PASCAGOULA — Singing River Health System (SRHS) cardiologists are pioneering the integration of mobile technology and healthcare on the Mississippi Coast by using Apple iPhones to access patients’ test results without delay, regardless of the physician’s location.

“In medicine, especially in cardiology, you have to act quickly,” said cardiologist Dr. Hugo Quintana. “If someone is coming in with a heart attack, you don’t have hours to reach a diagnosis, you have minutes.”

When a patient enters the SRHS Emergency Department with cardiovascular symptoms, an electrocardiogram (EKG) is taken within the first five minutes to graph the heart’s electrical activity. Within two minutes, the EKG technologist will have loaded the test results onto a secure web site. The cardiologist is able to log into the system from anywhere where there is Internet access, including mobile connections via an iPhone.

The use of mobile technology and devices such as the iPhone in medicine is not limited to cardiology. Obstetricians and gynecologists can purchase an application to view wave forms, radiologists may read x-ray images or magnetic resonance images (MRIs) and the iPhone can even be used bedside to help patients identify which medications they take.

PURVIS — Step-by-step, the long-term, $4-million project to restore the historic Lamar County courthouse to its once stately status is moving forward.

Recently, the three-story structure was poked, prodded and probed by a group led by historical architect Robert Parker Adams to assess the building’s roots before asbestos removal and interior demolition begins.

“It was about what we can do, what we can’t do and what we can salvage,” County Administrator Chuck Bennett said.

Bennett said county work crews will complete in February the removal of the last bit of scattered equipment, tape machines, phones and faxes, law books, weathered tables and scarred chairs.

The county is looking at not only what to save from the various rooms and storage spaces throughout the courthouse, but what can be salvaged of the rooms and spaces.

While that sorting proceeds, Bennett said the county will write up specifications for asbestos removal, a $40,000 project that is expected to be bid this spring. Bennett said that work could take from one to three months to complete.

“Sometime in March, which is right around the corner, we’ll be looking at drawing up the (proposal),” Bennett said. “We have a (study) that we had to do to find out where the asbestos was, so we’ll ask (bidders) to read the report, give them the scope of the work, and then we’ll take quotes.”

Once that’s completed, interior demolition can begin, which will remove the likes of drop ceilings, fake walls and other modern-day additions.

Bennett said the county had spent about $110,000 on the project since 2006, and has budgeted $275,000 toward the courthouse for fiscal year 2009-10.

Bennett and the county have advocated a pay-as-you-go approach, so the cost will not be quite as hefty when the price tag for the major renovations comes due.

The county already has been approved for a $200,000 Federal Emergency Management Agency mitigation grant that would pay 95 percent of the cost of new windows and other areas of weatherproofing.

Another potential funding area is a Community Development Block Grant, which would help cover the costs of refurbishing “common use” areas of the courthouse, such as elevators, stairways, restrooms and entrances.

TUPELO — The U.S. Department of Transportation has directed Mesaba Airlines to continue air service in Tupelo through at least March 15, or until replacement service begins.

The USDOT is weighing options for federally subsidized air service in the city, including the number of flights.

Mesaba is a subsidiary of Delta Air Lines.

Last July, Mesaba notified USDOT of its intent to suspend service in Tupelo because it couldn’t provide service without a federal subsidy. Several extensions have been ordered.

Mesaba currently provides one daily flight to Memphis and one to Atlanta.

City and airport officials have told Mesaba they would like to get three daily flights.

Another airline, SeaPort Airlines, offered a bid but did not receive a letter of support from city officials.

WASHINGTON — Even as Republicans publicly welcome President Barack Obama’s call for a bipartisan confab on healthcare, some privately worry that he might be laying a trap to portray their ideas as flimsy.

If so, a shaky showing by GOP leaders could possibly embolden congressional Democrats to make a final, aggressive push to overhaul the nation’s healthcare system, with or without any Republican votes.

