Credit Agencies Mining Social Networks To Verify Identities and Assess Consumer Credit Worthiness

<p>Well, what’s the next step after they have ran their analytics and <img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="133" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-EXIQearpg14/Ual2fP1vsrI/AAAAAAABGzM/Ia6we7wg-tc/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="192" />made their decisions…they sell the data, error ridden and all.  Again it’s the wild wild west and information can be real or it can be fake.  I somehow think that some of this will end up moving more folks away from social networks.  Granted what they are using is what is public but so do other sites who scrape data.  If you have not seen the great 60 Minute report on credit agencies and their flawed data, you can find it over at the <a href="http://www.ducknet.net/attack-of-the-killer-algorithms/">Algo Duping page</a>.  </p> <p>This again takes me back to my same old campaign with licensing and excise taxing the data sellers who make billions upon billions just selling data and help keep the inequality going in the US with using data out of context and selling erroneous data as being accurate in some areas.  Now they can even use a “faceprint” to identify you.</p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2013/05/licensing-and-excise-taxing-data.html">Licensing and Excise Taxing Data Sellers, Facial Recognition Yet One More Tool Used To Secure & Match Data - The Epidemic, Billions in Profits for Banks and US Corporations Using Killer Algorithms to Further Erode Consumer Privacy</a></h5> <p>Not too long ago it was reported that health insurance companies are buying your credit card and debit purchases too.  So now what?  Will they be able to tell that you can’t afford health insurance when they aggregate? (grin)  Credit data is riddle enough as it is as corporations and banks don’t timely update, so do you wonder why it takes you so very long to fix mistakes?  We do this as consumers on our own dime while banks and corporations make billions selling it.  They have a captive audience as we can’t do much of anything as they control the data and how it gets interpreted.  </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2013/03/insurance-companies-are-buying-up.html">insurance Companies Are Buying Up Consumer Spending Data-Time is Here to License and Tax the Data Sellers-As Insurers Sell Tons of Data, Gets Flawed Data When Data Buyers Uses Out of Context Too</a></h5> <p><img border="0" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-MdcQ51oZRKs/UDz9pcW4fBI/AAAAAAAA9PM/5H-RdgxYtf8/image%25255B11%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" /></p> <p>This article states they are using the data to find fraud and sure there might be a little of that going on, but the real deal here is money and more data for sale.  It’s an epidemic.  <a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2013/04/richard-cordray-fail-with-understanding.html">Richard Cordray</a> is so far behind the times with technology that his agency is of little use to really help consumers, but what do you expect from an attorney anyway.  </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2013/04/data-floating-around-web-and-you-dont.html">Data Floating Around the Web and You Don’t Know How It Got There? Time to License and Excise Tax Data Sellers–Identify “Flawed Data” Epidemic At The Root of the Problem</a></h5> <p><strong><em>“But she didn’t know which company had collected and shared the data in the first place, so she didn’t know how to have her entry removed from the original marketing list.</em> “</strong></p> <p>As I keep saying, time has come to excise tax and license the data sellers to raise some nice tax revenue for the NIH and FDA and identify who they all are and what kind of data they sell and to who. <strong> Without licensing, Congress and other federal agencies are just spinning their wheels with privacy and banks can continue to lie about their risk but let’s bring this tiny consumer down to their knees.  BD</strong> </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2013/02/time-has-come-to-license-and-tax-data.html">Time Has Come to License and Tax the Data Sellers of the Web, Companies, Banks, Social Networks..Any One Making a Profit-Latest Microsoft/Google Privacy War Helping the Cause –Consumers Deserve to Know What Is Being Sold and To Who in a Searchable Format </a> <hr /></h5> <p>Credit bureaus and payment companies are testing ways to use social media -- say, a <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/quote/FB:US">Facebook Inc. (FB)</a> post about a recently purchased Corvette -- to verify a person’s identity and even assess consumer creditworthiness. </p> <p><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/quote/EFX:US">Equifax Inc. (EFX)</a>, <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/quote/EBAY:US">EBay Inc. (EBAY)</a>’s PayPal and <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/quote/INTU:US">Intuit Inc. (INTU)</a> have begun trials to see whether social posts can help prove identities, and, <strong>in some cases, detect whether customers are lying about their finances. </strong></p> <p>“We are investing a lot in how can we use unstructured data that is sitting out there in social media that can help us understand a little more about identity,” <a href="http://www.equifax.com/about_equifax/company_leadership/rajib_roy/en_us">Rajib Roy</a>, president of Equifax Identity and Fraud Solutions, said in an interview. </p> <p>While the companies can only access public information or what people choose to share, a great deal is readily accessible. Many young people allow the public to see certain parts of their Facebook profiles, as well as accounts on Twitter and <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/quote/LNKD:US">LinkedIn Corp. (LNKD)</a> Consumers also leave traces of themselves on blog posts, <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/quote/YELP:US">Yelp Inc. (YELP)</a> reviews and online forums. </p> <p>While scouring the Web can help companies combat scams, it can heighten concerns among consumers and privacy advocates who say social-media sites don’t do enough to protect users’ data. <strong>The U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and Federal Trade Commission have started examining how debt collectors use Facebook and Twitter to contact potential debtors.</strong> </p> <p>Credit bureaus refer to social-media posts and photos as self-efforted data, or information voluntarily provided by the consumer, which can be inferior to data gathered from banks and phone companies. <strong>The problem with the user-provided information is the same as it was in 1999, when chat rooms were filled with purported 21-year-olds who were actually 12.</strong> </p> <p><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-05-30/facebook-posts-help-credit-bureaus-sniff-out-fraudsters.html">http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-05-30/facebook-posts-help-credit-bureaus-sniff-out-fraudsters.html</a></p>

Credit Agencies Mining Social Networks To Verify Identities and Assess Consumer Credit Worthiness

Well, what’s the next step after they have ran their analytics and made their decisions…they sell the data, error ridden and all.  Again it’...

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St. Johns Hospital in Santa Monica Gets Sold To Another Catholic Healthcare System, Providence Health and Services, Bids From Patrick Soon-Shiong, UCLA & Others Didn’t Work Out

<p>Now the question is will billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong still invest all the money he committed, or will he look for another hospital?  Who knows.  <img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="68" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-v2mwwU5QrD4/UajzjsVOebI/AAAAAAABGy8/5sLIhmkiZ7U/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="147" />Providence is not for profit and operates 5 states with 27 hospitals.  Their headquarters is located in Washington state.  </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2012/12/st-johns-hospital-saga-continues-as.html">St. Johns Hospital Saga Continues As Options Are Weighed As Ownership and Future Discussions Take Place</a></h5> <p>If you go back in history a bit with what was in the news, Soon-Shiong was also on the short end of the stick with being notified of changes that were occurring at the hospital as well.</p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2012/12/st-johns-hospital-fires-ceo-and-several.html">St. Johns Hospital Fires CEO And Several Board Members Fired By Email - Chan Soon-Shiong Puts Some of His Projects for the Hospital on Hold</a></h5> <p>The deal still needs approval by the state of California and the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles.  BD <hr /></p> <p>The bidding war to purchase Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, Calif. ended last week when its current owner, Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth (SCL) Health System in Denver, announced it plans to sell the hospital to another Catholic chain, Providence Health & Services, located in southern California. Financial terms were not disclosed.</p> <p>According to a Saint John’s Health Center Foundation press release, other bidders included UCLA Health System and two other large Catholic hospital chains, Ascension Health Alliance in St. Louis and Dignity Health in San Francisco, as well as Los Angeles billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong, who had support from the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.</p> <p>While the Saint John’s Health Foundation announced earlier in the month that they were endorsing Soon-Shiong’s bid on the hospital, Donna Tuttle, chair of the board of trustees for Saint John’s Health Center Foundation, said the foundation is now in support of the bid from Providence Health & Services, which owns St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank, Calif., and four other southern California hospitals.</p> <p>Tuttle added that the board favored a sale to Providence over the other health systems because Providence has a local presence in southern California.</p> <p><a href="http://www.healthcarefinancenews.com/news/st-johns-health-center-be-purchased-providence-health-services?topic=03,05,25,24">http://www.healthcarefinancenews.com/news/st-johns-health-center-be-purchased-providence-health-services?topic=03,05,25,24</a></p>

St. Johns Hospital in Santa Monica Gets Sold To Another Catholic Healthcare System, Providence Health and Services, Bids From Patrick Soon-Shiong, UCLA & Others Didn’t Work Out

Now the question is will billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong still invest all the money he committed, or will he look for another hospital?  Who...

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FDA Approves Medical Device From AMES Technologies for Muscle and Joint Rehab After A Stroke or Relatibve Spinal Cord Injuries

<p>Thus far the website does not have a lot of information posted being the approval just took place with the FDA.  It even has audit tables to give<img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="76" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-dcDIkf0ER9o/UajLjlqnUFI/AAAAAAABGyk/G-XuCaO9o4c/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="258" /> insurers and others progress reports on patient progress.  I guess this way with the reports there should be no question on the progress made by each patient using the device after having suffered a stroke.  The company also partners with NASA and you can <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/offices/ipp/centers/arc/home/index.html">read more here about their work together.</a>  AMES appears to have several joint projects with NASA.   More information about the device at the original story link below.  BD  <hr /></p> <p>AMES is an Oregon Health & Science University spinoff company established to transform Dr. Cordo's OHSU research findings into a rehabilitation medical device for use in hospitals and clinics.<img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="160" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-Jxy93JGfnkQ/UajLlT_Z4_I/AAAAAAABGys/cenaS_Y-YRU/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="127" /> Today's FDA clearance allows AMES to market and sell the device.<strong> AMES anticipates delivering the device to hospitals and clinics in early 2014.</strong> The typical patient population that possibly receive treatment with an AMES Device would include stroke victims and patients with partial injuries to the spinal cord injury patients. The AMES rehabilitation medical device uses robotic technology to assist a patient in moving the affected limb while vibrating the muscle receptors at the same time. During use, the patient's input effort and other parameters important in therapy are measured and recorded by the AMES Device and displayed to the patient as real-time visual biofeedback. <strong>The AMES Device can also perform several diagnostic tests each time a patient is treated by the device to track progress for clinicians and insurance providers.</strong></p> <p><strong>A series of clinical studies with the AMES Device were conducted at multiple sites across the United States, some with chronic and sub-acute stroke patients and some with chronic spinal cord injury victims.</strong> These studies have provided clinical evidence that the AMES approach improves movement and strength in people with injuries to the brain and spinal cord, in some cases restoring the ability to carry out independent activities that were previously unattainable. The studies included treating the arm, hand and the leg. Most of the participants who were enrolled in these studies were considered to be very disabled when they started AMES treatment.</p> <p>OHSU and Dr. Cordo have a significant financial interest in AMES Technology, Inc., a company that may have a commercial interest in the results of this research and technology. This potential individual and institutional conflict of interest has been reviewed and managed by OHSU. <br /> <br /><a href="http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-fda-medical-device-muscle-joint.html#jCp">http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-fda-medical-device-muscle-joint.html#jCp</a></p>

FDA Approves Medical Device From AMES Technologies for Muscle and Joint Rehab After A Stroke or Relatibve Spinal Cord Injuries

Thus far the website does not have a lot of information posted being the approval just took place with the FDA.  It even has audit tables to...

