February 9, 2010
Major League Baseball is studying a series of initiatives, including the fingerprinting of youths under the age of 16, as it attempts to gain control of the age and identity problems it has encountered in signing players in the Dominican … Read More
February 9, 2010
A critical safety net for babies – that heelprick of blood taken from every newborn – is facing an ethics attack. After those tiny blood spots are tested for a list of devastating diseases, some states are storing them for … Read More
February 9, 2010
British couples are to be offered a groundbreaking genetic test that would virtually eliminate their chances of having a baby with one of more than 100 inherited diseases. (Times Online)
February 8, 2010
Tiny circles of DNA are the key to a new and easier way to transform stem cells from human fat into induced pluripotent stem cells for use in regenerative medicine, say scientists at the Stanford University School of Medicine. Unlike … Read More
February 8, 2010
Daniel Gall, a French actor, was skeptical when his sister and her husband told him two years ago that they wanted to commit suicide. Genevieve Gall-Peninou was 81 and said she could no longer bear the Alzheimer’s Disease she had … Read More
February 8, 2010
This is the kind of news that unleashes hysteria about “death panels” and “health-care rationing,” but here goes: an analysis of genetic screening for an incurable, untreatable disease called spinal muscular atrophy shows that it would cost $4.7 million to … Read More
February 8, 2010
The US Secretary’s Advisory Committee for Heritable Disorders in Newborns and Children (ACHDNC) has recommended that an additional condition be added to the panel of conditions for which all newborns receive screening. (PHG Foundation)
February 8, 2010
Public health experts say they’re concerned about the low number of U.S. adults who receive recommended vaccinations — and in particular about seniors who aren’t immunized against pneumonia. (ABC News)
February 8, 2010
Out of America: Millions of tons of immortal cells – all grown from a single tissue sample taken from Henrietta Lacks before her death from cancer in 1951 – are used by researchers around the world, amid a debate about … Read More
February 8, 2010
The assorted mystics, philosophers, theologians and, most recently, neuroscientists who have burned a candle searching for the essence of consciousness all started with a simple presumption: Consciousness must begin where unconsciousness ends. (New York Times)
February 8, 2010
A controversial organ transplant bill expected to become law in the next few weeks could regularize organ transplants and curb Egypt’s booming illicit trade in human organs, experts say. (Reuters AlertNet)
February 8, 2010
DOCTORS have uncovered the first evidence that fathers of test-tube babies may be passing on their infertility to their sons. A new study has found that boys conceived through IVF treatment involving a single sperm being directly injected into a … Read More
February 7, 2010
JAMA (Vol. 303; No. 4; January 27, 2010) is now available by subscription only. Articles include: “Assessing the Legal Standard of Care in Public Health Emergencies” by James G. Hodge Jr and Brooke Courtney, 361-362. “Improving Health by Taking It … Read More
February 7, 2010
2010 Webinar Event for Fertility Clinics, Adoption Agencies and Attorneys Following on the success of our 2009 webinars the Embryo Adoption Awareness Center brings you three professional perspectives of embryo donation and adoption. Daniel L. Stewart, M.D., Reproductive Endocrinology Shawnee … Read More
February 7, 2010
Archives of Internal Medicine (Vol. 170; No. 2; Jan. 25, 2010) is now available by subscription only. Articles include: “Tackling Obesity: Is Primary Care Up to the Challenge?” by Robert F. Kushner, 121-123.
February 5, 2010
A legislative subcommittee approved a measure Thursday giving inheritance rights to Iowa children born up to two years after their father’s death. The measure would mean children conceived through in vitro fertilization would be entitled to benefits such as Social … Read More
February 5, 2010
The BBC has been accused of promoting euthanasia by a cross-party group of MPs who called on ministers to threaten to cut off the supply of public money to the broadcaster. (Telegraph)
February 5, 2010
After warning for years that athletes would try to dope their genes, scientists are finding ways to catch them. The tests are still being refined in animals, but will likely be run years from now on samples taken at the … Read More
February 4, 2010
The decision, though specific to Illinois, could deal a blow to efforts to change malpractice laws elsewhere. Recall, that last fall the administration promised to fund state experiments in dealing with medical malpractice to the tune of $25 million. Lately, … Read More
February 4, 2010
In a case that could have far-reaching implications for medical research and health care based on genetics, groups representing thousands of doctors, scientists and patients went to court Tuesday to argue that no one should be able to patent human … Read More
February 4, 2010
Physicians in training and bioethicists at Johns Hopkins have created an easy-to-remember checklist to help medical students and clinicians quickly assess a patient’s decision-making capacity in an emergency. (Newswise)
February 3, 2010
He emerged from the car accident alive but alone, there and not there: a young man whose eyes opened yet whose brain seemed shut down. For five years he lay mute and immobile beneath a diagnosis — “vegetative state†— … Read More
February 3, 2010
A recent case study by doctors at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York examined the ethical issues posed by transplant tourism. Full details of the study appear in the February issue of Liver Transplantation, a subscription journal published by Wiley-Blackwell … Read More
February 3, 2010
After public health authorities in the United States spent months encouraging, cajoling, and frightening the public into getting vaccinated against the H1N1 influenza virus, they had no vaccine to give. The second wave of the H1N1 pandemic hit North America … Read More
February 3, 2010
The state health department has promised action against two hospitals in Coimbatore if they are proved guilty of trading in kidneys but most non-government organizations in the organ transplant sector are “unsure” if any action will be taken. (The Times … Read More
