By the time the lymphocytes begin to return more than a month later they do not appear to be able to recognise the new organ as a “foreign body” that has to be attacked.”What is new is the use of the antibody as a pre-emptive strike. Campath is already used in other treatments without serious side-effects.The research, previewed last night on BBC1’s Nine O’ Clock News, will be published in the Journal of Transplantation and describes how the antibody temporarily clears the immune system’s lymphocyte cells from the bloodstream, allowing the organ transplant to go ahead without fear of immediate rejection. The drugs usually include steroids – which stunt the growth of children and cause other long-term problems – cyclosporin, which can cause unwanted hair growth, and Imuran, an anti-cancer drug that can damage bone marrow. In xenotransplantation, rejection is more of a problem,” Sir Roy said.A clinical trial involving 30 kidney-transplant patients who were treated with Campath before surgery has shown that over two years they can survive on just just one anti-rejection drug, at half the normal dose.Normally, transplant patients take at least three anti-rejection drugs at full dose,risking side-effects such as cancer and brittle-bone disease. “Although I would never use the word `breakthrough’, it is a significant improvement.”The treatment involves injections with a synthetic antibody, called Campath, before the operation so that the body’s immune defences – which cause rejection – are temporarily emasculated.”If xenotransplants are going to be successful almost certainly an antibody with this kind of an effect would be a useful adjunct, but how useful we don’t know.

“I’ve not seen a group of patients do as well as this in 40 years,” he said. The advance substantially reduces the need for anti-rejection drugs, which patients normally take for life, and paves the way for animal-to- human “xenografts”, where rejection is the key obstacle.
Sir Roy Calne, emeritus professor of surgery at Cambridge University and a pioneer of transplant medicine, said the new treatment promises to produce dramatic improvements in the health of patients. IN WHAT could be the most significant development in transplant treatment for 40 years, doctors have found a way to avoid using the powerful buttoxic drugs needed by patients to prevent organ rejection. She said the vessel’s bow was badly damaged when it ran aground and that it sank to the bottom after wind and waves pushed it off the rocks It is not known what caused the ship to run aground.. In Nordic mythology, Sleipner was the name of a sturdy eight-legged horse that acted as a steed for Odin, leader of the Norse gods.The company said its ship had ran aground on rocks but was not able to offer an explanation as to why.One of the survivors, Haavard Rossland, said last night that most of those on board did not know what was wrong when the boat suddenly stopped, and that there was little information from the crew.”After a little while, the water started rushing in and then there was panic on board,” he said in an interview with the Norwegian state radio network.Sander Bull-Gjertsen, also of the rescue centre, said: “We got the report of it running aground at 19:09 (6.08pm) and the Flag Route Sleipner went down about 19:50 (6.50pm).”Bjoerghild Eldoen said at least 10 ships, plus helicopters and small boats were in the area helping with the rescue.

It only came into service in August and is equipped with the very latest survival equipment, a factor which helped the majority of those on board to survive. Survivors were taken to Haugesund hospital with injuries or suffering from cold, after the ship sank while travelling from the west coast port of Stavanger to Bergen.The Sleipner is one of the most modern in the fleet of run by the Norwegian ferry company Hardanger Sunnhordlandske Dampskipsselskap It is a fast catamaran which can carry up to 358 passengers. The temperature of the water was only between 5C and 8C (41F and 46F).”If they (the missing victims) are in the water, it is not such a long time that they can last,” said Emil Mohr, a physician at the Haugesund Hospital, one of several that was caring for survivors.It is feared the death toll may still be higher as some of those plucked from the water are critically ill suffering from hypothermia. A Sea King helicopter and four vessels were searching for survivors within hours of the Sleipner catamaran ferry sinking, 40 minutes after hitting rocks near Haugesund, west Norway shortly after 6pm.
Further rescue ships and helicopters raced to the scene north of Stavanger, located about 500 km (300 miles) west of the capital Oslo.Despite a quick response by air and sea from the Norwegian rescue services, the freezing temperature of a bitter North Sea quickly claimed the lives of those who did not make it to special survival rafts in time.Bjoerghild Eldoen, of the Norwegian Rescue Coordination Centre at Sola, said that 66 survivors and 10 dead had been accounted for from the 80 passengers and eight crew but last nights hopes were fading for the remaining 12.

