Medical Quack

UCI Medical Center Develops Their Own Mobile Security System Middleware for Wi-Fi Access to Students and Staff Who Bring Their Own Devices–Tablets & Smartphones

Bring your own device has been discussed quite a bit in healthcare<img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="115" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-dgIFqu1drKM/UFKy8xmoYOI/AAAAAAAA9wU/BAriWQCn4Mc/image%25255B4%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" width="123" /> and for good reasons.  When you have software that is corporate provided on hardware that is also corporate issued, it is much easier as you have a “closed” system and everyone know the design but that is not always a good answer today as equipment get expensive and it makes sense to have one instead of bouncing back and forth between personal and business systems.  Impressive as they wrote their own code to marry two vendors, their own middleware.  AirWatch and Bradford systems were the two outside vendors.  Their system forces encrypted back ups, a good thing and it locks down after 15 minutes of non use and requires a password, another good thing.  Up at Beth Israel in Boston, they have their plans laid out and if one is not encrypted you don’t get on the network.  BD  <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2012/07/beth-israel-hospital-mobile-security.html">Beth Israel Hospital Mobile Security Plan for Access–Bring Your Mobile Computer In and We Will Encrypt It For You Otherwise You Won’t Be Allowed Access Any More</a> <hr /></h5> <h4></h4> When Adam Gold, director of emerging technologies at<a href="http://www.healthcare.uci.edu"> University of California Irvine Medical Center</a> in Orange, Calif., wanted to give clinicians "bring your own device" access to the <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/healthcare/electronic-medical-records/allscripts-aims-to-ride-windows-8-apps-w/240005841">Allscripts Mobile MD EMR system</a>, he realized he had to address security concerns as soon as possible. That's when CIO Jim Murray, Gold, and their team decided to create their own integrated mobile security system, which combines network access control with mobile device management. The medical center uses Bradford Networks as network access control, but what was key at UC Irvine, said Gold, was connecting this to the center's mobile-device management software, <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/byte/news-briefs/personal-tech/mobile-apps/240006382">AirWatch</a>. "We wanted to tie these two systems together, even though they're separate vendors," he said. "The vision was to provision the devices, and based on the provisioning, we give them network access," he continued. Internally, Gold and his team wrote a middleware piece, which sits between the AirWatch and Bradford systems. "So when a user goes through the provisioning process, once that process is done in AirWatch, we send a message over to the Bradford system," he said. "As far as I know, we're the only people who have taken it this far," said Gold. "A lot of people are doing <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/byte/news/personal-tech/smart-phone%20/240005060?queryText=BYOD">BYOD</a>, and a lot are using AirWatch, but from the UC perspective, we're the only ones to write our own middleware piece and tie Bradford and AirWatch together, not independently." <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/healthcare/mobile-wireless/uc-medical-center-creates-unique-byod-pr/240007056">http://www.informationweek.com/healthcare/mobile-wireless/uc-medical-center-creates-unique-byod-pr/240007056</a>

UCI Medical Center Develops Their Own Mobile Security System Middleware for Wi-Fi Access to Students and Staff Who Bring Their Own Devices–Tablets & Smartphones

Bring your own device has been discussed quite a bit in healthcare and for good reasons. When you have software that is corporate provided...

Thursday, September 13, 2012

First World Sepsis Day September 13th, 2012–Deadly Disease That Kills Many Every Year

Sepsis is beginning to be in the news a lot more of late with <img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="126" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-RFTRwTdmUkY/UFH7l-27gmI/AAAAAAAA9vY/0oTOk75QMLI/image3.png?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-right-width: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" width="155" />awareness and that’s a good thing.  You can read a couple of the links below that reference some past articles about what it is and what it does.  We probably all remember the stories of the model in Brazil and the woman in Brooklyn who’s diagnosis was missed and lead to Sepsis.  The women in Brooklyn survived by with no hands or feet left.  <h4> </h4> <h4></h4> <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2012/03/brooklyn-woman-whos-hands-and-feet-were.html">Brooklyn Woman Who’s Hands and Feet Were Amputated Wins $17.9 Million Dollar Lawsuit After Doctors/Paramedics Refused to Take Her Back–Missed Sepsis Diagnosis</a></h4> <h4></h4> <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2009/01/model-in-brazil-loses-hands-and-feet.html">Model in Brazil loses hands and feet - Sepsis</a> </h4> In addition DARPA is also working with the FoldIt crowd source to help identify more information on Sepsis.  The whole key with Sepsis is to identify and treat it as soon as possible as basically it’s your body shutting down to summarize in a nutshell.  A few years back Vanderbilt University built monitoring technology to help the identify sooner when Sepsis is starting to set in and the software with monitors was eventually included in the suite of software products from Microsoft.  Events are scheduled in 40 countries today to help bring about the awareness needed for this deadly condition.  BD  <h4> </h4> <a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2012/09/darpa-to-enlist-fold-it-crowd-sourcing.html">DARPA To Enlist Fold It Crowd Sourcing Game to Help Identify Proteins To Help Identify More Information About Sepsis And Develop Better Treatments</a> <hr /> Press Release: London, UK, 13 September 2012 – The first ever World Sepsis Day (WSD) was held today, with events hosted across the world in London, New York, Berlin and Beijing. As part of the global effort to draw attention to this deadly disease, the Global Sepsis Alliance (GSA) events were held with attendance from key government officials, medical professionals, academics, sepsis survivors and members of the public. Sepsis is a life-threatening condition that arises when the body's response to an infection damages its own tissues and organs. It can lead to shock, multiple organ failure, and death, especially if it is not recognized early and treated promptly. It is the leading cause of death from infection around the world and, despite advances in modern medicine like vaccines, antibiotics, and acute care, it kills over 10,000 people worldwide every day. It is a medical emergency, and timing is critical; if diagnosed and treated in the first hour of the infection a patient has more than a 80% survival rate. After the sixth hour the patient only has a 30% survival rate Incidence is increasing at a rate of 8-13% in the developed world annually. Yet, it is not universally seen as a medical emergency, in part due to low awareness among healthcare professionals and the public.    Speaking at the London event, held at the British Houses of Parliament, Dr. Ron Daniels, Chief Executive of the GSA said; “The statistics associated with sepsis have dramatic implications for global efforts to eliminate disease. Sepsis is a medical emergency and requires a worldwide effort to educate and engage both the general public and political powers, to take steps required to tackle its growing number of victims.” <p style="padding-bottom: 0px; line-height: 13pt; margin: 0in 0in 12pt; display: block; height: auto; padding-top: 0px; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto" class="MsoNormal" align="left">Prof. Konrad Reinhart, Executive Director of Global Sepsis Alliance, spoke at the event in Berlin; “Rapid initiation of simple, timely interventions can halve the risk of dying. Early sepsis treatment is cost effective and reduces hospital and critical care bed days for patients. Unfortunately, sepsis is still mostly overlooked and recognised too late.” Events overview Events to mark World Sepsis Day are taking place in more than 40 countries and in many institutions all around the world, with support from over 2,000 hospitals, medical professionals and institutions. In China, the GSA and the Chinese Society for Critical Care Medicine hosted a conference in Beijing announcing their commitment to five key targets known as the World Sepsis Declaration. Leading academics, physicians and government officials participated, speaking on various studies and research on sepsis. The event in London, which took place yesterday, involved a presentation from a 15 year old school boy, Patrick Kane, who carried the Olympic torch through London earlier this year. He lost his right leg below the knee, his lower left arm and fingers from his right hand to sepsis. He was joined with presentations by MP, Eric Ollerenshaw, and Dr. Ron Daniels, Chief Executive of the GSA. A street art installation, depicting the race against time with sepsis, was also displayed outside the event. This evening, New York will host the first <a href="http://www.sepsisalliance.org/sepsis_heroes/">Sepsis Heroes Evening</a>, which will be held to honour healthcare professionals and individuals promoting sepsis awareness <img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="76" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-rGMvl575dLo/UFH7mAznTFI/AAAAAAAA9vg/JHYaYrCF2Oo/image%25255B4%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" width="177" />across the US. At the event, which will be hosted at The Arena event space, awards will be presented to Jennifer Ludwin, a sepsis survivor, the North Shore-LIJ Health System, for its work in improving care for sepsis patients across their hospitals and the organizers of Spike Out Sepsis, for the event's unique approach to raising sepsis awareness and funds for the Sepsis Alliance. Berlin is hosting two events today; the first is a tea light installation with hundreds of tea lights being lit at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin. Each tea light represents 100 of the 60,000 sepsis deaths that occur annually in Germany. A second event will be hosted by The German Sepsis Society and the Global Sepsis Alliance. This is an exclusive gala dinner with invited guests from politics, sports, entertainment and medicine. Christian Schenk, WSD ambassador and Olympic champion will present an entertaining program with comedian Gayle Tufts as special guest. Professor Tobias Welte, Chairman of the German Sepsis Society will also speak at the event. The entry fee will be used to provide financial support for a four-year old who has lost her legs through sepsis. <a href="http://www.world-sepsis-day.org/WSD/en/Local+Events?sid=kK4v8b4ET2ohbBWYLqEeoM&iid=1">http://www.world-sepsis-day.org/WSD/en/Local+Events?sid=kK4v8b4ET2ohbBWYLqEeoM&iid=1</a>

First World Sepsis Day September 13th, 2012–Deadly Disease That Kills Many Every Year

Sepsis is beginning to be in the news a lot more of late with awareness and that’s a good thing. You can read a couple of the links below t...

