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Included in this update is the following: ... the culture of human embryos or organized embryo-like structures beyond 14 days, or formation of the primitive streak, which ever occurs first (herein referred to as the "14-day rule"), has been removed from ... prohibited activities.[1] What?! I affirm embryo research to harvest pluripotent stem cells, but I do not want to surrender the Vatican's wholesome reverence for dignity to the stampede of materialism and utilitarianism. Second, " I in vitro i culture of human embryos would decrease the burden on the experimental use of animals, especially non-human primates."[13] Expansion of direct experimentation on human embryos would reduce experimentation on animal models. Nature's Response Along with Jewish bioethicist Ronald Greene, stem cell researcher Michael West, and anatomy professor Leonard Hayflick, I have signed on to a critical response to the ISSCR proposal.[18] We contend that it is best that the 14-Day Rule remain in place for the foreseeable future. [Extracted from the article]

It is true that every other human being is afraid of death, but the film makes the audience think, especially when Seo Bok asks Min Gi-heon, "Did it feel good to live?" I Seo Bok i was a much-awaited film, especially with an interesting and powerful combination of stellar actors Gong Yoo and Park Bo-gum. Film takes audiences through a journey of multisensory experience in a world of imagination. [Extracted from the article]

Imitating manipulation skills through observing human demonstrations in everyday life is promising in allowing service robots to be programed quickly, as well as to perform human-like behaviors. Such a Learning by demonstration (LbD) problem is challenging because robots are expected to adapt their learned behaviors to the changes of task parameters and the environment, rather than simply cloning the human teacher's motion. In this paper, we propose a hierarchical and parameterized LbD framework that combines symbolic and trajectory learning of pick-and-place manipulation tasks. We have extended the two-step parameterized learning method with error compensation for learning Environment-adaptive Action Primitives (EaAPs), which is capable of adapting robot's reproduced trajectories to new task instances as well as environmental changes. To arrive at refined plans in situations of under-specified human demonstrations, we propose to model the semantics of demonstrated activities with PDDL-based skill scripts. Therefore, latent motion primitives that are impossible to be learned directly from observing human demonstration in noisy video data can be inferred. The proposed method is implemented as a hierarchical LbD framework and has been evaluated on real robot hardware to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human adipose stem cells can differentiate into various mesodermic lineages, including adipogenic, osteogenic, chondrogenic, myogenic and endothelial pathways. In addition, these cells types possess immunomodulatory properties, potentially useful for autoimmune and autoinflammatory diseases. However, single-cell expanded clones have shown that the cells can present a variety of differentiation potential, which may be partly due to epigenetic differences among them. The objective of this study was to assess if DNA methylation plays a role in the differentiation potential observed between different cell clones obtained from the same donor. To this end, the methylation profile of five clonal cell lines of human adipose stem cells obtained by liposuction from two donors was analyzed. Previous reports demonstrated that cell lines 1.7 and 1.22 from Donor 1 and 3.5 from Donor 3 were adipogenic-osteogenic, but not cell lines 1.10 and 3.10. The genes analyzed were neuronal, endothelial, myogenic, osteogenic, adipogenic, extracellular matrix, cell cycle, cytoskeleton and metabolic enzymes. All clones analyzed in this study displayed a similar pattern of methylation in most of the gene families: 85.5% were hypomethylated genes and 14.5% hypermethylated. In conclusion, the methylation pattern of the 1113 genes studied in this report was not a consistent tool to identify the differentiation potential of human adipose stem cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Science performances, or science shows, combine scientific content with theatrical techniques for the purpose of engaging audiences with science. Despite the fragmented nature of the evidence on their effectiveness, science shows are commonly used in informal science learning, particularly in science centres, schools and museums. We have collated the literature into a comprehensive review of the history, typology and evidence base for science performance, drawing on a variety of literature including research discussing classroom demonstrations, science shows used in schools and museums, museum theatre and informal science learning. We found there is good qualitative and quantitative evidence to support the use of science shows both in informal science learning and as part of the school curriculum. Science shows that use demonstrations linked by a common theme have successfully produced both cognitive and affective outcomes, and theatrical science shows are frequently used to create awareness and stimulate discussion about complex and controversial science-related issues, such as HIV-AIDS and human cloning. The key features of structure, emotion and audience involvement that are present in good science shows make them a highly valuable and effective tool for both formal and informal science learning. Further research is needed to investigate the long-term impact of science performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on the cloning of human beings. It is noted that the most nearly available method for the controlled engineering of offspring is offered by cloning, which is the asexual replication of a male or female progenitor with no interfusion of chromosomes from second parent. The mystery of individuality, basing on the chance combination of ancestral characteristics, is at the basis of mutual compassion and accountability. The issue on whether individual human beings should be formed with a set of pre-chosen traits is a concern which transcends scientific freedom since it can point for future generations the capacity of the will to know.

