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Monday, June 5, 2006

British doctors have successfully transplanted a beating heart into the chest of a 58-year old man, the first operation of its kind in the United Kingdom.

The “trial” surgery was performed at Papworth Hospital just outside of London, England in Cambridge. The operation could be “equivalent if not superior” to the current transplanting methods, doctors said. The method has only been performed two other times, in Germany.

Usually hearts would be injected with potassium, which stopped the heart from beating, after which it would be covered with ice. This put the heart in “suspended animation” but gave doctors only a six-hour window to examine and transplant, doctors said.

“Normally the heart is in suspended animation but they still start to deteriorate,” said Professor Bruce Rosengard, head of the team of doctors who operated on the man.

The new method involves connecting the heart to a machine that pumps warm, oxygen enriched blood through the heart. The heart is able to keep beating with this method. The new process allows surgeons to look more closely and longer at the heart for any signs of damage. It also allows them to find a match for whoever may need it.

“Once hearts are hooked up to the device, which takes about 20 minutes, any deterioration is fully reversed. If we look at resuscitating hearts that are currently unusable, the number of transplants could be tripled or quadrupled,” added Rosengard. “The goal of this trial is to demonstrate that this is at least equivalent if not superior,” he added.

The director of transplants in the United Kingdom Chris Rudge also says that doctors are working on using the same new method with different human organs.

“In the longer term it is not just hearts that can be handled by such systems but other organs too, particularly the liver,” said Rudge.

The 58-year old man is doing “extremely well. At his exam one week after the operation, all his functions were absolutely normal,” Rosengard said.

At least 19 more operations are planned in the U.K. and in Germany.

Tuesday, December 16, 2014

Buenos Aires, Argentina —Wikinews interviewed the Wikimedia Foundation’s Asaf Bartov, the Head of Wikimedia Grants Program and Global South Partnerships, at the Fourth Ibercoop — Ibero-American Wikimedia Summit; where, hosted by Wikimedia Argentina, a cooperative group of wiki contributors and supporters from Spain, Portugal, and Latin America met to foster collaboration and experience sharing related to the Wikimedia Foundation movement in these countries. The Wikimedia Foundation is a US non-profit and charitable organization, that encourage Wikipedia readers to become contributors and editors of the Internet encyclopedia that ranks in the top-ten most-visited websites worldwide,

((Wikinews)) Besides your assistance as a representative of the Wikimedia Foundation, in what other ways does the Foundation support Iberoconf?

Asaf Bartov: So, the Wikimedia Foundation supports Iberoconf because we see value in having Wikimedians with a shared culture, mostly shared language, get together and be able to share experiences and form collaborative plans in their own language. This is something very unique to Iberoconf in terms of the size. There are very few groups other than the Ibero-American group that share a language and ability to communicate in that way. That’s why we support it. The ways we support it is, well, we fund it, we provide the funding for having this meeting, the travel, […] etcetera, and we support it by being here, by taking the time to attend the conference and be available to have conversations, both group conversations and one-on-one conversations with the delegates, many of whom do not have other opportunities to speak to us face-to-face. So this is the opportunity. Even though we live in the 21st century, the world is digital and technological, and theoretically we could do a lot of communication on video-calls, etc., and we can, the truth of the matter is that a lot of people feel distant from the Foundation, hesitant to approach, even though we are very welcoming and friendly I hope, a lot of people need to see us and talk to us, and have dinner with us, before they feel comfortable approaching us with issues and problems and things, and so there is value just in the social aspect which is being here, and being accessible, and being human. But in addition to that, we are here to also share our knowledge, our expertise, our suggestions, in the more formal part of the program. This particular year I am here with two colleagues of mine. […] Both of them also speak Spanish so they can contribute more freely and have delivered presentations on their topics of expertise. This is support that Iberocoop gets and all other Wikimedians can get. So I think it’s a valuable opportunity.

((WN)) Which positive aspects of Wikimedia Argentina do you value at this Iberoconf?

Asaf Bartov: First of all, they have done a great job organizing the event. Everything is running smoothly as far as I can tell. The venue is really good. The program is running according to schedule more or less. So that’s good; and they did this in a fairly short schedule after there was some uncertainty about who would host the conference. So that was good. More generally, I really appreciate their successful transition with the new Executive Director, who has been able to assume all of the responsibilities, including, crucially, their submission to the FDC [Funds Dissemination Committee] process like their proposal which was good as we have just learned this weekend when the FDC published its recommendations which are granting Wikimedia Argentina practically the budget that they requested. Which is a very strong positive signal from the FDC that Wikimedia Argentina is on the right track, its programmatic approach is good and its planning is solid. This is all very high praise, this is all hard to achieve; it’s is not as easy as it seems. Most specifically, I would say Wikimedia Argentina has some interesting partnerships, these educational partnerships that we have heard about yesterday are promising. I like that they are working… they are not just doing, you know, the Wikipedia education program — going to classrooms, having students write articles — but they are collaborating with other external non-Wikimedia organizations towards free culture and free knowledge. That is a very powerful mechanism for growth of impact. So that they are not bound only by the volunteers you have but they also leverage the external part.

((WN)) I am from Costa Rica, and Costa Rica is the smallest of the groups represented during this Iberoconf. What should Costa Rica learn from Iberocoop to reach the same degrees of success that have reached the rest of the chapters?

