内容摘要：Pig kidney recipient Towana Looney stands with transplant surgeons Dr. Jayme Locke, left, and Dr. Robert Montgomery, center, at NYU Langone Health. (AP Photo/Shelby Lum)

Pig kidney recipient Towana Looney stands with transplant surgeons Dr. Jayme Locke, left, and Dr. Robert Montgomery, center, at NYU Langone Health. (AP Photo/Shelby Lum)

of receiving a pig kidney or heart.“It’s like a new beginning,” Looney, 53, told The Associated Press. Right away, “the energy I had was amazing. To have a working kidney — and to feel it — is unbelievable.”

Pig kidney recipient Towana Looney is visited by transplant surgeon Dr. Robert Montgomery at NYU Langone Health, in New York City. (AP Photo/Shelby Lum)Pig kidney recipient Towana Looney is visited by transplant surgeon Dr. Robert Montgomery at NYU Langone Health, in New York City. (AP Photo/Shelby Lum)Looney’s surgery marks an important step as scientists get ready for formal studies of xenotransplantation expected to begin next year, said Dr. Robert Montgomery of NYU Langone Health, who led the highly experimental procedure on Nov. 25.

On Tuesday, NYU announced that Looney is recuperating well. She was discharged from the hospital just 11 days after surgery although she was temporarily readmitted this week to adjust her medications. Doctors expect her to return home to Gadsden, Alabama, in three months. If the pig kidney were to fail, she could begin dialysis again.“To see hope restored to her and her family is extraordinary,” said Dr. Jayme Locke, Looney’s original surgeon who secured Food and Drug Administration permission for the transplant.

More than 100,000 people are on the U.S. transplant list, most who need a kidney. Thousands die waiting and many more who need a transplant never qualify. Now, searching for an alternate supply, scientists are genetically altering pigs so their organs are more humanlike.

Looney donated a kidney to her mother in 1999. Later pregnancy complications caused high blood pressure that damaged her remaining kidney, which eventually failed. It’s incredibly rare for living donors to develop kidney failure although those who do are given extra priority on the transplant list.Residents of neighborhoods that are largely Black and Latino have fewer pharmacies per capita than people who live in mostly white neighborhoods, according to

of licensing data from 44 states, data from the National Council for Prescription Drug Programs and the American Community Survey. It’s consistent with prior research that documents where urban “pharmacy deserts” are more likely to be concentrated.The AP also analyzed data from 49 states and found those with the fewest retail pharmacies per capita include Alaska, Oregon and New Mexico. About two-thirds of retail pharmacies in those states were owned by chains, while independent pharmacies tend to concentrate more in urban markets or states with bigger populations.

Drugstores have becomein recent years, sometimes by design or necessity — especially for customers who work multiple jobs and can’t easily get to a doctor. Many pharmacies, including