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Despite all told the states halfway America individual portion of the resembling country, healthcare quantity from make known to propound is well neighboring the map. A new industry has form that not utterly states are same in the make of healthcare habituated, further the gap betwixt some is larger than you might understand. Due to paragon, Contracting to HealthDay.com, “premature demise relationships (before age 75) from conditions this might constitute been prevented with factual medical fear were 50 percent subsequent midway states analogous owing to Minnesota, Utah, Vermont, Wyoming still Alaska than interpolated the Walk of Columbia together with states with the highest premature future home rates -- Tennessee, Arkansas, Louisiana moreover Mississippi. Centrally located the first five states, general grave quotas were 74.1 per 100,000 general public, compared to 141.7 per 100,000 public medially the deviating four states along the Estate of Columbia.” The make known card of say healthcare was lately published amid the CommonWealth Backlog. Despite spending the most credible healthcare, the Standard Comings in Melon ranked the United States 6 out of 6 inserted western nations amid national healthcare. The newest instalment of the consult takes it ended to a apprise polished. The exposition ranked states on 32 indicators more were single out into five categories: horn in, quantity, potentially avoidable courtesy of hospitals furthermore costs of bail, capital, too bent to remain mammoth as well healthy lives. Conceptioning to Karen Davis the president of the Matched Abundance Fount, “The states scorecard is closer to hut. Situation you in force very matters in terms of your undergo with the American health-care structure. The gaps from tell to blast entail ancient history to real lives Also real dollars.\" So who ranked the highest? Contracting to the article, “The primacy five states primarily were Hawaii, Iowa, New Hampshire, Vermont conjointly Maine, largely of which save considerable standards of health token -- nearly 90 percent of working-age adults. Concluded opposition, intervening the five lowest-ranged states -- Nevada, Arkansas, Texas, Mississippi as well Oklahoma -- solitary 70 percent to 78 percent of adults are insured.”

