Search
Reimbursement of travelling expenses for women from Northern Ireland wishing to have an abortion in England
On the fiftieth anniversary of the legalisation of abortion in England, Wales and Scotland, the British Government revealed its intentions on Monday to provide a free abortion service in England for women from Northern Ireland where abortion is still illegal, except...
Inserm: the heart “betrays” a state of consciousness
An INSERM study involving 127 patients between 17 and 80 years old, published in the Annals of Neurology, has shown that "a change in heartbeat in response to sound stimulation is a good indicator of the state of consciousness". The study sought to establish...
ABE (adenine base editor): a “base editor” to complete the CRISPR tool kit
Professor David Liu from Harvard and his colleagues describe their latest discovery in the Nature journal, namely a "‘molecular machine’ to rewrite the genome to the letter" and thus allow the treatment of numerous genetic diseases such as those caused...
The genetic tool kit is expanding
On 25 October 2017, Feng Zhang's team at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) publicised their work aimed at modifying RNA without affecting cell DNA using a molecular tool called REPAIR, based on the CRISPR Cas 13 enzyme[1]. "Genes are expressed by the...
Embryos not created for research purposes in the Netherlands
Taking a different view from approaches in favour of relaxing the rules of former Health Minister, Edith Schippers (see Dutch report in favour of the creation of human embryos for research), the new Dutch Government will not allow the creation and development of...
“Amidst general indifference, the time has come for genetically modified humans (GMH)”
CRISPR-Cas9 a permis, ces cinq dernières années de franchir une nouvelle étape dans l’édition de « l’ADN d’une bactérie, d’une plante, d’un Over the last five years, CRISPR-Cas9 has opened up new avenues in the editing of "bacterial, plant, insect, animal or...
A humanoid robot obtains Saudi citizenship
On 25 October, Saudi Arabia granted Saudi citizenship to a humanoid robot, Sophia, created by the Hanson Robotics Company. This is a world first, unveiled during the Future Investment Initiative conference in Riyadh: "I am truly honoured and...
Scots authorised to abort at home
Scottish women will be authorised to abort "at home" after taking the first pill. This situation, which already exists in Sweden and France, is a first for Great Britain. Medical abortion involves taking two different pills, namely Mifepristone and...
United States: the Health Minister acknowledges the fact that life begins at conception
In his strategic plan for 2018-2022, the American Health Minister "recognised the fact that life begins at conception". The current strategic plan drafted under the Obama administration, seeks to accomplish its mission "through programmes and initiatives covering a...
Regenerate a weak heart by gene therapy?
Gene therapy has restored virtually normal contractile function in mice with heart failure, bringing fresh hope of "regenerating a weak [human] heart". An American team is responsible for this "spectacular albeit preliminary" result, published in the Nature journal on...
Life support machine switched off without consent: wife issues proceedings
Doris Spence, wife of Johnnie Frank Spence, "is claiming damages of $100,000 on his behalf and on behalf of seven members of Johnnie Spence's family" against the Winnipeg Health Authorities (Manitoba - Canada). Her husband died at the age of 65 "in January, at the...
Create “artificial embryos” to bypass legislation
In an attempt to "bypass regulatory limits" regarding research into human embryos, teams of scientists are endeavouring to create embryo structures from stem cells. Following a similar protocol to that used to obtain organoid, cultivated stem cells gather together and...