April 6, 2012
In many countries, the standard way of treating autistic children is with behavioural therapy – stimulating and rewarding them to develop the skills they need to function in society – but France still puts its faith in psychoanalysis. And an … Read More
April 6, 2012
Many women do not fully appreciate the consequences of delaying motherhood, and expect that assisted reproductive technologies can reverse their aged ovarian function, Yale researchers reported in a study published in a recent issue of Fertility and Sterility. (MedicalXpress)
April 6, 2012
It is being billed as the world’s first bedside genetic test for heart patients. A nurse merely swabs the inside of a patient’s mouth and places the saliva sample into a compact machine that’s the size of a toaster. In … Read More
April 6, 2012
Ten years after they became the first countries to legalise euthanasia, the Netherlands and Belgium now provide assisted suicide to 4,000 people a year. (AFP)
April 5, 2012
Federal guidance requiring strict adherence to manufacturer labels for injectable drugs has forced hospitals to throw away perfectly good drugs that are in short supply, according to a survey of pharmacy directors and managers. (American Medical News)
April 5, 2012
For the first time in nearly two decades, experts are trying to rewrite the definition of autism. And that worries some parents and specialists. (Washington Post)
April 5, 2012
When their patient became ill from a buttocks enhancement injection, unlicensed caregivers Ruben Dario Matallana-Galvas and his wife, Carmen Olfidia Torres-Sanchez, fled to McCarran International Airport. They were arrested trying to board a flight home to Colombia. (Washington Post)
April 5, 2012
The UK fertility regulator is seeking to reduce the taboo around egg and sperm donation. (BBC News)
April 5, 2012
The word nanoparticles may make people think about objects floating around in space, but according to new research, they show very early promise as a cancer treatment. (ABC News)
April 5, 2012
Journal of Bioethical Inquiry (Volume 9, Issue 1, February 2012) is now available by subscription only. Articles include: “Multidisciplinary Perspectives on the Donation of Stem Cells and Reproductive Tissue” by Catherine Waldby, Ian Kerridge & Loane Skene. “Donating Embryos to … Read More
April 5, 2012
Journal of Medical Ethics (Volume 38, Issue 3, March 2012) is now available by subscription only. Articles include: “Egg Freezing for Non-Medical Uses: The Lack of a Relational Approach to Autonomy in the New Israeli Policy and in Academic Discussion” … Read More
April 4, 2012
Applied Philosophy (Volume 29, Issue 1, February 2012) is now available by subscription only. Articles include: “Informed Consent and the Requirement to Ensure Understanding” by Tom Walker, 50-62. “Adoption is not Abortion-Lite” by Lindsey Porter, 63-78.
April 4, 2012
The New England Journal of Medicine (Volume 366, Issue 9, March 1, 2012) is now available on-line and by subscription only. Articles include: “Goal-Oriented Patient Care — An Alternative Health Outcomes Paradigm” by D.B. Reuben and M.E. Tinetti, 777-779. “Shared … Read More
April 4, 2012
Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics (Volume 21, Issue 2, April 2012) is now available by subscription only. Articles include: “Responsibilities for Healthcare” by Garrath Williams and Ruth Chadwick, 155-165. “The Concept of Autonomy and Its Role in Kantian Ethics” by … Read More
April 4, 2012
A chagrined man with a girlie magazine under his arm, shuffling into a small, clinical-looking room, has helped turn the act of semen collection into a sitcom staple. Now, a few sperm banks are hoping to change that unappealing image … Read More
April 4, 2012
The payment to women donating their eggs for use in IVF will triple from £250 to £750 tomorrow. The extra money on offer is said to have led to a five-fold increase in women approaching clinics to donate their eggs … Read More
April 4, 2012
No computer can yet pass the ‘Turing test’ and be taken as human. But the hunt for artificial intelligence is moving in a different, exciting direction that involves creativity, language – and even jazz. (The Guardian)
April 4, 2012
The blobs appeared 20 years ago. Two teams, one led by Seiji Ogawa at Bell Laboratories in Murray Hill, New Jersey, the other by Kenneth Kwong at Massachusetts General Hospital in Charlestown, slid a handful of volunteers into giant magnets. … Read More
April 4, 2012
In a move likely to alter treatment standards in hospitals and doctors’ offices nationwide, a group of nine medical specialty boards plans to recommend on Wednesday that doctors perform 45 common tests and procedures less often, and to urge patients … Read More
April 3, 2012
New York geneticist Robert Marion, MD, envisions a future where whole-genome sequencing will be used to help prevent many medical conditions from developing. (American Medical News)
April 3, 2012
Leaders in the field of kidney transplantation recommended last week that a single nationwide registry should oversee the complex matching process needed to expand the use of transplant chains and other forms of paired donation. (NY Times)
April 3, 2012
A US panel has approved the publication of two controversial H5N1 bird flu studies, after they were revised. (BBC News)
April 3, 2012
If every aspect of a person’s DNA is known, would it be possible to predict the diseases in that person’s future? And could that knowledge be used to forestall the otherwise inevitable? (NY Times)
April 3, 2012
Printers can make mugs, chocolate and even blood vessels. Now, MIT scientists want to add robo-assistants to the list of printable goodies. (Wired)
April 2, 2012
Dr. Catalin Cirstoveanu runs a cardio unit with state-of-the-art equipment at a Bucharest children’s hospital. But not a single child has been treated in the year-and-a-half since it opened. (Washington Post)
