Monthly Archives: October 2010
October 29, 2010
Neurology (Volume 67, Issue 10, October, 2010) is now available by subscription only. Articles include: “Safety and Immunological Effects of Mesenchymal Stem Cell Transplantation in Patients With Multiple Sclerosis and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis” by Dimitrios Karussis, Clementine Karageorgiou, Adi Vaknin-Dembinsky, … Read More
October 29, 2010
Federal vaccine advisers on Thursday began the delicate task of deciding whether two vaccines against sexually transmitted infections that can result in genital warts and cancers should be used more widely in boys and young men. (New York Times)
October 29, 2010
Fertility experts are warning that the Vancouver trial examining the rights of children conceived through artificial insemination could have major repercussions for a reproductive industry already facing a semen shortage. (CBC News)
October 28, 2010
Reverse image searching with your brain is now for real, so long as you’re looking for either Josh Brolin or Marilyn Monroe and can provide your own set of intracranial electrodes. In a recent experiment, researchers hooked twelve people up … Read More
October 28, 2010
On day two of TED MED, running between Oct. 27 and 30, three themes stood out: the difference between children and adults for therapies; the connection between animals, people and disease; and how genetics will shape healthcare. (Scientific American)
October 28, 2010
Recommendations that attention should be paid to nanotechnology’s ethical, economic and social risks for Africa, put forward by a regional workshop in Côte d’Ivoire, must be built on, says Kathy Jo Wetter in Pambazuka News. (SciDev.Net)
October 28, 2010
Young women should freeze parts of their ovaries if they want to postpone motherhood until later in life, a US fertility expert has said. (BBC News)
October 28, 2010
Like many Americans, you probably think you’re pretty charitable. Perhaps you donate money to the needy or ill, give away your old clothes, volunteer at your child’s school or participate in holiday gift drives in December. But you may be … Read More
October 28, 2010
Health regulator says blanket measures introduced in the name of patient security may infringe human rights law. (The Guardian)
October 28, 2010
In New York state, adolescents can agree to and be given care and treatment for health-care issues ranging from anxiety, smoking and eating disorders to prenatal care and abortion. (Record Online)
October 28, 2010
A paralysed patient has been left severely brain damaged after a nurse switched off his life support machine in an incident captured on CCTV. (Telegraph)
October 27, 2010
Two years after launching a court action with the hope of learning the identity of her biological father, Olivia Pratten will be in court Monday for the beginning of a trial that could have major implications for people conceived through … Read More
October 27, 2010
Stem cell researchers in Boston and in Stockholm confronted a bizarre and uncomfortable situation last week: accusations of scientific fraud from an anonymous e-mail address, sent not only to the researchers in question but also to other prominent stem cell … Read More
October 27, 2010
When Helen James embarked on fertility treatment in pursuit of her longed-for ‘perfect’ family, she didn’t anticipate how all-consuming her quest would become. Then, when her marriage began to crumble under the pressure, she found herself facing the most difficult … Read More
October 27, 2010
Scrapings taken from inside the nose – from the olfactory system, which provides the sense of smell – were found to contain adult stem cells very similar to those that would be active inside the brain. (The Age)
October 27, 2010
Those who can afford it pay up to £10,000 for IVF, but a gentler technique, priced at just £174, could soon be available to all. So why are experts dragging their heels? Jeremy Laurance counts the real cost behind the … Read More
October 27, 2010
The government-appointed Bioethics Consultative Committee said today that while it backed most of the recommendations on assisted procreation made by a parliamentary committee, it disagreed with the regular freezing of embryos. (Times of Malta)
October 27, 2010
A report into a 1-year investigation of genetic testing firms selling directly to consumers by the US General Accounting Office (GAO) concluded in July that test results were “misleading, and of little or no practical useâ€. As a result of … Read More
October 27, 2010
Journals have a vested interest in the studies they publish — both in profits from reprints and increases in their impact factor — and should disclose potential conflicts just as their authors and reviewers must do, researchers said. (MedPage Today)
October 27, 2010
Ethicists say patients, often carried away by glowing reports of the procedure’s successes, need to be carefully briefed on DBS’s unusual side effects, which have included mania, personality changes, marital discord and increased rates of suicide. (National Post)
October 25, 2010
Journal of Academic Ethics (Volume 8, Issue 2, June, 2010) is now available by subscription only. Articles include: “Medical Ethics Education: A Survey of Opinion of Medical Students in a Nigerian University” by Temidayo O. Ogundiran and Clement A. Adebamowo, … Read More
October 22, 2010
Cell Stem Cell (Volume 7, Issue 4, October 2010) is new available by subscription only. Articles include: “Highly Efficient Reprogramming to Pluripotency and Directed Differentiation of Human Cells with Synthetic Modified mRNA” by L. Warren, et al. “Origin of New … Read More
October 22, 2010
I know that when my medical school sends us all an announcement that we’ve broken a record for funded research, I’m supposed to be happy. Wrong week for that. (Bioethics Forum)
October 22, 2010
A passing waiter does a double take at this lively slide show, but Calhoun is oblivious. He’s talking excitedly about how these women’s bodies led him and his team of scientists to a discovery in tissue engineering, a process that … Read More
October 22, 2010
Cash-strapped and alone on the home front, some military wives are making a living by carrying babies for other couples. What’s behind this emotional choice? And why are they so hotly in demand? (Glamour)