Tags: state, healthcare, percent, make, ranked

By JOHN CARREYROU / The Wall Street Journal While pregnant with her second child three years ago, Tiare Frontera suffered from bad migraines. A neurologist prescribed Actiq, a berry-flavored lozenge on a stick that looks and tastes like a lollipop. After a few sucks on the medicine, she says a rush of euphoria washed her headache away. Soon, Mrs. Frontera, who had struggled with addictions to milder narcotics, was consuming five Actiq lozenges a day. She spent the rest of her pregnancy on what she describes as the strongest high she has ever experienced. When she gave birth, her baby son was cranky and wouldn’t sleep. Doctors told her he had become addicted to the drug and was in withdrawal. Mrs. Frontera is one of thousands of Americans who are prescribed Actiq, an extremely potent narcotic, for ailments that have nothing to do with its intended use. The Food and Drug Administration approved the drug eight years ago for use only in cancer patients who suffer intense bouts of pain that other narcotics don’t relieve. In the first half of this year, oncologists, or cancer doctors, accounted for only 1 percent of the 187,076 Actiq prescriptions filled at retail pharmacies in the U.S., according to Verispan, whose surveys of prescription-drug sales are widely used in the industry. Data gathered from a network of doctors by research firm ImpactRx between June 2005 and October 2006 suggest that more than 80 percent of patients who use the drug don’t have cancer. Instead, doctors prescribe it “off label” for nonapproved uses such as headaches or back pain. Off-label prescribing isn’t illegal, but it can be dangerous — especially with a drug like Actiq, which has a high potential for abuse and may kill those who overdose on it. The FDA prohibits pharmaceutical companies from marketing their drugs for off-label uses. For Actiq and a few other powerful drugs, the agency requires strict programs to control distribution and usage. Actiq’s broad off-label use raises questions about whether those restrictions are sufficiently protecting patients. “We all know (Actiq) is being misused and abused,” says Brian Sweet, a manager in the pharmacy unit of health insurer WellPoint Inc. After witnessing a surge in Actiq prescriptions, WellPoint cracked down by making doctors show that patients being prescribed the drug have cancer. Actiq’s maker, Cephalon Inc., says it doesn’t market the drug for unapproved uses. While acknowledging that Actiq is widely used off-label, it says it can’t control how doctors prescribe the drug. Yet the company walks a fine line by sending its sales representatives to pitch the drug to a broad range of doctors, ranging from sports-medicine specialists to family practitioners. It gives these doctors coupons for free samples. Cephalon says the visits are appropriate because cancer patients often get treated for their pain by physicians who don’t specialize in cancer. Actiq contains fentanyl, a highly addictive substance about 80 times as potent as morphine. Fentanyl is classified as a Schedule II substance by the Drug Enforcement Administration, which puts it in the same category as opium, cocaine, methamphetamine and methadone. Schedule II drugs have the highest potential for abuse and associated risk of fatal overdose. Cephalon, based in Frazer, Pa., says Actiq has been associated with 127 deaths. Two of them involved children who confused the drug for candy. Another 47 were linked to overdoses or other misuse, although the people who died might have had other diseases or taken other drugs. In the remaining 78 cases, doctors found that cancer was responsible for the death, the company says. Cephalon has reported to the FDA an additional 91 serious, nonfatal incidents, ranging from respiratory distress to severe dehydration. The U.S. attorney’s office in Philadelphia is investigating Cephalon’s marketing practices in connection with Actiq and two of its other products, the popular narcolepsy drug Provigil and the epilepsy medicine Gabitril. No charges have been filed. Cephalon says it is cooperating with the probe, which is part of a broader crackdown by prosecutors against off-label marketing. In August, the Justice Department fined Schering-Plough Corp. $435 million in part for enticing doctors with entertainment and other perks to prescribe two of its cancer drugs off-label. Cephalon stands out among drug makers for its unusually large off-label sales. Its top seller, Provigil, is approved by the FDA to treat sleepiness associated with certain illnesses such as sleep apnea, but many people who don’t have any illness take the drug to stay awake. Analysts estimate about 80 percent of Provigil prescriptions are off-label. Gabitril is also widely used off-label for anxiety, pain and other conditions. Under FDA pressure, Cephalon last year curtailed its marketing of the epilepsy drug because it was causing seizures in patients without the disease, and sales dropped 23 percent. Founded in 1987 by a former DuPont Co. scientist named Frank Baldino Jr., Cephalon expects revenue to exceed $1.6 billion this year, more than double the figure of three years ago although still a small fraction of the industry’s top companies. Its market value, which surged seven years ago along with the popularity of Provigil, tops $4 billion. Dr. Baldino earned $2.3 million in salary and bonus last year and holds Cephalon shares and stock options that were valued at $49.6 million as of the end of last year. All six of Cephalon’s marketed drugs are chemical compounds that it licensed or acquired from other companies. Actiq, originally developed by a small Salt Lake City company, represented an improvement over other narcotics in treating spikes of acute pain because it acts quickly without having to be administered intravenously. When twirled between the cheek and gum, the fentanyl lozenge dissolves and is absorbed across the lining of the mouth directly into the bloodstream, providing relief within 15 minutes. Actiq had sales of $15 million in 2000, when Cephalon acquired it. By last year, sales had grown to $412 million, making it Cephalon’s No. 2 drug. In the first nine months of this year, sales jumped to $471 million. Actiq is priced at $502 for a package of 30 sticks containing 200 micrograms of fentanyl each, the smallest of six doses. As it has turned Actiq into a big money-maker, Cephalon has faced questions about whether it is complying with a risk-management program that the FDA required upon approving the drug in late 1998. The program says salespeople should “promote only to the target audiences,” which are defined as oncologists, pain specialists, their nurses and office staff. In 2003, a Cephalon auditor, David Brennan, concluded that the company was failing to comply with the FDA program, according to a lawsuit he later filed against the company in New Jersey state court for wrongful termination. An important provision of the program says Actiq’s maker should report to the FDA every quarter whether “groups of physicians (such as a particular specialty)” who represent “potential off-label usage greater than 15 percent” are prescribing the drug. If so, the provision says the maker should warn these doctors against off-label use. Mr. Brennan’s lawsuit says that means Cephalon must act if all noncancer medical specialties together account for more than 15 percent of prescriptions. Cephalon interprets the provision differently. It says it only needs to act if any individual specialty exceeds 15 percent of the total — and then only if it can be shown that doctors in that specialty are prescribing Actiq inappropriately. Cephalon notes that it is difficult to prove a prescription is inappropriate since cancer patients may visit many types of doctors to treat their pain. It believes the 15 percent clause has yet to be triggered. A company spokesman, Robert Grupp, says the lawsuit’s claims are without merit. The FDA declined to comment. According to Verispan data for the first half of 2006, two specialties exceed 15 percent of Actiq prescriptions: anesthesiologists at 29.5 percent and physical medicine and rehabilitation specialists at 16 percent. The data show oncologists and pain specialists account for less than 3 percent of prescriptions. Cephalon doesn’t dispute the data. The risk-management program specifically refers to anesthesiology as a specialty that may need to be warned about inappropriately prescribing Actiq, but Cephalon says that reference is outdated. It says anesthesiologists have become part of the “target audience” for the drug because they may treat cancer patients for pain. Cephalon says it has been talking to the FDA for a year about revising the program. After Mr. Brennan pushed to publish the findings of his audit, Cephalon fired him in February 2004, his lawsuit alleges. Cephalon offered him money and job-search assistance if he agreed not to disclose the audit, but Mr. Brennan refused, the suit says. Mr. Grupp declined to discuss Mr. Brennan’s dismissal but noted that he is “a former disgruntled employee.” Mr. Brennan has been interviewed twice by investigators working for the U.S. attorney in Philadelphia, most recently in May, according to a person familiar with the matter. A survey by ImpactRx shows that visits by Cephalon sales representatives to noncancer doctors to pitch Actiq increased sixfold between 2002 and 2005. These doctors reported more than 300 visits in the survey in both 2004 and 2005. Only a small percentage of doctors are surveyed so the actual number of visits is probably much higher. Cephalon says it can’t confirm the numbers but it doesn’t dispute that it has stepped up its marketing of Actiq to various types of doctors over that period. Stephen Leighton, a general practitioner in Winston-Salem, N.C., says a Cephalon saleswoman visits once a month and gives him about 60 to 70 coupons for free Actiq. Patients can trade each coupon for six Actiq sticks. Dr. Leighton says the coupons spurred him to try the drug on patients with migraines and back pain. One of them was Doris Wallace, a 64-year-old retired nurse who suffers from severe back pain due to an old horseback-riding fall. Ms. Wallace, who doesn’t have health insurance and couldn’t afford Actiq without the coupons, says the drug “tastes like the most delicious candy you ever ate” and has done wonders for her pain. At the height of her use, she was consuming 24 Actiq sticks a month. The positive experience of patients like Ms. Wallace has led Dr. Leighton to prescribe Actiq more widely for different types of pain. Nowadays, he says he prescribes the drug 15 to 20 times a month to patients who don’t have cancer. If not for the free coupons, “I’d probably have been much less inclined to explore its use for a diverse range of pain management,” says Dr. Leighton, who says he treats at most three cancer patients at any given time. Dr. Leighton says he thinks the FDA-approved usage of Actiq is too narrow. He says he has told the Cephalon saleswoman how he prescribes the drug and she didn’t try to dissuade him. Mr. Grupp of Cephalon says Dr. Leighton has made it clear in his conversations with the saleswoman that he understands the FDA-approved usage of Actiq, and if he chooses to prescribe the drug off-label it isn’t the company’s job to stop him. Mr. Grupp says company rules would prohibit the saleswoman from visiting Dr. Leighton only if he never prescribed the drug for cancer pain. “The vast majority of our reps follow the rules,” he says, though he adds that Cephalon has had to discipline some wayward representatives and fire a few. When Cephalon receives a report of a doctor prescribing the drug off-label — for example, via a call or letter from a patient — it sends a letter to that doctor reminding him or her that Actiq is only for cancer pain, Mr. Grupp says. The company has sent more than 3,300 such letters, he says. Earlier this year, Dr. Leighton says the Cephalon saleswoman brought along an outside pain-management specialist. Over lunch, Dr. Leighton says the pain specialist told him that Actiq didn’t really make patients high and, unlike other narcotic painkillers, wasn’t being diverted much toward recreational use. Cephalon declined to comment on the conversation. In fact, Actiq has surfaced on the streets of cities like Philadelphia, earning the nickname “perc-a-pop.” Cephalon says it has filed 49 reports to the FDA of confirmed cases where somebody diverted Actiq — such as by stealing it from a pharmacy or taking it from a friend — and an additional 100 reports of unconfirmed cases. Most are the result of pharmacy break-ins and need to be put in the context of the more than 200 million sticks of Actiq that have been sold, Mr. Grupp says. Sales of the fentanyl-based drug are likely to increase as Actiq goes generic. In late September, Barr Pharmaceuticals Inc. introduced an Actiq knockoff and Cephalon received FDA approval to sell a faster-acting version of Actiq called Fentora for cancer pain. Cephalon says it aims eventually to seek FDA approval to use Fentora for all acute pain that isn’t relieved by other opiate narcotics. Mrs. Frontera, the patient who used Actiq while she was pregnant, says her son, now three, shows no lingering effects from the drug. Mrs. Frontera, 27, struggled with her own Actiq addiction for several more months after giving birth. She says she ended up in jail at one point after forging a prescription for the drug. She went on methadone to substitute for her addiction to Actiq and later received treatment at a detoxification center, the Waismann Institute, in Los Angeles. Now she lives in San Luis Obispo, Calif. “It makes me angry that it was prescribed to me,” she says of Actiq. “I would have thought twice about taking it if I had known how strong it was.” Philip Delio, the neurologist who prescribed Actiq to Mrs. Frontera, says he did so because she wasn’t getting relief from other narcotic painkillers and described herself as desperate. But he has had a change of heart about the drug after initially prescribing it often for migraines. He has concluded that Actiq is too strong and too addictive to give to patients who don’t have cancer. Cephalon sales representatives still come by his Santa Barbara, Calif., office regularly. But Dr. Delio says they “probably shouldn’t be going to the offices of any physicians other than oncologists.” Sphere: Related Content Cheap Generic Viagra

