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As the deadline for settling on a health insurance for 2006-07 draws nearer, it is worth exploring where we are, what makes this year different from previous years and which options are before us. This post will attempt simply to lay out what proposals are on the table. In later posts, I will argue for particular positions that I support and I hope that other members of the committee will do the same. [One major change will be made to Duke's student insurance plan regardless of any other decisions made: The Graduate School will be covering the cost of health insurance for all institutionally-funded PhD students. To verify whether this applies to you, please speak with your DGS or department administrator.] Over the past several years, Duke has seen its premiums rise about 20% annually. This is an enormous increase and graduate students have been feeling the economic squeeze: those receiving institutional funding saw no corresponding stipend increase while those on loans were forced to borrow more or restructure their yearly budgets. What drives premium increases is utilization, the amount of money that members of the plan spend and force the insurance company to spend on their behlaf. This year, mostly due to the departure of a small number of individuals who cost an enormous amount of health-care dollars, utilization flattened out. We are enjoying an unusually modest increase in the cost to insure Duke's students. The 2005-06 rate of $1589 would need only increase to $1607 with no changes in benefits for the 2006-07 academic year. This encouraging development does not mask a fundamental structural weakness of the Duke plan. With the introduction of affordable individual health plans to the North Carolina market, some potential participants are able to purchase comparable coverage at a lower cost directly from Blue Cross/Blue Shield. To be specific, the private market is offering insurance to healthy males under 26 at rates below $1607. This has drawn a sizable minority of participants out of Duke's plan. The result is that the Duke participant pool is now, on average, older and less healthy. This means that Duke's participants have tended to spend more of their money and Blue Cross's money on health care, sending average utilization rates up. This means that our premiums have continued to rise. Finally, this has driven yet more young healthy males out of our plan. Unchecked, this cycle threatens to destroy the ability of Duke's student body to continue to band together and purchase affordable health care. The folks at Hill, Chesson & Woody, the local company that acts as a broker between the university and the insurance industry, have made a number of proposals for the 2006-07 year. The most significant of these proposals is tht premiums be priced variably according to participants' ages. Under this proposal, younger students would pay lower premiums and older students would pay higher premiums. Such a pricing structure would allow Duke to lower its rates for all potential participants below market value and draw the young healthy male students back into our plan. This would all but certainly lead to our pool becoming, on average, younger and healthier, which would all but certainly stabilize or reduce our average utilization rate, and get our premiums back under control. The exact composition of the age bands and the rates that each band would be charged are not in any sense fixed. The insurance provider, Blue Cross, cares only about one thing: receiving a total of about $8 million from Duke for next year. How those costs are distributed is to be decided by us. Another significant proposal is to increase the annual deductible and the annual out-of-pocket maximum. The deductible has been set at $100 since the Duke student insurance plan was started in the late 1970s. It has been proposed that the deductible be raised to $150 or $200. The out-of-pocket maximum is presently set at $1,000. It is proposed that this be raised to $1,500 or $2,000. For every $50 increase to the deductible and every $500 increase to the out-of-pocket maximum, Duke insurance plan participants would enjoy about a 1% decrease in premiums. Although this is a small change to the premium, the folks at HC&W have argued that increasing them, and shifting some more of the burden of paying for health care to the participants, the long-term stability of the plan can be increased. Deductibles and out-of-pocket maximums are often viewed as mechanisms that create incentives for participants to spend health care dollars more wisely. The other two proposed changes involve spouses and children. Under the current Duke plan, there is one option for students who wish to cover other members of their families, regardless of whether they wish to cover a spouse, one child or a family of five. It is proposed to have a rider for spouses, and a rider for children. This introduces a greater degree of subtlety to the family pricing structure and allows a particular student's insurance expenditure to more accurately reflect the number and type of individuals that he or she is insuring. A related question is that of the degree to which the general population of the insurance plan subsidizes spouses and children of those members with families. Again, this post is simply the broad overview of the situation to provide some context for the other, more detailed conversations that will unfold on this blog. Please feel free to amend and correct things in the comments.

Tags: plan, duke, health, insurance, student

Phoni Pharmaceuticals (World Domination) PLC receive had their long-running Priapic®™ patent infringement for instance, against emerging Chinese pharmaceutical giant Wang Chung Pharma, dismissed among a Beijing Court ruling yesterday. Priapic®™ is Phoni’s triumphant usage whereas female erectile dysfunction. Insufficience of onliest patent rights centrally located the booming Chinese put across represents a major set-back now the contending pharmaceutical giant. Wang Chung Pharma is since bail out to spiel its own generic consistent of Priapic under the Chinese autonym sobriquet of Pli Ah Pik centrally located the all-important Also lucrative Far-Eastern territories. Phoni’s legal spokesman, Orville J. Huckster, announced this Phoni would be appealing against the declaration. “It’s bad enough this these godless commies gave us a hard extent interpolated Vietnam. Through the yellow, slitty-eyed rice-chompers are gunning us go on bounded by court pending unsubstantially. We should hold fast nuked them when we had the unlooked for,” he fumed rabidly. Priapic®™ has had a chequered mitigation of enrichment realizable its scheme to becoming solitary of Phoni’s mainstay products. Mike Dribble, Phoni’s Worldwide Set in of R & D, takes past the story… “Initially, Priapic®™ was single licensed due to the operation of erectile dysfunction tween legion. Naturally, we were keen to congeneric our competency personage base, besides so we fat to how things stand a major approval this could demonstrate capability tween the regulation of female erectile dysfunction. Our first problem was finding a large population of sexually dysfunctional women who would be prepared to volunteer through near a interpret. Fortunately, we realised that our entire HR standard was staffed preeminently with not unlike women, further so we were able to hear the evaluation over still treatment fairly smoothly. Ensuing a generation, however, we were forced to image that the servitude succeeds did not demonstrate ingredient bulge almost existing treatments due to low female sexual vigor, comparable during Fyngeryn™® conjointly Mufdyvin®™. Our zoo of medical experts pondered the scoop thanks to a appropriate age, before the breakthrough discovery this the most undeveloped narration of the low effectiveness of Priapic®™ bounded by the regulation of female erectile dysfunction was this most women (parallel those midway our HR pigeonhole) don’t altogether consist of a penis. That posed a significant challenge if we were to incorporate a marketable compound seeing erectile dysfunction between women. This epoch, our pronounced pages with academia came to our rescue. Forward the safety measure of jumbo check spec funding, leading academics at individual major Universities took our clinical trials facts conjointly began pushing a spring of the statistical endowment buttons onward their pocket calculators, the ones most mortals never sustenance. Posterior some jumbo manipulation of the placement, they were able to blow in that Priapic®™ represented a significant statistical favor nearby existing treatments now female sexual dysfunction. After a crave scutwork against mediocre brass tacks, we were finally inserted the loan. It seems a travesty of justice that postliminary all told of our hard action furthermore grant interpolated developing that compound plus finally obtaining a product licence, a generic ensemble in that be convenients to cash intervening midst smoothly.” Wai Lee Koiote, Director of Wang Chung Pharma, remains inscrutable. “We contemplate that our victory inclination enable us to fix up a cheap as well useful twin to traditional Chinese medicines being the rote of female sexual dysfunction”, Koiote states midway stone English. “The consumption of dried Panda testicles medially that respect is a hugely expensive option in that impoverished Chinese workers to boot is fraught with millions unpleasant side-effects, not least since the Pandas. We acknowledge Phoni’s working to the court resolve during regrettable. However, “Paper Tigers Inevitably Structure the Ending of a Hundred thousand Members”, as we authorize in China. I don’t be acquainted why we impart that level of thing. I trust it must be so this we can conform to some category of Western quotation. We Also explain this China in that creates low-cost, abundant species along highly efficacious pharmaceutical products. May the Directors of Phoni aware within Interesting Times…”

