Bioethics in the News

New Test Can Predict Cancer More Than a Decade Before DiagnosisThe Telegraph reported that scientists at Harvard and Northwestern University have devised a test that can predict with 100% accuracy whether a person will develop cancer up to 13 years in the future, as changes are already taking place on chromosomes more than a decade prior to diagnosis.New Drug Info Made PublicThe New York Times reports that Medicare has released detailed data on prescription drug use in the USA.  The data was the most detailed breakdown ever provided by government officials about the prescription claims of Medicare beneficiaries.Couple Fighting Over Frozen Embryos(New York Times) “Our frozen embryos have a right to live,” says Sofia Vergara’s ex-fiancé. Last August he filed a complaint in Santa Monica, Calif., using pseudonyms, to protect two frozen embryos the couple created.NIH Reiterates Ban on Editing Human Embryo DNA(Nature) – The US National Institutes of Health (NIH) has reaffirmed its ban on research that involves gene editing of human embryos. In a statement released on 29 April, NIH director Francis Collins, a Christian, spelled out the agency’s long-standing policy against the practice. 

Bioethics in the News

Thanks to the Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity for flagging these stories. 

Lots of People on Antidepressants (Scientific American) – The Mayo Clinic says about 13% of Americans, —more than 1 in 10—, take an antidepressant. Of women between the ages of 50 and 64, nearly 25% take an antidepressant. (Read More)

No Bucket Challenge for Ebola

(ABC News) – While aid organizations need funds to fight the worst-ever Ebola outbreak in West Africa, officials say a lack of interest has made it difficult to highlight the need for more money and medical supplies.  (Read More)  For a dramatic video of one person's ending, watch this short NPR video. 

A British Surrogate Mother Rejects Her Disabled Twin

(The Telegraph) – A British surrogate mother of twins, one of whom was born disabled, has said the intended mother rejected the unhealthy child, referring to her as a “dribbling cabbage.” (Read More)

Will Stem Cells Replace Heart Operations?

(Daily Mail) – Patients with chronic heart failure are to receive pioneering stem cell treatment in a new trial which could herald a cure for the biggest killer "in the industrial world."  (Read More)

Scientists Have Coached Lab Cells to Make a Working Human Organ

(The Guardian) – Reprogrammed cells created in a laboratory have been used to build a complete and functional organ in a living animal for the first time. British scientists produced a working thymus.  (Read More) 

Crime and IVF

(Reuters) – A Thai doctor who performed in vitro fertilisation (IVF) for women involved in a surrogate baby business dubbed the “baby factory” has agreed to turn himself in, police said on Monday. 

No More Reading Glasses in the Future?

(The Telegraph) – Reading glasses could be banished forever after scientists developed a technique to reverse problems in aging eyes.  (Read More)

Do We Need a Different Approach to Cancer? 

(The Telegraph) – Most cancers cannot be cured and scientists should give up trying and, instead, look for ways to manage the disease, the director of the Centre for Evolution and Cancer at The Institute of Cancer Research, has claimed.  - (Read More)

Lack of Toilets Puts Women's Health and Safety at Risk

(The Guardian) – In the evening gloom of their dirt courtyard, Raj Beti and her six daughters are growing desperate. They last answered nature’s call 13 hours ago, but it’s not yet dark enough to venture into the fields. For - (Read More)

Japanese Man Overdoes It with Surrogacy

(ABC.net) – Japanese national Mitsutoki Shigeta used his sperm to have the children with eleven surrogate mothers. He said his motives were pure and all he wanted was a large family.  (Read More)

Bioethics in the News

Thanks for the Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity for featuring these articles, which appeared in the news this week: 

U.S. Mined Personal Health Data toFind Vulnerable in Emergency 
(New York Times)– When an ice stormthreatened New Orleans in January, some residents heard from a city officialwho had gained access to their medical information. Dialysis patients were instructedto seek early treatment because clinics would close, and those who rely on at-homebreathing machines were told how to find help if they lost power.

Stem Cell Therapy Shows Promise forMultiple Sclerosis in Mouse Models 
(Medical Xpress)– Mice crippled by anautoimmune disease similar to multiple sclerosis (MS) regained the ability towalk and run after a team of researchers implanted human stem cells into theirinjured spinal cords. These mice recovered even after their bodies rejected thehuman stem cells.

End of Life Care Sub-standard
 (The Guardian)– A report reveals that fewerthan half of NHS patients in their last hours are told they are dying byhospital staff, while families are left feeling they have no emotional support.Also, the continued lack of specialist palliative care at weekends continueseven 10 years after recommendations that it should be offered seven days aweek.

Stem Cells Made from Skin Grow NewBone in Monkeys 
(Healthline)– Researchers have shown itis possible to grow new bone from stem cells made from an animal’s own skincells. This finding offers another potential source of stem cells fortransplantation: the individual’s own adult cells.

Daily HIV Prevention PillRecommended for Those at Risk 
(CNN) – For years the message was simple:Use condoms to prevent HIV. Now health experts want to add a strategy for thoseat risk: take a prevention pill daily. 

Measles Virus Used to Put Woman’sCancer into Remission 
(CNN) – A woman with an incurable canceris now in remission, thanks, doctors say, to a highly concentrated dose of themeasles virus.

 ‘Misreading’ of Data Led toErrors in Statin Papers 
(Nature)– The BMJ ismodifying, and is considering whether to retract, articles that questionedwhether many patients should be given cholesterol-lowering statin drugs. Thearticles made a critical statement about the rate of side effects that werebased on a “misreading” of another study.

U.S. Experts Urge Focus on Ethicsin Brain Research (Update)
(Medical Xpress)– Ethics must be consideredearly and often as the field of modern neuroscience forges ahead, to avoidrepeating a dark period in history when lobotomies were common. 

Enzyme Helps Stem Cells ImproveRecovery from Limb Injuries 
(Medical Xpress)– Collaborators on a study showone way stem cell therapy appears to intervene is with the help of an enzymealso used by a fetus to escape rejection by the mother’s immune system.

Olympian Scott Hamilton: I Am Second

Scott Hamilton is an excellent athlete, a terrific commentator, and a wonderful human being. He has known the highest heights and the lowest depths. Top-of-the world success. Cancer. Infertility. Faith. Here he tells his story for "I Am Second."