Sunday, August 21, 2005

A robotic system at Stanford Medical Center was used to perform a laparoscopic gastric bypass surgery successfully with a theoretically similar rate of complications to that seen in standard operations. However, as there were only 10 people in the experimental group (and another 10 in the control group), this is not a statistically significant sample.

If this surgical procedure is as successful in large-scale studies, it may lead the way for the use of robotic surgery in even more delicate procedures, such as heart surgery. Note that this is not a fully automated system, as a human doctor controls the operation via remote control. Laparoscopic gastric bypass surgery is a treatment for obesity.

There were concerns that doctors, in the future, might only be trained in the remote control procedure. Ronald G. Latimer, M.D., of Santa Barbara, CA, warned “The fact that surgeons may have to open the patient or might actually need to revert to standard laparoscopic techniques demands that this basic training be a requirement before a robot is purchased. Robots do malfunction, so a backup system is imperative. We should not be seduced to buy this instrument to train surgeons if they are not able to do the primary operations themselves.”

There are precedents for just such a problem occurring. A previous “new technology”, the electrocardiogram (ECG), has lead to a lack of basic education on the older technology, the stethoscope. As a result, many heart conditions now go undiagnosed, especially in children and others who rarely undergo an ECG procedure.

Tuesday, January 16, 2018

A car accident involving the car occupants and a dentist’s office happened on Sunday night in Santa Ana, California. A white Nissan sedan which was apparently driving too fast hit the raised concrete median on the road, after which it was launched into the air, slamming straight into the wall of the second floor of a two-story dental practice building, where the car got wedged.

According to the police, the car approached from a side street. The room of the dental office penetrated by the sedan was used as a storage space. A fire department crane was used to extract the vehicle from the building, which took several hours.

There were two people in the sedan. One of them managed to escape from the hanging vehicle on his own, while the other one remained trapped inside it for over an hour. They were both hospitalized with minor injuries, according to the Orange County Fire Authority (OCFA). According to the police, the driver of the car admitted narcotics use, and after toxicology tests the case is to be submitted to the Orange County District Attorney’s Office.

The moment of the accident was captured by surveillance video from a bus which the car narrowly missed when becoming airborne.

According to OCFA spokesperson Captain Stephen Horner, there was a small fire after the crash, which was extinguished quickly.

Monday, March 13, 2023

The U.S. Department of the Interior has approved ConocoPhillips’ Willow oil drilling project in the National Petroleum Reserve–Alaska . The approved project includes three drill sites of the five requested and relinquishes 68,000 acres of existing land leases within the Bear Tooth Unit. The project has been controversial and has gone through two different presidential administrations since its development began in 2018. Opponents of the project state that it would have a damaging impact on public lands and the climate. However, the project is supported by Alaska Native leaders, who believe it is economically critical for indigenous communities. Additionally, Alaska’s bipartisan congressional delegation supports the project.

The Department of the Interior released a Record of Decision on Monday that reduced the proposed size of the project. The approved project includes three drill sites of the originally requested five and denies permits for two. As part of the agreement, ConocoPhillips will also relinquish 68,000 acres of existing land leases within the Bear Tooth Unit. The Bear Tooth Unit is located in the northeast portion of the NPR-A. The development of the master plan started in 2018, has spanned two different presidential administrations, and has been controversial throughout the process.

One of Biden’s campaign promises was to end permitting of new oil and gas drilling of public land and waters. In January of 2021 Biden signed an executive order that paused “new oil and natural gas leases on public lands or in offshore waters.” In June of that year, U.S. District Judge Terry A. Doughty granted a preliminary injunction blocking the administration’s pause. Then in August of 2022 the same judge made the injunction permanent, stating the administration lacks “the authority to implement a Stop of lease sales.”

Sierra Club Senior Campaign Representative Mike Scott said the Willow project “would have a devastating effect on public lands and our climate, and approving it after passing the largest climate bill in history would be a giant step in reverse.” Scott was referring to the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA). According to a memo from the Sierra Club, the IRA is a deal to “advance historic investments in climate, care, jobs, and justice.” However, the IRA requires the U.S. Department of Interior to lease 60 million acres offshore and 2 million acres of federal lands each year for oil and gas development. The combination of lease quotas mandated by the IRA and Judge Doughty’s ruling prevent President Biden from fulfilling his campaign promise of ending new oil and gas drilling permits.

The Willow project is supported by Alaska Native leaders, who see it as economically critical for indigenous communities. All of Alaska’s bipartisan congressional delegation support the proposal. Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski told reporters in a briefing that the Biden administration “damn well better not kill the project, period.” On February 20 the Alaska House of Representatives voted unanimously (36-0) on House Joint Resolution 6 in support of the project. Alaska Representative Dan Sullivan said the project would be “one of the biggest, most important resource development projects in our state’s history.”

Development projects such as this one, which use federal land are required by law to assess no only the impacts on the physical environment, but also the cultural and human environments. The assessment is published as an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and in the case of the Willow project, the EIS was published by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), an agency within the U.S. Department of Interior, under the executive branch of government.

