“It’s a next-generation technology,” said Scripps Research Associate Professor Peter Kuhn, PhD, senior investigator of the new studies and primary inventor of the high-definition blood test. “It significantly boosts our ability to monitor, predict, and understand cancer progression, including metastasis, which is the major cause of death for cancer patients.”

Kuhn emphasizes that this basic setup can be easily modified with different cell-labeling and image-processing techniques.

Assisted by a small camera connected to the endoscope, the medical puppeteer can see what’s inside the patient’s stomach and at the same time control the robotic arms all while staring at a monitor.

Enterologist Larry Ho said:

“Our movements [humans] 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.”

Ho is employed at Singapore’s National University Hospital. He says the robot helped remove early-stage gastric cancer in 5 patients. In addition it only took a fraction of the time, using the robot, than it did manually or by hand.

One source says gastric cancer is the second leading cause of cancer related deaths across the globe and is quite common in east Asia. Diagnosis for the disease usually occurs in the later stages. At that point the cancer is difficult to treat.

Ho developed the robot along with Louis Phee who is an associate professor at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological Institute’s school of mechanical and space engineering. The design for the robot came after the two had crab for dinner one evening. Sydney Chong, the person with whom they were having dinner suggested the device be modeled after the crab. So, Ho and Phee decided to take the advice of Chang and thus the robot crab was born. Ho had this to say about Chung’s Suggestion:

“He suggested we used the crab as as a prototype. The crab can pick up sand and its pincers are very strong.

Ho went on to comment about the crab device saying:

“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.”

It seems like we’ve just accepted it as a possibility. A report comes out saying there’s a probable link between the two. And that same report gets repeated and passed off as “another report” a year down the road.

But it’s not like the possibility of brain tumors caused by cellphone radiation has prevented the use of cellphones. Even people who think that their device might be giving them cancer are most of the time unable to put down the device. We need them too much. It’s just how today’s society runs.

So here’s some good news: According to an incredibly large Danish study, your cellphones is not giving you brain tumors.

A study published in the British Medical Journal sought to “investigate the risk of tumors in the central nervous system” among Danish mobile subscribers.

Their sample size was 358,403 over the course of 18 years – totaling over 3.8 million total hours. Here’s some of the sciencey results –

The risk of such tumours was close to unity for both men and women. When restricted to individuals with the longest mobile phone use—that is, ≥13 years of subscription—the incidence rate ratio was 1.03 (95% confidence interval 0.83 to 1.27) in men and 0.91 (0.41 to 2.04) in women. Among those with subscriptions of ≥10 years, ratios were 1.04 (0.85 to 1.26) in men and 1.04 (0.56 to 1.95) in women for glioma and 0.90 (0.57 to 1.42) in men and 0.93 (0.46 to 1.87) in women for meningioma.

Conclusion: In this update of a large nationwide cohort study of mobile phone use, there were no increased risks of tumours of the central nervous system, providing little evidence for a causal association.

Hazel Nunn, head of evidence and health information at Cancer Research UK, told the BBC, “These results are the strongest evidence yet that using a mobile phone does not seem to increase the risk of cancers of the brain or central nervous system in adults.”

Of course, I’m no scientist. And one study cannot entirely put an issue to bed. But this is a giant sample size monitored over the course of nearly two decades. Whatever you think, this is some pretty strong evidence that your cellphone is not killing you – at least not with a tumor anyways.

It’s a heavily debated proposition within the scientific community, and it seems like we get a new report every couple of weeks telling us to watch out or telling us to have no fear. Really, the cellphone/cancer debate is a crapshoot anyways. Even if you had definitive proof the cellphones raise the likelihood of cancer, would you stop using yours? I know I probably couldn’t live without it.

A new study about cellphone radiation isn’t talking about cancer, but about sperm.

An Italian report published in the Journal of Andrology has found a link between the radio-frequency electromagnetic radiation (Rf-EMR) produced by mobile phones and both decreased sperm count and decreased sperm quality.

