Experts build crab-like robot to remove stomach cancer (Reuters)

SINGAPORE (Reuters) ? Inspired by Singapore's famous chilli crab dish, researchers have created a miniature robot with a pincer and a hook that can remove early-stage stomach cancers without leaving any scars.

Mounted on an endoscope, it enters the patient's gut through the mouth. It has a pincer to hold cancerous tissues, and a hook that slices them off and coagulates blood to stop bleeding.

With the help of a tiny camera attached to the endoscope, the surgeon sees what's inside the gut and controls the robotic arms remotely while sitting in front of a monitor screen.

"Our movements are very huge and if you want to make very fine movements, your hands will tremble ... But robots can execute very fine movements without trembling," said enterologist Lawrence Ho, who helped design the robot.

Professor Ho, who is chair at the University Medicine Cluster of Singapore's National University Health System, said the robot helped remove early-stage stomach cancers in 5 patients in India and Hong Kong, using a fraction of the time normally taken in open and keyhole surgeries that put patients at higher risk of infection and leave behind scars.

Stomach, or gastric, cancer is the second leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide and is particularly common in east Asia. Diagnosis of gastric cancer usually occurs at a late stage of the disease when treatment is difficult and often unsuccessful.

Louis Phee, associate professor at Singapore's Nanyang Technological Institute's school of mechanical and aerospace engineering, helped design the robot with Ho.

They developed the robot after a seafood dinner in Singapore in 2004 with top Hong Kong surgeon Sydney Chung, who suggested they fashioned their device after the crab. Chung is best known for fighting SARS in Hong Kong in 2003.

"He (Chung) suggested we used the crab as a prototype. The crab can pick up sand and its pincers are very strong," said Ho.

"Many things are a certain way because they have evolved and adapted to certain functions ... we created something that followed the human anatomy and borrowed ideas from nature and incorporated the two."

The researchers formed a company last October and hope to make the robot commercially available in three years.

(Reporting by Tan Ee Lyn; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/cancer/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120201/hl_nm/us_cancer_singapore_robot

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FL-2012 Primary: 39% Romney, 31% Gingrich, 15% Santorum, 11% Paul (PPP 1/28-30)

Public Policy Polling (D)
1/28-30/12; 1087 likely Republican primary voters, 3.0% margin of error
Mode: Automated phone
PPP release

Florida

2012 President: Republican Primary
39% Romney
31% Gingrich
15% Santorum
11% Paul
(chart)

"; var coords = [-5, -72]; // display fb-bubble FloatingPrompt.embed(this, html, undefined, 'top', {fp_intersects:1, timeout_remove:2000,ignore_arrow: true, width:236, add_xy:coords, class_name: 'clear-overlay'}); });

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/30/fl-2012-primary-39-romney_n_1243131.html

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Who's Winning? The Most-Shared Super Bowl Ads So Far (Mashable)

We've just entered the Year of the Dragon, but Super Bowl 2012 is shaping up to be the Year of the Dog. No less than five of the ads featured in Unruly's list of Super Bowl ads with the most traction star dogs, including the early favorite -- Volkswagen's "The Bark Side." It's not hard to figure out why: Just like no stockbroker ever got fired for buying IBM, no chief marketing officer is going to get canned for featuring a pooch in their Super Bowl ad.

[More from Mashable: Polling App Makes Blog Feedback Painless]

Since this list only encompasses videos that have been released prior to the Super Bowl, the canine count may rise even further. There are still a few holdouts who haven't released the complete versions of their ads yet. However, as of the Monday before the big game, there are several full ads on YouTube. Below are the ads and trailers that are getting the most shares so far.

The list, as computed by Unruly, is updated every five minutes, so this is a snapshot as of Monday afternoon, Eastern Standard Time. As you can see, Matthew Broderick's return as Ferris Bueller is giving Volkswagon's canine chorus a run for its money.

[More from Mashable: 6 Ways to Give Your App a Leg Up on the Competition]

1. "The Bark Side" (Vokswagen)

Not surprisingly, the sequel to the most-shared ad of last year's Super Bowl, and of all of 2011 for that matter, is leading the pack this year. Volkswagen released this video last week showing dogs barking to the tune of Star Wars's "The Imperial March." So does that mean there will be dogs in this year's ad? More Star Wars? We'll know soon enough.

