Saturday 13 June 2015

first penile transplant recipient to become a father

The South African recipient of the world's first penile transplant is to become a father, a surgeon who performed the operation has told the BBC.
His girlfriend has reported that she is about four months pregnant, and this showed that the "transplant worked", said Andre van der Merwe.
The 21-year-old recipient, whose identify is being protected, lost his penis in a botched circumcision.
The operation took place in December.
Surgeons at Stellenbosch University and Tygerberg Hospital performed a nine-hour operation to attach a donated penis.
Dr Van der Merwe said he was "very pleased" when he heard that the man's girlfriend was pregnant, and had not asked for a paternity test as there was no reason not to believe the couple.
Further transplants
"This is what we intended, that he should be able to stand up and be able to urinate and have intercourse, so it is a milestone for him," Dr Van der Merwe told the BBC.
These boys are undergoing a circumcision ceremony in South Africa
He had not expected the man to be infertile, as he had an issue with his penis, not his testicles, the surgeon added.
Dr Van der Merwe said the surgical team is yet to review the success of the operation, and may then carry out further transplants.
The boy had been left with just 1cm of his original penis as a result of the botched circumcision. He was 18 and sexually active at the time.
Andre van der Merwe was one of the surgeons who carried out the ground-breaking procedure
When attaching the donated penis, the surgical team used some of the techniques that had been developed to perform the first face transplants in order to connect the tiny blood vessels and nerves.
There have been attempts at penis transplants before, including one in China.
Accounts suggested the operation went well, but the penis was later rejected.
Doctors say South Africa has some of the greatest need for penis transplants in the world.
Dozens, some say hundreds, of boys are maimed or die each year during traditional initiation ceremonies.

nuts protects against early death

Eating half a handful of nuts every day could substantially lower the risk of early death, a Dutch study suggests.
Previous studies had already indicated a link with cardiovascular health, but this is the first to look at specific nuts and diseases.
Maastricht University researchers found a 23% lower chance of death during the 10-year study in people eating at least 10g (0.3oz) of nuts or peanuts a day.
There was no benefit for peanut butter, which is high in salt and trans fats.

What's in a nut?

  • monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids
  • various vitamins
  • fibre
  • antioxidants
  • other bioactive compounds
More than 120,000 Dutch 55-to-69-year-old men and women provided dietary and lifestyle information in 1986, and then their mortality rate was looked at 10 years later.
The premature mortality risk due to cancer, diabetes, respiratory and neurodegenerative diseases was lower among the nut consumers.
There was an average 23% lower risk of 10-year mortality across all diseases, with a decrease of:
  • 45% for neurodegenerative disease
  • 39% for respiratory disease
  • 30% for diabetes
Prof Piet van den Brandt, who led the study, published in the International Journal of Epidemiology, said: "It was remarkable that substantially lower mortality was already observed at consumption levels of 15g of nuts or peanuts on average per day."
The researchers had taken into account the mitigating factor that nut consumers ate more fruit and vegetables and that women who ate nuts were often leaner, and adjusted the results accordingly, Prof Van den Brandt told the BBC.