Bioethics in the News
Brain-dead, a Canadian womanremains a silent partner awaiting birth
(New York Times)Nearly six weeks after a pregnant Canadian woman was declared brain-dead, sheremains on life support in Victoria, British Columbia, because of her family’shope that her fetus will mature enough to be delivered.
Study on stroke in women focuses onrisks from pregnancy
(The Wall StreetJournal) Controlling high blood pressure and other risk factorsrelated to pregnancy and use of birth control can significantly reduce awoman’s chance of suffering a stroke later in life, according to American HeartAssociation and American Stroke Association guidelines. While men and womenshare many risk factors for the disease, the guidelines underscore how eventsduring a woman’s reproductive years mean such factors also can differ betweenthe sexes.
Diuretic drug prevents autism inmice and rats
(Nature)Children with autism typically begin showing obvious symptoms, such as troublemaking eye contact and slow language development, a year or more after birth. Astudy in mice and rats now hints that prenatal drug treatment could headoff these problems. The findings, reported today in Science,do not suggest that autism spectrum disorders can be prevented in children. Butresearchers not involved in the study say that they add support to acontroversial clinical trial suggesting that some children with autismbenefited from taking a common diuretic medication called bumetanide.
Female genital mutilation: Hospitalsto log victims
(BBC) Doctorsand nurses in the UK are to be told to log details of the injuries suffered byvictims of female genital mutilation (FGM). The move is designed to gather moreinformation on the practice, which was outlawed in the UK in 1985. Thechildren’s charity, NSPCC, which set up a FGM helpline seven months ago, saysit has already received 153 calls. At least 66,000 girls and women in theUK are believed to be victims of FGM.
Case report on genetic diagnosis offatal disorder in embryos before pregnancy
(Medical Xpress)Genetic testing of embryos for a fatal inherited neurodegenerative disorderallowed a woman to selectively implant two mutation-free embryos and conceivehealthy twins, what researchers call the first case of in vitro fertilization(IVF) with preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) to prevent genetic priondisease in children, according to a case report in JAMA Neurology byAlice Uflacker, M.D., of Duke University, Durham, N.C., and colleagues.
Whoa. Lots going on with stem cells, embryos, cloning, and ethical issues that can make your head spin. My colleague, Dr. Scott Horrell, sent me this one.