January 15, 2013
Interneurons – nerve cells that function as ‘dimmers’ – play an important role in the brain. Their formation and migration to the cerebral cortex during the embryonic stage of development is crucial to normal brain functioning. Abnormal interneuron development and … Read More
January 15, 2013
Marc and Eddy Verbessem the two deaf twins killed by legal euthanasia in Belgium had their first requests to die refused in their local hospital. (The Telegraph)
January 15, 2013
Last week, following directives in a living will that Paul G. Smith, a retired attorney and former Hamilton County, Ind., court magistrate, signed nearly a decade ago, doctors at St. Vincent Hospital in Indianapolis removed him from a ventilator that … Read More
January 14, 2013
A Texas judge Friday denied Planned Parenthood’s request to be included in the state’s newly revamped women’s health program. (CNN)
January 14, 2013
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo declared a public health emergency on Saturday, giving pharmacists permission to administer flu vaccinations to more people as officials seek to stem the worst flu outbreak in that state in several years. (Reuters)
January 14, 2013
In the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s narrow decision to uphold the federal health care law, another challenge to the mandate for insurance coverage is headed toward the court. This one involves contraception, religion and, most likely, corporate “personhood.” … Read More
January 14, 2013
A new “egg sharing” programme and an increase in the amount egg donors are compensated have significantly cut waiting times for couples needing donor eggs in the West. (BBC)
January 14, 2013
Scientists at the Texas Biomedical Research Institute have for the first time demonstrated that baboon embryonic stem cells can be programmed to completely restore a severely damaged artery. These early results show promise for eventually developing stem cell therapies to … Read More
January 14, 2013
In what they acknowledge as a seismic shift in the ethical foundation of medical research, practice and policy, a prominent group of interdisciplinary healthcare experts, led by bioethicists at Johns Hopkins, rejects an ethical paradigm that has guided the American … Read More
January 14, 2013
Bioengineer Mark Kendall has been developing needle-free vaccines that, if proven successful in human trials, could change the face of immunizations worldwide. (MSN)
January 11, 2013
Public health school deans from prominent colleges and universities across the country have signed a letter condemning a hoax the Central Intelligence Agency reportedly used to obtain DNA samples from Osama bin Laden’s former compound before the raid that killed … Read More
January 11, 2013
An Irish woman who is terminally ill with multiple sclerosis has lost a landmark court case to allow her assisted suicide in the Republic. (The Guardian)
January 11, 2013
Stem cells may transform the development of new drugs. (The Economist)
January 11, 2013
Most people in Ireland want lawmakers to give women wider access to abortion, a poll revealed Thursday as senior clerics testified before a parliamentary committee investigating Ireland’s ban on the practice. (Washington Post)
January 10, 2013
New findings from the Guttmacher Institute show that 2012 ranked second only to 2011 in the number of new state restrictions (43 provisions in 19 states)–not to mention attacks on birth control and other health services. Nationally, the number of … Read More
January 10, 2013
Reprogrammed stem cells are not attacked by the immune system, or are they? (The Scientist)
January 10, 2013
Surging influenza infections has led Boston to declare a public health emergency Wednesday. Massachusetts has reported 18 flu-related deaths so far. (CBS News)
January 10, 2013
The presence of a strain of gonorrhea that is resistant to antibiotic treatment in North America could ultimately cause what experts are calling a “public health nightmare.†(CBS)
January 10, 2013
German medical authorities are calling for an extensive overhaul of the country’s organ transplant programme after transplant centres across Germany were placed under criminal investigation over allegations that they had systematically manipulated donor waiting lists. (The Guardian)
January 10, 2013
According to scientists at the University of California in Irvine, a variant of the dopamine-receptor gene may be associated with longevity. (Sci-News.com)
January 10, 2013
While our eating habits certainly play a role in how much we weigh, our rodent cousins confirm that some of our risk for obesity is written in our genes. (Time)
January 9, 2013
EVENT: 2013 Conference: Cases That Keep Us Awake at Night: Challenges in Pediatric Bioethics July 19 and 20, 2013, Bell Harbor International Conference Center, Seattle. Registration opens mid January. For more information.
January 9, 2013
Botox has long been a popular option for those looking for a “refreshed” look, but now there is a new treatment that promises a shorter procedure with longer-lasting results. (Huffington Post)
January 9, 2013
As cases of misconduct rise, ethicists test an approach for reforming offenders. (Nature)
January 9, 2013
Doug Wolens’s recent documentary takes on the complex, abstract concept of the singularity, which predicts a moment when technology will give rise to intelligence beyond the scope of human imagination. It sounds like sci-fi but, Wolens and others argue, there’s … Read More