The study focused on groups of both humans and rats. In one experiment, rats were placed in glass cages with cellphones attached to the bottom. The rats were then exposed to the RF-EMR for 6 hours a day for four month. When they tested the rats’ sperm, they found a 25% drop in the amount of live sperm. They also found that the sperm was sticking together, which makes it harder to do its job when it gets to the egg.

As far as the humans go, the researchers found that RF-EMR decreased sperm count and mobility, and viability. From the study:

Altogether the results of these studies show that RF-EMR decreases sperm count and motility, and increases the oxidative stress. In human beings, two different experimental approaches have been followed, one has explored the effects of RF-EMR directly on spermatozoa and the other has evaluated the sperm parameters in men using or not mobile phones. The results show that human spermatozoa exposed to RF-EMR have decreased motility, morphometric abnormalities, and increased oxidative stress, whereas men using mobile phones have decreased sperm concentration, motility (particularly the rapid progressive one), normal morphology, and viability. These abnormalities seem to be directly related with the length of mobile phone use.

One prevailing theory is that men who keep their cellphones in their pockets increase their risk of damaged sperm.

Of course, like most scientific studies, more research is demanded –

Nevertheless, more studies are necessary to provide stronger evidences that cellular phone use disturb sperm and testicular function since the existing literature has several limitations. These include dishomogeneity in terms of RF wavelength used, depth of penetration, and length of radiation exposure.

The researchers aren’t quite sure which types of cellphones and cell service are doing the most harm.

Of course, studies like this aren’t conclusive, but this isn’t the first time cellphones have been linked to sperm problems. A Cleveland Clinic study found similar results a couple years ago. As a precaution, it might not hurt to see how your cellphone feels in your back pocket, fellas.

The network is called IHadCancer.com and is designed to help connect people around the terrible disease that is plaguing the world. Although it is a niche social network, it is not limited to cancer fighters only. Instead, it is geared toward the fighters, survivors, and their friends and families.

Do you think niche social networks are more effective than Groups or Causes on Facebook? Let us know.

Mailet Lopez, the founder of the site, told us that, as a cancer survivor herself, she felt that the site was necessary. When she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2008, she said that, although she had great doctors and family supporting her, it wasn’t the type of support that she needed.

“I didn’t have someone who was my age, who had gone through the same thing that could really connect with me about the things that I was going to be facing,” she said. “So, I Had Cancer was born to connect people who had been in your shoes.”

While it is possible to connect with others in the same situation on platforms such as Facebook, Lopez believes the experience is different. For instance, when she posted on Facebook that she had been cancer-free for 3 years, she received support, but not all of it was directly relevant.

She told us that users don’t get the “kind of support that you really are looking for” on other sites. She also thinks that, because cancer is such a sensitive subject, a network focused on its users’ needs is especially important.

The site serves as a resource for users and also includes networking components such as a profile, friending abilities, sharing capabilities, and more. It even contains a “Dear Cancer” section where users can address the disease directly. Lopez said this section has been very therapeutic.

She knows that it would be quite a mission to pull people away from the likes of Facebook and Twitter, so she hopes that users will use I Had Cancer in conjunction with the other networks. She also plans on using these other platforms to help promote I Had Cancer.

“Eventually, ideally, what I would like to see I Had Cancer be used as is the minute you’re diagnosed… we want to help turn it around into ‘I had cancer,’” she said.

For more information on the site, visit IHadCancer.com.

As part of the Personal Democracy Forum 2011 in New York, a developer and startup founder Jim Gilliam told his story about his battle with cancer, his loss of faith, and his “new religion” that comes from the people of the internet.

When Gilliam was young, he was a conservative Christian under the Jerry Falwell umbrella. He says he loved “Jesus and the Internet.” He even fixed Falwell’s computer once, he says. But when he was diagnosed with non-Hodgkins Lymphoma, he lost that faith. In the video, he talks about his battle with multiple types of cancer and how the internet eventually ended up saving his life.

