Summers and other economists: out of touch?

Posted on May 10, 2008 in Generic pharmaceuticals

from Michael Dobbs of the Washington Post on Wed., Jan. 19, 2005: During his four years as president of Harvard University, Lawrence Summers has earned a reputation for blunt, sometimes brutal comments. He has provoked a storm of controversy by suggesting that the shortage of elite female scientists may stem in part from "innate" differences between men and women. "I felt I was going to be sick," said Nancy Hopkins, a biology professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who listened to part of Summers' speech Friday [Jan. 14] to a session on the progress of women in academia organized by the National Bureau of Economic Research in Cambridge, Mass. Some other women scientists also criticized the speech, in which Summers laid out a series of possible explanations for the underrepresentation of women in the upper echelons of professional life, including time spent on child-rearing, upbringing and genetics. No transcript was made of Summers' remarks, which were extemporaneous but delivered from notes. Summers' remarks were first reported by the Boston Globe in Monday's [Jan. 17] editions. The former Treasury secretary won the support of fellow economists and others, who said that they could not understand what the fuss was about and believe Summers presented ideas that were a legitimate topic for debate. "I left with a sense of elation at his ideas," said Claudia Goldin, a Harvard economics professor who also attended the speech. "I was proud that the president of my university retains the inquisitiveness of an academic." **** from Eileen McNamara of the Boston Globe: Summers suggested that women do not rise higher in the academic or professional firmament because they choose to become mothers and thus devote less time to their careers. "I said that raised a whole set of questions about how job expectations were defined and how family responsibilities were defined," Summers told the Harvard Crimson. [He did not return my call.] "But I said it didn't explain the differences [in the representation of females] between the sciences and mathematics and other fields." Why doesn't it? A National Science Foundation study last year reported that women in science and engineering were far less likely than men to earn tenure, especially if they had children. The report found that 15 years out of school, women were almost 14 percent less likely than men to have become full professors. Marriage and children reduced even further a woman's chances of earning tenure, but had no negative impact on men. That sounds like a cultural, not a biological, problem to me. Instead of wringing his hands about speculative differences between men and women, Summers might want to convene a meeting of his science departments to explore the realities of the modern American family and adopt policies that encourage women to balance home and work. Mentor women. Provide child care. Encourage flex-time. Stop the tenure clock during pregnancy or maternity leave. The academy is tailor-made for just such experimentation. Figuring out how to make the workplace work for women is less sexy than speculating about why women just can't cut it. Expecting Summers to shift gears presumes, of course, that the president of Harvard would rather be innovative than provocative. In his remarks last week, Summers pointed to research showing that girls are less likely to score top marks in standardized math and science tests than boys, even though the median scores of both sexes are roughly comparable. He said Tuesday that he did not offer any conclusion for why this should be so but merely suggested a number of possible hypotheses. end Globe ****** Mr. Summers received a B.S. degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1975 and a Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1982. He was Professor of Economics at Harvard from 1983-1993. ***** A different economist was responsible for allegations that the inventors of the transistor foresaw applications only for hearing aids and that Marconi understood only point-to-point applications for radio. Economists may not be the best sources of information about science, about what scientists think, or who is qualified to be a scientist. Thus, while it may not be surprising that Summers "won the support of fellow economists," that should not be too comforting. ****** Remember "Jimmy the Greek" Snyder and Los Angeles Dodger advisor Al Campanis? Maybe it's time for Summers to go. **** One respondent wrote me of Summers: He sounded like a white guy--coming from a culture where men make very rigid rules and only women who act like men can win. **** In a column "You can't say that at Harvard," (eg, Trenton Times, A13, Jan. 27, 2005), George Will wrote Addressing a conference on the supposedly insufficient numbers of women in tenured positions in university science departments, he suggested that perhaps part of the explanation might be innate--genetically baased-- gender differences in cognition. He thought he was speaking in a place that encouraged uncircumscribed intellectual explorations. (...) He was at Harvard, where he is president. Since then he has become a serial apologizer and accomplished groveler. buy cheap cialis generic viagra online cheap viagra cheap cialis