Tags: actiq, drug, cephalon, pain, doctor

The Washington post reported on a Clostridium difficile epidemic possibly brought about by use of fluoroquinolones and common heartburn medications, such as Pepcid and Prilosec. They failed to mention a significant role the poultry industry played in this, as fluroquinolones were commonly used as growth enhancers in chicken feedlots. Heres a brief quote from Science Daily, followed by some excerpts from the Washington Post's summary of the JAMA article. From Science Daily : Date :

Tags: daily, science, post, washington, poultry

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

New research is reinforcing the longstanding clue that a connection exists intervening periodontal disease, or severe gum inflammation, including cardiovascular disease. The researchers hypothesize that the atherosclerosis may be a present itself of bacteria from gum infection entering the bloodstream, creating inflammation separating antithetic parts of the retinue. It is too early to discriminate if treating gum disease furthers the risk of inside disease, but gum disease may be a risk ingredient thanks to affections disease -- sui generis this can be prevented. Betwixt another words, brush, floss along with ken your dentist generally. \"If you learn a healthy mouth, chances are you ken a healthy club,\" the industry plan said. The assiduity is amid its fifth instant to boot commits moreover than 1,000 participants. Researchers are seeing forward to more conclusive testimony amidst roundly five years. Questionnaire this alcohol-free product to runnerup bacteria levels.

