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Cloning Technique Success: Researchers reported in Nature that they created 13 early-stage human embryos that were partial clones of diabetic patients, albeit abnormal ones, with three sets of chromosomes instead of the usual two, the WSJ reports. That extra set would have to be eliminated if the cloning technique were ever to be used to develop stem-cell based treatments for patients with diseases, the paper says.
Tracking Operations Toward the End of Life: New research published in the Lancet shows that almost one in ten Medicare patients who died in 2008 had surgery in their last week of life, while almost one in three had surgery during their final year of life, the New York Times reports. Researchers said the number of operations towards the end of life was surprising, but an expert not involved with the study said it’s impossible to judge from these data whether or not those surgeries were valuable.
Probing the Middlemen: Rep. Elijah Cummings from Maryland, a Democrat on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, is investigating distributors offering drugs in short supply on the so-called “grey market” at marked-up prices, the WSJ reports. Cummings wrote to five companies about the prices at which they had offered the drugs. The Institute for Safe Medication Practices has called the recent rash of shortages “unprecedented.”
Miscarriage Tied to Tainted Cantaloupe: Adding to the toll from the outbreak of listeriosis linked to eating cantaloupes, an Iowa woman has miscarried after contracting the infection, MSNBC.com reports. The medical examiner for the Iowa Department of Public Health says the woman, who is between 18 and 40, miscarried early in her pregnancy after eating tainted cantaloupe. The cantaloupes were recalled by Jensen Farms of Colorado on Sept. 14 but infection symptoms can take two months to manifest.
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