Thursday, September 13, 2012

Sanofi Multiple Sclerosis Drug Aubagio Gets FDA Approval

This drug is in the form of a pill and the company also has filed<img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="79" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-R9_bn6ladcw/UFFi_sVwbaI/AAAAAAAA9uk/Le-nSd0Vlw4/image%25255B6%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" width="109" /> with the FDA for an injectable drug.  The Genzyme division of Sanofi produced the drug, which Sanofi purchased for $20 billion about a year ago.  There’s no cure for MS and it attacks the body’s nervous system.  The drug should be on the market within a few weeks and is said to have milder side effects compared to other drugs on the market.  BD <hr />   (Reuters) - French drugmaker Sanofi SA gained U.S. approval for its multiple sclerosis pill, Aubagio, on Wednesday -- one of the two MS treatments it is relying on to return to growth after several blockbuster drugs lost patent protection. The drug has milder side effects than rival MS drugs and analysts say it could find favor among newly diagnosed patients. Around 35 percent to 40 percent of MS patients prefer to take no medication rather than face unwanted side effects. "In a clinical trial, the relapse rate for patients using Aubagio was about 30 percent lower than the rate for those taking a placebo," Russell Katz, director of the Division of Neurology Products at the Food and Drug Administration, said in a statement. Aubagio is set to be on the U.S. market in a few weeks, a spokeswoman for Sanofi unit Genzyme said. <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/09/13/us-sanofi-fda-multiplesclerosis-idUSBRE88B1OK20120913?feedType=RSS&feedName=healthNews&utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter">http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/09/13/us-sanofi-fda-multiplesclerosis-idUSBRE88B1OK20120913?feedType=RSS&feedName=healthNews&utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter</a>

Sanofi Multiple Sclerosis Drug Aubagio Gets FDA Approval

This drug is in the form of a pill and the company also has filed with the FDA for an injectable drug. The Genzyme division of Sanofi prod...

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

“Berlin Patient” and His Doctor Are Convinced Their Cure for HIV is Authentic With Stem Cell Transplant

This is an interesting case since it was somewhat stumbled upon<img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="102" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-AkKCyBzRFgs/UFFUkCej3sI/AAAAAAAA9tw/mdL7fekJxOY/image%25255B3%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" width="84" /> by accident with a donor of cells that gives a natural resistance to the virus.  A very small number of people have this and the theory was that a transplant with this resistance would cure the virus and so far it’s been 5 years and he claims to be free of it.  Earlier this year though doctors in California found traces of HIV in his tissues so are they remnants or is the disease returning?  His doctor said they were remnants and could not reproduce and create a reinfection.  Gene therapy has helped treat cancer and other diseases and it appears it is very difficult to find a match as what was done for this patient.  So far he remains the one and only patient that has had the results that claim that he has been cured.  BD <hr /> ST. LOUIS (AP) — More than five years after a radical treatment, a San Francisco man and his German doctor are convinced that he remains the first person cured of infection with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. Timothy Ray Brown, who is known as "The Berlin Patient" because of where he was treated, and Dr. Gero Hutter made their first joint appearance in the U.S. on Wednesday when Hutter spoke at a symposium on gene therapy at Washington University in St. Louis. Scientists are studying whether gene therapy can be used to rid the body of HIV. Brown, 46, was diagnosed with HIV in 1995. In 2006, he also developed leukemia while living in Germany. Hutter performed a blood stem cell transplant using a donor with a rare gene mutation that provides natural resistance to HIV. Hutter said that resistance transferred to Brown. In an interview with The Associated Press, Brown said he feels great, has not needed HIV medication since the 2007 surgery, and is now active in a foundation named for him that seeks a cure for HIV Hutter suggested they seek a donor with a certain cell feature that gives them natural resistance to HIV infection. Only about 1 percent of the northern European population has this feature. Hutter theorized that a transplant from such a donor could make the recipient resistant to HIV. Hutter said no one apparently had tried this, and his idea received mixed reaction from other doctors. "Some were very excited, but many were skeptical," he said. But within weeks, Hutter said, tests showed promise that Brown was cured. His case was described in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2009. <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/berlin-man-doctor-convinced-hiv-cure-real-185947472.html">http://news.yahoo.com/berlin-man-doctor-convinced-hiv-cure-real-185947472.html</a>

“Berlin Patient” and His Doctor Are Convinced Their Cure for HIV is Authentic With Stem Cell Transplant

This is an interesting case since it was somewhat stumbled upon by accident with a donor of cells that gives a natural resistance to the vi...

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Welch-Allyn Device Company to Cut 10 Percent of Workforce to Restructure–New Device Excise Tax Part of the Reason- We Should be Taxing the Data Sellers Instead As It’s One Huge Resource & Maybe Even Bigger Than A Device Tax Would Be

When the healthcare law was created, things were different but the last couple of years have shown some big changes with the economy. <img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="132" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-JikfpsdS9tU/UFFCxH6FRQI/AAAAAAAA9s8/yNdPP4qvayQ/image%25255B4%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" width="138" /> I’ll say this one more time, tax the data sellers that make billions with a few algorithms and mining mostly free taxpayer data.  I think of this every time I pay an excise tax on a tire I need for my car and that money goes to support the highway infrastructure.  Who’s going to pay for the US IT infrastructure and benefits the most?  Easy, it’s corporation, banks, high frequency traders, social media and a ton of others in there.  Insurance companies make millions selling data and consumers also want to know what they sell and to who. Part of such a tax program could also require that all state on a federal website what they sell and to who as we have no way right now of knowing and with the added influx of “flawed data” the middle class has become not much more than a bunch of “data chasers” to where we are guilty until we chase the data and fix it.  Here’s the story on Cook Medical which is a large privately owned device company with their public statements about how their money that was originally slated to build two new factories is gone now as they will be paying it in taxes instead. It makes no sense to pass the taxes along to hospitals and doctors either who are already strapped.  <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2012/07/cook-medical-cancels-plans-for-factory.html">Cook Medical Cancels Plans for Factory Expansions–We Need Companies That Create Tangible Products As They Create Jobs–Tax The Data Sellers/Brokers Who Make Billions With Data Mining “Killer Algorithms” And Give the Device Companies a Break</a> </h5> I keep repeating this for an example, but if Walgreens made just short of $800 million in 2010 with selling data only, just think of how big that pool is, especially when you bring in the banks.   I read somewhere a while back where 10 years ago the money made on returned check fees was running about $10 million a day as well.  If that is true, imagine what it is today.  Does that tell you where the money is made with algorithms that charge fees?  This is all automated by those algos.  Algorithms don’t need benefits with retirement and health insurance and many can run without humans around.  The data mining folks are getting to be nuisance in may areas as states have to put in governor software to keep of the bots out so us citizens can still get in to servers that are busy with algorithms mining data. Nobody’s going to cry if banks and other business pay a quarterly excise tax on what they make, except the banks.  Companies that may think about expanding don’t, when they can grab a few geeks and maybe a quant to mine and  sell data.  The Quants control a big portion of this rationale with “making numbers work” for “desired” results.  Check this documentary out and see what you think from folks who used to be in those shoes.  All the one guy wants to do now is fish and talks about the “attitude” that goes with making money by making the numbers work.  Listen to the one guy who wrote the infrastructure, a programmer who worked with the Quants. <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2012/09/quants-alchemists-of-wall-street-video.html">Quants: The Alchemists of Wall Street Video Documentary - Why It Needs to Matter What Companies Do and Not Focus Only On the Price of Stock With So Called Value - Attack of the Killer Algorithms Chapter 44</a></h4> <h4></h4> <iframe style="width: 436px; height: 257px" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/ed2FWNWwE3I?rel=0" frameborder="0" width="560" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe> I look at it this way, if the device tax is going to be voted down, better have another source to suggest and data sellers are it.  They are so ingrained in every bit of commerce done today.  Tax it quarterly and require all to buy a license and this gives law enforcement a leg to stand on as well with ethics and potential fines.  This is where the big money is made and there have been numerous videos on the web telling us we are the product.  There’s a lot of Algo Duping going on out there. I call a lot of it the Attack of the Killer Algorithms and here’s a link to over 40 links giving you some every day examples on how this all plays out.  Have you been attacked?  Least we can do is collect some tax revenue from all of this activity for sure.  <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2012/02/attack-of-killer-algorithmsdigest-links.html">Attack of the Killer Algorithms–Digest & Links for All Chapters–on How Math and Crafty Formulas Today Running on Servers 24/7 Make Life Impacting Decisions About You</a></h4> <h4></h4> <img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-MdcQ51oZRKs/UDz9pcW4fBI/AAAAAAAA9PM/5H-RdgxYtf8/image%25255B11%25255D.png?imgmax=800" /> At any rate, hopefully we will have some lawmakers wise up and find a new way to tax besides medical devices as those companies produce a tangible product and JOBS and we have way too much of the economy based on intangibles created with algorithms that financially dupe us.  This is how you increase jobs is to make it more lucrative for companies to build factories, add new facilities instead of becoming yet one more data seller with no laws, rules, etc. that get their data for nothing and the profits for free. Sure some device companies sell data but they will wrapped in there with everyone else and the amount would not be nearly as big as a burden.  BD <hr /> With Welch-Allyn’s announcement this week it will cut 10 percent of its workforce, the company joins a group of medical device manufacturers saying they’ll be hurt by a new tax that starts in January.  While they work to repeal the 2.3 percent tax included in the new health care law, some of the giants in the medical device industry are laying off workers, moving jobs overseas and cutting back on investments. Industry leader Medtronics, in Minnesota, which recently announced 1,000 layoffs in the United States, said the tax will cost the company $125 million to $175 million a year. Indiana-based Cook Medical Inc. said it has killed plans to build five plants in the United States because of the tax. “These plants cost $20 million to build,” said Dave McCarty, a spokesman for Cook, which has 10,000 employees. “If we have to give that money up for the tax we don’t have that money to invest.” The tax will be imposed on all sales of medical devices, which includes products as diverse as surgical gloves, artificial knees and hips, pacemakers and wheelchairs. It does not include items bought by patients at retail stores, such as eyeglasses and hearing aids. A CNN report said that in 2009 the medical products and equipment industry was the fourth-most profitable in the United States, with a 16.3 percent average profit margin. (I think this has changed) If medical device companies try to pass on the tax to hospitals and other buyers, hospitals might use and buy fewer devices, Dennison said. <a href="http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2012/09/other_us_medical_device_makers.html">http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2012/09/other_us_medical_device_makers.html</a>

Welch-Allyn Device Company to Cut 10 Percent of Workforce to Restructure–New Device Excise Tax Part of the Reason- We Should be Taxing the Data Sellers Instead As It’s One Huge Resource & Maybe Even Bigger Than A Device Tax Would Be

When the healthcare law was created, things were different but the last couple of years have shown some big changes with the economy. I’ll ...