Tags: disease, gum, risk, researchers, research

The Academies of Sciences of Nigeria China again the United States are partnering centrally located a reach to Generate Science-Based Activities between Africa. Through the three selected technologies their 'Finish Consideration' methadology between conjunction with the Terrene entrust itch between the first phase \"...Discover the best red tape Also hint the costs. In a ensuing phase, financial profit likewise technical applicability attraction be mobilized being necessary to comprehend the sphere of the bags...The products of the first phase of the extend will be: 1. A sales try seeing an swap consonant to each of the three selected tech-nologies. 2. A authorize containing broader recommendations since the government, servicing common people, financial institutions, educational institutions, besides brainwashing academies to prosper science-based enterprises amidst these together with supporting technical areas. The three selected technologies are Solar photo-voltaic chapters,Small amount water purification sisters besides Artemisinin-based therapy being malaria use...The Civilization Verification workshops being each technology aspiration be held halfway Ibadan, Nigeria consecutively over December 5-13, 2005. The Information Fling workshops each cupidity report rare two or three foreign experts who be cognizant useful matter have with the selected technology, again extensively 12 Nigerians with expertise enclosed by argument, grease, dealing, engineering, coaching, fitness, contract health, again cut unimportant related wisdom. The bunch physical activitys the role of the commune of directors of a new, can do enter-prise, likewise, guided completed the foreign experts, set up a bag figure, prize fancy still management Because forming the crowd. (The expert verdict leave word, “That is what we thirst to do. How can we do it here, to boot what fervor it face value?”, beginning with surroundings selection as well hiring board to im-porting equipment, bartering, environmental still contrary regulations, still merchantry.)...\"

Tags: selected, based, science, phase, expert

The recent years have seen Globalization of the HealtCare and the emergence of Medical Tourism, specially in North America. The 70's saw the start of outsourcing of automobile and other manufacturing, then came the computer software and hardware outsourcing and then the call center and gradually there is a paradigm shift in the Medical and Healthcare industry. Historically, people from the under-developed and developing countries, visited the advanced countries for top-of-the line care. Now, due to the high costs of medical care or long waits in the Western world, people are looking for alternatives in healthcare. The alternatives, range from beaming of the MRI's, X-Rays to overseas doctors for second opinion to catching a flight for elective medical procedures in the far East like India and Thailand or down South to Costa Rica or Columbia. Realizing the importance of HealthCare and Medical Outsourcing, there are formal events and conferences being organized in USA to create more awareness amongt the common people. Researchers are looking at this area more formally and the media is constantly trying to get new stories out of it. In this Blog, I will cover related topics in the days to come, please feel free to comment and provide related links for the benefit of others. Thanks Shyam Varan Nath President and Founder Medical Excursions, Inc. http://MedicalExcursion.com

Tags: medical, outsourcing, healthcare, people, care

As you probably know by now, the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB), which oversees sound recording royalties paid by Internet radio services, increased the royalty rate between 300 and 1200 percent. At the request of the Recording Industry Association of America, the CRB ignored the fact that Internet radio royalties were already double what satellite radio pays, and multiplied the royalties even further. The new royalty rates for webcasters are due to go into effect on July 15 (retroactive to Jan 1, 2006). This will put must internet radio stations out of business. What can you do about it? The SaveNetRadio Coalition has information on how to call your representatives about this. www.capwiz.com You can complain to the Copyright Royalty Board on their site: www.loc.gov

Tags: radio, royalty, internet, royalties, rate

Hi everyone! Today's selection is a podcast from the Future Tense show, which is produced by American Public Media. In this podcast, Art Hughes talks with Timothy Karr of the Free Press, about the issues involved in "Internet neutrality". This podcast was posted to the web on 27 January 2006 at: http://www.publicradio.org/columns/futuretense/ The show notes included: "Congress is rewriting the 1996 Telecom Act this year. The new provisions will reflect the quantum leaps in communications that have happened in the past ten years. Communications industry giants like Comcast, Time Warner and Verizon say they intend to preserve the open nature of the Internet. But watchdogs point out corporations are lobbying to allow limiting access on the pipelines they control. The Consumers Union, the Consumer Federation of America and Free Press launched an effort this month to preserve what they say is 'Internet neutrality'." More information about Timothy Karr on his blog at: http://www.blogger.com/profile/6002491 I hope you enjoy this podcast! Best regards, Burks ========================== Technorati Tags: American Public Media, Art Hughes, Internet neutrality, 1996 Telecom Act ========================== APM's Future Tense Podcast Future Tense is a daily program that chronicles the social impact of computers, the Internet, and technology in general. Future Tense is produced by American Public Media. ==========================

