Stem cells that were claimed to be created simply by exposing ordinary cells to stress were probably derived from embryonic stem cells, according to the latest investigation into an ongoing scientific scandal. How that contamination occurred, however, remains an open question. Read more
United States regulators are standing by their decision that parents were not properly informed of the risks of clinical trials in which premature babies received different levels of oxygen supplementation. Read more
The fight against antibiotic-resistant microbes could suffer a major blow if widely circulated rumours are confirmed that pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca is due to disband its in-house antibiotic development. The company called the rumours “highly speculative”, while not explicitly denying them. Read more
A sceptic of traditional Chinese medicine is challenging practitioners of the age-old craft to prove themselves by putting his own money on the line. One has accepted the challenge. At stake is the claim that practitioners can discern whether a woman is pregnant by her pulse. Read more
A nurse who cared for an Ebola patient repatriated to a Madrid hospital has contracted the disease, the Spanish health ministry announced on 6 October. The news is unfortunately not surprising, however. Read more
Replace, refine, reduce. Those are the goals of a centre founded 10 years ago to improve the welfare of animals used in research. But more still needs to be done to embed these ideas, according to the head of the centre. Read more
Clinical trial data previously kept behind closed doors is to be released to the public by Europe’s medical regulator, after a new transparency policy was finally agreed at the European Medicines Agency. Read more
A long-awaited US government policy on biological research that could be used for terrorism or other nefarious purposes is little changed from a draft released 19 months ago, despite receiving 38 comments from institutions and researchers concerned that it goes either too far or not far enough. The centrepiece of the policy, released on 24 September, is a set of guidelines for researchers working on 15 specific pathogens or toxins. But the rules do not regulate experiments that engineer pathogens not on the list to make them more deadly – so-called gain-of-function research. Officials from the White House and US National Institutes of Health (NIH) say the government will be addressing these concerns in coming weeks. Read more
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The report produced by the investigators does not say so explicitly, probably out of fear of prejudicing future criminal/civil inquiries,… ... Read more
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Contamination created controversial ‘acid-induced’ stem cells