Britain nixes extradition of NASA hacker Gary McKinnon to US

Gary McKinnon, a British citizen, is accused of breaking into nearly 100 US military and NASA computers, looking for photos of UFOs.

By Arthur Bright,?Staff writer / October 16, 2012

Computer expert Gary McKinnon poses after arriving at the High Court in London in this January 2009 file photo.

Andrew Winning/Reuters/File

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The British government today announced that Gary McKinnon, a British hacker diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome, will not be extradited to the US. But while the decision is nominally about his human rights, it may also be a byproduct of a long-standing debate over the US-UK extradition treaty, which British critics say is weighted too much in favor of US interests.

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Europe Editor

Arthur Bright is the Europe Editor at The Christian Science Monitor.? He has worked for the Monitor in various capacities since 2004, including as the Online News Editor and a regular contributor to the Monitor's Terrorism & Security blog.? He is also a licensed Massachusetts attorney.

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British Home Secretary Theresa May today told the House of Commons that she had withdrawn the extradition order against Mr. McKinnon after determining that extraditing him would violate his human rights, BBC News reports.

Mr McKinnon is accused of serious crimes. But there is also no doubt that he is seriously ill. He has Asperger's syndrome, and suffers from depressive illness. The legal question before me is now whether the extent of that illness is sufficient to preclude extradition.

After careful consideration of all of the relevant material, I have concluded that Mr McKinnon's extradition would give rise to such a high risk of him ending his life that a decision to extradite would be incompatible with Mr McKinnon's human rights.

Ms. May said that it would now be up to the director of public prosecutions to determine whether McKinnon would face charges in Britain.

McKinnon is accused of breaking into nearly 100 NASA and US military computers between 2001 and 2002, causing hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage, and is charged in Virginia and New Jersey on eight counts of computer fraud. Lawyers for McKinnon, who has been diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome and clinical depression, said that he was merely looking for evidence of UFOs and did not have any criminal intent. The Daily Telegraph reported in 2009 that McKinnon's supporters say he is being made a scapegoat for US failures to secure its computers, which McKinnon has called "ridiculously easy" to hack.

US lawyer David Rivkin, an adviser to the Reagan and Bush administrations, told the BBC that the decision to deny extradition for McKinnon?on health grounds was "laughable" and that "under that logic, anybody who claims some kind of physical or mental problem can commit crimes with impunity and get away with it." British solicitor Edward Fitzgerald told The Guardian that he felt McKinnon's case turned on his alleged high suicide risk.

While May said in her statement that the "sole issue" before her was McKinnon's human rights, her decision not to extradite McKinnon comes amid public debate in Britain over the country's extradition responsibilities, particularly those in its treaty with the US.

Critics say that the US-UK treaty, enacted in 2003, is favors of US interests over British ones. The Guardian's Owen Bowcott points out that between Jan. 2004 and Oct. 2012, 92 people have been extradited from Britain to the US, while only 43 have made the opposite trip. He also notes, however, that between Jan. 2004 and Dec. 2011, the UK made 57 requests for extradition and 40 extraditions took place, while the US made 134 requests during that same period, and only 75 extraditions occurred.

In announcing her decision on McKinnon, May called the US-UK treaty "broadly sound," reports The Guardian.? But May added that she would introduce a new "forum bar" to the extradition process, which would allow a court to deny extradition if it deemed a British trial more fair to the accused than a trial overseas, reports The Guardian. May also said that she planned to end the home secretary's ability to deny extradition on human rights grounds ? the very grounds she used to bar McKinnon's extradition ? arguing that such discretion would be better placed in the courts than in the government's hands.?

May's proposed reforms to the US extradition process are just part of a broader overhaul by the British government to its approach to international justice. The Washington Post reports that May also announced that Britain would be?opting out of more than 100 criminal justice measures?with the EU and reinstating selected measures. The Post writes that the move "appeared aimed at satisfying Conservative lawmakers who have grown increasingly skeptical of the E.U.?s reach in British affairs."