In recent decades, recourse to notions of human dignity has increased extensively within the field of bioethics. In particular, the notion has been utilised in arguments that seek to constrain a variety of biotechnological endeavours, examples of which include human cloning and transhumanism. In this regard, transhumanism is frequently described as an affront to human dignity in a manner that appears to be aimed at halting the possibility of further debate. The efficacy of the concept of human dignity has itself, however, been questioned. Criticisms include its ambiguous nature and thus the lack of adequate definition by those who utilise it, its supposedly religious undertones as well as the fact that it may be used to argue for diametrically opposing positions within the same argument, due to the existence of distinct and conflicting interpretations. In this paper, I briefly discuss the aims of the transhumanist movement and explicate the concept of human dignity in order to assess one of the most renowned dignity arguments that has been lodged against transhumanism, namely, the argument of the bioconservative thinker Leon Kass. In addition, I discuss the counter-argument of the transhumanist Nick Bostrom. These findings have implications for the concept's efficacy to adjudicate the complex ethical conundrums posed, not only by transhumanism, but in the bioethics arena in general. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author discusses the cloning of human embryo conducted by Shoukhrat Mitalipov's team at the Oregon National Primate Reseach Center. The author says that they were the first who successfully clone human embryo, where they took out the DNA nucleus of a human oocyte and fused it with a skin cell. He adds that the research was called cloning due of involving somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT), in which, after the fusion the skin cell's DNA transferred to the egg and became the egg's nucleus.

The purpose of the study is to explore Turkish preservice science teachers' informal reasoning regarding socioscientific issues and the factors influencing their informal reasoning. The researchers engaged 39 preservice science teachers in informal reasoning interview and moral decision-making interview protocols. Of the seven socioscientific issues, three issues were related to gene therapy, another three were related to human cloning, and one was related to global warming. The data were analyzed using an interpretive qualitative research approach. The characteristic of informal reasoning was determined as multidimensional, and the patterns of informal reasoning emerged as rationalistic, emotive, and intuitive reasoning. The factors influencing informal reasoning were: personal experiences, social considerations, moral-ethical considerations, and technological concerns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the role of celebrity life politics in American and British press coverage of therapeutic cloning. A large sample of articles in the US press and both elite and tabloid UK newspapers and periodicals was collected and analyzed for this study. The present analysis focuses on activist patients as key news sources in this coverage. These patients drew upon narratives of personal suffering with political implications that interfaced with journalists' desire for human interest stories. Celebrity patients in particular were found to contribute to the construction of therapeutic cloning as the source of future cures for debilitating illnesses that are currently incurable. The intertwining of personal suffering and political advocacy identified in this case is linked to Giddens' theorization of life politics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past few decades with the rapid advances in embryo and embryonic stem cell manipulation techniques, transgenic mouse models have emerged as a powerful tool for the study of gene function and complex diseases including male infertility. In this review we give a brief history of the development of tools for the production of transgenic mouse models. This spans the advances from early pronuclear injection to the use of targeted embryonic stem cells to produce gene targeted, conditional, and inducible knockout mouse models. Lastly we provide a few examples to illustrate the utility of mouse models in the study of male infertility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The prospect of cloning human beings is an issue that has taken center-stage in public concern over biotechnology in recent years. While a significant literature has emerged around many of the difficult questions that are raised here, this article argues that cloning also serves as a potent signifier of anxieties over the place of “sex” in the natural order of things. In analyzing this connection, it proposes that the idea of human cloning unsettles us in a way that may profitably be understood in terms of Sigmund Freud's account of the uncanny. To elucidate this claim, the article draws parallels between Roland Barthes' ontology of photography, Judith Butler's theory of gender melancholia, and the fiction of Kazuo Ishiguro. In all three cases, repetitions of sex and death at the limit of knowledge point to the uncanniness of cloning and compel a reassessment of the relation of (hetero)sexual reproduction to our understanding of nature and life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the regulation system of therapeutic cloning in Great Britain. It states the restruction of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority Act due to its inadequacy in the area of biomedical science in the country. It also mentions the pursuant of a course of developing medical understanding for curative treatments behind the moral controversy and social concern linger related to the therapeutic cloning.