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Rite-Aid Employee Shot at DC Store–Video Captures Man Wearing a Surgical Mask–Police Trying to Identify

You can watch the video but apparently this is the 3rd incident at this store in the last few months and I am guessing the location of the store might have something to do with this.  At any rate it could be something personal too with a gunman walking in and shooting the employee in the legs who is now in the hospital.  BD <hr /> <iframe height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/vb-fBOMq8Yw?rel=0" frameborder="0" width="420" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe> D.C. police are trying to identify a man who walked into a Northeast Rite Aid pharmacy and shot an employee Sunday night without any provocation. Investigators released a video Monday that shows a man wearing a surgical mask and a striped polo shirt walking into the store, located at 1401 Rhode Island Ave., just prior to the shooting at 9:25 p.m. “We don’t know what the motive is at this point in time,” Metropolitan Police Department Cmdr. George Kucik said. “A subject walked inside the Rite Aid and without any provocation or really any demands he shot one of the employees. Ms. Nalls said she went to the store Monday morning to talk to employees and was concerned that security guards were only posted at the store for a short time after the other incidents. “This kind of working condition is not telling folks that they care about them,” she said of store management. <a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/sep/11/rite-aid-worker-shot-video-shows-masked-man/">http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/sep/11/rite-aid-worker-shot-video-shows-masked-man/</a>

Rite-Aid Employee Shot at DC Store–Video Captures Man Wearing a Surgical Mask–Police Trying to Identify

You can watch the video but apparently this is the 3rd incident at this store in the last few months and I am guessing the location of the s...

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Clinical Query At Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital–Self Service Analytics Using Boolean Expressions–A Goldmine of Valuable Information To Include Identifying & Communicating With Potential Clinical Trial Patients

This is a great article and a lot of work went into this process and when you follow the link and read the article in it’s entirety you will get a better idea of what all was created here and the creative intelligence of Dr. Halamka.  This is huge and the safety precautions with throwing in some arbitrary de-identified patients is great and works to make re-identification<img align="right" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/TW_npIT2ERI/AAAAAAAAsrA/zcEQT5b0OaA/image_thumb%5B2%5D.png?imgmax=800" style="display: inline; float: right" /> pretty much not possible.  By using Boolean expressions you are down to a true or false with the search which would make it fast and efficient versus a long string of SQL statements to process.  Some of the old visual basic expressions of Microsoft were built around this, wrote enough of these myself and that’s part of what made me logical I joke.    I always say when it comes to having CIOs, CEOs, etc. in today’s medical world it helps tremendously to have folks in those positions with “hands on” experience and this example is no exception.  It doesn’t get much better when you have the CIO, Dr. Halamka in there writing code as he talks about how he wrote part of their medical records system which was up and running in the early days before many of the EHR companies existed.  Good stuff.  If you know anything about the history that dates back to Dr. Halamka’s arrival here with their entire system crashing I think it was on his 3rd day, then you know he had a lot of work to do as of course in 3 days you can’t get anything done, so nice kudos for sure on what has been accomplished here.  Also with “hands on experience” and the valuable information he has we items as such at the link below with recommending holding off on some integration processes and this helps government figureheads who are responsible for setting dates for compliance and yet have not one stick of IT or computer science knowledge in their backgrounds.  (I sure wish we could start fixing some of those issues soon <grin>.) <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2011/08/dr-halamka-speaks-about-health-itcios.html">Dr. Halamka Speaks About Health IT–“CIOs are on Overload” and It Would be A Blessing to Stall Off ICD-10 to 2016 - The Straw Breaking the Camel’s Back</a></h5> In other posts around the Medical Quack you read about how myself and others quote that those who control the code control the world and this is a great “positive” here as there are those who write code for other purposes and slowly the world is coming to know who they are and if you read here enough you have a pretty good idea, so yes there’s power in the code and those algorithms.  You just can’t replace the value of “hands on” knowledge and competency with coding and queries.  I would almost say that working with Dr. Halamka could almost be like having a live “Wikipedia” walking around when one has a question and that’s a big complement there for sure.  You can also go back a few months and <a href="http://geekdoctor.blogspot.com/2012/04/clinical-query-i2b2-and-queryhealth.html">read on his blog</a> a bit more about <a href="http://mycourses.med.harvard.edu/ec_res/nt/D3399BBD-DB1E-45EB-8E48-446E5459A8AB/ClinicalQuery.pdf">Clinical Query</a> and with his explanation on how it works.  Below is a quick screenshot from the links mentioned.  <img alt="image" border="0" height="303" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-4okqKrhJU_4/UFCjr3QIPqI/AAAAAAAA9sI/qLKyDyuPQt8/image%25255B6%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; border-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" width="404" />Now one other point that is made here too is the amount of data as compared to an ATM machine, averages 6 transactions..compare that to 65,000 patient data elements to appreciate what was built here and this was well worth the mention as folks seem to think that healthcare is so far behind, not really as there’s so much more data and privacy implications to work within that is complex.  Mapping to SNOMED codes was a project in itself.   Great thing too is that “open standards” were used in all of this, no proprietary patents, copyrights, etc. to deal with there.  He also mentions his project of taking commercial EHR systems and connecting the data to download into the hospital records and there are several of them whereby the code is being written to do so.  I sometimes think back to the early days of some of the technologies we use today and way <a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/05/doctor-anonymous-dr-show-dr-john.html">back in 2008 we had an MD  who called himself Dr. Anonymous</a> who was working with a new web radio format and started his weekly shows and at that time there were only a few of us brave enough or making time to communicate to try it out but Dr. Halamka was there too:) Again worth mentioning here once more is the hands on knowledge we have and the advancements possible when there are people in “key positions” that have some computer science, coding, IT infrastructure an so on in their background.  This is huge and what another wise man, Bill Gates told the graduating class at Berkeley a couple years ago, “the hybrids, people who have more than one area of focus are going to be the people in demand and the ones with recognizing value”….and code and technology are right up at the top of that list.  BD    <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2010/04/bill-gates-speaks-at-uc-berkeley-global.html">Bill Gates speaks at UC Berkeley Global Health, Education and Thoughts on Philanthropy</a></h4> <h4></h4> <hr /> Like all the hospitals affiliated with Harvard Medical School, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center aims to be the best of the best. A closer look suggests the hospital is achieving that lofty goal partly by taking shrewdly calculated technology risks. A centerpiece of BIDMC's IT-based innovation is a new medical informatics platform called Clinical Query. To appreciate its value, you need to understand the current healthcare environment. Enter Clinical Query. John Halamka, BIDMC's ball-of-fire CIO, refers to it as a clinical trials/clinical research business intelligence system. It's a search engine married to a huge database of patient records that lets hospital employees test hypotheses about what causes a disease, for instance, or test which drug, diet, or lifestyle variables may reduce the risk of developing one.  The repository contains 200 million data points on 2.2 million patients, including medications taken, diagnoses, and lab values. The query tool is capable of navigating 20,000 medical concepts through the use of Boolean expressions. All the data has been mapped to standard medical language codes. Diagnoses, for instance, have been mapped to ICD-9; medications to RxNorm codes; lab data to Logical Observation Identifiers Names and Codes (LOINC). So with the help of Clinical Query, a clinician or researcher might search the records to find out how many patients with breast cancer also take ACE inhibitors, a class of drug used to treat high blood pressure. If the results reveal a strong correlation between the drug and the malignancy, the hospital could do a deeper analysis and set up a formal research project to investigate the link. The ultimate goal is to discover a new medical intervention that would improve the survival of the entire population of breast cancer patients. More cutting edge was the hospital's custom EHR system, called Online Medical Record. Halamka is quick to point out: "We built it ourselves. I wrote part of it. It's Web-based, cloud-hosted, runs on tablets. How many EHRs in the world have those characteristics?" Clinical Query always throws in a few additional arbitrary patients to the search results, creating just enough ambiguity to keep patients' secrets secret. Normally, a database search is supposed to give precise results, but in this scenario, the researcher's initial goal isn't supposed to be to identify individual patients, but to find correlations between diseases and risk factors. A major technological obstacle to making Clinical Query fully functional centered on the variable nature of medical terminology. As a matter of contrast, there are only six data elements in the average ATM transaction, but the average patient record contains about 65,000 data elements. Complicating matters further is the fact that different clinicians may define each element differently. <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/global-cio/interviews/beth-israel-deaconess-medical-center-emb/240006766?pgno=2">http://www.informationweek.com/global-cio/interviews/beth-israel-deaconess-medical-center-emb/240006766?pgno=2</a>

Clinical Query At Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital–Self Service Analytics Using Boolean Expressions–A Goldmine of Valuable Information To Include Identifying & Communicating With Potential Clinical Trial Patients

This is a great article and a lot of work went into this process and when you follow the link and read the article in it’s entirety you will...