BLM released its final EIS on August 15, 2020. The same day the Audubon Society published a joint press release that stated, in part; “Rather than listening to local communities and taking the necessary time to produce an adequate analysis, the Trump Administration is rushing ahead to meet ConocoPhillips’ timeline — driven by their desire to have rubber-stamped permits in hand before a potential administration change.”

The Trump administration approved a copy of the Willow Master Development Plan (MDP) on October 26, 2020, authorizing up to three drill sites and supporting infrastructure such as processing and support facilities, gravel access roads, additional pipe lines, etc. Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt said the approval “will make a significant contribution to keeping oil flowing down the 800-mile Trans Alaska Pipeline decades into the future while delivering federal and state revenue as well as important impact assistance to the affected native communities.”

On February 13, 2021 a Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals granted a temporary injunction pending appeal, preventing gravel road building, surface mining, and blasting as it relates to the Willow project.

On August 18, 2021 U.S. District Court Judge Sharon Gleason in Anchorage vacated permits for the Willow project, effectively reversing the Trump administration’s approval. According to the Final SEIS, the District Court found the Final EIS was deficient in the following:

1. it improperly excluded analysis of foreign greenhouse gas emissions
2. it improperly screened out alternatives from detailed analysis based on BLM’s misunderstanding of leaseholders rights (i.e., that leases purportedly afforded the right to extract “all possible” oil and gas from each lease tract), and
3. BLM failed to give due consideration to the requirement in the Naval Petroleum Reserves Production Act (NPRPA) to afford “maximum protection” to surface values in the Teshekpuk Lake Special Area (TLSA)

This reversal prompted BLM to revise its Impact Statement in order “to address deficiencies identified by the court decision, and to ensure compliance with applicable law.” The Supplemental EIS (SEIS) was published in January of 2023.

According to the March 13, 2023 Record of Decision, the project will consist of three drill sites, a central processing facility, a dedicated airstrip, as well as necessary infrastructure such as approximately 25.8 miles of gravel road, new pipeline, ice roads for use during construction, etc.

Some of the anticipated impacts of the project include the loss of approximately 532 acres of wetlands, the use of approximately 1,478.7 million gallons of freshwater, and the production of approximately 278,036 Mt of gross CO2e over 30 years.

The estimated cost to develop and produce the initial Environmental Impact Statement is $6,971,120. The estimated cost to develop and produce the SEIS is $3,685,000. This makes the total cost of the impact statement $10,656,120.

[edit]

Tuesday, January 24, 2006

The Walt Disney Company has finalized a US$7.4 billion deal to acquire its long-time partner Pixar in an all stock buy-out. The deal will make Steve Jobs, current Pixar and Apple CEO, Disney’s largest shareholder with about 7% (valued at over $3.5 billion) and a member of the board of directors.

The merger was speculated all day Tuesday on the stock market and the announcement came just after trading closed for the day. Terms of the merger include Pixar’s John Lasseter becoming Disney’s new chief creative officer in charge of animation at the combined Disney-Pixar Animation Studios, as well as principal creative advisor at Walt Disney Imagineering, the unit of the company responsible for research and development of Disney theme parks worldwide.

Jobs purchased what became Pixar for $10 million in 1986 from George Lucas’s computer animation division at Lucasfilm. Toy Story, its first feature film, came a decade later, and began a long string of animation hits, including Finding Nemo. Such successes proved to be increasingly elusive for Disney to manage on its own. The partnership between the two studios had become shaky in recent years, as former Disney head Michael Eisner clashed with Jobs over the renewal terms of their agreement. In 2003, prior to his dismissal from Disney, Eisner infuriated Pixar’s creative team by predicting Finding Nemo would be a failure. Steve Jobs broke off negotiations in January 2004, having told one executive previously, “I don’t see how the relationship can continue as long as Eisner is there.”

Sunday, August 21, 2005

A robotic system at Stanford Medical Center was used to perform a laparoscopic gastric bypass surgery successfully with a theoretically similar rate of complications to that seen in standard operations. However, as there were only 10 people in the experimental group (and another 10 in the control group), this is not a statistically significant sample.

If this surgical procedure is as successful in large-scale studies, it may lead the way for the use of robotic surgery in even more delicate procedures, such as heart surgery. Note that this is not a fully automated system, as a human doctor controls the operation via remote control. Laparoscopic gastric bypass surgery is a treatment for obesity.

There were concerns that doctors, in the future, might only be trained in the remote control procedure. Ronald G. Latimer, M.D., of Santa Barbara, CA, warned “The fact that surgeons may have to open the patient or might actually need to revert to standard laparoscopic techniques demands that this basic training be a requirement before a robot is purchased. Robots do malfunction, so a backup system is imperative. We should not be seduced to buy this instrument to train surgeons if they are not able to do the primary operations themselves.”

There are precedents for just such a problem occurring. A previous “new technology”, the electrocardiogram (ECG), has lead to a lack of basic education on the older technology, the stethoscope. As a result, many heart conditions now go undiagnosed, especially in children and others who rarely undergo an ECG procedure.