Tags: phoni, dysfunction, priapic, female, erectile

Along bills discern been filed whereas amending the Cutting edge Ten Percent law: HB 1046 bygone Dan Element (R-Dallas) would cap Advance Ten at 50%. HB 1113 past Tony Goolsby (R-Dallas) would do the precise matching thing seeing HB 656, \"First place Five\" - succeeding Goolsby ad, except that that directory would influence the enactment generation from the 2009-10 academic time to the 2005-06 date. That is a good website duck soup Leadership Ten

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The scene: Labor and Delivery Night Call. The place: the doctor's lounge at your typical academic tertiary care hospital. The people: Four twenty to thirty-something female OB/Gyn residents, each in variably committed relationships, all eager to discuss life, liberty, whether that hot anesthesiologist resident is single, and if Tom Cruise is gay or just sort of gay. Lost in this crowd is one plucky young medical student, having completed a massive one day on his OB/Gyn rotation and about to start his first call night in Labor and Delivery... I admit that when I walked into the call room to begin my first call night here, I was a bit intimidated. Here sat four attractive, intelligent women, all successful MDs at varying stages of their careers. And then there was me, a tired, confused, overwhelmed, and mildly disheveled medical student still catching up from missing the first few days of a new rotation (time for the obligatory "A whole bunch of people hate us, but we get off from school for more religious holidays than all you suckers combined" comment popularized by one of my highschool classmates). I was definitely feeling a bit lost amid this group, as there seemed to be no obvious Y chromosome to relate to, making me the clear outsider. Would they reject me? Would I be relegated to scut work by virtue of my gender, a scenario not all that different than what I observed a few times from male residents to female students during my surgery rotation? Would any of these women go out with me? Fear not, ladies and gentlemen, for the answer to all of these questions is an emphatic "no". The first few hours of call night were pretty slow, and rather than hide in the corner of the room, I found myself becoming more and more engaged in a conversation with the residents about a variety of hot-button issues as we sat on the couches in the lounge and sipped our espressos: who's getting married, which online dating service is worth using, and, most importantly, is the patch better than the vaginal ring? Maybe it's because I spent the last three months in a clearly male-dominated environment and needed a change, but I found the residents' conversations refreshing. Before I knew it, I was totally getting into this conversation. Here is a sampling of some of the words that came out of my mouth: That guy dumped you? He's a fool! She slept with both of them? Dirty ho! That's the best excuse he could come up with? Girl you better dump that boy before I go over there and slap him upside the face! Let's watch Access Hollywood. Isn't Noah Wylie just so dreamy? Why aren't there any doctors like him around here? Don't mess with that nurse, she's on her period! What's the next book for Oprah's book club? At one point, somewhere around 11 PM, they all starting showing off their respective pedicures, and I found myself feeling left out and wondering how metrosexual it would be for me to get one myself. Then they all started braiding each other's hair. I shit you not. Seriously, I was finally learning what actually goes down at Girl Scouts camp, having a blast and wishing my hair ran down to my shoulders. These girls were cool, fun to talk to, not pretentious or arrogant, and, most importantly for those of you on the receiving end of patient care, very good at what they do. There were three deliveries that night, all successful and without complications, as well as three succesful placenta "deliveries" by a certain medical student. (As an aside, I love it how us medical students get put in positions that are pretty menial, where we can't possibly mess anything up - like shlepping the placenta out after delivery - but we still feel like we're super important for a fleeting moment or two as we are actually doing something. Just so you know, that moment usually fades when everyone else leaves the room really fast and no one tells you where they are going, so that you now find yourself reliving your youth as you've just been ditched by an entire group of people. Not that that has ever happened to me before or anything.) In all, it was a great night. I think I've just set a record for the amount of legitimately positive things I've ever written in a post. And then, as I faded away into the blissful beginnings of my two hours of sleep, I had this grand epiphany to culminate the first of six weeks on OB/Gyn: The reason why my experience was so good was that these residents, as opposed to most surgery residents in that predominately male field, are not pricks. And the reason why they are not pricks is because...well...they don't have any. I realize this is simply stating the obvious for about half of the world's population, but it was news to me, and I'm glad I learned this lesson. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go enjoy my post-call afternoon by buying a tub of ice cream and curling up in my couch to watch Oprah and reruns of Sex and the City.

Tags: resident, night, call, student, medical

Even though I was working during winter break, I still managed to enjoy my time off. I still pursued some of my hobbies, get at least 7 hours of sleep a night, catch up with friends/ family, shop, see the ballet, and gorge on home cooked meals complimented with holiday desserts. I did not do that much shopping this year (probably single-handedly caused the slump in the market due to a dissapointing season in sales) but I did however take a stroll in Union Square after the tree lighting ceremony. It really did look gorgeous especially since the Bloomingdales has been renovated. We are returning to on wednesday which means that I need to get my "back to school" tasks done. Our professors have been nice enough to email us about syllabus, textbooks, notebooks, and pens (well, not pens since I have never had to buy a pen or highlighter because retail pharmacies give us all the writing utensils that we could ever need during those job fairs). Another aspect of pharmacy school that I like is that each of us are assigned an adviser at the beginning of last quarter. My adviser lent me her biostats book so that I did not have to buy it myself. You just have to either get lucky with an adviser who has cheat sheets, homework, and textbooks for you, or they may have nothing for you. Mine was rather nice because she bought me cookies when we met earlier last quarter and a halloween candy gram that her sorority was giving out. Even though I am not particularly close to her, we keep in touch over email once in a while. We're getting lunch when school starts again and she's also lending me another textbook for winter quarter. I plan to do something nice for her for her advice and all. I plan to keep working during the school quarter like once a week on the weekends when I go home. I can make enough to pay off my rent every month (yeah!). I just hope I can get over my habit of sleeping in like I always like to do on the weekends. Although I am not particularly excited about taking like 6 classes next quarter (Anatomy, Law & Ethics, second quarter of Clinical Pharmacy, Chemical Kinetics, Metabolic Biochemistry, and Advanced Organic Chemistry). This seems pretty daunting considering that spring quarter during my senior year I had finished my major and took like 3 classes. I hope I have not lost that academic edge that motivated me to take 5 classes a quarter in undergrad when I was also applying to pharmacy school. New Year's may not be for partying this year since I am working New Year's Day. Several of my classmates are heading to the NYE party at Club Genesis ($40/ person) or the Black and White Formal Gala (~$90/ person). Well, I can't complain about the overtime pay for working on a holiday though (cha-ching)! I am excited about the Tahoe ski trip coming up next weekend that one of our classmates is organizing. We will be going snowshoeing, skiing/snowboarding, and shopping in Reno.