Click here to view this gallery. This story originally published on Mashable here.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/enterprise/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/mashable/20120130/tc_mashable/whos_winning_the_mostshared_super_bowl_ads_so_far

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Libyan PM calls for security meeting over weapons (Reuters)

ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) ? Libyan Prime Minister Abdurrahim al-Keib called on Sunday for a regional security conference to tackle a proliferation of weapons by exiled supporters of former leader Muammar Gaddafi.

The Libyan civil war may have given militant groups in Africa's Sahel region like Boko Haram and al Qaeda access to large weapons caches, said a U.N. report released on Thursday.

"(There is) still a real threat from some of the armed remnants of the former regime who escaped outside the country and still roam freely. This is a threat for us, for neighboring countries and our shared relations," Keib told African Union leaders in Addis Ababa.

"My country calls for a regional security conference in Libya of interior and defense ministers of neighboring countries," he told the summit, the first since Gaddafi's death last year.

A U.N. report said the Libyan civil war may have created a proliferation of small arms, giving militant groups like Boko Haram and al Qaeda access to large weapons caches in Africa's Sahel region that straddle the Sahara, including Nigeria, Niger and Chad.

The report said some countries believe weapons have been smuggled into the Sahel by former fighters in Libya - Libyan army regulars and mercenaries who fought on behalf of Gaddafi, who was ousted and killed by rebels.

Links between al Qaeda and Boko Haram have become a growing source of concern for the countries of the region, the U.N. report said.

The Islamist sect Boko Haram has killed at least 935 people since it launched an uprising in Nigeria in 2009, including 250 in the first weeks of this year, Human Rights Watch said last week.

(Reporting by Yara Bayoumy; Editing by James Macharia)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/africa/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120129/wl_nm/us_libya_security_au

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Good housing legislation could save the economy

Housing is the one area of policy with the greatest potential to actually move the needle on the economy

I don?t know if the President will say much about housing, but there are some important and potential helpful policy choices percolating in the background.

Skip to next paragraph Jared Bernstein

?

Before joining the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities as a senior fellow, Jared was chief economist to Vice President Joseph Biden and executive director of the White House Task Force on the Middle Class. He is a contributor to MSNBC and CNBC and has written numerous books, including 'Crunch: Why Do I Feel So Squeezed?'

Recent posts

I?ve long held that of all the stuff on the White House?s ?we-can?t-wait? list?things they can do to help the economy and jobs without going through that legislative death trap formerly known as Congress?housing policy is the one with the greatest potential to actually move the needle.

And the most helpful policy in housing is the reduction of mortgage principal for underwater homeowners.?? Research has clearly revealed that owing more than the value on your home is the strongest predictor of foreclosure, and housing finance analysts widely agree that principal reduction is the best medicine to avoid this outcome.

But what does any of this have to do with stuff we could actually do right now?? Good question.? The answer is that the Federal Housing Finance Agency, which regulates Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, could quickly reduce the principal on millions of home loans they own or insure, without going through Congress.

So, why haven?t they done so?? Another fine question.?? First, you need to recall that Fan and Fred are 80% owned by the US gov?t right now, and FHFA, as conservator, wants to protect the taxpayer.? That?s fine?we thank you, FHFA.?

But?and news accounts have been getting this quite wrong?FHFA believes that loan forgiveness (principal reduction) would only save the taxpayers $20 billion while loan forbearance would save $24 billion (the latter modifies the loan, it does not reduce it).??

In other words, the FHFA agrees that both types of loan adjustments would reduce defaults and thus reduce losses to taxpayers, with a slight advantage to forbearance, which, as I?ll argue in a moment, is very likely incorrect.? I think if you did the analysis right, forgiveness would trump forbearance by a long shot.? But given the fact that reduction would clean this mess up a whole lot faster and more reliably than just changing the terms of the loans, and that taxpayers save either way, the path ahead?toward forgiveness, not forbearance?should be clear.

Unfortunately, the FHFA is placing landmines in that path.? Based on a letter reviewing all this by FHFA acting director Ed DeMarco, news accounts like this or this are reporting that if Fan and Fred were to reduce the principal on a subset of the mortgages they own or insure, it would cost?taxpayers $100 billion.

