Miracle Face Transplant

Surgeons at the Cleveland Clinic performed a 22-hour procedure to transport 80 percent of a face. It included eyelids, bone, teeth, and a nose. The surgery a first for the United States, took place sometime in the past couple of weeks and repaired the face of a female patient using facial tissue from a dead female donor. It is only the world's fourth face transplant operation, and it may be the most extensive surgery to take place. Dr. Maria Siemionow, who led the team of eight surgeons that performed the operation, held a press conference on Wednesday. Siemionow said that the trauma had caused the patient to be blind in one eye, and she had lost both her sense of smell and sense of taste to the injury. It also caused her trouble in speaking.The facial transplant gave her a new chance to live a normal life.
I feel that a facial transplant performed here in the United States is almost like something out of a sci-fi book or something. Only four have been done so that tells you how difficult it is to perform. I wonder how this will change the medical world. Will other surgeons learn this procedure to extend their practice? Will more people be willing to do a face transplant? These are questions that will should be answered in the near future. I think it is a giant leap for the medical world. This could be something that could change lives, and give second chances.

Scant- Barely amounted to as much as indicated.
Recipient- A person or thing that recieves.
Transplantation- From one person or animal to another.
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Story?id=6482372&page=1

Stressed to Death: Mental tension ages cells

A study puts evidence behind the old theory that stressful experiences can give a person gray hair. Scientific data now indicate that prolonged psychological stress might cause a person's cells to age, and possibly die, faster than normal. Past studies have shown that a protein called telomeres is a cells timekeeper. This could be the clue we need to find out.

It also protects the ends of chromosomes. Every time a cell divides enzymes take off a tiny portion of telomeres. When they are broken down to nubs, the cells stop dividing and die. Scientists have long known that stress can harm a person's health by, for instance, lowering immunity or raising blood pressure. A team of scientists recruited 58 healthy women between the ages of 20 and 50. All the women were mothers of at least one child, 39 members of the group were primary caregivers for a child who was chronically ill with a disease such as cerebral palsy. They all answered a survey on how much day-to-day stress she recieved in her life. Mothers with chronically ill children reported to have more stress than regular mothers. The team measured telomere length in immune cells called mononucleocytes collected from blood samples of each volunteer. From the telomere lengths, the researchers estimate that cells from the highly stressed women resembled cells of low-stressed volunteers who were 10 years older. Further tests showed that women who reported higher stress also had more free radical damage to their cells than women under less psychological strain did. The results "make sense," says Fred Goldman, a pediatric oncologist who studies telomere biology at the University of Iowa in Iowa City. "We know that people who are stressed out look haggard. … If we have less stress in our lives, we might live longer."

telomeres- A compound structure at the end of a chromosome.

cerebral palsy- A condition marked by impaired muscle coordination.

haggard- Looking exhausted, and unwell.

http://www.phschool.com/science/science_news/articles/stressed_to_death.html

The Dead Zone

The dead zone is a blob of oxygen-deprived oxygen water that stretches down the Louisiana and Texas coastline. It has blighted the Gulf of Mexico for at least the half-past century. From the Mississippi River to the Sabine River you an area of essentially dead water.The water has something called hypoxia.
Hypoxia basically means death to all the clams, sea stars, polychaete worms, and nudibranchs. Water that is less than 2 milligrams of oxygen per liter it is considered hypoxic and it is not able to support life. Species that are not fast enough usually die. Ocean organisms that are able to swim fast enough leave the area. But if the low-oxygen zone lasts to long the creatures have no choice. It is said that if this keeps going you can lose an entire species. These species might be endemic that live in just that specific area. Crews stick a water catcher that closes as soon as it hits the floor into the water. They test it for salinity, turbidity or cloudiness, temperature, and dissolved oxygen which reveals whether or not they entered the dead zone. The dead zone last up to at least six months. But people wonder if thats the extent of the damage. They occur around the world not only in the Gulf of Mexico. The United Nations have found 146 zones like this. These range from less than 1 square mile to 45,000 square miles.
They can be reversed but the things you have to do are sometimes drastic. But it is our best interest to try to prevent dead zones because they may cause species that are important to our survival, and the survival of future generations.

endemic-Of or relating to a disease or anything resembiling a disease present in a particular area.
hypoxic-Deficiency in the amount of oxygen reaching body tissues.

Bonfire

I feel like something that we have done for years just does not matter anymore. People make traditions so they can be kept going by the next class of students. I feel bad for the seniors this year for being the first senior class not to have a bonfire. When the bonfire is one of the most important traditions for the seniors here. I have been living here nearly all my life and the bonfire has always happened. I moved away for two years and I was starting to look forward to it again. Even though a tradition is dieing one might be being born. This give this year's seniors a chance to become legends for making another great tradition.Seniors try to leave their mark and this gives them a genuine chance.

After a motorcycle accident Claudia Mitchell had to go under extensive surgery. After that she felt as if though their was something missing. The reason she felt like that was because their was. Her arm was severed and the doctors could not reattach her original arm. She applied to undergo surgery for a bionic arm and she got it. They rearranged her nerve cells from her arm into her chest muscles. She can now feel what her original arm would feel.
I think that losing an arm would be difficult to cope with. And I also feel that the new technology that has developed, where it is possible to get a bionic arm, is incredible. For her to be the first one to undergo this surgery is legendary.