6 August 2007
USA - Maryland Mother's Case Presents Daunting Task
A final search today of a Maryland woman's home, where four fetuses have been found, is just the beginning of the daunting task facing investigators. Christy Freeman of Ocean City is charged in the most recent fetus death, but investigators need to find out how old the other pre-term infants were when they died, and whether Freeman or someone else was responsible for their deaths. If the pre-term infants were too young to be considered viable, Freeman can't be charged with murder. Even if they were old enough to live outside the womb, but died before Maryland passed its 2005 fetal homicide law, it may not be a crime if Freeman caused their deaths. The law was designed to penalize killers of pregnant women and their viable fetuses but contains an abortion rights provision. ...[more]
USA - Arkansas Gives Abortion-Minded Women a Way Out
The new abortion law in Arkansas that has recently taken effect is one that could spark other state legislatures to head in the same direction, LifeNews.com reports. The statute seeks to help women by requiring abortion centers to post signs saying coerced abortions are illegal. Under the measure, abortion businesses would be fined $1,000 for each day they do not post a sign indicating that women cannot be forced to have an abortion they don't want. "Women who are abortion-minded should have the right to know that no one can force them to have an abortion," said Dawn Vargo, associate bioethics analyst for Focus on the Family Action. "The passage of this bill provides another perspective for women who think abortion is their only choice." ...[more]
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USA - Mechanism Discovered In Adult Stem Cell Regulation
Forsyth Institute scientists have discovered an important mechanism for controlling the behavior of adult stem cells. Research with the flatworm planaria, found a novel role for the proteins involved in cell-to-cell communication. This work has the potential to help scientists understand the nature of the messages that control stem cell regulation - such as the message that maintain and tells a stem cell to specialize and become part of an organ e.g.: liver or skin. In recent years, planarians have been recognized as a great model system to molecularly dissect conserved stem cell regulatory mechanisms in vivo. Planarians have powerful regeneration capability that makes them ideal for studying this process. The Forsyth team uses planarians and other animal models to study development and regeneration. This research will be published in August 16, 2007 issue of Development. ...[more]
United Kingdom - Zebrafish to Cure Blindness
The ability of zebrafish to regenerate damaged retinas has given scientists clues about restoring human vision and may lead to an experimental treatment for blindness within five years. British researchers said they had successfully grown in the laboratory, a type of adult stem cell found in the eyes of both fish and mammals that develops into neurons in the retina. In future, these cells could be injected into the eye as a treatment for diseases such as macular degeneration, glaucoma and diabetes-related blindness. Damage to the retina - the part of the eye that sends messages to the brain - is responsible for most cases of sight loss. ...[more]
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USA - Transplant Surgeon Charged With Trying to Hasten Patient's Death
A San Francisco transplant surgeon was criminally charged with excessively prescribing drugs to a disabled 25-year-old man last year, in order to hasten his death and harvest his. The felony charges are believed to be the first in the nation against a physician for his role in a transplant. Experts said the case is likely to raise uneasiness among potential organ donors and could prompt doctors to shy away from a somewhat controversial practice of retrieving organs before a patient is brain dead. The surgeon allegedly ordered massive amounts of narcotic painkillers and sedatives for Ruben Navarro, a physically and mentally disabled man. In addition, Roozrokh is accused of administering the antiseptic Betadine through a feeding tube into Navarro's stomach, a sterilization procedure typically done after a donor is dead. Navarro survived for more than seven hours after he was removed from life support and given the drugs. By that time, his organs were no longer viable and could not be recovered. ...[more]
return to top USA - Study Helps Explain How HIV Becomes AIDS
U.S. scientists studying how the Human Immunodeficiency Virus develops into AIDS have a strategy to block that transformation. University of California-Irvine biologist, Dominik Wodarz and colleagues have shown for the first time the development of AIDS might require HIV to evolve into a state where it spreads less efficiently from cell to cell. That finding counters the theory that AIDS develops when the virus evolves over time to spread more efficiently, ultimately leading to the collapse of the immune system. The study also suggests multiple HIV particles must combine to turn the infection into AIDS. “If just one virus particle infects a cell, the deadliest strains might not be able to evolve, stopping HIV from progressing to AIDS. If this is true, a new approach to therapy could be to block the process of co-infection in cells”, said Wodarz. This could prevent HIV strains from emerging and the patient would remain healthy, despite carrying the virus. ...[more]
India - Study: Sex Trafficking Spreading HIV
The study in the Journal of the American Medical Association examined 287 Nepali women and girls who had been trafficked into Indian brothels and returned to Nepal between 1997 and 2005. It found that some 40 percent of them were HIV positive, with the figure rising to 60 percent among those who had been trafficked before the age of 15. "The high rates of HIV documented herein support concerns that sex trafficking may be a significant factor in the expansion of the South Asian HIV epidemic," said the report on the study run by Jay G. Silverman of the Harvard School of Public Health. The report also estimated that some 150,000 girls and women are trafficked each year across the region. ...[more]
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USA - Vermont Commission Studies Same-Sex Marriage
The leaders of the Vermont House and Senate have appointed a commission to ask Vermonters whether the Legislature should allow same-sex couples to marry. The volunteer commission will hold public hearings and is scheduled to complete its study by the end of April and report to the Legislature. In 2000, the Legislature passed a law that allowed same-sex couples to enter into civil unions. “Vermont's citizens have not forgotten that difficult debate”, said Jenny Tyree, associate marriage analyst for Focus on the Family Action. "It's no surprise that those who fought for civil unions are now pushing for same-sex 'marriage' in Vermont," she said. "For most same-sex 'marriage' advocates, civil unions are just one step along the path toward changing marriage for everyone”. ...[more]
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South Africa – Human Trafficking In The Sex Industry
Preliminary research suggests that human trafficking in the sex industry in Cape Town might not be as prevalent as first thought, according to a seminar on trafficking and "sexploitation". "The numbers probably aren't as high as we initially assessed them to be but we still need to do something about it," said Chandre Gould, senior researcher at the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) at a seminar at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. "We need to address the criminalisation of sex work to limit opportunities for trafficking and increase reporting and access to information," said Gould. He argued that sex workers who were in similar exploitative situations were not considered worthy of the assistance and support that was offered to the trafficking victims. Sex workers were found to be isolated from authorities and services and that the "fluid industry" provided an important resource on abuse, exploitation and trafficking. A guest at the seminar disputed the low prevalence of trafficking, saying that the issue was "much larger" than the report suggested. ...[more]
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United Kingdom - Law to Allow Creation of “Saviour” Children
Parents will be allowed to create children specifically to help cure older brothers and sisters of common conditions under proposals unveiled by MPs and peers. For the first time, couples could use so-called "saviour siblings" to treat other family members suffering of serious but non-fatal ailments. Presently the law allows parents to use IVF procedures to select embryos that will be a genetic match to older siblings with life-threatening diseases, such as a rare blood disorder. But a joint House of Commons and Lords committee calls for the law to be relaxed to include other illnesses. This could lead to children being created to help treat diseases such as sickle-cell anaemia, renal failure, kidney disorders and spinal diseases. The proposals are likely to provoke controversy over the ethical implications of creating a child simply to use its tissue to cure another family member. ...[more]
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