Community Briefs

UCLA implants artificial heart

The UCLA Medical Center announced that a male patient in his 70s
became the world’s fourth recipient of a self-contained
artificial heart after an 11-hour operation Wednesday.

The patient, whose name was not released, is reported to be
resting comfortably after being implanted with the AbioCor
replacement heart.

“The operation went exceptionally well and the artificial
heart is functioning beautifully,” said Dr. Hillel Laks,
chief of cardiothoracic surgery at the UCLA School of Medicine.

Laks performed the operation with surgeon Daniel Marelli and
cardiologist Jaime Morguchi.

The first two patients to have the AbioCor implant are
recovering at Jewish Hospital in Louisville, Ky.

Robert Tools, 59, was the first recipient on July 2 and Tom
Christerson, 70, became the second on Sept. 13. Tools is reported
to have made regular excursions from the hospital since his
surgery.

The third operation occurred at the St. Luke’s Episcopal
Hospital in Houston, Texas.

Abiomed, Inc. is the manufacturer of the replacement heart, an
internal pump made of plastic and titanium, powered through the
skin by an external battery pack.

The heart is intended for patients with end-stage heart failure
with more than a 70 percent chance of dying within a month.

LAX evacuated because of bag.

More than 2,000 people were evacuated from the Los Angeles
International Airport terminal for more than four hours Wednesday
night after someone discovered a plastic bag containing an unknown
substance that ended up being dairy creamer.

Passengers returned to the airport at 12:20 a.m. Thursday.

The evacuation forced a two-hour halt in departing flights from
the terminal, and arrivals were rerouted to another terminal.

The plastic bag containing the substance was found in the
baggage claim area.

L.A. environment report released

Los Angeles county neighborhoods with large Latino populations
tend to be closer to emitters of toxic air pollutants than do
neighborhoods with large populations of other ethnic groups, a
report from the UCLA Institute of the Environment said.

The report found no difference between the likelihood of African
Americans, Asian Americans and whites to live near a toxic air
emitter in L.A. county. This suggests that the issue of
“environmental justice” in Los Angeles is complicated,
said a statement from the institute.

Reports from Daily Bruin staff and wire services.