As the potential application of genome editing grows, risks appear which must be rigorously analyzed. Genome editing is the modification or removal of specific DNA sequences in order, for example, to correct a disease-causing mutation …

Designer baby - Searching for the perfect child

Designer children - Searching for the perfect child

In our opinion these technologies encourage children to be considered as a product that can be selected or rejected. A recently published article in Fertility and Sterilityfrom February this year reflects on the production of designer children and the medical, social and ethical problems … Leer más.

NEWS

in vitro fertilisation eurpean last result

In vitro fertilisation cause increased medical risks in children

A frequently asked question in social media is whether children born through in vitro fertilisation have a higher risk of suffering medical problems than those conceived naturally. A major systematic review that included 38 studies has now addressed … Leer más.

Authors opinion is, if pregnancy is 24 weeks and the mother would have wished to continue the pregnancy, the most ethical is maintain life support

Pregnant women declared brain dead. Should life support be maintained?

Manitaining life support in pregnant women decalred brain death is question that arises quite often in gynaecology practice, and has now been raised again with the news of two recent cases …

IN BRIEF

Terminally ill patients "An advance directive cannot appropriately ask that basic nourishment be withheld from a person in end-stage dementia."

Terminally ill patients. Is it ethical to withdraw food and water?

Advance directives have raised these long-standing issues again, such as withholding or withdrawing nutrition and hydration in terminally ill patients. This matter has been the object of debates …Leer más.

Assisted suicide backed by fewer than half of Canadian physicians

Fewer than half of Canadian doctors support assisted suicide and only 27% would practice it (Diario Médico16/22-II-2015).

rohibiting animal experiments these would very negatively affect new advances but animal rights activists continue the controversy

Animal experimentation controversy. Research institutes oppose new initiative by animal rights activists

Animal rights activists sent a letter to the European Commission on 3rd March this year, in which they requested that experiments on animals be banned. Against this proposal, more than 120 different types of research institutes and social … Leer más.

Suicide rates rise in the United States

Suicide rates rise dramatically in certain age groups in the United States. A study of by the United States Centres for Disease Control (CDC) shows that between 1999 and 2010, the suicide rate in people aged between 35 and 65 rose by 28.4% in North America (MMWR Morbi Mortal WKLY Report. 2013; 62 (17): 321-325).

Excecuted prisioners in China used as organ donatorPena de muerte en china. Pelotón de fusilamiento

Executed prisoners in China used as organ donors

Major ethical abuses have been committed in China, by using executed prisoners as organ donors for transplants. Faced with the criticisms received for this course of action, it is now known that "prisoners have been redefined as citizens" to be able to obtain their organs without such administrative and ethical obstacles (China Daily USA New York. USA. 2014-03/07.Accessed 5-January, 2015).

iPS cells obtained by various routes

Reprogramming of adult somatic cells to pluripotent cells iPS cells can be achievedby various routes. The first of these was proposed by Yamanaka, who used four reprogramming factors, but there are other possible mechanisms that are reviewed in a recent article (NatureReviews Molecular CellBiology, published online 11, December, 2014).The aforementioned studies offer an extensive analysis of the molecular changes that … Leer más.

Mitochondrial transfer. Final approval by the English House of Lords

On 24th February this year, mitochondrial transfer (or production of children with three parents) was given final approval ... Leer más.

Primordial germ cells can be obtained from iPS cells and embryonic stem cells

So-called primordial germ cells are the precursors of oocytes and spermatozoa. Now, the possibility of obtaining them from embryonic stem cells and iPS cells has been described (NatureReviews Molecular CellBiology 16; February 2015). Being able to obtain these germ cells from iPS cells opens potential applications, such as producing cells of various diseases from iPS cells derived from different types … Leer más.

Next-generation stem cell therapy approved in Europe

The European Commission has given conditional approval next-generation stem cell therapy to the product known as Holoclar to be used in burns to the eyes. Holoclar is a new cell therapy that is produced ... Leer más.

IUD failures

Two types of intrauterine devices IUDs are used today: one impregnated with levonorgestrel, which is released little by little, and an IUD with copper only.The Pearl index (which reports the effectiveness of a birth control method) was 0.06 for the IUD impregnated with levonorgestrel, and 0.52 for the copper IUD (FertilSterility 102; e12, 2014).

Organ transplantation legal regulations and geographic disparitiesin in USA

The organisation of organ transplantation in the USA must be changed, since current regulations state that the needs of the region itself must first be met, then the needs of neighbouring regions, and finally national needs. This means that there are geographic disparitiesin obtaining the desired organs in the United States (The New England Journal of Medicine 371; 2450-2451,2014).

Cell therapy in cardiac ischaemia

Patient age apparently does not affect the outcomes of cell therapy in cardiac ischaemia patients (JACC 65; 125-132,2015).