投稿者名:tagoaika

Japanese public show major reservations to cell donation for human brain organoid research New study argues standard forms of consent for cell donations would not be appropriate for this line of research A new study found that most Japanese citizens hesitate to donate their cells for brain organoid research under current “broad consent” systems. The research suggests adopting a project-specific consent model for ethically sensitive research topics. (Credit: Yukari Mishima) Research on human brain organoids (HBOs) is directly challenging how biobanks and biomedical institutes recruit volunteers. That is what a new study by Japanese researchers in Frontiers in Genetics concludes after finding that the Japanese public overwhelmingly rejects the common practice of broad consent when their donated cells could be used to create HBOs. This attitude jeopardizes recruitment and calls for an alternative form of consent that follows the project-specific consent model. Researchers can culture don

Japanese scholars submit a nuanced view linking diverse disability experiences Researchers at Hiroshima University (Japan) have introduced a new philosophical framework—“conditional bad-difference view” (Conditional BDV)—to understanding ethically important featuresof disability. Published in the journal Bioethics , Conditional BDV offers a nuanced way to think about the relationship between disability and well-being, aiming to better reflect and respect the diverse experiences of disabled individuals. The Conditional BDV was developed in response to shortcomings in the two dominant philosophical perspectives for disabilities. The “bad-difference view” (BDV) holds that a disability is inherently detrimental to well-being, even in ideal situations without discrimination against disabled people. By  contrast, the “mere-difference view” (MDV) considers a disability as ethically neutral in such nondiscriminatorysettings, just like race and gender. The novel Conditional BDV challenges this

Team publishes correspondence article reevaluating ‘seriousness’ in genetic conditions Examines how patient voices impact decision-making A team of three Japanese researchers has conducted a survey of stakeholders to examine how patient voices impact decisions related to genetic testing for hereditary cancers. These stakeholders included patients, healthcare professionals, and ethicists attending a workshop in Hiroshima in early 2025. The correspondence is published in the European Journal of Human Genetics on March 15, 2025.   There are differences of opinion in how to assess “seriousness” in genetic conditions. “In Japan, the seriousness of genetic disorders has traditionally been assessed using narrow medical criteria, limiting access to preimplantation genetic testing for monogenic diseases to only a small number of conditions. However, cases like retinoblastoma—which was only recognized as ‘serious’ after six years of patient advocacy—underscore the urgent need to incorporate sta