Logo

Time to Tweak that Business Plan

Aug 12, 2008

If you're working on a cancer diagnostic, don't read this. The New York Times reports on last week's recommendation by the United States Preventive Services Task Force that doctors "stop screening older men for prostate cancer" -- a development that seems to go against the concept of early detection that drives so much of the biomedical field. Evidently, a data analysis of prostate cancer over many years suggests that there's little benefit to screening, and that for older men, it even "does more harm than good."

 

Breaking News
The Scan

Pig Organ Transplants Considered

The Wall Street Journal reports that the US Food and Drug Administration may soon allow clinical trials that involve transplanting pig organs into humans.

'Poo-Bank' Proposal

Harvard Medical School researchers suggest people should bank stool samples when they are young to transplant when they later develop age-related diseases.

Spurred to Develop Again

New Scientist reports that researchers may have uncovered why about 60 percent of in vitro fertilization embryos stop developing.

Science Papers Examine Breast Milk Cell Populations, Cerebral Cortex Cellular Diversity, Micronesia Population History

In Science this week: unique cell populations found within breast milk, 100 transcriptionally distinct cell populations uncovered in the cerebral cortex, and more.