This paper aims to provide a concise review of the ethical issues that are commonly raised in the UK debate on non-medical sex selection. Background information on sex selection technologies is provided, as is a description of the relevant UK legislation. Arguments for and against non-medical sex selection will be explained and compared and conclusions will be drawn. It is finally suggested that the international debate on non-medical sex selection ought to be regarded as an important area of related interest.

Data were obtained from a search of existing ethics and policy literature focusing on sex selection.

There are very few areas of universal agreement in the debate.

There is much disagreement between critics over what harms are likely to be caused by sex selection and whether such harms are morally significant. The issue of whether governments can legitimately place limitations upon individual reproductive autonomy, and if so, to what degree, remains controversial.

The technique of paediatric living-donor liver transplantation (LDLT) has become standardized. In adults, however, there is scope for innovation. Unlike cadaveric whole-size liver transplantation and paediatric LDLT, size matching between the liver graft and the recipient by body weight has been a major challenge in adult LDLT because it is important to provide an adequate graft mass to the recipient while leaving a sufficient mass of remnant liver in the donor to ensure donor safety.

In adult LDLT, liver grafts have been selected to meet graft-recipient size-matching requirements. In 1996, the Hong Kong group pioneered the use of the right-lobe grafts vein to overcome the volume insufficiency often encountered with the left-lobe liver grafts. Subsequently, the Asan group introduced modified right-lobe grafting with interposition vein grafts to drain the venous outflow of the anterior sector, thus increasing the functioning hepatocyte mass, and this group initiated dual left-lobe liver grafts to overcome both donor risk and volume insufficiency.

Although the surgical procedures for both donors and recipients are more complex for adult LDLT than for whole-organ deceased donor transplantation, the outcomes in large-volume centers are now similar. Accordingly, the indications for adult LDLT are continually being expanded.

In performing these procedures, it is crucial to minimize the risks of morbidity and mortality to the healthy live donor. This review focuses on the current technical development and discusses the ethical issues of adult LDLT.

During the past decades several rating scales have been developed to assess the functional status of patients with low back pain.

We performed a search using the keywords ‘spine’ in combination with ‘scoring system’, ‘scale’, ‘scores’, ‘outcome assessment’, ‘low back pain’ and ‘clinical evaluation’.

Twenty-eight scoring systems are currently available for the evaluation of low back pain. Each of them evaluates low back pain using specific variables. All these scoring systems are presented.

Although many scoring systems have been used to evaluate the back function, we are still far from a single outcome evaluation system that is reliable, valid and sensitive to clinically relevant changes, taken into account both patients' and physicians' perspective and is short and practical to use.

Further studies are required to evaluate the reliability, validity and sensitivity of the low back pain scoring systems used in the common clinical practice.

The incidence of type 1 diabetes (T1D) is increasing worldwide, particularly in children, and is associated with a significant burden, mainly related to the development of vascular complications. The prevention and treatment of microvascular complications, which include nephropathy, retinopathy and neuropathy, are of paramount importance to decrease the associated mortality and morbidity.

A literature search was performed on Medline and articles on microvascular complications, with particular emphasis on the increasing incidence of childhood T1D and its implications on prevention and treatment of complications, were selected.

The incidence of childhood T1D is increasing. Early identification of subjects at risk for long-term complications and early implementation of preventive and therapeutic strategies are fundamental in order to reduce the burden associated with microvascular complications of diabetes. Improving glycaemic control is the principle way of preventing and treating T1D complications.

In adults with T1D and microvascular complications, treatment with anti-hypertensive drugs and statins is increasingly common, whereas there are no definitive indications for treatment with these drugs in children and adolescents with early signs of complications.

There is growing interest in the development of new preventive and therapeutic strategies targeting specific pathways implicated in the pathogenesis of microvascular complications.

Investigations to clarify genetic and environmental factors implicated in the pathogenesis of microvascular complications could lead to the identification of biochemical markers with high predictive values, to be used as a guide for screening and intervention programmes.

Several biomaterials are available to bridge large tendon defects or reinforce tenuous tendon repairs.

We performed a comprehensive search of PubMed, Medline, Cochrane, CINAHL, and Embase databases using various combinations of the commercial names of each scaffold and the keywords ‘tendon’, ‘rotator cuff’, ‘supraspinatus tendon’, ‘Achilles tendon’, ‘scaffold’, ‘biomaterials’, ‘extracellular matrix’, ‘substitute’, and ‘devices’ over the years 1966–2009. All articles relevant to the subject were retrieved, and their bibliographies hand searched for further references in the context to biomaterials for tendon repair.

Many biomaterials are available for tendon augmentation. Scanty evidence is available for the use of these scaffolds.

The emerging field of tissue engineering holds the promise to use biomaterials for tendon augmentation. Preliminary studies support the idea that these biomaterials have the ability to provide an alternative for tendon augmentation. However, available data are lacking to allow definitive conclusion on the use of biomaterials for tendon augmentation. Additionally, the prevalence of postoperative complications encountered with their use varies within the different studies.

Rather than providing strong evidence for or against the use of these materials for tendon augmentation, this study instead generates potential areas for additional prospective investigation.

Epidemiological studies have unequivocally shown that hypertension (HT)is a major cardiovascular (CV) risk factor and that a direct linear relationship exists between the severity of the blood pressure (BP) elevation and the occurrence of CV events.

The beneficial effects of the BP-lowering interventions have been recognized since a number of years. These include not only the reduction in CV morbidity and mortality but also the regression (or the delay of progression) of HT-related end-organ damage, such as left ventricular hypertrophy, vascular remodelling, endothelial dysfunction and renal damage. Along with these well-established features, antihypertensive drug treatment still faces a number of unmet goals and unanswered questions, such as the target BP values to achieve in high-risk patients, the threshold of treatment in low-risk patients as well as the choice of the therapeutic approach more likely to offer greater CV protection.

Despite unmet goals, antihypertensive treatment has provided throughout the years successful results. Future efforts will be need to achieve a better BP control in the population and thus to obtain a greater CV protection.