Abstract:
:The bioethical and juridical debate on the status of frozen embryos sometimes adds new issues arising from new scientific evidence or by accidental occurrences that bring to the attention of the scientific community the need for new practical solutions. Within this scenario, there have been, in recent years, episodes concerning the accidental thawing of embryos, which have been cryopreserved for transfer. Two Italian cases (the Milan and the Rome cases) are here reported: the Milan case involves a couple undergoing artificial insemination. Three eggs were collected for insemination and two of them had been fertilized. During the night of 8/9 May 2007 a short circuit occurred, resulting in an electricity blackout, which caused the loss of the embryos in culture, which should have been transferred to the woman's uterus on 9 May. The couple applied for damage compensation from the hospital following the loss of the embryos. The case went to Court and the result was a judgment issued by the Milan civil court, which recognized that the centre was to blame for irreparable damage to the embryos. The Rome case, involves two couples (A and B) affected by sterility who applied to an authorized public centre to undergo an ART program. Following the medical procedures, two of the embryos produced were transferred to the woman in couple A and five were frozen, whereas three embryos produced by couple B were transferred to the uterus of the woman and six eggs were cryopreserved in the centre. Two years after the procedure there was an electricity blackout, and the backup electricity generator failed to function, causing the loss of the gametes and the embryos cryopreserved in the centre. Legal proceedings begun by the couples to obtain compensation for damages are still underway. The above reported cases have significantly intensified the bioethical debate on the lawfulness of such practices and on the fate of the cryopreserved embryos, at the same time opening new frontiers in defining the type of damage caused by the accidental destruction of cryopreserved embryos destined for transfer.
journal_name
Curr Pharm Biotechnoljournal_title
Current pharmaceutical biotechnologyauthors
Busardò FP,Vergallo GM,Turillazzi E,Bolino G,Vullo A,Frati Pdoi
10.2174/1389201017666151231095901subject
Has Abstractpub_date
2016-01-01 00:00:00pages
321-5issue
4eissn
1389-2010issn
1873-4316pii
CPB-EPUB-72812journal_volume
17pub_type
杂志文章abstract::Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) represents the third cause of cancer-related death. Because HCC is multi-centric with time, excluding the few transplanted patients, sooner or later it becomes untreatable with loco-regional therapies and, until some years ago, it was not responsive to systemic therapies. In 2005 a rando...
journal_title:Current pharmaceutical biotechnology
pub_type: 杂志文章
doi:10.2174/138920111794295855
更新日期:2011-02-01 00:00:00
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journal_title:Current pharmaceutical biotechnology
pub_type: 杂志文章
doi:10.2174/1389201021666200807111359
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journal_title:Current pharmaceutical biotechnology
pub_type: 杂志文章
doi:10.2174/1389201021666200611113734
更新日期:2020-01-01 00:00:00
abstract::Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), a form of adult stem cells, are known to have a self-renewing property and the potential to specialize into a multitude of cells and tissues such as adipocytes, cartilage cells, and fibroblasts. MSCs can migrate and home to the desired target zone where inflammation is present. The uniqu...
journal_title:Current pharmaceutical biotechnology
pub_type: 杂志文章
doi:10.2174/1389201021666200907121530
更新日期:2020-09-07 00:00:00
abstract::Elaborate repair pathways counteract the deleterious effects of DNA damage by mechanisms that are understood in reasonable detail. In contrast, repair of damaged RNA has not been widely explored. This may be because aberrant RNAs are generally assumed to be degraded rather than repaired. The reason for this view is we...
journal_title:Current pharmaceutical biotechnology
pub_type: 杂志文章,评审
doi:10.2174/138920107783018363
更新日期:2007-12-01 00:00:00
abstract::Apolipoprotein M (apoM) has been suggested to play a role in reverse cholesterol transport. Here we studied the influence of liver X-receptor (LXR) agonist on the transcriptional regulation of apoM. Studies were performed in murine liver and intestinal mucosal cells in vivo and in human intestinal Caco-2 cells in vitr...
journal_title:Current pharmaceutical biotechnology
pub_type: 杂志文章
doi:10.2174/138920108786786376
更新日期:2008-12-01 00:00:00
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journal_title:Current pharmaceutical biotechnology
pub_type: 杂志文章,评审
doi:10.2174/1389201021666191217111156
更新日期:2020-01-01 00:00:00
abstract::Unlike any other cell type, T cells have a unique potential to eliminate cancer cells and to eventually cure cancer patients. As a result, researchers have made extensive efforts over the past three decades to develop therapeutics with the potential to mount T cell responses against cancer cells. One way in which such...
