A face transplant father is closing in on a dream of kissing his three-year-old daughter again.

Dallas Wiens has become the first man in the U.S. to have a full face transplant after a 30-man team of Boston doctors worked for 15 hours to complete an operation on him.

The 25-year-old, of Fort Worth, Texas, had his entire face replaced - including his nose, lips, skin, animation muscles and nerves to power them and give sensations.

Mr Wiens, who will take months to recover, lost most of his face in a disastrous high-voltage incident in November 2008 when his head touched a live power cable.

He was on a lift platform repairing a church window when he lost control of the platform and came into contact with a wire that seared off his face.

Mr Wiens spent the next three months in a medically-induced coma, while doctors performed more than 20 surgeries on him.

They expected him to be paralysed from the neck down and never walk, talk or eat regular food again, but he regained his fitness and now does 15 push-ups daily.

The transplant breakthrough came after a plastic surgery team led by Dr Bohdan Pomahac at Brigham and Women’s Hospital used an anonymous donor on Mr Wiens.

‘I see every day as a challenge, an opportunity for hope and joy,’ Mr Wiens told The Dallas Morning News before surgery. ‘I'm happier now than I think.

‘I'm a little nervous as you can expect with any major procedure like this. I'm extremely excited over the possibility of just having a normal life back.

There's no words to describe what that would be like.’

Mr Wiens's grandfather Del Peterson said today: 'It definitely is a miracle. When I first saw him after the injury I had no idea what was going to follow.

'But he is determined to get well, move on with his life and make something of his life. This is beyond anything I thought could happen after he first received the injury.'

Mr Wiens is said to be doing well, talking and being gradually taken off his medication.

He is the third person in the U.S. to receive a face transplant - after James Maki, at the same hospital in 2009 and Connie Culp at the Cleveland Clinic in 2008.

But he is the first to have a full face transplant in the U.S.

The world's first full face transplant was performed on a 31-year-old man called ‘Oscar’ in Spain last year.

‘Today’s tremendous news marks a new milestone in Brigham and Women’s legacy in transplant surgery,’ Betsy Nabel, president of Brigham and Women’s Hospital, said.

‘The pioneering achievement accomplished by the entire transplant team is a gift made possible by the most selfless act one human being can do for another - organ donation.’

‘This remarkable, anonymous gift is another example of the life-affirming power of organ and tissue donation,’ Richard Luskin, CEO of New England Organ Bank, added.

Registering as an organ and tissue donor on a driver’s licence is not accepted as consent for face donation in the U.S. - as family consent is required.

Mr Wiens was selected for the surgery in October after he shot to the front of a long waiting list because of tests revealing his strong mental resolve.

Eleven face transplants have been performed worldwide since 2005 - nine of them successfully.

A recipient in China died after he stopped taking his anti-rejection medicine and a man in France died after developing a massive infection and suffering a heart attack.

Researchers at NASA say they've discovered a new form of life which is alien to anything else living on plant Earth.

The bizarre bacteria, catchily called GFAJ-1, was discovered in the toxic waters of Mono Lake in California and is able to thrive on arsenic - and incorporate it into their DNA.

This means the bacteria is radically different to all other life on Earth which is made of six components: carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus and sulphur.

Boffins say the new form of "weird life" has huge implications for the search for extraterrestrial life as we now know habitable planets do not need to conform to what we previously thought… that means there could be intelligent life in Birmingham.

"The definition of life has just expanded," said Ed Weiler, NASA's associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate at the agency's Headquarters in Washington.

"As we pursue our efforts to seek signs of life in the solar system, we have to think more broadly, more diversely and consider life as we do not know it."

NASA astrobiology research fellow Felisa Wolfe-Simon added: "Our findings are a reminder that life as we know it could be much more flexible than we generally assume or imagine.

"If something here on Earth can do something so unexpected, what else can life do that we haven't seen yet? Now is the time to find out."


We provide fast success in C-TADM51-70 exam by using our high quality E20-361 prep resources. We offer up-to-dated JN0-360 & 70-401 dumps with definite guarantee of mcts success.

