Bioethics News.
07/29/2014
Legalizing pot has not spurred use among U.S. teens: study
A rise in marijuana use among U.S. teens over the past 20 years has no significant tie to the legalization of marijuana for medical use in many states, according to a new research paper.
07/29/2014
Google Seeks Human Guinea Pigs for Health Project
Google’s newest project aims to create a crowd-sourced picture of human health by collecting anonymous genetic and molecular information from participants.
07/28/2014
Drugs to increase ‘good’ cholesterol may not cut deaths
Drugs that have been investigated to increase so-called “good” cholesterol may not prevent deaths, heart attacks or strokes as many hoped, according to a new analysis.
07/28/2014
Florida support for medical marijuana stays near 90 percent: poll
Support for legalizing medical marijuana in Florida is holding steady at 88 percent despite weeks of vigorous campaigning by opponents ahead of a November referendum on the issue, a poll released on Monday showed.
07/24/2014
San Francisco approves soda tax for November ballot
San Francisco city leaders have approved a measure for the November ballot that would place a two-cents-per-ounce municipal tax on sodas and other sugary beverages, hoping to become the first major city to successfully impose such a levy.
07/24/2014
Too few U.S. youth getting vaccine for sexually transmitted virus: CDC
More U.S. adolescents are receiving vaccines against the sexually transmitted virus that causes cervical and other types of cancer but vaccination rates for the infection remain too low, federal health officials said on Thursday.
07/24/2014
Study: Dogs Experience Jealousy Emotion Too
old adage dogs are a man’s best friend may be truer than once thought, especially from the pooch’s perspective. In the first experimental test s of its kind, it was discovered that dogs experience jealousy just as humans do.
07/23/2014
Abuse of U.S. generic-drug rules costs billions -report
U.S. rules that ensure prescription medicines are not misused have been manipulated by brand-name drug companies to fight off generic competitors, costing consumers billions of dollars, according to a report released on Wednesday.
07/23/2014
More U.S. teens’ report using human growth hormone, group says
U.S. teenagers’ reported use of synthetic human growth hormone more than doubled between 2012 to 2013 as they sought to improve athletic performance and appearance, a survey by anti-drug advocates found.
07/22/2014
Tracking Life From Its Smallest Form
The earliest stages of life have been the subject of intense fascination for eons. Aristotle, for instance, observed and recorded the development of a chicken embryo in its egg.
07/22/2014
Schizophrenia Linked to 108 Genes
It took 80,000 genetic samples, seven years and the work of 300 scientists from around the world, but scientists now have the most complete dossier on schizophrenia ever.
07/22/2014
Pregnancy doesn’t drive women doctors out of surgical training
A new study disputes a common stereotype that women who become pregnant during surgical training often drop out of those training programs.
07/22/2014
Germany allows seriously ill patients to grow their own cannabis
A German court ruled on Tuesday that some people suffering from chronic pain should be able to cultivate their own cannabis “for therapeutic purposes”.
07/21/2014
Babies of anxious mothers more likely to cry excessively: study
Women with anxiety disorders may be more likely to have babies who cry excessively, suggests a new German study.
07/21/2014
Rates of abdominal obesity leveling off among kids
After rising steadily for more than 10 years, the proportion of U.S. kids defined as obese due to a large waist circumference held steady between 2003 and 2012, according to a new analysis of national data.
07/16/2014
Could Giant Viruses Be the Origin of Life on Earth?
The married virologists at Aix-Marseille University had made a career of it. But pithovirus, which they discovered in 2013 in a sample of Siberian dirt that had been frozen for more than 30,000 years, was more bizarre than the pair had ever imagined a virus could be.
07/16/2014
Calif. death penalty ruled unconstitutional
A federal judge Wednesday struck down California’s death penalty, saying the “dysfunctional” system that makes prisoners wait decades to be executed violates the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment.
07/15/2014
China approves DNA-sequencing devices to detect genetic defects in unborn babies
The mainland has lifted the controversial ban on medical diagnostic products that can help detect birth defects in unborn children.
07/15/2014
Police Won’t Use Nude Photos of Va. Teen as Evidence in Sexting Case, Attorney Says
Prosecutors wanted to take a second set of nude photos, of the teen in a forced aroused state to compare them to photos he allegedly sent to his then-girlfriend.
07/15/2014
Gordon College Faces Review Over Request For Ability To Discriminate
A regional accrediting agency has placed Gordon College, a Christian school near Boston, under review as the institution seeks the legal ability to discriminate in hiring against members of the LGBT community.
07/15/2014
Children Of Gay Parents Are Happier And Healthier Than Their Peers, New Study Finds
Children raised by same-sex couples have better health and well-being in comparison to their peers, according to a groundbreaking new study which is being billed as the largest of its kind.
07/10/2014
The Brave New World of Three-Parent I.V.F.
A microscopic image that shows a genome being removed from a donor egg. 1. Manipulation pipette. 2. Donor egg. 3. Holding pipette. 4. Zona pellucida (encircling the egg). 5. Location of the oocyte genome (or nuclear DNA) before removal.
07/10/2014
Did Facebook and PNAS violate human research protections in an unethical experiment?
Whatever good and bad things about Facebook there are, however, there’s one thing that I never expected the company to be engaging in, and that’s unethical human subjects research.
07/10/2014
Do doctors understand test results?
Are doctors confused by statistics? A new book by one prominent statistician says they are – and that this makes it hard for patients to make informed decisions about treatment.
07/09/2014
San Francisco passes law allowing forced treatment of mentally ill
San Francisco lawmakers approved a law late on Tuesday allowing the forced treatment of mentally ill patients under certain conditions, drawing swift criticism from patient advocacy groups who say the measure tramples civil rights.
07/09/2014
NY insurer to pay up to $31 million for denied mental health claims
A New York-based health insurance company has agreed to reimburse members up to $31 million for previously denied mental health and substance abuse claims, the state attorney general said on Wednesday.
07/09/2014
Transgender Algae Show How Males and Females Came to Be
One of the few things older than the battle of the sexes is the origin of the sexes. How sexes evolved in the first place has been a lasting mystery in biology. Thanks to some transgender algae, scientists may have cracked this evolutionary whodunit.
07/08/2014
U.S. Democrats aim to turn contraception into campaign drive
U.S. Democrats hope to turn their legal setback on Obamacare and contraception into a winning autumn campaign issue by pushing legislation requiring employers to include birth control in healthcare coverage.
07/03/2014
Climate Change Threatens U.S. National Parks
A large percent of the country’s national parks have recently experienced extreme heat, precipitation or drought, which could hurt plant and animal species
07/03/2014
‘Breakthrough’ stem cell study retracted
It was hailed as a fast, easy, inexpensive and uncontroversial way to produce stem cells.