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Saturday, August 2, 2008

A 54-year-old German farmer who lost both arms in a farming accident six years ago has become the first patient to receive a complete double arm transplant. The patient, whose name has not been released, underwent the operation at the Klinikum rechts der Isar, part of the Technical University of Munich (Technische Universität München), last week; he is said to be recovering well.

The operation lasted 15 hours and was performed by a team of 40 specialists in Plastic Surgery, Hand Surgery, Orthopedics and Anesthesiology, under the direction of the head of the Plastics and Hand Surgery department, Prof. Hans-Günther Machens, Dr. Christoph Höhnke (Head of Transplants, Senior Physician; Plastics and Hand Surgery) and Prof. Edgar Biemer, the former Chief of Plastic Surgery at the Clinic.

In a press statement released by the clinic, it was revealed that the patient had been thoroughly physically checked and had psychological counselling prior to the surgery to ensure he was mentally stable enough to cope with the procedure. Since completion of the surgery, the patient has been on immuno-suppressant drugs to prevent rejection of the new limbs.

Following the surgery, the press release from the clinic’s press manager, Dr. Tanja Schmidhofer, included the following statement:

Without the immuno-suppressant drugs given to the patient, the risk of there being a Graft-versus-Host Reaction or GvHR, would have been significant due to the upper arm containing a large amount of bone marrow, consisting of ICC’s or Immuno-Competent Cells, which would have triggered a near total rejection of the new limbs. A GvHR is a condition which results in the cells from the transplant attacking the immune system of the body.

Indications from the clinic suggest that the double attachment went well, although it could be up to 2 full years before the patient is able to move the arms.

The donor arms came from an unnamed teenager, who is believed to have died in a car accident.

Sunday, August 21, 2005

A robotic system at Stanford Medical Center was used to perform a laparoscopic gastric bypass surgery successfully with a theoretically similar rate of complications to that seen in standard operations. However, as there were only 10 people in the experimental group (and another 10 in the control group), this is not a statistically significant sample.

If this surgical procedure is as successful in large-scale studies, it may lead the way for the use of robotic surgery in even more delicate procedures, such as heart surgery. Note that this is not a fully automated system, as a human doctor controls the operation via remote control. Laparoscopic gastric bypass surgery is a treatment for obesity.

There were concerns that doctors, in the future, might only be trained in the remote control procedure. Ronald G. Latimer, M.D., of Santa Barbara, CA, warned “The fact that surgeons may have to open the patient or might actually need to revert to standard laparoscopic techniques demands that this basic training be a requirement before a robot is purchased. Robots do malfunction, so a backup system is imperative. We should not be seduced to buy this instrument to train surgeons if they are not able to do the primary operations themselves.”

There are precedents for just such a problem occurring. A previous “new technology”, the electrocardiogram (ECG), has lead to a lack of basic education on the older technology, the stethoscope. As a result, many heart conditions now go undiagnosed, especially in children and others who rarely undergo an ECG procedure.

Sunday, August 21, 2005

A robotic system at Stanford Medical Center was used to perform a laparoscopic gastric bypass surgery successfully with a theoretically similar rate of complications to that seen in standard operations. However, as there were only 10 people in the experimental group (and another 10 in the control group), this is not a statistically significant sample.

If this surgical procedure is as successful in large-scale studies, it may lead the way for the use of robotic surgery in even more delicate procedures, such as heart surgery. Note that this is not a fully automated system, as a human doctor controls the operation via remote control. Laparoscopic gastric bypass surgery is a treatment for obesity.

There were concerns that doctors, in the future, might only be trained in the remote control procedure. Ronald G. Latimer, M.D., of Santa Barbara, CA, warned “The fact that surgeons may have to open the patient or might actually need to revert to standard laparoscopic techniques demands that this basic training be a requirement before a robot is purchased. Robots do malfunction, so a backup system is imperative. We should not be seduced to buy this instrument to train surgeons if they are not able to do the primary operations themselves.”