Harvesting human embryonic stem (hES) cells is a highly controversial field of research because it rests on the destruction of human embryos. Altering the procedure of nuclear transfer (NT) is suggested to generate hES cell lines without ethical obstacles by claiming that no embryo would be involved. While discussing the nature of an embryo and related central questions concerning their moral status and the respect they deserve, this paper argues that the entity created by somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) or altered nuclear transfer (ANT) is an embryo and has the same moral status as a natural embryo. Respect for the embryo is expressed by the ethical principles of proportionality, probability and subsidiarity. This paper argues that the human embryo should only be taken for research with high ranking goals, which are proven in animal experimentation and for which there are no alternatives. This makes ANT obsolete and shows that SCNT to produce hES cells is premature at the present time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contemporary debate and speculation about the prospect of reproductive cloning reveals the way in which such beings, as 'copies' of human originals, challenge notions of the human, especially in relation to issues of individuality, authenticity and origin. This article explores the representation of human cloning in Kazuo Ishiguro's speculative fiction, Never let me go, published in 2005. It investigates the possibility that Ishiguro's exploration of the contingency of human identity has a significant, if oblique, relationship to heteronormative constructions of heterosexuality and the human. In order to trace how a fiction of human cloning might give rise to questions of heteronormativity, I will foreground issues of reproduction and their relationship to normative constructions of heterosexuality. The controversies prompted by the potential prospect of reproductive human cloning can be attributed in part to the ways in which it challenges the heterosexual prerogative to reproduction; I aim to situate human cloning within the context of other technologies of assisted reproduction and to theorise its challenge to the heterosexual prerogative to reproduction within feminist and queer frameworks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nanobiomaterials can play a central role in regenerative medicine and tissue engineering by facilitating cellular behavior and function, such as those where extracellular matrices (ECMs) direct embryonic stem (ES) cell morphogenesis, proliferation, differentiation and apoptosis. However, controlling ES cell proliferation and differentiation using matrices from natural sources is still challenging due to complex and heterogeneous culture conditions. Moreover, the systemic investigation of the regulation of self-renewal and differentiation to lineage specific cells depends on the use of defined and stress-free culture conditions. Both goals can be achieved by the development of biomaterial design targeting ECM or growth factors for ES cell culture. This targeted application will benefit from expansion of ES cells for transplantation, as well as the production of a specific differentiated cell type either by controlling the differentiation in a very specific pathway or by elimination of undesirable cell types. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The cloning scandal around South Korean scientist Hwang Woo Suk—who had forged scientific data and taken donor eggs from his PhD student—has often been explained by stereotyped models of cultural difference. As two national features which partly account for the scandal, knowledge acquisition in South Korea has close connections to hierarchies of status and prestige; and the life sciences there have a technological approach focused on applications. Similarly, the South Korean work ethos imposes a severe workload on junior researchers. Combined with expectations of self-sacrifice, this scientific culture mobilizes people as resources for scientific experiments and deters any criticism. Although such national features influence research practices in South Korea, they have global relevance. Actors do not merely conform to hegemonic authority structures; rather, they use various tactics to incorporate, appropriate, and twist the cultural 'rules of the game'. The Hwang scandal resulted from such interactions between actors, strategies, knowledges and narratives. Thus the scandal has general features that increasingly arise beyond South Korea, especially as science worldwide faces greater competitive pressures. National cultural differences should be seen as a resource for understanding how similar problems arise, albeit in apparently different ways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The moral status of the human embryo has gained much attention in debates over the acceptability, or otherwise, of human embryonic stem cell research. Far less attention has been paid to the suppliers of those embryos: people who have undergone IVF treatment to produce embryos to assist them to have a baby. It is sociologically and ethically important to understand their views and experiences of being asked to donate embryos for research if we are to fully understand the wider social and regulatory aspects of hESC science. This paper reports on parallel studies investigating these issues in the UK and in Switzerland. The studies reveal the inextricable entangling of the social and moral status of embryos. Since donors participate in different discursive domains and contexts (public, clinic, family) that shape their perception of “what” an embryo is, their views of embryos embody conflicting ideas and ambivalences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we offer some reflections on embryos in the biomedical worlds of embryonic stem cells (ESC) and pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD). We draw upon two ethnographic studies of the social practices of PGD and embryonic stem cell science to examine the notion of boundary objects as an approach for understanding the social construction of embryos. We analyze the ways in which human embryos have similar and different meanings in the related social worlds of ESC and PGD labs through a discussion of two major themes: the goals of PGD and ESC; and linking the worlds of ESC and PGD. We suggest the interface between the two cultures of PGD and ESC science can facilitate the flow of concepts, skills, materials and techniques within and between these two social worlds. In conclusion, we argue this is a salient case study of the production of biomedicine as a social and material practice in the emerging sphere of new medical technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In January 2004, the 'maverick cloner', Dr Panos Zavos called a press conference in London to announce that he had implanted a freshly cloned human embryo in the womb of an