Genetic tests are no better at predicting an individual's risk of developing type-2 diabetes than conventional assessments based on family history and physical factors such as blood pressure and weight, according to a new study by US scientists. The research team, led by Dr. James Meigs...
Scientists have for the first time sequenced the complete diploid genomes of an Asian and an African. It is hoped that the research, published in the journal Nature, will help to shed light on how people from different ethnic backgrounds respond to medicine and help to explain...
In BioNews 484, we published a story reporting on new evidence to suggest that in IVF 'vitrified' embryos may be better than 'fresh' embryos. It has been brought to our attention that the technique used to store embryos in these studies was in fact 'slow-freezing', or 'controlled-rate freezing', and not...
In a study published last week it was revealed that tumours release small sacs of genetic material that can be used to identify a tumour's exact type and which mutations it possesses. The study, produced by scientists at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston and published in the...
A Colombian woman has become the world's first recipient of a windpipe grown in part from her own cells. Published in the Lancet journal last week, the team of surgeons from Spain, the UK and Italy, orchestrated the world's first tissue-engineered whole organ transplant. Professor Paolo Macchiarini...
By Sarah Guy;A study undertaken in Canada shows that women who test negatively for gene mutations associated with breast cancer may still be at high risk if there is a strong presence of the disease in their family. Author of the study Dr Steven Narod, Canada Research Chair in...
A study published last week in the journal Human Reproduction found an elevated risk of birth defects amongst babies conceived through assisted reproductive techniques, including IVF. The research, headed by Dr Jennita Reefhuis of the US Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, used data from the National...
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Comment
A Buddhist perspective on pre-implantation genetic diagnosis
by Peter Harvey
Buddhism is a non-theistic religion which does not see the world or human life as created by a deity. It does, however, have a strong emphasis on ethics and non-violence, on the intention not to harm and compassion. Buddhism sees a human life as coming after past rebirths in which...
'Think of a number, then double it': playing a numbers game with donor conception?
by Professor Eric Blyth and 1 others
The report of the British Fertility Society's (BFS) Working Party on Sperm Donation Services in the UK (1) recently hit the headlines, following an associated editorial in the British Medical Journal (2). However, the report's proposals for a fundamental overhaul of the current arrangements for organising donor recruitment were considered...