The world’s only recipient of two full arms in a landmark transplant operation said he expected to be able to toast the success of the procedure with a good Bavarian beer soon.
Karl Merk, a dairy farmer from the southern German city of Munich who lost both arms in a work accident, showed off his new-found mobility, waving his arms around and scratching his head for the cameras a year after his operation.
Asked if he was able to drink a glass of beer in typical Bavarian fashion, Merk said: “Well, yeah, at the moment I’m drinking from a straw otherwise it would be a bit dangerous but it should happen soon.”
However, he said his life was “basically back to normal” after the 15-hour surgery carried out by around 40 doctors, surgeons and nurses on July 25 and 26 last year.
“My biggest dream is to be able to move my fingers a bit and basically do everything independently for myself,” Merk added.
Nevertheless, Merk said he was able to enjoy simple pleasures again.
“It’s going really well. I often go with my wife to walk the dog,” he said.
He demonstrated some of the grueling rehabilitation exercises he must perform daily to regain strength, crossing his arms several times for the cameras.
The transplant, carried out at the teaching hospital of the Technical University in Munich, was a pioneering operation and the only one ever performed.
The five teams working in two operating theaters gathered at 10:00pm the night of the operation, one on each side of the patient and the donor, who had died only hours before. A fifth group removed a leg vein from the donor.
(AFP)
全球唯一一位成功移植完整雙臂的男子表示,他希望不久後就能高舉好喝的巴伐利亞啤酒,慶祝這項劃時代手術的成功。
德國南部慕尼黑市的酪農卡爾.梅爾克在一場工作意外中喪失雙臂,手術完成一年後,他在攝影鏡頭前展示重建的行動力,他揮動雙臂,搔了搔頭。
被問及他能否用典型的巴伐利亞方式喝杯啤酒,梅爾克說:「唔,沒錯,現在我還是用吸管喝飲料,否則會有點危險,不過應該不久後就能這麼做了。」
不過,他說手術後他的生活「基本上已回歸正常」了。 去年七月二十五、二十六日,約四十位醫生、外科醫生和護理人員花了十五個小時進行這項移植手術。
梅爾克還說:「我最大的夢想是能稍微動動手指,而且起碼可以靠自己獨立完成所有事。」
然而,梅爾克說他又能重新享受單純的滿足了。
他說:「一切都很好,我常和我太太一起去遛狗。」
他示範了一些累人卻每天都得進行的肌力復健運動,還在鏡頭前數次交叉手臂供記者拍照。
這項史無前例的雙臂移植先驅手術,是由慕尼黑科技大學教學醫院操刀。
手術當天晚上十點,五組醫療人員在兩間手術室集合,他們分別在梅爾克和那位才過世幾小時的捐贈者身邊待命。第五組人馬則負責取下捐贈者一條腿上的靜脈。
(法新社╱翻譯:袁星塵)
The strongest earthquake to hit Taiwan in 25 years killed at least 16 people and damaged dozens of buildings, but the destruction was largely contained thanks to decades of preparedness work. Taiwan sits on the “Ring of Fire,” an arc of intense seismic activity along the Pacific Rim, and — much like neighboring Japan — has a long history of catastrophic quakes. How does April 3 compare with other recent quakes? The April 3 earthquake, which measured 7.4 on the moment magnitude scale, was felt across Taiwan. It was the most severe since a 7.6 magnitude quake in 1999 killed
Around the time of the Dragon Boat Festival in June, the streets of Taiwan are filled with the delightful aroma of zongzi, a traditional snack made of sticky rice wrapped in leaves. The leaves are folded into a cone and then filled with sticky rice and other ingredients such as braised pork belly, peanuts and salted duck egg yolks. The filled leaves are then tightly tied with kitchen twine and ready for cooking. 每到六月端午時節,街頭巷尾就會飄出粽子的香氣。粽子是將糯米包進粽葉的傳統美食,先將粽葉折成圓錐狀塞入糯米,以及紅燒肉、花生、鹹鴨蛋黃等配料,用棉線綁緊後即可烹煮。 Dragon Boat Festival (n. phr.) 端午節 aroma
A: Artificial intelligence technology has been causing controversy lately: a student was caught cheating with AI to win the grand prize in an art contest. B: That’s so absurd. Does this mean that AI paints better than humans? A: Maybe. Luckily, the student was later disqualified. B: And more absurdly, it’s becoming more and more popular to use AI technology to “resurrect” people. A: Yeah, some netizens even posted videos featuring the late singer CoCo Lee, who was “resurrected” by them with AI software. A: 人工智慧的爭議不斷,有學生違規使用AI參加美術展,甚至贏得首獎。 B: 真誇張,這是不是代表AI比人類還強大? A: 或許吧,幸好得獎資格被取消。 B: 還有更誇張的︰讓死者重現的「AI復活」技術越來越熱門。 A: 對啊,還有網友製作已故歌后李玟「復活」的影片呢! (By Eddy Chang, Taipei Times/台北時報張聖恩)
Everyone has seen a piece of fruit turn brown after being cut. Have you ever wondered why that happens? It is a common phenomenon that occurs due to a chemical reaction called enzymatic browning. The appearance, flavor and nutritional value of the fruit are all affected by this reaction. Some fruits, such as apples, pears, bananas, avocados and peaches, are more prone to enzymatic browning than others. These fruits contain high levels of an enzyme called polyphenol oxidase, or PPO for short. __1__ This causes a chain of chemical reactions that ultimately transforms the phenolic compounds into