infertile woman. Reports of this press conference gained prominent coverage in the national newspapers the following day and led television bulletins that evening. This article discusses the ways in which expertise was claimed by or attributed to Dr Zavos and other key media sources. It argues that three key boundaries were demarcated in the coverage as journalists framed the stories in terms provided by Zavos's antagonists, 'mainstream scientists'. It also discusses the engagement in tactics of news management by an organised grouping of UK scientists who attempted to shape the terrain of news coverage on the subject of cloning. The question of the extent to which interested scientists should be able to set the terms of media debate is explored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this article is to use the episode of the baby allegedly cloned by the Raelians and born on the day after Christmas 2002 in order to analyse what is threatened by the prospect of cloning as a reproductive method, and why it is a matter of such importance as to provoke immediate and general condemnation. The announcement made by the Raelians provoked public debate in the media. Therefore, analysis of the articles published in the main Italian newspapers during that period allows exploration of the hypothesis that the Raelians' attempt of cloning was generally interpreted as a threat against the basis of our conception of human identity, not only at the individual level - which defines each of us as a balance between difference and continuity - but also at the social level, where human identity is the result of a classification system in which human beings are identified in contrast to other living beings. For these reasons, the case of the Raelians is of particular interest because it strains the reproduction/identity nexus in an extreme way which highlights what otherwise may lie buried beneath a thick layer of taken-for-granted beliefs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) remains a controversial technique, one that has elicited a variety of regulatory responses throughout the world. On March 29, 2005, Canada's Assisted Human Reproduction Act came into force. This law prohibits a number of research activities, including SCNT. Given the pluralistic nature of Canadian society, the creation of this law stands as an interesting case study of the policy-making process and how and why a liberal democracy ends up making the relatively rare decision to use a statutory prohibition, backed by severe penalties, to stop a particular scientific activity. In this article, we provide a comprehensive and systematic legal analysis of the legislative process and parliamentary debates associated with the passage of this law. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The issue of human cloning has received intense media and political attention since the cloning of Dolly the sheep was announced in 1997. This research explores the discursive basis for support and opposition to human cloning by examining the role of abortion-related rhetoric in constructing the concept of human cloning within the American press. An in-depth content analysis of human cloning news coverage was conducted on a sample of articles collected from the mainstream press as well as advocacy publications with either a pro-science or Christian fundamentalist orientation. Statistically significant differences were found indicating an important role for abortion rhetoric in the human cloning debate. This expansion of abortion rhetoric into the domain of science policy portends a unique and growing problem for resolving bioethical debates within American politics over the future development of biomedical technologies such as human cloning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study was conducted to evaluate the preimplantation embryonic potential of adult somatic cells from an infertile man using an interspecies bioassay for quality control and also to create human embryos via somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT). Skin tissue was biopsied from infertile man to obtain fibroblast cells. These cells were fused with both enucleated bovine oocytes obtained commercially and human oocytes obtained from his wife. SCNT-reconstructed oocytes were cultured in-vitro. Interspecies SCNT embryos were prepared for PCR and DNA analysis. From 13 SCNT-reconstructed bovine oocytes, 7 embryos developed (54%). DNA sequencing of these interspecies embryos showed the presence of human genomic DNA specific for the fibroblast cells of the man. From three SCNT-reconstructed human oocytes, one developed to the 4-cell stage and was subsequently transferred into the patient's uterus. Blood ß-hCG levels showed a negative pregnancy result. Human fibroblast cells from an infertile patient can promote embryonic development in interspecies SCNT. This is the first evidence of the creation and transfer of a human cloned embryo for reproductive purposes. Even though no pregnancy was established, human reproduction via SCNT may be possible and applicable in the future for patients with severe male or female infertility that have no other alternative options for procreating their own offspring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The success of mammal cloning in 1997 has brought the issue of human cloning into public discussion. Human cloning has several aspects and potential applications for use in both reproductive and non-reproductive matters. The aim of this study was to evaluate the knowledge and attitudes toward human cloning in Israel. Data from 120 respondents (68 health professionals and 52 non-health professionals), all Jewish, Hebrew speaking with at least 15 years of education each, were collected using two questionnaires that dealt with knowledge and attitudes toward human cloning. Results showed that although health professionals had significantly more knowledge than non-health professionals, all respondents had poor knowledge about cloning. No difference in attitudes was found between the groups. Most respondents opposed human cloning, but more positive attitudes toward non-reproductive cloning were found. The results are discussed in the context of the deficit model. The findings indicate a need to provide information about human cloning to allow people to form their attitudes based on factual knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article comments on the lessons that can be learned from the South Korean human embryonic stem cell fraud. The scandal involved Seoul University investigator Woo Suk Hwang and 24 co-authors who published what appeared to be a groundbreaking paper in "Science." They claimed to have established 11 embryonic stem cell lines containing nuclear DNA from somatic cells of research subjects. The research team published another paper in which they claimed to have established one cell line with the nuclear DNA from a research subject.

