Assessing Genetic Risks


Book Description

Raising hopes for disease treatment and prevention, but also the specter of discrimination and "designer genes," genetic testing is potentially one of the most socially explosive developments of our time. This book presents a current assessment of this rapidly evolving field, offering principles for actions and research and recommendations on key issues in genetic testing and screening. Advantages of early genetic knowledge are balanced with issues associated with such knowledge: availability of treatment, privacy and discrimination, personal decision-making, public health objectives, cost, and more. Among the important issues covered: Quality control in genetic testing. Appropriate roles for public agencies, private health practitioners, and laboratories. Value-neutral education and counseling for persons considering testing. Use of test results in insurance, employment, and other settings.




How to Practice Academic Medicine and Publish from Developing Countries?


Book Description

This is an open access book. The book provides an overview of the state of research in developing countries – Africa, Latin America, and Asia (especially India) and why research and publications are important in these regions. It addresses budding but struggling academics in low and middle-income countries. It is written mainly by senior colleagues who have experienced and recognized the challenges with design, documentation, and publication of health research in the developing world. The book includes short chapters providing insight into planning research at the undergraduate or postgraduate level, issues related to research ethics, and conduct of clinical trials. It also serves as a guide towards establishing a research question and research methodology. It covers important concepts such as writing a paper, the submission process, dealing with rejection and revisions, and covers additional topics such as planning lectures and presentations. The book will be useful for graduates, postgraduates, teachers as well as physicians and practitioners all over the developing world who are interested in academic medicine and wish to do medical research.




Genetics/genomics Nursing


Book Description




Clinical Ethics at the Crossroads of Genetic and Reproductive Technologies


Book Description

Clinical Ethics at the Crossroads of Genetic and Reproductive Technologies offers thorough discussions on preconception carrier screening, genetic engineering and the use of CRISPR gene editing, mitochondrial gene replacement therapy, sex selection, predictive testing, secondary findings, embryo reduction and the moral status of the embryo, genetic enhancement, and the sharing of genetic data. Chapter contributions from leading bioethicists and clinicians encourage a global, holistic perspective on applied challenges and the moral questions relating the implementation of genetic reproductive technology. The book is an ideal resource for practitioners, regulators, lawmakers, clinical researchers, genetic counselors and graduate and medical students. As the Human Genome Project has triggered a technological revolution that has influenced nearly every field of medicine, including reproductive medicine, obstetrics, gynecology, andrology, prenatal genetic testing, and gene therapy, this book presents a timely resource. - Provides practical analysis of the ethical issues raised by cutting-edge techniques and recent advances in prenatal and reproductive genetics - Contains contributions from leading bioethicists and clinicians who offer a global, holistic perspective on applied challenges and moral questions relating to genetic and genomic reproductive technology - Discusses preconception carrier screening, genetic engineering and the use of CRISPR gene editing, mitochondrial gene replacement therapy, ethical issues, and more




Ethics and Human Genetics


Book Description

Based in part on a survey of ethical decision-marking among 682 medical geneticists worldwide, this book includes a chapter authored by a geneticistand an ethicist in 19 nations, describing genetic services, counselling, screening, prenatal diagnosis, and major ethical problems and social controversies faced by geneticists. The concluding chapter describes ethical and policy issues that exist worldwide, and offerssome possible resolutions.




Genetics, Society and Clinical Practice


Book Description

This book examines, from both ethical and clinical perspectives, the impact of increasing genetic knowledge on individuals and families. The authors use their experience of working at the "coal face" of clinical genetics to describe the social implications arising from the ability to rest for an increasing number of genetic diseases. Current controversial issues such as genetic testing and insurance, early diagnosis of late onset disorders, population screening, and abuses of genetics, are all described with great clarity. Several of the chapters are based on lead articles and editorials the authors have been asked to write for The Lancet and British Medical Journal. The book provides a concise introduction to the effects on individuals of the practical issues associated with genetic testing and therefore should be essential reading for all involved in clinical genetics.







Society's Choices


Book Description

Breakthroughs in biomedicine often lead to new life-giving treatments but may also raise troubling, even life-and-death, quandaries. Society's Choices discusses ways for people to handle today's bioethics issues in the context of America's unique history and cultureâ€"and from the perspectives of various interest groups. The book explores how Americans have grappled with specific aspects of bioethics through commission deliberations, programs by organizations, and other mechanisms and identifies criteria for evaluating the outcomes of these efforts. The committee offers recommendations on the role of government and professional societies, the function of commissions and institutional review boards, and bioethics in health professional education and research. The volume includes a series of 12 superb background papers on public moral discourse, mechanisms for handling social and ethical dilemmas, and other specific areas of controversy by well-known experts Ronald Bayer, Martin Benjamin, Dan W. Brock, Baruch A. Brody, H. Alta Charo, Lawrence Gostin, Bradford H. Gray, Kathi E. Hanna, Elizabeth Heitman, Thomas Nagel, Steven Shapin, and Charles M. Swezey.




Heritable Human Genome Editing


Book Description

Heritable human genome editing - making changes to the genetic material of eggs, sperm, or any cells that lead to their development, including the cells of early embryos, and establishing a pregnancy - raises not only scientific and medical considerations but also a host of ethical, moral, and societal issues. Human embryos whose genomes have been edited should not be used to create a pregnancy until it is established that precise genomic changes can be made reliably and without introducing undesired changes - criteria that have not yet been met, says Heritable Human Genome Editing. From an international commission of the U.S. National Academy of Medicine, U.S. National Academy of Sciences, and the U.K.'s Royal Society, the report considers potential benefits, harms, and uncertainties associated with genome editing technologies and defines a translational pathway from rigorous preclinical research to initial clinical uses, should a country decide to permit such uses. The report specifies stringent preclinical and clinical requirements for establishing safety and efficacy, and for undertaking long-term monitoring of outcomes. Extensive national and international dialogue is needed before any country decides whether to permit clinical use of this technology, according to the report, which identifies essential elements of national and international scientific governance and oversight.




Molecular Pathology in Clinical Practice


Book Description

This authoritative textbook embodies the current standard in molecular testing for practicing pathologists, and residents and fellows in training. The text is organized into eight sections: genetics, inherited cancers, infectious disease, neoplastic hematopathology, solid tumors, HLA typing, identity testing, and laboratory management. Discussion of each diagnostic test includes its clinical significance, available assays, quality control and lab issues, interpretation, and reasons for testing. Coverage extends to HIV, hepatitis, developmental disorders, bioterrorism, warfare organisms, lymphomas, breast cancer and melanoma, forensics, parentage, and much more. Includes 189 illustrations, 45 in full-color. This textbook is a classic in the making and a must-have reference.