Human cells could replace animals in toxic testing

sumsung submitted, created time 10 months 3 weeks (www.newscientist.com)

he drive also promises to cut costs, and improve testing accuracy. Scientists will research and develop the capacity to test new chemicals and drugs on cultured human cells, according to a five-year memorandum of understanding signed on Thursday between two US National Institute of Health bodies and the US Environmental Protection Agency.

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New Jersey starts mandatory HIV testing for pregnant women

Darkfrog submitted, created time 1 year 1 week (www.nytimes.com)

This article is short and matter-of-fact, almost like a Reuters article. As of six months from now, New Jersey will require pregnant women to get tested for HIV as part of their prenatal regimen (ultrasounds and folic acid and the like). The idea is that by catching the virus early on in pregnancy, the woman can start antiretrovirals and plan a Caesarian birth. I heard that the chance of the child being born infected drops to around 1% but I don't know if this statistic is accurate

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