The article provides an overview of development in both the human and agricultural biotechnology in Israel. The author argues that the Israeli approach to biotechnology regulation is moral than other approaches in Western countries. One of the controversial biotechnology issues is human reproductive cloning, this does not opposed in principle in the country.

Over 12 months prior to the recent United Nations decision to defer a decision about what type of international treaty should be developed in the global stem-cell research and human cloning debate, the Federal Parliament of Australia passed two separate pieces of legislation relating to both these concerns. After a five-year long process of community consultation, media spectacle and parliamentary debate, reproductive cloning has been banned in Australia and only embryos considered to be excess to assisted reproductive technologies in existence on the 5th of April 2002 are currently valid research material. This paper argues that underpinning both pieces of legislation is a profound belief in the disruptive potential of all types of human cloning for the very nature and integrity of human species being. A belief, moreover, that is based on a presumption that it is apparently possible to conceptualise what being human even means for all Australians. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The primary goal of ART is to produce a healthy baby which will develop into a healthy adult. There are a number of challenges which must be met in order to achieve this goal, with possibly two foremost at the present time. The first is to eliminate multiple pregnancy by transfer of a single embryo, and the second is to understand the risks involved in ART. In recent years spin-out technologies have also developed from ART, first the diagnosis of genetic disease in the embryo, and now the derivation of embryonic stem cell lines with the potential to treat a range of human health disorders. Current and future scientific developments can help achieve all of these aims, but present a number of challenges to the ART community and regulatory bodies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last seven years, a major debate has arisen over whether human cloning should remain legal in the United States. Given that this may be the ‘first real global and simultaneous news story on biotechnology’ (Einsiedel et al., 2002, p. 313), nations around the world have struggled with the implications of this newly viable scientific technology, which is often also referred to as somatic cell nuclear transfer. Since the successful cloning of Dolly the sheep in 1997, and with increasing media attention paid to the likelihood of a successful human reproductive clone coupled with research suggesting the medical potential of therapeutic cloning in humans, members of the scientific community and Christian fundamentalist leaders have become increasingly vocal in the debate over U.S. policy decisions regarding human cloning (Wilmut, 2000). Yet despite a surfeit of public opinion polls and widespread opining in the news media on the topic of human cloning, there have been no empirical studies comparing the views of scientists and Christian fundamentalists in this debate (see Evans, 2002a for a recent study of opinion polls assessing religion and attitudes toward cloning). In order to further investigate the values that underlie scientists' and Christian fundamentalist leader's understanding of human cloning, as well as their differential use of language in communicating about this issue, we conducted an open-ended, exploratory survey of practicing scientists in the field of molecular biology and Christian fundamentalist pastors. We then analyzed the responses from this survey using qualitative discourse analysis. While this was not necessarily a representative sample (in quantitative terms, see Gaskell & Bauer, 2000) of each of the groups and the response rate was limited, this approach was informative in identifying both commonalities between the two groups, such as a focus on ethical concerns about reproductive cloning and the use of scientific terminology, as well as significant differences including concerns over ‘playing God’ for the Christian pastors, focus on therapeutic cloning by scientists, and subtle but informative differences between the two groups in their use of scientific terminology and their interpretations of human cloning as scientific progress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ETS transcription factor complex GABP consists of the GABPα protein, containing an ETS DNA binding domain, and an unrelated GABPβ protein, containing a transactivation domain and nuclear localization signal. GABP has been shown in vitro to regulate the expression of nuclear genes involved in mitochondrial respiration and neuromuscular signaling. We investigated the in vivo function of GABP by generating a null mutation in the murine Gabpα gene. Embryos homozygous for the null Gabpα allele die prior to implantation, consistent with the broad expression of Gabpα throughout embryogenesis and in embryonic stem cells. Gabpα+/- mice demonstrated no detectable phenotype and unaltered protein levels in the panel of tissues examined. This indicates that Gabpα protein levels are tightly regulated to protect cells from the effects of loss of Gabp complex function. These results show that Gabpα function is essential and is not compensated for by other ETS transcription factors in the mouse, and they are consistent with a specific requirement for Gabp expression for the maintenance of target genes involved in essential mitochondrial cellular functions during early cleavage events of the embryo. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two camps in bioethics with seemingly opposing world views have staked out conflicting positions regarding the ethics of human reproductive cloning. These camps do not appear to share common concepts or ways of reasoning through which to exchange views and come to a meeting of minds about uses of this technology. Yet analysis of their respective approaches to several issues surrounding reproductive cloning, such as where the ethical limits of individual reproductive choice lie, whether the use of this technology would violate human dignity, whether it would create risks to the resulting fetuses and children that would make its use intolerable, and whether it would challenge certain core social values, reveals that they are not wholly opposed to one another. Indeed, it displays that they hold certain beliefs, values, and concerns in common. Moreover, it indicates that the different world views that they each presuppose, while flawed in certain respects, do not collide in every respect, but can be reconciled in significant ways that provide fertile ground for agreement about several issues related to human reproductive cloning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Human Genome Project and related genetic research are exciting scientific quests that are also giving rise to significant ethical dilemmas and equity considerations. These include: the question of where to draw the line, e.g. is research on human cloning ethical, privacy of genetic and medical records, genetic discrimination, implications for public health programmes, unequal access to new but expensive therapeutic interventions, 'playing God', and patenting and commercialization of genetic material (including those obtained surreptitiously from Third World countries by individuals and multinational corporations from developed countries). The Human Genome Project is an example of technological progress threatening to outpace the adjustment ability of existing socioeconomic institutions. It has also given rise to the need to rethink the relationship between advances in the biomedical sciences and equity issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The issues of human cloning and stem cell retrieval are inseparable in circumstances in which the rationale of self-preservation may be invoked as a negative right. I apply this rationale to a hypothetical case in which cloning is necessary to preserve the bodily integrity or life of an individual. Self-preservation as moral integrity is examined in a narrower context, i.e., as applicable to those for whom deliberate termination of embryonic life is morally-problematic. This issue is addressed through comparison with two paradigms commonly used in support of clinical practice: the distinction between letting die and killing, and the permissibility of vital organ retrieval after death. Although these paradigms are questionable in their own right, they offer a rationale by which scientists and clinicians may respect the negative right to moral integrity of those with whom they disagree. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In wealthy countries such as the United States, new genetic and reproductive technologies, including human reproductive cloning, are being developed. To date, the short- and long-term consequences for women of human reproductive cloning have remained largely unexamined. This article analyses ten common misconceptions about new genetic technologies, especially human reproductive cloning, and shows that women will bear the major physical, psychological, social, moral, legal, political and economic burdens of these genetic manipulations. Despite the great diversity of women and differing feminist perspectives towards new reproductive technologies, I argue that we need a united position which opposes human reproductive cloning. This article is based on a presentation that formed part of a panel at the Association for Women's Rights and Development (AWID) 9th International Forum entitled 'The Genetic Revolution, Biotechnology and Women's Rights'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cloning is widely considered only to be a biological discourse. Few, however, have paid attention to the cultural contexts that have made cloning conceivable. The relation between the biological and cultural considerations of cloning are revealed by the anxieties conjured up by the prospects of cloning human beings. By cloning we understand the reproduction of sameness which is deeply ingrained in the organization and reproduction of culture. The ease with which cloning has been taken up in contemporary thinking has been made possible by the widespread saturation of the normative assumption of socio-cultural sameness underpinning much of mainstream modern thinking around politics, law, education, management, aesthetics, the military and processes of production. We consider the cultural considerations regarding the reproduction of sameness and the implications of cloning for issues of social injustice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To investigate the mechanism of spermatogenesis arrest derived from heat treatment and to screen temperature-related genes involved in spermatogenesis, the authors analyzed the differences in gene expression between cryptorchid and scrotal testes in rats, and cloned a full-length cDNA named TRS1. In situ hybridization showed that TRS1 mRNA was mainly expressed in spermatocyte and round spermatids in testis. The expression level decreased in cryptorchid testis, suggesting that the lower scrotal temperature is a key factor in keeping the normal expression of TRS1. At the N-terminal of TRS1, there was a plecstrin homology (PH) domain signature. This PH domain has high similarity to that in PEPP2, a homosapien protein, which has a characteristic of binding phosphatidylinositol 3-phosphate via its PH domain in vitro. These findings suggest that TRS1 may be important in spermatogenesis and give clues for further research on the function of TRS1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article shares the skepticism of some of the commentators about establishing a global human Embryonic Stem Cell (hESC) bank in the near future. The uncertainties about the immunological status of such cells as well as substantial limitations in developing solid organs for transplantation are considered. Some objections to regenerative medicine and hESC research are discussed.