Some Republicans doubt that scenario, saying Democrats have lost momentum for any plan that’s certain to draw fierce criticism. But they noted Monday that the White House has not backed away from its support of legislation similar to what the Democratic-controlled House and Senate passed separately in December over strong GOP objections.

“This is a clever tactic by the president to try to put the Republicans on the defensive,” said John Feehery, a GOP consultant and former congressional aide. “There’s a vast ideological gulf” between the two parties on healthcare, he said, making it likely that the Feb. 25 half-day meeting will be more showmanship than substance.

The House’s top two Republican leaders openly questioned Obama’s sincerity and hinted they might skip the meeting if he uses the Democratic bills as the starting point for discussions.

“Assuming the president is sincere about moving forward on healthcare in a bipartisan way, does that mean he will agree to start over?” said a letter to White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel from House GOP leader John Boehner of Ohio and GOP Whip Eric Cantor of Virginia.

“If the starting point for this meeting is the job-killing bills the American people have already soundly rejected, Republicans would rightly be reluctant to participate,” Boehner and Cantor wrote.

They asked Obama to rule out the possibility of using “budget reconciliation” rules, which could allow Democrats to enact some healthcare provisions with a simple Senate majority, not the 60-vote super majority needed to halt filibusters. Democrats control 59 of the Senate’s 100 seats.

In response to the letter, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs released a statement contending that Obama is “open to including any good ideas that stand up to objective scrutiny.”

White House communications director Dan Pfeiffer said the president will not rule out the reconciliation route but is sincere in wanting to hear Republicans’ ideas for improving the healthcare legislation.

In announcing his call for the bipartisan event in a CBS News interview Sunday, Obama was vague when asked whether he was willing to start from scratch on healthcare. But the White House circulated talking points saying the president is “adamant about passing comprehensive reform similar to the bills passed by the House and the Senate” shortly before Democrats lost their filibuster-proof Senate majority.

If that’s true, Republicans said, what is the point of the Feb. 25 meeting? Some looked to the CBS interview for signs that Obama may use the televised event to depict Republicans’ proposals as falling short in key areas.

“What I want to do is to look at the Republican ideas that are out there,” Obama said. “And I want to be very specific. ‘How do you guys want to lower costs? How do you guys intend to reform the insurance markets so people with preexisting conditions, for example, can get healthcare? How do you want to make sure that the 30 million people who don’t have health insurance can get it?’”

Republicans say their healthcare proposals are frugal and practical. But Obama may be able to cast unkind lights on some details, such as nonpartisan estimates that the House Republican bill would cover three million uninsured people while the Democratic version would cover 36 million.

All presidents command a bully pulpit, and Democrats feel Obama was especially nimble in parrying House Republicans’ arguments and criticisms at a Jan. 29 televised event. The Feb. 25 setting could offer him a similar chance to spar with his critics.

The Boehner-Cantor letter sought to even the sides a bit. It called on the White House to invite pro-Republican analysts and Democratic lawmakers who voted against the Obama-backed legislation in December.

Liberal groups hope Americans will see the Republicans as obstructionists, possibly encouraging Democrats to use their still-sizable congressional majorities to enact their healthcare proposals via the budget reconciliation rules, without GOP help.

If the Feb. 25 meeting clarifies the sharp differences between the two parties, “that might be helpful,” said Richard Kirsch of the liberal Heath Care for America Now.

But some Republicans said Obama runs the risk of appearing insincere if he convenes the bipartisan gathering without showing greater willingness to shelve or greatly change his party’s proposals.

It’s a gamble Democrats appear willing to take.

“I think the greatest risk for Democrats is passing nothing,” said Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va. “There are a lot of things the public may not support in a given moment, but later on, when things have quieted down, they may think of highly.”

An overhaul of U.S. healthcare could fit that description, he said.

Schimmel’s Restaurant LLC at 2615 North State Street in Jackson filed for bankruptcy in May 2009, and is now looking for a buyer and asking the court to approve a procedure for competitive bidding.