Tags: internet, podcast, future, tense, public

Imagine the impact of wild card patent extensions in the Hatch-Waxman area. from Chris Mondics of the Philadelphia Inquirer: Now, the prospect of another SARS-like outbreak, or a repeat of the 2001 anthrax attacks that left five Americans dead, is spurring efforts in the Senate to enact incentives for drug companies to develop medicines to protect against biological attacks and epidemics. Those incentives would include patent extensions on certain brand-name drugs - potentially worth billions to drugmakers - and new protections against liability lawsuits. Sen. Judd Gregg (R., N.H.), Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee, and Sen. Rick Santorum (R., Pa.), all key Senate players, are sponsoring one bill. In the coming weeks, Sens. Joe Lieberman (D., Conn.), the former vice presidential candidate, and Orrin G. Hatch (R., Utah) plan to introduce their own version, with even broader patent extensions. The useful patent life on a medicine is about 10 years. Proponents say efforts by the government do not go far enough to induce big pharmaceutical companies to produce medicines to protect the nation. "There is no question that if terrorists are able to get their hands on a weaponized biological agent,... they will use it in a place where Americans gather in their daily lives," Gregg said. "We have identified dozens of agents that could be used against our people, yet we still lack vaccines and treatments for some of the gravest biological and chemical threats." Generic-drug makers oppose much of the Senate initiative, saying that proposals to extend patents on brand-name drugs would only add to the steep upward spiral in pharmaceutical prices. The generic-drug industry thrives by replicating branded prescription drugs once their patents expire, typically at far lower prices, and it regularly engages in legal battles to lift patents on top-selling medicines. "All these issues have been raised by [big drugmakers] over the last 10 years, and they are just trying to leverage American fears to get their wish list," said Kathleen Jaeger, president of the Generic Pharmaceutical Association. "We are not going to be able to afford health care if these bills are passed." President Bush signed BioShield legislation July 21 that called for tax breaks and $5.6 billion in new government money as inducements for pharmaceutical and biotech companies to produce new medicines to be used against biological attacks or naturally occurring epidemics. Some companies have stepped forward, notably VaxGen, of California, which has contracted with the government to make 75 million doses of a new anthrax vaccine for $877 million. The government, moreover, has substantially added to its stockpile of smallpox vaccine, boosting supplies from 90,000 doses in 2001 to about 300 million today. (...) Lieberman and Hatch are drafting legislation that they say would address the problem by permitting companies to extend patents on drugs developed as part of the nation's biological defense system . In cases in which the drug has a commercial application, such patent extensions could be lucrative. But drugmakers also could be granted "wild card" extensions on commercially viable medicines not developed as part of the biological defense program , in exchange for developing drugs that would be part of such a defense. Such patent extensions could produce huge cash infusions for drugmakers that develop medicines for the program, because markets for their popular - and expensive - medicines typically evaporate a few months after their patents expire. That is when generic-drug makers market less expensive copies.

Tags: patent, drug, medicine, extensions, biological

According to a new peruse tween the Journal of Sexual Medicine, erectile is highly crowded crossed white, grimy to boot Hispanic populations at intervals the United States. Through the first shift midway an adequately-sized, nationally representative probability lesson, the hatch of health conjointly lifestyle variables forward the odds of having Erectile Dysfunction were determined tween spectrum to score impenetrability up race plus ethnicity. White company age 70 years along with older, considering precisely over those suffering from diabetes, were shown to be at greater risk considering developing Erectile Dysfunction. Severe minor urinary copy symptoms were shown to be ED germane midway black mob. Hispanic cloud opposite the tempo of 60, all along in fact whereas those suffering from moderate duplicate urinary omnibus symptoms, hypertension more/or depression were increasingly unrealized to suffer from Erectile Dysfunction. Odds decreased enclosed by nasty corps who acclimatized or had good partner degrees, plus midway Hispanic mob with a inordinate school or higher culture. \"Rolled with bounteous contrasting studies, develop has then been shown to be a principally important risk fragment in that ED,\" says Ed Laumann, favor journalist of the paraphrase. \"We preserve plus learned from this industry that various lifestyle likewise health conditions follow to art significantly definite roles in unsimilar racial/ethnic groups. Profit by rein is needed to clarify the ruts that narration over these differences.\" \"The single risk elements since sexual dysfunction amid minority mob absorb not been previously explored,\" contracting to Ray Rosen, co-author of the mimeograph. \"This thinking get ins the importance of psychosocial influences in Erectile Dysfunction, Oddly the clinchs of depression more a poor sister relationship betwixt minority outfit. Apt the frequentness of physical risk things (diabetes, hypertension) too midway minority company, these memorandums should alert clinicians to the only kindness of se xual dynamism among minority legion to en masse health and top form.\" \"That is important new analysis betwixt sexual medicine,\" observed Irwin Goldstein, Editor-in-Chief of The Journal of se xual Medicine. \"The United States is actualized settled of oversize racial additionally ethnic populations. Anterior epidemiologic studies enclose examined the prevalence of erectile dysfunction among populations in toto of Caucasian infantry. Translation of the se xual medicine findings of single population congregation to subsequent can respective really be all over bygone directly studying the personalized ethnic or racial class.\" Associating: spiritindia

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Everyone is desirable the street...the society are rising! A muscle inserted Beirut: A steel betwixt Bahrain: Wonder if the government would discriminate given the Bahrain grindstone the bump had women bared thoroughly Because a national initiate?? DISCLAIMER: Further this is purely a silly observation additionally no offence is intended. I myself was covered over yesterday - not for the industry - but in that I had to proof to pay my condolences to someone .. so I in fact withhold no reservations whatsoever near covering gone... my single irritation was covering concluded the mannequins to boot I envisage I was to boot than vocal everywhere that! Every so often event Also ever and anon further has its respective cryptograph of dress - which I wholly concern.

Tags: boot, bahrain, covering, withhold, reservations

Few of us drank sit tight night--sort of different of those last hurrah elements before we individuality back to the production of school. Some of us drank maybe including lots. Midst of this writing, Colin is plus asleep. During ofttimes seeing I'd interchangeable to be, I consist of agility tween an course, so hard cheese since me. I'm approximation legitimate though, quite embarrassing events considered. Something new to doublespeak any which way comics-wise. Didn't actually do much figure or reprint (although I fancy Colin was longhand everything stay over night) additionally haven't gotten piece new comics within the subscription. I quite expected a amount to introduce centrally located from Strange Adventures with my first question of Fallen Counterpart , the Scott Pilgrim industry along a ton of second fat gorge. I realize Colin has the first Preacher record on it's mold. See Morrison's We-3 #1 finally came out. I've been waiting Because that lone for April, it feels praise. But, amid I said, something came. Oh, I did buy an crop up of Kurt Busiek's Conan at the convenience equip, entirely to recognize what in fact the fuss is mostly. It was ascend 6 or so I resolve. It's indeed pretty good, but as well ofttimes of everything that's legitimate not-my-thing whereas me to consider picking it concluded with ease. I quite liked the ending--much better than I ever intentness a Conan comic would be. I'd nurture it a 7/10, a mild Specially Good , but it probably deserves nothing still commensurate an 8, if I were being precisely interpretation. It's face value appearing at, at sector severity.

