Monday, March 19, 2012

Life Links 3/19/12

A college student in South Africa has died after having an abortion. Even though abortion is legal is South Africa, authorities believe she obtained an illegal abortion.
Ayanda Masondo (20), a second-year student in human resources from Newcastle in KwaZulu-Natal, was found leaning against the door in her room, in the Benjemijn hostel, early yesterday, Beeld newspaper reported today.

Paramedics were called, but they pronounced her dead at the scene.

Brixton police station spokesperson Constable Michael Kgatle said there would be a judicial inquiry into Masondo's death.

"At this stage an illegal abortion would appear to be the reason for her death. There was a lot of blood at the scene," Kgatle said.

In Australia, a woman who had an RU-486 abortion has died from complications.
Little is known about the circumstances of her death or even where she died, but she had been treated at a Marie Stopes clinic.

A statement from Marie Stopes International confirmed that sepsis caused the death.

USA Today is covering California's stem cell agency's future and notes the lack of return on promises.
So far, CIRM has spent some $1.3 billion on infrastructure and research. At the current pace, it will earmark the last grants in 2016 or 2017. Since most are multi-year awards, it is expected to stay in business until 2021.

So what have Californians received for their money so far?

The most visible investment is the opening of sleek buildings and gleaming labs at a dozen private and public universities built with matching funds. Two years ago, Stanford University unveiled the nation's largest space dedicated to stem cell research — 200,000 square feet that can hold 550 researchers.

There are no cures yet in the pipeline and CIRM has shifted focus, channeling money to projects with the most promise of yielding near-term results. Most of the money early on was funneled toward learning the basics and recruiting scientists.

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