Soon there will be kids who won’t know what their “save” icon is. Scary.
This picture shows the pioneering tiny titanium heart, which weighs just 11grams and is the smallest artificial heart in the world, that has helped save the life of a 16-month-old boy.
Surgeons implanted the device, a miniscule pump, to keep the toddler alive until a donor organ was found bridging a new medical milestone.
The boy had the operation at Rome’s Bambino Gesu hospital last month and had the implant for 13 days before he had a transplant. He is now doing well.
The baby was suffering from dilated myocardiopathy, a heart muscle disease which normally causes stretched or enlarged fibres of the heart. The disease gradually makes the heart weaker, stopping its ability to pump blood effectively.
‘This is a milestone,’ surgeon Antonio Amodeo said.
He added that while the device was now used as bridge leading to a transplant, in the future it could be permanent.
Before the implant, the child also had a serious infection around a mechanical pump that had been fitted earlier to support the function of his natural heart.
‘From a surgical point of view, this was not really difficult. The only difficulty that we met is that the child was operated on several times before,’ he said.
The tiny titanium pump weighs 11 grams and can handle a blood flow of 1.5 litres a minute. An artificial heart for adults weighs 900 grams.
Good to know even when we are angry we can still be getting stronger ;)
We need more nuns back in the classrooms.
11 Critically endangered turtle species: “Today, May 23rd, is World Turtle Day. It is a day of celebrating the many unique and ancient species of turtles and tortoises around the world, and bringing awareness to their need for protection. Of the 207 species of turtle and tortoise alive today, 129 of them are listed by IUCN as vulnerable, endangered, or critically endangered. That’s an incredibly 62% of species!”
Baby Neanderthal Breast-Fed for 7 Months
A baby Neanderthal who lived in what is now Belgium about 100,000 years ago started eating solid food at 7 months old, revealing a new aspect of the evolution of breast-feeding.
The precision of this estimate is courtesy a new technique that uses elements in teeth to determine when breast-feeding started and stopped. Though researchers can’t be sure the young Neanderthal’s pattern was typical of its kind, such a breast-feeding pattern is not unlike that seen in many modern humans.
“Breast-feeding is such a major event in childhood, and it’s important for so many reasons,” study researcher Manish Arora, a research associate at Harvard’s School of Public Health, told LiveScience. “It’s a major determinate of child health and immune protection, so breast-feeding is important both from the point of view of studying our evolution as well as studying health in modern humans.” Read more.
Virtual supermarkets are popping up in subway stations in South Korea, where commuters can virtually shop for items while waiting for the train to come. Customers simply scan an item’s QR code using the free “Homeplus” app and can have it delivered to their doorstep before they even get home. Ranked as the 2nd most hard-working country in the world to Japan, South Korea is rewarding its workers with this timesaving gem.
Wow! I kinda love this idea.
