8 yr old Baltimore boy becomes the first ever recipient of a double hand transplant....thanks to an anonymous donor

Philadelphia doctors (40-member transplant team led by Dr. L. Scott Levin) have transplanted donor hands and forearms onto an 8-year-old boy from Baltimore whose own hands were amputated when he was a toddler. The 10-hour operation was performed earlier this month at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. This is the first ever double hand transplant on a child.

 

 

"The success of Penn's first bilateral hand transplant on an adult, performed in 2011, gave us a foundation to adapt the intricate techniques and coordinated plans required to perform this type of complex procedure on a child," Levin, chairman of the department of orthopaedic surgery at Penn Medicine and director of the hand transplantation program at Children's Hospital, said in a statement. Levin remembers the moment he saw one of Zion's new hands pink up with the blood rushing into it.
"That hand was now alive," he said. "That became, instantly, part of Zion's circulation, no different than my hand or your hand."

Zion lost his hands and his feet when he was 2 to a life-threatening bacterial infection that also led to a kidney transplant.

Jane Birkin asks Hermes to Remove Her Name From Their Iconic Bag

British actress Jane Birkin – is requesting that the designer brand remove her name from their bags.

In a statement via Yahoo! News, Birkin said: “Having been alerted to the cruel practices reserved for crocodiles during their slaughter to make Hermes handbags carrying my name, I have asked Hermes to debaptize the Birkin Croco until better practices in line with international norms can be put in place.”

PETA had recently highlighted the practice: “At just one year old, alligators are shot with a captive-bolt gun or crudely cut into while they’re still conscious and able to feel pain… The investigator saw alligators continuing to move their legs and tails in the bleed rack and in bloody ice bins several minutes after their attempted slaughter.”

A Hermes Birkin bag costs about $60,000, although according to Us Weekly a pink croc skin bag went for $223,000 at an auction.

How Birkin got a bag named after her: “Birkin, the former lover of famous French singer Serge Gainsbourg, inspired the handbag after sitting next to Hermes’ late chairman Jean-Louis Dumas on a flight in 1981 from Paris to London. Dumas witnessed contents from Birkin’s purse falling from the plane’s overhead compartment, and she proceeded to complain about the structure of her handbag. Three years later, Hermes created a custom-designed bag for Birkin – and it has remained one of the most coveted luxury accessories since its conception.”

Hermes released the following statement to Us Weekly: “Jane Birkin has expressed her concerns regarding practices for slaughtering crocodiles. Her comments do not in any way influence the friendship and confidence that we have shared for many years. Hermès respects and shares her emotions and was also shocked by the images recently broadcast…. An investigation is underway at the Texas farm which was implicated in the video. Any breach of rules will be rectified and sanctioned. Hermès specifies that this farm does not belong to them and that the crocodile skins supplied are not used for the fabrication of Birkin bags.”

 

 

 

Teenage boy arrested for killing a 4yr old boy and removing the deceased’s intestine and kidney

Nigeria – Tajudeen Azeez (16yrs) has been arrested by the Lagos state police command for  killing a 4yr old boy and  removing the deceased’s intestine and kidney. According to reports, he lured the boy to the back of a primary school where he carried out the murder.

He is currently being detained at the State Criminal Investigations Department (SCID), Yaba where he confessed that a certain Osho promised to give him N50,000 to provide him with fresh human parts.

 

Male semen can affect the genes and behaviour of females according to research

New research suggests that male semen can affect the genes and behaviour of females.

The research team, from the University of East Anglia, found male fruit flies selectively alter the chemical make-up of their seminal fluid.

And that when around rivals, the males produce more seminal proteins, New Scientist reports.

One of the proteins is a 'master regulator' of genes - and females exposed to it showed a wide range of changes in gene expression.

Gene expression is the process by which specific genes are activated to produce a required protein to help the body function.

These proteins go on to perform essential functions as enzymes, hormones and receptors, for example.

The research was presented earlier this month at the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution conference in Austria.

It adds to a growing body of scientific evidence showing seminal fluid may have both physical and psychological effects on the body.

Previous studies have claimed semen can elevate mood, increase affection, induce sleep and also contain at least three antidepressants.

The research suggests it is not just that women who are having sex are simply happier, but that happiness levels might be related to the quantity of semen within their body.

Seminal proteins can directly affect the behaviour of flies because they enter the circulation and get to the brain, says Professor Chapman.

This, in turn, helps her to reproduce as soon as possible.

It references the work of Sarah Robertson of the University of Adelaide. When it comes to seminal signalling, she believes 'semen causes the cervix to produce molecules that influence the rest of the body - and influence a women in many other ways than the region involved in reproduction.


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Michael Jackson's dad hospitalized after suffering stroke

According to a statement issued by The Albert Einstein hospital in São Paulo, 87-year-old Joe Jackson was admitted Sunday afternoon (July 26) to their intensive care unit following a stroke.

The father of Michael Jackson, suffered three heart attacks and has been fitted with a pacemaker during an emergency surgery. His heart stopped beating for 10 seconds before he was revived by medical staff at the Albert Einstein Hospital.
He flew to Brazil to celebrate his 87th birthday but missed his birthday party on Saturday because he wasn't feeling well.
He was due back to the US on Tuesday. Family members want Jackson to return to the US for treatment, but at the moment his health is too uncertain to travel.