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/csmonitor/globalnews/~3/O_3xatJEQmI/Britain-nixes-extradition-of-NASA-hacker-Gary-McKinnon-to-US

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ER Accelerator To Boost Seed Funding By $15K Per Startup For Winter 2013 Class

eraEntrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator has popped out more than a few successful startups. Centzy, Number Fire, Bespoke Post, and Triple Lift come to mind. Not to mention Public Stuff, which recently raised $5 million. But Jon Axelrod, Managing Director of ERA is no fan of resting on laurels, and so the accelerator is making a few important changes.

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Baseball playoffs full of momentum swings

Associated Press Sports

updated 12:31 p.m. ET Oct. 16, 2012

(Eds: With AP Photos.)

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Just ask the Oakland Athletics and Washington Nationals how much momentum means in the postseason.

Poised to ride the wave from Game 4 walkoff wins in the division series, the A's and Nationals were promptly thrown under water - Oakland by a brilliant start by Justin Verlander, Washington by a bullpen meltdown.

It happens every October, or at least seems to. Just when one team appears to have seized momentum with a dramatic comeback or frantic finish that leaves the other side devastated, the roles get reversed.

"For me, I don't really believe in that kind of stuff," St. Louis infielder David Freese said. "We're all professionals here and you wake up the next day no matter what happened previously and you grind it out. ... As far as momentum, I think both teams just battle and you just play it out. And then if it doesn't work out one night you get a good night's sleep and you show up the next day ready to go."

If there's anyone who would be a believer, it could be Freese. He helped the Cardinals deny Texas a World Series title a year ago that seemed firmly in the Rangers' grasp.

With the Cardinals down to their final strike in Game 6, Freese hit a two-run triple with two outs in the bottom of the ninth against Neftali Feliz to tie the game. Josh Hamilton replied with a two-run homer in the 10th only to have St. Louis tie it in the bottom half. Freese then forced Game 7 when he led off the 11th with a homer against Mark Lowe.

The Cardinals then won it all the next night in Game 7, overcoming an early two-run deficit to win 6-2.

There are plenty of other examples l- from the New York Mets' improbable Game 6 rally that led to a World Series title in 1986 to Kirby Puckett's walkoff homer in Game 6 in the 1991 World Series that was followed by Jack Morris' 10-inning shutout that game the Minnesota Twins the title over Atlanta.

That was perhaps the best example of former Baltimore manager Earl Weaver's mantra that "momentum is the next day's starter." That proved true again this year when Verlander beat Oakland 6-0 in Game 5 a night after the Tigers blew a 3-1 lead in the ninth inning.

"I don't want to sound casual about this kind of stuff, because don't get me wrong, the game broke our heart," Tigers manager Jim Leyland said before the Game 5 win. "But at the same time you learn over the years that, like I always use the expression, you can't chew yesterday's breakfast."

CC Sabathia did the same for the Yankees when he threw a four-hitter to beat Baltimore 3-1 in Game 5 the day after New York lost in 13 innings.

St. Louis' Chris Carpenter, one of this era's most accomplished postseason pitchers with 10 career wins, doesn't buy into that theory. He points to his team's Game 5 win in the last round when Adam Wainright fell into a 6-0 hole before St. Louis rallied to win in the ninth.

"I think it's how you play each game," he said. "Nobody expected Adam to go out and give up six runs in one inning or two, whatever. And we still won that game. There's no question it might set the tone a little bit. At this time of the year everything matters. It doesn't matter who's starting, what's going on. You need breaks, you need a little luck and you need to go out and do the things the right way. So I don't buy into anything."

Since the start of the expanded playoffs in 1995, teams are 53-35 in the postseason in games following a victory when they scored the winning run in the ninth inning or later, according to STATS LLC.

But teams are just 2-6 so far this postseason in those situations. That includes San Francisco's Game 3 extra-inning win in Cincinnati that started the Giants' comeback from a 2-0 deficit in the best-of-five series.

"If you look at our series with Cincinnati, I mean we looked dead in the water here," manager Bruce Bochy said. "I don't think a lot of people had us going in there and winning three. You win one game and it can switch. We have one hit for nine innings, but we found a way to win that ballgame. You saw the confidence grow with the ballclub and they found a way to win the next two. You always want to try to build up momentum, and if it doesn't happen for you, you want to stop it."