This $100 billion (it?s actually $102bn), however, is a gross number?it is the losses to the agencies, and the taxpayers, from all the mortgage defaults that FHFA expects to occur if they neither forbear nor reduce principal.? The relevant numbers, however, are the difference between the losses under a forbearance program ($78 billion), or a reduction program ($82 billion) and the cost of doing nothing.

The punch line, then, is that by their estimates, forgiveness saves the taxpayer $20 billion; forbearance, $24 billion.

But for a number of reasons, FHFA?s methods make forbearance look better than it really is.? This is some weedy stuff, but it matters:

?they use a state level price index rather than a localized price level.? This approach averages across cities with huge price drops and those with normal price declines, and thus reduces the number of the deeply underwater borrowers.*?? That in turn understates the impact of the policy most helpful to those borrowers: principal reduction.

?they use FICO credit scores and debt-to-income ratios at the time of loan origination rather than where those measures are today.? Obviously, they?re worse today, so this makes the agencies? book look better than it really is, and again, understates the benefits to principal reduction.? In other words, the way they do it artificially lowers their expected default rate, and so the policy that?s most effective against defaults for those with lower FICOs and higher DTIs gets less credit than it should.

?they assume that all of their debt forgiven in their forbearance programs is repaid?100% of it.?? That?s not realistic and it significantly reduces the cost of this option. ? Simply building in a realistic default rate for debt that?s been pushed back to the end of the loan would raise the cost of forbearance relative to principal reduction.

Any one of these changes will sop up the $4 billion difference in an NY minute, showing forgiveness to dominate forbearance.? But even if the FHFA wants to stick with their numbers, reductions will go to work much more quickly and effectively to prevent defaults.?

If they keep coming up with reasons not to do the right thing, the White House should do the right thing and replace DeMarco?a perfect good guy who believes he?s doing the right thing here but isn?t?with someone who gets the urgency of the situation.

*Imagine a) that anyone with a home price decline of 30% is underwater and needs a loan mod, and b) a state has two homeowners in two different cities.? Homeowner A?s price went up 30%, homeowner B?s price went down 30%. Average them together across the state and no one needs a mod; use the local price index, and B should get one.

The Christian Science Monitor has assembled a diverse group of the best economy-related bloggers out there. Our guest bloggers are not employed or directed by the Monitor and the views expressed are the bloggers' own, as is responsibility for the content of their blogs. To contact us about a blogger, click here. To add or view a comment on a guest blog, please go to the blogger's own site by clicking on jaredbernsteinblog.com.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/REkhgMN9CWg/Good-housing-legislation-could-save-the-economy

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Iowa State stuns No. 5 Kansas, 72-64

Iowa State forward Melvin Ejim drives to the basket past Kansas forward Justin Wesley (4) during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game, Saturday, Jan. 28, 2012, in Ames, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

Iowa State forward Melvin Ejim drives to the basket past Kansas forward Justin Wesley (4) during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game, Saturday, Jan. 28, 2012, in Ames, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

Iowa State guard Scott Christopherson (11) passes the ball under Kansas center Jeff Withey during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game, Saturday, Jan. 28, 2012, in Ames, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

Kansas forward Thomas Robinson (0) is fouled by Iowa State forward Royce White while driving to the basket during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game, Saturday, Jan. 28, 2012, in Ames, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

Kansas center Jeff Withey, center, fights for a rebound with Iowa State forward Royce White (30) and guard Chris Allen, right, during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game, Saturday, Jan. 28, 2012, in Ames, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

AMES, Iowa (AP) ? Royce White has been so bad from the free throw line lately that his struggles have literally turned into nightmares.

A few hours after waking up from a dream in which he couldn't hit anything from the line, White sank the two biggest freebies of his career to give Iowa State a landmark win for coach Fred Hoiberg.

White had 18 points and nine rebounds as the Cyclones upset fifth-ranked Kansas 72-64 on Saturday, snapping the Jayhawks' winning streak at 10 games.

White, the versatile big man who entered shooting an abysmal 39 percent from the line in Big 12 games, hit a pair that rattled in to put Iowa State up 64-59 with 1:47 left.