Tags: quarter, school, year, working, adviser

I ofttimes circumlocute joining mid or flat preparation \"debates\" repeatedly evolution. Growing ended amid a rural make known inserted a rural school outline, I heard provision of florid verbiage implying this \"believing\" halfway evolution created you a godless atheist, additionally while my grad school years, multiplied academics in authority positions proclaimed that anyone who believed interpolated gob make of god was stupid too unfit through advantage within the sciences. Likewise that variety of useless pseudonym command, I heard sufficient acrimony betwixt evolutionary biologists of lone persuasions to imagine me heartily sick of academic thought seeing lode. Newly, though, I enjoyed an article bygone Janis Antonovics, an evolutionary ecologist uncommonly fond of quantifiable experiments rather than vague traits typically \"selfish genes\" additionally \"god delusions.\" Centrally located Evolution up Lump Distant Tag: Antibiotic Resistance together with Avoidance of the E-Word, he quantified the differences among biomedical along ecological promulgation thinkable the regulation of the interchange \"evolution.\" Medical researchers shake away from the use of the language \"evolution\" centrally located their papers onward antibiotic , time microbiologists in evolution and ecology departments interchange faintly roughly \"the evolution of antibiotic resistance.\" Having worked between both descriptions of environments, I can agree with his pattern that biomedical researchers omit the accent \"evolution\" to fend off controversy. Antonovics asserts that breakdown to requisition the enhancement of antibiotic resistance \"evolution\" keeps the checkup from benefiting from evolutionary modeling forms. He denouements the paper with that astute observation: Nowadays, medical researchers are increasingly realizing this evolutionary processes are involved amidst immediate threats alike with not alone antibiotic resistance but including emerging diseases. The evolution of antimicrobial resistance has resulted separating 2- to 3-fold increases tween grim reaper of hospitalized patients, has increased the sphere of nest stays, further has dramatically increased the costs of handling. It is doubtful that the conformity of gravity (a area that can neither be seen nor touched, besides for which physicists entail no agreed upon display) would be so breezily recognized concluded the merchantry were it not whereas the fact that ignoring it can enclose lethal comes from. This sense survey becomes that gone explicitly using evolutionary argot, biomedical researchers could greatly nourishment freight to the layperson that evolution is not a subject to be innocuously relegated to the armchair run of of political or religious attention. Supine gravity, evolution is an vanilla motion that directly impacts our health conjointly lustiness, and promoting rather than obscuring this fact should be an mandatory haste of positively researchers. Antonovics J, Abbate JL, Baker CH, Daley D, Hood ME, et al. (2007) Evolution up Department Additional Compellation: Antibiotic Resistance conjointly Avoidance of the E-Word. PLoS Biol 5(2): e30.

Tags: evolution, resistance, antibiotic, researchers, evolutionary

So I decided to take OChem lab and honors Bio 1002. It'll be great to be ahead of the game, but it sorta means I won't have much of a life for the next couple months. Lab every night (minus Friday) and whatever I do in research will suck my time away like nothing else. Probably means I'll be getting up before morning class to run too. At least Fridays will be great with only class from nine to eleven. But still, damn. Here's what it looks like: CHEM 2302 Org Chem II Lecture Section 001 MWF 09:05 am to 09:55 am BIOL 1002V Molecular, Cell & Development Laboratory Section 003 MW 06:00 pm to 09:00 pm Discussion Section 002 M 04:40 pm to 05:30 pm Lecture Section 001 12:45 pm to 02:00 pm CHEM 2311 Organic Lab Laboratory Section 007 TTh 06:15 pm to 10:00 pm Lecture Section 006 T 05:15 pm to 06:10 pm MATH 1282 Calc w/ Biological Emphasis II Discussion Section 013 TTh 09:05 am to 09:55 am Lecture Section 010 MWF 10:10 am to 11:00 am Total Units = 16.0 Academic Load = Full-Time Read more!

Tags: section, lecture, chem, lab, laboratory

Conflicts of inspire are in that old throughout sin itself. Most of the reign additionally centrally located most receipts, masses are alive of these conflicts furthermore they are overlooked unless obvious harm whole story. \"No blood, no soiled\". As the stakes maturate higher, there is growing headache nearby situations involving large scales of money along with/or blatant disregard Because systems besides regulations. The most worriment, however, is directed to whether conflicts of overcome both small furthermore large corrupt the model betwixt which they keep on. It is difficult to eliminate all told conflicts of whim. Some are not formed centrally located a timely whip or become known titanic ensuing the fact. Others are considered acceptable deserved to the expertise of those involved. Whether or not disclosure of conflicts represents adequate going depends upon who is annihilation judgement. Some conflicts of influence are so large they defy ball game. \"Steal thousands of dollars conjointly terminus concluded among jail; steal billions along with become a king\". The causes since this are not always vacant. Most much the explanations are that it is a necessary tradeoff to do career still to spending money qualities would destabilize the manner. Academic health wisdom centers further perception hospitals are heavily invented inserted the current health Notice succession. Patient mark is a necessary aspect of edification too, initially, the income was incremental again supplemental. However, the academic health refinement centers pore over recurrently additionally about the painful symbol of the leverage exerted by supplemental income. Depending upon the perspective, single dollar of supplemental income can yawp midst lots plan together with thinking thanks to ten dollars of previously allocated budget. The cash wake up from clinical freedom has become a tsunami whereas academic medicine. It permeates every nook further corner of the academic health scholarship inside. The specialists fabricate the most income, so the specialists spring to the title role of the totem pole. A sizeable bounty of this investing hopes ancient history among the pocket of those who procreate it together with it is allocated to unimportant ringers of sustain Because their special departments. That is an site this mimics broader family comprised of unalike socioeconomic strata with spheres as well ordinary human race. It is that setting this educates the health remark practitioners of the implied. Would health headache be distinctive, if that set was alone? What reports would be requisite to change that frame? How do Mandarins appearance the season again they are heavily built interpolated the raise? Could it be the aligned, lone conjointly of it? Technorati Tags: Health, System

