Larynx Transplant

Brenda Charett Jensen has been incapable of speaking for eleven years because of having her airway permanently damaged by a breathing tube during surgery. On Thursday, though, she was finally given the chance to speak without the assistance of a machine. Doctors from the University of California Davis Medical Center allowed her to become the second person in the United States to receive a larynx transplant. In addition to the larynx, she also received a donor's thyroid and a portion of a trachea. For the rest of her life, Jensen will have to take medication that will suppress her immune system. Also, her voice is not the one she had before her surgery in 1999, but that of the donor whose organs were used in the transplant. There are still issues with such procedures as this, mostly because the larynx is not thought of as a necessary organ because it is possible to live without it. Many ethical, financial, and insurance issues are grouped with transplants such as this.

I think it is pretty remarkable that transplants such as this are able to take place, and Jensen is incredible lucky not only because she is able to speak again, but because she is only the second person in the country to receive a larynx transplant. I cannot even imagine what it would be like to not be able to speak...especially for 11 years! It is progress like this that makes me marvel at the incredible feats that the medical field is able to accomplish. Hopefully kinks, such as financial and insurance issues, will be able to get smoothed out and make it more acceptable for events like this to take place for the people who long for something they are missing.

Source: CNN - "Voice found: Woman speaks with new larynx"

Melanoma Meds

In studies at Royal Marsden Hospital in London, patients with melanoma were given drugs that attack genetic mutations in skin cancer. The drug proved successful with the patients who had "advanced malignant melanoma." This is very good news since melanoma continues to have steadily rising rates. During the study the drug was able to shrink melanoma tumors in 70% of the cases in the trial. If the drug is passed on to be approved by other cancer specialists, there is a chance that it could soon begin being used outside of trials.

It would be very good if this drug could get approved by other cancer specialists quickly so that it can be used among the public. Since melanoma is such a serious diagnosis, having a treatment that actually decreases the size of the tumors could lead to very good outcomes for those who suffer from this form of cancer. It would be even better if similar treatments could be created for cancers that extend outside of just skin cancers.

Source: BBC News - "Pill slows spread of skin cancer in half of cases"

127 Mobsters Arrested

Thursday morning the FBI arrested 127 alleged mobsters throughout the northeast, in areas such as New York City, New Jersey, and Rhode Island. The many who were arrested were connected to crimes involving murder, narcotics, and extortion. The huge number of individuals arrested made this the FBI's largest crackdown in its entire history. Some of the major mob families that had members arrested were the "Gambino, Genovese, Lucchese, Bonanno, Colombo and DeCavalcante." Those arrested from the families were largely leaders of them. Arrests were made with much help from former mob members who recorded hours upon hours of conversations with mob leaders. Over the past ten years, families in the mafia have been losing their success because more and more people who had been involved with the mafia have come forward and given information to authorities.

Wow. There were so many people arrested all at once! That is great! Organized crime is one of those crimes that people are so afraid to report to authorities because of the risk of becoming a target of mafia families. It is also impressive that the overall success of mafia families has been steadily decreasing over the past decade. Hopefully that trend continues and more arrests can be made to eliminate the amount of organized crime throughout the country.

Source: BBC News - "FBI charges 127 alleged mobsters in north-east US"

China's President Visits United States

Hu Jintao, China's president, will be coming to the United States for a four day visit. Many consider this to be the most important meeting between the United States and China to take place in 30 years. Topics that are going to be discussed between President Obama and President Hu will include human rights, trade, and North Korea's "nuclear activities." The growing size of China's army may also be discussed as it is something that the United States is worried about. President Hu is also expected to visit Chicago after his time in Washington D.C. Chinese and American relations have been improving over the course of the past 30 years, and trade has been an important part of that.

I think that is is great that the two countries are getting together to discuss issues that are very important. Hopefully relations between the two continue to grow positively over the following years. This meeting between the United States and China is a great example of globalization, though. It shows how dependent they are on each other and how without trade, neither would be as successful as they are otherwise. I believe that it is important for nations to work together to accomplish goals that not only affect the nations involved, but also nations around the world but at the same time taking into consideration the needs of other countries. If nations work well together, success could be found more easily. The chances of there ever being complete peace and cooperation among all nations is not very likely, but any efforts in that direction are good.

Source: BBC News - "China's President Hu Jintao to begin US state visit"

Drop in U.S. Unemployment Rates

From November 2010 to December 2010, unemployment rates in the United States dropped from 9.8% to 9.4%. Over 100,000 jobs were created, although that was fewer than the Labor Department had anticipated. The drop doesn't mean all is well, though. The decrease was helped along by the fact that well over 200,000 people stopped searching for jobs. If they stop searching, those people are not longer considered as unemployed. In addition, the number of people of working age grew by more than the number of jobs created in the United States. The number of U.S. adults has risen by 2 million over the past year, but the number of jobs in the U.S. has only risen by 1.1 million in the last year. There is still a significant way to go before unemployment rates reach the point considered to be typical (6%). The recovery process will be a slow one.

It is good that the unemployment rate is (very) slowly dropping; however, the actual rates probably aren't as good as they appear to be because of the number of Americans who have given up searching for work. Since the numbers aren't portraying process in the most accurate way, it may be giving citizens the false hope that the economic situation is improving greatly. At this point, people just need to be patient and hope for the best. All of the recovery processes take time and there is no hope in rushing them.

The Death of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell"

Last week, the policy of "don't ask, don't tell" was repealed in the United States through a law signed into action by President Obama. "Don't ask, don't tell" has been the policy in the United States armed forces since 1993. There are a few details that need to be worked out, though. For one, troops now need to be trained on "how sexual preference should be handled when army staff are organising sleeping arrangements in military barracks." Guidelines such as this need to be signed by Obama as well as important figures in the military. After that is done, there will be an additional sixty days in which the ban will still be in place before the new law in placed into action.

"'No longer will our country be denied the service of thousands of patriotic Americans who were forced to leave the military, regardless of their skills, no matter their bravery or their zeal, no matter their years of exemplary performance because they happen to be gay'" --President Barack Obama

The repeal of the "don't ask, don't tell" policy makes me very happy. It is about time that equality is broadened even more in the United States. For a country that brags about how everybody is equal and is entitled to the same rights, there sure are a lot of restrictions placed on people that are seen as "different". I hope there won't be many problems encountered along they way to finalizing the law.

Source: BBC News--"Barack Obama signs gay military law"

New Start Treaty

On Wednesday, the United States Congress approved the New Start treaty. This treaty is between the United States and Russia, and through it "Russia and the United States will cut deployed nuclear warheads by 30%." Boris Gryzlov, the speaker of Russia's lower house, is likely to approve the treaty on Friday. However, the upper house in Russia probably won't be able to approve the New Start treaty before the end of the year. This treaty is to be the biggest "arms control agreement" in about twenty years, President Obama said, and will keep everyone safer.

I think that this is a very good agreement. Anything that will hopefully keep nuclear weapons under control is beneficial for not only Russia, but also the United States. It would be even better if treaties such as this were not limited to two countries, but were shared by any countries around the world that are in possession of nuclear weapons. Unfortunately, it is unlikely that all of those countries will participate in such an agreement.

Source: BBC News--"Russia applauds US vote to back nuclear arms treaty"