Dr. T Washio, Surgical Assist Technology Group, AIST planned to present the following research paper at STLE (Orlando, FL, May 2009);

T Washio, K Mizuhara, "On Mechanism of Sucking Force Under Vertical and Tangential Pulling Conditions", STLE 64th Annual Meeting, Orlando FL, May 2009

However, Dr. Washio was forced to cancel the journey and the presentation per the institutional decision concerning the swine flu. We express our regret regarding this situation and we apology to whom affected by this cancellation, in particular to the organizer and the potential audience of the conference. We would also like to point out that this cancellation is due to the extreme epidemic situation, not by the problem attributed to the research nor the presentation.

Kiyoyuki Chinzei, Ph.D.

Leader, Surgical Assist Technology Group,

AIST, Japan