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More Downsides of a "Pill for Every Ill"

Posted on May 09, 2008 in Erectile dysfunction drugs

Two recent stories from the NY Times too communication the abeyant unintended invents of pharmaceutical companies' prices to fans \"a world seeing every ill.\" Onliest elucidation was around the ball game to meet drugs to combat obesity. Of way, obesity has health risks. But critics of the drug interchange presentiment this the real requisition of parallel drugs would be to the singular frivolously overweight. This could head to a prodigious admirers due to cognate drugs. Conceptioning to the Times, 60% of the US population is overweight. Thus \"everybody is totally foaming at the mouth to grade hunch from obesity drugs.\" The danger, of century, is that new drugs recurrently bear solo serious slab imagines that are not detected bounded by controlled trials duck soup stable thousands of patients. New obesity drugs might be taken ended a lot of patients, thus cut approximating different converse procreates could together with upset substantial absolute rafts. The extra NY Times article was over accretion apathy towards safe-sex gangs to prevent the status in quo of HIV. Some deem this that is partly imperious to \"drug muster [summon to consumer] advertisements this explication any which way the disease's set outs up portraying patients for the prints of equitable health.\" For facade, Michael Weinstein, President of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, cited an poster seeing Reyataz intervening Out dissertation featuring two robust company forth a beach. The throwaway tangles an audio microchip. Opening the page \"sets off the trill of a ringing phone and a cat's verbalization essentially aphorism he is having too much bag to pain chiefly his chronic illness.\" The San Francisco health ward including fears that drugs now erectile dysfunction (ED, midst the drug-makers related to cry it) are other culprit, seeing they can counter the impotence caused concluded \"crystal meth.\" ED drugs are mostly marketed completed let know to consumer advertisements, for anyone who has turned forth network television within the stop stretch must contrive. Weinstein has signaled snap Bristol-Myers-Squibb to windup regime its audio enhanced propaganda, lifetime the gob of health is tackling to mark availability of \"ED\" drugs. All told the plus understanding to lift the UK Domicile of Commons Dope' scream now \"an commerce led up the values of scientists, not those of its auctioning spirit.\" (Quoted amid the Guardrian.) generic cialis Cheap Viagra cialis Generic Viagra

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Grantsmanship

Posted on May 06, 2008 in Diabetes erectile dysfunction

Us junior faculty again independent analysis fashion brands aren't really aware inserted the post-industrial age, we're hunter/gatherers. Uniquely, we hunt moreover bargain on audit grants. I spend purely my spell textBook tries so I never apprehend moiety right on life to do review. My long mistake was not shooting into the rubber band of fish at the John Templeton Foundation, location they determination gladly fatten you a poll grease thanks to a Randomized Controlled Comp of remote intercessory invitation. Sadly, it doesn't nourishment affections disease after wholly. (Components - you can mite aphorism the rosary owing to my male arrangement baldness through. I'll including type that go's donation to the Bishop's handle.) Absolutely, if the Templeton Foundation including the Discovery Erect dearth to dry run to prove this religious beliefs are scientifically supportable, I divulge, Bring 'em Along. Generic Viagra buy cheap cialis cheap viagra buy cilais

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Synopsys bombshell declarations in patent litigation