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Archon Genomics X-Prize Bioinformatics Challenge Presented by Express Scripts Begins September 12 , 2010–$2500 Prize

<img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="133" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-zELyECDGtXw/UE-dT2LSrEI/AAAAAAAA9rU/AUhF0k49Kt0/image%25255B4%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" width="205" />First of all you will need to be familiar with Illumina data sets and this appears to be a project that will help answer questions about false positives and negatives.  This is not a huge prize from what we normally see from the X-Prize Foundation but it all stems around software genomics research.  I do have to say one thing, it’s an interesting concept and will even be more interesting to see how the challenge works.  BD From the Website: Challenge Guidelines Date: September 10, 2012 I) PRIZE: $2,500 II) CHALLENGE PERIOD: A) Phase I: i) BEGINS: 9:00 AM (0900) PST, Wednesday, September 12, 2012 ii) ENDS: 5:00 PM (1700) PST, Monday, November 27, 2012 B) Phase II: i) BEGINS: 9:00 AM (0900) PST, Tuesday, November 28, 2012 ii) ENDS: 5:00 PM (1700) PST, Monday, December 7, 2012 III) PURPOSE: To incentivize global submission of comments for the refinement of the Competition Validation Protocol, which is the mechanism by which we will declare a winner(s) of the $10 million Archon Genomics X PRIZE presented by Express Scripts (Competition). IV) GUIDELINES FOR ONLINE SUBMISSIONS: A) CHALLENGE: Submit comments that provide insight into potential false positives and negatives. By combining comparison information between the unified call set and external resources, we can identify 17,654 fosmid variants (10%) not found in both the Complete Genomics and Illumina datasets. Additionally, Illumina and Complete Genomics combine to call 1,228 variants (0.7%) that are not in the fosmid call set. Perform additional in-depth analysis to classify either uniquely identified fosmid calls or potential false positives, or false negative calls in the individual technologies. B) CHALLENGE: Improve variant representation and assessment. The variation software framework works hard to make variant representations as uniform as possible. Indels are especially challenging and we welcome practical examples of regions that need additional standardization. C) CHALLENGE: Refine approaches to unifying variant calls: What we learn from the additional inspection of discordant variants can help inform improved approaches to filtering. This is a great opportunity to develop generalized, reusable methods for combining variants from multiple approaches. D) CHALLENGE: Test and propose specific refinements to the software, web platform, or report functionality of the software. V) INSTRUCTIONS: A) Each Contributor shall register on the Competition Scientific Community according to the Rules stated below B) Each Contributor must visit the Competition Public Phase wiki to obtain the technical details required for participation by visiting (<a href="http://bit.ly/NGVbIs">http://bit.ly/NGVbIs</a>) C) Following the conclusion of analysis prior to the conclusion of Phase I, each contributor shall provide written comments directly on the Competition Scientific Community (this site) under the Caption “Please Enter Our Bioinformatics Challenge” to be considered a valid written submission. Registered users are allowed to provide written submissions on multiple, (up to four) Challenges. D) Each Contributor may also submit clarifying questions directly in the appropriate section of the Competition Scientific Community E) For specific technical questions, please contact Justin Johnson at EdgeBio via email at mail to: <a href="mailto:JJohnson@edgebio.com">JJohnson@edgebio.com</a>. Please include “BIOINFORMATICS CHALLENGE QUESTION” in subject line F) For questions relating to the Rules and Guidelines of the Bioinformatics Challenge, please contact Grant Campany at <a href="mailto:grant.campany@xprize.org">grant.campany@xprize.org</a> and include “BIOINFORMATICS CHALLENGE QUESTION” in subject line VI) RULES: A) Only one cash prize of $2,500 USD (Prize) will be awarded at the sole discretion of the X PRIZE Foundation based upon written submissions via "Reply to This Topic" section below (this site) B) To qualify, each person is required to provide his/her given/legal name as a user name and may not have more than one user name registered on the Competition Scientific Community site (Contributor) C) Each Contributor acknowledges that only submitted comments received via the "Reply to This Topic" section below during Phase I of the Challenge Period will be considered for the Prize D) Each Contributor may submit multiple comments during Phase I of the Challenge Period E) Phase I will be considered the “comment submission” phase of the Challenge Period. During Phase I each Contributor shall submit written comments on the online Scientific Community (this site). The X PRIZE Foundation shall identify a list of finalists to enter into Phase II. The X PRIZE Foundation shall select the finalists of the Bioinformatics Challenge based on material contribution per section IV above. F) Phase II shall be considered the “voting and selection” phase of the Bioinformatics Challenge. The X PRIZE Foundation shall present submissions by the finalists to the Scientific Community (this site) for final voting. The submission receiving the most unique positive votes shall determine the winner of the Prize. G) All Contributors hereby acknowledge and agree to: i) The Guidelines of the Bioinformatics Challenge stated herein, ii) The declaration of the winner is at the sole discretion of the X PRIZE Foundation, and iii) The winner of the Bioinformatics Challenge shall agree to participate in commercially reasonable public relations efforts deemed appropriate between the X PRIZE Foundation and the winner iv) The RULES are subject to change, so please check this site for most up-to-date version of Guidelines as indicated by the Date above. <a href="http://agxpprotocol.xprize.org/agxp/topics/_2_500_bioinformatics_challenge">http://agxpprotocol.xprize.org/agxp/topics/_2_500_bioinformatics_challenge</a>

Archon Genomics X-Prize Bioinformatics Challenge Presented by Express Scripts Begins September 12 , 2010–$2500 Prize

First of all you will need to be familiar with Illumina data sets and this appears to be a project that will help answer questions about fal...

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Aids Healthcare Foundation Puts Out Press Release Over Their Disappointments With Gilead’s CEO Greedy Behavior With Selling Stock –Echoes of Provenge Trading Type Activity Again?

This sounds like Provenge all over again, and what roller coaster ride that was as the price of the stock became more<img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="68" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-k551XxyEVgA/UE-Gq1-SN8I/AAAAAAAA9qY/h1VQWq88WeI/image%25255B7%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" width="159" /> important than the prostate cancer drug they produced, and look where they are today, downsizing and competing with other drugs that are simpler in nature.  According to this press release the CEO is on the Forbes top 100 paid CEO list, in money that is.  The new drug approved costs over $28k a year for a patient.  It is 35% higher than the company’s other best selling HIV/AIDS drug.  He sold his stock after the big jump and will the new drug be affordable to Medicare and Medicaid?  This alone her goes back to why the NIH needs to fund more research as it certainly needs to be paid for somewhere along the line but perhaps we can leave out some of the money making efforts here that have nothing to do with the product that is being created in order to make it more affordable.  If you missed it, last week the NIH/Milken Foundation addressed this very issue in their Celebration of Science.  BD <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2012/09/nih-and-milken-institute-announce.html">NIH And Milken Institute Announce “Celebration of Science Day” Saturday September 8, 2012 Recognizing Research and Development & Making a Difference - NFL Donates $30 Million to the NIH For Brain Injury Research</a></h4> <hr /> LOS ANGELES--(<a href="http://www.businesswire.com/">BUSINESS WIRE</a>)--<a href="http://cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aidshealth.org&esheet=50401489&lan=en-US&anchor=AIDS+Healthcare+Foundation+%28AHF%29&index=1&md5=f7b125690d2b96171e16c42d5fe2da26">AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF)</a>, the nation’s largest HIV/AIDS nonprofit medical provider<img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="69" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-RSQPzOnOkto/UE-GrPmuJaI/AAAAAAAA9qg/z6KX7qkJYRw/image%25255B3%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" width="148" /> and a vocal critic of runaway drug pricing and AIDS drug profiteering, today criticized John Martin, CEO of <a href="http://cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.gilead.com&esheet=50401489&lan=en-US&anchor=Gilead+Sciences&index=2&md5=c061ebb4eb17e24e6af0a9c13082ef55">Gilead Sciences</a>, the leading HIV/AIDS drug maker, for cashing out at the public’s expense over his recent sale of 145,450 shares of Gilead stock (worth about $8.5 million), which according to the website <a href="http://cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&url=http%3A%2F%2Fseekingalpha.com%2Farticle%2F852731-top-5-insider-sells-filed-on-september-6&esheet=50401489&lan=en-US&anchor=SeekingAlpha.com&index=3&md5=d75f1a84a117f6d61bc6e34c7eaeb1ce">SeekingAlpha.com</a>, took place on September 4th. Martin had over $54.5 million in reported compensation last year at Gilead, an amount that placed him 10th on Forbes’ List of the 100 highest paid CEOs in the United States. Martin’s stock sale followed on the heels of news early last week that Gilead chose to set its Wholesale Acquisition Price (WAC) for <a href="http://cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aidsmeds.com%2Farchive%2Fstribild_elvitegravir_cobicistat_2716.shtml&esheet=50401489&lan=en-US&anchor=Stribild&index=4&md5=5e4785f490e24d89a69db1d302079ce3">Stribild</a>, its latest entry in the AIDS drug market, a four-in-one, once-a-day tablet—at $28,500 per patient, per year—a record price for a first line combination therapy and a price that led to some,“…disappointment and controversy within the larger HIV community,” according to a separate press release issued by the ADAP Crisis Task Force (ACTF) of the National Alliance of State & Territorial AIDS Directors (NASTAD). Gilead manufactures the most commonly prescribed HIV/AIDS drugs, as well as some of the highest priced ones. Stribild entered the market priced 37% higher than Atripla, Gilead’s best selling HIV/AIDS combination therapy. According to the <a href="http://cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&url=http%3A%2F%2Fseekingalpha.com%2Farticle%2F852731-top-5-insider-sells-filed-on-september-6&esheet=50401489&lan=en-US&anchor=SeekingAlpha.com&index=5&md5=26afc4481ef6f415d5ad6613399b73b5">SeekingAlpha.com</a> website, “John Martin sold 145,450 shares on September 4 and currently holds 1,989,938 shares of the company. Dr. Martin joined Gilead Sciences in 1990 and currently serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors and Chief Executive Officer.” <a href="http://www.businesswire.com/news/rxtimes/20120907006103/en/AHF-Greed-Pays%E2%80%94Gilead%E2%80%99s-John-Martin-Cashes-Public%E2%80%99s">http://www.businesswire.com/news/rxtimes/20120907006103/en/AHF-Greed-Pays%E2%80%94Gilead%E2%80%99s-John-Martin-Cashes-Public%E2%80%99s</a>

Aids Healthcare Foundation Puts Out Press Release Over Their Disappointments With Gilead’s CEO Greedy Behavior With Selling Stock –Echoes of Provenge Trading Type Activity Again?

This sounds like Provenge all over again, and what roller coaster ride that was as the price of the stock became more important than the pr...

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Einstein College of Medicine Awarded 2 Year Grant to educate Faculty and Medical Students On Using social Media Appropriately and Effectively

<img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="76" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-BVJ5KAqav9o/UE7N_NZLH4I/AAAAAAAA9pk/JwFdLK6wTX8/image%25255B4%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" width="136" />Well this is an  interesting headline to say the least.  There are actually 4 other medical school in the US to participate.  The whole idea here is to teach medical students how they can use social media in ways that will benefit patient care.  Actually understanding how patients are using social media will help set the stage to see how online communications helps improve care.  BD Newswise — September 10, 2012 – (Bronx, NY) – Social media is increasingly popular but engaging in its proper use can prove confusing and challenging – especially in the medical and healthcare arenas. Albert Einstein College of Medicine (http://www.einstein.yu.edu/) of Yeshiva University has been awarded a two-year grant to educate faculty members and medical students on using social media appropriately and effectively. Einstein is one of four medical schools in the United States to be selected for the 2012 Education and Training to Professionalism Initiative by the Institute on Medicine as a Profession (IMAP) and the Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation. <a href="http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/593436/?sc=rsla&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+NewswiseLatestNews+%28Newswise%3A+Latest+News%29">http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/593436/?sc=rsla&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+NewswiseLatestNews+%28Newswise%3A+Latest+News%29</a>

Einstein College of Medicine Awarded 2 Year Grant to educate Faculty and Medical Students On Using social Media Appropriately and Effectively

Well this is an interesting headline to say the least. There are actually 4 other medical school in the US to participate. The whole idea...