journal_title:Current pharmaceutical biotechnology
pub_type: 杂志文章,评审
doi:10.2174/138920112800785005
更新日期:2012-06-01 00:00:00
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journal_title:Current pharmaceutical biotechnology
pub_type: 杂志文章,评审
doi:10.2174/1389201017666160301104323
更新日期:2016-01-01 00:00:00
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journal_title:Current pharmaceutical biotechnology
pub_type: 杂志文章
doi:10.2174/1389201015666140909124310
更新日期:2014-01-01 00:00:00
abstract::Increasing evidence shows that the interaction between neoplastic cells and the surrounding stroma is a critical factor in solid tumor growth. The tumor stroma is made up of diverse cellular populations including macrophages, lymphocytes, vascular cells, and carcinoma-associated fibroblasts. The complex interactions b...
journal_title:Current pharmaceutical biotechnology
pub_type: 杂志文章,评审
doi:10.2174/138920109787315088
更新日期:2009-02-01 00:00:00
abstract::Levels of high density lipoprotein (HDL) and its major protein component, apolipoprotein (apo) A-I, are strongly inversely correlated to risk of atherosclerosis and other vascular diseases. A number of properties of apo A-I may contribute to this protection, including removal of cholesterol from peripheral tissues to ...
journal_title:Current pharmaceutical biotechnology
pub_type: 杂志文章,评审
doi:10.2174/138920106777950834
更新日期:2006-08-01 00:00:00
abstract:BACKGROUND:Active principles from natural sources, in the form of extracts and natural compounds, provide an infinite number of bioactive compounds with consummate disposal of chemical diversity. These compounds and active principles are of utmost importance in the discovery of drugs of biological origin particularly, ...
journal_title:Current pharmaceutical biotechnology
pub_type: 杂志文章
doi:10.2174/1389201022666210122125854
更新日期:2021-01-22 00:00:00
abstract::Blood Brain Barrier (BBB) is the collection of vessels of blood with special properties of permeability that allow a limited range of drug and compounds to pass through it. The BBB plays a vital role in maintaining balance between intracellular and extracellular environment for brain. Brain Capillary Endothelial Cells...
journal_title:Current pharmaceutical biotechnology
pub_type: 杂志文章,评审
doi:10.2174/1389201020666190821145346
更新日期:2019-01-01 00:00:00
abstract::Under normal conditions, most of the central nervous system (CNS) is protected by the blood brain barrier (BBB) from systemic inflammation progression and from the infiltration of immune cells. As a consequence, the CNS developed an original way to provide surveillance, defense and repair, which relies on the complex ...
journal_title:Current pharmaceutical biotechnology
pub_type: 杂志文章,评审
doi:10.2174/1389201015666140617101332
更新日期:2014-01-01 00:00:00
abstract::Coagulase-negative staphylococci (CoNS) are part of the microbiota of human skin and rarely linked with soft tissue infections. In recent years, CoNS species considered as one of the major nosocomial pathogens and can cause several infections such as catheter-acquired sepsis, skin infection, urinary tract infection, e...
journal_title:Current pharmaceutical biotechnology
pub_type: 杂志文章,评审
doi:10.2174/1389201021666200423110359
更新日期:2020-01-01 00:00:00
abstract:BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVE:Nutritional culturomics (NCs) is a specific focus area of culturomics epistemology developing digital humanities and computational linguistics approaches to search for macro-patterns of public interest in food, nutrition and diet choice as a major component of cultural evolution. Cultural evoluti...
journal_title:Current pharmaceutical biotechnology
pub_type: 杂志文章
doi:10.2174/1389201020666190211125550
更新日期:2019-01-01 00:00:00
abstract::More than 80% of all cancers are caused by solid malignancies. More than 90% of these tumours are of epithelial origin. The main principles in tumour treatment are surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy or combinations of these. Complete surgical removal of the tumour is the most effective therapy for solid malignancies....
journal_title:Current pharmaceutical biotechnology
pub_type: 杂志文章,评审
doi:10.2174/138920112800784844
更新日期:2012-06-01 00:00:00
abstract::The design and development of novel biological drugs are among the most exciting new areas of biotechnology which are gaining the attention of scientists. In the last few decades several fabrication processes have been proposed and developed for the production of recombinant growth factors. However, traditional produc...