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Montefiore Medical Center Buys Two More Hospitals Buried in Financial Woe In New York

<p>One of the hospitals, Sound Shore just filed bankruptcy and blames Medicare Cuts.  Approval still needs to be given by the court and if so <img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="129" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-svRBWTH6EfE/Uai-6jN9BII/AAAAAAABGyU/yAg227gtgm4/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="192" />Montefiore would assume the Sound Shore buildings and other assets and operate the two hospitals.  </p> <p>Emergency rooms are to be remodeled as part of the deal.  Other talks between Sound Shore and Westchester Medical Center broke down that had been going on for a few months.  Founded in 1884, Montefiore is a teaching hospital for New York Medical College and the Albert Einstein College of Medicine.  BD <hr /></p> <p>Montefiore Medical Center, New York, is buying two more hospitals at fire-sale prices, just months after <a href="http://www.modernhealthcare.com/section/articles?tagID=960">acquiring</a> bankrupt New York Westchester Square Medical Center. Westchester, N.Y.-based Sound Shore Health System will file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. <br /><a href="http://www.modernhealthcare.com/section/articles?tagID=2877">Montefiore</a> announced it will purchase Sound Shore's buildings and other assets, assume certain liabilities and provide funding while Sound Shore is in bankruptcy proceedings. Montefiore plans to keep open and operate Sound Shore's two hospitals in Mount Vernon and New Rochelle, as well as its nursing home. </p> <p><a href="http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20130530/INFO/305309994/montefiore-buying-two-n-y-hospitals">http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20130530/INFO/305309994/montefiore-buying-two-n-y-hospitals</a></p>

Montefiore Medical Center Buys Two More Hospitals Buried in Financial Woe In New York

One of the hospitals, Sound Shore just filed bankruptcy and blames Medicare Cuts.  Approval still needs to be given by the court and if so M...

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FDA Rules Physicians Now Must File An Investigational New Drug Application Before Proceeding With a Fecal Transplant For CDiff

<p>This has been around for a while and basically is the last resort for anyone suffering from CDiff, but it works.  <a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2007/11/cure-for-killer-bug-but-there-catch.html">I wrote about it back in 2007</a> so the transplant I guess is a “new drug”?  The feces for transplant of course would <img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="110" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-4-X1rdcZ4Mg/Uag4U5640ZI/AAAAAAABGxw/J3_KvWK3Zzk/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="127" />be new (grin) and there’s no guarantee the FDA will approve the process.  Then you have insurance companies not covering the donor testing, what a hassle.  </p> <p>So if you are unfortunate enough to pick this up in a hospital and need the last resort treatment, here’s more red tape.  BD</p> <p> <hr /></p> <p>he US Food and Drug Administration has decided to bring the semi-outlawed — but very safe and <em>very</em> effective — procedure called “fecal transplant” under its auspices, ruling that to perform it, physicians must have applied for an “investigational new drug application,” or IND. This requires a lot of advance paperwork, 30 days of consideration, and does not return not a guaranteed yes. For the transplants, which have been performed informally but carefully by a growing number of physicians as a treatment (and often cure) for devastating <em>C. difficile</em> infection, it may improve safety, but it can’t help but impose obstacles and delay.</p> <p><a href="http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2013/05/fecal-transplants-fda/">http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2013/05/fecal-transplants-fda/</a></p>

FDA Rules Physicians Now Must File An Investigational New Drug Application Before Proceeding With a Fecal Transplant For CDiff

This has been around for a while and basically is the last resort for anyone suffering from CDiff, but it works.  I wrote about it back in 2...

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Kaiser Permanente Working On Deal to Sell Their Ohio Operations to Catholic Health Partners–Not Making Any Money Here

<p>This is interesting and will affect about 80,000 members.  Catholic Health Partners is the largest health system in the area with 24 hospitals. <img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="164" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-017sh5Howd0/Uagh3eNS-XI/AAAAAAABGxg/EWwQKT5XeGM/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="217" /> It may take a while to iron out all the provisions, etc.  The Health Plan is expected to be given a new name.  The reason for selling this division appears to be money  as they lost $14 million in the first quarter operating in Ohio and it was nearly $60 million in the red at the end of last year.  Well maybe there will be no more abortions since the Catholic system is buying it too (grin) and nor will they be participating in the Ohio exchange as the insurance business is going with the sale.  BD <hr /></p> <p><a href="http://www.bizjournals.com/profiles/company/us/ca/oakland/kaiser_permanente/24924">Kaiser Permanente</a> has plans to sell its operations in northeastern Ohio, including its insurance unit there and 15 medical offices, subject to signing a definitive deal and gaining regulatory approvals.</p> <p>The preliminary deal includes Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of Ohio and the roughly 200-doctor Ohio Permanente Medical Group Inc., according to a statement released May 29 by Kaiser Permanente Ohio and Catholic Health Partners, which plans to operate the health plan and medical group practice under a new name.</p> <p>Catholic Health Partners, based in Cincinnati, is the largest health system in the Buckeye State, with 24 hospitals overall.</p> <p><a href="http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/blog/2013/05/kaiser-permanente-has-plans-to-sell.html?ana=twt">http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/blog/2013/05/kaiser-permanente-has-plans-to-sell.html?ana=twt</a></p>

Kaiser Permanente Working On Deal to Sell Their Ohio Operations to Catholic Health Partners–Not Making Any Money Here

This is interesting and will affect about 80,000 members.  Catholic Health Partners is the largest health system in the area with 24 hospita...

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Wall Street and Other Financial Institutions Spending Big Bucks Teaching New College Graduates How to Use Spreadsheets–Is This An Emergence of “Mini Modelers”Without Borders?

<p>I had to somewhat laugh when I read this as 15 years ago even before I learned a stick of code I was working in an outside sales job for a Fortune 500 company and my sales manager literally thought I was terrorizing him with my<img align="right" border="0" height="65" src="https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRp9TBlvWqtr16ku9oa-uGY_yLITLV9hYmtozmPi5XdbJ5RW7Sm" 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" width="138" /> Excel Spreadsheet expense accounts:)  This was long before there was speech recognition and I used to embed little sound byte files in the corner of the cells to explain any big expenditures, was easier that way to just record a complete explanation instead of typing all of it.  Due to fear I had to stop and type a of it as they were somewhat afraid of voice sound byte files (grin).  </p> <p><strong>I also used to use simple macros to pop in some small Visual Basic modules, which you can still do today so when I read this about the college graduates I did have to chuckle a little bit and especially when I saw the dollar amounts being spent:)</strong>  A couple days ago I did a post about SaaS software that allows anyone who knows how to use a spreadsheet to become a “modeler”.  I can’t help but think this is where some of this is going so banks and insurance companies can have armies of “mini modelers” all over the place.  Here’s the post at the link below so you can catch up.  <strong>All you need to be able to do is “dump in a spreadsheet” and you too can be a  modeler</strong> and even sell your model on the site.  It does require data if I am reading it correctly so it can be verified if you are going to market and make money from machine learning technologies that is made available to you. </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2013/05/bigdata-modeling-and-analytics-goes.html">BigData Modeling and Analytics Goes Into Mass Production Based on SaaS Machine Learning Platform to Create Predictive Models in Minutes–Accountability, Accuracy Still Needed By All Means – “Models Without Borders”</a></h5> <p>If you look at all the job openings for insurers, this is what you find today, analytics and data miners wanted so they are right in here too with the banks.  Ok now talk to any professional modeler, a Quant, and see how many times it takes them to get it right…bingo…now the machine learning technologies are going to make you winners every time…don’t think so.  Again when you <img align="right" height="244" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-fpaB8yOE0io/USv18tNlXUI/AAAAAAABFxM/25MkrAmeTq8/AlgoFairy1%25255B11%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="display: inline; float: right" width="292" />look at the marketing of some of this you do have to laugh.  This is why half of the analytics that come out are going to be useless.  Learning is great and when models are created this can be a good education experience but wait until the banks and insurers demand perfection and ways to lower risk.  Will the machine learning help the employees then?  It all depends on what is programmed in…it’s like this picture I have here called “The Algo Fairy”.  </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2013/02/half-of-analytics-investments-by.html">Half of Analytics Investments By Companies and Banks Will Be a Waste–What Do We Analyze with Big Data and Does It Have Value–Some Algo Fairies Would Do Better at Disneyland…</a></h5> <p>Now let’s talk about those who want to be professional modelers and I urge you to watch this video here and<strong> listen to the guy who’s paying over 60k in New York to become one…yes the money is good but the nerds don’t get to make the big decisions or get the real big money, they</strong> end up being grunts at times while the CEOs and front offices rake in the money.  Remember Jamie Dimon when he was asked about their models<a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2012/06/person-hardest-on-jamie-dimon-was-jamie.html">…”I don’t know” was the most quoted answer:)</a></p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.hk/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></h5> <p>Anyway, I see this as a focus here with spending the big bucks to train new employees so they can dump those spreadsheets into these new SaaS web programs and become “mini modelers” with no boundaries. <strong> Granted there will be some use here, especially with small data mining and analytics but in no way will this solve huge complex <img align="right" border="0" height="183" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/TH3dF8eqPMI/AAAAAAAAhCA/bwcX2Xp7eVg/image_thumb%5B7%5D.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" width="280" />algorithmic issues of banks and insurance companies.  One thing that I do question though is the integrity of being a fully qualified Quant with a lot of responsibility and then seeing the mini modeler as a comparison?</strong>  Who will be accountable here<strong> when models are made just for making money and no concern for how it plays out to the end consumer, anyone?</strong>  Will the fact that the automated models can be sold have an impact?  We will just have to wait and see.  </p> <p>Analytics help make us smart and make better educated decisions but again will the wholesale marketing of this process, relying on machine generated technologies really pay off….or will our entire business intelligence process end up like the stock market to where algos run wild and flash crashes appear?  It will be interesting.  Off the cuff here, an old post of mine from 2010 that I think has reached it’s fruition and with a few more flash crashes, well…BD</p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2010/08/data-addiction-and-abuse-up-and-coming.html">Data Addiction and Abuse –The Up and Coming Next 12 Step Program Is On the Horizon–Side Effects Include Lack Of Data Quality, Integrity And Spasmodic Algorithms</a></h5> <hr /> <p>Newly minted university graduates who have landed coveted jobs on Wall Street may have impressive résumés and sought-after references. But often, nuts-and-bolts skills like spreadsheet building and database extraction are not part of university curriculums.</p> <p>When millions of dollars can be won or lost on one calculation, firms are finding it essential that their new hires can tell the difference between a pivot table and a header row.</p> <p>Enter specialized boot camps where — for fees that sometimes exceed $1,000 a day — would-be masters of the universe can perfect Excel modeling techniques and financial analysis. Each year, tens of thousands of students at the nation’s top business schools, and scores of new hires at financial firms, including <a href="http://dealbook.on.nytimes.com/public/overview?symbol=GS&inline=nyt-org">Goldman Sachs</a> and <a href="http://dealbook.on.nytimes.com/public/overview?symbol=BX&inline=nyt-org">the Blackstone Group</a>, now take courses run by companies like Training the Street and Wall Street Prep.</p> <p>Nineteen of the country’s top 20 business schools now use Training the Street to teach an estimated 20,000 business majors every year in how to interpret financial statements, value corporations and run spreadsheet analyses.</p> <p>As boot camp training becomes more common, a saturation effect could occur. If everyone is taking classes like Excel Best Practices and Restructuring Modeling, doing so may not make one candidate stand out in job interviews.</p> <p><a href="http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2013/05/30/wall-street-turns-to-boot-camps-to-bring-new-workers-up-to-speed/">http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2013/05/30/wall-street-turns-to-boot-camps-to-bring-new-workers-up-to-speed/</a></p>

