prostate cancer to fight the disease, preliminary results suggest. (Nature News)
April 21, 2009
Women who have their healthy ovaries removed when they have a hysterectomy face a higher risk of death — including death from coronary heart disease and lung cancer — than women who keep their ovaries, according to new research. (Los … Read More
April 21, 2009
Before we can understand what the “beyond” of a good death might mean, it is necessary to examine the meaning the phrase “a good death”. Edwin Sheidman, professor emeritus of Thanatology at UCLA and founder of the American Association of … Read More
April 21, 2009
The Mayo Clinic has combined its medical expertise with Microsoft Corp.’s technology in a free Web site launching Tuesday that will let people store personal health and medical information. (AP)
April 21, 2009
With the imminent publication of Ms. Margo MacDonald MSP’s response to her consultation on the legalisation of Assisted Dying, the Scottish Council on Human Bioethics (SCHB) indicated, that while it had a lot of sympathy for persons in difficult cases, … Read More
April 21, 2009
Ordinary folk can now try to be masters of their own health, as private companies offer online DNA tests and full-body CT or MRI scans. But these services, which often offer health information without a doctor’s guidance, have stirred up … Read More
April 21, 2009
Would you let your embryos — left over in a clinic freezer from your efforts to have a child — languish on ice forever, be discarded or be used by medical researchers looking for ways to cure dread diseases? That’s … Read More
April 20, 2009
Opponents of embryo research have used an investment last week by former vice president Al Gore, as a new pretext to attack research on embryonic stem cells (ESCs). (New Scientist)
April 20, 2009
Law enforcement officials are vastly expanding their collection of DNA to include millions more people who have been arrested or detained but not yet convicted. The move, intended to help solve more crimes, is raising concerns about the privacy of … Read More
April 20, 2009
President Obama has argued for simultaneously addressing the problems of lack of access to health insurance for nearly 50 million Americans and the runaway inflation that has topped more than 120 percent over a 10-year period. In his view — … Read More
April 20, 2009
Gisela Marrero told a Bronx court her partner had spoken about having another child with her only the day before his death from a suspected heart attack. (BBC)
April 20, 2009
TRADE unions normally mount a picket over job losses or workers rights, but this week members of the ACTU hit the airwaves about a tiny matter: nanotechnology. (The Australian)
April 20, 2009
When President Barack Obama eased limits on taxpayer-funded embryonic stem cell research, the big question became how far scientists could go. Friday, the government answered: They must use cells culled from fertility clinic embryos that otherwise would be thrown away. … Read More
April 20, 2009
The treatment involves replacing a layer of degenerated cells with new ones created from embryonic stem cells. It was pioneered by scientists and surgeons from the Institute of Ophthalmology at University College London and Moorfields Eye Hospital in Britain. (The … Read More
April 20, 2009
University of Leicester team examine potential of new technology to pave way for development of a combined diagnosis/therapeutic strategy. (FirstScience)
April 17, 2009
The Obama administration today is announcing guidelines for government-sponsored embryonic stem cell research but the draft regulations would limit federal funding of work on human embryos donated at fertility clinics. (Washington Post)
April 17, 2009
A multi-disciplinary team of scientists from the University of Leicester could be potentially paving the way for the development of a powerful new strategy for both the early diagnosis and treatment of prostate cancer. (PhysOrg)
April 17, 2009
Our understanding of the universe as a whole has reached a dead-end. In our view, current physics-based theories of the material world do not work, and can never be made to work, until they fully account for life and consciousness. … Read More
April 17, 2009
Consultant neurologist Prof Orla Hardiman said people with incurable diseases were spending large sums of money on stem-cell treatments overseas when there was no evidence they would deliver any benefit. (The Irish Times)
April 17, 2009
Neurobiologist Maureen L. Condic investigates 11 common arguments in favor of embryonic stem-cell research, and explains why science may not need the controversial technique, after all. (The Daily Beast)
April 16, 2009
The Phase I safety trial, funded with a pilot grant from The National Institutes of Health and support from the Notsew Orm Sands Foundation, will enroll nine more patients who have suffered a stroke and can be treated with the … Read More
April 16, 2009
When original and interesting research is distorted to garner additional attention, both the work in question and previous studies can be shortchanged. Here, I will describe a recent and notable case from the journal Science in which the perceived novelty … Read More
April 16, 2009
Dozens of aspiring parents and the women they hired to be surrogate mothers filed a class action lawsuit this week against a Modesto-based surrogacy agency that abruptly shut its doors and stopped returning phone calls, leaving hundreds of thousands of … Read More
April 16, 2009
Reports this week indicate that the Obama administration is leaning towards keeping secret some information on the controversial interrogation tactics used in the CIA’s detention program. But the administration can’t keep secret recently divulged evidence suggesting that fourteen detainees were … Read More
