Leeches
Swedish surgeons have reattached a woman's face after being attacked by a dog—using hundreds of leeches.

The woman had a large portion of her face bitten off when she was mauled by her pet. The severe wound spanned from her upper lip all the way to her eye. As she was rushed to hospital her relatives managed to keep hold of the torn off skin and keep it chilled.

Doctors at Skane Hospital, in Malmo, southern Sweden, then reattached the flesh with the help of 358 leeches.

"The most important thing was to get blood into the torn-off body part, which we managed to do within an hour of the start of the operation," said Stina Klasson, a surgeon at Skane Hospital.

The leeches were used to force blood to flow through into the damaged skin. "The grower who supplies the hospital with leeches ran out, so more had to be flown in from the UK," she said. Surgical tech schools also recommend leech therapy for reconstructive surgery.

During the complicated operation—which lasted for 15 hours—medics repaired the woman's lip, nose and parts of her cheek.

Doctors said the operation was successful, but the woman, who has not been named, will continue to need reconstructive surgery in the future.

"The results appear to be good. Her whole nose has survived. The patient can breathe, eat and talk," said surgeon Jens Larsson.

The woman's dog has since been euthanized.

Sonim XP3300 Force
Lots of phones claim to be tough. Plenty of them are even built to meet military-grade specifications for resistance to water, shock, dust, salt fog, humidity, solar radiation, altitude, and extreme temperature storage. But Sonim can take that claim to toughness one step further, now that the Sonim XP3300 Force has been officially entered into the Guinness World Records.

The previous record was held by the JCB Toughphone, so in order for Sonim’s XP3300 Force handset to beat the record, their handset would have to be able to survive a drop of more than 3.25m. fact the Sonim XP3300 Force survived a very impressive drop of 25m onto solid concrete, which is a little bit taller than a 12-story building. The ultra-rugged XP3300, which PCMag reviewed back in February (see the slideshow below), survived a drop of over 82 feet onto concrete without any operational damage to claim the title. That's higher than a twelve-story building!

The previous world record has been held since 2008 by the JCB Toughphone, for withstanding a drop of 10.6 feet. To fulfill the requirements for inclusion in the Guinness World Records, the XP3300's record attempt was witnessed by independent judges from Guinness World Records, who tested the phone by making a call and sending a text message to confirm it was still working after the drop.

"We wanted to stamp Sonim's name on the World Record, confirming that the Sonim XP3300 Force is the toughest phone in the world," said Sonim CEO Bob Plaschke. "Most mobile phones are drop-tested to a metre, which just isn't enough in extreme environments such as construction sites, oil rigs or in the forest."

He added, "Establishing the Guinness World Record for highest mobile phone drop assures remote and tough workers that their Sonim phone is 'fit for purpose' and can withstand the daily knocks, drops and tumbles."

According to Sonim, the XP3300 surpasses military specifications for ruggedness, and is water and dust proof. It is certified against salt, fog, humidity, transport shock, and thermal shock. It's even water-submersible to 6.5 feet for 1 hour.

At PCMag, we tossed the XP3300 against brick walls and froze it into blocks of ice without a hitch. Our lead mobile analyst, Sascha Segan, got an XP3300 that was encased in seven pounds of concrete, which he proceeded to break out by repeatedly whacking it with a hammer until it crumbled away. Incredibly, the phone still worked, the screen was undamaged, and it was able to make and receive calls, though a few keys were left out of commission. We've even seen its predecessor, the XP1300 Core, survive a dip in antifreeze.

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