June 14, 2013
A looming crisis in Asia as women delay giving birth, leading to low fertility rates that have dire implications for economic growth, is opening huge opportunities for the fast-growing in-vitro fertilization (IVF) industry. (Fox News)
June 14, 2013
The same province that historically pushed the envelope in liberalizing abortion and same-sex marriage has tabled legislation that, if passed, will legalize euthanasia for the first time in Canada and offer the most radical end-of-life options of any jurisdiction in … Read More
June 14, 2013
According to new research from the Monell Center and collaborating institutions, odors from human skin cells can be used to identify melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer. In addition to detecting a unique odor signature associated with melanoma cells, … Read More
June 14, 2013
With stem-cell therapies poised to become the next big thing in medical treatments, companies in the US are offering people a unique chance to bank their stem cells for use in future. (Business Standard)
June 14, 2013
As more businesses shift to the Web and tech companies grow, a host of death-centered startups have popped up in recent years, located in tech meccas like Silicon Valley and Manhattan as well as in smaller American cities. Founders of … Read More
June 14, 2013
More money was spent in the Los Angeles area on chronically ill patients in their final years than anywhere else in the United States, according to new data on Medicare patients released Wednesday. (Los Angeles Times)
June 14, 2013
Mayo Clinic has announced the first U.S. stem cell clinical trial for pediatric congenital heart disease. The trial aims to determine how stem cells from autologous umbilical cord blood can help children with hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS), a rare … Read More
June 13, 2013
Is it ethical to use a dead man’s sperm to father a child? Experts are calling for a consensus on policies surrounding this question, which currently vary widely across the country. (Scientific American)
June 13, 2013
The medication tenofovir, or Viread, taken once a day may prevent HIV transmission among injection drug users, U.S. researchers say. (UPI)
June 13, 2013
The long-running lawsuit over emergency contraception finally ended Wednesday evening when a federal judge granted the Obama administration’s proposal to make the best-known morning-after pill available to all ages without a prescription. (New York Times)
June 13, 2013
A severely ill 10-year-old girl to whom a US judge granted a prime spot on the adult transplant list despite her youth has received a new set of lungs. (BBC)
June 13, 2013
The Food and Drug Administration is tightening standards for a wide range of medical devices — from fetal monitors used in hospitals to pacemakers implanted in people — because of escalating concerns that the gadgets are vulnerable to cybersecurity breaches … Read More
June 13, 2013
Human genes may not be patented, but artificially copied DNA can be claimed as intellectual property, the US Supreme Court has ruled unanimously. (BBC)
June 13, 2013
U.S. Surgeon General Regina Benjamin says she plans to step down next month after four years as “America’s doctor.†(Washington Post)
June 13, 2013
Legislation that would outlaw nearly all abortions after the 22nd week of pregnancy was put on a fast track to the House floor on Wednesday after being approved in committee on a party-line vote. (New York Times)
June 13, 2013
Kevin Munnelly is the President and CEO of Gen9, a company founded by some of the biggest names in synthetic biology research to commercialize a better way of synthesizing DNA. In a recent article published in the journal ACS Synthetic … Read More
June 13, 2013
Researchers at UC Berkeley have developed an easier and more effective method for inserting genes into eye cells that could greatly expand gene therapy to help restore sight to patients with blinding diseases ranging from inherited defects like retinitis pigmentosa … Read More
June 13, 2013
A US doctor and two lawyers Wednesday called for an end to force-feeding prisoners on hunger strike at Guantanamo Bay, saying the practice goes against medical ethics and is a form of assault. (AP)
June 13, 2013
Women facing IVF treatment are being urged to have only one embryo transfer at a time, after a report found the death rate for multiple births jumped in the six years to 2011. (The New Zealand Herald)
June 13, 2013
UK and Australian scientists have been able to show ways in which we can markedly improve drug targeting of solid tumours, using tiny ‘biosensors’ along with new advanced imaging techniques. (A to Z Nano)
June 13, 2013
It is mostly secular voices who have expressed their thoughts and concerns on nanotechnology until now, but there is a lot of evidence that public views on it will be shaped by religious beliefs. For example, a 2009 survey found … Read More
June 13, 2013
As our technologies take us from the theoretical to the practical, a number of thorny moral quandaries remain unanswered. Here are important unresolved ethical questions that are on the verge of becoming highly relevant. (Io9)
June 13, 2013
Recent developments have rekindled the ethical debate over human cloning. This is no time for complacency, caution Martin Pera and Alan Trounson. (Nature, by subscription only)
June 13, 2013
Mammals can regenerate the very tips of their fingers and toes after amputation, and now new research shows how stem cells in the nail play a role in that process. A study in mice, detailed online June 12 in the … Read More
June 12, 2013
The world’s largest database of cancer patients is being set up in England in an attempt to revolutionise care, Public Health England has announced. It will collate all the available data on each of the 350,000 new tumours detected in … Read More