AT LEAST 10 people died and 12 were still missing in the icy waters of the North Sea last night after a high-speed Norwegian ferry carrying 88 people ran aground and sank. Lawyers said the total claim could amount to pounds 60m when calculations are made on the amount of lost commission.The judge ruled that the three airlines were “not entitled” to require the claimants – the Association of British Travel Agents and the operators Jetset Europe, Majestic Travel and Phoenix Travel – to designate PSCs as a tax.. The judge said the effect on the travel agents of separating the PSC on the ticket was to reduce the proportion of the overall ticket price on which they receive commission.Following the judgment against three major airlines – British Airways, Virgin Atlantic and Lufthansa – travel agents can now sue for the commission they lost. He said the airlines were implying that the extra charge had come from the Government or the airports but not from them.
But in reality the airports had always charged airlines a fee relating to the volume of passengers on aircraft and it used to be included as part of the overall cost of the ticket. Mr Justice Timothy Walker said yesterday that the charge introduced by airlines as a separate payment on tickets, in April this year, was a way of increasing the fare for the passenger. A HIGH COURT judge has barred airlines from describing passenger service charges (PSC) as “a tax”, in a landmark ruling that could lead to an estimated pounds 60m damages claim from travel agents. Councils will also be charged with looking after the economic, social and environmental “well-being” of their local areas.The legislation will also repeal the controversial “Section 28″ provision introduced in the 1988 Local Government Act, which prevents councils from promoting homosexuality as a normal way of life..

“Elected mayors should be introduced according to local wishes not imposed by Downing Street diktat.”The Bill also set out new ethical rules for councillors and council employees, with councillors facing disqualification from office for up to five years if they breach new standards. Voters in Camden, north London,were recently consulted on a mayor or cabinet-style management, andoverwhelming supported the status quo.Nigel Waterson, the Tory local government spokesman, said that the Bill was an attempt to ensure that Labour “cronies” were given highly-paid posts and greater power “Labour is bullying councils into change,” he said. “Change is not negotiable,” she said.Ms Hughes dismissed suggestions that the London mayoral race was a poor advertisement for the system, claiming that it had created “enormous potential interest”.But Gerry Harrison, co-ordinator of the Labour Campaign for Open Local Government, said that the Bill represented a “straightjacket” for residents. Referendums will also be triggered if five per cent or more of the council’s electorate present a petition for a mayor, and the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions will also have the power to order a local ballot.Beverley Hughes, the Local Government Minister, stressed yesterday that the status quo of traditional committee-style council management “will not be an option”. Reporters will be barred from meetings of most cabinets.At the moment, local authorities are made up of cross-party committees open to the press and public and are run jointly by chief executives and leaders chosen from among the largest political party.Under the proposals, councils will have to move to one of three new systems of management: a directly-elected mayor with a cabinet, a cabinet with a leader, or a directly-elected mayor with a council manager.The cabinet system is likely to see senior councillors paid more than pounds 40,000 each, with council leaders earning more than pounds 60,000 for the first time.Councils that want a directly elected mayor will have to put the idea to a local referendum. The Local Government Bill, which will also introduce new powers to root out sleaze and corruption, will require town halls to reform structures that have been in place since Victorian times.
However, critics of the Bill attacked it as a “diktat” that gave local authorities or their residents little freedom to decide for themselves how they wanted to run their own affairs.The Government faces stern opposition not just from the Tories and Liberal Democrats but also from hundreds of Labour councillors across the country.The Labour Campaign for Open Local Government, which has nearly 1,000 Labour councillors as members, warned that the plans would lead to more decisions being taken in secret. ALL COUNCILS in England and Wales will be forced to adopt directly elected mayors or cabinet-style management underplans announced by the Government yesterday.