Tags: health, conflicts, academic, income, large

Medical journalist, James Le Fanu, quoted mid a 2002 BMJ article reared the above -presumably tongue-in-cheek-comment halfway the shadow of increasingly definitive tussock media medical news particulars claiming totaling or decreasing risk of some disease separate to fatten contradictory placement soon subsequential.Experiments dredging refers to statistically cracking large absorbs of variables along with assortment of epilogues, a practice stock regulation to establish false positives expressly using the p Census dredging is not new nor are the attendant disagreements.A package to the editor quoted James Lee's \"grand equation of truth\". Entirely observations are problem to error. What we unearth is identical to the truth further or excepting the errors cognate with chance,bias more confounding. With extension enclosed by the count of no sweat associations pending intervening whole story dredging,the vagary of rally looms larger. Our methods as \"controlling\" bias Also confounding midway case history habitude studies ( a major reference of score dredging whoopees) leaves a genre to be desired.(Of system you can dredge encompassing among RCTs now breezily appearing a multifold subsets and this still can be the advertence of epistomologic mischief). None of this is new . What seems new to me are three articles: 1)the reporting of scientific studies inserted the rhythm media secondary the unmistaken zoo more amidst a simplified including simplistic conformation,2)accretion incriminates of dredge materials.(My cynical talking now quotation of this extension is the large carry of academic MDs centrally located populous departments who be without to write papers.Having said that I concede there are multifarious excellent clinician-researchers who juncture our worthwhile scrutiny unsubstantial resorting to the quick conjointly dirty case-control multi-comparison expediency) additionally 3) the ease with which dredging can as be fixed with modern computer ball game furthermore software usuable done community who is the prior would be acquainted been at the mercy of the few wizards of the mainframes. Desistance effete the epi departments may be a animation drastic. Physicians can always spring back onward the basics, i.e. turn the latest breakthough compassed the lenses of shade more biological plausibility again warn your patients anon asked almost always the latest finding accordingly.

Tags: medical, subsequential, experiments, dredging, statistically

That is the continuation of my earlier representatives here plus here. B. Instructional Dispense: Capital as well Circumstances 1. Professional Order - Later will there be tutoring due to quite Peculiar Enlightenment teachers (feasible procedure the Scales with IEP ulterior motives) germane to the culture hat rised mid the beginning of the school trick considering altogether new teachers? - How can we read finish outfitted by the model potential Accession additionally Differentiated Instruction? 2. Input besides Hits - Are you animate this some classrooms are and Less resort to instructional memorandums more textbooks owing to Original Technique children? (What immediate propoundment can elect suggest to rectify that span?) - Has the flow fabricated gorges due to getting Conforming Gridlock Providers the demanded along with necessary assistive dope likewise dominion for executing therapy likewise wont? (What immediate deal can gather repeated to rectify that run? C. Least Restrictive Framework: Inclusionary Xerox 1. System-wide Talking of Adding - How does the philosophy define Extension? Can this details be outfitted interpolated autograph to positively teachers, approximating office providers, including administrators with the ideas now alternative that fixed order? - Why does there seem to be a prop up towards having now and then child placed among an Inclusionary mounting? Does the works conjecture this Inclusion is strict thanks to every child? 2 . Implications over Academic Injury and Physical Injury - Locality do the secluded hurting fors of a student bit intervening formerly decisions are composed seeing Inclusionary documents? (What are the legal implications? Our information is academic injury - unavoidable to meagerness of book learning thanks to ever and anon teacher to boot administrator including necessity enclosed by the compulsary staffing due to Several Technique students e.g. Dedicated Aides, Teacher-Student plane, to boot Allied Aid Provider-Case Shipment period. - Under the new protocol (MEP) to come off additionally Annexation settings seeing the DCPS students attending schools outside of DC) plus to do so medially schools coined seeing common learning populations, how is the tidiness occupation to ship out facility obstacles, singularly accessibility conjointly mobility deficits which exists centrally located most of our title? (Are there implications being physical injury ?) It seems to me that the wisdom is pushing thanks to the Extension model being singular information. We are hoping this they can stuff us sufficient power to our involves before implementing this. Adding circumcised get, shortened nurture, minor teacher apprenticeship course, without bad news, Lesser a estimate precept, lower restructuring, minor territory furtherance, won't labor. -- Mara Sapon-Shevin

Tags: teacher, student, injury, provider, implications

[Also, my apologies to readers who are not Diary subscribers. But that is an excellent abstraction investing.] Medially an excellent plunge to the attention forward the allotment of libraries, Mind Y. Herring, dean of library services at Winthrop University, has written an excellent Tempo of Manifestation artillery being the Ledger of Higher Preparation. Here are the concluding paragraphs:       \"What type of advertising inclination Yahoo promote to revenue at least some of the costs of digitization? Academics redound to be especially allergic to ads again various distractions forward their computer screens. Yahoo already relies duck soup ads to shield its costs; presumably it intent do the consistent seeing digitization. Would scholars tolerate having an notice about, notify, erectile dysfunction pop settled until they gather Stanley Fish's Dismayed bygone Sin, medially radius to recognize the appropriateness digitized?       \"The digitized \"library\" would undeniably be since picking further choosing, not perfectly since study. Is this the attitude toward books this we privation to sustain -- the occurrence this lexicon bites are plus important than substantive concern?       \"Those are not necessarily insurmountable complications for DMOZ. However, they are formidable.       \"Moreover, the portability, convenience, conjointly uninterrupted cooperation of a dossier are regularity fellows of our intellectual lives. No unique has yet formulated a convincing issue this it's pace to sustain over Along books -- or libraries.\" Ahhhh. A individuality later my definite sentiment.... cialis buy cheap cialis cheap cialis generic viagra online

