March 29, 2017
(The Conversation) – The rate of IVF births has risen dramatically in recent years as fertility rates continue to fall worldwide. To date, over 5m babies have been born with the help of these technologies. However, there have been concerns … Read More
March 29, 2017
(Medical Xpress) – In a phase 2 clinical trial led by Dr. Donald Kohn of the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at UCLA, all nine babies were cured. A 10th trial participant was … Read More
March 28, 2017
(Nature) – On 28 March, a Japanese man in his 60s became the first person to receive cells derived from induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells that had been donated by another person. The surgery is expected to set the path for … Read More
March 28, 2017
(STAT News) – Tech billionaire Elon Musk is announcing a new venture called Neuralink focused on linking brains to computers. The company plans to develop brain implants that can treat neural disorders — and that may one day be powerful … Read More
March 28, 2017
(UPI) -Researchers at Northwestern University created a synthetic version of the female reproductive system that can be used to test drug therapies. The system is shaped like a cube and consists of a series of small tubes, each containing cells … Read More
March 28, 2017
(The Guardian) – A doctor acted dishonestly when she lied to investigators about the dangerously high temperature of a nurse who went on to develop Ebola, a tribunal has found. Dr Hannah Ryan, who had been working in Sierra Leone … Read More
March 28, 2017
(MIT Technology Review) – William Kochevar of Cleveland can slowly move his right arm and hand. No big deal—except that the 56-year-old had been paralyzed from the shoulders down since a bicycling accident ten years ago. The setup that is allowing … Read More
March 28, 2017
(Nature) – Fusion proteins are a common theme in childhood cancers, from brain tumours to leukaemias. And Max’s struggle with this one highlights the difficulty of tackling them in young patients. The diseases they cause tend to be aggressive, and … Read More
March 28, 2017
(Science) – Computer hardware is getting a softer side. A research team has come up with a way of genetically engineering the DNA of mammalian cells to carry out complex computations, in effect turning the cells into biocomputers. The group … Read More
March 28, 2017
(New Atlas) – Donating blood saves lives, but there’s never enough, especially when the difficulties of storage and matching blood types are taken into account. Artificial blood has been in the works for years, but it’s held back by the … Read More
March 28, 2017
(STAT News) – At first glance, physicians’ poor understanding of death and the process of dying is baffling, since they are supposed to be custodians of health across the lifespan. Look deeper, though, and it may reflect less the attitudes … Read More
March 27, 2017
(The Guardian) – Men unable to have an erection after prostate surgery enjoyed normal intercourse thanks to stem cell therapy, scientists are to report on Saturday at a medical conference in London. In first-phase clinical trials, eight out of 15 … Read More
March 27, 2017
(The Washington Post) – In this, the fifth and final piece in a series of excerpts from my new book, “Sex and the Constitution,” I will briefly address Margaret Sanger and the birth of the birth control movement. As we … Read More
March 27, 2017
(The Guardian) – The Scottish government is to fund three cycles of NHS IVF treatment for eligible couples trying to start a family – more than the number available in some parts of England and Wales. Announcing the move, the … Read More
March 27, 2017
(Reuters) – Comfort care for advanced cancer patients is associated with fewer repeat hospitalizations and more hospice referrals, according to a study highlighting how this approach may offer chronically sick or terminally ill people a better quality of life. Researchers … Read More
March 27, 2017
(New York Times) – Mr. Theologos and his son are among a dozen foreign families who have been tangled up in a legal battle over how to apply new surrogacy restrictions in Tabasco, which for years was the only state … Read More
March 27, 2017
(Salon) – This week a very special delivery was made from space that will help further research that could eventually lead to a mind-blowing, futuristic way to cure diseases: shooting unmanned satellite wombs into orbit and then retrieving from them … Read More
March 27, 2017
(Wired) – As surgeon and author Atul Gawande explains in Being Mortal, funding improvements in palliative care—making people in extreme pain or at the end of their life more comfortable—would much more meaningfully address the problem of death. You make … Read More
March 27, 2017
(PhysOrg) – Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have identified cell surface markers specific for the very earliest stem cells in the human embryo. These cells are thought to possess great potential for replacing damaged tissue but until now have been difficult … Read More
March 24, 2017
(Quartz) – How should we respond to chimeras when we are uncertain of their moral status? At present, chimeras created in laboratories are destroyed as embryos. But in order to harvest organs, full gestation would be needed. When that happens, … Read More
March 24, 2017
(Vox) – There’s another type of prescription drugs, besides opioid painkillers, that’s involved in thousands of drug overdose deaths in the US every year. The drugs are benzodiazepines, which are widely known by their brand names Xanax and Valium and … Read More
March 24, 2017
(Reuters) – South Africa launched a new drug program to treat multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (TB) on Friday in a bid to combat the leading cause of natural deaths in Africa’s most industrialized economy. The Health Department said it will run a … Read More
March 24, 2017
(NPR) – It’s hard not to get excited about news of a potentially effective treatment for sepsis, a condition that leads to multiple organ failure and kills more people in the hospital than any other disease. But there have been … Read More
March 24, 2017
(Science) – How much of cancer is due to random “bad luck”? More than 2 years ago, a pair of researchers brought that question to prominence when they tried to sort out environmental versus inherited causes of cancer. They examined … Read More
March 24, 2017
(Wired) – Parrish tried two therapies. One was a myostatin inhibitor, a drug designed to increase muscle mass, and the second was telomerase therapy, which lengthens the telomeres, a part of the chromosomes that protect genetic material from damage and … Read More
