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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ROBB LEVIN, resident of Fairfax, Virginia, on the $15,000 lawsuit settlement made against Tareq and Michaele Salahi, the White House gate crashers, who are also involved in at least 15 other civil suits

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