News by Subject Policy & Ethics

The European Academy of Cancer Sciences (EACS), an independent advisory body of medical specialists and researchers, has issued a position paper encouraging the European Union and its member states to formally launch a mission to boost and streamline cancer research. Published in Molecular Oncology, a journal of the Federation of European Biochemical Societies, the goal is to increase the societal impact of research by decreasing cancer incidence, increasing cure rate, improving health-related quality of life, and developing cost-effective cancer prevention and therapeutic strategies.

More than a quarter of providers were unable to say whether their state had expanded Medicaid, the national survey found. The survey also sought to assess the healthcare providers' views on the effects of the ACA.

In an article published in Creativity Research Journal, Georgetown researchers address neuro-ethical concerns associated with the increasing use of transcranial electrical stimulation (tES).

Failure rates in some surgical mesh products used to treat prolapse injury are unacceptably high according to a new biomedical review conducted by a medical materials expert, who also believes patients should have received more information around the risk before being treated for urinary incontinence with surgical mesh products.

Women that have undiagnosed sexually transmitted infections may be at greater risk of experiencing negative premenstrual symptoms (PMS), according to new Oxford University research. The study was conducted as part of a long term partnership with the female health, fertility and period-tracking app, CLUE. The findings, published in Evolution Medicine & Public Health, suggest that the presence of an undiagnosed STI might aggravate the negative premenstrual experience.

The development, manufacture and sale of pharmaceutical drugs in the United States is a complex landscape of intellectual property and federal regulation. The status quo of the US pharmaceutical market may soon be turned on its head. That's due in part to a growing community of do-it-yourself 'biohackers' who are disrupting business-as-usual for pharmaceutical discovery, development and distribution.

With over three-quarters of Americans now owning a smartphone, healthcare researchers have speculated that the number of patients recording visits with their doctor was increasing. A new study by researchers from The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice is the first to measure the prevalence of recording of clinical visits in the United States. The study also assesses the attitudes of doctors and the public toward recording, and surveys 49 large health systems.

Researchers investigating the use of Twitter to propagate or debunk conspiracy theories related to the 2015-2016 Zika virus outbreak analyzed the content of more than 25,000 Tweets and the characteristics of the social networks used to disseminate them.

A new study from the University of Missouri School of Medicine reveals an increasing number of women are learning about their breast cancer diagnosis over the phone. It's a finding that has prompted the MU School of Medicine to develop new training methods to better prepare future physicians to deliver negative news without being face-to-face with patients.