Wall Street and Other Financial Institutions Spending Big Bucks Teaching New College Graduates How to Use Spreadsheets–Is This An Emergence of “Mini Modelers”Without Borders?

I had to somewhat laugh when I read this as 15 years ago even before I learned a stick of code I was working in an outside sales job for a F...

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FDA Approves Two New Drugs for Treatment of Advanced Skin Cancer-Melanoma

<p>Tafinlar and Mekinist,are the names of the two new drugs.  Mekinist,is a protein inhibitor associated with cancerous tumors.<img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="102" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-r_OmT01gzKw/UaZ8L8VCbGI/AAAAAAABGxQ/2HTt9K6aWL0/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="167" />  Tafinlar belongs to a class of drugs called BRAF inhibitors.  There’s also a test approved by the FDA that identifies to determine of the melanoma cells have the mutations in the BRAF gene.  Glaxo has a focus on skin cancer drugs and it was in 2012 they received approval of another drug that extends life for those with late stage skin cancer. </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2012/06/melanoma-drugs-extending-lives-and.html">Melanoma Drugs Extending Lives and Working Better Than Chemotherapy–Focus at ASCO</a> <hr /></h5> <p>(Reuters) - U.S. health regulators on Wednesday approved a pair of GlaxoSmithKline Plc drugs to treat advanced melanoma - the deadliest form of skin cancer - in patients with specific genetic mutations. It also approved a diagnostic test to detect the mutations.</p> <p>The Food and Drug Administration said it approved the drugs, Tafinlar and Mekinist, to be used as single agents and not in combination after the medicines delayed tumor growth in separate clinical trials.</p> <p>Tafinlar, known chemically as dabrafenib, belongs to a class of cancer drugs called as BRAF inhibitors. Mekinist, known chemically as trametinib, inhibits a protein associated with cancerous tumors known as MEK.</p> <p>The FDA also approved the THxID BRAF test, made by France's bioMérieux , which will be used to determine if a patient's melanoma cells have the V600E or V600K mutation in the BRAF gene.</p> <p><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/fda-approves-two-glaxo-melanoma-drugs-195349802.html">http://news.yahoo.com/fda-approves-two-glaxo-melanoma-drugs-195349802.html</a></p>

FDA Approves Two New Drugs for Treatment of Advanced Skin Cancer-Melanoma

Tafinlar and Mekinist,are the names of the two new drugs.  Mekinist,is a protein inhibitor associated with cancerous tumors.   Tafinlar belo...

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HMA Hospital CEO To Retire Amid Pressure From Hedge Fund Glenview Capital While Investigation Over Admission Procedures Continues With 3rd Party Software Vendor

<p>This is a lot of pressure and the CEO might be stressed to the max with everything piling in here.  Not only do they have the battle and investigation over the admission rates, but now add in the Hedge Fund who wants more of the money action.  HMA operates 71 hospitals in 15 states.  Within Florida, HMA operates Lehigh Regional Medical Center in Lehigh Acres; Charlotte Regional Medical Center and the Peace River Regional Medical Center in Charlotte County; and two Physicians Regional Hospital campuses in Collier County.  Here’s the 60 Minute video from December of 2012 as well as the link back to my original post discussing the software used relative to admissions. </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2012/12/hospital-admission-rates-at-hma.html">Hospital Admission Rates at HMA Hospitals - Doctors Pressured to Meet Admission Percentages–Algorithms Pushing the Processes Requiring Explanations for Overriding & Not Admitting-Killer Algorithms Chapter 48</a></h5> <p><embed src="http://cnettv.cnet.com/av/video/cbsnews/atlantis2/cbsnews_player_embed.swf" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" background="#333333" width="425" height="279" allowFullScreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" FlashVars="si=254&contentValue=50136261&shareUrl=http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=50136261n" /></embed></p> <p>Meanwhile the company has adopted the <a href="http://www.streetinsider.com/Corporate+News/Health+Management+Associates+%28HMA%29+Adopts+Poison+Pill+Provision/8370682.html">“poison pill” provision</a> to protect itself from a takeover.<strong>  In essence you wonder what would a Hedge Fund do with a hospital chain?  I ask this question as it leads into new areas of software and algorithms when it comes to the current investigation which involves software called Pro-Med and how it was used.  Do they want this headache</strong> as the jury is still a ways out here with the investigation.  Again we are seeing the 3rd party consultants drawn in more and more with the investigations as that’s who hospitals contract with.  Is is any wonder the retired CEO will pursue church mission work:)   Stockholders have a difficult enough time with choosing investments so add on hedging to the entire business practices of the hospital chain.  You can see at the link below that this is not the only hospital chain facing issues with revenues as they directly relate to admissions.  </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2013/05/tenet-healthcare-loses-88-million-first.html">Tenet Healthcare Loses $88 Million First Quarter 2013–Admissions Drop, Algorithmic Models Of Insurers Transferring Risk to Patients and Providers Not Working, Why? No Money</a></h5> <p>On top of that we have our floundering Consumer Protection<img align="right" border="0" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-iAYIxCUQzBg/UV2UCP7NHQI/AAAAAAABGWM/TQKKLzd0GCk/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" /> Chief way over his head from the other side that knows little or nothing about math and business models.  In addition we have those Medicare re-admission penalties that hospitals have to be aware of too, so what’s the deal here?  </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2013/04/richard-cordray-fail-with-understanding.html">Richard Cordray, Fail With Understanding Flawed Models and Algorithms -Big Case of“Algo Duping”With Big Data-Save Time, Hire Quants Who Know How Consumer Financial Models Are Built and Function…Geez</a></h5> <p>A lot of companies are beginning to buy their own stock back in the markets and that goes right along with the SEC filing made.  As a matter of fact, the CEO is <a href="http://health.wusf.usf.edu/post/hma-chief-takes-mormon-post-uruguay">moving to South America</a> to do his work.  It is interesting any more to watch how religion and healthcare intertwine at times relative to decision making and business plans. </p> <p><strong></strong> As I said a while back <a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2013/04/banks-are-actually-just-software.html">banks and insurance companies are really not much more than software companies that control a lot of money and move it for profit</a>.  As long as they are in control and write the code for profit with fantasy numbers we are pretty much stuck as it is <a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2013/04/modeling-for-inequality-with.html">modeled for inequality</a> and <a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2013/03/dead-patients-cant-be-readmitted-as.html">dead patients can’t be re-admitted.</a>  BD</p> <p> <hr />Just days after going on the defensive to prevent a company takeover, Health Management Associates said its president and CEO, Gary Newsome, plans to retire, effective July 31. <br />A news release said the Naples, Fla.-based company has initiated a search for a successor. </p> <p>Late Friday, <a href="http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20130524/NEWS/305249946/hma-erects-takeover-defense?utm_source=home&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=most-popular-box">HMA said the company had adopted a shareholder rights plan</a>, a defensive move to help prevent a takeover, after 14. 6% shareholder Glenview Capital Management indicated an intention to take an activist role in the company. The chain has been under fire in recent months on a number of legal, public relations and financial fronts. <br />The hedge fund also filed for antitrust clearance to acquire $2.2 billion of stock, or about 75% of the company. </p> <p><a href="http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20130528/NEWS/305289946/hmas-newsome-announces-retirement">http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20130528/NEWS/305289946/hmas-newsome-announces-retirement</a></p>

HMA Hospital CEO To Retire Amid Pressure From Hedge Fund Glenview Capital While Investigation Over Admission Procedures Continues With 3rd Party Software Vendor

This is a lot of pressure and the CEO might be stressed to the max with everything piling in here.  Not only do they have the battle and inv...

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Digital Currency–Liberty Reserve Money Laundering Website–“You Can Do Anything With Software”, Until You Get Caught….

