September 16, 2009
For more than a decade, Philip Nitschke says he taught thousands in the Western world how to end their lives “without making a mess of it.†Now, he wants to bring that knowledge to China, where even the talk of … Read More
September 16, 2009
JAMA (Volume 302, Number 11, September 2, 2009) is now available by subscription only. Articles Include: “Life-Science Research Within US Academic Medical Centers” by Darren E. Zinner and Eric G. Campbell, 969-976. “Comparison of Registered and Published Primary Outcomes in Randomized … Read More
September 16, 2009
Cell Stem Cell (Volume 5, Issue 3, September 2009) is now available by subscription only Articles Include: “Hypoxia Enhances the Generation of Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells” by Yoshinori Yoshida, Kazutoshi Takahashi, Keisuke Okita, Tomoko Ichisaka, and Shinya Yamanaka, 237. “Pluripotent Stem … Read More
September 16, 2009
Bioethics (Volume 23, Issue 8, October 2009) is now available by subscription only. Articles Include: “Rethinking Mandatory HIV Testing” by Brendan O’Grady and Udo Schuklenk, i-ii. “Life-Centered Ethics, and the Human Future in Space” by Michael N. Mautner, 433-440. “Is … Read More
September 15, 2009
A quarter of Medicare’s costs, about $100 billion a year, is spent in the final year of patients’ lives. Nearly half of that is spent in their final month. Who should pay, and how much life-prolonging care is worth it? … Read More
September 15, 2009
There are promising developments heralding the arrival of personalized medicine, a new medical field where the results of genetic tests or other biomarker assessments are used to tailor drugs and treatments to individual patients. A year ago, for example, the … Read More
September 15, 2009
TENS of thousands of Scots might be donating cells for research to create cloned animal-human embryos without their consent, an ethics campaigner has warned. (Scotsman)
September 15, 2009
Despite receiving state-of-the-art palliative care, some patients still experience severe suffering toward the end of life. Palliative sedation is a potential way to respond to such suffering, but access is uneven and unpredictable, in part because of confusion about different … Read More
September 15, 2009
When President Obama used the phrase “bearing false witness” on Aug. 19 to describe opponents of his health care reform plan in an address to religious leaders, it set off a firestorm of religious banter about who really has the … Read More
September 15, 2009
In France, lawmakers are in the process of renewing the French bioethics law, which must be revised periodically to keep up with changes in science. One of the more controversial points under review is the legal ban imposed on gestational … Read More
September 14, 2009
Mayo Clinic researchers say that “teachable software” designed to mimic the human brain may help them diagnose cardiac infections without an invasive exam. Those findings are being presented today at the Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy (ICAAC) in … Read More
September 14, 2009
Sex, drugs and prosthetic legs. Who would have thought they could have so much in common? Yet all three are posing ever more challenges to sports officials, and all have at their root the same conundrum: what is sport really … Read More
September 14, 2009
Tens of thousands of samples of human tissue will be offered for use in controversial human/animal hybrid embryo research without the consent of the patients who donated them. (Telegraph)
September 11, 2009
Sarah Capewell watched her premature baby die after doctors refused to help him – because he was born two days too early for them to try to save him. Â Miss Capewell gave birth to a baby son when she was … Read More
September 11, 2009
Doctors at the school’s Center for Reproductive Health were found to have stolen eggs or embryos for years and given them to other women. Two doctors involved fled the country to avoid prosecution. (Los Angeles Times)
September 11, 2009
A single low dose of H1N1 vaccine may be enough to protect adults from the flu virus that has been spreading around the world, new data shows. Scientists are conducting clinical trials on the H1N1 vaccine in several sites across the … Read More
September 11, 2009
Like so many great discoveries, it was an accident. British scientist Alec Jeffreys realized 25 years ago Thursday that individuals have “DNA fingerprints,” unique patterns of genetic material that can be used to identify them. The discovery has solved thousands of … Read More
September 10, 2009
Vaccines for the human papillomavirus (HPV) might not be just for girls anymore. A medical advisory panel for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) voted today that the use of Gardasil to prevent HPV, a sexually transmitted disease, in … Read More
September 10, 2009
It was in the fall of 1976. Spurred by the discovery of a novel swine flu virus among sick recruits in a military camp and the prediction that this virus would lead to a pandemic, the U.S. government ordered a … Read More
September 10, 2009
A stem cell company is in hot water with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for falsely representing an early-stage experimental stem cell therapy as nearing human trials. The SEC yesterday (September 8) filed charges against CellCyte, based in … Read More
September 9, 2009
16th Session of the International Bioethics Committee of UNESCO Further to its postponement for health reasons related to the A(H1N1) influenza epidemic in Mexico City, the Sixteenth (ordinary) Session of the International Bioethics Committee of UNESCO (IBC) (initially scheduled in May … Read More
September 9, 2009
Journal of Bioethical Inquiry (Volume 6, Number 3, September 2009) is now available by subscription only. Articles Include: “New Perspectives on the End of Life” by Ian Kerridge, Paul A. Komesaroff, Malcolm Parker and Elizabeth Peter, 269-270. “Two Decades of Research on Euthanasia from the … Read More
September 9, 2009
JAMA (Volume 302, Number 8, August 26, 2009) is now available by subscription only. Articles Include: “Setting Priorities for Patient Safety: Ethics, Accountability, and Public Engagement” by Peter J. Pronovost and Ruth R. Faden, 890-891. “A Moral Imperative for Children” by … Read More
September 8, 2009
Mark Your Calendar. Plan To Attend Neuroscience 2009, Oct. 17-21, in Chicago, Ill. Neuroscience 2009 will offer unequalled scientific content in a world class city. Chicago, a hub of science and nightlife, is a welcoming host for the 39th annual meeting … Read More
September 8, 2009
Vulnerable patients who travel abroad for unproven and potentially unsafe stem cell treatments need to be better protected says a report published by a team of expert researchers from Europe and China today. (Medical News Today)
