UPI NewsTrack Health and Science News

Face transplant performed in Boston

BOSTON, April 10 (UPI) -- A man severely injured in a fall has undergone the second partial face transplant performed in the United States, says a statement from a Boston hospital.

Eight surgeons, led by Dr. Bohdan Pomahac at Brigham and Women's Hospital, performed the transplant Thursday during 17 hours of surgery, The Boston Herald reported Friday.

The surgeons replaced the man's nose, hard palate, upper lip, facial skin, muscles that animate the face and the nerves that power them and provide sensation, the hospital statement said.

The surgery was made possible through organ donation from the New England Organ Bank, the hospital said, adding that the patient's identity was being kept private.

The first face transplant in the United States was performed in December at Ohio's Cleveland Clinic on a woman who had suffered severe facial trauma. The woman was able to breathe through her nose, smell, eat solid foods and drink from a cup once the surgery was completed, her doctors said.

Stem cell therapy grows new blood vessels

LONDON, Ontario, April 10 (UPI) -- A Canadian researcher has grown new blood vessels using bone marrow stem cells.

David Hess of The University of Western Ontario in London drew human bone marrow and simultaneously isolated three different types of stem cells that co-ordinate together to form new blood vessels.

These cells -- pro-angiogenic stem cells -- were purified to remove inflammatory or contaminated cells and injected into the circulation of mice with one of their leg arteries. The stem cells honed into the area of ischemia -- inadequate blood supply -- and induced blood vessel repair.

"We can select the right stem cells from the patient's own bone marrow and put them back in the area of ischemia to allow these cells to coordinate the formation of new blood vessels." Hess said in a statement. "These principles could be applied not only to ischemic limbs but to aid in the formation of new blood vessels in ischemic tissue anywhere in the body, for example after a stroke or heart attack."

A clinical trial involving 21 patients with end-stage peripheral artery disease is underway in Houston. The study was published in the journal Blood.

Fifteen galaxies younger than thought

BLOOMINGTON, Ind., April 10 (UPI) -- Fifteen massive galaxies may have formed relatively recently despite wide-held belief they formed 13 billion years ago, says a U.S. astronomer.

The relatively low abundance of heavy elements suggests the 15 galaxies may be 3 billion or 4 billion years old, said John Salzer, an astronomer at Indiana University who led a team in studying the galaxies.

Most theories of galaxy formation have held that such massive, luminous systems, including the Milky Way, formed shortly after the big bang 13 billion years ago, he said.

If the team's new theory is correct, astronomers could use the 15 galaxies to study to stellar formation and evolution, the university said in a release.

The discoveries are the result of a several-year survey of more than 2,400 star-forming galaxies, Salzer said, noting previous surveys failed to find the unusual galaxies.

Program aids macular degeneration patients

LONDON, April 10 (UPI) -- People with macular degeneration are being taught to read using the undamaged parts of their eyes, says a vision specialist in Britain.

Macular degeneration, a leading cause of blindness, causes central vision to be lost but peripheral vision to remain intact.

A program developed by Britain's Macular Disease Society teaches people to regain basic skills they thought they had lost for good, said Tom Bremridge, a spokesman for the society.

People with macular degeneration can be taught to fill in vision gaps by looking above, below or to one side of it, Bremridge told the BBC in a story published Friday.

Instead of moving the eyes from left to right to read a sentence, the patient keeps his eyes still and moves the text so that each word is moved into the area of best vision, he said.

"We have 86 volunteer trainers, all with central vision loss themselves, who have trained more than 310 people in their own communities and our waiting list of nearly 1,200 people grows every day," Bremridge said to the BBC.