<p>This is a little off topic but worth mentioning as this all took place on the web with criminal activities and as the article states there were some legitimate clients in here too who maybe saw the opportunity to transfer anonymous funds and didn’t realize how the whole thing operated, they just wanted no tracking.  This brings up an interesting question about Bitcoin too and how will it survive, grow or go away, who knows.  The entire issue here with working in a regulated environment with not being registered if I read this correctly.  </p> <p>It does make one wonder how much money did <img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="156" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-RqZ0AaxCLhk/UaYYiZESOxI/AAAAAAABGxA/5aT6mElXe8U/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="185" />go through the system that will never be detected or found as well.  It also makes you wonder about the activities of HSBC and their money laundering issues t where they were laundering money for Mexican drug cartels and why they were not prosecuted?  It does make one question and ask about payment systems and to make sure it is not a money transmitter too.  You do wonder how many more of these types of operations are out there or how many will attempt to spring up in the future too.  </p> <p>In the search for privacy and being anonymous you can almost bet we probably have not heard the last as someone will be out there with some new model to work around the system.  For now Liberty is a closed case and website as the Feds cracked down and have indicted several of those involved and this appears to be the largest international money scheme in history.  How long before the next effort arrives, who knows but you can almost bet that it won’t stop anytime soon.  Scroll on down to the footer of this blog and <a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.hk/2012/09/quants-alchemists-of-wall-street-video.html">watch the Alchemists of Wall Street Video as that is where the quote in the title came from here and see how math formulas and algorithms work in the legal system to move your money,</a> as there are big issues here too, it’s all done with computer code and math.  BD <hr /></p> <p>The founder of digital currency system Liberty Reserve has been indicted in the United States along with six other people in a $6 billion money-laundering scheme, in what authorities are calling the largest international money-laundering case ever prosecuted, according to documents unsealed today.</p> <p>Dubbed the “financial hub of the cyber-crime world,” authorities say Liberty Reserve had more than 1 million users worldwide and processed more than 12 million transactions annually as the favored money-laundering service for carders, hackers and other cybercriminals in the digital underground who used it to transfer money around the world effortlessly and anonymously.</p> <p>Liberty Reserve was incorporated in Costa Rica in 2006 and had at least 200,000 customers in the U.S., but failed to register in the U.S. as a money-transmitting service.</p> <p><strong>Although the service had legitimate customers, the anonymity it provided attracted a large clientele from the criminal underground who relied on offshore Liberty Reserve currency exchangers to move their ill-gotten cash in and out of the financial system.</strong></p> <p>Liberty Reserve is not the first digital currency to get raided by the feds. In 2005, <a href="http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2007/04/egold_owner_cal/">federal agents raided the offices of Gold and Silver Reserve</a>, the Florida-based company that operated E-Gold, the premier digital currency of its time.</p> <p><a href="http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2013/05/liberty-reserve-indicted/">http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2013/05/liberty-reserve-indicted/</a></p>

Digital Currency–Liberty Reserve Money Laundering Website–“You Can Do Anything With Software”, Until You Get Caught….

This is a little off topic but worth mentioning as this all took place on the web with criminal activities and as the article states there w...

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BigData Modeling and Analytics Goes Into Mass Production Based on SaaS Machine Learning Platform to Create Predictive Models in Minutes–Accountability, Accuracy Still Needed By All Means – “Models Without Borders”

<p>Ok, pay attention here as machine learning and analytics continues to grow as the main clients here thus far are healthcare,<img align="right" border="0" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/TUMTaoTKkrI/AAAAAAAApwc/pySVbI3Uljc/image_thumb%5B1%5D.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" /> financial service, and insurance providers.  This should come as no surprise as we all know insurers use analytics all the time and have a long extensive history of doing so, in as much as news in the past has denied consumers services based on some of their algorithms and created numerous law suits.  Models are not bad if they are accurate and paint a good picture than being used to make money only with little or no regard for the ultimate end consumer who is subject to the criteria entered.  When this occurs we end up with the <a href="http://www.ducknet.net/attack-of-the-killer-algorithms/">Attack of the Killer Algorithms and a lot of Algo Duping going on</a> with steroid marketing that appears in the news to “sell” said analytics.  </p> <p>What makes this platform even  more interesting is the ability to “sell” your SaaS model creation as well.  Ok, so are we going to sell something that makes money or solves problems?  It’s the same old issue that we are facing everywhere with models, created by humans or machines.  One thing we all have to remember is that things don’t always play out in the real world as they do in formulas as we are humans and there’s a line of “fantasy” at times when reports are created to substantiate the numbers and the math used.  It’s all about “context” and if you have not seen the video from NYU professor Siefe, give it a view as it does a good job explaining a lot of this.  <a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2012/01/context-is-everythingmore-about-dark.html">Here’s the link</a> and it is also permanently embedded in the footer of this blog if you scroll down. <strong> We do have to be aware of the “Dark Arts of Mathematical Deception” out there</strong> and he was really ahead of his time with the book.  Mathematicians and programmers see a lot of things before they get into the news feeds we see for sure.  I covered some of this last year too with context being everything.  </p> <p><img align="left" alt="image" border="0" height="224" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-iD02au-9wTU/UaThYAbNOjI/AAAAAAABGww/PnPHFxgbsl0/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: left; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" width="452" /></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p>Here’s yet another informative link about model perceptions and how it interacts with data, well worth reading as this is where the future lies with insisting on accountability with models.<strong> I think comments from those (i.e. Quants) who build models for a living will be  interesting to hear what they have to say as well.  If anyone can get in and give some accurate opinions, they are the ones to do so as they will also know the model that was used t build this model for creating “models” via SaaS.</strong>  </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2013/05/its-not-data-its-models-stupid-big-data.html">“It’s Not the Data, It’s the Models Stupid”-Big Data Helps But It Is Not the Answer</a></h5> <p>We see the over dependence or duping all the time with consumers and the government to where those who are not in the tech field assume that models and algorithms will solve all…good example at the link below and why we really need to start thinking about having executive heads in place with some technology in their backgrounds rather than more attorneys and just flat out figureheads that have to guess and rely on staff for everything.  Here’s another yet value question on the <a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2011/08/hhs-seems-to-be-confused-on-social.html">Facebook focus here.</a>  </p> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2012/06/hhs-secretary-sebelius-still-looking.html">HHS Secretary Sebelius Still Looking for Tech Breakthroughs To Save the Day</a></h6> <p>Here’s another back link below discussing finding “value” in big data as anyone can create a model, but is the value and accuracy present?  No blog post should be posted about modeling without including a link to former Wall Street Quant Cathy O’Neill who is helping educate all (me too) on how models can lie and how accountability should be required.  <a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2013/05/its-not-data-its-models-stupid-big-data.html">You can watch one of her videos here and see what I mean.</a>  </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2012/11/big-dataanalytics-if-used-out-of.html">Big Data/Analytics If Used Out of Context and Without True Values Stand To Be A Huge Discriminatory Practice Against Consumers–More Honest Data Scientists Needed to Formulate Accuracy/Value To Keep Algo Duping For Profit Out of the Game</a></h5> <p><strong>Now that we are or will be mass producing “models without borders” I’m going out on a limb a bit here to pretty much predict that the results may end up in the same odds boat that start ups have, in other words sure with some very simplistic models there will be some use but when it comes to models with substantial use with big data, the value found will be far and few between,</strong> in other words sure there will be some created with value but there will be a lot more (again I’m focusing on a large data focus here like a successful start up) that will not have any at all other than to reduce risk and make money.  In essence we just have another set of tools and how they are used, verified, and the accuracy levels will play out when the verification process really gets going.  </p> <p>Thus, the Australian bankers I think were right when<img align="right" border="0" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-DDt9KyAUh5A/T40e7CRy25I/AAAAAAAA6gY/XQhvz81-Qak/image%25255B27%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" /> they said that <a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2013/02/half-of-analytics-investments-by.html">half of all analytics expenditures will be a waste of money.</a>  No matter what you come up with, it still has to play out in the “human” world.  You can do anything with software said Mike Orsinski who wrote the sub prime model and software that all the banks used…keep that thought and scroll down to the footer and watch the <a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.hk/2012/09/quants-alchemists-of-wall-street-video.html">Alchemists of Wall Street Documentary</a> below and it will make more sense as this is the only video I have found that really nails it simply for the layman to get an idea of what goes on behind “closed server doors” if you will.  As the full article mentions, this is only one site and there are other companies doing the same thing so it appears we are entering the world of “mass model production” or as Cathy O’Neill has coined, <a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2013/05/its-not-data-its-models-stupid-big-data.html">“Methods of Math Destruction” in her lectures.</a>  You can also catch her PBS interview in the footer here as well.  Machine learning does make mistakes too, <strong>read about my own encounter with Google and how their machine learning thought I was a fowl,</strong> and this post has had many a tech person chuckling by all means, as it does happen.  Now the Google learning algorithm knows that duck can also be a human and I guess I need to conform to a machine compatible name? (grin)  BD</p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2013/01/im-sorry-your-google-plus-name-does-not.html">“I’m Sorry Your Google Plus Name Does Not Comply With Google “Names Policies”…Barbara “Duck Algorithm” & Was Using My Real Name All Along…Killer Algorithms Chapter 52</a></h5> <p><img align="left" border="0" height="156" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-KSB5S33qBpo/UOzGbup5u9I/AAAAAAABCmc/qT3muViz1o8/image%25255B15%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: left; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" width="452" /></p> <p> <hr /></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> <hr /></p> <p> <hr /></p> <p>Machine learning has historically resided within the realm of the data scientist, a Ph.D.-wielding expert trained to glean insights from big data. But with the rapid expansion of digital information, a move is on to democratize data science tools and put the average business analyst on par (almost) with the data expert.</p> <p>That's the mission of <a href="https://bigml.com/">BigML</a>, a Corvallis, Ore.-based startup with a SaaS-based machine learning platform that allows everyday business users to create actionable predictive models within minutes.</p> <p>BigML opened for business in October 2012 and currently has 3,500 registered users, approximately half of whom have created models. More than 20% of those users have uploaded their own data sources, the company says.</p> <p>The service is free to try. To get started, you upload data (e.g., an Excel spreadsheet) to BigML's website and create a data set. <img align="right" border="0" src="https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTmQCQK-KLTS53DO5NRDgnVJnvbZij8gQTou-YVM2Dy6Lg6HSWrtQ" 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" />(Setup can get tricky for novices, and video tutorials are provided.) BigML's interface has several easy-to-use tools such as "one-click" buttons for creating data sets and predictive models. You can change things about your data as well, such as the data set's descriptive name and parsing options. </p> <p>After creating a model, you can download it for local usage, or share and/or sell it in BigML's public <a href="https://bigml.com/gallery/models">gallery</a>. "There's a big social component to what we're doing, which is the ability to share your model. I can make [a model] available to anybody to use or buy through the gallery on our website," said Shikiar. </p> <p>BigML's fees are based on the number of "credits" that a customer uses. For instance, 1 TB of space to create datasets equals 1,048,576 credits; 1 TB of data to create new models is 4,194,304 credits; and you'll need 10,000 credits to generate 1 million predictions. The credit total: 5,252,880. Multiple that number by 0.1 cents, and your bill comes to $5,252.88. </p> <p><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/big-data/news/big-data-analytics/big-data-analytics-for-the-masses/240155617">http://www.informationweek.com/big-data/news/big-data-analytics/big-data-analytics-for-the-masses/240155617</a></p>

BigData Modeling and Analytics Goes Into Mass Production Based on SaaS Machine Learning Platform to Create Predictive Models in Minutes–Accountability, Accuracy Still Needed By All Means – “Models Without Borders”

Ok, pay attention here as machine learning and analytics continues to grow as the main clients here thus far are healthcare, financial serv...

