News by Subject Policy & Ethics

An international team of bioethicists and scientists, led by a researcher at Case Western Reserve University, contends it may be justified to go beyond the standing 14-day limit that restricts how long researchers can study human embryos in a dish. Going beyond this policy limit could lead to potential health and fertility benefits, and the authors provide a process for doing so.

Equitable implementation of COVID?19 vaccine delivery is a national and global priority, with a strong focus on reducing existing disparities and not creating new disparities. But while a framework has been recognized for equitable allocation of COVID?19 vaccine that acknowledges the rights and interests of sexual and gender minorities (SGM), it fails to identify strategies or data to achieve that goal.

According to a new study published in Medical Care, improving hospital nurse staffing as proposed in pending legislation in New York state would likely save lives. The cost of improving nurse staffing would be offset by savings achieved by reducing hospital readmissions and length of hospital stays.

"The experiment proved that the filter is a crucial element in reducing the harm of smoking so therefore, new filters need to be developed to reduce toxicity," explains Prof. Robert Marks, head of the BGU Avram and Stella Goldstein-Goren Department of Biotechnology Engineering. Prof. Robert Marks is a leading expert in the study of genetically engineered bacteria. His work focuses on finding the specific mechanisms of toxins in a variety of materials and their impact on the environment.

Proof of immunization against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) may soon be required in many parts of the globe. The authors discuss how immunization passports could work, what Canada needs to do, and potential barriers and limitations in a CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) commentary www.cmaj.ca/lookup/doi/10.1503/cmaj.210244.

In a report published in California Law Review, Professor Valarie Blake and students Ashley Stephens and Amy Post examined whether gender identity and sexual orientation should be included in healthcare sex discrimination laws, on the heels of the historic 2020 Supreme Court case Bostock v. Clayton County.

Most publications in leading scientific journals are by male authors from English-speaking countries. This changes only slowly, according to a recent study on diversity in top authorship, concludes Bea Maas from the University of Vienna. Her new study examines the (non-existent) diversity in top authorship in science. It shows that women and experts from the Global South are barely represented on this list. The results were published in the journal Conservation Letters.

Several proposals have emerged on how to distribute the COVID-19 vaccine, but they fall short in ensuring that the vaccine is distributed fairly. A team including Binghamton University professor Nicole Hassoun suggests three ways to more fairly and effectively distribute the vaccine so that people in poor countries get the vaccine as soon as possible.

Endocrine disruptors (EDs) are hormone-like substances that can have undesirable effects on health. For example, chemicals can increase the risk of breast cancer if they act in a manner similar to the female sex hormone oestrogen. Animal experiments are still required to detect the hormonal effects of chemical substances. A test has now been developed at the German Centre for the Protection of Laboratory Animals (Bf3R) that tests the effects of hormones on cultured human cells.

A new study developed a transparent and reproducible machine learning tool to facilitate analysis of health information. The tool can be used in clinical forecasting, which can predict trends as well as outcomes in individual patients.