In December, the U.S. trustee, joined by Regions Bank, filed a motion to convert the case to Chapter 7. The court has given the debtor until April 25 to confirm a Chapter 11 plan. The restaurant has between $1,000,000 and $10,000,000 in assets, and between $500,000 and $1,000,000 in liabilities, according to court records.

Schimmel’s filed a motion Feb. 4 to employ Shari M. Lackey-Culver as broker. The restaurant is currently in operation.

TOKYO — Toyota says it is recalling about 437,000 Prius and other hybrid vehicles worldwide to fix brake problems — the latest in a string of embarrassing safety lapses at the world’s largest automaker.

“I don’t see Toyota as an infallible company that never makes mistakes,” president Akio Toyoda said at a press conference Tuesday in Tokyo. “We will face up to the facts and correct the problem, putting customers’ safety and convenience first.”

With the Prius announcement, the number of vehicles recalled globally by Toyota Motor Corp. has ballooned to 8.5 million, including for floor mats which can trap gas pedals and faulty gas pedals that are slow to return to the idle position. The 2010 Prius wasn’t part of the earlier recalls.

There have been about 200 complaints in Japan and the U.S. about a delay when the brakes in the Prius were pressed in cold conditions and on some bumpy roads. The delay doesn’t indicate a brake failure. The company says the problem can be fixed in 40 minutes with new software that oversees the controls of the antilock brakes.

“Let me assure everyone that we will redouble our commitment to quality as the lifeline of our company,” Toyoda said.

Toyota officials went to Japan’s Transport Ministry earlier Tuesday to formally notify officials the company is recalling the 2010 Prius gas-electric hybrid — the world’s top-selling hybrid car. The automaker is also recalling two other hybrid models in Japan, the Lexus HS250h sedan, sold in the U.S. and Japan, and the Sai, which is sold only in Japan.

The 223,000 cars being recalled in Japan include nearly 200,000 Priuses sold from April last year through Monday, according to papers the automaker filed with the ministry. The Prius is Japan’s top-selling car.

In the U.S., Toyota will recall 133,000 Prius cars and 14,500 Lexus HS250h vehicles. Nearly 53,000 Priuses are also being recalled in Europe. Toyota is suspending production of the Sai and Lexus HS250h in Japan until the updated software for those models is ready.

If drivers experience a delayed reaction when depressing the brakes in any of these models, they should keep pressing, according to Toyota and the transport ministry.

The Prius repairs will start in Japan on Wednesday. U.S. owners will start receiving letters about the recall next week.

Toyoda, the president, has been criticized for being largely invisible during the two weeks after the company announced Jan. 21 the gas pedal recall in the U.S., Europe and China.

He apologized at his first public press conference last Friday, but was criticized by the Japanese media for failing to outline concrete steps to tackle the safety crisis and reassure customers around the world.

In contrast to his halting English in response to questions from foreign reporters at last week’s news conference, Toyoda seemed much better prepared Tuesday, reading from an English statement after doing so in Japanese.

“We will do everything in our power to regain the confidence of our customers,” Toyoda said.

He said he planned to go to the U.S. soon to talk with American workers and dealers to bring the ranks together.

Analysts said fears of an even bigger consumer backlash prodded Toyota into recalling the Prius.

“If they hadn’t done the recalls, their image would have suffered even more,” said Ryoichi Saito, auto analyst at Mizuho Investors Securities in Tokyo.

The Japanese transport ministry rapped Toyota as reacting too slowly, and said he was meeting U.S. Ambassador to Japan John Roos Wednesday to exchange views about Toyota’s recalls and make sure U.S.-Japan relations remained on good terms.

“The consideration for customers was lacking in Toyota,” Seiji Maehara told reporters, after a meeting with Toyoda. “We hope this never happens again.”

Toyoda, who visited the minister after his news conference, apologized and explained the recalls, Maehara said.

U.S. safety officials have launched an investigation into problems with the brakes.

The problem is suspected in four crashes resulting in two minor injuries, according to data gathered by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which is investigating the matter. Toyota says it’s cooperating with NHTSA’s investigation.