Monday, September 10, 2012

Geron Stops Breast Cancer Trial for Life Extending Drug Imetelstat As It Was Not Better Than Current Treatments

At one time Geron was a company that everyone was watching primarily due to their stem cell research and trials for patients with spinal cord injuries.  Almost a year ago they discontinued their stem cell research to place all their efforts into cancer research and this is the first zero to appear sadly.  <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2011/11/sad-to-say-but-when-you-look-at-where.html"> Geron To Focus on Cancer Programs Discontinues Internal Development of Spinal Stem Cell Programs-66 Jobs Go Away–Biotech Gets Shot in the Foot With Funding While the Ridiculously Valued Chase for Social Algorithms Intensifies</a> </h5> You can review a back link below for some history as the program was on and then it was off and then it was back on again, all over the use of embryonic stem cells being used.  The clinical trials are still working in the spinal cord area in Switzerland, but not much in the US other than the first couple of enrolled patients.  Stanford University was also in on the trials.  <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2010/07/geron-gets-fda-approval-to-resume-stem.html">Geron Gets FDA Approval To Resume Stem-Cell Study - Spinal Cord Injuries - Go UC Irvine!</a> <hr /> </h5> Geron stopped the mid-stage breast cancer trial after an interim check showed that the drug imetelstat was not better <img align="right" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/TXFexyOZz0I/AAAAAAAAsyo/16XOkbn3lIg/image4_thumb%5B2%5D.png?imgmax=800" style="display: inline; float: right" />than the current recommended treatment in extending patients' lives without the disease progressing. While an interim analysis of the company's non small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) study supported a modest benefit from the drug, Geron said it was doubtful about starting late-stage trials for the indication.  "These are two of their big opportunities gone away," Needham & Co analyst Chad Messer said. "The problem looks like some cross-toxicity between imetelstat and paclitaxel." An internal review revealed that more patients given a combination of imetelstat and paclitaxel, an approved chemotherapy drug, were dying or discontinuing treatment, compared with those administered only paclitaxel. <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/09/10/us-geron-study-idUSBRE8890JQ20120910">http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/09/10/us-geron-study-idUSBRE8890JQ20120910</a>

Geron Stops Breast Cancer Trial for Life Extending Drug Imetelstat As It Was Not Better Than Current Treatments

At one time Geron was a company that everyone was watching primarily due to their stem cell research and trials for patients with spinal cor...

Monday, September 10, 2012

FDA Clears Algorithm Supported Remote Cardiac and Activity Monitoring System for Keeping Track of of Key Biometrics–Wearable Body Sensors from Preventice

<img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="54" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-a8moRNGg5tE/UE62Zbd-yxI/AAAAAAAA9og/CLXZ-QBZPpc/image%25255B13%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" width="195" />The system monitors ECG, heart rate, respiration rate and activity and was developed in coordination with the Mayo Clinic.  They look like band aids that are place on 3 parts of the body.  The data is sent  wirelessly to a smartphone to the Preventice Care platform.  The physician can log on at any time on a computer or mobile device to get the data. When you look at the partner page interesting that “payers” are included here and of course they would want behavioral type analytics and do they sell de-identified information?   The devices and platforms are meant to monitor non lethal cardiac arrhythmias so this is monitoring and not a monitoring system with a big sense of urgency, that is unless something becomes urgent.  BD  From the Website: “Developed in collaboration with Mayo clinic, this <a href="http://www.fda.gov/MedicalDevices/ProductsandMedicalProcedures/DeviceApprovalsandClearances/510kClearances/ucm318431.htm">FDA-cleared</a> system uses sophisticated algorithms to support remote monitoring for individuals<img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="155" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-mhjrmBBi8D4/UE62Zoec7RI/AAAAAAAA9oo/ESOrGJgwLrQ/image%25255B5%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" width="214" /> with non-lethal cardiac arrhythmias. BodyGuardian RMS allows physicians to monitor key biometrics outside of the clinical setting, while patients go about their daily lives. Important physiologic data is securely collected by a small, wearable body sensor and transmitted to physicians. It maintains a constant connection between patients and their care teams.  BodyGuardian RMS detects and monitors non-lethal cardiac arrhythmias in ambulatory patients, when prescribed by a physician or other qualified healthcare professional. The BodyGuardian System continuously records, stores and periodically transmits the following physiological data to a remote computer server for up to 30 days at a time.” <iframe style="width: 440px; height: 266px" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/hl7QCE6euS4?feature=player_detailpage" frameborder="0" width="640" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe> <hr />PreventiceTM, Inc., a Minnesota company that develops mobile health applications, announced Monday that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved its BodyGuardian Remote Monitoring System (RMS) for use by hospitals and clinics. Developed in collaboration with Mayo Clinic, the BodyGuardian System allows remote monitoring for individuals with cardiac arrhythmias. The BodyGuardian System will allow physicians to monitor their patients while they go about their daily lives, Preventice said Monday. A small body sensor attached to the patient's chest collects important data, including the patient's ECG, heart rate, respiration rate, <img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="95" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-lB1WbUBIM1c/UE62Z_BL5II/AAAAAAAA9ow/mIepsTx3u4w/image%25255B9%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" width="95" />and activity level. That data then can be transmitted to physicians via mobile phone technology. The remote monitoring can create a constant connection between patients and their care teams. FDA approval allows Preventice to market and sell BodyGuardian to hospitals and clinics. Although not yet commercially available, the BodyGuardian RMS will be prescribed by a physician when diagnostic and post-procedure monitoring is needed. Preventice said it anticipates the system will be commercially available by the end of this year. <a href="http://www.startribune.com/business/169177526.html">http://www.startribune.com/business/169177526.html</a>

FDA Clears Algorithm Supported Remote Cardiac and Activity Monitoring System for Keeping Track of of Key Biometrics–Wearable Body Sensors from Preventice

The system monitors ECG, heart rate, respiration rate and activity and was developed in coordination with the Mayo Clinic. They look like b...

Monday, September 10, 2012

New Video Explaining the Blue Button Process and Benefits from the VA With Getting Your Personal Health Records…It’s Free Of Course..

Ok if you read around this blog often enough you know there’s tons of posts on PHRs and the Blue Button. I have personally helped a couple folks get their records with simply walking them through the <img align="right" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-bloCnxl_aQc/T_MoUCjIIiI/AAAAAAAA8Mc/MAZjdxsDNLE/image%25255B17%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="display: inline; float: right" />process and basically if you can follow the prompts and instructions on screen, it’s not that hard. Members of Medicare can also get their records. I do have to say the link below is one of my favorites for making a case for the Blue Button as it happened at Walter Reed Hospital, but wait does that kind of stuff happen there with interruptions of service…yes, and it can happen anywhere so be prepared.  This veteran had his phone so no time lost here with the doctor and the patient, as the patient saved the day.  <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2012/07/strong-case-for-veterans-affairs-blue.html"> A Strong Case for the Veterans Affairs “Blue Button”–Patient Access To Their Medical Records–Role Model Employee From the Navy Recounts His Experience At Walter Reed Hospital–We Need to Hear More Like This</a> </h5> I don’t know why but everyone seems to forget to tell Medicare patients they can do the same and some of the integration with outside vendors is not as complete as it is for veterans, but it’s there in a CCR, so go get it.  <h5> </h5> <h4></h4> <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2010/10/medicaregov-blue-button-download-for.html">Medicare.Gov Blue Button Download For Personal Health Record Information for Those Covered by Medicare</a></h4> <img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-S2Di2eTLHjg/T_MoUfcGBRI/AAAAAAAA8Mk/SmygCX44Q9g/image%25255B24%25255D.png?imgmax=800" /> MyMedicalRecords.com, a sponsor of the Medical Quack, and you can see their information at the top of the page also integrates with the Blue Button and just recently announced their working association with the NFL to help get the word out on why you need a personal health record. <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2012/08/mmrglobal-creates-team-of-former-nfl.html">MMRGlobal Creates A Team of Former NFL Celebrities to Educate Consumers on the Benefits of Personal Health Records–Free Trial Offer For Those Signing Up With a Team Member At MyMedicalRecord.com</a> </h4> <h4></h4> Finally…here’s the video…. <iframe style="width: 442px; height: 261px" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/lGGnda44Yik?feature=player_detailpage" frameborder="0" width="640" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe> <hr />This video explains how having electronic access to your health data can empower you with the information you need which can be lifesaving in an emergency situation and can ensure that everyone who is caring for you is on the same page. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGGnda44Yik">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGGnda44Yik</a>

New Video Explaining the Blue Button Process and Benefits from the VA With Getting Your Personal Health Records…It’s Free Of Course..

Ok if you read around this blog often enough you know there’s tons of posts on PHRs and the Blue Button. I have personally helped a couple f...

