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nº 42

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March 2016

REPORTS
Face transplant in a firefighter By far the most extensive performed successfully

Face transplant in a firefighter. Ethics and a brief historical review

The most extensive performed successfully P. Hardison is a 41-year-old American firefighter who suffered facial burns while trying to save a life, burns resulted in severe facial disfigurement, causing him major problems with vision, breathing and eating and his aesthetic image…
Are there any ethical differences to consider between the two existing mitochondrial replacement techniques? A recent article in the site Bioethics

Ethical of mitochondrial replacement to prevent hereditary diseases

A recent article in Bioethics defends the advisability of using pronuclear transfer (PNT) compared to maternal spindle transfer (MST) to prevent the transmission of certain hereditary mitochondrial diseases. MST consists of extracting the nuclear DNA from the ovum (egg) of the mother…

NEWS
Gene editing in human embryos. England opens the gates with a scientific community deeply divided in this respect

Gene editing in human embryos. England opens the gates facing a scientific community  divided

UK  has approved a request from an Institute to use new gene editing techniques in human embryos for the first time. The group’s objective is…
Human sexual dimorphism is confirmed; however, no differences were found in the hippocampus The brains of adult males are 14% larger than female...

Human sexual dimorphism. Do men and women also have different brain structures?

Yes they do. The brains of adult males are 14% larger than female brains, with larger ventricles and a higher ratio of white: grey matter; however, no differences were found in …
A hotly debated topic within the specialised scientific world is whether or not human iPS cells are similar to human embryonic cells, which raise so many ethical issues.

Can human iPS cells replace the use of human embryonic stem cells?

A hotly debated topic within the specialised scientific world is whether or not human iPS cells are similar to human embryonic cells, which raise too so many ethical issues. Now…
Intravenous drug users are 28 times more likely to become infected with HIV. Countries with treatments for drug users reduce the incidence of HIV infection

Intravenous drug users and HIV infection

Countries that offer treatments for intravenous drug users manage to reduce the incidence of HIV infection. In many countries, especially Russia and Eastern Europe, and in many Asian countries where there is widespread opium consumption, the main … Leer más.

IN BRIEF
Global maternal mortality Countries reduced it by 75% in the last decades due to Improvement in maternal health. It is a great global success

Global maternal mortality: significantly reduced in the last 15 years

A study that included data from 171 countries showed a reduction in maternal mortality, with 385 deaths per 100,000 births in 1990 compared to 216 in 2015.  This, of course, is encouraging …
Surrogate mother defies contracting parents by refusing to abort one of the triplets she is expecting

Surrogate mother defies contracting parents by refusing to abort one of the triplets

A Californian woman, Brittney Rose Torres, a surrogate mother pregnant with triplets, has received a request from the contracting parents to abort one of the foetuses because…
Monochorionic IVF twins pregnancies these embryos have a higher risk of preterm.They should try to reduce their number and should give advise to the mother

IVF twins. Monochorionic twins higher risks

Approximately 7.2% of pregnancies achieved through in-vitro fertilisation (IVF twins) are monochorionic twins pregnancies. Since these type of embryos have a higher risk...
Sperm quality studies from molecular genetics and epidemiology provide evidence that paternal age is an important risk factor for offspring

Sperm quality depends on age and it is an important risk factor when fatherhood is increasingly delayed

Recent data from molecular genetics and epidemiology provide evidence that paternal age is an important risk factor for offspring…
CRISPR/cas9 is being investigated to treat Duchenne muscular dystrophy in mice and diseases like haemophilia, Huntington disease, etc

CRISPR/Cas9 for the treatment of haemophilia and other hereditary diseases is being investigated

In reference to the fact that it could be used to cure diseases due to an alteration in a single gene, is being investigated to treat haemophilia and other hereditary diseases. An article has now been published…
SHIV infection. Home self-test kits avaliable by postncluso por Internet

HIV infection. Home self-test kits avaliable by post

In April 2015, the over-the-counter sale of HIV infection self-testing kits was approved in the United Kingdom. This measure has fostered certain debate about the ethicality of this practice. A study published…
Serotonin is implicated in relevant central nervous system functions now can be produced from human pluripotent cells both embrionic and iPS

Serotonin produced from neurons obtained with iPS or embrionic stem cells

Serotonin is implicated in functions as important as humour, sadness, feelings of aggression, anxiety and sleep disturbances, among others. Now, to facilitate “in-vitro” studies …
A promising new step to resolve male infertility but its ethical assessment will have to framed within the assisted procreation techniques difficulties

Male infertility. ¿Can this new technique resolve it without ethical problems?

Male infertility is often the cause of sterility in a couple. In these circumstances, it may be due to poor sperm maturation. There is now a chance to overcome this defect…
Near 50 millon induced abortions worldwide (Lancet). Two and a half times Syria population but it seems that this problem does not exist for society

Induced abortions extinguish 50 million human lives each year

There were around 43,800,000 induced abortions worldwide (Lancet, January 2012), i.e. 120,000 per day and 5,000 per hour…