Happy Pills Store in Barcelona, Spain Review

Best happy camper pills Ah those crazy Spaniards and their drug legislation. These pictures where – unbelievably – you can buy your (so called) happy pills by simply walking in off the Avinguda del Portal de l'Angel and helping yourself.

Of course you’ll need to travel to Barcelona, Spain in order to get one but I hear they work every time.

This has to be one of the most ingenious ideas I have ever heard, we all know sweets make everyone feel better so why not use them as actual anti-depressives? That’s exactly what the Happy Pills shop in Barcelona is doing, it raps all kinds of tasty, gummy sweets in plastic bottles, labeled with pink crosses and prescriptions like: “against Mondays” or “against the intolerable lightness of being”. The shop is like a long hallway and you can get a bottle and a spoon and serve yourself from the various medicines.

I have to remember this place for when i visit Barcelona…hope depression Pills Will Be Come soon!

Cryopreservation was once the domain of sci-fi novels and B-rate movies. (Think Encino Man.) But it’s increasingly real, as the recent birth of a healthy boy from a frozen embryo created 20 years earlier shows.

The birth, which is reported in a study in the online edition of the journal Fertility and Sterility, sets a record. Until now, no embryo frozen for this long has resulted in a live birth.

The 42-year-old mother of the boy, who is not named in the study, began trying to get pregnant using IVF ten years ago. At the time, she and her husband received embryos from a heterosexual couple who had themselves undergone IVF.

That couple had anonymously donated their leftover embryos after the woman successfully gave birth. Thing was, they did so in 1990 – meaning that the boy just born to the woman in the study has a sibling out there somewhere who was conceived at the same time but is 20 years younger.

Frozen embryos are something of a new ethical frontier in IVF -- one that was not foreseen back in 1978, when Nobel Prize in Physiology recipient Robert Edwards and colleague Patrick Steptoe announced the birth of Louise Brown, the world’s first test-tube baby. Because of improved fertility drugs and lab techniques, the average IVF cycle now yields more embryos than it once did. Many of those end up in the freezer, where they keep remarkably well.

But the ethical and practical implications of keeping potential humans on ice are now becoming abundantly clear. Increasingly, divorced couples fight over frozen embryos. And the preservation of genetic material – embryos, eggs, and sperm -- created by biological parents who may be well beyond their reproductive years gives others pause. In 2007, a mother froze eggs for use by her daughter, then seven years old, who was born with a condition that could make her infertile. If the daughter someday uses the embryos, she will give birth to her half-brother or half-sister.

And then there is the time lapse between conception and birth in this latest news item. Previously, the record-holder for longest time in the freezer was a baby born from an embryo that had been frozen for 13 years.

Source : Neatorama

Dark chocolate bathroom Recipe products and chocolate Spa treatments for chocoholics How about bathing with it? That’s exactly what a hot springs Spa Resort in Geneva, Switzerland. A woman tastes chocolate while enjoying the chocolate bath in the beauty saloon If you recall, this spa also offers wine. green tea and coffee baths. The water in the bath is mixed with cacao and fragrant bath powders while chocolate in its liquid form is poured over the bodies of the bathers. Couples can have fun smearing the chocolate seduction over each other’s bodies or lick it off.

Gilpin Family Whisky If you are a diabetes patient “sweet urine” can be used to make whisky!

A London-based designer James Gilpin, made “Gilpin Family Whisky” using the high-sugar urine produced by elderly diabetes patients, including the urine of his grandmother

James Gilpin, who is also a diabetes patient, filters the high-sugar urine using the same processes used to purify water, removing the sugars in the process, which are then used in the fermentation stages.

If you are thinking to buy this exclusive “pee whisky,” too bad because Gilpin is not planning to market it commercially; it’s more of an art project for him.

So, what you can do now is to use your high-sugar urine to produce some special and luxury whisky to serve your guests when they visit you. I believe they will love it and thank you so much…but “No, Thanks!” from me.

Experimental Herbal Cancer treatment Fighting Garden Herbs are medical therapies intended or claimed to treat cancer (see also tumor) by improving on, supplementing or replacing conventional methods (surgery, chemotherapy, radiation, and immunotherapy).

