Plenty of geeks are already obsessed with self-tracking, from monitoring sleep rhythms to graphing caffeine intake versus productivity. Now, the Department of Defense’s far-out research agency is after the ultimate kind of Quantified Self: Soldiers with implanted body sensors that keep intimate tabs on their health, around the clock. (Wired)

Norway is set to become the first country to incorporate genome sequencing into its national health-care system. The Scandinavian nation, which has a population of 4.8 million, will use ‘next-generation’ DNA sequencers to trawl for mutations in tumours that might reveal which cancer treatments would be most effective. (Nature News)

The Obama administration’s decision requiring church-affiliated employers to cover birth control was bound to cause an uproar among Roman Catholics and members of other faiths, no matter their beliefs on contraception. (Washington Post)

Malaria kills 1.2 million people each year, more than twice as many deaths as previously thought, according to new research published in the Lancet. (ABC News)

A 9-year-old Maine girl is home from a Boston hospital healthy, active and with high hopes — and a new stomach, liver, spleen, small intestine, pancreas, and part of an esophagus to replace the ones that were being choked by a huge tumor. (ABC News)

A federal judge is considering whether Washington state can require pharmacies to stock and sell Plan B or other emergency contraceptives, even in the face of religious objections by druggists who believe they destroy human life. (Washington Post)

Sugar is as damaging and addictive as alcohol or tobacco and should be regulated, claim US health experts. (BBC News)

Taiwanese health authorities said Tuesday that tougher checks on illegal gender-selective abortions prevented nearly 1,000 terminations of female foetuses last year. (AFP)

Treating stroke patients with stem cells taken from their own bone marrow appears to safely help them regain some of their lost abilities, two small new studies suggest. (US News and World Report)

Because a 35-year-old father is not in the country legally, a San Francisco hospital is refusing to perform a life-saving kidney transplant, the Contra Costa Times reports in an article highlighting a clash between immigration law and medical ethics. (USA Today)

In a declaration that will have legal implications in its 47 member states, the Strasbourg-based organisation announced that such practices “must always be prohibited”. (Telegraph)

Three common chemotherapy drugs cause DNA mutations not only in mice that receive treatment, but also in their offspring, according to a study published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA. (Scientific American)

The dangers of life in the National Football League made headlines in 2009, when a study commissioned by the NFL found that retired players were 19 times more likely than other men of similar ages to develop severe memory problems. (Scientific American)

Florida and 25 other states officially have requested the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn what they call the unconstitutional expansion of the Medicaid program as part of the national health system reform law. (American Medical News)

A physician can be sued for allegedly causing a patient emotional distress, even when no physical impact led to the distress, the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania has ruled. (American Medical News)

A potentially deadlier form of the bird flu virus poses one of the gravest known threats to humans and justifies an unprecedented call to censor the research that produced it, a top U.S. biosecurity official said on Tuesday. (Reuters)

Thirty-nine years ago, Roe v. Wade was decided. With the passage of nearly four decades, the landscape of abortion has changed in a way that should trouble even those who consider themselves pro-choice. (CNN)

Researchers have demonstrated a striking method to reconstruct words, based on the brain waves of patients thinking of those words. (BBC News)

Kaiser Permanente Northern California — Department of Medical Ethics
21st  Annual Symposium
Saturday, March 3, 2012
San Ramon Valley Conference Center

The Department of Medical Ethics residing within KP-TPMG Northern California invites you to attend its twenty-first annual Symposium. For this year’s symposium the topics are pulled from ethical “currents” running through modern health care. Our speakers and workshop leaders will cover varied topics such as medical futility, maternal-fetal conflict, professionalism in the age of social media, and the role spirituality can play in making health care decisions.  We look forward to sharing the day with you!

Registration and Information

During the week of April 23, 2012, the Tuskegee University National Center for Bioethics in Research and Health Care is proud to sponsor an internationally prominent series of educational events. The week’s events will focus upon bioethics, public health ethics, health disparities, and health equity.

In 2012, we have entered into the 80th year of remembrance of the start of the infamous syphilis experiments in Tuskegee. This special week of commemoration at Tuskegee’s National Bioethics Center will be dedicated in a most special way to deepening our commitment as individuals and professionals ever to prevent the worst by always doing the best.

Registration and full information about all of the planned events will be posted by next Friday, February 3, 2012.

In the event of any questions, please contact Beverly Ebo at 334-725-2319