SURGICALLY SEPARATED TWINS IMPROVE FORMERLY CONJOINED SISTERS TOLERATE INTRAVENOUS FEEDING; ONE LOOKS AROUND.Byline: Staff and Wire Services WESTWOOD - Guatemalan twins born joined at the top of the head and separated in lengthy surgery were showing signs of improvement, hospital officials said on Sunday. Though Maria de Jesus Maria de Jesus dos Santos (born September 10, 1893) is a Portuguese supercentenarian, and, as of August 13, 2007, the second-oldest person in the world. She has been the oldest verified living person in Portugal since the death of fellow 114-year-old Maria do Couto Maia-Lopes on Quiej Alvarez and her sister, Maria Teresa, were in critical condition, their vital signs remained stable. ``Both are tolerating the intravenous nutrition fairly well,'' said UCLA Medical Center UCLA Medical Center is a hospital located on the campus of the University of California, Los Angeles in Los Angeles, California. It is rated as one of the top three hospitals in the United States and is the top hospital on the West Coast according to US News & World Report. spokeswoman Roxanne Moster. Meanwhile, medication used to sedate se·date v. To administer a sedative to; calm or relieve by means of a sedative drug. the two girls has been reduced. ``Maria de Jesus is much more alert and even looking around,'' Moster said. Doctors said she may be making more progress because she didn't undergo the five extra hours of surgery that Maria Teresa endured to remove a buildup of blood on her brain. The sisters were born in rural Guatemala and shared bone and blood vessels but have separate brains. Such cases occur in fewer than one in 2.5 million live births. They were separated Tuesday in more than 22 consecutive hours of surgery and still face follow-up operations to reconstruct their skulls. Dr. Jorge Lazareff, director of pediatric pediatric /pe·di·at·ric/ (pe?de-at´rik) pertaining to the health of children. pe·di·at·ric adj. Of or relating to pediatrics. neurosurgery neurosurgery /neu·ro·sur·gery/ (noor´o-sur?jer-e) surgery of the nervous system. neu·ro·sur·ger·y n. Surgery on any part of the nervous system. at UCLA UCLA University of California at Los Angeles UCLA University Center for Learning Assistance (Illinois State University) UCLA University of Carrollton, TX and Lower Addison, TX Medical Center's Mattel Children's Hospital, learned of the twins while working with a medical team in Guatemala for a nonprofit organization, Healing the Children, which helps find medical care for children in underdeveloped countries. The twins were brought to Los Angeles with the help of Chris Embleton of Valencia, a co-founder of Healing the Children, who accompanied the twins and their mother on the trip from Guatemala to California. Since its founding in 1979, Healing the Children has brought an estimated 7,000 children to the United States for medical care. The group has helped 60,000 to 70,000 children by dispatching medical teams to rural areas across the world, officials said. |
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