Kansas then threw the ball away and Chris Babb drained a backbreaking 3 to give the Cyclones an eight-point lead with 55.6 seconds left.

"I woke up this morning dreaming about missing free throws. So I was in the gym this morning and shot free throws trying to get it right," White said. "Teammates keep encouraging me and telling me, 'You can make free throws.'"

Tyshawn Taylor led five players in double figures with 16 points and 10 assists for Kansas (17-4, 7-1 Big 12), which hadn't lost since Dec. 19 against Davidson.

Big 12 player of the year favorite Thomas Robinson had 13 points, but he committed five turnovers and the Jayhawks were outrebounded 36-23.

"I thought we got stops, but I didn't think we cleaned up. How many times did they miss a shot and the ball go off of us and us not secure or whatever?" Kansas coach Bill Self said. "Obviously, we didn't do a good last 3 minutes defensively at all."

Melvin Ejim had 15 points and Scott Christopherson added 14 for the Cyclones (15-6, 5-3), who had lost 13 straight to Kansas since their last victory in 2005. Iowa State students celebrated the program's biggest win in years ? and first over Kansas at home since 2004 ? by storming the floor.

"It was a great win for our program. But like I told our guys, you know, you've got to expect to win your home games," Hoiberg said. "I told the guys to enjoy it and get refocused."

This was Kansas' toughest true road test of the year so far ? and it ended with the Jayhawks' first true road loss of the season.

But Kansas caught the Cyclones napping to start the second half and took its biggest lead to that point, 45-39, thanks to an 11-0 run. Big man Anthony Booker brought Iowa State back, sinking a rare 3-pointer to put the Cyclones ahead 50-49 with 12:13 left.

Neither team could get much going over the next 6 minutes, but Tyrus McGee's three-point play gave Iowa State a 56-53 lead with just over 6 minutes left. Robinson then blew an open dunk and White hit two layups ? one a reverse he spun off the glass ? to make it 60-55 Iowa State with 3:42 left.

"This was our first true road game with a good crowd, a good atmosphere. So, we're going to be seeing that from now on," Taylor said. "Our emphasis this week in practice is just going to be taking care of the ball and just rebound and rebound. You can't lose on the boards like that."

Iowa State fed off the energy of its second sellout crowd of the year and jumped on the Jayhawks early.

Booker drilled a 3 and Babb followed with a steal and layup that put Iowa State ahead 19-11, prompting Self to call timeout.

Kansas finally took a 31-29 lead on an impressive scoop through traffic from Taylor with 3:31 left before the break. Iowa State rallied to grab the halftime advantage, 37-33, despite committing 13 turnovers in the first 20 minutes.

The Cyclones led in part because of their defense on Robinson. He was 1-of-6 shooting in the first half and traveled three times trying to free himself up for shots in the paint.

Jeff Withey, Elijah Johnson and Travis Releford each scored 10 points for Kansas.

"Just not playing my game. Speeding up the game and not taking my time. I'm just not playing the same right now," Robinson said.

Kansas certainly knew what Iowa State was capable of after the Cyclones threw a scare into the Jayhawks in Lawrence two weeks ago.

Iowa State led at halftime back on Jan. 14 and pushed its lead to as many as 12 points before Kansas stormed back for an 82-73 win. The Cyclones might have been able to pull off that upset had they shot better than 2 of 15 from 3-point range in the second half.

Iowa State didn't let the opportunity pass by this time around ? and it now has a marquee win that will look great on its resume come March.

"It definitely feels good to beat them. We felt like we should have won the first time," said White, who finished 6 of 11 from the line. "We knew that it was basically a must-win for us."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2012-01-28-T25-Kansas-Iowa%20St/id-7b08447858e14678b218950a0c1856e2

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Android May Have Consumer Market Share, But iOS Is Tops In Enterprise

According to a new report from managed enterprise mobility provider Good Technology, iOS devices (iPhones and iPads) hold the top three spots in the list of the top 10 enterprise activations by device type. The report includes data gathered by Good for Q4 2011 and includes half of the Fortune 100, providing insight into enterprise activation trends among some of the world's biggest businesses. The company found that despite Android's overall market share growth and steady absolute growth among Good's customers, only 35% of all smartphone activations were on Android, compared with iPhone's 65%.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/usaLie7dHoA/

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