? 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


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GoPro's new Hero3 is lighter, faster, higher res and has WiFi, comes in three flavors starting at $199

GoPro's new Hero3 Black Edition is lighter, faster, higher res and has builtn WiFi

At a San Francisco launch event GoPro has just revealed the next addition to its line of action cameras, the Hero3. The Hero3 claims specs that are 30 percent smaller and 25 percent lighter than its predecessor, with a resolution that's up to 4x higher and it has WiFi included. The top of the line Black Edition (pictured above) is capable of capturing video at up to 4K res -- if you're willing to drop the framerate down to 15fps -- however thanks to a processor it says is 2x faster, it has also doubled frame rates at lower resolutions. That means 1080p60, 1440p48 and 720p120 modes are supported for your super slow and still-HD capture needs. The Silver Edition maxes out at 11MP stills and 1080p30 video, while the White Edition drops down to 5MP stills. All three versions include WiFi (no BacPac necessary for remote control via the just-released-on-iOS app) however the Black edition includes a remote that can control up to 50 cameras at once with a 600ft range and is waterproof to 10 feet deep. It will also be available as a $79 accessory for the lesser versions.

As far as pricing, the Black Edition is $399, the Silver is $299 and the White $199. Pre-orders are scheduled to start at 12:01AM PT (3:01AM ET), and there's a handy counter on the GoPro site if you otherwise might forget. The variety of models and ubiquitous WiFi may help fight off competition at the pricing low end like the new ContourROAM2, among others. Naturally we were in the house and will have hands-on pics and impressions soon, check the gallery for pics of the box and detailed specs.

Update: Our hands-on is live! Check out how tiny the Hero3 really is right here.

Gallery: GoPro Hero3

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Continue reading GoPro's new Hero3 is lighter, faster, higher res and has WiFi, comes in three flavors starting at $199

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/10/16/gopro-hd-hero3/

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Elevated indoor carbon dioxide impairs decision-making performance

ScienceDaily (Oct. 17, 2012) ? Overturning decades of conventional wisdom, researchers at the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have found that moderately high indoor concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO2) can significantly impair people's decision-making performance. The results were unexpected and may have particular implications for schools and other spaces with high occupant density.

"In our field we have always had a dogma that CO2 itself, at the levels we find in buildings, is just not important and doesn't have any direct impacts on people," said Berkeley Lab scientist William Fisk, a co-author of the study, which was published in Environmental Health Perspectives online last month. "So these results, which were quite unambiguous, were surprising." The study was conducted with researchers from State University of New York (SUNY) Upstate Medical University.

On nine scales of decision-making performance, test subjects showed significant reductions on six of the scales at CO2 levels of 1,000 parts per million (ppm) and large reductions on seven of the scales at 2,500 ppm. The most dramatic declines in performance, in which subjects were rated as "dysfunctional," were for taking initiative and thinking strategically. "Previous studies have looked at 10,000 ppm, 20,000 ppm; that's the level at which scientists thought effects started," said Berkeley Lab scientist Mark Mendell, also a co-author of the study. "That's why these findings are so startling."

While the results need to be replicated in a larger study, they point to possible economic consequences of pursuing energy efficient buildings without regard to occupants. "As there's a drive for increasing energy efficiency, there's a push for making buildings tighter and less expensive to run," said Mendell. "There's some risk that, in that process, adverse effects on occupants will be ignored. One way to make sure occupants get the attention they deserve is to point out adverse economic impacts of poor indoor air quality. If people can't think or perform as well, that could obviously have adverse economic impacts."

The primary source of indoor CO2 is humans. While typical outdoor concentrations are around 380 ppm, indoor concentrations can go up to several thousand ppm. Higher indoor CO2 concentrations relative to outdoors are due to low rates of ventilation, which are often driven by the need to reduce energy consumption. In the real world, CO2 concentrations in office buildings normally don't exceed 1,000 ppm, except in meeting rooms, when groups of people gather for extended periods of time.

In classrooms, concentrations frequently exceed 1,000 ppm and occasionally exceed 3,000 ppm. CO2 at these levels has been assumed to indicate poor ventilation, with increased exposure to other indoor pollutants of potential concern, but the CO2 itself at these levels has not been a source of concern. Federal guidelines set a maximum occupational exposure limit at 5,000 ppm as a time-weighted average for an eight-hour workday.

