Keyword: pgd
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“A teacher can never truly teach unless he is still learning himself. A lamp can never light another lamp unless it continues to burn its own flame. The teacher who has come to the end of his subject, who has no living traffic with his knowledge but merely repeats his lessons to his students, can only load their minds. He can not quicken them.” – TagoreA vibrant education sector is fundamental for developing human capital within countries. With an active and transformative education policy and a supportive infrastructure, the development of a knowledge-based population can apply itself to sustained and...
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Teaching is a timeless profession. It is the basis of all other professions. Good teachers plant seeds that make good doctors, good accountants, good public servants, good statesmen, good taxi drivers, and good astronauts. When former students return to see me over the years, my heart fills up in the knowledge that I have been part of a wonderful accumulation of experiences that followed them through life. - Mary Bicouvaris.In the education sector, there has been a growing movement toward infusing 21st century skills into teaching. Driven by organizations around the world, this trend is more than a passing fad,...
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Within two decades, the Internet has democratised access to information in many parts of the world. This global network of networks currentlyconnects more than two billion users worldwide (World Internet Stats, 2011), driving significant changes in the way we socialise, work, learn, and, indeed, live. One aspect of lifestyle that has significantly evolved with technology is learning. Teacher-to-student and peer-to-peercommunication and learning are increasingly supported by digital technologies; in particular, social media technologieshave ushered in the age of connectivist learning, introducing a completely new set of principles of learning and learning design centred on collective sharing of tools and information....
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In a recent post I noted that genetic tests to predict adult height are still a long way off being accurate; currently, known genetic variants can predict just over 5% of the variance in height, as opposed to 40% predicted using a simple algorithm based on the heights of both parents. The genetic complexity of height means that trying to screen embryos for this trait using pre-implantation genetic diagnosis is likely to be little more than an exercise in frustration. However, that's not true for all traits. In several recent posts I've mentioned eye colour as one relatively genetically simple...
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Over at Opposing Views, bioethicist Jacob Appel argues that pre-implantation genetic screening for severe disease mutations should be compulsory for parents undergoing IVF. Appell dodges one obvious criticism of this suggestion - that it unacceptably limits parental autonomy - by pointing out that "Western societies have long acknowledged that parental authority cannot undermine the medical interests of a child". As examples, Appell cites the facts that Jehovah's Witnesses cannot deny their own children blood transfusions, however strong their religious opposition, and that "American courts consistently compel pediatric cancer therapy, even when parents object". Given these precedents, Appell argues that allowing...
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Last month I mentioned a US fertility clinic that was offering couples undergoing IVF the opportunity to screen their embryos for sex, and for genes associated with "cosmetic" traits such as eye and hair colour. I used this as an opportunity to note that the genetic complexity of many traits (e.g. height, also discussed yesterday) would make it highly unlikely that embryo screening would be effective for these, although for hair and eye colour such screening is certainly feasible. The media coverage of this fertility clinic - run by reproductive endocrinologist Jeff Steinberg (pictured) - predictably sparked a wave of...
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When physicians at University College in London last month announced the birth of what they described as the world's first "breast-cancer gene-free baby," a designer infant pre-screened for the BRCA1 cancer gene, critics focused public debate on the question of whether or not such screening should be permitted. Yet as genetic screening becomes increasingly routine, it is the opposite question that will likely raise far more ethical challenges: If pre-implantation genetic diagnosis during in vitro fertilization (IVF) can successfully prevent children from developing serious illnesses, why shouldn't such screening be required? Women who carry the BRCA1 gene have approximately an...
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A new study by researchers at NYU Langone Medical Center indicates that consumers are more interested in using genetic technologies to screen for life threatening diseases than in using the technologies to screen offspring for enhanced traits. Specifically, consumers appear ready to use biotechnologies to test for life altering and threatening medical conditions like mental retardation, blindness, deafness, cancer, heart disease, dwarfism and shortened lifespan from death by 5 years of age—but what they’re not interested in is prenatal genetic testing to screen for traits like tall stature, superior athletic ability and superior intelligence. “Our research has discovered that although...
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HUNDREDS of Scottish couples are being offered a revolutionary screening service to create "designer babies" free of deadly genetic diseases. The treatment – which could be funded by the NHS – involves taking a single cell from an embryo created using IVF and testing it for one of 200 rogue genes behind inherited conditions including cancers and cystic fibrosis. The private clinic in ADVERTISEMENTGlasgow will then implant only embryos guaranteed free of a specific genetic fault, charging £5,500 for each round of treatment. It is the first time such a service has been offered north of the border, and last...
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Babies exposed to high levels of the male hormone testosterone in the womb have an increased risk of autistic traits, groundbreaking research has found. The study found children who were exposed to higher levels of the chemical during foetal development are more likely to display autistic traits from an early age. The discovery takes prenatal screening for autism a significant step closer, raising the possibility that mothers could terminate babies with the condition. It also, more controversially, opens the way for a cure. Researchers made the discovery after monitoring the progress of 235 children whose mothers underwent amniotic fluid tests...
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Keep track of stories like these, and how they describe with other names what is actually eugenics: The first child in Britain known to have been screened as an embryo to ensure she did not carry a cancer gene was born Friday, a spokesman for University College London told CNN.Her embryo was screened in a lab days after conception to check for the BRCA-1 gene, linked to breast and ovarian cancer. People with the gene are known to have a 50-80 percent chance of developing breast or ovarian cancer in their lifetimes.British newspapers have dubbed the girl the "cancer-free"...
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Barcelona, Spain: For the first time in the world scientists have succeeded in developing human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) from a single cell, or blastomere, of a 4-cell stage embryo, the 24th annual conference of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology heard today (Wednesday 9 July). Dr. Hilde Van de Velde, from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Brussels, Belgium, said that their research meant that it might be possible in the future to produce hESC lines at an earlier stage without destroying the embryo. Blastomeres are formed in the very early stages of embryonic development. About 24 hours...
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Infertility - not assimilation or inadequate education - is perhaps the biggest obstacle to Jewish continuity, suggests Rabbi Elliot Dorff, rector and professor of philosophy at the University of Judaism in Los Angeles. “We are in a great demographic crisis,” says the Conservative rabbi, an expert in medical ethics. “We Jews are not even reproducing ourselves, let alone growing.” Dorff understands how much education is required to take somebody born Jewish and transform that person into someone who knows a lot about Judaism and practices it. “But you can't educate someone who is not there,” he said in a phone...
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Supposed New Embryonic Stem Cell Research Technique Killed All Embryos by Steven Ertelt LifeNews.com Editor Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A supposedly new method of obtaining embryonic stem cells for research without destroying any human embryos appeared to be untrue. Upon further examination of the research paper making the claims, it appears all of the 16 human embryos Advanced Cell Technology used to come up with the process died during the procedure. The biotech firm made amazing claims that produced a media sensation around the world when it said it had developed a morally ethical method of obtaining the cells. Pro-life...
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