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Show DAILY HERALD At Saturday, September 25, 2004 ovarian ussue xrans plant gives new hope to women ' Constant Brand TW ASSOCIATED PRESS BRUSSELS, Belgium lA It's . ntn 1 wneniprupusea the ovarian graft to the patient we had no idea it was working or not, we just ... (had) experimental studies in animals. He said the Belgian research team worked closely with other researchers working on similar procedures in the United States, Sweden and Britain. Donnez said 146 women were undergoing the same procedure in Belgium, out i ouirat was one of the first seven years ago to have her ovarian tissue frozen in the procedure, Hqownasjry-opreservatio- n. Donnez was optimistic the procedure would be made easi- - J Lz,.j. f 'J r". ..... t-- tt 32-ye- ar lAjnnezsoiu;ij. hi " . a dream," proclaimed the beamold new mother Friing day as she cuddled her day-ol- d baby girl, born following a pioneering ovarian tissue transplant performed after the woman was made infertile by chemotherapy. Doctors hailed the breakthrough procedure; saying it sent a "big message of hope" to cancer patients who have lost their fertility and could one day allow women to delay motherhood beyond menopause. "I am very happy, it's what I always wanted," said Ouarda Touirat, who presented her healthy ground, 3ounce baby, Tamara, dressed in pink, at a news conference at Brussels' ' Oiniques Universitaires Saint-Lu- c hospital, where she was born Thursday night. "I was crying at first, it's a dream ... a big miracle," said Touirat, who became infertile after she underwent chemotherapy due to Hodgkin's lymphoma in 1997, when she was 25. Her beaming husband, Malik Bouanati, stood beside her. Dr. Jacques Donnez, head of , the Department oi gynecology and Andrology at the hospital and who led the procedure, said it gave cancer survivors a second chance at motherhood. "It is a big message of hope for all women with cancer who have to have chemotherapy," he said of the procedure, in which doctors cut out Touirat's ovarian tissue before she had chemotherapy, then froze it in liquid nitrogen. Five years after she was cleared of cancer, the tissue was grafted back onto her fallopian tubes, allowing for a natural pregnancy.' News of the procedure was published in the British medical journal The Lancet on Friday. Describing Touirat's condition, r"v - Press BEN CURTISAssoclated for Refugees Rudd Lubbers, center, arrives in Abeche, eastern Chad, at the start of a mission touring the region by the unrest in Darfur, Sudan, on Friday. U.N. High Commissioner f ' ' ; j ' ' U.N. refugee chief proposes autonomy for Sudan's embattled Dark region ? Ellen Knickmeyer ' THE ASSOCIATED PRESS The UN: ABECHE, Chad High Commissioner for Refugees proposed autonomy for the troubled Darfur region of Sudan a solution the government has resisted but said Friday it would be willing to discuss anew in an effort to end the violence that has killed YEVES at Baby Tamara sleeps in the arms of Ouarda Touirat, her mother, the Brussels Scant-Lu-c hospital, on Friday. She was the first baby conceived after an ovarian tissue transplant procedure that could on day aUow women to cielcy motherhood beyond menopause er in the years ahead thanks to "It cannot be proved with 100 percent certainty (that the pregnancy came from the graft) because ovulation from the trans-plawas calculated from temperature but was not confirmed," said Dr. Kuthik Oktay, an expert who was not involved with Touirat's procedure but has conducted much of the key research in the field. . Even though Touirat's remaining ovarian tissue stopped working after the cancer treatment, it recovered and she ovulated three years later, which indicates it's possible that the native ovaries could have ovulated again to produce the baby, Oktay said. However, he said the research team from the Catholic University in Louvain, Belgium, made a strong case that the birth resulted from the transplant. advances, meaning more women could be given the choice of having a baby. He said the treatment was not very expensive, adding it was "much less expensive than fertilization." Donnez said health authorities should make it "a medical legal obligation" to offer women who have to undergo chemotherapy the option for. fertility preservation. This is the way to go," Donnez said. "Because of the progress ... made by medicine, more and more women are survivors Of cancer." A top expert in the field was cautious, however, saying there was a small chance Touirat's baby came from existing ovaries rather than the transplanted tissue. . Bin Laden's alleged accountant boycotts 50,000 people. Also, the US. State Depart- Press LOOflHEAssoctated nt ment's representative for Sudan said it would take up to two years to disarm the Arab militia blamed for the violence and secure the region so 1.4 million displaced people could return home. UNHCR chief Ruud Lubbers went as far as any international official has done previously in proposing