The lovely bounty of nature. As the weather warms, home gardeners around the country are able to look no further than their backyard for flavorful herbs to add that farmstead layer of taste to their dinner entrees. We’ve always known they’re yummy but now we know they offer a heck-of-a-lot more than just flavor.

Everyday garden herbs possess legions of medicinal properties and, when eaten in conjunction with healthy vegetables and spices, have powerful cancer-preventive properties. “The easiest, least-expensive way to reduce your risk for cancer is just by eating a healthy diet,” says Rachael Stolzenberg-Solomon, PhD, MPH, RD, a researcher at the National Cancer Institute in a recent article. Below are five, easily-found, herbs you might consider eating more of.


Dill (Anethum graveolens) is a short-lived perennial herb. It is the sole species of the genus Anethum, though classified by some botanists in a related genus as Peucedanum graveolens (L.) C.B.Clarke.

40–60 cm (16–24 in), with slender stems and alternate, finely divided, softly delicate leaves 10–20 cm (3.9–7.9 in) long. The ultimate leaf divisions are 1–2 mm (0.039–0.079 in) broad, slightly broader than the similar leaves of fennel, which are threadlike, less than 1 mm (0.039 in) broad, but harder in texture. The flowers are white to yellow, in small umbels 2–9 cm (0.79–3.5 in) diameter. The seeds are 4–5 mm (0.16–0.20 in) long and 1 mm (0.039 in) thick, and straight to slightly curved with a longitudinally ridged surface.

Dill originated in Eastern Europe. Zohary and Hopf remark that "wild and weedy types of dill are widespread in the Mediterranean basin and in West Asia."

Although several twigs of dill were found in the tomb of Amenhotep II, they report that the earliest archeological evidence for its cultivation comes from late Neolithic lake shore settlements in Switzerland. Traces have been found in Roman ruins in Great Britain.

In Semitic languages it is known by the name of Shubit. The Talmud requires that tithes shall be paid on the seeds, leaves, and stem of dill. The Bible states that the Pharisees were in the habit of paying dill as tithe. Jesus rebuked them for tithing dill but omitting justice, mercy and faithfulness.

Mint & Mentha

Mentha (and mint, from Greek míntha, Linear B mi-ta) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Lamiaceae (Mint Family). The species are not clearly distinct and estimates of the number of species varies from 13 to 18.[[Hybrid (biology)| Hybridization between some of the species occurs naturally. Many other hybrids as well as numerous cultivars are known in cultivation. The genus has a subcosmopolitan distribution across Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia, and North America.

Mints are aromatic, almost exclusively perennial, rarely annual, herbs. They have wide-spreading underground rhizomes and erect, square, branched stems. The leaves are arranged in opposite pairs, from oblong to lanceolate, often downy, and with a serrate margin. Leaf colors range from dark green and gray-green to purple, blue, and sometimes pale yellow. The flowers are white to purple and produced in false whorls called verticillasters. The corolla is two-lipped with four subequal lobes, the upper lobe usually the largest. The fruit is a small, dry capsule containing one to four seeds.

While the species that make up the Mentha genus are widely distributed and can be found in many environments, most Mentha grow best in wet environments and moist soils. Mints will grow 10–120 cm tall and can spread over an indeterminate area. Due to their tendency to spread unchecked, mints are considered invasive.

Parsley

Parsley (Petroselinum) is a bright green biennial herb, often used as spice. It is common in Middle Eastern, European, and American cooking. In modern cooking, parsley is used for its leaf in much the same way as coriander (which is also known as Chinese parsley or cilantro), although parsley is perceived to have a milder flavor.

Two forms of parsley are used as herbs: curly leaf (P. crispum) and Italian, or flat leaf (P. neapolitanum). Curly leaf parsley is often used as a garnish. One of the compounds of the essential oil is apiol. The use of curly leaf parsley may be favored by some because it cannot be confused with poison hemlock, like flat leaf parsley or chervil. The produce code for parsley is 4899.