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DOD Says 20 Commercial Software Vendors Capable of Fixing ALTHA Medical Records–Relying on Market Research Opinions Could be Dangerous With Current Day Complexities

<p>I read this article and immediately went to the part to where the recommendation came from and again with as big as the DOD system is and the complexities it immediately created a cloud of doubt as the department would be much better off to get additional information from an area outside of “market research”.  </p> <p>That used to work in the “old” days but does not suffice very well today. <strong><em> As I keep saying, “the short order code kitchen burned down several years ago and there was no fire sale” and that certainly applies right here. </em></strong></p> <p>Sure there are vendors who have taken the VA system and modified it for use in the commercial world and I would think such vendors would be ones the DOD would look at with using a Microsoft Dot Net interface on the front end as has been designed.  It’s been a number of years since I have seen the ALTHA medical records system and one has to remember that record keeping here is unique to real time war and use on the battle field too, so their needs are going to be somewhat unique in some areas relative to some of the real time technologies they need.  If this were a simple project that didn’t involve huge expense and time, it would have been done a long time ago.  <a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2009/11/social-security-to-start-sharing.html">Since 2009 Social Security has been sharing records</a> with both the VA and DOD.  We do have some work in progress a<img align="right" border="0" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/TPiNx1YFfcI/AAAAAAAAkXM/5yljZDALt9k/image_thumb%5B3%5D.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" />s noted in the link below from February of this year.  </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2013/02/va-and-dod-to-work-to-accelerate-ehr.html">VA and DOD To Work to Accelerate EHR Integration - CACI International Was Awarded $91 Million Dollar 5 Year Contract in 2010 to Provide the Services-Big IT Infrastructure As Such Requires a Lot of Time/Money</a></h5> <p>We also recently had the two top IT folks at the VA leave their jobs recently and I might guess they were a little fed up with so many hands in the pot and little modeling and “real” IT type decisions being made.  We have a lot of working parts out there in the medical records with both sides and putting the puzzle together is not going to be easy by all means.  The article also said the VLER funding was separate?  How do you do that?  Data and software needs to come from somewhere….</p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2010/10/91-million-prime-contract-awarded-to.html">$91 Million Prime Contract Awarded to Support Medical Record Sharing Veterans Affairs Beneficiaries–VLER-Lifetime Virtual Electronic Record Program– VA and DOD</a></h5> <p><strong>On the other hand it might take all of the 20 vendors named to create a software system too:)</strong>  I think it is dangerous today to rely totally on market research though as it does not address the complexities of how <img align="right" border="0" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-cdBduErTXJw/TeU5ijb7Q7I/AAAAAAAAyas/_qpn2LGp8uA/image_thumb%25255B1%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" />complicated this really is and nor does it address the amount of hours and work that has already been spent here.  <strong>Again, complexities and providing the DOD with their real time needs as well as integrating with current VA systems is a huge chore and I can’t think of any other Health IT project that encompasses so many needs and areas of medical records, it is unique</strong>.  Sad our folks in DC just see it as “just another decision” and expect budgets and time to “grow on trees” to get it done.  I started out years ago stating that Congress could use some bigger technologies in modeling and creating laws but again they seem to think their brains are above it and we get the constant soap opera rhetoric on a steady diet in the news.  </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2012/03/ibm-watson-going-to-work-at-citigroup.html">IBM Watson Going to Work At Citigroup on Wall Street–Congress Didn’t See Big Data As A Tool (Hadoop Framework) When They Had Their Chance…For Consumers The Attack of the Killer Algorithms–Chapter 22</a></h5> <p><strong>The least Congress could do is take advantage of the tremendous computing power that DOE has in their agency if they won’t look at some new methodologies to model laws.</strong>  This is kind if ironic in the fact that all are trying to resolve this issue and the very tools they could use to find the answers lies right in house at the DOE to help qualify and quantify some of the data and needs…(grin)…you really do have t crack a smile here when some of the resources are sitting under their noses that could be used to begin some kind of modeling here as it’s not the data, it’s the models that can help.  BD</p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2010/12/17-billion-super-computer-hours-awarded.html">1.7 Billion Super Computer Hours Awarded by the DOE–Biomedical Research Projects Included for Parkinson’s and Cancer</a> <hr /></h5> <p>The Defense Department has found 20 commercial software vendors capable of modernizing its electronic health record system, Frank Kendall, undersecretary of Defense for acquisition, technology and logistics, told reporters at the Pentagon today.</p> <p>Yesterday, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel <a href="http://www.nextgov.com/health/2013/05/hagel-opts-commercial-electronic-health-record-software/63437/">backed the use of commercial software</a> in a <a href="http://www.govexec.com/media/gbc/docs/pdfs_edit/052213bb1.pdf">memo</a> to Kendall. Hagel said he supported competitive procurements for undefined “core” EHR commercial software systems. Kendall said these procurements will provide a modernized Defense health record to replace the department’s existing Armed Forces Health Longitudinal Technology Application system, known as AHLTA.</p> <p><a href="http://www.nextgov.com/health/2013/05/pentagon-says-20-vendors-can-meet-its-electronic-health-record-needs/63524/">http://www.nextgov.com/health/2013/05/pentagon-says-20-vendors-can-meet-its-electronic-health-record-needs/63524/</a></p>

DOD Says 20 Commercial Software Vendors Capable of Fixing ALTHA Medical Records–Relying on Market Research Opinions Could be Dangerous With Current Day Complexities

I read this article and immediately went to the part to where the recommendation came from and again with as big as the DOD system is and th...

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Quality Systems (NextGen EHR Parent Company) Reports 4th Quarter Loss–Goodwill Impairment Charge

<p>Impairment charges are something fairly new in accounting with balance sheets and <a href="http://www.investopedia.com/articles/analyst/110502.asp">Investopedia</a> says this:</p> <p><em>"</em><a href="http://www.investopedia.com/terms/i/impairment.asp"><em>Impairment</em></a><em> charge" is the new term for writing off <strong>worthless </strong></em><a href="http://www.investopedia.com/terms/g/goodwill.asp"><em>goodwill</em></a><em>. These charges started making headlines in 2002 <img align="right" border="0" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/S3Qp2_tMRlI/AAAAAAAAcdA/qEA_LcPXMXU/image%5B14%5D.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" />as companies adopted new accounting rules and disclosed huge goodwill write-offs (for example, AOL - $54 billion, SBC - $1.8 billion, and McDonald's - $99 million). While impairment charges have since then gone relatively unnoticed, they will get more attention as the weak economy and faltering stock market force more goodwill charge-offs and increase concerns about corporate </em><a href="http://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/balancesheet.asp"><em>balance sheets</em></a><em>. This article will define the impairment charge and look at its good, bad and ugly effects.</em> </p> <p>The goodwill charge is normally related to a company paying a higher value to buy another firm, based on their branding, public image, business, etc.  The company had a couple of acquisitions since 2010 and it could or could not relate to the purchase price paid for either one of them.  Here’s a couple back links on the two acquisitions I posted.  BD</p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2011/08/quality-systems-nextgen-systems-to-buy.html">Quality Systems (NextGen Systems) to Buy CQI Solutions Hospital Software Company</a></h5> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2010/02/nextgen-systems-quality-systems-inc.html">NextGen Systems (Quality Systems, Inc.) Acquires Opus Healthcare Solutions – Inpatient and Ambulatory Services</a> <hr /></h5> <p>(RTTNews.com) - Quality Systems Inc. ( <a href="http://www.nasdaq.com/symbol/qsii">QSII</a> ) reported a fourth-quarter net loss of $4.09 million or $0.07 per share, compared to profit of $15.07 million or $0.25 per share last year. The company noted that it recorded a goodwill impairment charge to income of $17.4 million for the fiscal 2013 fourth quarter. Proforma net income for the quarter was $12.29 million or $0.21 per share.</p> <p>On average, 19 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report profit per share of $0.28 for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.</p> <p>Quality Systems announced that its Board declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.175 per share on its outstanding shares of common stock, payable to shareholders of record as of June 14, 2013 with an anticipated distribution date of July 5, 2013. </p> <p><a href="http://www.nasdaq.com/article/quality-systems-posts-q4-loss-on-impairment-charge---quick-facts-20130523-00080">http://www.nasdaq.com/article/quality-systems-posts-q4-loss-on-impairment-charge---quick-facts-20130523-00080</a></p>

Quality Systems (NextGen EHR Parent Company) Reports 4th Quarter Loss–Goodwill Impairment Charge

Impairment charges are something fairly new in accounting with balance sheets and Investopedia says this: " Impairment charge"...