journal_title:Current pharmaceutical biotechnology
pub_type: 杂志文章
doi:10.2174/138920101705160303165312
更新日期:2016-01-01 00:00:00
abstract::The idea of cancer stem cell (CSC) has recently moved to the forefront of cancer research. There is still a lack of a widespread consensus on their description and definition. ,The increasing literature on CSCs has compelled researchers worldwide to rewrite the natural history of cancer including those cells as princi...
journal_title:Current pharmaceutical biotechnology
pub_type: 杂志文章,评审
doi:10.2174/138920111794295756
更新日期:2011-02-01 00:00:00
abstract::In this review, the compartments of the vasculature will be discussed with respect to their potential contribution to the build-up of a differentiated and functionally meaningful vessel system. Chronic ischemia of muscle tissue results in microvessel rarification, which represents a potential therapeutic target, given...
journal_title:Current pharmaceutical biotechnology
pub_type: 杂志文章,评审
doi:10.2174/138920107779941390
更新日期:2007-02-01 00:00:00
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journal_title:Current pharmaceutical biotechnology
pub_type: 杂志文章,评审
doi:10.2174/138920111798808383
更新日期:2011-12-01 00:00:00
abstract::Natural compounds represent a significant source for the development of novel medicines. Finding the target proteins for a natural compound is the most important step towards understanding its molecular mechanism for therapeutic usage. In fact, the search for target proteins could be considered the first step of the d...
journal_title:Current pharmaceutical biotechnology
pub_type: 杂志文章,评审
doi:10.2174/138920112800958940
更新日期:2012-07-01 00:00:00
abstract::Spirulina, a filamentous cyanobacterium, possesses diverse biological activities and nutritional significance due to high concentration of natural nutrients, having bio-modulatory and immuno-modulatory functions. Different Spirulina preparations influence immune system viz. increase phagocytic activity of macrophages,...
journal_title:Current pharmaceutical biotechnology
pub_type: 杂志文章,评审
doi:10.2174/138920105774370607
更新日期:2005-10-01 00:00:00
abstract:BACKGROUND:Recombinant monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) are useful in research, diagnosis, and therapy. The increased demands of recombinant mAbs require efficient production systems. A variety of expression vectors have been developed for stable or transient production of mAbs in mammalian cells. Although a few commercial...
journal_title:Current pharmaceutical biotechnology
pub_type: 杂志文章
doi:10.2174/1389201018666170320110545
更新日期:2017-01-01 00:00:00
abstract::Clostridium perfringens alpha-toxin is thought to be an important agent in gas gangrene, which is a lifethreatening infection with fever, pain, edema, myonecrosis, and gas production. The toxin (370 residues) is composed of an N-terminal domain (1-250 residues, N-domain) in which the catalytic site is found and a C-te...
journal_title:Current pharmaceutical biotechnology
pub_type: 杂志文章,评审
doi:10.2174/1389201014666131226124348
更新日期:2013-01-01 00:00:00
abstract::Better understanding of protein higher order structures (HOS) is of major interest to researchers in the field of biotechnology and biopharmaceutics. Monitoring a protein's HOS is crucial towards understanding the impact of molecular conformation on the biotechnological application. In addition, maintaining the HOS is...
journal_title:Current pharmaceutical biotechnology
pub_type: 杂志文章
doi:10.2174/1389201011314020010
更新日期:2013-01-01 00:00:00
abstract::Chronic inflammation and oxidative stress increase with advancing age and appear to be involved in the pathogenesis of coronary heart disease, the leading cause of death worldwide. There is a need for animal models that reflect the increases in pro-inflammatory cytokines and oxidative damage observed during aging in h...
journal_title:Current pharmaceutical biotechnology
pub_type: 杂志文章
doi:10.2174/138920110793262006
更新日期:2010-12-01 00:00:00
abstract::Beta-lactams and glycopeptides antibiotics directed against enzymes involved in bacterial cell wall synthesis have generated bacterial resistance. Search for new antibiotic molecules is widely focused on bifunctional Penicillin-Binding Proteins (PBPs), with particular emphasis on their glycosyltransferase activity. Th...
journal_title:Current pharmaceutical biotechnology
pub_type: 杂志文章,评审
doi:10.2174/1389201023378436
更新日期:2002-06-01 00:00:00
abstract::Higher plants produce diverse classes of metabolites. Metabolic engineering offers tremendous potential to improve the production and quality of these chemicals. This report summarizes the possibility of using metabolic engineering in benzylisoquinoline alkaloid biosynthesis. Benzylisoquinoline alkaloids, such as morp...
journal_title:Current pharmaceutical biotechnology
pub_type: 杂志文章,评审
doi:10.2174/138920107781387438
更新日期:2007-08-01 00:00:00