Problems with hybrid braking systems haven’t been limited to Toyota.

Ford Motor Co. said last week it plans to fix 17,600 Mercury Milan and Ford Fusion gas-electric hybrids because of a software problem that can give drivers the impression that the brakes have failed. The automaker says the problem occurs in transition between two braking systems and at no time are drivers without brakes.

Toyota’s plug-in hybrid is also being recalled in Japan, Europe and the U.S., but in small numbers because it is a largely experimental model for rental and government use.

The Prius holds a cherished spot in Toyota’s vehicle lineup and is symbolic of its leadership in the “green” car market.

The Toyota executive overseeing quality Shinichi Sasaki said the delay that Prius drivers can feel when braking lasts for a fraction of a second as the antilock brakes kick in.

The problem happens only on snowy or bumpy surfaces, and the complaints did not become more numerous until recently when the weather got colder, Sasaki said.

But Toyoda acknowledged the company could have done better in picking up on the complaints, managing the crisis and sending a message to car owners on a fix.

In the U.S., Toyota will add five more centers in addition to the current three that investigate customer complaints, Sasaki said.

“When compared to the size of Japan, America is so much bigger and so our network for gathering information was not enough,” he said.

Toyota was one of the first companies to mass-market a hybrid that combines an electric motor with a gas engine, introducing the Prius in Japan in 1997. Its high gas mileage made it popular among environmentally conscious drivers, especially when gas prices spiked two years ago.

But the complexity of the Prius, a highly computerized car, has led to problems in the past. In 2005, the company repaired 75,000 of them to fix software glitches that caused the engine to stall. It has also had trouble with headlights going out.

Shares in Toyota rose 2.9 percent Tuesday to 3,375 yen, but are still down about 20 percent since Jan. 21, when it announced the gas pedal recall.

WASHINGTON — Republicans gave a chilly reception yesterday to President Barack Obama’s invitation to discuss healthcare in a bipartisan, televised setting later this month, part of the White House effort to revive the stalled legislation.

The House and Senate GOP leaders said Obama and his fellow Democrats must shelve their long-debated healthcare bill, which was on the verge of becoming law until Republican Scott Brown won a special Senate election in Massachusetts last month. The White House says Obama has no plans to do so but is willing to hear Republicans’ ideas.

Rep. Darrell Issa of California, the top Republican on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, said Monday that the first question for Obama should be: “Did you lie about moving forward on malpractice reform?” He was alluding to the president’s earlier remarks about possibly curbing malpractice lawsuits, which is not included in the health bills passed separately by House and Senate Democrats in December.

In the first major move to jump-start his healthcare agenda after his party’s loss of a filibuster-proof Senate majority, Obama on Sunday invited GOP and Democratic leaders to discuss possible compromises in a half-day, televised gathering on Feb. 25.

It comes amid widespread complaints that Democrats’ efforts so far have been too partisan and secretive.

The meeting’s prospects for success are far from clear. GOP leaders insisted on starting from scratch. But many Democrats want to use their party’s remaining parliamentary muscle to enact their plans with as few changes as possible.

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is proposing a new agency to study and report on the changing climate.

Also known as global warming, climate change has drawn widespread concern in recent years as temperatures around the world rise, threatening to harm crops, spread disease, increase sea levels, change storm and drought patterns and cause polar melting.

Commerce Secretary Gary Locke and Jane Lubchenco, head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), planned to announce yesterday that NOAA will set up the new Climate Service to operate in tandem with NOAA’s National Weather Service and National Ocean Service.

NOAA recently reported that the decade of 2000-2009 was the warmest on record worldwide; the previous warmest decade was the 1990s. Most atmospheric scientists believe that warming is largely due to human actions, adding gases to the atmosphere by burning fossil fuels such as coal and natural gas.

Researchers and leaders from around the world met last month in Denmark to discuss ways to reduce climate-warming emissions, and a follow-up session is planned for later this year in Mexico.

“More and more people are asking for more and more information about climate and how it’s going to affect them,” Lubchenco explained. So officials decided to combine climate operations into a single unit.

