World's first tongue transplant performed
VIENNA, July 21 (UPI) -- Physicians at Vienna General Hospital in Austria say they performed the world's first successful tongue transplant on a human during the weekend.
The hospital said the unidentified 42-year-old man who underwent the 14-hour operation Saturday was suffering from a malignant tumor affecting his tongue and jaw. The patient was reported in good condition Monday.
Dr Peter Rowe, chairman of the ethics committee of the British Transplantation Society, told BBC News Online the crucial issue will be whether the donor organ can provide the recipient with sufficient mobility.
He said a lot of immuno-suppressant therapy will be required to promote acceptance.
New mitral valve study released
ATLANTA, July 21 (UPI) -- A new Emory University study indicates mitral valve repair in older patients offers no long-term survival benefit over valve replacement.
Both mitral valve replacement and mitral valve repair are fairly common surgical procedures. But researchers, writing in the July 22 issue of the journal Circulation, said they've determined repairing a valve offers no long-term advantages in patients older than 60 years, or for patients who also require cardiac by-pass surgery.
The principal researcher, Dr. William Weintraub, said the study involved the outcomes of 625 mitral valve repair patients with a similar number of valve replacement patients.
With the number of postoperative neurological events and heart attacks for both groups being about the same, the Emory study shows valve repair didn't offer an improved outcome for patients 60 and older.
GM crops present no significant risk
A new British study indicates people who eat existing genetically modified crops and foods face a "very low" risk to their health.
NewScientist.com said the independent review of more than 600 scientific papers was commissioned by the British government to assist in determining whether to end a three-year moratorium on the commercial growing of genetically modified crops.
The report, published Monday, admits gaps in scientific knowledge and highlights crucial areas requiring further research, specifically concerning possible allergic effects of genetically modified crops, their impact on soil ecology and farmland biodiversity, and the consequences of any "escape" of genes from such crops to conventional ones.
But NewScientist said the report also stresses that existing uncertainties should not be allowed to hold back scientific advances. Researchers said, "We cannot know everything and if we were paralyzed by gaps in knowledge, we would never get anywhere new."
Eating fish may cut risk of Alzheimer's
CHICAGO, July 21 (UPI) -- New research indicates eating fish, nuts and oil-based salad dressings may reduce one's risk of developing Alzheimer's disease.
Researchers at Rush-Presbyterian St. Luke's Medical Center in Chicago said eating fish at least once a week may reduce the risk.
The researchers, writing in the July issue of The Archives of Neurology, said they studied 815 residents of a south side Chicago community, aged 65 to 94 years, who did not have Alzheimer's disease at the beginning of the study. Participants completed a dietary questionnaire for an average of 2.3 years before being evaluated for Alzheimer's.
The researchers found participants who ate fish once a week or more had a 60 percent lower risk of Alzheimer's disease, as compared with those who rarely or never ate fish.
