Dog Cancer Detection ‘98% Reliable’

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germanThe Italian study backs up tests carried out by the charity Medical Detection Dogs, which is based in Buckinghamshire.

Its co-founder Dr Claire Guest said its own research had found a 93% reliability rate when detecting bladder and prostate cancer, describing the new findings as “spectacular”.

The latest research, by the Department of Urology at the Humanitas Clinical and Research Centre in Milan, involved two German shepherds sniffing the urine of 900 men – 360 with prostate cancer and 540 without.

Scientists found that dog one got it right in 98.7% of cases, while for dog two this was 97.6%.

They said the dogs are able to detect prostate cancer specific volatile organic compounds in the urine but said an important question remains of how a dog would find it in daily practice. (Read more from “Dog Cancer Detection ‘98% Reliable'” HERE)

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Gearing up for Robot Wars

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Photo Credit: Washington Times

Photo Credit: Washington Times

Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work on Wednesday outlined the Pentagon’s plans for an advanced war-fighting strategy involving robot weapons and remote-controlled warfare.

In a speech to the Army War College Strategy Conference, Mr. Work said the “third offset strategy” will rely heavily on autonomous systems that will allow machines and U.S. technological superiority to win wars.

The strategy follows two earlier “offsets” — the use of asymmetric means to counter enemy advantages. During the Cold War, strategic deterrence and tactical nuclear arms were used to offset the Soviet Union’s ground force numerical advantages. In the 1970s, precision-guided conventional weapons were deployed to offset the quantitative shortcomings of foreign conventional forces.

Mr. Work said precision-guided warfare is reaching the end of its shelf life as foreign states have developed countermeasures.

The third offset will be designed to defeat states like China, which is developing niche, offset weapons such as anti-ship ballistic missiles and anti-satellite arms. (Read more from “Gearing up for Robot Wars” HERE)

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‘Unnervingly Real’ Android of Popular Presenter Transvestite Becomes the First in World to Host Its Own TV Show

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TransA cross-dressing Japanese television star’s robotic clone has made its ‘unnervingly real’ on-screen debut – the first android to host its own show.

Japanese engineers, who are trying to replace celebrities with human-like androids, have pushed the clone of transvestite entertainer Matsuko Deluxe into the limelight.

The late-night television personality shared the stage with his ‘Matsukoroid’ doppelganger for the first time on Saturday night.

‘It’s unnervingly real,’ said one commentator of the programme Matsuko Matsuko, which premiered at the weekend.

Mr Deluxe, who is popular in Japan for his frankness, said it was ‘fascinating’ come face-to-face with his lookalike. (Read more from “‘Unnervingly Real’ Android of Popular Presenter Transvestite Becomes the First in World to Host Its Own TV Show” HERE)

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Governor Issues Executive Order Imposing Draconian Fines for Long Showers

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Photo Credit: LA Times

Photo Credit: LA Times

By Pam Key. Sunday on ABC’s “This Week,” Gov. Jerry Brown (D-CA) said Californians will face heavy fines for taking long showers.

Brown said, “This executive order is done under emergency power. It has the force of law. Very unusual. It’s requiring action and changes in behavior from the Oregon border all the way to the Mexican border. It affects lawns. It affects people’s — how long they stay in the shower. How businesses use water.”

Brown said to enforce his order, “Each water district that actually delivers waters — water to homes and businesses, they carry it out. We have a state water board that overseas the relationships with the districts. Hundreds of them. If they don’t comply, people can be fined $500 a day. Districts can go to court to get a cease and desist order. The enforcement mechanism is powerful. In a drought of this magnitude, you have to change that behavior and you have to change it substantially.” (Read more from “Governor Jerry Brown to Levy Draconian Fines for Long Showers” HERE)

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California’s Wealthy Lagging in Water Conservation

By Frank Shyong, Hailey Branson-Potts and Matt Stevens. There are few signs of California’s epic drought along a stretch of Maple Drive in Beverly Hills.

Deep green front lawns stretch out, dotted with healthy trees and sculpted foliage. The only brown lawn in sight was at a home under construction.

As California gears up for the first mandatory water restrictions in its history, a long-standing class divide about water use is becoming increasingly apparent.

Beverly Hills and other affluent cities use far more water per capita than less-wealthy communities, prompting some to cast them as villains in California’s water conservation effort. (Read more from this story HERE)

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Dog-Poop DNA Tests Nail Non-Scoopers

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Photo Credit: Seattle Times

Photo Credit: Seattle Times

And you thought that at least your dog’s intestinal movements would be, you know, a private thing.

Just you and Rex at the park, or maybe by your neighbor’s hedge, in that spot where that neighbor can’t spot you two.

But, no, DNA testing for dog droppings — to identify whether it was left by Rex or Fluffy — has finally arrived in this region.

Bad dog, Rex. Here are the double helixes that prove it.

A company called BioPet Vet Lab, out of Knoxville, Tenn., says its PooPrints testing kits are now in 26 apartment and condo complexes and homeowner associations in greater Seattle. (Read more from “Dog-Poop DNA Tests Nail Non-Scoopers” HERE)

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Weather Reports Could Soon Be Read by ROBOTS: Computers Learn to Mimic Humans When Compiling Forecasts

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BBResearchers from London and Edinburgh are developing a computer that can collate meteorological information and then produce forecasts as if they were written by a human.

Useing a process known as ‘natural language generation’ (NLG), it has the potential to one day be used in humanoid robots on our TV screens . . .

Typically, the program starts with statistics and figures, or any information that isn’t written in language. This includes tables of numerical data or a collection of entries in a database.