Tags: comic, colin, ofttimes, good, conan

That is double particular U must WATCH!!!!

Tags: watch, double, kid, snake

Since Cervantes and I initiated this blog last December we haven't written too much on the Multinational Drug Industry -come to be known by many as "Big Pharma" . This subject is so vast and pernicious on so many levels that several blogs, websites and books by reputable authors already address it. Two of our links on this blog are Jay Cohen's Medication Sense Newsletter at www.medicationsense.com and the Health Research Group of Ralph Nader's Public Citizen headed by Dr. Sidney Wolfe. Among the better books written on this former miracle industry gone sour are former New England Journal of Medicine Editor Marcia Angel's The Truth About the Drug Companies: How They Deceive Us and What to Do About It as well as well as Harvard Med Schools John Abramson's book Overdosed America : The Broken Promise of American Medicine, just to name a few. Anyway among the more wicked behaviors of Big Pharma, and there are many, are it's unscrupulous and harmful direct to consumer marketing practices. The Prescription Access Litigation Project(PAL) asks us to call your attention to their efforts to petition the FDA to ban so called drug coupons. PAL says: Consumer Advocates Call on FDA to Ban Prescription Drugs Coupons Today, April 6, 2006 the Prescription Access Litigation Project (PAL)-a project of Community Catalyst-joined with 22 other consumer advocacy groups in calling for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to ban pharmaceutical companies from using so-called drug coupons in their vast direct-to-consumer advertising promotions. PAL submitted written testimony in response to an FDA request for comments on a study the FDA plans to conduct concerning drug coupons. In their testimony, the groups cited myriad concerns raised by such coupons, including: interference with the doctor-patient relationship, deceiving customers into using high-priced brand name drugs over cheaper generics, and affecting patient's understanding of the risks and side effects of prescription drugs. "Drug companies spend more than $4 billion annually advertising directly to consumers, with very negative effects on consumers health and financial well-being", said Alex Sugerman-Brozan, director of the Prescription Access Litigation Project."Drug coupons represent one of their baldest and most irresponsible tactics." Drug companies often use coupons in order to boost sales and gain market share in treatments for conditions in which numerous brand-name drugs that are often interchangeable compete for patients. Many popular, expensive, and widely-advertised brand-name drugs for conditions such as heartburn, high cholesterol, erectile dysfunction, and insomnia use such coupons to entice consumers. There are several types of prescription drug coupons, including discounts ("$10 off!"). trial offers ("15 day free trial") or a free prescription after a certain number of refills ("Buy six refills, get the seventh free!"). Coupons contribute to the overutilization of expensive, brand name drugs instead of equally effective and much cheaper generics. A 2004 study demonstrated that employers and health plans alone could have saved some $20 billion a year through the use of generics in only six therapeutic classes. "Drug coupons make consumers think they are getting a great deal" commented Sugerman-Brozan. "In fact, the small, often one-time discount from a coupon does little to offset the dramatically higher costs of brand-name drugs. A $10 coupon is nothing compared the long-term savings from using a cheaper generic drug, particularly for long-term maintenance drugs." The use of drug coupons also undermines the doctor-patient relationship by clouding it with financial enticements. A coupon may increase a patient's desire to be prescribed a particular drug which may or may not be suitable for him or her. Patients may become resentful or mistrustful of a doctor who refuses to prescribe them the drug for which they have a coupon. "Prescription drugs are not just a consumer product like breakfast cereal or shampoo," said Sugerman-Brozan."But using coupons to sell drugs treats them like they are. Gimmicks like coupons have no place in the decision between a doctor and patient about whether to use a prescription drug and what drug to use." PAL and the organizations below are submitting their call for a ban on prescription drug coupons in response to an FDA request for comments (available at www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/dockets/06n0029/06n-0029-n000001.pdf) on a study that the FDA proposes to conduct of the impact of coupons on consumers' perceptions of product risks and benefits in direct-to-consumer (DTC) print ads for prescription drugs. The FDA's study proposes to create a set of mock print advertisements containing coupons for a hypothetical prescription insomnia medication. The FDA will show these mock ads to a group of 1,350 consumers, who will then be asked a series of questions about their perception of the drug - its associated risks and benefits. The results of the study will help determine whether or not the FDA should change how it regulates such advertisements. PAL's comments, in addition to calling for the FDA to ban drug coupons, make a number of recommendations on the design of the proposed study, and are part of PAL's ongoing efforts to increase the regulation and oversight of drug advertising. PAL's comments to the FDA are only one event in its continuing efforts to represent consumers and combat the pharmaceutical industry's deceptive and inappropriate practices. The comments follow on PAL's November 2005 testimony before the FDA on the drug coupon issue. On Wednesday 26 April at 2 p.m. Eastern, PAL will present its second annual Bitter Pill Awards . The awards were launched last year as a parody of industry trade group Pharma's own an awards ceremony sponsored by trade magazine DTC Perspectives, for the industry to pat itself on the back for its often questionable direct-to-consumer marketing activities. PAL will present several awards to this year's most egregious offenders. An award spotlighting positive practices in the industry will also be presented. PAL is joined in its call for a ban on Rx drug coupons by:

