NEWS
Experiments with ex vivo brain cells grown in lab for more than a year, mirror changes in a newborn’s brain
The neuroscience project to study the human brain has a privileged status in biomedical research. Two great projects are encouraging these initiatives, the “BRAIN Initiative” in the United States and the Human Brain Project (HBP) in Europe. The inability to experiment on humans for [...]
Genetics and non-genetics factors of diseases. The exposome’s studies
The publication in 2001 of the results of the "Human Genome Project" marked a before and after in the history of medicine (see HERE). However, progress in understanding the non-genetic factors of diseases, a field of growing biomedical interest, is becoming more [...]
Two Covid-19 vaccines do not use cells from elective abortions in their current production
"It is certainly very positive news that the two vaccines currently on the market, Pfizer and Moderna, can be used with no ethical restrictions, because they have not used cells from past elective abortions in their production [...]Oxford-AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson [...]
Determinants of SARS-CoV-2 pandemic evolution in the coming years
An issue of undoubted general interest is to try to predict SARS-CoV-2 future evolution. In this regard, an article was published on 13 November 2020 in Science, which rigorously addresses this subject. It states, among other things, that this will in part [...]
New medical and ethical concerns of sperm donation and assisted reproduction in relation to coronavirus epidemic restrictions
There is a known shortage of sperm donors in the international assisted reproduction market (read HERE). The UK legislation that bans the anonymity of gamete donors, for obvious reasons, has reduced the availability of sperm even further, a problem that has been [...]
Latest on chemical abortion during the current pandemic crisis in the US and the UK
In the US and the UK, abortion service provision during the pandemic has been restricted to surgical abortion. With respect to chemical abortion, the FDA requires Mifepristone, an abortion drug, to be given out in-person with a prescription from a certified medical [...]
“No baby, no fee”. Promotion of fertility clinics in the UK questioned
Fertility clinics' marketing doesn't always consider the ethical aspects of their promotions - read HERE and HERE. In this respect, a current campaign in the UK offers a full refund if their treatment is unsuccessful after a set number of cycles or [...]
Long-haulers ravaging effects of COVID-19 in some patients and CDC’s project INSPIRE
Last December, we published an article concerning the long-term effects of COVID-19 in patients, who are known as COVID-19 “long-haulers” (read HERE). In this respect, an article published last February 10 by Thomas Jefferson University (Philadelphia – USA) reports on a project by the US [...]
A novel technology may increase HIV free testing access for a key population
The ongoing coronavirus pandemic and its devastating effect on healthcare systems — often bringing them to the brink of collapse — may diminish the importance of the HIV epidemic in many countries and subsequently affect its prevention and treatment. The UNAIDS target [...]
China continues to show ethical weakness in biomedical issues with human participants
China’s weakness in ethics and humanitarian principles has been a continuous concern to bioethicists and defenders of human rights (read HERE and HERE). Now, an article published in the journal Nursing Ethics, entitled Development proposals of Human Research Protection Program, shows that China’s proposal to protect human [...]
Assisted reproduction -ART- clinics business. Tunisia plays a relevant role in the Continent
Assisted reproductive technology (ART) in Africa (read HERE) appears to be a minor issue, given the continent’s high birth and fertility rates, but we cannot forget so-called “reproductive tourism” and the new practice of shipping gametes overseas. Last Thursday, a Tunisian weekly [...]
The risk to abandon race and ethnicity in biomedical research
Today, the American journal NEJM published an article discussing the risk of abandoning race and ethnicity in biomedical research due to "racial injustice inflicted by the use of race and ethnicity as biological constructs" to engender unfair discrimination. In a previous article, [...]
AI uses biology to improve major project enhancing computers with human neurons
"If this project is successful, it would create an unusual AI paradigm according to which biology would be necessary to achieve a major AI project." The Institute of Neuroscience at the University of Barcelona (Spain) is one of several scientific institutes collaborating [...]
Honduras shields the current ban on abortion with a clear ban in the Constitution
A recent article published in The Lancet (January 30, 2021) with the title Honduras changes the constitution to ban abortion reports on a constitutional reform in the country. Although abortion is banned by law, the current ban in the constitution was passed [...]
10 requirements that could reduce the risk of premature death
The SUN project (Universidad de Navarra - Spain) (1), honored with an award at the XVI World Congress of Public Health 2020, identifies 10 requirements that appear to reduce premature death risk by 60% if at least 7 of them are met. [...]
Hopeful lines of experimentation to recover lost heart muscle and function
The first trials were carried out twenty years ago, in animals with stem cells in the heart the latest experimentation with satisfactory results in mice was made last year (read HERE). The aim has been to regenerate lost heart muscle to recover [...]
National debate about surrogacy in China. The most popular actress abandoned two babies in the US, ignited a national debate about surrogacy
The increase in surrogacy worldwide is an issue that concerns bioethicists. Several American states currently allow the practice, and New York has legalized commercial surrogacy contracts with significant financial aid and many other services (read HERE). The United Kingdom also bans surrogacy contracts but supports foreign [...]
New finding shows that some monozygotic twins have different DNA
There is a general assumption that the sequences of monozygotic twins are almost identical, but there are few studies on the subject. Now, a new study published in Nature Genetics, entitled Differences between germline genomes of monozygotic twins (January 7, 2021), appears [...]
FDA has raised the recommendation of HPV vaccination to 45. A HPV vaccine study strongly supports the urgent need for universal vaccination
HPV vaccination urgent necessity due to the severe increase of STDs in Western countries. Its efficiency is supported by a recent study. The rate of STDs continues to rise in developed countries. One of these is caused by human papillomavirus (HPV), only [...]
Association of parental age and risk of schizophrenia in offspring
Many studies have examined the association between parental age and medical risks in offspring (read “Is it time to establish age restrictions in ART-IVF?, a relevant bioethical issue that also focuses on the access of older patients to reproductive technologies), and indeed [...]
