Lakshmi Tatma is a girl who is two years old but she was born with 8 limbs, because she is joined at the pelvis to what is, in fact, a headless, undeveloped twin (parasitic twin or to be more specific, ischiopagus cojoined twin).

This is surely an abnormal feature and it has attracted media attention worldwide.

The 24-hour-long surgery to remove the extra limbs of this Indian girl born with four arms and four legs was a success, doctors announced Wednesday.

A team of more than 30 physicians removed Lakshmi’s extra limbs, salvaged her organs, and rebuilt her pelvis area, Dr. Sharan Patil said from a hospital in the southern Indian city of Bangalore, India.

The english organization Marie Stopes International maintains a campaign to alert british citizens on the risks of acquiring venereal diseases or non-wished pregnancies when traveling to Mexico.

“What is more embarrassing, his hat or what he might give you? Make sure don’t come home with any unwanted holiday souvenirs”

This poster is very offensive and annoying. It’s an insult for my Country and it will frighten tourists. MFs, try to think before offend.

On January 25th, a car crash took place in Nebraska and Shannon Malloy (a previously healthy 30 year old woman) was seriously injuried. Her skull became separated from her cervical spine, this is what is called internal decapitation.

“I remember the impact and then I had no control over my head… I wasn’t focused so much on the pain. I just kept thinking, ‘I have to stay alive,’” said Shannon.

5 screws were drilled into Shannon’s neck and 4 more were drilled into her head to keep it stabilized. Then a thing called a halo (rods and a circular metal bar around her head) was attached for added support. It’s not exactly a pain-free procedure.

Shannon Malloy still has a long, costly recovery ahead. A fund has been set up in Malloy’s name at Wells Fargo banks. You can make donations at any location under the “The Benefit of Shannon Malloy.”

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Eleven weeks premature, both boys were given a little chance of survival – particularly Lincoln, weighing only 1lb 2oz at birth.

But yesterday this twins, now they are five weeks old, are doing well, thanks to the dedicated staff at the Royal Hospital for Women in Sydney.

This is called twin-to-twin transfusion, where one of the blood flow of one of the babies goes from the smaller to the larger twin.

“Lincoln’s chances of survival, I considered, were less than 30 per cent because he was so small.”

But after their birth, both brothers showed an “exceptional will to live,” said Dr Mishra.

“Lincoln initially had a lot of breathing problems and then he had heart problems, so an operation was carried out when he was still about 600g (1lb 5oz).

“But Byron also needed a little bit of help with his breathing before he began to gain proper weight and now he is doing well.

“We’re now watching both boys carefully, particularly little Lincoln, but we hope that he’ll soon start gaining weight much more quickly and get nearer and nearer his brother,” said Dr. Mishra.

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The compounds of blue agave (the cactus used for making tequila) showed nice results in studies performed at the University of Guadalajara in Mexico.

This development could be the first step in better treatments for ulcerative colitis, irritable bowel syndrome and other conditions involving the colon.

The deliver of drugs in to the colon has been a challenge for the doctors dealing with colon and rectal diseases.

Many drugs are destroyed by acids at the stomach. This could be avoided by the compounds of tequila, a type of polysaccharide known as fructans (a fructose polymer). This compound resists the destruction in the stomach and could let that drugs reach the colon without problems.

“This study showed that the agave fruit is not good just for making tequila, but it’s good because of its medicinal value. Agave’s fructan is the ideal natural transporter of drugs”, said Guillermo Toriz.

A Swedish hospital has banned Crocs (plastic clogs) because they build up static charges that zetz the delicate medical instruments:

Blekinge hospital in southern Sweden suspects the slip-on shoes, made by US firm Crocs Inc, are to blame for at least three incidents in which respirators and other machines malfunctioned. The mishaps caused no injuries.Hospital spokesman Bjorn Lofqvist said staff wearing the clogs could turn into “a cloud of lighting” because of the static electricity.

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His parents call him “Super Toño”. Antonio Vasconcelos -the baby- gained 200 grams in the first three days.

The mother of Antonio, Teresa Alejandra Cruz, of 23 years, is probably diabetic, because seven years ago this woman gave birth to a baby that weighed 5,2 kilograms

According to The Guiness World Records Book the baby who weighed more is of 10.2 kilograms, born in Italy in 1955 and was son of Carmelina Fedele.