Portions of the Weather Service that have been studying climate, as well as offices from some other NOAA agencies, will be transferred to the new NOAA Climate Service.

The new agency will initially be led by Thomas Karl, director of the current National Climatic Data Center. The Climate Service will be headquartered in Washington and will have six regional directors across the country.

Lubchenco also announced a new NOAA climate portal on the Internet to collect a vast array of climatic data from NOAA and other sources. It will be “one-stop shopping into a world of climate information,” she said.

Creation of the Climate Service requires a series of steps, including congressional committee approval. But if all goes well, it should be finished by the end of the year, officials said.

In recent years, a widespread private weather forecasting industry has grown up around the National Weather Service, and Lubchenco said she anticipates growth of private climate-related business around the new agency.

While most people notice the weather from day to day or week to week, climate looks at both the averages and extremes of weather over longer periods of time. And understanding both weather and climate, and their changes, are vital to much of the world’s economic activity ranging from farming to travel to energy use and production and even food shipments and disease prevention.

Atmospheric scientists have long joked that climate is what you expect and weather is what you get. But greenhouse warming is changing what can be expected from climate, and researchers are seeking to understand and anticipate the impacts of that change.

STARKVILLE — Mississippi State University (MSU) is working to reach underserved communities through a new mentoring program that encourages minority students to pursue veterinary medicine and graduate degrees in the biological sciences.

MSU received a grant from the National Science Foundation to collaborate with three of the state’s historically black institutions of higher learning — Alcorn State University, Jackson State University and Tougaloo College. The enrollment, location and historical background of these institutions present an opportunity to recruit minority students for graduate programs.

“These institutions have outstanding undergraduate students who are highly motivated and the type of students we want to see in our veterinary and graduate programs,” said Dr. Stephen Pruett, head of the Department of Basic Sciences at MSU’s College of Veterinary Medicine.

Minority students showing an interest in science apply for the program during their sophomore year. To be considered for admission, students must have a grade point average of at least 3.0, demonstrate an aptitude for science in their coursework and submit a personal essay.

An admissions committee will select two students each from Alcorn, Jackson State and Tougaloo and four students from MSU. Students will receive a fellowship stipend, which will enable them to conduct research and complete their bachelor’s degree at the home institution.

Statistics from the U.S. Census indicate that 93 percent of veterinarians are white. According to the Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges, only 2.5 percent of the 2009 graduating class of veterinary students in the United States was black.

The veterinary profession in the United States has remained relatively homogeneous for 25 years despite efforts by the Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges to diversify enrollment. According to the association’s statistics, minority enrollments in U.S. veterinary colleges was 5.9 percent of total enrollment in 1981. By 2006, minority enrollment had only risen 4 percent.

BILOXI — The staff of Keesler Medical Center’s new radiation oncology clinic is gearing up to begin treating patients in March, according Maj. (Dr.) Clayton Chen, 81st Medical Operations Squadron chief of radiation oncology. Plans are already underway for a formal ribbon-cutting for the new facility in the near future.

The heart of the clinic, the linear accelerator (linac), was moved into the structure last year from its previous location on the ground floor of the main medical center building. The new clinic building is elevated 24 feet above sea level to avoid flooding from any future Katrina-like storm. Currently, there are minor construction items being completed and the linear accelerator is undergoing final commissioning.

The clinic staff includes two active-duty radiation oncologists and two government civilian administrative assistants provided by the Biloxi Veterans Affairs Medical Center. The team also includes eight contract members — two physicists, a dosimetrist, three radiation therapists, a chief radiation therapist and a nurse.

The majority of the services provided — approximately 95 percent, according to Chen — involves treating cancer patients. The remaining 5 percent of patients have benign conditions, such as keloids or heterotopic bone formation. The clinic will be able to treat up to 30 patients daily, with 80 percent of them referred by the VA medical center.

Chen said not all the therapies would be available when the clinic reopens, though the hospital expects them to be within the next few months.