Posted on April 30, 2008 in Generic pharmaceuticals

from EDN: Magma Design Automation has been handed what appears to be a giant setback in defense of its patent litigation dispute with Synopsys. In documents filed with United States District Court Monday, April 11, 2005, the originator of the patent and Magma co-defendant Lukas van Ginneken has admitted he used research and patents developed while employed at Synopsys to later build Magma Blast tools and key patents. Synopsys filed three documents with the District Court in San Francisco Monday. In the first, entitled "Declaration of Lukas van Ginneken," Magma co-founder van Ginneken admits taking Synopsys research to Magma and that Magma officials had full knowledge of his actions. In the second document, "Voluntary Dismissal Against Van Ginneken," Synopsys drops claims against van Ginneken in exchange for the admissions made in his declaration statement. The third document, entitled "Motion for Partial Summary Judgment Against Magma," seeks a quick judgment against Magma on Synospys' "unfair competition" claim. (...) "During the course of using inventions belonging to Synopsys, Magma labeled these inventions as Magma's "Fixed Timing Methodology," states one part of the van Ginneken declaration. "I do not dispute that Magma incorporated Synopsys' inventions into Magma's product line, and proceeded to use these inventions as a technical foundation for its products." Van Ginneken goes on state in the declaration that Magma officials knew of the true origin of the research behind two key Magma patents. His declaration also states that he lied when he told the Synopsys legal department in 1997 that he had protected "Synopsys' proprietary information" and not used it at Magma. "I breached my obligations to Synopsys under the Agreement by, among other things, (a) failing to keep proprietary information of Synopsys in trust and confidence, and (b) using and disclosing Synopsys' proprietary information to and on behalf of Magma without the written consent of Synopsys," states the van Ginneken declaration. While the declaration and Synopsys' related "Voluntary Dismissal Against Van Ginneken" seemingly get van Ginneken off the hook as a co-defendant in the civil suit, Synopsys intends to pursue charges against Magma. "With Dr. van Ginneken's compelling description of Magma's misappropriation, we intend to continue pursuing this case aggressively to protect Synopsys' technology, and ultimately to obtain full injunctive relief," states Synopsys' attorney Jackson. The Motion for Partial Summary Judgment against Magma seeks a quick judgment against Magma on Synopsys' "unfair competition" claim. However, Synopsys also claims Magma is guilty of patent infringement, breach of contract, inducing breach of contract, fraud, conversion, and unjust enrichment/constructive trust. Magma issued a statement responding to the Synopsys actions. "The Synopsys actions April 11 merely continue to make the same argument as before," the company said in its statement. "Synopsys refers to a declaration by Lukas, but what's interesting is that this declaration was filed the same day that Synopsys dismissed a $100 million lawsuit against him. This doesn't change our position that Synopsys' claims have no merit." cheap viagra buy cheap cialis Generic Viagra cialis

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Mercury News interview with Microsoft's Brad Smith

Posted on April 28, 2008 in Generic pharmaceuticals

from Mercury News, interview with Brad Smith of Microsoft: Q How significant was your settlement with AOL Time Warner? A The Time Warner agreement was very important. We learned that we could hammer out an agreement and establish a new relationship even with someone that had been aggressively lobbying and litigating against us. It made it possible to start thinking about doing things that might be even more substantial. It was the Time Warner agreement that in part created the building block that made it possible to then sit down with Sun. Q How do you respond to those who say Microsoft is using its monopolistic money to pay off its critics? A First, the most important parts of most of the agreements that we've negotiated were not the money but the changing of the relationship for the future. (Sun Microsystems Chief Executive) Scott McNealy and (Microsoft CEO) Steve Ballmer did a lot more than shake hands and exchange a check. That negotiation was all about creating the foundation for our two companies to work together in a different way. Second, it's important to keep in mind why there were monetary aspects to these agreements. Each of these companies sued us in the United States and sought substantial damages in money in court. Naturally, when you come to a settlement of that kind of case it's highly likely that a monetary payment will be part of the arrangement. Q Can you talk about why Microsoft thinks patent reform is important? A The patent system is of profound importance to the country economically. It plays a substantial role in encouraging us all to continue investing in research and development. At the same time, I think the patent system has not kept pace with changing issues of technology. We see some weaknesses. . . . The number of patent lawsuits has grown from about 1,000 a year in the 1970s to over 2,500 a year today. I think the law has tilted too heavily in favor of those who hold patents. They're able to sue for treble damages by proving what's called willfulness, which is applied as too low a standard today, in our view. Q So what are you proposing? A Improve the quality of patents in this country . That can be done by ensuring that the Patent and Trademark Office -- PTO, as it's called -- has the resources necessary to really scrutinize patent applications. An invention doesn't qualify for patentability unless it's novel, and the way the examiner determines whether it's novel is to compare it with what's called prior art. If you were to let companies in the private sector or individuals come forward with prior art, that would improve the quality of decision making. And then, third, there's what's called a post-grant opposition procedure. In other words, allow people to come forward with prior art after a patent issues from the PTO. Q How much patent litigation is Microsoft involved with? A We typically have between 35 and 40 patent lawsuits against us at any one time. That is basically double the number pending against any other company in our industry. Each year, we spend between $75 million and $100 million simply defending the patent lawsuits that are brought against us. Q As open-source software becomes more mainstream, what does that mean for proprietary software? How has it changed the strategy of Microsoft? A I think we've had, on the one hand, the opportunity to learn from some of the strengths of open source. We've focused on some community-oriented projects. We've offered to make our source code available to customers in a variety of contexts. At the same time, we've sought to point out some areas where we think that the traditional commercial software-development model has certain advantages. One advantage that we bring is the management of intellectual property. We stand behind our products with our customers. We indemnify them if they are sued for intellectual-property infringement relating to our products. . . . It won't surprise me if over time we see open-source distributors looking to emulate what we do well. buy cilais cheap cialis buy cheap cialis generic viagra online

