A genetic variation that drastically lowers rats' tolerance of alcohol may also explain why some people become drunk after just one beer, US scientists say. Researchers at the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA) have worked out how a naturally occurring gene mutation affects rats' brains so that they...
Patients should be more aware of family health problems, according to a survey of UK doctors, but a second poll shows that that most people aren't interested. A poll of 202 GPs, carried out for insurance company Norwich Union Healthcare, found that 88 per cent felt patients needed to know...
Robert Travaglini, President of the Senate in the US state of Massachusetts, has introduced a new bill that would support the development of embryonic stem (ES) cell research in the state. While it does not provide for state funding of such, he claims that the bill would show that Massachusetts...
California Research and Cures Coalition (CRCC), the group that backed the 'yes' campaign on Proposition 71 in California, will work this year to fight a proposed federal ban on all forms of human cloning. Proposition 71, passed by 59 per cent of voters in November last year, will provide $3...
Two US institutions that ran a gene therapy trial in which a teenager died in 1999 agreed to pay more than $1 million in a civil settlement last week. The government had alleged that the researchers, based at the University of Pennsylvania and the Children's National Medical Center, had failed...
About one in five women has a genetic variation that could increase their risk of the bone-weakening condition osteoporosis, US researchers say. A team of scientists based at the Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis have shown that a particular version of the CYP1A1 gene is linked to...
US researchers have discovered that the heart contains a type of stem cell that can divide and produce new heart cells after birth, which might allow the organ to repair itself. The surprise finding could lead to new therapies for damage caused by heart attacks. The researchers, based at the...
Leading names from science, industry and government in the UK have publicly called for the establishment of a charitable foundation to promote and fund stem cell research in the country. They made their public call on 8 February, at a meeting for the UK's stem cell research community at Newcastle's...
The scientist who cloned Dolly the sheep has been given permission to use the same technique to clone human embryos for medical research into stem cells. The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) has granted a licence to the Roslin Institute in Edinburgh to use the cell nucleus replacement (CNR...
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NHS-funded IVF – is it really so NICE out there?
by Professor Brian Lieberman
The failure of the UK government to provide, or to identify additional funds for NHS funded IVF treatment is of increasing concern to many thousands of infertile couples, led to believe that they would receive such treatment following the report by the National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE) in February...