Rosemary

Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis) is a woody, perennial herb with fragrant evergreen needle-like leaves. It is native to the Mediterranean region. It is a member of the mint family Lamiaceae, which also includes many other herbs.

The name rosemary derives from the Latin name rosmarinus, which is from "dew" (ros) and "sea" (marinus), or "dew of the sea" — apparently because it is frequently found growing near the sea.

Forms range from upright to trailing; the upright forms can reach 1.5 m (5 ft) tall, rarely 2 m (6 ft 7 in).

The leaves are evergreen, 2–4 cm (0.8–1.6 in) long and 2–5 mm broad, green above, and white below with dense short woolly hair.

Flowering, very common in a mature and healthy specimen, blooms in summer in the north; but can be everblooming in warm-winter climates and is variable in color, being white, pink, purple, or blue

The results of a study suggest that carnosic acid, found in rosemary, may shield the brain from free radicals, lowering the risk of strokes and neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's and Lou Gehrig's.

Rosemary contains a number of potentially biologically active compounds, including antioxidants such as carnosic acid and rosmarinic acid. Other bioactive compounds include camphor (up to 20% in dry rosemary leaves), caffeic acid, ursolic acid, betulinic acid, rosmaridiphenol, and rosmanol.

Potential side effects When rosemary is harvested appropriately and used within recommended guidelines, side effects are minimal. A few instances of allergic skin reactions to topical preparations containing rosemary have been reported.

Recent European research has shown that rosemary interferes with the absorption of iron in the diet, which indicates that it should not be used internally by persons with iron deficiency anemia

Thyme

Thyme is a well-known culinary and medicinal herb The essential oil of common thyme (Thymus vulgaris) is made up of 20-54% thymol. Thymol, an antiseptic, is the main active ingredient in Listerine mouthwash.Before the advent of modern antibiotics, it was used to medicate bandages. It has also been shown to be effective against the fungus that commonly infects toenails.

A tea made by infusing the herb in water can be used for cough and bronchitis. Medicinally thyme is used for respiratory infections in the form of a tincture, tisane, salve, syrup or by steam inhalation. Because it is antiseptic, thyme boiled in water and cooled is very effective against inflammation of the throat when gargled 3 times a day.The inflammation will normally disappear in 2 – 5 days. The thymol and other volatile components in the leaf glands is excreted via the lungs, being highly lipid-soluble, where it reduces the viscosity of the mucus and exerts its antimicrobial action. Other infections and wounds can be dripped with thyme that has been boiled in water and cooled.

In traditional Jamaican childbirth practice, thyme tea is given to the mother after delivery of the baby. Its oxytocin-like effect causes uterine contractions and more rapid delivery of the placenta but this was said by Sheila Kitzinger to cause an increased prevalence of retained placenta.

A youngster dubbed turtle boy by cruel bullies is starting a new life after a miracle two hour operation to remove a giant shell of hard skin from his back.

Maimaiti Hali, eight - from Heping, northern China - was born with a hard, mutated growth covering most of his back.

Dad Maimaiti Musai said: "We were told surgery wasn't possible when he was very young so we waited. But the growth got bigger and harder and became like a turtle shell.

"People bullied him and we were determined to end it. He is such a good and brave boy and he never complained. We are so glad that he is now on the mend."

Medics at Urumqi Military General Hospital say they have cut away the growth and replaced it with skin grafts from Hali's scalp and legs.

Chief surgeon Ye Xiangpo explained: "The skin we removed was as thick as a bull's hide. We used scalp hair on the graft because it grows back very quickly. We expect him to make a full recovery."

Hali added: "It was a bit painful, but I won’t worry about other kids laughing at me any more. I am looking forward to going out in the sun without my shirt on and to going swimming with my friends."






Source:- Daily Telegraph

10 Amazing Phenomenon of a Normal Human Mind
The basic fact you should know is that your mind isn’t just a mirror, not even a passive observer of reality. What we assume out there in the world we stand in, is actually coming from in here. And we have come up with these few phenomenons which are in reality a byproduct of how the brain works.

Read More :- Smashing Lists