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Can genetically modified pig hearts counter the organ shortage?
A study published in Nature Communications recounts the xenograft experiments[1] conducted by an American team: five pig hearts were transplanted into baboons “with a record graft survival period of 2.5 years”. One of the authors of the study, Muhammad...
Switzerland: should assisted suicide be included in the Geneva legislation?
Socialist MP, Salima Moyard, has just filed a draft bill to guarantee the right to assisted suicide in private and public medical establishments and in EMS (Medical-Social Establishments) in the Canton of Geneva. Without providing any further details, Federal...
A promising clinical trial based on haematopoietic stem cells
The work of Amit Patel, which has been published in The Lancet, was highlighted at the American Cardiology Society Congress held in early April. This Utah University scientist and his team developed cell therapy based on haematopoietic stem cells for patients...
Northern Ireland: suspended prison sentence for woman who took abortion pills
The Belfast Court has just given a 21 year-old woman a three-month suspended prison sentence for purchasing abortion pills on the Internet. The young woman, who was 19 at the time, did not have enough money to travel to England for an abortion. She finally...
India: Inquiry into the world of surrogacy clinics
In October 2015, the Indian Government instructed fertility clinics to stop transferring embryos intended for foreign recipients to surrogate mothers. The trafficking is nevertheless continuing because this industry is not regulated. In fact, the annual world market...
Scientists create skin tissue from iPS cells
Japanese scientists at the Riken Centre, University of Tokyo, have succeeded in creating “complete” synthetic skin tissue (with sudoriparous and sebaceous glands) from iPS cells. They then successfully implanted this three-dimensional tissue in living mice. The...
Belgium: Ban on an information campaign on abortion alternatives
In Belgium, an information campaign proposed by the Jongeren Info Life Association “has just been banned and withdrawn from the public domain” following “various challenges”. On the Antwerp trams, posters displayed “a young woman questioning her pregnancy and the...
The 10th anniversary of iPS cells!
To mark the 10th anniversary of the discovery of iPS cells, Professor Yamanaka[1] has given a lecture in which he announced that induced pluripotent cell research “was about to embark on its second phase” (see Pluripotent cells from adult stem cells). In the...
Controversial research on human foetal tissue in an attempt to understand Zika
According to a study carried out on human foetal tissue, an AXL protein, which helps the Zika virus to infect stem cells in adult skin, could also help it to attack stem cells forming brain and eye cells. However, this result which is the outcome of research to...
Medically induced abortion: the FDA “relaxes” its recommendations
The FDA[1] has “relaxed” its recommendations concerning the abortion pill. From now on, the recommended dose of mifepristone is 200 mg (compared to the previous dose of 600 mg). As the dose has been reduced, adverse effects no longer call for mandatory medical...
Surrogacy: two homosexuals stuck in Mexico with three babies
Travelling from New Zealand to use the services of two Mexican surrogate mothers who received the eggs of an Argentinian donor, a homosexual couple finally find themselves stuck in Mexico with three babies. The situation of David and Nicky Leonard Beard is...
United States: Sequenom calls for the Supreme Court to pass judgment on the patentability of NIPS
Sequemom has filed a request to transfer its case to the Supreme Court, asking the latter to review a Federal Court decision that non-invasive prenatal screening could not be patented because it failed to meet the required conditions. The question of method...