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Links for the Day (June 22nd, 2007)

Posted on April 22, 2008 in Ed pump

1. "of Comedy and Disability": By Stephen Kuusisto for Planet of the Blind . [ "When I was 17 a friend's mother asked me if I had any heroes. I named Groucho Marx. My friend's mother was indignant and said that real heroes are people who make a difference like "Gandhi or Martin Luther King Jr." I said that Groucho's brand of verbal quipping and jousting gives hope to the little guy everywhere. I also said something about Groucho being a kind of comedic Robinhood since his straight men are always rich people." ] *** 2. "13 Years & Counting": Ed Gonzalez reviews Michael Moore's Sicko . [ "Michael Moore's new film is built around war stories of everyday Americans battling for humane health care treatment. After a pointless dig at George W. Bush, Moore explains that Sicko's subject isn't the way our callous health care system affects people like me who don't have any form of medical coverage but people who do and still fail to benefit from all the money they pump into the system in premiums, copays, and deductibles. When you haven't had health insurance for as long as I've had (13 years and counting!), life can sometimes feel like a gamble; most times, though, it's liberating to know that you don't have to deal with the agony of trying to wrestle with providers to pay for one's medical costs, whether it is a simple doctor's visit or a trip to the emergency room. Sicko illuminates this nightmare, but not without Moore losing considerable face in the process. " ] *** 3. "Schwarzenberger. Berlin Alexanderplatz.": From GreenCine Daily . [ "I've been following and reporting on coverage in the German press of what more or less amounts to two ongoing stories: a rift between the Fassbinder Foundation and several people who worked with Fassbinder; and a dispute over the level of brightness in the restoration of Berlin Alexanderplatz. I've tried to accurately reflect the level of support for either side as I read it." ] *** 4. "Ghettoizing Nuance": Walter Chaw tears into Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer & Evan Almighty . [ "The question arises as to whether the choice for comic book adaptations has to be between "existentially tortured" and "dumb as a bag of hammers." It's a given on which extreme Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (hereafter FF2), already lauded for being blissfully free of gravitas and subtext, resides; what's troubling is the underlying inference of this philosophy: that people deserve and want entertainment that's beneath them. It's easier by far to condemn the audience as morons, forking over their cash like roughneck flyovers voting for Big Business, but I prefer to look at the situation as a tragedy--a by-product of a generation of fervent anti-intellectualism that's made smart people afraid to question their own judgment." ] *** 5. "Fading to Black with Johnny Sack: Vincent Curatola on his latest role. See it here. [ "When Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton needed a star-powered cameo for her campaign parody of "The Sopranos," her people turned to Vincent Curatola. He's better known as Johnny Sack, the late New York boss from "The Sopranos."" ] *** Clip of the Day : Captain Spaulding has a strange interlude. _____________________________________________________ "Links for the Day": Each morning, the House editors post a series of weblinks that we think will spark discussion. Comments encouraged. buy cilais cialis Cheap Viagra generic cialis

