In November, Russian surgeon Vladimir Demikhov, who conducted the
worldÂ’s first animal heart and lung transplants, died at the age of
82. Demikrov also conducted the worldÂ’s first coronary bypass in a dog
in 1952.
Scientists at the University of California, Los Angeles, recently
announced they found a sequence of amino acids that reduces the level
of kidney damage caused by lupus in mice. Lupus afflicts more than 1
million Americans, and about 5 percent of those with lupus suffer from
potentially fatal kidney damage. In the trials those mice left untreated
died, on average, after only 35 weeks, while 80 percent of those treated
with the amino acid were still alive after 60 weeks and most showed
no kidney damage. Development of a similar treatment for human beings
is years away from the testing phase.
The Swedish branch of the Animal Liberation Front is threatening to
attack the web sites of two Swedish laboratories as well as the Swedish
Department of Agriculture on January 15 from 3 p.m. GMT to 6 p.m. GMT
“as a protest against vivisection and in memory of all the animals
imprisoned, tortured and murdered in the labs.”