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Allscripts Files Another Lawsuit, This One Is All About “Noise” Control in Chicago

<p>Allscripts contends their offices or rather their employees working in their offices at the Merchandise Mart can’t function due to all the noise<img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="57" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-jea8Hz2z8qE/UaQHisRBs5I/AAAAAAABGwg/og9KRXQVNxg/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="155" /> being created as Google is moving in to the top floors and the landlord is preparing and remodeling for their new tenant.  As it reads, noise is not addressed in their lease and so this will end up being some type of a judgment decision.  Google will be the largest tenant in the building when completed.  Allscripts has been a tenant for nine years.  </p> <p>Allscripts states their employees are irritable and unable to concentrate due to all the noise of the construction work.  Allscripts filed a cease and desist letter to the mart asking them to stop using nail and screw guns as well as other tools that make noise but nobody’s listening.  This case should prove interesting as I don’t think Google’s Motorola Mobility United would be willing to move elsewhere, or on the other hand maybe they would?  Allscripts certainly doesn’t sound ready to move and more than likely they have a lease with conditions as well.  BD <hr /></p> <p>Allscripts Healthcare Solutions, a nine-year tenant of the River North edifice, is suing its landlord, saying it violated a lease with the health IT company when it started making repairs and improvements to five floors just below Allscripts' offices on the 19th and 20th floors. <br />“As a result of the noise and vibrations generated by the construction equipment, Allscripts' employees have been unable to concentrate or to conduct regular business activities,” according to the suit, filed Wednesday in Cook County Circuit Court. “Additionally, the constant noise and vibrations generated by the construction equipment has negatively impacted employees' physical and mental well-being, making them anxious, impatient and irritable.” </p> <p>The owner of the Merchandise Mart, New York-based Tornado Realty Trust, is preparing the space for Google's Motorola Mobility unit, which agreed last year to lease 572,000 square feet in the building and move about 2,300 employees there from Libertyville. It was the largest downtown office lease since 2005. </p> <p><a href="http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20130524/INFO/305249994?AllowView=VW8xUmo5Q21TcWJOb1gzb0tNN3RLZ0h0MWg5SVgra3NZRzROR3l0WWRMWGJVZjhGRWxIeU96eTMyWmV1NVhnWUpiV2w=&utm_source=link-20130524-INFO-305249994&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=hits">http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20130524/INFO/305249994?AllowView=VW8xUmo5Q21TcWJOb1gzb0tNN3RLZ0h0MWg5SVgra3NZRzROR3l0WWRMWGJVZjhGRWxIeU96eTMyWmV1NVhnWUpiV2w=&utm_source=link-20130524-INFO-305249994&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=hits</a></p>

Allscripts Files Another Lawsuit, This One Is All About “Noise” Control in Chicago

Allscripts contends their offices or rather their employees working in their offices at the Merchandise Mart can’t function due to all the n...

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Valeant Pharmaceuticals from Canada to Buy Bausch and Lomb for $8.7 Billion

<p>Bausch and Lomb had originally plotted an IPO and has changed directions with this acquisition.  Interesting that half the purchase price here is to get rid of the company debt.  Valeant used to be known as ICN, a US corporation years ago and with a merge of another company back in 2010, they moved to Canada for better tax breaks so perhaps with this acquisition those will get bigger?  BD</p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2010/07/valeant-pharmaceuticals-and-biovail.html">Valeant Pharmaceuticals and Biovail Merge – Moves to Canada from Orange County For Better Tax Breaks</a></h5> <p> <hr /></p> <p><strong>10:01 a.m. | Updated </strong><a href="http://dealbook.on.nytimes.com/public/overview?symbol=BOL&inline=nyt-org">Bausch & Lomb</a>, the eye care company, agreed on Monday to sell itself to <a href="http://dealbook.on.nytimes.com/public/overview?symbol=VRX&inline=nyt-org">Valeant Pharmaceuticals International</a> of Canada<img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="137" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-KZDQzc2Q53E/UaNvOZnjTvI/AAAAAAABGwQ/G-uprqyZn9c/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="145" /> for about $8.7 billion, sidestepping the lengthier process of an initial public offering.</p> <p>Under the terms of the deal, Valeant will pay $4.5 billion to the investor group that owns Bausch & Lomb, led by the <a href="http://dealbook.nytimes.com/category/main-topics/private-equity/?inline=nyt-classifier">private equity</a> firm Warburg Pincus. It will also spend about $4.2 billion to repay Bausch & Lomb’s debt.</p> <p>Valeant, which is based in Laval, Quebec, has made acquisitions a core part of its growth strategy. The Bausch & Lomb deal is the company’s biggest yet, over three times larger than the $2.6 billion purchase of the skin care company <a href="http://dealbook.on.nytimes.com/public/overview?symbol=MRX&inline=nyt-org">Medicis Pharmaceutical</a> last year.</p> <p><a href="http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2013/05/27/bausch-lomb-to-sell-itself-to-valeant-for-8-7-billion/?smid=tw-dealbook&seid=auto">http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2013/05/27/bausch-lomb-to-sell-itself-to-valeant-for-8-7-billion/?smid=tw-dealbook&seid=auto</a></p>

Valeant Pharmaceuticals from Canada to Buy Bausch and Lomb for $8.7 Billion

Bausch and Lomb had originally plotted an IPO and has changed directions with this acquisition.  Interesting that half the purchase price he...

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Doctors in Germany Claim Major Breakthrough in Treating/Curing Child with Cerebral Palsy Using Stem Cells

<p>The boy had been given injections of umbilical cord blood and his symptoms improved tremendously from being in a vegetable state.  Now he has been able to learn how to talk and to move.   The umbilical blood used was his own, stored from the time of his birth.  <img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="85" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-EYKJsm1seX8/UaLD7xvRmGI/AAAAAAABGwA/wNNJ47O2paA/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="135" /></p> <p>The chances of survival were minimal but it appears this treatment of the child stands to be something worth more study in the fight against cerebral palsy and the boy is certainly much better off than he was at the start being totally brain dead after a heart attack.  His progress has been studied for 40 months.  BD <hr /></p> <p>Medics in Germany said they have successfully treated a child with cerebral palsy for the first time.</p> <p>Just weeks after being given an intravenous stem cell treatment from umbilical cord blood, the symptoms of a boy who had been left in a vegetative state after a heart attack improved considerably and within months he could talk and move.</p> <p>The doctors who carried out the treatment said the results of the treatment dispel "long-held doubts" surrounding the effectiveness of stem cell therapy.</p> <p>They studied the progress of recovery at two, five, 12, 24, 30 and 40 months after his brain injury. </p> <p>Jensen and his colleague Professor Eckard Hamelmann of the Department of Paediatrics at the Catholic Hospital Bochum, reported their success in the journal Case Reports in Transplantation.</p> <p><a href="http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/health/doctors-claim-cerebral-palsy-cure.21181174">http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/health/doctors-claim-cerebral-palsy-cure.21181174</a></p>

Doctors in Germany Claim Major Breakthrough in Treating/Curing Child with Cerebral Palsy Using Stem Cells

The boy had been given injections of umbilical cord blood and his symptoms improved tremendously from being in a vegetable state.  Now he ha...

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Human Stem Cell Cloning Study Had Errors That Resulted From the “Rush” to Publish

<p>The paper may have errors but the results are real said the professor as he personally made them himself.  He takes full responsibility for the mistakes made and there will be a new release coming forthwith fixing the mistakes.  BD <hr /></p> <p>A blockbuster study in which U.S. researchers reported that they had turned human skin cells into embryonic stem cells contained errors,<img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="109" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-GZeVTVX6Ffw/UaK9Wr5u4AI/AAAAAAABGvw/REswpliLT78/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="111" /> its lead author has acknowledged.</p> <p>Shoukhrat Mitalipov nevertheless adamantly stood by the conclusions of the study published last week in journal Cell, which reported that human stem cell lines for the first time had been created via cloning</p> <p><strong>Scientists said the research could one day offer new pathways in the fight against Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis, spinal cord injuries and blindness.</strong></p> <p>Since the reprogrammed cells use genetic material from the patient, there is no concern about transplant rejection.</p> <p>Read more: <a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/health/author-stem-cell-cloning-study-admits-errors-article-1.1353645#ixzz2UKTHov9A">http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/health/author-stem-cell-cloning-study-admits-errors-article-1.1353645#ixzz2UKTHov9A</a></p>

Human Stem Cell Cloning Study Had Errors That Resulted From the “Rush” to Publish

The paper may have errors but the results are real said the professor as he personally made them himself.  He takes full responsibility for ...

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FDA Approves First HbA1c Test to Diagnose Diabetes

<p>As the article states, current tests have been approved to only monitor  <img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="76" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-waKAHOObkxU/UaK5cnX7yVI/AAAAAAABGvg/oWmA2XqCjUM/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="111" />glucose levels and now with this approved test there’s a somewhat one stop test to do it.  A value of 6.5% will indicated the condition.  The text is manufactured by Roche.  BD <hr /></p> <p>The FDA has approved the first glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) test to diagnose diabetes, the agency announced Thursday.</p> <p>The Cobas Integra 800 Tina-quant HbA1cDx assay, made by Roche, will be the first such test that FDA will allow to be marketed as a diagnostic tool. HbA1c tests currently on the market have been approved only to monitor blood glucose control, not to diagnose diabetes.</p> <p><a href="http://www.medpagetoday.com/Endocrinology/Diabetes/39383">http://www.medpagetoday.com/Endocrinology/Diabetes/39383</a></p>

FDA Approves First HbA1c Test to Diagnose Diabetes

As the article states, current tests have been approved to only monitor  glucose levels and now with this approved test there’s a somewhat o...

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Healthcare Supply Chain Association Launches Website to List Medical Device Companies and Suppliers Who Pass Device Tax On To Hospitals–One Large Hospital EHR Software Vendor Included

