内容摘要：“I am a person of faith, and I truly believe that I’m going to see him again someday. And I see him every day in my memories and in my heart, and in all the things that we used to do and all the things that we’ve built together,” said Parton. “You just kind of have to learn to kind of make new plans — but that’s the hardest part.”

“I am a person of faith, and I truly believe that I’m going to see him again someday. And I see him every day in my memories and in my heart, and in all the things that we used to do and all the things that we’ve built together,” said Parton. “You just kind of have to learn to kind of make new plans — but that’s the hardest part.”

And patients given pig organs so far have been “compassionate use” transplants, experiments that FDA allows in select emergency cases for people out of other options.Although the first four didn’t survive long, in part because of complications from other diseases, those experiments proved pig organs could work at least for a while and offered other lessons. For example, discovery of a hidden pig virus in the first heart transplant prompted better tests for that risk.

Only rigorous studies comparing similarly ill patients will offer a clearer picture of pig organs’ potential – maybe those like Looney. Despite eight years of dialysis, she wasn’t nearly as sick as prior xenotransplant recipients but couldn’t find a matching donor. Like Berrios, she had a highly sensitized immune response.Looney may be “kind of a litmus test” for trial candidates, said NYU’s Montgomery, who led her transplant with her original surgeon in Alabama, Dr. Jayme Locke. “She’s received the transplant at just the right time,” before dialysis did too much damage.Attempts at animal-to-human transplants failed for decades. Now scientists can edit pig genes, and are searching for the best gene combination. (AP video/Shelby Lum)

Scientists have tried animal-to-human transplants for years without success but now they can edit pig genes, trying to bridge the species gap enough to keep the human immune system from immediately attacking the foreign tissue. Still, nobody knows the best gene combination.Revivicor, a United Therapeutics subsidiary, produces kidneys and hearts with 10 gene edits, “knocking out” pig genes that trigger hyper-rejection and excessive organ growth and adding some human genes to improve compatibility. Maryland used hearts with 10 gene edits in its two xenotransplants. Looney also got a kidney with 10 gene edits, based on Locke’s research when she worked in Alabama.

While Montgomery is thrilled with Looney’s progress, he’s done most work using Revivicor pigs with just

, in a xenotransplant last April and in research with the deceased.This new generation of Maasai leaders faces unique challenges. Kenya’s 1.2 million Maasai people are profoundly affected both by climate change and the shrinking of the grazing land available to them, both because of urbanization and agricultural expansion.

“These children will be change-makers,” says Mosinte Nkoitiko, a 46-year-old cultural chief who traveled here from Tanzania. “That’s the message that we want to send to them. They are the ones facing these challenges, and we want them to know that they are not alone.”When this temporary settlement was built for the warrior camp, they also planted 150 seeds and 50 seedlings: trees that they hope will grow with their children.

“The trees have been blessed by their fathers and grandfathers, so that they can now have children,” says Joyce Naingisa. “They are starting a new generation.”At the graduation ceremony, this new generation was officially given the name “Iltaretu.” It will include the thousands of boys of the same age who weren’t able to come here in person, but were represented by the 900 boys who were.