Monday, September 10, 2012

Scant Mention of Health IT in Party Platforms–“Repeal” Not Possible As Nobody Has IT Budgets Big Enough to Remake All the Current Health IT Infrastructures–Digital Illiteracy and “Algo Duping” At Work in Washington

I saw this article and it cracked me up as they have no clue <img align="right" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/TWIVynbAGVI/AAAAAAAAr9E/zewiugyQmSI/image_thumb%5B4%5D.png?imgmax=800" style="display: inline; float: right" />on the time and money it would take to go back and restructure all the Health IT infrastructure to do this and this includes government, vendors and more.  Why can’t we elect folks that have some IT or a little coding in their backgrounds.  Every time I see this in the news, which makes for good internet chat and ratings on articles, I think about this and what wasted breath all of it is:) I’m pretty sure there’s a ton of CIOs that will agree with all of this hands down and it is getting to be a bit comical to keep seeing this as a party platform.  Heck even the insurance companies don’t want this for a huge additional expenditure, too bad we don’t have enough lawmakers living in the current century and dealing with the “real” reality that is out there.  Instead of intelligent talk, we get this instead,<img align="right" height="145" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-ROQ09n8bxEs/Td8618FLx4I/AAAAAAAAyII/2pjZoyIV7XU/image_thumb%25255B10%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="display: inline; float: right" width="185" /> the “default” topic of abortions and women’s health and frankly this is a bore as well as it gets nowhere with moving the country forward.  Just watch the media and it’s a bit of a laughing stock all over the place.  Some articles on the web flower this up on their interpretations, but not here though <grin>, I deal with logic, ethics and the truth when it comes to reality.  <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2012/08/here-we-go-againdigital-illiteracy-with.html">Here We Go Again–Digital Illiteracy With Lawmakers & Those Running for Office–Back to the “Default” Topic of Women’s Health With A Need to Control Something When the Intellect Is Not There…Akin</a> </h4> So why do we keep doing this I ask?  It’s a joke.  If you need further proof look at what happened to Allscripts when they had to integrate two major systems, too much code and not enough time.  Only one word seems to come to mind with all of this…”boneheads”:)  Repealing healthcare reform is a fantasy that seems to live in some people’s heads.  <h4></h4> <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2012/05/class-action-lawsuit-filed-against.html">Class Action Lawsuit Filed Against Allscripts For Misleading Investors With Merging Data Systems–Too Much Code and Not Enough Time – Attack of the Killer Algorithms Chapter 30</a> </h4> They don’t talk about it intelligently as they are probably still living in the fantasy world of years back when software was simpler and not as complex and stuff like this was done from scratch but not any more, boneheads.  Do think they could entertain something like this with intelligent lawmaking with using IBM Watson or some comparable so we don’t have legislatures running around with “carpetbags full  of numbers”…get everyone on the same page and mode this stuff!  Add on speech recognition and even the lowest common denominator we elect with technology can add input.  <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2011/04/ibm-watson-capabilities-being-pitched.html">IBM Watson Capabilities Being Pitched to Financial Industry-Congress Must Not Have Felt They Needed This So Further Behind We Fall With Effective Intelligent Lawmaking</a> </h4> Technology doesn’t wait so off to Wall Street it went to where the programmers and quants out there can get their hands on some specific coding and algorithm adaptations to make money.  So in short, the lack of discussing Health IT comes right smack down to digital illiteracy and the lacking desire of maybe wanting to learn more and come in the current century. It’s all those algorithms making the government and industry work today and sometimes they may be designed for<img align="right" height="86" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-6HDDm04lOwA/Ts0zq-EuFHI/AAAAAAAA4d8/nMT-KL0JEDY/image_thumb%25255B12%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="display: inline; float: right" width="176" /> “desired” results that may not have a great representation of “accuracy”…we need to get on this in a hurry and check code and methodologies before the algorithms move more money away from the middle class, happens before your eyes every day.  Below is a bunch of links with more than 40 such examples if you want to see how this works and in the meantime, emotions and not logic seem to be at the helm with digital illiteracy and it’s going to kill us. That imaginary budget to repeal healthcare reform just doesn’t exist beyond what old time perceptions and paradigms of what’s running for office.   BD <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2012/02/attack-of-killer-algorithmsdigest-links.html">Attack of the Killer Algorithms–Digest & Links for All Chapters–on How Math and Crafty Formulas Today Running on Servers 24/7 Make Life Impacting Decisions About You</a> <hr /></h4> “I regret that the platforms are largely silent on HIT,” former four-term Vermont Gov. Jim Douglas wrote in an email exchange. Douglas is now a member of the Bipartisan Policy Center’s Governor’s Council and executive-in-residence at Middlebury College. “Perhaps it’s not a sexy topic, but it’s essential to our efforts to improve the quality of care and contain costs. ” So, why such vague references to health IT? Shouldn’t the national party platforms include a greater vision of and intent for the technologies forging the underpinnings of next-gen healthcare in America? Or is what the parties outlined enough for the majority of American voters? <a href="http://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/scant-mention-health-it-party-platforms?topic=75,08,12,17,29,18,19">http://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/scant-mention-health-it-party-platforms?topic=75,08,12,17,29,18,19</a>

Scant Mention of Health IT in Party Platforms–“Repeal” Not Possible As Nobody Has IT Budgets Big Enough to Remake All the Current Health IT Infrastructures–Digital Illiteracy and “Algo Duping” At Work in Washington

I saw this article and it cracked me up as they have no clue on the time and money it would take to go back and restructure all the Health I...

Monday, September 10, 2012

Long Beach Veterans Medical Center Builds First Prosthetic Lower Leg Controlled in Real Time by EEG

This is great and there’s a lot that goes on at the <img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="260" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-jOtmxNRgIeo/UE4MAFFxGUI/AAAAAAAA9ns/cA64OuWULQo/image%25255B5%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" width="157" />Long Beach VA.  In the last couple of years I have had several conversations with patients who have received care here and in Los Angeles and it has been good, along with impressions from family members as well.  Again we know the VA had a great head start with medical records and now this research is also fascinating.  There’s more work of course needed here but the intent is to test the product with patients who have spinal cord injuries. When you look at what is being done with stem cells too, spinal cord injury treatments are really going to change in the future, all for the better for the patients. BD <hr /> Researchers at the Long Beach Veterans Affairs Medical Center in California have built and tested the first prosthetic lower limb that can be controlled in real time by EEG (electroencephalogram) signals.  An EEG signal is fed to brain-computer interface (BCI) computer, which then controls a robotic gait orthosis (RoGO), which stimulates leg muscles. The experimental setup showed the subject suspended in the RoGO, while donning an EEG cap, surface EMG electrodes, and a gyroscope on the left leg. A monitor (not shown), placed in front of the subject at eye-level, presented instructional cues. <a href="http://www.kurzweilai.net/first-mind-controlled-leg-prothesis">http://www.kurzweilai.net/first-mind-controlled-leg-prothesis</a>

Long Beach Veterans Medical Center Builds First Prosthetic Lower Leg Controlled in Real Time by EEG

This is great and there’s a lot that goes on at the Long Beach VA. In the last couple of years I have had several conversations with patien...

Monday, September 10, 2012

Quants: The Alchemists of Wall Street Video Documentary - Why It Needs to Matter What Companies Do and Not Focus Only On the Price of Stock With So Called Value - Attack of the Killer Algorithms Chapter 44

This is interesting as you hear from software developers and mathematicians and their ground<img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="178" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-l8GrZg2At_A/UE2LLg_AyWI/AAAAAAAA9mo/We9YAQ5DTRo/image%25255B15%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; float: right; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" title="image" width="247" /> roots and how it began.  One former programmer talks about his job with a bank that is no longer around and remains anonymous.  He has a hard time wanting to go back and with his isolated world it was hard for him to see the overall destruction of what was happening.  You have to be wired, alert all the time and you “can’t be wrong” Mike Osinski states, and the nightmares.  The stress got to the point to where some did not know what day of the week it was.  Banking has completely lost it’s touch on what they are here for.  It’s the algorithms that move money around, here it from someone besides me:)  Change the math to make it look less risky.  Models can be worked to hide risk.  Once you have too much mathematics it’s hard to implement.  Remember the words of Jamie Dimon?  He didn’t know.  Economists think they are scientists one states and one of the Quants says it’s nothing but theories and nonsense.  I have often said that economists should spend a bit more time with mathematicians.  Scientific creativity is <img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="75" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-etqalgC9qeA/UE2LMCXAoRI/AAAAAAAA9mw/14rZ4SnSXqY/image%25255B16%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; float: right; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" title="image" width="140" />becoming financial creativity.  This makes you stop and think about the healthcare business on the open market for sure.  What models are quants creating for the “human” business as relates to financials?  Matthew Goldstein was one of the first to warn about the danger of high frequency trading.  Hedge Funds get their black box as close s they can to the exchange, co-loading as it is sometimes called.  The black box is nothing but a group of algorithms.  Value is diminishing and the “price” of the stock is taking over.  This is why events like this are important today. <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2012/09/nih-and-milken-institute-announce.html">NIH And Milken Institute Announce “Celebration of Science Day” Saturday September 8, 2012 Recognizing Research and Development & Making a Difference</a></h4> What  companies do and make any more is not even important any longer for investors. <img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="140" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-HR_ECQIPMao/UE2LMemulRI/AAAAAAAA9m4/gbBbp_Qu7xA/image%25255B10%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; float: right; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" title="image" width="239" /> News reading algorithms impact the markets.  I might add here that is is why there is a huge focus on bringing back “value” to biotech and research as that’s what cures and finds treatments and why the NIH needs to get seriously involved as after you listen to this vide and read my few comments here…is this the same ball park where lifesaving research and technology belongs…in a place (stock markets) where nobody cares “about what the company is doing”?  Think about that for a few moments… Banking is just about gambling on numbers today in the words of one the participants.  Again this will tell you about the power<img align="right" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-a-7jyNBopZE/UFS4-DuKWKI/AAAAAAAA9yk/wyBkwNgpXgE/image%25255B29%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="float: right; display: inline" /> of the algorithms and the machines.  Will the NYSE become a museum one day?  Again nice to see the former programmer out fishing and enjoying himself and talking about the pressure of writing software too, it’s getting worse and what in the world is in store for the quants when complexities don’t agree with their math to make it happen any longer? The programmer tells the truth that in software you can do something about everything, which is true and where we come back to algorithms written for “desired” results or “accurate” results and are the 2 the same..they should be but not always and that’s the problem.  <img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-MdcQ51oZRKs/UDz9pcW4fBI/AAAAAAAA9PM/5H-RdgxYtf8/image%25255B11%25255D.png?imgmax=800" /> <iframe style="height: 246px; width: 428px" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/ed2FWNWwE3I?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" width="640" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe> There’s a lot of “Algo Duping” going on out there and sadly it’s some of the officials we elect and those appointed to key offices that have been totally sucked in.  I have quite a bit of additional information on this topic at the link below from a few days ago.  <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2012/09/the-rise-and-need-for-human-computer.html">The Rise (And Need) for Human – Computer Cooperation- A Good Thing and a Challenge for a Society, Governments and Companies That Have Been “Algo Duped” for Way Too Long (Video)</a></h5> <h4></h4> After you watch this then you can understand a little better on why we are under the Attack of the<img align="right" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-6FaL59_0dLU/UFS49WylLCI/AAAAAAAA9yU/raN7-HSvqhI/image%25255B41%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="float: right; display: inline" /> Killer Algorithms in one way or another and how great wealth for a few is leading to a society of data chasers for the middle and other classes to keep the wealth rolling for those few.    <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2012/02/attack-of-killer-algorithmsdigest-links.html">Attack of the Killer Algorithms–Digest & Links for All Chapters–on How Math and Crafty Formulas Today Running on Servers 24/7 Make Life Impacting Decisions About You</a> </h4> A video from Charlie Siefe at NYU…Algo Duping!  If it has a formula then it must be right, wrong:)  Quantative math statements are held in high regard even if everything composing it is bogus.  We use math to fool ourselves and to dress up lies.  You don’t have to look far…just look at the newspapers he says…Once someone uses a formula it becomes national news to get media attention… <iframe style="height: 254px; width: 443px" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/qiQwZ6inbOM" frameborder="0" width="560" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe> If you need more, then watch Kevin Slavin talk about how algorithms shape our life and yes he talks about the black boxes and features some charts from Nanex and how everything is not as it seems…there are 2000 physicists on Wall Street today.  Those who control the code control the world and the money and the middle class has become data chasers that works on their own dime to fix all the data flaws created by big business.  <iframe style="height: 248px; width: 436px" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/TDaFwnOiKVE" frameborder="0" width="560" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe> There’s even more at another page I call “<a href="http://www.ducknet.net/attack-of-the-killer-algorithms/">The AlgoDuping/Killer Algorithm page</a> with some additional links as healthcare and finance is joined at the hip.  BD <a href="http://documentaryheaven.com/quants-the-alchemists-of-wall-street/">http://documentaryheaven.com/quants-the-alchemists-of-wall-street/</a>

