Karachi: An attempt by a Pakistani man to get in touch with his divorced wife ended in disaster as the woman chopped off his genitals in a city hotel here.
Abid Pervaiz, 25, was lucky to have survived the attack, a doctor on duty said. “He was brought to the Jinnah hospital in a bad shape this afternoon with severe genital mutilation wounds. It is a miracle that the man had survived despite severe bleeding,” doctor said.
According to Mehmoodabad police station’s duty officer SI Mohammad Azeem, Abid hails from Sukkur and was living with some distant relatives. He was divorced, but began communicating with his ex-wife again.
The couple decided to meet again and hired a room at a city hotel, where the woman allegedly mixed some sleeping pills in his juice. When Abid woke up, he discovered that his genitals had been cut off, Azeem said. “Abid told me that before he passed out completely, he heard his former wife speaking to someone on the phone, saying that she had carried out her plan,” the officer said. (PTI)
Synthetic windpipe transplanted for first time
London: In a first-ever medical feat, a 36-year-old patient has been given a new windpipe made from a synthetic scaffold seeded with his own stem cells.
He is well on the way to complete recovery. The operation was performed June 9 at Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden by Paolo Macchiarini and colleagues.
Macchiarini led a team including Alexander Seifalian from University College London, Britain who designed and built the tracheal scaffold.
Harvard Bioscience of the US produced a specifically-designed bioreactor used to seed the scaffold with the patient’s own stem cells.
The patient had been suffering from late stage tracheal cancer. Despite maximum treatment with radiation therapy, the tumour had reached approximately six cm in length and was extending to the main bronchus, according to a Karolinska statement. (IANS)
Cuban zoo reports birth of odd animal
Havana: A Cuban zoo has reported the birth of an animal that is a cross between a donkey and a zebra, officials said.
The ‘donkra’ has features characteristic of both parents and appears healthy seven days after being born, according to specialists caring for the animal at the zoo in Ciego de Avila, a city 423 km east of Havana.
His large, robust body and brownish coat are characteristic of his father, while the animal inherited from his zebra mother his striped ears, long legs and the black line running from head to tail, images broadcast on television and posted on the official Cubadebate website showed.
“This was the first time the zebra had given birth and we knew this was possible because, even though they come from different parts of the planet, they are genetically compatible animals,” zoo director Fidel Yera said.
The cross between the African zebra, who was being given a special diet to help her nurse her suckling, and the Cuban donkey resulted from their being placed in the same stable.
Though considered a rare occurrence on the island, other similar births have been reported at zoos in Havana and the eastern city of Santiago de Cuba. (IANS)
Kate Middleton ‘too skinny to have baby’: doctor
London: The Duchess of Cambridge is on the brink of being too underweight to be able to conceive a baby, warns a top UK doctor.
Kate, 29, was this week portrayed on a sick pro-anorexia website encouraging young girls to starve themselves.
And This Morning’s Dr Chris Steele, 65, who has been the health expert on the ITV1 magazine show for 13 years, said that if Kate lost anymore weight it would be difficult for her to become pregnant.
“Kate has always been on the thin side but she’s now on the brink of being underweight,” the Daily Star quoted Steele as saying.
“If she continues to lose any more weight it’s entirely medically plausible she will have extreme difficulty getting pregnant.
“Being underweight is one of the greatest problems for women trying to get pregnant. If they aren’t at a healthy weight they will not ovulate properly. This is why anorexics have huge problems conceiving,” Steele added. Experts have found that women who are underweight are 72 percent more likely to have a miscarriage. (ANI)
Man gets 7 yrs for supplying fake currency
Muzaffarnagar : A local court on Friday sentenced a man to seven years of imprisonment for supplying fake currency imported from Pakistan with a face value of Rs 17,000.
The accused Awwal Ali was also fined for Rs 5,000 for allegedly supplying the fake currency, Additional District Session judge Ghanshaym Pathak said.
During police interrogation, the accused revealed that the fake currency was received from an agent who imported the notes from Pakistan.
Ali was arrested from Purkazi town in the district on January 1 for possessing the counterfeit currency, prosecution sources said. (PTI)
Briton stabs NRI neighbour’s dog to death
London: A Briton stabbed his NRI neighbour’s dog to death with a knife after it attacked his labrador, a court heard.
Mark Deeley, 50, claimed he was protecting his 12-year-old Bertie, from Max, a five-year-old German Shepherd owned by India-origin Tarlo Singh and his sister Susan Kaur.
Coventry Magistrates’ Court Wednesday heard Max had squeezed under a hedge to get into the garden of Deeley’s home in the upmarket suburb of Gibbet Hill.
Finuala Sheridan, prosecuting, said the German Shepherd then apparently attacked the labrador.
Deeley, who was in the garden, went to his kitchen where “he picked the largest knife he could find”, she said.
Deeley, who denied criminal intention, told the court that the dog fight was “brutal”. He said: “I saw Max’s jaws around Bertie’s throat.”
He said terrified that his dog was going to be killed, “I drew the knife back and struck once. I felt I did not have any choice.”
Max died from a single stab wound.
However, Tarlo Singh, told the court he had heard Deeley calling Max to his side of the hedge. He said: “Max was barking, I looked out the window. What alerted me more was when Mark Deeley called him over. It was loud.” The trial continues. (IANS)
Finally ‘safe’ cigarette invented?
London: British scientists claim to have invented a so-called ‘safe’ cigarette — a nicotine inhaler that gives exactly the same “kick” as a normal cigarette but with almost no health risks associated with tobacco.
Shaped like a cigarette, the inhaler doesn’t contain tobacco or burn when one puffs it, meaning it won’t pollute the lungs with carcinogenic tar, the researchers said.
The “nicotine delivery” device which will look, feel, and taste exactly the same as a normal cigarette, was designed by inventor Alex Hearn, a 28-year old Oxford graduate. Hearn’s invention has earned the backing of many wealthy investors as well as a licensing deal with British American Tobacco (BAT), maker of popular brands like Dunhill, Kent, Lucky Strike and Pall Mall, LiveScience reported. It also said that Hearn is in talks with the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency, the UK’s version of the FDA, to be allowed to market his nicotine inhaler as a medicinal product. Currently under development, BAT said the inhalers will hit the market within two years.
Although it is touted as the safest device for people who want to quit smoking, scientists are not really convinced. “If you need to deliver nicotine, it’s certainly a safer route than what you get in a cigarette,” said Scott Rogers, a University of Utah neurobiologist who studies nicotine addiction and its effects. (PTI)