Comments on the stance of the President's Council on Bioethics (PCB) on moral and ethical issues involving embryonic stem cell research. Argument raised by the PCB on general account and general theory of moral status; Objection against the principles of general account/theory of moral status; Views of U.S. citizens on extracorporeal human embryo research.

Comments on a study which proposed the use of blastocyst transfer method (BTM) for obtaining human embryonic stem cells. Concerns raised against preimplantation genetic diagnosis included in the proposed method; Argument on stem cell therapy; Complexities of the proposed BTM research.

Comments on the report of the President's Council on Bioethics (PCB) involving the moral and ethical issues of human cloning and human embryonic stem cell research. Key point of disagreement within the PCB concerning the treatment deserved by extracorporeal human embryo; Overview of the concept of public reasons by John Rawls; Deep disagreement about morality in the report.

Comments on the article "Telomeres and the Ethics of Human Cloning," by Fritz Allhoff, published in the 2004 issue of the "American Journal of Bioethics." Moral implications of telomere shortening in human cloning; Physiological mechanism of telomere shortening; Factors that indicate the moral permissibility of human cloning.

Comments on a study by John A. Robertson on preconception gender selection (PGS) which was published in the December 2001 issue of `The American Journal of Bioethics.' Interests that may infringe upon PGS; How arguments for and against PGS are reminiscent of the initial and continuing controversy surrounding human cloning; Opportunities that PGS and cloning present for would-be parents.

Focuses on the ethical issues of human cloning by somatic nuclear transplants in the United States. Advantages of cloning for infertile couples; Emphasis on the loss of human individuality; Role of cloning on the alteration of the uniqueness of every human being.

T-cell receptor (TCR)-based gene immunotherapy has emerged as a promising approach for the treatment of multiple malignancies. We have recently reported an efficient system for the cloning and functional evaluation of TCR-coding cDNAs. This system, which we named hTEC10, allows for the determination of TCR antigen specificity in less than 10 days, and may therefore constitute a fast and powerful platform for the development of new TCR-based anticancer therapies. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]