Quants: The Alchemists of Wall Street Video Documentary - Why It Needs to Matter What Companies Do and Not Focus Only On the Price of Stock With So Called Value - Attack of the Killer Algorithms Chapter 44

This is interesting as you hear from software developers and mathematicians and their ground roots and how it began. One former programmer...

Sunday, September 09, 2012

Dr. Jeong-Chan Ra, Founder of RNL Bio Announces Donation of 90% of His Wealth Over Next 10 Years To Non Profit Organizations

The last time we heard about RNL, their subsidiary company was getting sued for fraud and giving misinformation <img align="right" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-p90lytGppzM/T_es-7-1QeI/AAAAAAAA8P4/IcLRgn5l6iY/image%25255B3%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="display: inline; float: right" />about stem cell procedures.  Human Biostar in Texas is the focus of the lawsuit and the doctor donating his money above is also included.  This goes back to participation in a non substantiated procedure used where the patients developed infections.  <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2012/07/patients-file-lawsuit-against-human.html">Patients File Lawsuit Against Human Biostar–Stem Cell Procedures With False Claims to Cure Diseases–Patients Received No Benefits And A Charge of Elder Abuse Included</a> </h5> So today this looks like better news and the US organizations will benefit.  His commitments included the establishment of the Bethesda Life Foundation to find cures and treatments for patients with chronic rare diseases.  BD <hr /> SEOUL, South Korea, Sept. 8, 2012 -- /PRNewswire/ -- Dr. Jeong-Chan Ra, founder and largest shareholder of RNL Bio (<a href="http://www.rnl.co.kr/">www.rnl.co.kr</a>), an international biotechnology research and development firm, has pledged to give away 90% of his personal wealth over the next 10 years to promote social causes consistent with the values of human life.  Dr. Ra will donate 90% privately owned equity, equity-related bonds, warrants and other assets of RNL Bio Co. and RNL Bio affiliates to the following four non-profit organizations: Bethesda Life Foundation, Yesung Medical Corporation, Academia Christiana of Korea, and Central Christian Academy. Dr. Ra's gift is made in the spirit of other major corporate leaders worldwide who have become instrumental philanthropists by converting their personal fortune into a foundation for good, including Bill Gates, Warren Buffett and Bill Clinton. Dr. Ra is mirroring Mr. Buffet and Mr. Gates' contributions that were made in late 2010 for the wealthy to donate at least 50% of their personal wealth. <a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2012/07/patients-file-lawsuit-against-human.html">http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2012/07/patients-file-lawsuit-against-human.html</a>

Dr. Jeong-Chan Ra, Founder of RNL Bio Announces Donation of 90% of His Wealth Over Next 10 Years To Non Profit Organizations

The last time we heard about RNL, their subsidiary company was getting sued for fraud and giving misinformation about stem cell procedures. ...

Sunday, September 09, 2012

Stem Cell Trial to Begin in 12 Months For New Process to Reduce or End Wrinkles–Using Blood Cells Instead of Fat Cells

<img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="126" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-4iW6dwJlUCQ/UE0XgVONl_I/AAAAAAAA9ls/DCCS90hEdEQ/image%25255B8%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" width="145" />We all know about collagen and how it goes away as we age and thus we get wrinkles, that lovely part of aging that nobody looks forward to.  Clinical trials are to begin in about a year to see if the new methodology with using stem cells from the patient’s blood will work.  There have been collagen face lift procedures that are a bit costly but according to this article they are older and further developed and the youthfulness of the blood cells should prove to be superior, but again until the trials are done we don’t know yet.  New skin cells with grow as a result of the treatment and if successful it could be commercially available in as little as 3 years.  If that happens, the patient lines will form and you might find me in that line too:)  The company already has a line of stem cell products and research material they have developed as well as a stem cell storage company, Oristem.   BD  Researchers believe they will spur the growth of new skin cells, called fibroblasts, which make the elastic ingredient collagen which<img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="75" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-To-cMVf5UGo/UE0Xgqz-GjI/AAAAAAAA9l0/rdd97WLiVp8/image%25255B3%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" width="148" /> is produced in large quantities when we are young, but declines as we age. The company Pharmacells, based in Glasgow, plan to begin clinical trials in 12 months, using stem cells harvested from a blood sample from the patients. By using the body’s own cells, it is billed as a more ‘natural’ approach to reducing the signs of ageing than Botox, a chemical which freezes the facial muscles to smooth wrinkles. They have licenced the technology to harvest a new type of stem cell – called a blastomere-like stem cell (CORR) – which is found circulating in the blood. But Mr Haas said: ‘The stem cells in fat are more mature so the quality is not so good, and the numbers of them in it are much smaller, around five or 10 million. ‘We are talking about 500 million, very high quality, pure stem cells and there is definitely a link between dose and efficacy. The more you have, the better it should be. <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2200642/Could-stem-cell-cure-wrinkles-end-endless-hunt-perfect-skin-cream.html?ito=feeds-newsxml">http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2200642/Could-stem-cell-cure-wrinkles-end-endless-hunt-perfect-skin-cream.html?ito=feeds-newsxml</a>

Stem Cell Trial to Begin in 12 Months For New Process to Reduce or End Wrinkles–Using Blood Cells Instead of Fat Cells

We all know about collagen and how it goes away as we age and thus we get wrinkles, that lovely part of aging that nobody looks forward to. ...

Sunday, September 09, 2012

Testosterone Marketing Going Like Gang Busters But How Safe is Hormone Replacement and What Methodologies for Dosage? Some of the Same Questions We Ask With Women’s HRT

Forms of testosterone replacement therapy include: oral tablets, buccal tablets, subcutaneous pellets, transdermal patches, injections and topical gels applied by the hands as well as the roll on from Axiron.  Here’s a couple back links on the FDA approval of a couple of the products used.  <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2010/11/fda-approves-roll-on-testosterone.html"> </a></h4> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2012/02/fda-approves-biosanteteva-testosterone.html">FDA Approves BioSante/Teva Testosterone Gel to Treat “Hypogonadism”</a></h5> <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2010/11/fda-approves-roll-on-testosterone.html"> FDA Approves Roll On Testosterone Axiron</a> </h4> There’s the same issues as women have as well with HRT and that is the question on how safe is it?  There have been studies that show prostate cancer is diagnosed in larger numbers when HRT<img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="165" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-y66lvByB_lk/UE0PpJYQgzI/AAAAAAAA9k4/iyO5QEG_p-k/image%25255B4%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" width="175" /> is used and we all remember the breast cancer scare from the Women’s Health Initiative on the other side.  Sometimes doctors even prescribe testosterone for women to revive libido problems too.  When applying topical solutions too one has to be sure to wash your hands well as those hormone when touching someone else could easily expose others to them as well, thus again an area of concern and use.  There is bio identical testosterone and I am guessing that like women’s hormones, those are largely what is being spoken of here since patches tend to be bio identical drugs.  Gosh knows on the female side of things we have been waiting for years to have some studies on the bio identical side of things versus the actual HRT drug as well, so perhaps we are in the same game here?  I have a feeling though that some of the answers will come to light or at least put us in the right direction as genomic sequencing grows with looking for mutations as far as the potential of developing cancer.  BD  <hr /> <h4></h4> Welcome to the latest big marketing push by the nation's drug companies. In this case, it's a web page for Abbott Laboratories' Androgel, a billion-dollar selling testosterone gel used by millions of American men struggling with the symptoms of growing older that are associated with low testosterone, such as poor sex drive, weight gain and fatigue. Androgel is one of a growing number of prescription gels, patches and injections aimed at boosting the male hormone that begins to decline after about age 40. Drugmakers and some doctors claim testosterone therapy can reverse some of the signs of aging — even though the safety and effectiveness of such treatments is unclear. "The problem is that we don't have any evidence that prescribing testosterone to older men with relatively low testosterone levels does any good," says Dr. Sergei Romashkan, who oversees clinical trials for the National Institute on Aging, a part of the National Institutes of Health conglomerate of research centers. Watson Pharmaceuticals now markets its Androderm patch, which slowly releases testosterone into the bloodstream. Abbott has its gel that can be applied to the shoulders and arms. And Eli Lilly's Axiron is an underarm gel that rolls on like deodorant. Androderm, launched last year, had $87 million in sales, and Axiron, which was launched in 2010, had sales of $48 million last year. In 2010, researchers at Boston University's school of medicine halted a large study of testosterone in senior men because patients taking the hormone were five times more likely to suffer a serious heart event, including congestive heart failure, than those taking placebo. A review of 19 testosterone trials in 2006 found that prostate cancer was significantly higher among men taking testosterone. <a href="http://vitals.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/09/09/13761777-testosterone-marketing-frenzy-draws-skepticism?lite?ocid=twitter">http://vitals.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/09/09/13761777-testosterone-marketing-frenzy-draws-skepticism?lite?ocid=twitter</a>

Testosterone Marketing Going Like Gang Busters But How Safe is Hormone Replacement and What Methodologies for Dosage? Some of the Same Questions We Ask With Women’s HRT

Forms of testosterone replacement therapy include: oral tablets, buccal tablets, subcutaneous pellets, transdermal patches, injections and t...

