Minerva

A 70 kg giant tumour was successfully removed by a team of American and Romanian doctors on 22 January in Bucharest, Romania. Afterwards, the patient weighed just 40 kg and needed skin reconstruction to a quarter of her body. The 46 year old woman has Recklinghausen syndrome, and her present state is stable (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/3419373.stm).

When a 67 year old woman on a flight bound for Florida developed crushing central chest pain radiating down her left arm, not one but 15 cardiologists leapt to her assistance. They were all going to a cardiology conference in Orlando. Apart from the fact that the woman had more cardiologists in attendance than the average patient anywhere in the world, Minerva is curious to know whether they all wanted to follow the same protocol (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/merseyside/3359149.stm).

The Porta-Morgue, a refrigerated coffin, has landed in South Africa. The invention, prompted by the increasing number of AIDS deaths, is an insulated coffin with a cooling unit and is designed to preserve bodies for up to a month. Adrienne Viljoen, manager of the South African Bureau of Standards Design Institute, said that the product “demonstrates the down to earth practicality of how to preserve your loved …