Here are the photos of Antonio:

• Naruru (94.5%)
• Micronesia (91.1%)
• Cook Islands (90.9%)
• Tonga (90.8%)
• Niue (81.7%
• Samoa (80.4%)
• Palau (78.4%)
• Kuwait (74.2%)
• United States (74.1%)
• Kiribati (73.6%)

The list reflects the percentage of overweight adults aged 15 and over. These are individuals who have individual body mass indexes, which measures weight relative to height, greater than or equal to 25. Obese is defined as having a BMI greater than or equal to 30.

Why don’t you calculate your Body Mass Index right here?

viaForbes

90 percent of the 121 millions of people in the world who suffer from depression commit suicide.

A candy that alleviates bloated abdomen and other annoyances of premenstrual syndrome was developed by investigators of the IPN.

This candy is made of oregano (or Pot Marjoram). The active principles of this herb were analyzed and found that it has anti-inflammatory, digestive and antiseptic properties. That was the reason why they developed a candy that will help PMS sufferers and has a great taste. “It is common that women who suffer abdominal cramps during their menstrual period take a tea of oregano to resist the malaise and although is effective, it tastes bitter; it seemed a good idea to join all the properties of the oregano in a product that can be consumed at any time”, said to Haydeé Hernandez Unzón, creator of the candy.

This study, included 63,225 breastfeeded infants and was first published by the New England Journal of Medicine.

With their conclusions, the Mexican government will change the National Vaccination Scheme, and now will include rotavirus vaccine.

Congratulations to Dr. Ruiz-Palacios and all the crew of the Human Rotavirus Vaccine Study Group.

An aquatic wheelchair that helps people in rehabilitation process (i.e. amputations) was created by students of the National Polytechnical Institute, Berenice Nieto Ávila and Miguel Ángel Herrera Ruiz.

This amphibious technology allows physiotherapists to do their job in a better environment and with less risk. It offers comfort, security and efficiency for the patients.

The structure of this device was made of nickel, floaters of polystyrene covered with fabric nylon and a mechanism that allow the necessary movements so that the patient can enter the bathtubs or pools, with no need of aid.

“With this chair the patient can move by himself without fear to sink or to hurt himsellf”, Miguel Ángel Herrera emphasized.

The approximated weight of the chair within the water is of 15 kilograms (30 pounds approx) and supports a maximum weight of 150 kilos (300 pounds approx).

The creators will start a company dedicated to design, constructe and implement this kind of devices, focusing in rehabilitation techniques. At the moment they look for financing to commercialize their product and other innovations of rehabilitation field. The amphibious wheelchair obtained the first place of the Seventh Encounter of Entrepreneurs.

They are patients in a hospital, but they don’t suffer, because they are robotized models that allow students to learn without having the consequences of a real medical emergency.

It’s been a year since the beginning of the Certification and Training Center of Medical Aptitudes in the Medicine Faculty of the UNAM, 179 robots have served 19,496 students to solve urgencies: from acute coronary syndromes to high risk childbirth.

“If they don’t do it right, the patients will “die”, and this is reflected in a real EKG”, said doctor Jose Alberto García Aranda, coordinator of the CECAM.

An articulated prosthesis that reproduces the seven basic movements of the human arm, using the electrical impulses of the human body, was developed by a student of the National Polytechnic Institute (Instituto Politécnico Nacional).

Simón Guerrero Castillo, who in in December finished his Engineering in Communications and Electronics career, will obtain its title with this device, which is formed by three adaptable modules at different levels from amputation, is light and tries to be of low cost, because it is done with mexican and easy to obtain components.

“The arm works with microelectrical signals that generates the body, which are registered by a group of 22 to 26 electrodes that are placed in a customized shoulder reinforcement according to the stature of each patient. This electrodes switch-on the commands of execution of the arm to control variables like position, speed and pressure”, details Simón Guerrero, of 25 years.

He constructed this single prototype, in its house and with an investment of $18,000 pesos ($1,800 dlls.)

The movements of this device are very similar to the natural ones: wrist (left, right, up, down); turn of the forearm; rotation of the forearm; elbow and shoulder (elevation, up, down); opening and closing of the hand. These movements are made with nine small motors that operate with two nickel-cadmium batteries of 12 volts.

“My main motivation is to make a prosthesis that helps people in Mexico and that it has an accessible price, because unfortunately many arm amputations are suffered by people of low income that cannot pay a nice prosthesis”.

In order to install the arm to the patients surgery is not required.

Read the story in Engadget