Sunday, September 09, 2012

Catholic Health Initiatives To Invest $200 Million in Various Areas of Healthcare Via Newly Created VC Group–Non-Profit Portfolio Algorithms

Religion getting in the money here as CHI also invested in the Ascension Health Ventures, more on that organization<img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="67" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-QkI5FUpUAX0/UEzLbaQn_pI/AAAAAAAA9kE/ZlAqzzgkORU/image%25255B3%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" width="178" /> at the link below.  The Catholic healthcare system is beginning to resemble some of the news that hear and see with for profit companies like HCA any more.  Maybe it’s just me but reading all these “visions” on websites anymore sure are canned and we know why they are all there for, money, so on most websites anymore, are these really needed to define <grin>.  <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2011/02/ascension-health-and-private-equity.html"> Ascension Health and Private Equity Firm Oak Hill Capital Form Joint Venture To Buy Catholic Hospitals and Health Systems</a> </h4> In just thinking out loud though, where do companies like Accretive figure in here?  You know all the analytics folks are like the right arm person so create additional dollars and find waste, no matter what methodologies seem to be used.  We already know they got caught on Wall Street showing actual patient records to investors…so again..what will be their algorithmic role here?  Revenue cycling is right up there on the list along with biotechnologies but seriously when it comes to biotech, hospital systems are rare to go there as most are too busy trying to run their own operations.  There are exceptions with the likes of Johns Hopkins and the Cleveland Clinics with specific business units that are set up for working with biotech investments and a lot of good stuff comes out but for your average healthcare system or insurance company, they all go for the analytics investments to have some skin in the game to see if it can help them with hospital budgets and expenditures.  All this talk about legacies and so forth any more kind of all look very cookie cutter when you read enough of it as similar templates seem to create a lot of what is read today as well.  Tell me something new:)  BD  <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2012/08/ascension-health-renews-its-5-year.html">Ascension Health Renews Its 5 Year Contract with Accretive With Caution as Agreement Includes Provisions to Cancel Should Any Type of Abuse Occur</a> <hr /></h4> Catholic Health Initiatives, the nation's second-largest Catholic health system, will invest as much as $200 million through a newly created venture capital group. The Englewood, Colo.-based system will seek to invest in coming years in biotechnology, information technology, revenue cycle and clinical engineering, and in companies that support management of risk and population health. System executives see the venture as an opportunity to invest in companies that support CHI strategies as the U.S. health system undergoes change, said Nicholas Barto, who joined CHI in June as managing director of its venture capital group, which will operate as a subsidiary of the system.  The endeavor is not the system's or the industry's first foray into provider-led venture capital. CHI this year invested for a second time in a fund overseen by Ascension Health Ventures, the venture capital arm of Ascension Health, St. Louis. CHI in 2007 had joined Ascension, Catholic Health East, Newton Square, Pa., and Catholic Healthcare West, now known as Dignity Health, San Francisco, in a $200 million fund also overseen by Ascension Health Ventures. CHI will continue to make investments with Ascension, and will seek other opportunities, Barto said.  <a href="http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20120901/MAGAZINE/309019982/1137?AllowView=VW8xUmo5Q21TcWJOb1gzb0tNN3RLZ0h0MWg5SVgra3NZRzROR3l0WWRMVGJYZjBBRWxYOU9qTENvK25lK0g4UkpieWdlMDVubFF4SXN6ekE=">http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20120901/MAGAZINE/309019982/1137?AllowView=VW8xUmo5Q21TcWJOb1gzb0tNN3RLZ0h0MWg5SVgra3NZRzROR3l0WWRMVGJYZjBBRWxYOU9qTENvK25lK0g4UkpieWdlMDVubFF4SXN6ekE=</a>

Catholic Health Initiatives To Invest $200 Million in Various Areas of Healthcare Via Newly Created VC Group–Non-Profit Portfolio Algorithms

Religion getting in the money here as CHI also invested in the Ascension Health Ventures, more on that organization at the link below. The...

Sunday, September 09, 2012

Cedars-Sinai and Scripps Memorial Hospitals Will Begin Performing Some Catheterization Cardiac Procedures In Outpatient Surgical Buildings

Back in 2010 I wrote about Stanford doing some cardiac procedures on <img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="125" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-POoULkZIzSs/UEw_bwxXy3I/AAAAAAAA9jQ/t8k-7F08zFc/image%25255B4%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" width="138" />an outpatient basis and this looks to be a continuation of such procedures.  I don’t know exactly which procedures this covers but it could entail more than just the radial artery procedures, not sure but most of the time when the femoral artery in the leg is used you can almost count on an overnight visit for observation if nothing else.  Transradial Interventions have an entire department of their own at Stanford and the procedure goes through the wrist and not the leg.  BD <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2010/10/at-stanford-hospital-coronary-stent.html"> At Stanford Hospital Coronary Stent Processes Are Done On As an Outpatient Procedure–Using the Radial Artery in the Wrist</a> <hr /></h4> Two prominent California hospitals will be allowed to perform some cardiac procedures in outpatient buildings thanks to legislation approved on Friday. The bill involves cardiac catheterization, in which a small tube is inserted into an artery or vein and threaded to a patient’s chest to help diagnose or treat ailments. Such procedures have been allowed only in main hospital buildings, but supporters say they can now be done safely in new outpatient buildings planned for Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles and Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla. The bill received overwhelming support in the Assembly and Senate on Friday, and it was sent to Gov. Jerry Brown for his signature or veto. <a href="http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/california-politics/2012/09/lawmakers-allow-two-hospitals-to-expand-cardiac-procedures.html">http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/california-politics/2012/09/lawmakers-allow-two-hospitals-to-expand-cardiac-procedures.html</a>

Cedars-Sinai and Scripps Memorial Hospitals Will Begin Performing Some Catheterization Cardiac Procedures In Outpatient Surgical Buildings

Back in 2010 I wrote about Stanford doing some cardiac procedures on an outpatient basis and this looks to be a continuation of such procedu...

Sunday, September 09, 2012

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UCI Medical Center Develops Their Own Mobile Security System Middleware for Wi-Fi Access to Students and Staff Who Bring Their Own Devices–Tablets & Smartphones

First World Sepsis Day September 13th, 2012–Deadly Disease That Kills Many Every Year

Sanofi Multiple Sclerosis Drug Aubagio Gets FDA Approval

“Berlin Patient” and His Doctor Are Convinced Their Cure for HIV is Authentic With Stem Cell Transplant

Welch-Allyn Device Company to Cut 10 Percent of Workforce to Restructure–New Device Excise Tax Part of the Reason- We Should be Taxing the Data Sellers Instead As It’s One Huge Resource & Maybe Even Bigger Than A Device Tax Would Be

Rite-Aid Employee Shot at DC Store–Video Captures Man Wearing a Surgical Mask–Police Trying to Identify

Clinical Query At Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital–Self Service Analytics Using Boolean Expressions–A Goldmine of Valuable Information To Include Identifying & Communicating With Potential Clinical Trial Patients

Archon Genomics X-Prize Bioinformatics Challenge Presented by Express Scripts Begins September 12 , 2010–$2500 Prize

Aids Healthcare Foundation Puts Out Press Release Over Their Disappointments With Gilead’s CEO Greedy Behavior With Selling Stock –Echoes of Provenge Trading Type Activity Again?

Einstein College of Medicine Awarded 2 Year Grant to educate Faculty and Medical Students On Using social Media Appropriately and Effectively

Geron Stops Breast Cancer Trial for Life Extending Drug Imetelstat As It Was Not Better Than Current Treatments

FDA Clears Algorithm Supported Remote Cardiac and Activity Monitoring System for Keeping Track of of Key Biometrics–Wearable Body Sensors from Preventice

New Video Explaining the Blue Button Process and Benefits from the VA With Getting Your Personal Health Records…It’s Free Of Course..

Scant Mention of Health IT in Party Platforms–“Repeal” Not Possible As Nobody Has IT Budgets Big Enough to Remake All the Current Health IT Infrastructures–Digital Illiteracy and “Algo Duping” At Work in Washington

Long Beach Veterans Medical Center Builds First Prosthetic Lower Leg Controlled in Real Time by EEG

Quants: The Alchemists of Wall Street Video Documentary - Why It Needs to Matter What Companies Do and Not Focus Only On the Price of Stock With So Called Value - Attack of the Killer Algorithms Chapter 44

Dr. Jeong-Chan Ra, Founder of RNL Bio Announces Donation of 90% of His Wealth Over Next 10 Years To Non Profit Organizations

Stem Cell Trial to Begin in 12 Months For New Process to Reduce or End Wrinkles–Using Blood Cells Instead of Fat Cells

Testosterone Marketing Going Like Gang Busters But How Safe is Hormone Replacement and What Methodologies for Dosage? Some of the Same Questions We Ask With Women’s HRT

Catholic Health Initiatives To Invest $200 Million in Various Areas of Healthcare Via Newly Created VC Group–Non-Profit Portfolio Algorithms

Cedars-Sinai and Scripps Memorial Hospitals Will Begin Performing Some Catheterization Cardiac Procedures In Outpatient Surgical Buildings

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