There are precedents for just such a problem occurring. A previous “new technology”, the electrocardiogram (ECG), has lead to a lack of basic education on the older technology, the stethoscope. As a result, many heart conditions now go undiagnosed, especially in children and others who rarely undergo an ECG procedure.

Saturday, January 19, 2008

George W. Bush, the president of the United States has suggested an economic growth package that could be worth almost 1% of the United States’ GDP (the US GDP is appoximately US$15 trillion). The package is expected to come in the form of tax cuts.

In a speech which took place yesterday Mr.Bush said that the economy is an area of “real concern,” to the US government. He added that the US “economy is still creating jobs, though at a reduced pace.”

Democrats want the tax refunds to cover payroll taxes paid by lower-income groups and be combined with more unemployment benefits, food stamps and federal aid to states. It warned against bundling proposals to make Bush’s first term tax cuts permanent with the stimulus package, and the Bush administration has separated the two in this proposal.

When announcing the proposal George Bush said that “as Congress considers such a plan, there are certain principles that must guide its deliberations: This growth package must be big enough to make a difference in an economy as large and dynamic as ours — which means it should be about 1 percent of GDP.” He added that “this growth package must be built on broad-based tax relief that will directly affect economic growth — and not the kind of spending projects that would have little immediate impact on our economy. This growth package must be temporary and take effect right away — so we can get help to our economy when it needs it most.” He also added that he believed the package “must not include any tax increases.”

In the speech George Bush also made it clear that he believes the package should be passed through congress quickly. He said that his belief was that by passing the package through congress quickly would “provide a shot in the arm to keep a fundamentally strong economy healthy. And it will help keep economic sectors that are going through adjustments, such as the housing market, from adversely affecting other parts of our economy.”

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Torrential rains and floods in the North West and Gauteng provinces of South Africa have caused disruption, government bodies said earlier today.

The Greater Taung Local Municipality said a disaster area was declared, after 150 homes were affected and one person was confirmed dead from flooding.

Residents were warned to keep away from bridges and rivers, and to drive carefully in the inclement weather. Water Affairs spokesperson Mava Scott commented that “people in the low lying areas should be alerted.”

The Vaal Dam, meanwhile, was at 105% full, after six sluice gates were opened. Three more are expected to be opened soon, according to the South African Press Association. The Bloemhof Dam in North West province is 112% full, with flood gates having been opened there earlier today.

Officials encouraged people to remove their boats and pumps, as water flow would not be predictable. “It will also be rather dangerous for people to go too near to the river’s embankments during this time,” Superintendent Eugene Opperman noted.

Meanwhile, roads to places such as Manokwane, Lokaleng, Khibitswane, Mokgareng, and Pudimoe, were also inundated with water. 800 mine workers from East Rand Mines were evacuated as well.

Saturday, July 9, 2011

The June jobs report for the US shows job growth has almost halted while the unemployment rate rose from 9.1% to 9.2%, much higher than March’s figure of 8.8%. Employers added only 18,000 new jobs, far fewer than the average of 215,000 per month added from February to April. These numbers add to fears that the economic recovery has stalled.

Analysts were predicting the job growth number for June to reach 125,000, according to a CNN poll.

Additionally, the figures for May were revised downward from 54,000 to 25,000 for a two month downward trend. To keep up with normal population growth, the US economy needs to increase the available jobs by 150,000 monthly. Only one fifth of the 8.8 million jobs lost since 2008 when the recession began have been added.

There was no encouraging news in the report. Government jobs fell by 39,000, and construction jobs remained stalled. Manufacturing added an anemic 6,000 jobs. The temporary-job industry lost positions for the third straight month. The average work week was reduced by 0.1 hours to 34.3. And the average hourly salary for private sector workers fell by one cent.

The total number of unemployed people remains around 14.1 million, and 6.3 million have been unemployed at least six months.

“It’s just an across-the-board retreat,” said Heidi Shierholz, labor economist at the Economic Policy Institute. “This is two months of really scary reports.”