Fisk decided to test the conventional wisdom on indoor CO2 after coming across two small Hungarian studies reporting that exposures between 2,000 and 5,000 ppm may have adverse impacts on some human activities.

Fisk, Mendell, and their colleagues, including Usha Satish at SUNY Upstate Medical University, assessed CO2 exposure at three concentrations: 600, 1,000 and 2,500 ppm. They recruited 24 participants, mostly college students, who were studied in groups of four in a small office-like chamber for 2.5 hours for each of the three conditions. Ultrapure CO2 was injected into the air supply and mixing was ensured, while all other factors, such as temperature, humidity, and ventilation rate, were kept constant. The sessions for each person took place on a single day, with one-hour breaks between sessions.

Although the sample size was small, the results were unmistakable. "The stronger the effect you have, the fewer subjects you need to see it," Fisk said. "Our effect was so big, even with a small number of people, it was a very clear effect."

Another novel aspect of this study was the test used to assess decision-making performance, the Strategic Management Simulation (SMS) test, developed by SUNY. In most studies of how indoor air quality affects people, test subjects are given simple tasks to perform, such as adding a column of numbers or proofreading text. "It's hard to know how those indicators translate in the real world," said Fisk. "The SMS measures a higher level of cognitive performance, so I wanted to get that into our field of research."

The SMS has been used most commonly to assess effects on cognitive function, such as by drugs, pharmaceuticals or brain injury, and as a training tool for executives. The test gives scenarios -- for example, you're the manager of an organization when a crisis hits, what do you do? -- and scores participants in nine areas. "It looks at a number of dimensions, such as how proactive you are, how focused you are, or how you search for and use information," said Fisk. "The test has been validated through other means, and they've shown that for executives it is predictive of future income and job level."

Data from elementary school classrooms has found CO2 concentrations frequently near or above the levels in the Berkeley Lab study. Although their study tested only decision making and not learning, Fisk and Mendell say it is possible that students could be disadvantaged in poorly ventilated classrooms, or in rooms in which a large number of people are gathered to take a test. "We cannot rule out impacts on learning," their report says.

The next step for the Berkeley Lab researchers is to reproduce and expand upon their findings. "Our first goal is to replicate this study because it's so important and would have such large implications," said Fisk. "We need a larger sample and additional tests of human work performance. We also want to include an expert who can assess what's going on physiologically."

Until then, they say it's too early to make any recommendations for office workers or building managers. "Assuming it's replicated, it has implications for the standards we set for minimum ventilation rates for buildings," Fisk said. "People who are employers who want to get the most of their workforce would want to pay attention to this."

Funding for this study was provided by SUNY and the state of New York.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. The original article was written by Julie Chao.

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Journal Reference:

  1. Satish U, Mendell MJ, Shekhar K, Hotchi T, Sullivan D, Streufert S, Fisk WJ, et al. Is CO2 an Indoor Pollutant? Direct Effects of Low-to-Moderate CO2 Concentrations on Human Decision-Making Performance. Environmental Health Perspectives, 2012; DOI: 10.1289/ehp.1104789

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/hznjrTsfQzY/121017162420.htm

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Airline executives urge airport security overhaul

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (AP) ? Airport security needs to undergo a radical overhaul or else passengers will become further disgruntled, lines will grow and terminals will be overwhelmed, airline executives said Tuesday at a global aviation conference.

"We simply can't cope with the expected volume of passengers with the way things are today," said Tony Tyler, director general and CEO of the International Air Transport Association, the airlines' trade group.

Tyler spoke at an airlines conference held in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates.

He predicted that by 2020, governments will be using a "checkpoint of the future" where passengers can race though without stopping, removing clothing, or taking liquids and laptops out of bags.

While a lot of work has to be done to get numerous countries and regulators on board, Tyler is optimistic that today's "one-size-fits all approach to screening" can be replaced with a system based on individual passenger risk. The industry hopes to test the concept at a handful of airports starting late 2014.

The example cited by Tyler and airline executives of what is working: the U.S. Transportation and Security Administration's relatively new PreCheck program.

Frequent fliers who voluntarily share more information with the government get to keep their shoes, belts and light jackets on at security. The program will be expanded to 35 airports by the end of the year.