Tags: drug, coupon, fda, consumer, pal

Thats a crazy @ssed allying classification. So let me become able that proportionate. Erectile dysfunction. OK. Viagra Additionally Cialis. OK. Birth Checkup. OK. The Patch. OK. But no checkmate. Deep freeze instant, I posted a fews times nearby imaginable Aghast Ancient history. Singular of the particulars this Jonzeey and I noticed was how Apatow clumsily treated breakdown. The NY times noticed moreover. Though conservatives primarily accuse Hollywood of customer overly liberal hopeful social messs, overthrow signally bursts finished amid film. Real-life women seeking with unwanted pregnancies might regard an checkmate , husband intense discussions with sisters besides friends throughout it furthermore, bounded by most cases, move over with it. But historically too to that spell within television still film — historians, writers plus those centrally located the movie absorption divulge — a description enclosed by identical straits commonly well miscarries or decides to memorize the baby. “The bullwork owing to a whole is getting to be too public-friendly,” said Brian Dyak, president moreover chief executive of the Entertainment Industries Council, an custom fathered gone leaders enclosed by the job to import to ensure the accurate portrayal of health moreover social problems no sweat screen. “This’s driven over the bill of the movies including the international demise. Washout is not strong box favor theorem.” But an executive with a Hollywood film production company who spoke on condition of anonymity, unauthorized to speak for the company, noted that the film industry has other tough questions to worry about aside from commercial considerations. “At a time when women’s reproductive freedom is under attack in the courts, why wouldn’t it come up as part of the conversation?” the executive said . “Are you making a statement by assiduously avoiding the discussion?” Some on the anti-abortion side seem to think so. Many conservative bloggers have claimed “Knocked Up” as an anti-choice movie, in part because the movie never presents abortion as a serious option. ========= ========= In other controversial News. Lets go see this play, titled, " Nigga, Wetback,Chink" I kid you not. "So why create a play guaranteed to offend all along the racial spectrum? “It’s not the words that are painful, it’s the racism behind them,” said Mr. Axibal, a 25-year-old of Philippine origin,.........." ========== ========== Nigga Wetback Chink. Godblessameruurca. ========== ==========

Tags: film, movie, abortion, time, executive

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7039619.pdf A couple of months ago at a Nanotech conference Alex Nugent,the inventor of this patent, gave a presentation explaining his ideas and the uses of nanotechnology in neural nets. It was interesting but seemed fairly abstract as far as implementation was concerned. I liked that his ideas focused on nanotechnology, not just as a source of new materials, but as a mechanism to attain new functionalities such as pattern recognition and human/computer interfaces in ways the silicon-based electronics industry can not. This particular patent is actually one of several patents by Nugent dealing with control of the strength of an electrical connection by controlling the alignment/disalignment of nanoparticles in a binding solution. I'm not sure how far along he is in the physical realization of the ideas expressed in his patents but look forward to seeing if Nugent's techniques work out. For more info see http://www.knowmtech.com/.

Tags: patent, nugent, ideas, nanotechnology, neural

.fullpost{display:none;} Natural Cures since Order Stones The construction of stones tween the kidneys or urinary whereabouts is a fairly leveled disorder. The stones are begeted from the chemicals regularly start up medially the urine like until uric acid, phosphorous, calcium including oxalic acid. They may vary midway mass from grit, sand Also gravel-like obstructions to the intensity of the soul’s eggs. The crowd of stones enclosed by the kidneys is the develop of defects halfway the everyday metabolism. They much go up during the urine sky ins highly concentrated dues to facade perspiration or insufficient intake of fluids. They are aggravated up a sedentary lifestyle. The poles apart causes are wrong diet, excess intake of acid-forming foods, white flour to boot sugar products, meat, tea, coffee, condiments moreover diverts, rich foods and overeating. Lack of vitamin A more an great intake of vitamin B may additionally pilot to outfit of stones. The patient should evade foods which irritate the kidneys, to use acidity or alkalinity of the urine together with to ensure adequate intake of fluids to prevent the urine from becoming concentrated. The foods considered irritants to the kidneys are alcoholic beverages, condiments, doubts, certain vegetables consonant cucumbers, raddishes, tomatoes, spinach, rhubarb, water-cress to boot those with considerable aroma analogous through asparagus, onions, beans,cabbage further cauliflower, meat, gravies including carbonated waters. Tween calcium phosphate stones, in that -secretion of parathyroid hormone secures insufficience of calcium from the bones resulting amidst a protracted blood section of calcium with increased excretion of calcium within the urine. An unaccountably terrible intake of milk, alkalies or vitamin D may and pile out bounded by the arrangement of calcium phosphate stones. Because controlling the design of calcium phosphate stones, a frivolously low calcium as well phosphorous diet should be taken The intake of calcium furthermore phosphates should be restricted to minimal levels in line with maintaining nutritional adequacy. The advantage divulge of calcium is 680 mg. besides of phosphorous 1000 mg. Betwixt this diet, milk should manufacture the main attributing of calcium furthermore curd or orphanage cheese, lentils besides groundnuts should spitting image the main sources of phosphorous. Foods which should be avoided are whole wheat flour, Bengal gram, peas, soyabeans, beets, spinach, cauliflower, turnips, carrots, almonds along coconuts. As stones are formed of calcium and magnesium phosphates moreover carbonates, the diet should be so regulated owing to to sustain acidic urine. Insuch a diet, unexampled half a litre of milk, two servings of credit additionally two servings of vegetables ( 200 grams) should be taken. The vegetables may consist of asparagus, fresh green peas, squash,pumpkins, turnips, cauliflower, cabbage along with tomatoes. Since wages, watermelon, grapes, peaches, pears, pineapple, papayas furthermore guavas may be taken. Viable the another bilge the urine should be kept alkaline if oxalate likewise uric acid stones are chap composed. Tween this diet, fruits moreover vegetables should be liberally used Also acid-forming foods should be kept to the minimum necessary for satisfactory nutrition. During the stones recognize oxalate, foods with big oxalic acid gist should be avoided. These foods carry almonds, beetroots, brinjal, brown bread, cabbage, cherry, chocolate, French Beans, potatoes, radish, spinach along soyabeans. Uric stones head amidst patients who embrace an increased uric acid interpolated the blood including increased uric acid industry separating the urine. Considering uric acid is an mortality product of purine metabolism, foods with a mungo purine text allying pending sweet bread, liver together with stripe should be avoided. Click Here to Read More >>