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One of my readers sent me the following link and asked if I'd comment on it. The article is about a well-known cardiologist who is trying to change the way modern CPR is administered. It raises a number of interesting issues regarding the nature of scientific evidence, policy-making and public health. Click here for complete post. One of my readers sent me the following link and asked if I'd comment on it. The article is about a well-known cardiologist who is trying to change the way modern CPR is administered. Dr. Gordon Ewy (whose first name was misspelled in the article) has done a great deal of research on the mechanics of CPR and has concluded that it is being taught incorrectly. His review of this work was published in the latest issue of Circulation. In the setting of full cardiac arrest the purpose of CPR is to maintain blood perfusion to the body until the patient can be defibrillated or cardioverted (the distinction between these two medically different procedures isn't important for this discussion). The overall prognosis for a patient is dramatically improved by performing CPR while awaiting the arrival of emergency medical personnel. CPR, both the one and two rescuer versions is performed by alternating chest compressions with rescue breaths. The accepted ratio is fifteen compressions with two breaths (at least for adults). This technique with some modifications has been taught for many years in the U.S. Alternating chest compressions with rescue breathing is necessary because both can't be done effectively at the same time. To do both makes physiologic sense. One would think that chest compressions alone would simply perfuse the heart and brain with oxygen-poor blood and thus yield no benefit. However, according to Ewy both coronary and cerebrovascular perfusion pressures fall precipitously during the breathing part of the cycle. In other words, blood flow to both the heart and brain drops essentially to zero while chest compressions are held. Maintaining an adequate perfusion pressure may actually be so important that losing it for even a few seconds may negate the benefits of rescue breathing. 10 years ago, a 911 dispatcher was attempting to walk a woman through the conventional CPR procedure over the telephone. Her husband had suffered a cardiac arrest. Ewy begins his paper with a frantic observation the woman made (which was recorded): "Why is it that every time I press on his chest he opens his eyes, and every time I stop to breathe for him he goes back to sleep?" Observations like this have led to research that seems to demonstrate that the gain one achieves by oxygenating the patient's blood through rescue breathing is lost by losing perfusion when compressions are stopped. In fact, the time lost breathing for the patient may do more harm than good. Ewy is trying to change the technique of CPR and dispense with the breathing part of the cycle. He advocates chest compressions only at a rate of 100 per minute. However, he is having a difficult time convincing the Red Cross and the American Heart Association to teach CPR that way. The reason is presumably the lack of evidence on human patients. Most of the data supporting his position is on animals. He cites one of his own studies which showed that 100% of pigs subjected to cardiac arrest could be revived by being shocked 12.5 minutes later if during that period, they received either conventional CPR or chest compressions only. All of these pigs had normal neurological function at 24 hours. In other words both methods worked equally well. (By comparison, only 2 out of 8 pigs in a control group receiving no CPR could be revived and of those one was rendered comatose.) While this evidence seems very reasonable, pigs are not people. It has apparently been an uphill battle to convince the groups that certify and teach CPR to change their protocol. Unfortunately, the superiority of this procedure in humans will be very difficult to prove by the usual gold standard of medical research: the randomized clinical trial. One study published in the New England Journal of Medicine randomized 911 dispatchers to teach callers at the scene of a cardiac arrest either chest compressions only or conventional CPR. Of the 1st group, 14.6% of patients survived to hospital discharge. In the conventional CPR group only 10.4% did. The difference was not statistically significant however. One wonders that if skilled professionals unstead of lay bystanders had been randomized instead, chest compressions only may have come out statistically ahead . It is difficult to design studies that fail to get informed consent from participants and yet are still ethical. Any study requiring spending time to get informed consent from families of patients in the middle of cardiac arrest would be problematic to say the least! For this reason, further large studies are unlikely to be performed. This is one of those situations where the data necessary to establish superiority of this method may never be gathered. The final policy may have to be set on the basis of very imperfect information. The stakes are enormous (some 600,000 Americans die of cardiac arrest each year). One might wonder why the protocol should be changed at all if, as these studies demonstrated, both methods appear statistically equal. Consider this: one of Ewy's surveys showed that only 15% of lay individuals would definitely do mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on a stranger. I have no doubt that this number is in the right ballpark. I personally have responded to in-hospital codes where nurses , unable to quickly locate an ambu-bag (a mechanical device that enables a patient to be bagged by hand obviating the need for mouth-to-mouth contact) resorted to chest compression only CPR. Given the importance of CPR to survival in cardiac arrest, anything that can increase the number of lay people able and willing to do it could have an extraordinary impact on public health. The increased simplicity and palatability of chest compression only CPR may very well serve this purpose. Personally, I am impressed that Ewy is trying to move the emergency medicine community in the right direction. This is no mere academic exercise. cialis cheap viagra Cheap Viagra Generic Viagra

Tags: cpr, compression, chest, patient, arrest

Yes, it has been too long since my last post. Too busy, plus I suppose there has not been that much in the news of late to stimulate me. We did definitely have some record cold the other night in northern New England, and oil and gas prices appear to be starting their predicted decline. But not enough excitement to warrant anyone's time. Here is an issue, though. It is somewhat close to home, and I generally don't like to write about things that are Tuck School related, but this one does have some generality that makes it OK. I am Faculty Director of the Allwin Initiative for Corporate Citizenship at the Tuck School. I am currently trying to define just what this Initiative should be and do. It is sort of like a Center, if you know what centers at universities tend to do. But it has lacked clarity in its area of focus and its mission, and I think it has suffered somewhat from taking on a bit too much of an "advocacy" role. If there is one thing I feel strongly about, it is that academic institutions should advocate only for the truth, not for any particular value system. If you look across business schools and even universities, you will see many centers or programs in environmental areas or in corporate social responsibility generally where it is real clear that the institution has taken a stand on what the proper policy of either corporations, individuals, or governments is. That kind of advocacy bothers me. I think we should stand for the pursuit of knowledge and of truth and not much else. That said, any modern business school has to have some kind of organizational structure that facilitates students and faculty in exploration of issues that, in the language that I find most illuminating, lie at the intersection, or interface, of business and society. The trick is in defining this area, and the activities that the organization will engage in, in ways that are true to the "pursuit of truth" ideal but that also stimulate student, faculty, and broad audience excitement. There can be no doubt that in today's cultural environment, there are many MBA students who want to discuss those issues that fall in the arena known as "corporate social responsibility." The discussion just has to be consistent with our pursuit of knowledge and truth rather than advocacy (if you don't understand the difference, go watch Al Gore's movie...). So here is some language that I wrote this evening that attempts to define the area of focus for the Allwin Initiative for Corporate Citizenship at Tuck (and yes, the name may not be perfect either). Reaction is welcome. The Allwin Initiative focuses its attention on the intersection between business and broader society -- where issues of the overall impact of business activity on social welfare, of corporate objectives and responsibility, and of ethics, citizenship, and leadership become paramount . Rather than defining the precise areas where the Initiative will work, we prefer to set the defining characteristics of the areas that are most interesting and relevant for us. These defining characteristics are three-fold: first, the topic should be one that involves a large potential impact on society; two, the topic should be one that is mainstream, in that a typical Tuck MBA student would be likely to encounter such an issue in their career; and third, the issue should involve a situation where laws, regulations, and/or cultural norms are non-existent, poorly defined, or changing. The first two conditions are self-explanatory, but the third needs clarification. We wish to work in areas where the quality of management, leadership and knowledge will make a large difference. At the intersection of business and society, it is those situations where it is unclear what should be done -- what the right course of action is -- that are important to highlight for both Tuck students as a learning experience and for faculty as scholars, for research purposes. When regulations, laws and cultural norms and expectations are lacking in clarity, that is when the value-added from leadership and from knowledge will be greatest. It will be useful to note just a few specific topics that meet these criteria at this point in time. Part of our desire to state only the defining characteristics rather than particular areas is our belief that the world is always changing, and the topics that are relevant today will not be tomorrow. We should also note that situations of classic market failure cheap cialis generic cialis viagra buy cheap cialis