<p>I found this to be very interesting to be able to <a href="http://www.devicetaxwatch.com/p/cost-shifting-suppliers.html">view the website</a> and see the list.  Being I write about a lot of Health IT here and with the huge profits made by Cerner, it somewhat surprised me to see them on the list.  As we all know Cerner is one of the largest software suppliers of electronic medical records and has been around for a long time and has been noted in recent times with making record profits.   </p> <p><a href="http://www.cerner.com/solutions/Medical_Devices/Smart_Room/">Cerner has a page under their “store section” dedicated to the “Smart Room”</a> which uses a lot of different software and hardware devices for an example and takes advantage of their CareAware technologies.  </p> <p>In order for software to work, you need hardware so it may not be just a simple trail always going back to a manufacturer it seems? <img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="47" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-xVS5vkPeqz4/UaD4x3O3rII/AAAAAAABGvI/ljC0O2W0_HI/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="159" /> Below is the list as it shows today.  So how does this work and I think it could open up some new areas of discussion along the line here.  Does a hospital buying a bundled Health IT system that includes medical records know they are paying for the device tax and is it separately disclosed?  We know Cerner is not manufacturing all the devices they would sell to compliment the Health IT portion so is is individually by contract with the device company?  Also, this list is new and are other EHR companies doing the same?  The site also has an <a href="http://www.devicetaxwatch.com/2013/03/cost-shifting-supplier-stradis.html">embedded copy of a letter from Stradis Healthcare</a> whereby they announced their intention to impose the 2.3% device tax as a separate item on their invoices.  </p> <p> <hr /></p> <p><em>“The following medical device suppliers are shifting the burden of the medical device excise tax (MDET) directly to American hospitals and other healthcare providers:</em> <br /><em>Acuderm <br />AMX Solutions <br />Anatech Ltd <br />Avinger <br />Berkeley Advanced Biomaterials <br />Burlington Medical Supplies, Inc. <br />CIRS (Compuerized Imaging Reference Systems, Inc.) <br />Cardica <br />Cerner <br />DR Systems, Inc. <br />Electro-Cap International <br />Encompas, Unlimited <br />FHC <br />Fine Surgical Instruments, Inc. <br />Fujirebio <br />General Devices <br />Good Lite <br />Gynex <br />Hans Rudolph <br />Hobbs Medical Inc. <br />Hurricane Medical <br />I.C. Medical , Inc. <br />Implantech <br />International Medical Industries, Inc. <br />Luminex <br />Mastel <br />Medical Z <br />Misonix <br />Rhein Medical, Inc. <br />Sientra <br />Skeletal Dynamics, LLC <br />Spineview <br />STAAR Surgical <br />Stradis Healthcare <br />Technical Prospects, LLC <br />Tenacore <br />Thompson Surgical Instruments <br />Tosoh Bioscience, Inc. <br />Unipower <br />Waters Corp <br />Disclaimer: Please note that many companies have similar names. The list includes only the actual name of the companies which meet the described criteria. The fact that a vendor has a similar name does not mean that the vendor is or should be included on the list.”</em></p> <p> <hr /></p> <p>Again I will refer to my year long campaign that I sent off to the device lobbyists, companies and others about pursuing taxing and <img align="right" border="0" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/TdYNiO2NHwI/AAAAAAAAxko/n3hlhI_0Z9M/image_thumb%5B1%5D.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" />licensing data sellers to give an alternative route of revenue to help support Healthcare and being that it is an intangible huge amount of profiteering, <strong>not many could get their heads around it, while companies and banks put billions away in profits here, and a lot of it is healthcare data that is sold that does not fall under HIPAA.  It’s that old digital literacy issue again</strong> and not understanding or trying to make an effort to understand how all of this works and the IRS seemed to be too busy chasing the non profit GOP factions out there to pay much attention here.  This would make an excellent area to use excise taxing to help support Healthcare reform instead of continuing to pad the pockets of banks and companies, and some of them use data out of context against consumers, instead of all the time wasted in front of Congress just crying about cuts.  <a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2012/09/one-more-good-reason-to-tax-data.html">Even the NIH could not exercise themselves about that level either,</a> so again we have a huge education war here on how  models and algorithms turn profits and how it ends up playing out in the real world. </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2013/03/medical-device-companies-not-putting-up.html">Medical Device Companies Not Putting Up a Real Smart Battle to Reverse Device Taxes–Need to Offer Alternative Solutions for Missed Revenue, Taxing & Licensing Data Sellers Would Do It</a></h5> <p>In today’s world of automation and algorithmic formulas that make money, I think if you want to get rid of the tax, you should definitely bring another suggested solution to the table and nobody seems to be able to grasp this concept sadly.<img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="141" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-LSqXcK2U-V0/UaD4zgAJ-QI/AAAAAAABGvQ/VDuqpRxe51w/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="207" />  In summary how will this tax all play out through out healthcare and what new laws will be proposed to circumvent some of this?  They will fail as we have not take any effort to establish who the data sellers are and what kind of data they sell and to who.  In the meantime, <strong>watch the nonsense here with more complexities added on who eventually pays the excise tax..a sad state of affairs here with trying to find a resolution with nobody bringing another plan to the table.  BD</strong>  </p> <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> <h5> <hr /></h5> <p>Although the Healthcare Supply Chain Association did not take a position on the medical device tax at the time — nor do we take a position today —<strong> the HSCA joined the American Hospital Association, the Federation of American Hospitals and the Catholic Health Association in urging the IRS not to allow medical device manufacturers to pass on the cost of the device tax to hospitals.</strong></p> <p>Unfortunately, the IRS did not respond directly to our comments at the time, and today maintains that it does not have the authority to police companies that pass on the device tax. <br />Hospitals are now reporting that, although some suppliers are behaving responsibly, other device manufacturers are billing hospitals directly to cover the costs associated with the medical device excise tax. Although there are more than 40 taxes found in the ACA, hospitals and other healthcare providers report that medical device suppliers are the only parties indicating that they plan to pass the tax on to their customers. That is not right. </p> <p><a href="http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/healthcare/301887-some-medical-device-manufacturers-not-paying-their-share-of-health-reform#ixzz2UKA11VIp">http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/healthcare/301887-some-medical-device-manufacturers-not-paying-their-share-of-health-reform#ixzz2UKA11VIp</a></p>

Healthcare Supply Chain Association Launches Website to List Medical Device Companies and Suppliers Who Pass Device Tax On To Hospitals–One Large Hospital EHR Software Vendor Included

I found this to be very interesting to be able to view the website and see the list.  Being I write about a lot of Health IT here and with ...

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Licensing and Excise Taxing Data Sellers, Facial Recognition Yet One More Tool Used To Secure & Match Data - The Epidemic, Billions in Profits for Banks and US Corporations Using Killer Algorithms to Further Erode Consumer Privacy

<p>If you missed the recent report by 60 Minutes, this is very much worth watching.  Facial recognition technologies is growing quickly <img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="149" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-nY4sEM1ZiPg/UaDh2Mf7RlI/AAAAAAABGu4/YsL7LBlj3kw/image%25255B4%25255D.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="218" />and getting more accurate all the time.  With using 3D modeling, matches are made to find the identity of individuals.  “Faceprint” is the new word to be aware of.  As pointed out the technologies need large data bases in order to work.  There is no regulation on companies using the technology.  The scientist who created the technology is even worried about the misuse by companies.  He feels he created a “monster” now as the technology moves forward.  </p> <p><strong>Big business is using it and cashing in as there are rules for government for non use by the US has no rules that pertain to companies.</strong>  I said a while back relative to privacy that privacy laws do not contain an avenue <img align="right" border="0" height="134" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-Egtq6OJ0O_g/TfaWpBYw97I/AAAAAAAAzRk/a445GNw2Cx4/image_thumb%25255B1%25255D.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" width="161" />of IT infrastructure with rules lined out, it will fail and that’s exactly what we have here with all the feeble attempts to create consumers privacy laws with any kind of data, medical and otherwise and HIPAA offers little help sometimes and still remains in a silo at HHS.  <a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2013/04/healthcare-scam-hits-up-seniors-yet-one.html">Seniors are also big targets</a> of the billion dollar profit data selling business.  This has been a long time campaign here at the Medical Quack and it was <a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2012/02/start-licensing-and-taxing-data-sellers.html">Chapter 17 of my series of posts called “The Attack of the Killer Algorithms”</a> back in February of 2012 and when you add faceprints to the entire scenario, this means even more profits for companies who want to mine, query and resell your data.  It’s the same old story with regulators being behind the times with no clue on how to regulate as they don’t understand it and seem to make no efforts either. </p> <p>Apple, Google and Facebook use faceprints and we know they all collect data so add faceprints to data and even richer information is available for query, matching and selling.  Companies are now working to find counter <img align="right" border="0" height="72" src="https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRJsy5_-1cPjzaPKJ1bNbOsyA0E5vLocojVTXPwC_UMW1X2avqTmg" 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" width="163" />measures to avoid being “tagged”.  Watch the video where the software recognizes all your preferences and location and sends you a message using Facebook.  Will you trade your privacy for a diet coke?  What benefits are consumers getting, none but the profits grow for companies and banks.  When you read the link below you can see how health insurers are buying up data from banks relative to consumer purchases so how much data is here, we don’t know and does it include a “faceprint” as well?  </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2013/03/insurance-companies-are-buying-up.html">Insurance Companies Are Buying Up Consumer Spending Data-Time is Here to License and Tax the Data Sellers-As Insurers Sell Tons of Data, Gets Flawed Data When Data Buyers Uses Out of Context Too</a></h5> <p>This is also where data and information can be used out of context to profit as well and as I said a while back it’s a huge discriminatory practice against consumers as it will get tweaked for profit ad models are created that may not be accurate but rather make money with no concern for what happens to the end consumer.   Those talented in this area, Quants, are also concerned too as they do not want to be at the root of some of the items created that do attack consumers and <a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2013/03/big-datathe-data-science-code-of-ethics.html">have come up with their own codes of ethics as well as they too are in here as consumers and know how the data mechanics work, they are the talented ones that make billions for big corporations and banks.</a>  See the tweet below on proprietary algorithms and it’s true as nobody is minding the store as we don’t seem to have enough talent in DC to understand how all of this is working.  The link below also has a number of big companies wondering what to do with big data as well and listen to how they speak out on trying to find “real” value. </p> <p><img border="0" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-MdcQ51oZRKs/UDz9pcW4fBI/AAAAAAAA9PM/5H-RdgxYtf8/image%25255B11%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-right-width: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px" /></p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2012/11/big-dataanalytics-if-used-out-of.html">Big Data/Analytics If Used Out of Context and Without True Values Stand To Be A Huge Discriminatory Practice Against Consumers–More Honest Data Scientists Needed to Formulate Accuracy/Value To Keep Algo Duping For Profit Out of the Game</a></h5> <p><embed src="http://cnettv.cnet.com/av/video/cbsnews/atlantis2/cbsnews_player_embed.swf" scale="noscale" salign="lt" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" background="#333333" width="425" height="279" allowFullScreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" FlashVars="si=254&&contentValue=50147158&shareUrl=http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=50147158n" /></embed></p> <p>Again when you watch the video you can see, depending on what data base is connected, even a social security number can be found on you.  Now you take this data and query it with other data bases and who knows what’s being sold.  Again with no mode of operation to identify who sells data and what kind of data to who, this is the absolute wild west here.  Facebook is mentioned many times as the data base of choice.  Even if you did not put your picture on Facebook, if someone else has, you may be up the privacy creek here.  Here’s a couple of my old posts back to 2009 relating on this subject…as without an arm of regulation spelling out IT infrastructure use, privacy laws are just pretty much useless and we can keep reading about the less than adequate bills that are proposed in DC.  So now when you combine faceprints with data profiles well how difficult is it to match data I ask…not that hard depending on the data available to query, use and sell.  </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2013/01/does-us-government-need-department-of.html">Does the US Government Need a Department of Modeling and Algorithms–Is Data Addiction and Abuse the Next Up and Coming 12 Step Program, Some Classic Posts & Topics Revisited</a></h5> <p>Your data is out there floating around the web and you have no clue how it got there and the errors in the data continue to rise as one bit of data containing errors gets aggregated all over the place.  It is an epidemic.  </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2013/04/data-floating-around-web-and-you-dont.html">Data Floating Around the Web and You Don’t Know How It Got There? Time to License and Excise Tax Data Sellers–Identify “Flawed Data” Epidemic At The Root of the Problem</a></h5> <p><strong><em>“But she didn’t know which company had collected and shared the data in the first place, so she didn’t know how to have her entry removed from the original marketing list.</em> “</strong></p> <p>Don’t hold your breath on our new consumer agency <img align="right" border="0" height="185" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-NF96Fub63vQ/UXoCewWee8I/AAAAAAABGnI/4PfwHgh-dR4/image%25255B5%25255D.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" width="130" />with Richard Cordray at the top as he’s building a data base to study and see how all this works, too bad we have someone who needs to learn all of this and we don’t have an expert who knows and understands the mechanics so I guess we have to pay for his education now too, a sad state of affairs when we have to spend more tax dollars to educate an attorney, and that doesn’t cut it today.  He has no clue and is way in over his head and this is why we need folks with some technology in their backgrounds as attorneys are good at research but they are not movers when they don’t have a tech background to combine with it.  I like our President and a lot of what he is doing but for the life of me I can’t understand why he keeps putting lawyers in positions to where they have no ability or education and expect them to produce results as most of them are digital illiterate when it comes to issues like this.  </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2013/04/richard-cordray-fail-with-understanding.html">Richard Cordray, Fail With Understanding Flawed Models and Algorithms -Big Case of“Algo Duping”With Big Data-Save Time, Hire Quants Who Know How Consumer Financial Models Are Built and Function…Geez</a></h5> <p>We are still allowing banks and companies to “model for inequality” and nobody is calling them to task.  Great video at the link below explains a lot of how this works from a quant who models, she tells is straight and worked for a Hedge Fund in the past, one who did work for Larry  Summers who has enough physics in his background to know how to manipulate I feel.  Cathy O’Neill states we need to stop lying with mathematical models, which is a lot of what is happening as lying models can and have made billions for many who use them.  <strong>She call some of this “Weapons of Math Destruction”…and she’s right.</strong>  </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2013/04/modeling-for-inequality-with.html">Modeling for Inequality With Segmentation, Insurance Industry Uses Backwards Segmentation As Some Models Stand to Threaten Overall Democracy</a></h5> <p><strong>Here’s yet another great 60 Minute video to watch (Chapter 54 of the Killer Algorithm series) to see how all of this falls into place with the credit business and their models and algorithms</strong>…if you missed it, please watch and see how riddled with errors your credit information is and how it is modeled and used for profit and you don’t even get to see what is on record half the time as consumers are not given all the information.  Original post at link below.  </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2013/02/60-minutes-confirms-super-attacks-of.html">60 Minutes Confirms the Super Attacks of the Killer Algorithms With Consumer Credit Information With Flawed Data and the Inability to Algorithmically Fix Errors Which Really Makes a Huge Case for Licensing and Taxing All Data Sellers in the US–Chapter 54</a></h5> <p>This video and a few others worth watching are also on <a href="http://www.ducknet.net/attack-of-the-killer-algorithms/">the “Algo Duping” page</a> which is a collection of videos created by folks smarter than me, telling you the same thing.  Credit agencies of course cash in big time too with selling and reselling data and the flaws continue to roll and after all is said and done and the banks and companies make their billions, we as consumers are stuck on our own dime fixing the flawed data that they made billions selling for profit.  </p> <p><embed src="http://cnettv.cnet.com/av/video/cbsnews/atlantis2/cbsnews_player_embed.swf" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" background="#333333" width="425" height="279" allowFullScreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" FlashVars="si=254&contentValue=50140748&shareUrl=http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=50140748n" /></embed></p> <hr /> <p><strong>Again if the US government is every going to get serious about privacy they should update themselves with the times</strong> and start a system <img align="right" border="0" src="https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTmQCQK-KLTS53DO5NRDgnVJnvbZij8gQTou-YVM2Dy6Lg6HSWrtQ" 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" />where we can identify and track who all the data sellers are, what they are selling and reselling and to who.  <a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2012/09/one-more-good-reason-to-tax-data.html">As I have mentioned on many occasions</a> an excise tax on the billions in profits made could easily go to help fund the consumer agencies of the NIH and FDA, two of the most important government agencies we need.    </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2013/02/time-has-come-to-license-and-tax-data.html">Time Has Come to License and Tax the Data Sellers of the Web, Companies, Banks, Social Networks..Any One Making a Profit-Latest Microsoft/Google Privacy War Helping the Cause –Consumers Deserve to Know What Is Being Sold and To Who in a Searchable Format </a></h5> <p>If you don’t see the addition of facial recognition as an even bigger source of profiteering, then you better think again as it makes re-matching data even easier for those profiting selling our data.  BD  </p> <h5> <hr /></h5> <p>Even if your picture isn't on the Internet, computerized facial recognition makes it virtually impossible to keep your "faceprint" private. Lesley Stahl reports.</p> <p><a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=50147158n">http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=50147158n</a></p>

