September 16, 2011
Life forms have been created that carry strands of genetic material designed and built from scratch in the lab, paving the way for on-demand “evolution” of organisms. (Guardian)
September 16, 2011
In-vitro fertilization is growing fast in Nigeria, a country where childlessness can be seen as a social failure, especially for women. (CNN)
September 15, 2011
In the latest advance for health care accountability, the country’s leading hospital accreditation board, the Joint Commission, released a list on Tuesday of 405 medical centers that have been the most diligent in following protocols to treat conditions like heart … Read More
September 15, 2011
“Fingers!†Gerwin Schalk sputtered, waving his hands around in the air. “Fingers are made to pick up a hammer.†He prodded the table, mimicking the way we poke at computer keyboards. “It’s totally ridiculous,†he said. (New York Times)
September 15, 2011
Scientists are failing to make raw data publicly available, even when prompted to do so by journals, says a study published last week in PLoS ONE. (Scientific American)
September 15, 2011
A human rights investigator for the United Nations says up to a quarter of the world’s trash from hospitals, clinics, labs, blood banks and mortuaries is hazardous and much more needs to be done to regulate it. (Washington Post)
September 15, 2011
What’s killing us? For decades, global health leaders have focused on diseases that can spread — AIDS, tuberculosis, new flu bugs. They pushed for vaccines, better treatments and other ways to control germs that were only a plane ride away … Read More
September 15, 2011
Day after day, Hazel Eng sat on her couch, a blank stare on her face. The powerful antipsychotics she was taking often cloaked her in sedation. And when they didn’t, the 89-year-old lashed out at her nursing home’s aides with … Read More
September 15, 2011
Nature Medicine (Volume 17, Issue 9, September 2011) is now available by subscription only. Articles include: “Cheap Drugs pulled Despite Wealth Gap in Middle-income Countries” by Hannah Waters, 1023. “US Budget Quagmire Leaves Global Health Funding in the Lurch” by … Read More
September 14, 2011
The Journal of the American Medical Association (Volume 306, Issue 9, September 7, 2011) is now available by subscription only. Articles include: “Clinical Protocols and Trainee Knowledge About Mechanical Ventilation” by Meeta Prasad, et al., 935-941. “Association of Unconscious Race … Read More
September 14, 2011
Investigators have wondered since 2007 whether human induced pluripotent stem cells function the same as embryonic stem cells, which are sourced in primary stage embryos. (Medical News Today)
September 14, 2011
Every year like clockwork, Anna Peterson has a mammogram. Peterson, who will turn 80 next year, undergoes screening colonoscopies at three- or five-year intervals as recommended by her doctor, although she has never had cancerous polyps that would warrant such … Read More
September 14, 2011
The highest medical and legal officials of the American government and experts at Harvard and other top medical schools approved venereal disease experiments on people in the 1940s, which led to the deliberate infection of Guatemalan prisoners and mental patients … Read More
September 14, 2011
According to the World Health Organization some three-quarters of medical devices given by rich countries to developing nations remain unused. (BBC News)
September 14, 2011
More Americans became reliant on public health insurance and lost coverage sponsored by their employers in 2010, the U.S. government said on Tuesday. (Reuters)
September 13, 2011
Health Economics, Policy and Law (Volume 6, Issue 4, October 2011) is now available by subscription only. Articles include: “Searchers vs Surveyors in Estimating the Monetary Value of a QALY: Resolving a Nasty Dilemma for NICE” by Rachel Baker, et … Read More
September 13, 2011
New England Journal of Medicine (Volume 365, Issue 9, September 1, 2011) is now available on-line and by subscription only. Articles include: “Global Health: Health Technologies and Innovation in the Global Health Arena” by S.R. Sinha and M. Barry, available … Read More
September 13, 2011
Wake Forest University Center for Bioethics, Health, and Society Benson University Center on the Wake Forest campus in Winston-Salem Thursday and Friday, November 10-11, 2011 To commemorate the 30th anniversary of the original publication of “Bad Blood: The Tuskegee Syphilis … Read More
September 13, 2011
U.S. authorities are stepping up enforcement of a little-used law—the so-called “responsible corporate officer doctrine”—to hold executives personally and criminally responsible for corporate violations of U.S. food and drug laws. (Wall Street Journal)
September 13, 2011
For the first time researchers of the Colorectal Cancer Lab at the Institute for Research and Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona) identified and managed to grow human colon stem cells in a lab-plate. (Medical News Today)
September 13, 2011
Neurosurgery researchers at UC Davis Health System have used a new, leading-edge stem cell therapy to promote the growth of bone tissue following the removal of cervical discs — the cushions between the bones in the neck — to relieve … Read More
September 13, 2011
In a significant advance for cosmetic and reconstructive medicine, scientists at Rice University have unveiled a new method for making synthetic collagen (Medical News Today)
September 13, 2011
As her mother’s Alzheimer’s worsened over eight long years, so did Doreen Alfaro’s bills: The walker, then the wheelchair, then the hospital bed, then the diapers — and the caregivers hired for more and more hours a day so Alfaro … Read More
September 13, 2011
Many consumers mistakenly believe new prescription drugs are always safer than those with long track records, and that only extremely effective drugs without major side effects win government approval, according to a new study. (Washington Post)
September 13, 2011
Companies that make the gene-sequencing devices used in scientific research face a tough few years as potential cuts to the U.S. federal budget squeeze funding to its main academic and research customers. (Reuters)