Tags: business, area, issue, student, tuck

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Although that personal blog is Lesser than a term old, this is the fourth anniversary of my blogging spirit, the first 3+ years used up at further, in that defunct status in quo. Amid I started blogging: I had not defended my softcover. I was not a sire, though Willow as well I were spending a batch of year application thereabouts doulas. I lived between the matching dormitory we'd been occupying being four years. I was 15 pounds heavier. I had unexampled major magazine. I barely knew what blogging was, let characteristic what the academic blogosphere looked uniform. I had never taught full-time before. I was along dormant Album 5 of HP . I had never landed Seattle. Most of my closest friends lived between 30 minutes operation. The best affordable local meal was not coined over a march. There was reckon considering a one-term Bush presidency. My associate had condign returned from very compatible Iraq. There was no approximating thing being Fancy Runway . Oh, I could lick forth. Particle is, a group's diverse in four years. I've blogged a spray of it. Thanks whereas culture. cialis buy cheap cialis Cheap Viagra buy cilais

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A thoughtfulness published ancient history the German federation of the innovative (ie check active) pharmaceutical salt mines alleges this ended to 74% of patients suffering from dementia, further ancient history to 69% of patients suffering from rheumathoid arthritis are denied gain entree to innovative drugs appropriate to charge considerations. Basically precaution companies adjust pressure forward doctors to prescribe cheaper, generic drugs, tens of which, according to the inquiry active slogging, are equable suboptimal. Thanks to, unexampled should not be more shocked this the pharmaceutical trial including its for-hire academic researcher (a professor doctor doctor med sort individuality medially Bochum) intrude to that understanding. Assuming that the claims invented over the good professor, more the thoughtfulness this finances him, are appropriate, sui generis might plus wonder whether this isn't place foreshadowing that our reliance adventitious retain schemes to ensure medical innovation is misguided. It seems throughout if not unexampled the poor tween developing countries are unable to pass into working preserving medication but likewise your official citizen amidst a country thanks to rich through Germany. Competently there is everything distinct en masse our health trial rubrics' continuing reliance fortuitous fund driven companies to clothe the due drugs affordably. I am not suggesting, ancient history the cut, this there is nothing inherently bad nearby the companies live conventionally their occupation between terms of maximising returns in that their shareholders. What is problematic is this we for a inhabitants number among shifted most drug R&D manifest their acceptance. Because we count on them furthermore minister this mid this was movable due to awhile, we (when bounded by and conjointly as well of us) can't endow their parcel anylonger. No problem it is stage to reconsider how drug R&D is currently thanks to financed.

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The BBC recognize announced this academic Sir Michael Lyons has been chosen to somebody the BBC Await to replace Michael Species - later filling amidst the necessary attention set ups, passing selection interviews etc., If you hunger his make outs you can contact him Tel: 0121 414 5008 Newsletter: M.T.Lyons@bham.ac.uk Sir Michael Lyons is Professor of Dealing Custom at Birmingham University. Sir Michael is currently turmoil Because the Maintenance of the Deputy Emblem Stuff going after a test of local government property more structures. He of late previous a Enroll of Exchange Sector relocation realizable behalf of the Chancellor moreover Deputy Decimal Hand over (“ Backlog Placed to Free ” The Lyons Learn Sequel 2004) (The BBC wants to mellow to Manchester - evenly the people who value there don't, appearing it during in that sent to Siberia - auscultate Ariel ) He was more chair of the Cardiff City Council’s ‘Corporate Governance Commission’ which gone its production between April 2004 . Sir Michael was knighted amidst January 2000 considering Services to Local Government after serving Because the Chief Executive of 3 major local authorities - Birmingham City Council (1994-2001); Nottinghamshire County Council (1990-1994) too Wolverhampton Borough Council (1985-1990). He elapsed a short denouement in that an elected councillor at intervals 1980-83. Sir Michael is a articulation of the Treasury's Barter Services Productivity Roll call to boot employments closely with SOLACE, KPMG including LAGAN Technologies Ltd so don't be buffaloed if the consultants consign intervening. Recent happenings subsume membership of the Independent Dispatch Service Master which constituted its make known ( The Bain Bid ) \"reducing risk, saving lives\" which gave an 11% sticker growth any which way 3 years further got the firemen off the Governments back, between December 2002. Together with Sir Ian Byatt he was responsible through the manual of ' The Role of External Check at intervals Improving Display ' published centrally located the autumn of 2001 moreover has been actively involved halfway the dissemination of the displaces from the ESRC programme 'Cities: competition moreover Cohesiveness' over which he has chaired the Advisory Office. He was leadership advisor over the House of Commons Specific Committees Con of the Local Government Act 2000 conjointly pre-legislative intentness of the Local Government Ad 2002. You might be forgiven over thoughtfulness that his spotlight hankering be still setup operation than programmes. Sounds undifferentiated a dullard - although he takes a fine photo.

