Sunday, January 17, 2010
Finally, the true story....
If you have heard this one before then it is still worth a second read !!!
Some time ago, President Clinton was hosting a state dinner when, at the last minute, his regular cook fell ill, and they had to get a replacement on short notice.
The fellow arrived and turned out to be a very grubby-looking man named Jon. The President voiced his concerns to his Chief of Staff but was told that this was the best they could do on such short notice.
Just before the meal, the President noticed the cook sticking his finger in the soup to taste it and again complained to the Chief of Staff, but he was told that this man was supposed to be a very good chef. The meal went okay, but the President was sure that the soup tasted a little funny. By the time dessert came, he was starting to have stomach cramps and nausea.
It was getting worse and worse until finally the President had to excuse himself from the dinner to look for the bathroom. Passingthrough the kitchen, he caught sight of the cook, Jon, scratching his rear end, which made him feel even worse.
By now, the President was desperately ill with violent cramps and was so disorientated that he couldn't remember which door led to the bathroom. He was on the verge of passing out from the pain when he finally found a door that opened. As he unzipped his trousers and ran in, he realized to his horror that he had stumbled into the office of Ms.Monica Lewinsky with his trousers around his knees.
As he was just about to pass out, she bent over him and heard the President whisper in a barely audible voice, 'Sack my cook.'
And that is how the whole misunderstanding occurred...
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Friday, January 15, 2010
British scientists move closer to womb transplant
Doctors say the first successful womb transplant may be performed within two years. Research on rabbits has shown that it is possible to transplant a uterus and provide a reliable blood supply so that the organ lasts long enough to enable a pregnancy.
The research, led by Richard Smith, a consultant gynaecological surgeon at Hammersmith Hospital in London, UK, and involving teams in New York and Budapest, was presented this week at the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) annual conference in Atlanta. Surgery performed on rabbits at the Royal Veterinary College in London led to five rabbits receiving a successful womb transplant which included connecting major blood vessels and the aorta but they did not achieve pregnancy naturally. Two of the rabbits lived to ten months and post-mortem examinations proved the transplants to be a success.
It is reported that around 15,000 women of childbearing age are without a womb in the UK. Some of whom are born without one or have been required to have it removed because of cancer. For these women the only option at present to have children is either through adoption or surrogacy. It is estimated that up to 200 women use surrogate mothers every year. If womb transplants can in the future be successfully applied to humans then this would provide women with a viable alternative.
A human womb transplant has already been performed in Saudi Arabia on a 26 year old woman in 2000 but failed after the organ, taken from a live donor, was rejected and needed to be removed after three months. Smith thinks that the organ was rejected because of difficulties in ensuring adequate blood supply which resulted in a clot developing. The difficulty is that the womb needs to be functioning in the woman for the duration of a pregnancy, during which the recipient would be required to take immuno-suppressant drugs to reduce the risk of rejection. The womb would then be removed.
'I think there are certain technical issues to be ironed out but I think the crux of how to carry out a successful graft that's properly vascularised - I think we have cracked that one,' Smith told the conference. The technology still needs to be translated into a safe and effective method to be used in humans, and the team are yet to attempt to create a successful pregnancy in rabbits through IVF.
Tony Rutherford, chairman of the British Fertility Society, commented, 'I think there is a big difference between demonstrating effectiveness in a rabbit and being able to do this in a larger animal or a human...'. There are also ethical issues which will need to be addressed. Clare Lewis-Jones, from Infertility Network UK, said 'a great deal of thought and discussion' was needed before the research was applied to humans.
The team plans to use the technique on larger animals but the project is running out of money after research grants were rejected. To continue the research, a charity called the Uterine Transplant UK will be set up to help obtain the necessary funding of £250,000. The Times newspaper reports that surgeons in New York have already been given the go ahead to perform a human trial after demonstrating a uterus can be preserved long enough for surgery to be carried out.
The research, led by Richard Smith, a consultant gynaecological surgeon at Hammersmith Hospital in London, UK, and involving teams in New York and Budapest, was presented this week at the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) annual conference in Atlanta. Surgery performed on rabbits at the Royal Veterinary College in London led to five rabbits receiving a successful womb transplant which included connecting major blood vessels and the aorta but they did not achieve pregnancy naturally. Two of the rabbits lived to ten months and post-mortem examinations proved the transplants to be a success.
It is reported that around 15,000 women of childbearing age are without a womb in the UK. Some of whom are born without one or have been required to have it removed because of cancer. For these women the only option at present to have children is either through adoption or surrogacy. It is estimated that up to 200 women use surrogate mothers every year. If womb transplants can in the future be successfully applied to humans then this would provide women with a viable alternative.
A human womb transplant has already been performed in Saudi Arabia on a 26 year old woman in 2000 but failed after the organ, taken from a live donor, was rejected and needed to be removed after three months. Smith thinks that the organ was rejected because of difficulties in ensuring adequate blood supply which resulted in a clot developing. The difficulty is that the womb needs to be functioning in the woman for the duration of a pregnancy, during which the recipient would be required to take immuno-suppressant drugs to reduce the risk of rejection. The womb would then be removed.
'I think there are certain technical issues to be ironed out but I think the crux of how to carry out a successful graft that's properly vascularised - I think we have cracked that one,' Smith told the conference. The technology still needs to be translated into a safe and effective method to be used in humans, and the team are yet to attempt to create a successful pregnancy in rabbits through IVF.
Tony Rutherford, chairman of the British Fertility Society, commented, 'I think there is a big difference between demonstrating effectiveness in a rabbit and being able to do this in a larger animal or a human...'. There are also ethical issues which will need to be addressed. Clare Lewis-Jones, from Infertility Network UK, said 'a great deal of thought and discussion' was needed before the research was applied to humans.
The team plans to use the technique on larger animals but the project is running out of money after research grants were rejected. To continue the research, a charity called the Uterine Transplant UK will be set up to help obtain the necessary funding of £250,000. The Times newspaper reports that surgeons in New York have already been given the go ahead to perform a human trial after demonstrating a uterus can be preserved long enough for surgery to be carried out.
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