June 21, 2011
U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), member of the Armed Services Committee, secured approval for an increased focus on nanotechnology research by the Defense Department, including a study to determine the need for a center for nanotechnology. (Empire State News)
June 21, 2011
In theory, synthetic life can be programmed to treat cancer, develop vaccines, combat climate change and create alternative fuels. (Smart Planet)
June 21, 2011
Two clinical trials to test whether embryonic stem (ES) cells can treat two incurable eye disorders have been launched in the USA. Twenty-four people will be treated during the trials at the Jules Stein Eye Institute at the University of … Read More
June 21, 2011
One seldom looks to government officials for logic. After all, a politician’s chief skill is generally the ability to look good while spouting the kind of nonsense that would make Kurt Vonnegut proud. (Fox News)
June 21, 2011
Last July, scientists created the first “synthetic cell,” an organism that’s controlled by a chemically synthesized genome edited on a computer and stitched together in the lab. One year later, biologists at the Fifth Annual Synthetic Biology conference at Stanford … Read More
June 21, 2011
The assisted suicide/euthanasia debate is bedevilled by what people mean by these and other related terms. (Herald Scotland)
June 21, 2011
A team of investigators at UC Davis and Shriners Hospital have discovered that a factor in the embryonic development of brain cells is an important target for developing new drugs and stem cell therapies to treat patients who have lost … Read More
June 21, 2011
Michael Burns had a 3 percent chance of making it into this world. He beat the odds and has been living his life to the fullest since 1993. (Nazareth Patch)
June 21, 2011
Human organs could be grown inside pigs for use in transplant operations following pioneering research. (Mail Online)
June 21, 2011
The case for health-care reform has been made. Health-insurance costs are a burden for families, businesses and taxpayers. The largest costs fall on taxpayers, since government is the largest purchaser of health care. (Herald Net)
June 21, 2011
Offering free morning-after pills (MAPs) in Wales has had little impact on teenage pregnancy, a BBC documentary has revealed. (The Christian Institute)
June 21, 2011
Every year, an estimated 1,300 babies are born in the United States to gestational carriers — women who bear a child from the egg and sperm of another couple. Only a small percentage of surrogacies are between friends, because close … Read More
June 21, 2011
Two of the most talked-about stories in The New York Times on Father’s Day were about sperm donors. (The New York Times)
June 21, 2011
A father says his 15-year-old daughter, who was not sexually active, died of pulmonary embolisms from taking Yasmin and Ocella, contraceptives that a doctor prescribed for acne. The father claims Bayer “aggressively” promoted the contraceptives for off-label uses, and “ignored” … Read More
June 21, 2011
After years of controversy, a therapy based on human embryonic stem cells is finally being tested in humans. The treatment holds out hope to paralyzed people, but at how great a risk? (Technology Review)
June 21, 2011
Too many doctors are testing the wrong women, or using the wrong test, for a virus that causes cervical cancer. (GazetteXtra)
June 21, 2011
The promise of instant beauty, for relatively little money and pain, has been the appeal of plastic surgery for decades. Largely ignored, however, are the dangers of going under the knife for cosmetic procedures that are widely considered routine. (ABC … Read More
June 21, 2011
Some physicians tried to get fellow delegates to change the Association’s stance on that aspect of the health system reform law but fell short. (AMedNews.com)
June 21, 2011
Johns Hopkins graduate students have invented a system to significantly boost the number of stem cells collected from a newborn’s umbilical cord and placenta, so that many more patients with leukemia, lymphoma and other blood disorders can be treated with … Read More
June 21, 2011
Advance decisions (advance directives) were placed on a statutory basis in English law in 2007. Such decisions can be an important and highly valued way in which a person can ensure that his wishes will be respected when, due to … Read More
June 21, 2011
Nature Medicine (Volume 17, Issue 6, June 2011) is now available by subscription only. Articles include: “HPV protection in older groups may be in the eye of the beholder” by Nicola Jones, 637. “Jewish genetic screening grows despite questions about … Read More
June 20, 2011
Taking their inspiration from insect swarms, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) investigators have devised a nanoparticle based communication signal amplification system that could be used to target tumours. (Cancer Journal)
June 20, 2011
Head of the Medical Genetics Department of Iran dismisses the view that the rate of hereditary diseases have not increased in Iran, saying more than 50% of the first semester abortions are because of genetic abnormalities. (Tehran Times)
June 20, 2011
More than 60 000 Americans were sterilised, many against their will, as part of a eugenics movement that finished in 1979, aimed at keeping the poor and mentally ill from having children. Now, decades on, one state is considering compensation. … Read More
June 20, 2011
New-age fathers have a dominant desire to have kids and enjoy both fathering and mothering them. The recent example of the first gay couple from Spain coming to the city to have kids – is a testimony to changing times. … Read More
