Medicine: A Transplant First

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For now, the doctors are pleased with their patient's progress. "[She] is happy with the results," Dubernard says. "She can finally look at herself in the mirror--something she could not do just a week before." The next few months and years will determine whether that good fortune continues.

MICROSURGERY Doctors made many painstaking connections to restore function • Muscles If all goes well, the patient should be able to open and close her mouth when she speaks and eats • Nerves Both motor and sensory fibers were reattached, which should allow feeling as well as movement • Arteries and veins The woman's blood now nourishes the new tissue. Any blockage could doom the graft

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TOMMY WARD, whose family has been harvesting oysters from the Gulf of Mexico since the 1920s, on the FDA's plan to ban the sale of raw oysters that are harvested in warm months; about 15 people die each year due to raw-oyster contamination

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