I wont spoil the story for you, but let’s just say he needed a huge procedure done and the community on the internet helped him out. This led him to believe that “humanity connected is god” and also to declare that “internet is my religion.”

His speech has gotten some big time attention. It was blogged about on Oprah’s blog and Twitter star Alyssa Milano gave him a mention just about an hour ago.

The whole speech is worth a watch, as it’s quite an incredible story. But if you want his “argument” if you will, here’s the biggest part of it –

The truth is we all have this same cross to bear, we all owe every moment of our lives to countless people we will never meet. Whether it’s the soldiers who give us the freedoms because they fight for our country, or it’s the surgeons who give us the cures that keep us alive. We all owe every moment of our lives to each other. We are all connected, we are all in debt to each other.

The internet gives us the opportunity to repay just a small part of that debt. As a child I believed in creationism – that the universe was created in 6 days – today we are the creators. We each have our own unique skills and talents to contribute to creating the kingdom of god. We serve god best when we do what we love for the greatest cause we can imagine. What the people in this room do is spiritual and profound. We are the leaders of this new religion. We have faith that people connected can create a new world. Each one of us is a creator, but together, we are the creator.

From the photos emerging and the commentary on Twitter, it is clear that many think he looked gaunt and unhealthy. Many are saying that that his voice sounded weak. Leander Kahney at Cult of Mac has a different opinion, saying “There was a lot of good stuff unveiled by Apple this morning at WWDC. But the best news? Steve Jobs looked pretty healthy. Yeah, he didn’t spend much time on stage. Yes, he looks thinner than normal. Yes, he had to hitch his jeans up a couple of times. But all-in-all, I thought he looked pretty vibrant and energetic on stage.”

This reading of the situation seems to be in total opposition with the views on Twitter, with nearly every tweet I’ve seen regarding Jobs’ health saying that he didn’t look good. If you go by the market, they also seem to agree that he didn’t look too great.

It seems that Job’s poor health and appearance at the WWDC has had an effect on Apple stock. According to the AP, Apple’s stock is down 1.3% in afternoon trading. It was up this morning, but fell shortly after Jobs left the stage. Apparently investors are worried about the effect Job’s declining health may have on the company. It seems unlikely that even the unfortunate event of Job’s death would derail the company, however. Apple just became the worlds most valuable brand according to a report by Millward Brown

Jobs received a warm ovation as he took the stage, coming out to an ironic playing of James Brown’s “I Feel Good.” During the keynote, he discussed their new Mac OS X Lion, iOS 5, and their new cloud services entitled iCloud.

Here are a couple of photos snapped of Jobs, the first courtesy of Engadget and the second courtesy of tweet from xdamman, via his Instagram account.

Here’s what the Twitterverse is saying about Jobs’ appearance:

From what you’ve seen, what do you think?

The World Health Organization has just announced that radiation from cellphones can possibly cause cancer. The WHO has not announced a definite link, but has determined that exposure should be classified as “possibly carcinogenic to humans.”

This means that cellphone use is now a part of the “carcinogenic hazard” category, joining things like lead, engine exhaust and chloroform according to CNN.

In one of their latest reports, the WHO said that “a large number of studies have been performed over the last two decades to assess whether mobile phones pose a potential health risk. To date, no adverse health effects have been established for mobile phone use.”

But now, they have decided that enough evidence exists to suggest a link between the two. A team of 31 scientists from 14 countries made the determination by reviewing multiple studies on the link.

One of the biggest concerns about cellphones and cancer stems from the exposure to radiofrequency waves (RF). Some suggest that these could have the effect of holding your head near a microwave oven. Dr. Keith Black neurologist at Cedars-Sinai, as quoted by CNN:

What microwave radiation does in most simplistic terms is similar to what happens to food in microwaves, essentially cooking the brain. So in addition to leading to a development of cancer and tumors, there could be a whole host of other effects like cognitive memory function, since the memory temporal lobes are where we hold our cell phones.

