Health Buzz: Stem Cell Rules and Other Health News

NIH Sets Limits for Using Embryonic Stem Cells

Monday the National Institutes of Health issued rules for how embryonic stem cells may be used in government-funded research, the Associated Press reports. The NIH has decided embryos used for stem cell research may only be those that fertility clinics intend to discard. Even stem cells used to generate existing lines used for research funded under the Bush administration must meet the requirement, according to the AP. The ethical requirements also stipulate that couples who donate their embryos for research must be told what might be done with them, Reuters reports. In March, President Obama removed some restrictions on stem cell research, but he allowed the NIH to determine a code of ethics for the use of embryos in research.

While the attention of the public and ethicists has been focused on embryonic stem cells, research into other kinds of stem cells has been advancing and, in some cases, exploding, U.S. News's Katherine Hobson reports. Consider 10 diseases that stem cells may--or may not--cure. Here are 3 ways that stem cells may speed new cures. And learn why Dr. Bernadine Healy says embryonic stem cells are obsolete.

Can Mark Sanford Save His Marriage? Probably Not

After he confessed to having an affair, South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford also eagerly promised to try to "fall back in love" with his wife of 20 years. But that may not be possible if he's already in love with someone else, says one relationship expert. Dopamine, a chemical in the brain, causes focused attention and may allow us to concentrate on only one person at a time, according to the researcher. U.S. News's Deborah Kotz asks: Can a marriage truly work if a couple isn't in love? While couples can still feel emotionally attached when a partner is in love with someone else, that attachment may not be enough to make a marriage work, Kotz writes.

More than 80 percent of men and women say they wouldn't marry a person they weren't in love with—even if they were compatible in all other ways. Learn about the chemistry of romantic attraction and what fuels attraction. It's possible that our DNA that dictates the chemical makeup of our brains also determines to whom we're most attracted. Also, consider what science is discovering about why we kiss—and why we lie.

Personalized Medicine Moves Beyond Cancer, Entering Heart Care and More

One woman's breast cancer may be more likely to spread than another's, even if the two tumors look the same. Another patient's genetic makeup makes him more likely than other men to develop dangerous bleeding after taking a medicine. Personalized medicine focuses on such variations and aims to match each patient with the therapy most effective for her—not just for the average patient. To find out where personalized medicine is headed, U.S. News talked to Edward Abrahams, executive director of the Personalized Medicine Coalition. He predicts that in five years, there will be numerous drugs whose prescribing information is linked to the results of a molecular diagnostic test. To make it happen, the government needs to invest more in research—into the genetic basis of disease and into the electronic health information infrastructure, so that genetic information can be part of electronic medical records, he says.

Here's how scientists are looking to cure cancer by unraveling its genetic makeup. The Cancer Genome Atlas project, a program underway at the National Institutes of Health since 2006, aims to map the full genome—the comprehensive DNA instruction book—of virtually all human cancers. Read about two researchers who are decoding genomes to personalize treatments for cancers.