September 18, 2012
Cardiovascular disease is the largest cause of death in the world and accounts for almost half of all deaths from non-communicable diseases (NCDs). Earlier this year, in response to a high-level UN meeting on NCDs in 2011, the World Health Assembly set a … Read More
September 18, 2012
The view of suicide as selfish, even when undertaken to avoid extreme pain and suffering, is central to the debate over it. (The Atlantic)
September 18, 2012
Members of the public are being asked how they feel over the creation of IVF babies with three genetic parents. What they say could pave the way to a landmark change in the law that would affect future generations. (Huffington … Read More
September 17, 2012
Recently Oxford philosophy professor Julian Savulescu moved his campaign for “moral enhancement” out of the ivory tower and into the mainstream. (The Sacramento Bee) Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/09/16/4824464/can-we-engineer-love-and-morality.html#storylink=cpy
September 17, 2012
Costa Rica, the only country that forbids in vitro fertilization, may have to lift the prohibition if the Inter-American Court of Human Rights rules against it. (Scientific American)
September 17, 2012
Synthetic biology combines science and engineering in the pursuit of two general goals: to design and construct new biological parts, devices, and systems not found in nature; and redesigning existing natural biology systems for useful purposes. (Phys.org)
September 17, 2012
Choosing the sex of of your baby has become a multimillion-dollar industry. (Slate)
September 17, 2012
In a matter of days, a momentous event will occur: a gene therapy will, for the first time anywhere in the Western hemisphere, be available commercially with full marketing approval. (Nature)
September 14, 2012
A thriving domestic market for in vitro fertilization has made India the go-to spot for patients from Africa, Afghanistan and beyond. (The Global Post)
September 14, 2012
Robots assisting doctors in treatments. Hospital beds that are the center of a digital network. New technology will change the delivery of healthcare. (L.A. Times)
September 14, 2012
When Indian science minister Vilasrao Deshmukh passed away last month, the head of the Chennai hospital where he was treated said he may have survived, had he had a liver transplant. (The Wall Street Journal)
September 14, 2012
Scientists at the Gladstone Institute have revealed the precise order and timing of hundreds of genetic “switches” required to construct a fully functional heart from [mouse] embryonic heart cells – providing new clues into the genetic basis for some forms … Read More
September 14, 2012
A gravelly ill prisoner serving a long jail sentence has become the first inmate to die under Belgian euthanasia laws introduced 10 years ago, press reports said Thursday. (AFP)
September 13, 2012
Timothy Ray Brown of San Francisco is known as “The Berlin Patient†because of where he was treated. He and the doctor who treated him, Gero Hutter, made their first joint appearance in the U.S. on Wednesday when Hutter spoke … Read More
September 13, 2012
Results from an early test of a dengue vaccine suggest it isn’t ideal, but scientists say the study is still encouraging news in the global fight against the disease known as “break-bone fever.” (Fox News)
September 13, 2012
More than 275 million people have moderate-to-profound hearing loss, and many of those cases are caused by a breach in the connection between the inner ear and the brain. Researchers have now shown how to repair a key component of … Read More
September 13, 2012
Australian researchers have developed the first known genetic test to predict the risk of children developing an autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Further studies are needed before the blood test becomes available, which could take another five years, but researchers say … Read More
September 13, 2012
Thousands of people have taken advantage of a Facebook feature that allows people to register to become organ and tissue donors, a U.S. bioethics organization says. (UPI)
September 12, 2012
The gene therapy they developed works by changing the chromosomal makeup of the blood stem cells – helping them to produce ADA, like other healthy cells. (Fox News)
September 12, 2012
Poor egg quality may explain why severely obese women have difficulty getting pregnant from in vitro fertilization (IVF), a new study indicates. (U.S. News and World Report)
September 12, 2012
With a new book just out, Britain’s highest profile Alzheimer’s sufferer and right-to-die campaigner, Sir Terry Pratchett, tells Elizabeth Grice how his diagnosis has given him a new lease on life. (Telegraph)
September 12, 2012
Researchers say house calls didn’t save money compared with other models of care, but that could be because of the population treated. (American Medical News)
September 11, 2012
The embryo was frozen in liquid nitrogen when Gabriel and Callie Fluhrer found it. They didn’t know whether that embryo would grow to be a boy or a girl, or whether it would even grow at all. (Washington Post)
September 11, 2012
The absence of national standards and legal requirements essentially means that, in most parts of the country, almost anybody can set themselves up as a provider of the nonpharmaceutical facets of end-of-life care, on an almost fly-by-night basis. (Canadian Medical … Read More
September 10, 2012
The cloning of Dolly the sheep was a remarkable demonstration of the oocyte’s ability to reprogram a specialized nucleus. However, embryos derived from such somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) very rarely result in live births—a fate that may be linked … Read More
