July 24, 2012
About 37 percent of births in the United States are the result of unintended pregnancies, a proportion that has remained fairly steady since 1982, according to new research from the National Center for Health Statistics, a branch of the U.S. … Read More
July 24, 2012
It sounds like a particularly lurid episode of the TV medical drama House: in a last-ditch attempt to help people with advanced brain cancer, their surgical wounds are deliberately infected with “probiotic” bacteria to stimulate their immune systems into fighting … Read More
July 24, 2012
A genome-sequencing contest announced six years ago finally has its first entrant: Life Technologies Corp.’s Ion Torrent, which on Monday said it was entering the fray. (Reuters)
July 24, 2012
Around one in 10 employers in the U.S. plans to drop health coverage for workers in the next few years as the bulk of the federal health-care law begins, and more indicated they may do so over time, according to … Read More
July 24, 2012
Twenty years ago, newspapers here jeered that transsexuality was an act against God. Today, people are coming from around the world to Serbia for sex change operations, which are now subsidized for Serbs by national health insurance. (NY Times)
July 23, 2012
Every year around 20,000 young women in the UK and France are “at risk” from female genital mutilation (FGM), but the way each country’s authorities deal with those who carry it out are very different. (BBC News)
July 23, 2012
Angela Byrde, 27, is getting only the second H.I.V. test of her life — at the Department of Motor Vehicles. (NY Times)
July 23, 2012
As pharmaceutical companies struggle to devise new drugs to treat symptoms of dementia, a host of supplements and products called “medical foods” purporting to improve cognitive function are advancing toward the market. (Wall Street Journal)
July 23, 2012
A federal appeals court suggested Friday that it may not retreat from its ruling last year that isolated human genes can be patented. (Wall Street Journal)
July 20, 2012
A California woman is suing the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for “unconstitutional” sperm donor policies. (Reuters)
July 20, 2012
Nestlé SA, making a foray into “brain health products,” said it bought a stake in a company that makes milkshakes for Alzheimer’s patients. (Wall Street Journal)
July 20, 2012
From the outskirts of Winnipeg, Kris Thorkelson’s Canada Drugs grew to become a vital link for American consumers stung by high drug prices. The Internet pharmacy had by the middle part of the last decade filled millions of U.S. prescriptions … Read More
July 20, 2012
Europe is on the cusp of approving a gene therapy for the first time, in what would be a landmark moment for the field. (BBC News)
July 19, 2012
A federal appeals court on Friday will reconsider whether isolated human genes can be patented, in a case that could reshape how biotechnology companies develop sophisticated screening tests and treatments for cancer and other diseases. (Wall Street Journal)
July 19, 2012
European Court judges in Strasbourg have ruled against Germany in an assisted suicide case, saying a widower’s rights were infringed. (BBC News)
July 19, 2012
Transplants involving recipients who are not U.S. citizens or residents will get closer scrutiny under new rules adopted by the organizations that set American transplantation policy. (American Medical News)
July 19, 2012
UK sprinter Dwain Chambers faces the race of his life next month, as he attempts to win an Olympic medal at the 2012 games in London — and complete a long journey back from the disgrace of his 2003 suspension … Read More
July 18, 2012
A push to get more AIDS treatment to the world’s poorest, hardest-hit countries is paying off as deaths inch down — and new infections are dropping a bit, too, the United Nations reported Wednesday. (Washington Post)
July 18, 2012
Women are treating test tube babies like designer goods and having foetuses with Down’s syndrome aborted, campaigners have said. (Telegraph)
July 18, 2012
As you weigh whether to spend $1,500 on a Google Glass prototype, consider the less obvious downsides to the technology. French McDonald’s employees, for instance, may spontaneously attempt to strip it off your head while you’re eating a Chicken Ranch … Read More
July 18, 2012
After a three-year court battle, a plan to offer scholarships and other compensation to bone marrow donors is moving ahead. U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder has declined to challenge an appellate ruling permitting the practice. (American Medical News)
July 18, 2012
Just over a decade since the European Commission brought in its controversial Clinical Trials Directive, the commission is again setting out to shake up how medical research is regulated across the region. (Nature News)
July 18, 2012
Being the first to try something new is nerve-wracking — so it is always a relief to see someone else follow your lead. When the UK government announced on 16 July that it would require much of the country’s taxpayer-funded research … Read More
July 17, 2012
On Feb. 24, Ukrainian authorities made an alarming discovery: bones and other human tissues crammed into coolers in a grimy white minibus. Investigators grew even more intrigued when they found, amid the body parts, envelopes stuffed with cash and autopsy … Read More
July 17, 2012
Children with disabilities are almost four times more likely to be victims of violence than other children, according to a new report commissioned by the World Health Organization. (NY Times)