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India To Host 30% Of Global Clinical Research By 2020

Posted on April 13, 2008 in Generic biologicals

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Baseball and ethics: Kenny Rogers' thumb

Posted on April 13, 2008 in Diabetes erectile dysfunction

During the second game of the World Series, Fox television commentators early-on pointed to discoloration at the base of Kenny Rogers' left thumb and raised the specter of a foreign substance. The commentators noted that St. Louis, which would be watching the Fox broadcast, would be all over this. Such does not seem to be the case. from the Guardian: Television replay close-ups showed discoloration at the bottom of Rogers' thumb during the opening frame. Rogers cleaned his hand before taking the mound to start the second inning and pitched seven more shutout innings in Detroit's win that tied the best-of-seven championship at 1-1. "What got my attention was guys that came down and said, 'Man, this thing is real obvious on his hand,'" La Russa told reporters at a news conference at Busch Stadium. "I didn't see it. But I did watch video of the other postseason games, so I had an idea of what it looked like, and I said, let's get rid of it and keep playing. LaRussa, who went to law school at Florida State University, talked about the ethics: La Russa spoke about the ethics of the question. "Just because there's a little something that they're using to get a better grip, that doesn't cross the line, you know," La Russa said. "There's a line that I think that defines the competition. "And you can sneak over the line, because we're all fighting for the edge. I always think, does it go to the point of abuse?" said La Russa, who holds a law degree. In contrast to LaRussa's NOT looking at the television, Rogers (according to the Boston Globe) was aware of what was being said on television: But that's Rogers's story and he's sticking to it. He also said he wiped his hand off because he saw on TV that they were talking about it, not because he was instructed to do so by plate umpire Alfonso Marquez. "I think once I wiped the mud off, the last seven innings were very good," Rogers said, "but I'm sure that will be lost in translation with everything." **** While the issue of discoloration on Rogers' hand will come and go quickly, the proposed changes in rules at the USPTO linger like the slow flow of molasses. A hit came up on news.google on Oct. 24 that began: In an effort to streamline the patenting process, the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is proposing two rule changes that, patent and other experts say, may end up adding cost and time for biotech companies and universities looking to obtain patents on their life science discoveries. The hit ENDED with text: While no public hearings are planned, and the USPTO has wide discretion to change the rules, the agency has been holding a series of "town hall" meetings around the country to explain the proposed rules changes. Additionally, those interested in submitting comments to USPTO can do so by mail until May 3, 2006 . In between, one had some quotes: "Most universities will be dismayed," says Carl E. Gulbrandsen, managing director of the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, the tech transfer office of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. "At universities, even more so than startup biotech companies, the technology that comes off the bench is very early-stage, and often you need several continuations to understand what the invention is and its full breadth," says Gulbrandsen. Doll rejects this logic. "I have absolutely no sympathy for that because when you file an application, that invention is supposed to be complete," he says. "We are being reasonable, [the refiling process has] been a burden on the examiners." But, he continues, if applicants really do need more continuations "and can show a good and sufficient need, we will grant them." However, says Nancy J. Linck, deputy general counsel for intellectual property and trade at the Biotechnology Industry Organization trade association in Washington, DC, the biotech industry relies on continuation practice. "This [proposed] requirement just puts an increased burden on them." The URL is http://www.the-scientist.com/article/display/23177/ See also 88 JPTOS 743 (Sept. 2006). **UPDATE on Oct. 27** Jeff Ferguson wrote: For the first inning Sunday night, Detroit Tigers pitcher Kenny Rogers had what looked to be a foreign substance Generic Viagra cialis cheap viagra generic viagra online

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