I just returned from a busy trip to Italy, that began with a talk to physicians in Rome about kidney exchange, after which I moved on to talk to students in Padua.
Both were fun in different ways. Here are some of the students gathered for a spritz after one of my talks in Padua.
Here's the story from the Guardian:
Pig kidney ‘xenotransplant’ patient dies two months later. No indication that Richard ‘Rick’ Slayman’s receipt of genetically modified kidney caused his death, says Massachusetts transplant team
"The first recipient of a genetically modified pig kidney transplant has died about two months later, with the hospital that performed the surgery saying it did not have any indication the transplant was the cause.
...
"In a statement, Slayman’s family thanked his doctors. “Their enormous efforts leading the xenotransplant gave our family seven more weeks with Rick, and our memories made during that time will remain in our minds and hearts,” the statement said.
"They said Slayman underwent the surgery in part to provide hope for the thousands of people who need a transplant to survive. “Rick accomplished that goal and his hope and optimism will endure forever.”
"In April, New Jersey woman Lisa Pisano also received a genetically modified pig kidney as well as a mechanical pump to keep her heart beating.
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I'm not aware of any medical journal reports so far on these transplants--reporting has just been by press release...
Jim Simons, the great investor and philanthropist of math and computer science, died yesterday.
Here's the announcement from the Simons Foundation.
Simons Foundation Co-Founder, Mathematician and Investor Jim Simons Dies at 86
And here's the NYT:
Jim Simons, Math Genius Who Conquered Wall Street, Dies at 86. Using advanced computers, he went from M.I.T. professor to multibillionaire. His Medallion fund had 66 percent average annual returns for decades.
A draft law to make kidney exchange legal in Germany, and to allow nondirected donation, is making some progress: here (with the help of Google Translate) is a news story on the proposed new law.
Living kidney donation should be made easier
"In order to reduce the organ shortage in Germany, Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) wants to make living kidney donations easier. This emerges from a draft amendment to the Transplantation Act. The Star first reported.
"According to the draft, the previously prescribed “proximity ratio” for so-called cross donations will no longer apply in the future. To date, couples in which one person wants to donate a kidney to the other but this is not possible due to incompatibility are only allowed to “cross-donate” with another couple in a comparable situation if there is a close relationship between the couples. This is intended to prevent organ trafficking and commercialization.
"In the future, this cross donation could be made without proximity, thereby significantly expanding the circle of recipients. According to the draft bill, the donation should be anonymous and organized by transplant centers. The aim of anonymity is to prevent money from being paid for an organ.
"Anonymous kidney donations should also be possible in principle. In the future, people in Germany could donate a kidney for selfless reasons without knowing who it is going to. In countries like the USA, this option has existed for a long time."
HT: Dorothea Kubler
Yesterday I had the pleasure of speaking about market design in the Aula Magna of the University of Padua, where Galileo lectured. Below is a video. I start to speak around minute 14:20.
When in Rome, I met with Ignazio Marino (transplant surgeon, former Mayor of Rome) who is now running for the EU Parliament. He posted a 1 minute video on his various social media accounts of our conversation about his hopes for kidney exchange in Europe.
https://www.facebook.com/share/v/kKA4y38ZSKfkm6Rg/?mibextid=WC7FNe
https://x.com/ignaziomarino/status/1787469504563315115?s=48
https://www.instagram.com/reel/C6oYf1CicYw/?igsh=aGtheDc0cGxtZ3c4
Here is a video recording of my talk in Rome yesterday at the Istituto Superiore di Sanità. There are some introductions by people with vast accomplishments in Italian transplantation and kidney exchange, Giuseppe Feltrin (director of the National Transplant Center), Antonio Nicolò (professor of Economic Theory at the University of Padua) and Lucrezia Furian (Kidney and Pancreas Transplant Surgery Unit - Department of Surgical, Oncological and Gastroenterological Sciences of the University Hospital of Padua)*.
My talk begins at 27:55.
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*Although her web page didn't yet reflect this, Dr. Furian was very recently promoted to the rank of Full Professor of Surgery. Congratulations Lucrezia!
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