Asaf Bartov: That’s a good question. I would say, if I were in your shoes, one interesting question I would ask of everyone here is, when did you feel, what do you feel was the inflection point, the turning point, in the growth of the community in your country — like, was there an event, or was there a — like, not necessarily even a Wikimedia event, like maybe it was, you know, the National Elections of 2008 — was there something that you feel triggered a lot of growth, was there a moment where you feel, yeah there was all of the history up to that point, and then there was growth. It would be interesting to learn from all our colleagues here what that moment was for them, if they can think of one, and then see if some of those stories may be relevant for Costa Rica. Maybe there is something you can do, maybe something you can think about. Other than that, there’s just the general solutions for all in our movement: trying to have regular meet-ups, trying to collaborate with allies groups like free software groups. These are more generally solutions, but specifically to learn from Iberocoop I would ask people to think about their early stages and see if they can offer you some advice.

((WN)) The Wikimedia Foundation funded the assistance in Iberoconf of two persons per group. Is it possible in the future for the Foundation to fund the assistance of more than just two?

Asaf Bartov: The answer is, maybe. [chuckles] The reason we stick to two is to keep to the total size of the event manageable. Not just in terms of how much it costs, although that’s also a consideration, but also in terms of keeping the sessions effective. Think about the session we’ve just had […] — that was a complex conversation to have with no preparation, this wasn’t discussed for a lot of weeks in advance or something, and even the size we already have now was too big; we were broken into groups, to come out with something and then try and mash it together, which was an effective way to do it. But that shows you that very large groups is not very effective for discussion and so the balance between not having just a single point of view from each country represented and between having just an unmanageable two-hundred-people conference — because that becomes like a happening, like Wikimania, instead of a working conference. They’re different types of events. And so two is a good balance between them, with at least two people, there are two tracks they can go to, have parallel sessions and bring the most value back to their community. The one exception I can think of is for chapters that have staff to also include one staff member; so, next year wherever we hold it, if it’s not in Argentina for example, I think it would make sense for two board members of Wikimedia Argentina to come and [one staff].

((WN)) Thank you!

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, August 25, 2007

The leading supplier of school uniforms in the United Kingdom, Lancashire-based manufacturer Trutex, has announced it is “seriously considering” including GPS tracking devices in future ranges of its uniform products after conducting an online survey of both parents and children.

“As a direct result of the survey, we are now seriously considering incorporating a [tracking] device into future ranges” said Trutex marketing director Clare Rix.

The survey questioned 809 parents and 444 children aged nine to 16. It showed that 44% of parents were worried about the safety of pre-teen children, and 59% wanted tracking devices installed in school apparel. 39% of children aged nine to 12 were prepared to wear clothing with tracking devices in them, while teenagers were notably less enthusiastic and more wary of what Trutex has admitted they see as a “big brother” concept.

However, Trutex has claimed the tracking devices would bring about worthwhile benefits, including being a valuable resource for parents who wanted to keep a close eye on where their children were at all times.

“As well as being a safety net for parents, there could be real benefits for schools who could keep a closer track on the whereabouts of their pupils, potentially reducing truancy levels” says Rix.

Each year, Trutex supplies 1 million blouses, 1.1 million shirts, 250,000 pairs of trousers, 20,000 blazers, 60,000 skirts and 110,000 pieces of knitwear to the UK.

It is not the first company to manufacture school uniforms with a central focus on child safety; last week Essex firm BladeRunner revealed it was selling stab-proof school blazers to parents concerned about violence against their children. The blazers were outfitted with Kevlar, a synthetic fibre used in body armour. It has already received orders internationally, including Australia.

If the Trutex tracking devices go ahead, it is unclear where in the uniform they will be located.

Wednesday, December 7, 2016

Chemotherapy is usually associated with a collection of side effects ranging from digestive problems to hair loss, but a study published this week in Human Reproduction demonstrated that female cancer patients may find they have something in common with much younger women in one specific area — their ovaries.

Scientists from the University of Edinburgh examined donated ovarian tissue from fourteen female cancer patients, most of whom had Hodgkin lymphoma, and compared it to tissue from healthy women. They found the samples from women who had been treated with a specific chemotherapeutic regimen known as ABVD not only contained greater numbers of dormant ova — egg cells — than those from women treated with harsher regimens but also more than samples from healthy women. ABVD is named for combining several drugs known as adriamycin, bleomycin, vinblastine, and dacarbazine.

These reproductive cells were not merely more plentiful in ABVD patients. They also appeared immature, “new” in the words of lead researcher Evelyn Telfer. This challenges the conventional belief that girls are born with all the ova they will ever have and the numbers can only go down as the cells are either used up by the reproductive cycle or succumb to damage or natural aging. However, further research is needed to confirm this. The study covered relatively few patients by scientific standards, and David Albertini of the Center for Human Reproduction in New York has suggested the cells may not actually be freshly grown. Instead, they may have always been there and were merely rendered more detectable by ABVD treatment.

The ability to grow new egg cells may have significant implications for women in Western societies, many of whom postpone childbearing to establish careers, sometimes into their late thirties or forties. However, Telfer warns against making use of these findings too soon: “There’s so much we don’t know about the ovary. We have to be very cautious about jumping to clinical applications.”

The experiments had been discussed earlier this year at the annual conference of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology.

Monday, May 3, 2010

Wikinews reporter Peter Coti interviews Brittany Phelps, administrator of the United States Pirate Party, who talks about her job and her goals.

Saturday, March 1, 2008

While nearly all coverage of the 2008 Presidential election has focused on the Democratic and Republican candidates, the race for the White House also includes independents and third party candidates. These parties represent a variety of views that may not be acknowledged by the major party platforms.

Wikinews has impartially reached out to these candidates, throughout the campaign. We now interview independent Presidential candidate Frank Moore, a performance artist.