"If you are willing to share a little more information, then you can have a much better experience," John S. Pistole, head of the TSA, told the conference. "We can then spend more time on those we know the least about."

The additional personal information would most likely be handed over voluntarily to the government by passengers who see the benefit of the time savings.

Pistole said the TSA would ideally like to analyze passengers' travel history and patterns but currently lacks Congressional authority to do so. Any such changes would occur after the election, at the earliest, he said.

"I applaud the TSA. I never thought I would say it because they are the worst part of travel," said Montie Brewer, former CEO of Air Canada.

James E. Bennett, who used to head the Washington Airport Authority and is now CEO of the Abu Dhabi Airports Co., said that if the current immigration and security procedures remain in place as more and more passengers take to the skies, airports will run out of terminal space to hold all the lines.

Many airports have already undergone multi-million dollar retrofits to house additional security and there isn't additional room left.

The ultimate challenge may not be developing the technology but having multiple nations agree on uniform procedures.

"We cannot continue to build and build and build to provide space for the existing systems and queues." Tyler said. "The whole inconsistency destroys the credibility."

___

Scott Mayerowitz can be reached at http://twitter.com/GlobeTrotScott.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/airline-executives-urge-airport-security-overhaul-111040855--finance.html

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New NIH grant to advance joint UMCP and UMB brain surgery robot development

[ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 16-Oct-2012
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: Lee Tune
ltune@umd.edu
301-405-4679
University of Maryland

ADELPHI, Md - A research team from the University of Maryland, College Park (UMCP) and the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) have been awarded a new $2 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to continue developing a small robot that could one day be a huge aid to neurosurgeons in removing difficult-to-reach brain tumors. This NIH grant is one of the first awarded to a joint UMB and UMCP research project under the collaboration between these two research powerhouses that is known as University of Maryland: MPowering the State.

Team members Jaydev P. Desai, PhD, associate professor of mechanical engineering at UMCP, and Rao Gullapalli, MD, associate professor of diagnostic radiology and nuclear medicine, and J. Marc Simard, MD, professor of neurosurgery, both at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore have developed their "Minimally Invasive Neurosurgical Intracranial Robot" (MINIR) prototype over a number of years and demonstrated its feasibility, supported in part by a previous NIH grant. The team has evaluated the device under continuous magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). According to the researchers, work done on the previous NIH grant helped to uncover next level challenges that are the basis of this new NIH project.

The NIH grant will enable the team to develop MINIR-II, a fully MRI-compatible robot and demonstrate its safety and effectiveness. To accomplish this, MINIR-II will need to be under the direct control of the physician, with targeting information obtained exclusively from real-time MRI that uses active targeting methods with sensors embedded within MINIR-II.

"This technology has the potential to revolutionize the treatment and management of patients with difficult to reach intracranial tumors and to have a direct impact on improving their quality of life," says Dr. Desai. "This work is a result of exceptional collaboration over the years, between our two extraordinary institutions."

Brain tumors are among the most feared complications of cancer, occurring in 20 to 40 percent of adult cancer patients. Despite numerous advances in treatment, the prognosis for these patients is poor, with a median survival of 4? months. Whether a primary (intrinsic) malignancy, or a secondary (metastatic) malignancy, involvement of the brain in a cancer patient is devastating, because it threatens the very personality and identity of the individual, and is invariably the most likely of all complications to directly and severely affect the quality of life. Currently, the optimal treatment is to remove the tumor(s) through primary surgical resection, then follow with additional therapies such as radiation and chemotherapy.

Unfortunately, in many patients the location of the brain tumor makes it too difficult to remove through primary surgical resection. This is especially true for tumors deeply embedded in the brain that may be difficult to access using conventional neurosurgical techniques. The poor general health of the patient can further complicate the matter.

A fully MRI-compatible MINIR could one day enable neurosurgeons to reach such difficult tumors and greatly improve outcomes for these patients. Furthermore, image-guided robotic surgery avoids the complications associated with brain shifts associated with conventional tumor resections, as the target tumor may move during surgery but will always remain within sight through the exquisite contrast available from real-time MRI.

An early version of MINIR won the 2007 University of Maryland, College Park Invention of the Year award in the Physical Science Category.