The National Cancer Institute (cancer.gov) mentions studies regarding cellphone use and brain tumors on their “Cell Phones and Cancer Risk” online fact sheet, but dismiss it as inconclusive:

Research studies have not shown a consistent link between cell phone use and cancer. A large international study (Interphone) published in 2010 found that, overall, cell phone users have no increased risk for two of the most common types of brain tumor—glioma and meningioma. For the small proportion of study participants who reported spending the most total time on cell phone calls there was some increased risk of glioma, but the researchers considered this finding inconclusive

Some reports have suggested that the link is strong and serious, while others have debunked it as scare science. It is far from a settled issue, but this new announcement by the WHO should raise a couple of eyebrows, considering the fact that its the WHO. But I have a feeling that many of us would accept brain cancer as an alternative to returning to pre-cellphone days.

 Starting March 1 through April 5, the “Find a Cure” text donation campaign invites people to text “DontGiveUp” to 85944 to donate $5 to The V Foundation, with all of the money going to fund cancer research.

“Crown and Corona are committed to giving back to such a deserving cause, and it’s our end goal to reach as many consumers as possible – both on-premise and online – to contribute a sizeable donation to further cancer research,” said Bill Hackett, president of Crown Imports, Corona’s exclusive U.S. importer.

“The ‘Find a Cure’ text donation campaign is just another part of our ongoing partnership with The V Foundation – helping to raise awareness and funds for such an important cause.”

In addition to donating via text, people can also visit the Corona and Corona Light Facebook pages to contribute to The V Foundation and share the “Find A Cure” promotion with others. In its first promotion with The V Foundation last December, Corona Light brand fans helped raise $20,000 for the organization as part of an awareness campaign via the brand’s Facebook fan page.

“We are so excited to be teaming up again with Crown and Corona to progress my brother Jim’s dream of finding a cure for cancer,” said Nick Valvano, chief executive officer of The V Foundation.
 

"Today is a day to honor our mothers, sisters, daughters, and friends affected by breast cancer," said Scott Garell, President of Ask Networks. "By devoting our homepage to the millions of Americans touched by this disease, we hope to further empower consumers in the fight to end breast cancer."

Original Article: Ask has launched a new program where the company will contribute money to the Susan G. Komen for the Cure breast cancer charity, when users change their Ask homepage to one of a set of new breast cancer awareness themes the search engine is offering, and answer some questions.

"The Ask.com Search for the Cure program seeks to empower consumers in the fight against breast cancer through an interactive, educational experience that doesn’t cost them a dime or require much time – which we hope will encourage support of this important cause regardless of financial or schedule constraints,” says Ask Networks President Scott Garell.

"Susan G. Komen for the Cure has saved millions of lives by funding breast cancer research and education programs globally, and we are honored to join forces with this extraordinary organization of activists and survivors in furthering the search for the cure," he adds.

Ask’s themes (or skins) display a weekly series of questions about breast cancer that consumers can answer. Ask will donate up to 50 cents for each person who chooses one of the themes and answers the questions correctly. There will be new questions every week until the end of October.

Ask also has a Susan G. Komen For The Cure toolbar available that turns your browser pink:

"One of our greatest opportunities in the fight to end breast cancer lies with the many people who tell us they want to support Susan G. Komen for the Cure but don’t have the time or money to contribute," says Hala Moddelmog, CEO of Susan G. Komen for the Cure. "Ask.com has created an easy, engaging, and cost-free way for consumers to get involved and generate funding that is crucial to breast cancer research and education."

Ask is of course hoping you will use their search engine to find the answers to the questions posted.

Individual donation tallies are tracked via a display at the top of the Ask homepage. Ask is also investing $1 million through the end of next year in Susan G. Komen for the Cure.