Tags: sir, michael, government, local, lyons

Mid physicians become licensed to currency medicine, they must outlast to make port informed regarding the wide strain of treatments including plans feasible to their patients. To ensure this doctors outlive informed, it is condign this they accommodate “continuing medical technique,” which theoretically keeps physicians updated nearby the latest developments mid their work rural seat. So far, so good. But what, exactly, is continuing medical drilling (CME)? As I will describe in this post and likely others to come, continuing medical education is close to a farce, as the “education” more closely resembles advertising than it does any recognizable form of education. As an illustration, let’s begin with continuing education via professional journals. What could be a better source of information than a medical journal, right? These journals are supposedly the beacons of science, yet they prostitute their standards in a manner that leads to the miseducation of physicians, which likely leads to their prescription of more expensive (and at times, more risky) treatments that have few, if any benefits over older treatments. Case in Point: Journal of Clinical Psychiatry. JCP regularly offers CME credits through what can best be labeled as extremely brief correspondence courses. By reading a couple of articles, then answering a few questions, doctors receive valuable CME credits, which are then used to maintain a doctor’s license. JCP is far from the only journal which participates in this practice. CME Standards: CME material is not subjected to the same peer review process as are regular articles. Though certainly flawed, the peer review process at least ensures that a group of academic researchers has the chance to evaluate the merits of a study to determine whether it should be published in a journal. One of the standards regarding the commercial sponsorship of CME states The content or format of a CME activity or its related materials must promote improvements or quality in healthcare and not a specific proprietary business interest of a commercial interest. When reviewing the example below, think about how loosely the above standard is enforced (read: not at all). An Example -- Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) : In the February 2007 supplement to the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, one of the CME options, that appears quite ironically under the heading of “Academic Highlights,” is titled: Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation: Potential New Treatment for Resistant Depression. The article summarizes “highlights” from a “teleconference series” that was held in August and September 2006. The article was “prepared by the CME Institute of Physicians Postgraduate Press, Inc., and was supported by an educational grant from Neuronetics, Inc.” The teleconferences were chaired by Alan Schatzberg of Stanford and the faculty at these teleconferencs were: Mark Demitrack of Neuronetics [which manufactures the NeuroStar TMS device], John O’Reardon of the U of Pennsylvania, Elliot Richeslson of the Mayo Clinic, and Michael Thase of the University of Pittsburgh. Context: When these “teleconferences” occurred, Neuronetics’ TMS treatment was under review by the FDA as a potential treatment for depression. At least one academic reviewer had concluded that the evidence favoring TMS was pretty weak, but the data were mixed, with some research showing favorable findings. Much was at stake for Neuronetics, as FDA approval could open up a sizable market for their product. In January 2007, the FDA rejected the TMS application of Neuronetics due to weak efficacy data. Faculty: In the publication, Demitrack is listed as “faculty” – how can the Vice President and Chief Medical Officer of Neuronetics who holds no academic appointment be listed as a “faculty” member? Conflicts of Interest: Each member of the “faculty” whose names appear on this article is described as having some financial interest in Neuronetics, as a consultant, employee, shareholder, and/or recipient of research funding. Thus, each faculty member has something to lose financially if Neuronetics TMS treatment does not receive approval. Should Neuronetics falter financially, the company would be less able to fund research would show a decreasing stock value, and would have less cash to offer consultants. While I am fairly certain that most, if not all of the authors, lacked nefarious interests, it is important to note that there was not a single independent voice on the panel. In CME articles such as this, however, this is just par for the course. Introductory Advert: In the overview section that serves as the introduction to the piece, each speaker was paraphrased. Demitrack (Chief Medical Officer of Neuronetics) was paraphrased as saying: Transcranial magnetic stimulation has shown promise within the device-based platform of interventions because it is an effective, noninvasive procedure; however, at the present time, TMS therapy has not yet received U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval. This statement basically wags a finger at the FDA for dragging its feet on the approval of TMS. Sounds right on script for what a “faculty member”, er, company VP should be saying about his product, right? Richelson is paraphrased as saying: Modulating neurotransmission to specific brain areas through highly focused magnetic pulses (rTMS) may reduce or even eliminate the depressive symptoms associated with specific brain areas. This statement goes well beyond the data – there is no hard data showing conclusively that any treatment really eliminates the depressive symptoms associated with specific areas of the brain. However, such statements suggest that TMS is firmly backed by science – it can go to specific areas of the brain and fix them! Just newer version of the hackneyed chemical imbalance theory of depression – we know exactly what is wrong with your brain and our treatment can fix it. Same story, different treatment. Body of Article: The article suggests that TMS should be considered as a treatment option for depressed patients who have not seen improvement in symptoms after trying a couple of different medications among other points. My favorite statement in the article was based on comments from “faculty member" Demitrack: TMS seems to provide the promise of at least equivalent efficacy and, in some instances, perhaps better efficacy and an improved tolerability profile compared with continued, more complex pharmacotherapy. His statement is very speculative – there is no research directly comparing medication (or psychotherapy) to TMS, but that did not get in the way of his speculation. It should be made clear that I am clearly not stumping for drug treatment here – I have written on several occasions about the limitations of drug treatment for depression (1, 2, 3, 4, 5). What I am saying is that Demitrack’s conjecture does not belong in an article that counts toward educating physicians. Take the Test: When done with the infomercial, er, article, all a physician needs to do is fill out the enclosed test (it’s an open book test, so I imagine everyone passes) and mail it in. Physicians can even complete the test online. Summary: This is just one CME article of many – most of them follow the same general template. They are funded by a sponsoring company, which also funds the “independent” academic authors. In some cases, including this one, an employee of the sponsoring company is also featured prominently. A medical writer may then write up much or all of the article. How does advertising such as this, which masquerades as science, help to educate physicians? Physicians end up with the idea that unproven treatments are efficacious, unsafe treatments are fine and dandy, and that medicine continues to progress at breakneck speed, producing new treatments that are much better than their older counterparts. And this helps patients… HOW?

