First Face Transplant Done in America

In Cleveland, reconstructive surgeon Dr. Maria Siemionow and a team of specialists performed the first face face transplant done in America by replacing 80 percent of a disfigured woman's face by using the face of a female cadaver. Many details of the surgery have not been released but surgeons that do this usually transplant skin, facial nerves, muscles, and other deep tissue.

Skin is considered an organ and it still runs the risk of the body rejecting it, as with other organ transplants. Recipients of transplants have the risk of deadly complications, such as the new facial tissue attacking the recipient's body and the recipient's body attacking the bone marrow or the transplanted face to cause inflammation at the area of the new tissue. They also have to take immune-suppressing drugs for the rest of their lives to prevent the body rejecting the organ. This raises the risk of cancer and other diseases.

This is the fourth one done worldwide. Two have been done in France and one was done in China. The first one was a partial face transplant done in France in 2005 on a woman who had been mauled by her dog and received a new nose, chin, and lips from a brain-dead donor. Another was done in France on man disfigured by a genetic disease. One was done in China on a farmer that had been disfigured by being mauled by a bear.

Angelina Jolie Goes Home with Twins

giving birth a week ago. Jolie and the babies are reportedly doing well. To avoid the paparazzi she left out of one the hospital’s back entrances in a van. It isn’t known if Brad Pitt was there at the time.

Jolie checked into the hospital on July 2^nd and delivered a healthy baby girl, named Vivienne Marcheline, and a baby boy, named Knox Leon, ten days after arriving. The babies were born a little early due to medical reasons and so that they could be born as healthy as possible. A U.S. publication has already paid $11 million for the exclusive rights to the first photos of the twins and that money will go to charity.

Angelina Jolie Officially Gives Birth to Twins

The actress Angelina Jolie has given birth to both a boy and a girl. The babies were delivered by Caesarean section on Saturday night. Jolie and the twins are doing well. The baby boy was named Knox Leon and was born weighing just over 5 pounds. The girl was named Vivienne Marcheline and weighed 5 pounds. The babies were born at the seaside Lenval hospital in Nice in southern France. Jolie is expected to stay in the hospital for a few more days.

Angelina Jolie Gives Birth to Twins

The actress Angelina Jolie has given birth to twins in France. The twins are the fifth and sixth children for Jolie and Brad Pitt. They have 6 year old Maddox, 4 year old Pax, 3 year old Zahara, and 2 year old Shiloh.

France Not Promoting Extreme Thinness

France might make it illegal to promote extreme thinness. The French parliament’s lower house adopted a bill that would make it illegal for anything and anyone, including fashion magazines, advertisers, and Web sites, to promote extreme thinness. Judges would be given the power to imprison and fine offenders of the crime up to $47,000 if they are found guilty of “inciting others to deprive themselves of food to an excessive degree.” Judges can also sanction the people or places responsible for a magazine photo of a model whose extreme thinness alters another person’s health.

The National Assembly approved the bill in a series of votes after the legislation won support from the ruling conservative UMP party. The bill is going to the Senate very soon. Last week, French lawmakers and fashion industry members signed a nonbinding charter on promoting healthier body images.

Leaders in the French couture are against having legal boundaries on beauty standards but some people also feel that encouraging anorexia or severe weight loss should be punishable in court. Doctors and psychologists that are treating people with anorexia nervosa are in support of the government being involved in the fight against the disease.

France Steps Up Citizen Surveillance

The president of France, Nicolas Sarkozy, has decided to increase the amount of surveillance in public places in an effort to keep citizens safer by installing more police video cameras on city streets and sidewalks. There are already 300,000 of cameras set up in public places but Sarkozy wants to triple that number in the next few years.

The French government also has granted itself access to information every citizen’s bank cards, Internet searches, subway cards, electronic tollbooth passes, and more. Most citizens in France don’t know about the secret tracking devices and people have even been refused loans and lost their jobs due to errors that they have caused.

Singer Bono Asks For Help From France

The singer Bono from the group U2 has asked the leader of France, Nicholas Sarkozy, to increase the aid given to developing countries. He wants France to increase the development assistance to 0.7 percent of France’s national income instead of the 0.35 percent that it’s currently at.