February 13, 2012
Inspired by Singapore’s famous chilli crab dish, researchers have created a miniature robot with a pincer and a hook that can remove early-stage stomach cancers without leaving any scars. (Reuters)
February 13, 2012
A crucial medicine to treat childhood leukemia is in such short supply that hospitals across the country may exhaust their stores within the next two weeks, leaving hundreds and perhaps thousands of children at risk of dying from a largely … Read More
February 13, 2012
Poiesis & Praxis (Volume 8, Issue 2-3, January 2012) is now available by subscription only. Articles include: “Probing Technoscience” by Karen Kastenhofer & Astrid Schwarz, available on-line. “The “technoscientization†of medicine and its limits: technoscientific identities, biosocialities, and rare disease … Read More
February 10, 2012
President Barack Obama announced a compromise Friday in the dispute over whether to require full contraception insurance coverage for female employees at religiously affiliated institutions. (CNN)
February 10, 2012
Efforts by India and the European Union to strengthen trade are threatening India’s ability to deliver lifesaving medicines to the world’s poorest, analysts say as the two sides push through protracted negotiations on a free-trade pact. (CBS News)
February 10, 2012
Researchers have encouraging news for women who find themselves in a very frightening situation: having cancer while pregnant. Studies suggest that these women can be treated almost the same as other cancer patients are, with minimal risk to the fetus. … Read More
February 10, 2012
When after much internal debate the Obama administration finally announced its decision to require religiously affiliated hospitals and universities to cover birth control in their insurance plans, the nation’s Roman Catholic bishops were fully prepared for battle. (NY Times)
February 10, 2012
The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday created the first shortcut to the U.S. market for “biosimilar” drugs—cheaper versions of expensive and complex medicines made from biological matter. (Wall Street Journal)
February 10, 2012
Nearly 1 in 20 Americans older than 50 have artificial knees, or more than 4 million people, according to the first national estimate showing how common these replacement joints have become in an aging population. (Washington Post)
February 10, 2012
The mobile unit would be the first in the world to carry out assisted suicides when family doctors refused to give patients lethal drugs on ethical grounds. (Telegraph)
February 10, 2012
The injections came without warning or explanation. As a low-ranking soldier in the Guatemalan army in 1948, Federico Ramos was preparing for weekend leave one Friday when he was ordered to report to a clinic run by US doctors. (Nature … Read More
February 10, 2012
Science and Engineering Ethics (Volume 17, Issue 4, January 2012) is now available by subscription only. Articles include: “Negotiating Plausibility: Intervening in the Future of Nanotechnology” by Cynthia Selin, 723-737. “Nanoethics and the Breaching of Boundaries: A Heuristic for Going … Read More
February 9, 2012
Two years after giving away the baby boy she’d carried for nine months, Gao cries less. His new mum treats him well, and she finds comfort in the smiling family photos uploaded online. (Guardian)
February 9, 2012
The Susan G. Komen for the Cure charity defines its mission as finding a cure for breast cancer. In recent years, however, it has cut by nearly half the proportion of fund-raising dollars it spends on grants to scientists working … Read More
February 9, 2012
Thanks to greater use of generic drugs, the financial burden of prescription costs has become less of an issue for families in the United States, according to a new study by the RAND Corporation. (NY Times)
February 9, 2012
People learned better when a key part of their brains got mild zaps of electricity, a finding that may someday help Alzheimer’s patients keep more of their memories. (Washington Post)
February 9, 2012
About 10 percent of doctors recently surveyed said they hadn’t always been honest with their patients, according to new research published in the journal Health Affairs. (ABC News)
February 9, 2012
The New England Journal of Medicine (Volume 366, Issue 2, January 12, 2012) is now available on-line and by subscription only. Articles include: “The Fate of Health Care Reform — What to Expect in 2012” by D.K. Jones, available on-line. … Read More
February 8, 2012
Scientists in the US have successfully made human brain cells in the lab that are an exact replica of genetically caused Parkinson’s disease. (BBC News)
February 8, 2012
Three US citizens who lost their sight in childhood have reported a dramatic improvement in vision after having gene therapy in both eyes. (BBC News)
February 8, 2012
A home sperm test is set to join dozens of female fertility predictors on drug store shelves this spring. (ABC News)
February 8, 2012
Hepatitis C is a viral disease that leads to inflammation and organ failure. However, researchers are puzzled as to why some individuals are very susceptible to the disease, while others are not. (Medical News Today)
February 8, 2012
The February edition of Neurosurgery reports that animal experiments in brain-injured rats have shown that stem cells injected via the carotid artery travel directly to the brain, greatly enhancing functional recovery. (Medical News Today)
February 8, 2012
TECHNOLOGY is often described as a way to reduce war’s costs, passions, and thus its crimes. (Boston Globe)
February 8, 2012
The New England Journal of Medicine (Volume 366, Issue 3, January 19, 2012) is now available on-line and by subscription only. Articles include: “Alleviating Suffering 101 — Pain Relief in the United States” by P.A. Pizzo and N.M. Clark, 197-199. … Read More