Alternatively, NLG will rephrase a block of text to make it easier to read and understand.

It is often referred to as a translator that converts computer speak into natural language, which is tricky for computers due to variances in tone and grammar. (Read more from “Weather Reports Could Soon Be Read by ROBOTS: Computers Learn to Mimic Humans When Compiling Forecasts” HERE)

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Drones Could Carry Blood to Critically Injured Patients

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bloodstickerBlood supplies, especially platelets and plasma, are vital for taking care of injured people. But blood comes with an expiration date. Certain parts of it, like platelets and plasma, survive for less than a week after they’ve been donated, and even red blood cells only last up to six weeks in storage. In the future, drones could help transport vital blood supplies to where they need to be, saving time and lives, according to a post by the Mayo Clinic.

Delivery drones, while still a nascent field, are at their best when carrying small cargoes across short distances. There are the obvious rescue situations, where drones launched from a base camp could get supplies to injured hikers more easily than a helicopter. But there’s also the logistical benefit to delivery drones. In December of 2013, shipping company DHL used a drone to carry medical supplies across the Rhine River. While very much a publicity stunt, it demonstrates one task drones can do very well: carry supplies on routes that cars simply can’t take, thus shortening the time, perhaps, between a hospital with enough platelets and one running low. This is where the Mayo Clinic sees drones playing a role in the future:

Large regional hospitals receive daily shipments of blood. Smaller hospitals receive blood weekly and count on larger centers or regional blood banks to restock their supply between shipments. Instead of courier services or the highway patrol transporting blood to a hospital that needs it, a UAV could deliver the blood in advance, taking off as soon as the EMS call comes in.

Drones could also deliver expensive and rarely used drugs, such as antivenin for snake bites, as well as help meet the demand for blood products in the prehospital setting quickly and inexpensively.

“Our advanced transport team makes about 2,000 [helicopter] flights a year and in 2013 they transfused 200 units of packed red blood cells and 200 units of plasma to critically injured and ill patients during transport,” [surgeon Cornelius]Thiels says. “How to best manage critically ill patients in the prehospital environment is a field we are actively researching. UAVs could potentially play a role in improving outcomes for these patients in the future.”

(Read more from “Drones Could Carry Blood to Critically Injured Patients” HERE)

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Face Scans Show How Fast a Person Is Aging

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FaceEvery face tells a story, and that story apparently includes hints of how quickly a person is aging, a new study contends.

Facial features have proven even more reliable than blood tests in spotting those for whom time is taking a heavier toll, a Chinese research team reports in the March 31 issue of the journal Cell Research.

A computerized 3-D facial imaging process uncovered a number of “tells” that show if a person is aging more rapidly, including a widening mouth, bulging nose, sagging upper lip, shrinking gums and drooping eye corners, the researchers said.

“This suggests not only that youth is ‘skin deep,’ but also that health is ‘written’ on the face,” the study authors concluded, suggesting that facial scanning could more accurately assess a person’s general health than a routine physical exam.

This sort of facial imaging is part of a cutting-edge technology aimed at estimating life expectancy and assessing health risk factors simply by taking a scan of your face, said Jay Olshansky, a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago’s School of Public Health and a board member of the American Federation for Aging Research. (Read more from “Face Scans Show How Fast a Person Is Aging” HERE)

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Spanish Hospital Conducts World’s First Successful Complex Face Transplant

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FaceA Spanish hospital said Monday it has successfully carried out the world’s most complex face transplant, reconstructing the lower face, neck, mouth, tongue and back of the throat of a man terribly disfigured by disease.

A team of 45 physicians, nurses, anaesthesiologists and other health professionals carried out the 27-hour operation in early February at Barcelona’s Vall d’Hebron University Hospital, the hospital said in a statement.

“This is the first time that a transplant of this complexity is performed in the world,” the statement said.

“The patient evolution after the surgery was successful, similar to any transplant patient at the hospital. Now he is already at home and only comes to the hospital to do routine checkups.”

The patient, a 45-year-old man who does not wish to be identified, had suffered a condition called arteriovenous malformation for the past 20 years, causing a massive deformation of his tissues. (Read more from “Spanish Hospital Conducts Complex Face Transplant” HERE)

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Rabbi Warns of Civil War in the United States

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RabbiThe Riminov Rebbe visited the Florida communities made up of South American immigrants from France, [and] gave an unequivocal command to the Jews to leave and go to Israel, saying that there will be a civil war in the US.

BeHadrei Haredim reported that the Rebbe said: “Leave while you still can. The situation will get worse and it will be difficult to move from state to state. After World War II the survivors came to the great men of Israel and Hasidic leaders and asked why they had not ordered the Jews of Europe to leave and immigrate to Israel or the United States before the war broke out? The truth must be told: they said and how much they said, begging Jews to please flee the burning ground, but part of the evil decree was that they were not listened to.

“Today,” the Riminov Rebbe said, “Listen to me carefully dear Jews, whoever has in his hand to get up and go and go to the Holy Land Israel as soon as possible while it is still is possible, this includes leaving large parts of South America and most of Europe.

“Also the US will be a place of danger in the war and it is still too early to say which states within the United States will survive, but many parts will be destroyed and poisoned, even civil war will break out in the United States and states will cut themselves off from the federal government. The US may not be used as a refuge but there will remain here survivors. Eretz Israel will be the safest place to survive the war, although there will also be terrible difficulties there.” (Read more from “Rabbi Warns of Civil War in the United States” HERE)

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