solutions to the Hknonth conflict, which has been described by the United Nations as the world's worst humanitarian crisis. "There has to be some clear partition of power in Darfur," Lubbers said in Chad, whose eastern territory borders Darfur. He added that he did not mean "the total giving away of Darfur" by Sudan's central government, but rather "a limited amount of autonomy with- in the framework of the ten t torial integrity" of Sudan, Africa's largest country. . Nothing less than radical change would truly stop the violence, the refugee chief said. . "We have an enormous re-- . duce an ending of violence on the ground." sponsMity now, not to accept While "most" of the violence that this can go on and on," "annpnrs tn he KphinH us it Lubbers said at a border town doesnt end 100 percent comserving as the UK base for pletely," he said. camps holding most of the Last weekend, the UN. Se200,000 Darfur refugees in Chad. Workers said the flow curity Council resolved to conof refugees had eased in recent sider sanctions against Sudan's oil industry if the government weeks 'did not act quickly to stop the The govviolence in Darfur and bring ernment in Khartoum has denied widespread allegations the perpetrators to justice. that its troops and allied Arab Sudanese President Omar has shrugged off the militia, called the Janjaweed, have conducted an ethnic UN. resolution, saying his government was not afraid of it. cleansing campaign against The United States says genoDarfur's African population in cide has occurred in the Darfur retaliation for the uprising conflict launched last year by the Sua charge the Sudan Liberation Army and the danese governn lent rejects. The State Department's SeJustice and Equity rebel movements. nior Represent tiive on Sudan, Charles Snyder, said Friday it Leaders in Khartoum previously have refused the degree , would take "18 months to two of demanded by years" to disarm the Janthe two Darfur rebel groups. jaweed militia and secure Darfur for refugees. However, a senior Sudanese official said Friday the governHe also told reporters in ment was open to talks on Lub- Nairobi, Kenya, there were no 90-d"30-dabers' proposal. quick fixes" for Darfur's lack of security. "What do they mean by an Lubbers said there needed to autonomous region? This is be renewed peace talks besomething to be discussed," tween the Government and the Sudan's state minister for affairs, Mohammed Darfur rebel groups after Youssef Abdullah, said in a negotia tions broke down last week. telephone interview with The "We need very much the Associated Press in Cairo, people of the African Union," Egypt. the UNHCR chief said, referLubbers also spoke of international concerns to restore se- ring to the Afiican Union moncurity for Darfur's civilians "if itors in Darfur and other the political win of the Su- - ; . troops being offered by the African body. danese authorities doesnt pro Arab-dominate-d y, ay Nigeria-moderate- d if" 4 ;cWV! J hearing if Nntii!:tv . j Alexandra Olson THE ASSOCIATED PRESS SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico sama bin Laden's alleged Calphalon Omelette Pan Set -Oac- countant boycotted a review hearing to evaluate his legal status, and his attorney was barred from attending the proceedings at the US. military prison in Giiantanamo Bay, Cuba. Ibrahim Ahmed Mahmoud al Qosi, 44, is one of four prisoners charged with war crimes at the US. naval base on Cuba's eastern tip. The United States says al yosi, or jsuaan, woreea as anu-da'- s chief accountant, paymaster , and supply chief. Defense attorneys have criticized the review hearings as a sham, warning their clients not to speak at any proceedings unless they have an attorney present A decision on their statue can stiH be rendered without the participation of the prisoners. :.'V It was unclear whether al ' Qcd's boycott was connected to the barring of his attorney. Aiwuuguujc&yvciuuiciii views the hearings as purely there is nothing that prohibits prosecutors from using ' testimony given at the review. -v the military hearings during commissions, or trials. Al Qosi's trial is scheduled for December. Air Force LtGoL Sharon Shaf-- , f er, al Qosi's defense attorney for the commissions, said she was not told when her client's review hearing was taking place and was barred from traveling to Qinnfftn"" this week and last. During the time that she has spent with al Qosi at the US. out-po- ' she and her Arabictransla- tor have taught him how to ask 7 for his attorney. in English DC" 1 corifartfri fjxte, sets, $40 SUPER BUY! :v Two-pie- t Timberlond "Rota'' Luggage , f Save on the tote, 22" ujpright, 26" upright or 30" upright in black or brown. Orig. $1204400, NOW -f 60.00-200.0- '' 111 n mi iiimiimiii )1 riiiinim. ,' ' . r - J 4 ' . -- ' ' u mm II v ik a 3. , ' t Selected styles. Selection varies by store. Items limited to stock onliand. No special orders. All items subject to prior sale. ,1 , ' . . 0. 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