August 18, 2009
Using tiny crystals called quantum dots, Johns Hopkins researchers have developed a highly sensitive test to look for DNA attachments that often are early warning signs of cancer. This test, which detects both the presence and the quantity of certain … Read More
August 17, 2009
Long the stuff of hype and occasional hysteria, nanotechnology is quietly merging into modern life, its minuscule particles infused in an array of products, ranging from stink-proof socks to life-saving cancer medications. (The Boston Globe)
August 17, 2009
Bioethicists funded by the Wellcome Trust have urged caution over the use of advanced neuroimaging techniques in making life or death decisions about patients in a vegetative state. (Wellcome Trust)
August 17, 2009
China launched an overhaul targeting illegal organ transplants, after reports surfaced that some hospitals were illegally doing organ surgeries for foreigners. The spokesperson of Ministry of Health said, any medical institutions could have their licenses revoked if they cannot pass … Read More
August 17, 2009
Geneticist Francis Collins is the latest in a stellar list of scientists brought to federal leadership positions by President Barack Obama. They include two Nobel Prize winners, among other distinguished and innovative researchers. (Huffington Post)
August 17, 2009
The Obama administration gave its strongest signal yet that it would be willing to compromise on plans to expand the government’s direct role in health-insurance coverage as it fights a growing crescendo of opposition to its effort to overhaul health … Read More
August 17, 2009
There are thousands of software engineers across the globe working day and night to create cyberconsciousness. This is real intelligent design. There are great financial awards available to the people who can make game avatars respond as curiously as people. … Read More
August 17, 2009
An Australian state Supreme Court ruled Friday that a nursing home in the west coast city of Perth must respect the 49-year-old patient’s decision to starve to death. His case adds to international arguments among euthanasia advocates, religious groups, lawyers … Read More
August 14, 2009
Ezekiel Emanuel, a top health-care adviser to President Barack Obama and older brother of White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, is emerging as a target of conservatives critical of Democrats’ health-care effort. Dr. Emanuel, a prominent oncologist and medical … Read More
August 14, 2009
Culture and Religion (Volume 10, Issue 2, 2009) is now available by subscription only. Articles Include: “Preface: Religious responses to technology” by Yulia Egorova, 133-135. “We have always been modern: Buddhism, science and the new genetic and reproductive technologies in … Read More
August 14, 2009
JAMA (Volume 302, Number 5, August 5, 2009) is now available by subscription only. Articles Include: “Elder Self-neglect and Abuse and Mortality Risk in a Community-Dwelling Population” by XinQi Dong, Melissa Simon, Carlos Mendes de Leon, Terry Fulmer, Todd Beck, Liesi … Read More
August 14, 2009
Dominating the news this week was the furor over a provision in the House health reform bill for Medicare to reimburse physicians for discussing advance care planning with their patients. The uproar and misinformation were disheartening to those who work … Read More
August 14, 2009
A South Korean biotechnology firm will early next year open a centre capable eventually of producing up to 1,000 cloned dogs annually, a company executive said Friday. (PhysOrg)
August 14, 2009
Jichi Medical University has succeeded in restoring the motor function of patients suffering from Parkinson’s disease by injecting their brains with a virus with a built-in gene that has an enzyme to produce dopamine, it has been learned. (PhysOrg)
August 14, 2009
The ongoing debate surrounding the effort to reform the U.S. health-care system has stirred charges that the proposed changes would pose significant threats to patient choice, but a group of the nation’s leading bioethics scholars refutes those claims and says … Read More
August 14, 2009
What has bioethics contributed to the current national debate over health care reform? The question was put to Daniel Callahan in an interview this week. (New York Times)
August 14, 2009
The University of Pennsylvania has launched the Penn Center for Neuroscience and Society, a cross-disciplinary endeavor to increase understanding of the impact of neuroscience on society through research and teaching and to encourage the responsible use of neuroscience for the … Read More
August 13, 2009
Biobanks should revamp how they handle DNA from healthy children, says an international team of bioethics experts. Children whose parents have signed them up for long-term studies should not have their genetic data distributed or made public until the donors … Read More
August 12, 2009
The 16th Annual Thomas A., Pitts Memorial Lectureship in Medical Ethics Presented by the Medical University of South Carolina Institute of Human Values in Health Care “The Graying of America: Challenges and Controversies†Charleston, South Carolina CME/CEU accredited for 10.25 … Read More
August 12, 2009
Cell Stem Cell (Volume 5, Issue 2, August 2009) is now available by subscription only. Articles Include: “Molecular Targeting of Cancer Stem Cells” by Rajeev Gupta, Paresh Vyas, and Tariq Enver, 125. “Unraveling the Human Embryonic Stem Cell Phosphoproteome” by Andrew P. … Read More
August 12, 2009
Science and Engineering Ethics (Volume 15, Number 3, September 2009) is now available by subscription only. Articles Include: “Forbidding Science: Some Beginning Reflections” by Leon R. Kass, 271-282. “Toward a Better Bioethics” by Jason Scott Robert, 283-291. “Responsible Conduct by … Read More
August 12, 2009
While most of us generally know that ‘pluripotent’ has something to do with stem cell research, ‘cloning’ has something to do with sheep, and ‘in vitro fertilization’ has something to do with having lots of babies, there is so much … Read More
August 11, 2009
Sociology of Health & Illness (Volume 31, Issue 5, July 2009) is now available by subscription only. Articles Include: “Medicine and management in a comparative perspective: the case of Denmark and England” by Ian Kirkpatrick, Peter Kragh Jespersen, Mike Dent, and … Read More
August 11, 2009
Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics (Volume 18, Issue 3, July 2009) is now available by subscription only. Articles Include “Guest Editorial: The Many Voices of Spanish Bioethics – An Introduction” by Pablo Rodriguez Del Pozo and Joseph J. Fins, 214-217. … Read More
August 11, 2009
New pilots train on flight simulators before flying their first 757. Scientists experiment on animals before giving their new drug to patients. And fledgling surgeons perform their first few operations on… real people. (Wired)