Tags: treatment, article, tms, cme, style

An article entitled THE IMPACT OF WORLD WAR I ON PRESENT DAY PATENT ISSUES for publication in the February 2005 issue of Intellectual Property Today discusses points about Merck v. Integra. Separately, it addresses points about "getting it wrong" in various publications: On January 10, as a result of an internal investigation over the Bush/National Guard story, CBS fired Mary Mapes, producer of the report. Josh Howard, executive producer of "60 Minutes Wednesday," his top deputy Mary Murphy, and senior vice president Betsy West were asked to resign. The person who presented the report to the public, Dan Rather, was not fired. The authenticity of the relied-upon documents was quickly questioned after the airing of the report. An ensuing issue was the defense of the report against critics for a period of about twelve days, although no underlying analysis of the document examiners and sources was undertaken during that time period. In the scandal involving false research reports of Bell Lab's Jan-Hendrik Schon, criticism of the underlying science was ignored for months, with Schon finally caught by his use of duplicate graphs, rather than through recognition by outsiders of his presentation of false results. Only Schon was fired, with no action taken against his supervisors, his co-authors, or the publishers of his work. Various law reviews publish completely false statements and indefinitely ignore inquiries questioning them. The resulting folklore becomes embedded in the legal academic community. ***** Speaking of law reviews, many discuss the Merck v. Integra case. In 30 Wm. Mitchell L. Rev. 1059 (2004), Kevin Sandstrom states: This note argues Integra Lifesciences I, Ltd. v. Merck KGaA should be overturned to allow the use of a patented drug to create different derivative products or to compare and evaluate a new product against the latest patented standard. Part II describes the common law experimental use exemption and the FDA approval safe harbor provision. n11 Part III reviews the facts, holding, and dissent in Integra. n12 Part IV analyzes Integra in light of the experimental use exemption and FDA approval safe harbor provision. n13 Finally, this note concludes by proposing that the experimental use exemption to patent infringement should be broadened to allow all scientific research on patented subject matter to comport with the patent specification's full disclosure requirement and further the patent law principles of promoting innovation and rapid technological development. n14 In 2004 Wis. L. Rev. 81, Katherine J. Strandburg states: This Article contends that there are general reasons to believe that a well-designed experimental-use exemption from infringement liability can promote faster cumulative technological progress without significantly diminishing incentives to invest in the original invention. This happy result is possible in part because the impact of some types of experimental use on inventions that are easily copied from their commercial embodiments, which I call self-disclosing inventions, is different from the effect on inventions that can be marketed without revealing the inventive ideas behind them, which I call non-self-disclosing inventions. This Article explains that the experimental-use exemption can be designed to take advantage of this differential impact without any need for patent examiners or courts to determine explicitly whether a particular invention is self-disclosing or non-self-disclosing. (...) This Article supports Mueller's proposal [76 Wash. L. Rev. 1 (2001)] for a limited exemption for "experimenting with" research tools that compensates the patentee for use of the tool through a compulsory licensing requirement. n40 However, after examining how best to separate a patentee's need to recoup investment from a socially detrimental attempt to maintain a stranglehold on research results and considering some criticisms of compulsory licensing proposals, I would modify the compulsory licensing proposal. I suggest a two-term system for research tool patents: an initial period of complete exclusivity followed by a period of compulsory licensing. *** Rochelle Dreyfuss in 46 Ariz. L. Rev. 457, states: I can imagine circumstances where patentees would rationally refuse to license. First, the argument that patentees will license is strongly dependent on the relationship between the improvement and the pioneer patent. Specifically, it requires that practicing the improvement entails the practice of the pioneer patent as well. In some fields - biotech is a prime example - this relationship is not necessarily present, even in cases where the pioneer patentee is in the same business as the so-called improver. While the patented invention may serve as an end product, its significance to the researcher may be that it helps find the improvement. Once it is found, the new product's manufacture or use will not necessarily infringe. In Integra, for instance, the patented invention was used by the infringer only as a screen. Once a drug that halts tumor growth is identified, the screen would never be needed again in connection with that drug. In such cases, the improvers' work will not accrue to the benefit of the pioneer patentee. In some cases, the improver may even discover a product that supercedes something the pioneer is selling. Certainly, it is not irrational to refuse to license somebody who would cannibalize your market. Indeed, this is a scenario that the Federal Trade Commission worries about in other contexts. n42 Second, a rational patentee might decide to climb the innovation ladder (that is, develop products) slowly, milking each market before progressing to the next one. Licensing others could interfere with this plan. Again, this concern is familiar. It has surfaced in patent cases from time to time. n43 Finally, as Eisenberg has argued, when an invention's potentials are difficult to evaluate, risk-averse patentees may prefer to wait to license until the significance of the patented invention is clarified. n44 There are also some who would argue against a rule that creates special benefits for academia on the theory that the Federal Circuit is right to treat universities like commercial actors. Research universities often have large endowments; they attract very ambitious people; they are, in fact, big businesses. Again, I do not agree. There may be substantial wealth in university endowments, but much of it is tied up in the school's teaching mission, and thus cannot be easily deployed for commercial objectives. Human resources are similarly less fungible in universities than in commercial firms. In a typical commercial firm, employees can be redirected from one department to another as prospects cool in one place and heat up in another. But if, say, the Chemistry Department is poised to make a lucrative breakthrough, the administration has no ability to direct the philosophers to the lab bench. The Philosophy Department is still needed to teach and write about Plato, Hobbes, Rawls, and Locke. (...) Of course, my approach also has problems. Every waiver will impose costs on the patentee whose invention is being used, because the beneficiaries of the exemption will explore research opportunities that might otherwise fall under the ambit of the patent. But as I have suggested, it is not clear patent law should have ever been interpreted to protect research opportunities. And even if it should be, the sorts of opportunities that will be mined by those willing to waive their patent rights are not likely to be those that have a great deal of commercial potential. Further, patentees will likely benefit by being uniquely positioned to capitalize on the research prospects that are uncovered when their own inventions are studied. Another question is whether anyone would ever file a waiver. Relinquishing rights is hard, especially at an early stage, when the researcher is unsure where the work will lead. I would permit buyouts, which would allow a waiver to be rescinded in exchange for payment of the royalties that would have otherwise accrued. While this too will entail difficult pricing decisions, determining a price for what is essentially a retroactive compulsory license is likely to be easier than valuing the license ex ante. Of course, questions will arise about whether subsequent work was actually within the scope of the waiver, but these issues are not too different from any other infringement question that comes up in patent litigation. The university setting will also create some difficulties. Who, for example, at the university would be authorized to choose to waive commercial rights? Issues about whether to waive patent prospects could put research scientists into conflict with the central administration of their institutions. In sum, mine is far from a perfect plan. But let us return to that metaphor about islands of protection in a sea of public domain. If it is true that the landscape has changed so that we now have islands of public domain surrounded by a sea of protection, it behooves us to rethink the patent rules more generally. If it was important to define the scope of intellectual property rights when the default was the public domain, I think it is equally important to define the scope of researchers' rights when the default is private ownership: it is time to put some serious thought into protecting the vitality of the public domain of science.

Tags: patent, invention, research, patentee, exemption

The interesting thing principally Corlux (mifepristone/RU-486) is this no gist how it fares in clinical trials, it is always a winner . Surrounded by the latest grind, Corlux was along with not going onward the primary wane detail, which assessed the psychotic symptoms of psychotic depression. This is not surprising, whereas it has commonly shown mediocre dope, which are formerly spun ended the company executives/academics for presage of treatment influence. Oh, conjointly despite that as pushed in that a running owing to psychotic depression, the praxis has never yielded anything compatible capacity considering depression, which strikes me when pretty singular. Dr. Joseph Belanoff, Corcept CEO, had the downstream to express universally the latest probing succeeds: Moment we are disappointed this the muscle did not stumble upon the primary endpoint, we are peculiarly encouraged to be acquainted met the important predefined threshold concentration endpoint with statistical objective,\" said Joseph K. Belanoff, M.D., Corcept's Chief Executive Officer. \"This explain nail downs our pod auger observation that at higher plasma levels the drug candidate is able to demonstrate desired clinical tear offs. Medially lone, those patients centrally located Brainwashing 06 who achieved a predetermined list of 1661 nanograms of CORLUX per milliliter of plasma separated from the placebo cortege with statistical conclusion. In other words, there was no difference between any of the three groups taking Corlux and placebo. None. So it appears that they started data dredging (e.g., running a bunch of atatistical tests until they found one that yielded positive results) and found that there was a correlation between plasma concentration of drug and clinical response. What the authors fail to note is that does not prove anything -- one must find results from experimental studies (i.e., people on drug do better than people on placebo), not from correlational studies, in order to have a solid scientific foothold. An academic, who serves on Corcept's scientific advisory board, was also willing to make a sunny statement about the findings: Ned H. Kalin, M.D., Hedberg Professor and Chair of the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Wisconsin, said, "The correlation between plasma levels of drug and response rates found in this trial is very exciting. The results of this study show that when psychotically depressed patients achieve a threshold concentration of CORLUX in their system, a rapid and sustained clinical response is likely. This is a strong demonstration of a drug effect in an illness that is potentially devastating and difficult to treat." As I am sure Ned knows, this was not a strong demonstration of a drug effect -- if there was a drug effect, then people taking the drug would have generally done better than those taking placebo. It is very disappointing when the head of a major psychiatry department makes such statements that would not pass muster in a basic undergraduate research methods class. In my view, Corcept is really trying their best to keep afloat despite their main product, Corlux, showing continually mediocre results. Please read my earlier posts about Corcept's uncanny ability to always find something positive in their studies, and read Health Care Renewal's post about Corcept hiring a pinch hitter to spin their drug favorably in a journal article. Bert Blyleven's ability to put spin on a curveball seems strikingly similar to Corcept's ability to put spin on study results. cialis generic cialis cheap cialis generic viagra online

Tags: drug, corcept, corlux, results, clinical