###

The University of Maryland: MPowering the State brings together two universities of distinction to form a new collaborative partnership. Harnessing the resources of each, the University of Maryland, College Park and the University of Maryland, Baltimore will focus the collective expertise on critical state-wide issues of public health, biomedical informatics, and bioengineering. This collaboration will drive an even greater impact on the state, its economy, the job market, and the next generation of innovators. The joint initiatives will have a profound effect on productivity, the economy, and the very fabric of higher education.

Contacts:

Crystal Brown
UMCP
301-405-4618
crystalb@umd.edu

Ed Fishel
UMB
410.706.3801
efishel@umaryland.edu


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[ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 16-Oct-2012
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: Lee Tune
ltune@umd.edu
301-405-4679
University of Maryland

ADELPHI, Md - A research team from the University of Maryland, College Park (UMCP) and the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) have been awarded a new $2 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to continue developing a small robot that could one day be a huge aid to neurosurgeons in removing difficult-to-reach brain tumors. This NIH grant is one of the first awarded to a joint UMB and UMCP research project under the collaboration between these two research powerhouses that is known as University of Maryland: MPowering the State.

Team members Jaydev P. Desai, PhD, associate professor of mechanical engineering at UMCP, and Rao Gullapalli, MD, associate professor of diagnostic radiology and nuclear medicine, and J. Marc Simard, MD, professor of neurosurgery, both at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore have developed their "Minimally Invasive Neurosurgical Intracranial Robot" (MINIR) prototype over a number of years and demonstrated its feasibility, supported in part by a previous NIH grant. The team has evaluated the device under continuous magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). According to the researchers, work done on the previous NIH grant helped to uncover next level challenges that are the basis of this new NIH project.

The NIH grant will enable the team to develop MINIR-II, a fully MRI-compatible robot and demonstrate its safety and effectiveness. To accomplish this, MINIR-II will need to be under the direct control of the physician, with targeting information obtained exclusively from real-time MRI that uses active targeting methods with sensors embedded within MINIR-II.

"This technology has the potential to revolutionize the treatment and management of patients with difficult to reach intracranial tumors and to have a direct impact on improving their quality of life," says Dr. Desai. "This work is a result of exceptional collaboration over the years, between our two extraordinary institutions."

Brain tumors are among the most feared complications of cancer, occurring in 20 to 40 percent of adult cancer patients. Despite numerous advances in treatment, the prognosis for these patients is poor, with a median survival of 4? months. Whether a primary (intrinsic) malignancy, or a secondary (metastatic) malignancy, involvement of the brain in a cancer patient is devastating, because it threatens the very personality and identity of the individual, and is invariably the most likely of all complications to directly and severely affect the quality of life. Currently, the optimal treatment is to remove the tumor(s) through primary surgical resection, then follow with additional therapies such as radiation and chemotherapy.

Unfortunately, in many patients the location of the brain tumor makes it too difficult to remove through primary surgical resection. This is especially true for tumors deeply embedded in the brain that may be difficult to access using conventional neurosurgical techniques. The poor general health of the patient can further complicate the matter.

A fully MRI-compatible MINIR could one day enable neurosurgeons to reach such difficult tumors and greatly improve outcomes for these patients. Furthermore, image-guided robotic surgery avoids the complications associated with brain shifts associated with conventional tumor resections, as the target tumor may move during surgery but will always remain within sight through the exquisite contrast available from real-time MRI.

An early version of MINIR won the 2007 University of Maryland, College Park Invention of the Year award in the Physical Science Category.

###

The University of Maryland: MPowering the State brings together two universities of distinction to form a new collaborative partnership. Harnessing the resources of each, the University of Maryland, College Park and the University of Maryland, Baltimore will focus the collective expertise on critical state-wide issues of public health, biomedical informatics, and bioengineering. This collaboration will drive an even greater impact on the state, its economy, the job market, and the next generation of innovators. The joint initiatives will have a profound effect on productivity, the economy, and the very fabric of higher education.

Contacts:

Crystal Brown
UMCP
301-405-4618
crystalb@umd.edu

Ed Fishel
UMB
410.706.3801
efishel@umaryland.edu


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Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-10/uom-nng101612.php

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