Articles: surrogacy.
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Surrogacy is a form of assisted human reproduction whereby a surrogate woman carries a pregnancy for a commissioning couple or individual. There are two types of surrogacy, traditional and gestational. Worldwide we have seen a rapid increase in the use of surrogacy. Despite this, there is a lack of consensus internationally on the laws governing surrogacy. In Ireland, surrogacy remains largely unregulated. Currently, there is no specific legislation for surrogacy. This review aims to discuss its current regulatory status and associated ethical issues. ⋯ Surrogacy has raised several ethical issues. There are issues surrounding autonomy of the surrogate and commissioning couple, child welfare, exploitation and commodification, non-maleficence and justice. There are also significant legal concerns with surrogacy. It is neither legal nor illegal in Ireland. This creates challenges for the commissioning couple particularly in terms of custody of the child.
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Overall survival (OS) is the gold standard endpoint to assess treatment efficacy in cancer clinical trials. In metastatic breast cancer (mBC), progression-free survival (PFS) is commonly used as an intermediate endpoint. Evidence remains scarce regarding the degree of association between PFS and OS. Our study aimed to describe the individual-level association between real-world PFS (rwPFS) and OS according to first-line treatment in female patients with mBC managed in real-world setting for each BC subtype (defined by status for both hormone-receptor [HR] expression and HER2 protein expression/gene amplification). ⋯ Our study provides comprehensive information on individual-level association between rwPFS and OS for L1 treatments in mBC women managed in real-life practice. Our results could be used as a basis for future research dedicated to surrogate endpoint candidates.
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Reproductive surrogacy can be altruistic or commercial, each with complex ethical considerations that are complicated by heterogeneity in governing laws across jurisdictions. Surrogacy in Ireland is relatively new and largely unregulated, so this review aims to elucidate its current regulatory status and associated ethical issues. AIMS: On reproductive surrogacy from an Irish legal perspective, to: 1. ⋯ However, Ireland is free to draft laws aligned with modern societal views on reproduction, which is especially relevant given the recent legalisation of same-sex marriage. Ethically, carrying mothers and children are vulnerable, particularly in commercial arrangements, with significant financial disparities between commissioning and surrogate parties. Altruistic arrangements can be a boon to Irish society if supported by public education and appropriate legal frameworks.
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Background and objectives: To explore the ethical and legal complexities arising from the controversial issue of surrogacy, particularly in terms of how they affect fundamental rights of children and parents. Surrogacy is a form of medically-assisted procreation (MAP) in which a woman "lends" her uterus to carry out a pregnancy on behalf of a third party. There are pathological conditions, such as uterine agenesis or hysterectomy outcomes, that may prevent prospective mothers from becoming pregnant or carry a pregnancy to term; such patients may consider finding a surrogate mother. ⋯ Conclusion: With reference to the Italian context, despite the scientific and legal evolution on the subject, a legislative intervention aimed at filling the regulatory gaps in terms of heterologous MAP and surrogacy has not yet come to fruition. Considering the possibility of "fertility tourism", i.e., traveling to countries where the practice is legal, as indeed already happens in a relatively significant number of cases, the current legislation, although integrated by the legal interpretation, does not appear to be effective in avoiding the phenomenon of procreative tourism. Moreover, to overcome some contradictions currently present between law 40 and law 194, it would be appropriate to outline an organic and exhaustive framework of rules, which should take into account the multiplicity of interests at stake, in keeping with a fair and sustainable balance when regulating such practices.
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Conservation efforts often focus on umbrella species whose distributions overlap with many other flora and fauna. However, because biodiversity is affected by different threats that are spatially variable, focusing only on the geographic range overlap of species may not be sufficient in allocating the necessary actions needed to efficiently abate threats. We developed a problem-based method for prioritizing conservation actions for umbrella species that maximizes the total number of flora and fauna benefiting from management while considering threats, actions, and costs. ⋯ This could be increased to benefit nearly half (or 46%) of all threatened terrestrial species for the same budget of AU$550 million/year if more suitable umbrella species were chosen. This results in a 7-fold increase in management efficiency. We believe nations around the world can markedly improve the selection of prioritized umbrella species for conservation action with this transparent, quantitative, and objective prioritization approach.