Licensing and Excise Taxing Data Sellers, Facial Recognition Yet One More Tool Used To Secure & Match Data - The Epidemic, Billions in Profits for Banks and US Corporations Using Killer Algorithms to Further Erode Consumer Privacy

If you missed the recent report by 60 Minutes, this is very much worth watching.  Facial recognition technologies is growing quickly and get...

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FDA Notifies mHealth Company They Want To Discuss The UChek App and Possibly Pursue Requesting a 510(k) Application for Approval

<p>As mentioned the device and the $40 kit that goes along with the app sold on the App Store was featured at a TED Long Beach Convention earlier this year.  The FDA wants a chance to discuss and Biosense has stated they will work with the FDA and at the link below <a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2013/02/new-mobile-app-does-urinalysis-with.html">I thought it would be one that the FDA would question</a> as well and here we have it.  </p> <p><em>“This might be one of those apps if used in the US for the FDA to take a look at for a stamp of approval”</em></p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2013/02/new-mobile-app-does-urinalysis-with.html">New Mobile App Does Urinalysis With the IPhone–Lab on a Phone</a></h5> <p>UChek works with test strips made by Siemens and Bayer which do not have approval to be used in an automated algorithmic process.  As I reported earlier the device is being tested at a hospital in India.  The app can be downloaded but needs the $40 device to work with it.  <img align="left" alt="image" border="0" height="246" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-EQQKebrTqlI/UaBKRuUfXlI/AAAAAAABGuo/QqsZCouGk1c/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: left; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" width="457" /></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p>Now that the FDA has stepped in it could be a while before the Android app is released.  As mentioned, this is the first letter of it’s kind sent from the FDA and it will be interesting to see if more are forthcoming as they do have their eyes open with watching what kind of mHealth apps are being developed and sold.  BD  </p> <p> <hr /></p> <p>An iPhone application that lets users check levels of blood, protein and other substances in their urine is the first target of U.S. regulators seeking boundaries in a burgeoning industry for medical diagnosis on-the-go. </p> <p>UChek works with test strips made by <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/quote/SIE:GR">Siemens AG (SIE)</a> and <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/quote/BAYN:GR">Bayer AG (BAYN)</a>, which are only approved for visual reading and require new clearance for automated analysis, the FDA said in the letter. The agency has said it wants <img align="right" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/--Dig4dxi9WM/UTBAzIYrYbI/AAAAAAABGFc/0KCWyim0D5E/image%25255B15%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="display: inline; float: right" />stricter rules for apps that directly diagnose or treat conditions, proposing in 2011 to apply similar quality standards as for heart stents, ultrasound machines and other medical devices. </p> <p>The app needed to run the $40 automated system became available in <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/quote/AAPL:US">Apple Inc. (AAPL)</a>’s <a href="http://topics.bloomberg.com/app-store/">App Store</a> earlier this year after being touted at the technology conference TED2013 at the end of February in <a href="http://topics.bloomberg.com/california/">California</a>. The FDA told Biosense the company may need to gain agency clearance for the entire system, including the strips.  Depending on how a company responds, the FDA may follow up with a warning letter that sets out specific violations of the law that must be addressed immediately, Rivers said. </p> <p><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-05-23/iphone-urinalysis-draws-first-fda-inquiry-of-medical-apps.html">http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-05-23/iphone-urinalysis-draws-first-fda-inquiry-of-medical-apps.html</a></p>

FDA Notifies mHealth Company They Want To Discuss The UChek App and Possibly Pursue Requesting a 510(k) Application for Approval

As mentioned the device and the $40 kit that goes along with the app sold on the App Store was featured at a TED Long Beach Convention earli...

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Cancer Drug to Treat Alzheimer’s Fails to Perform as Studies Can’t Replicate

<p>Targretin was the drug that was used and as the article below states that based on the fact that it eliminated plaque behind Alzheimer's from the brains of mice, it did not work in the real world.  Trials were set up <img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="81" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-L4FOtlwlazk/UaA_uRaOUQI/AAAAAAABGuY/x_qObRTnKDk/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="119" />and some were able to get the prescription for the cancer drug, “off label” to treat Alzheimer’s.  This is actually sad that it didn’t work so there are still patients wanting the treatment, and again the studies were never replicated as was originally reported.  The drug, Targretin can also damage the liver so another side effect.  BD <hr /></p> <p>It sounded too good to be true and unfortunately it was.  Three research studies out Thursday severely diminish the hope that a cancer drug already on the market could be an Alzheimer’s treatment.</p> <p>In February 2012 scientists at Case Western University Medical Center reported that a drug approved to treat skin cancer cured a mouse of a form of Alzheimer’s.  They reported the drug eliminated the plaque that is the hallmark of Alzheimer’s from the brains of the mice and that the mice seemed to recover from their memory and other cognitive problems.</p> <p>Researchers quickly set up trials of the drug in people with Alzheimer’s. But some patients’ families did not want to wait for the human experiments.  They asked their doctors for prescriptions and in many cases, according to anecdotal reports, they got them.  "There is absolutely no reduction in amyloid levels in the brains of mice treated with this compound," Sisodia wrote in a technical comment in the journal Science. Teams at the University of Florida and researchers at the University of Leuven in Belgium published similar findings in the same journal.</p> <p><a href="http://vitals.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/05/23/18451554-alzheimers-drug-was-too-good-to-be-true-studies-find?lite?ocid=twitter">http://vitals.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/05/23/18451554-alzheimers-drug-was-too-good-to-be-true-studies-find?lite?ocid=twitter</a></p>

Cancer Drug to Treat Alzheimer’s Fails to Perform as Studies Can’t Replicate

Targretin was the drug that was used and as the article below states that based on the fact that it eliminated plaque behind Alzheimer's...

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