In an interview, Austan Goolsbee, Barack Obama’s chief economist said, “I view this number as a call to action. This number illustrates this thing that we knew, which is we’ve got to get the growth rate up. … When you see jobs reports like this, that should make it clear that we need to stop bickering, and get these things done.”

Monday, May 16, 2005

In France, workers by the millions stayed at home during the Whit Monday holiday despite the government’s cancellation of the traditional Pentecost public holiday. Some acted in defiance of the government’s decision, while some took leave or were put on forced leave by their employers due to uncertainties of public transportation.

Following the 2003 heat wave, which caused the deaths of an estimated 13,000 elderly people in France, the administration of prime minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin has proposed the suppression of one day of public holiday in order to use the supplemental generated tax for a fund for the caring of the elderly.

Whit Monday was selected because, in normal years, France has several public holidays in May. Furthermore, attendance of religious celebrations is low, so holidays of a religious origin are nowadays generally mere family reunions.

However, the reception of this new working day was mixed. The administration says it promotes solidarity with the elderly. Trade unions and opposition groups argue that the measure is an ill-conceived stunt aimed at hiding the government’s bad handling of the problems of the elderly.

For instance, many remember that in 1956, the government created a tax (the vignette) on motor vehicles, allegedly for funding measures for the elderly. But in 1973, the products of this tax came, as any other tax, into the government’s general fund.

With this measure, the French government intends to raise 2 billion € to be donated to a new public establishment, the “national fund for solidarity for autonomy.” The new fund would be chartered to deal with losses of self-sufficiency of elderly or handicapped people. 1.2 billion € are earmarked for elderly people, 0.8 for the handicapped.

Trade unions had called for strikes in urban public transportation and paralyzed traffic in 27 cities, including Clermont-Ferrand, Lille, Montpellier ou Strasbourg. However, SNCF (the national railway operator) did not strike and RATP (the Paris transportation authority) suffered only minor disturbances, though both are normally known for their frequent and disturbing strikes.

SNCF considered the day as a holiday for payroll purposes and instead increased the work day by 1’52”, a measure that majority leader Nicolas Sarkozy considered shocking and contrary to the objectives of the government.

The protests are also widely considered to be motivated by the unpopularity of the administration of president Jacques Chirac and prime minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin. Recent statistics show a five year-high for unemployment at 10.2%.

This discontent may result in a majority of “no” in the vote for the ratification of the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe.

Wednesday, December 8, 2004

LOS ANGELES — A commuter van (Van Pool No. 36) from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) plunged 200 feet into a ravine in the Angeles National Forest this morning. The van was carrying ten people: six JPL employees, two NASA employees, and two private contractors. They are identified as:

• Javier Bautista: Regular Substitute Driver
• Cheryl Lynn Allworth: Executive Secretary in JPL’s Space Experiments Systems Section
• Dorothy M. Forks: JPL Human Resources
• Peter Robles
• Helga Maria Wurm
• Jane F. Galloway: JPL Business Manager
• Kerri Lynn Agey: Contractor for JPL Security Services
• Christopher Butts
• Jim Kitahara
• David Myers

Three of the passengers — Forks, Galloway, and Agey — lost their lives; the remaining seven sustained various levels of injury, including one passenger suffering critical injury, according to authorities. All victims were airlifted to local area hospitals.

According to witnesses who reported the crash, the van simply drove off the side of Angeles Forest Highway. Despite the presence of fog during the accident, the California Highway Patrol believes that this was not a factor. The CHP has said that the investigation into the crash may take two to three days before the cause is known.

JPL spokesperson D.C. Agle confirmed that the van was from the facility. Initially, JPL refrained from commenting, but JPL security was spotted at the site shortly after the incident occurred.

The Angeles Forest Highway is a two-lane mountain road considered a commuter route for many residents of the Antelope Valley including Palmdale and Lancaster residents. It is an alternative to get to Interstate 210, rather than taking the heavily traveled Antelope Valley Freeway (California State Route 14).