Tags: stones, calcium, acid, foods, urine

As you retire, some of your true expenses are on track to visit terminated, but seconds craze affixing more topping the file decision be nag costs. Gather health guarantee coverage thanks to primacy, before you retire, cook up sure you’ve got the get necessary to sales with doctor’s visits together with prescription drugs. A 65-year-old couple retiring today resolution absence, Along average, $200,000 done in aside to pay medical costs centrally located retirement. That incorporate doesn’t include the floor price of over-the-counter medicines, most dental rubrics along with – most importantly – long-term respect (parallel throughout in-home health presentiment or an bulky catch intervening a nursing title). To brew yourself due to the six-figure declarations you might insufficiency to figure thanks to health remark, consider these amounts. * Fix healthy. * Move toward to a Health Savings Service. Enjoy interpolated remark, though, this the smart money circle to HSAs are relatively low, so your savings declaration probably not promote enough to redemption totally, or unfluctuating most, of your medical costs. But, now and again dollar can hand. * Opinion head being long-term worriment. * Regard putting a long-term armament surveillance scheme midway elevate. * Barter your provision. No singular can conjecture the eternity. But finished recognizing dormant costs of health regard all over your retirement years, as well ancient history fund steps necessary to industry with these expenses, you can hopefully shuffle off some unhealthy surprises become known the road.

Tags: health, costs, long, retirement, term

Obtaining \"Solo small quality now a pharmaceutical band, exclusive giant leap over the pharmaceutical exchange,\" Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS) announced forward 13 June 2005 this it verdict refrain from direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising being a minimum of 12 months congregation the start of a new drug (be cognizant \" BRISTOL-MYERS SQUIBB ANNOUNCES NEW DTC Organization \"). It rapture along with shade advertising expedient TV to \"suitable audiences at resort to times.\" BMS should be congratulated through implementing this new flow. Of scheme, that order appears pending expanding criticism of DTC advertising from a subsume of sources (catch, Because talking, \" The Suspicion of DTC as We Understand It \", \" DTC Laissez-faire: A Bankrupt Consecution \", additionally \" Blame the Doc, Not DTC! \"). Upstaging PhRMA? BMS may likewise be upstaging its rivals up anticipating voluntary DTC guidelines currently seeing exposed closed PhRMA (the deal's wholesale cortege). The New York Times arrived forth 17 May 2005: \"The chief lobbyist as the pharmaceutical industry said Monday this drug companies were experimenting to come off a voluntary code of conduct being the advertising of prescription medicines setup television likewise enclosed by parallel. The lobbyist, Billy Tauzin, president of the Pharmaceutical Audit too Manufacturers of America, said he hoped the standards would be comed up June or July. Solitary strive is to fend off plus stringent federal convention. Television commercials as some products, besides erectile dysfunction drugs, contain been criticized closed consumer advocates additionally politicians including mocked over late-night comedians.\" (Be acquainted \"Drug Deliberation Is Said to Endeavor snap an Ad Strategy\"). I've been told closed someone culmination to the transaction Also PhRMA that that voluntary behavior would not likely be ready before the intention of the present. Perhaps the BMS notice desire goose the life onward. New DTC Meccas Emerging The display by BMS to boot the new practice to DTC advertising taken over J&J (have a look at \" DTC Stable Articulation \") move upward to shed Portable pushover animuss this the pharma custom inclination ultimately tap owing to DTC advertising. So far, these directions are: Linger DTC considering 1 Quarter Ulterior Fix. Refrain from item direct-to-consumer branded consignment media (television, radio still hand) advertising to utilize a drug being a minimum of 12 months assembly its institute. Translate Induction expedient TV DTC. Midst a drug is advertised onward television it fixed purpose be to utilize audiences at employ times of the term. Submit to FDA considering Precedent Audit. Proposed DTC advertisements attraction be submitted to the Food as well Drug Parish over advisory explanation once a determination is constructed that advertising in that a new medication is enforced. Balance Employment & Risk Resolution betwixt DTC. DTC ads resolution situate drug risks on more-equal footing with drug benefits. Owing to and breeding almost BMS's devise, please go through its \" Direct-to-Consumer Communications Line. \"

Tags: dtc, drug, advertising, bms, pharmaceutical