Lengthening the stem: allowing federally funded researchers to derive human pluripotent stem cells from embryos

Recent developments in fetal tissue research and stem cell research have led to dramatic breakthroughs in the search for cures for Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, diabetes, and a host of neurological disorders. Because this research involves fetal tissue and stem cells from human embryos, many complicated ethical and legal implications surround it. This Note explores the history of fetal tissue research and stem cell research, examines the surrounding ethical and legal issues, looks at the current state of federal law, and concludes that Congress should allow federally funded researchers to derive stem cells from discarded human embryos obtained from in vitro fertilization clinics.     

The competitive effects of health maintenance organizations: another look at the evidence from Hawaii, Rochester, and Minneapolis/St. Paul

There has been much discussion about the potential cost-containing impact of HMOs upon the local medical care market. Three areas have been identified by various observers as experiencing such beneficial effects: Hawaii, after the development of Kaiser in the late 1950s; Rochester, New York, which experienced rapid HMO growth and declining Blue Cross hospital use in the late 1970s; and Minneapolis/St. Paul, which has been the focus of vigorous HMO competition in the last decade. While comprehensive data on health care expenditures are not available, bits of evidence can be pieced together to develop case studies of each area. Careful review of the available data often identifies internal inconsistencies and contradictions, but in none of the three sites is there a reduction in hospital use that is most plausibly attributed to HMO competition. Instead, the reported reductions are in each case attributable to other factors--including biases in data, long-term trends predating HMOs, indirect effects of other policy changes, and other forms of competition.     

Final regulations on school assessments: an attempt to align the NCLBA and the IDEIA

The Secretary of the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) issued final regulations on education assessments under the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEIA), which went into effect on May 9, 2007. These regulations cover how students with disabilities are going to participate in state- and district-wide assessments, and are part of the DOE's effort to align the NCLBA and the IDEIA. This article reviews the new assessment regulations and evaluates whether and how they benefit children with disabilities.     

The application of the medical criteria for the harm to health: expert and law-enforcement practice

This paper is devoted to the practical application of the medical criteria (MC) for the harm to health (HH) put into force on September 16, 2008. The authors undertook the analysis of procedures of forensic medical expertises for the estimation of the harm to health during the periods before and after putting MC into action (between 2007 and 2010). The results of this analysis were compared with the number of documented criminal actions that caused harm to health and the number of subjects convicted of such crimes. It is shown that the frequency of crimes leading to the serious harm to health has increased (by 22%) in parallel to the roughly similar decrease in the frequency of crimes responsible for the moderate harm. These trends are unrelated to the changes in the number of subjects convicted of such crimes. The frequency of intentional infliction of the serious harm to health decreased by 12% and the number of subjects convicted of the crimes that caused serious (Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, parts 1-3, article 111) and moderate (Criminal Code, article 112) harm to health decreased in 2010 by 5% compared with 2007. The rise in the frequency of the crimes responsible for the serious harm to health (Medical Criteria, pp. 6.11.1-6.11.11) revealed during forensic medical expertises is unrelated to the number of documented crimes and subjects convicted of them under parts 1,2, article 264 of the Criminal Code. The number of documented crimes and subjects convicted of them after the new medical criteria had been put into force (2009 and 2010) decreased by 23% and 15% respectively. It is concluded that putting into effect the new regulations and medical criteria did not result in a substantial change in the relative frequency of the serious and moderate harm to health. Nor did the law enforcement practice gives evidence of any change in the relationship between cases of moderate and serious harm to health and in the number of grave crimes causing the harm to health. The new medical criteria allowed to put in order and present in a structured fashion the data on the harm to health depending on the degree of its severity.