Mon, 10 Mar 2008 00:52:26 GMT

Strong Reactions to 'Antidepressants Ineffective' Study

has produced some fascinating reactions on other blogs. One of the most striking was from The Last Psychiatrist who argues that the study''s timing is no accident. Apparently it''s all part of Big Pharma''s plan to kick-start the prescription of their new drugs:
"People are completely missing the point of this paper and all the other recent re-investigations, the true social and clinical consequences of them. For example: they''re saying antidepressants are no good. Ok. What do you think doctors are going to use instead? Psychoanalysis? Nothing? They''re going to prescribe antipsychotics. Are you listening to me? I''m not even saying this is clinically wrong to do, but do you not see the setup?"
Ben Goldacre at Badscience, meanwhile, like some of the commenters here on PsyBlog, pointed out it didn''t tell us much we didn''t already know. But the real target of Ben''s article is the failure to successfully regulate Big Pharma:
"This new study - published, ironically, in an open access journal - tells a fascinating story of buried data, and of our collective failure, as a society, over half a century, to adequately regulate the colossal $550bn pharmaceutical industry."
He also pointed out several errors in the reporting of the study, one of which I made myself by talking about SSRI antidepressants. In fact two of the drugs included were nefazodone and venlafaxine, neither of which are SSRIs. I made the mistake of trusting the ''editor''s summary'' that is published with the article in PLoS Medicine.

Finally for an international perspective on this story, Furious Seasons points out the near-silence on this study in the US:
"I am stunned that in Seattle--the most depressed city in America--that neither of the daily newspapers ran so much as an AP wire account of the study--at least as far as I know. That''s weird. But then the New York Times has been mum to date as well. That''s even weirder." Posted by: Jerry      Read more     Source

Thu, 20 Dec 2007 11:22:42 GMT

Insurance status linked to cancer outcomes

A new report from the American Cancer Society finds substantial evidence that lack of adequate health insurance coverage is linked to less access to care and poorer outcomes for cancer patients. The report finds the uninsured are less likely to receive recommended cancer screening tests, are more likely to be diagnosed with later stage disease, and have lower survival rates than those with private insurance for several cancers. The new findings on stage at diagnosis and survival by insurance status use data from the National Cancer Database (NCDB), a hospital-based registry sponsored by the American College of Surgeons and the American Cancer Society, the only national registry that collects information on patient insurance status. The report appears in the January/recent issue of CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians, a peer-evaluated journal of the American Cancer Society.
In 2007, the American Cancer Society launched a nationwide campaign to highlight the role of access to quality care for all Americans. While advances in the prevention, early detection, and therapy of cancer have resulted in an almost 14 percent drop in the death rates from all cancers combined from 1991 to 2004 in the U.S., with remarkable declines in mortality for the top three causes of cancer death in men (lung, colorectal, and prostate cancer) and two of the top three cancers in women, (breast and colorectal cancer), not all segments of the population have benefited equally from this progress. Evidence suggests that some of these differences are correlation to lack of access to health care. In particular, the lack of health insurance, or inadequate health insurance, appears to be a critical barrier to receipt of appropriate health care services. The report provides an overview of systems of health insurance in the United States and presents data on the association between health insurance status and screening, stage at diagnosis, and survival for breast and colorectal cancer based on analyses of the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) and the NCDB. Among the reports findings:

• For all cancer sites combined, patients who were uninsured were 1.6 times as likely to die in five years as those with private insurance.
  
• The relationship between access to care and cancer outcomes is especially striking for several cancers which can be prevented or detected earlier by screening and for which there are effective therapys, including breast and colorectal cancer. At every level of education, individuals with health insurance were about twice as likely as those without health insurance to have had mammography or colorectal cancer screening.

For breast cancer, the article reports that:

• Women without health insurance are about half as likely as those with private health insurance to have received a mammogram in the past two years (38.1 percent of uninsured women versus 74.5 percent of insured women age 40-64), a pattern seen for all race/ethnicities studied (white, African American and Hispanic) at all levels of education.
  
• Twenty to 30 percent of uninsured women were diagnosed with late stage (stage III/IV) breast cancer, compared with ten to 15 percent of privately insured patients.
  
• Uninsured women were also less likely to be diagnosed with Stage I (early) breast cancer than privately insured women. In white women, where this disparity was greatest, almost 50 percent of those who were privately insured were diagnosed with early-stage cancer, in comparison to less than 35 percent of those who were uninsured.
  
• Among white women diagnosed with all stages of breast cancer, 76 percent of those who were uninsured survived five years, compared with 89 percent of those with private insurance; among African Americans, five-year survival rates were 65 percent for uninsured and 81 percent for privately insured women; among Hispanics, five-year survival rates were 83 percent for uninsured and 86 percent for privately insured women.
  
• Differences in survival between privately insured and uninsured women were seen for all stages of breast cancer.

For colorectal cancer, the report observed that:

• Among men and women aged 50 to 64 years with private insurance, nearly half (48.3 percent) had had a recommended colorectal cancer screening test in the past ten years compared with fewer than one in five (18.8 percent) of those who were uninsured.
  
• Patients without health insurance were more likely than those with private insurance to be diagnosed with Stage IV and less likely to be diagnosed with Stage I colorectal cancer.
  
• Among whites, 50 percent of uninsured patients survived colorectal cancer for five years, in comparison to 66 percent who had private insurance; among African Americans, five-year survival rates were 41 percent among the uninsured compared with 60 percent of privately insured patients; among Hispanics, 57 percent of patients with no insurance survived five years compared with 63 percent of privately insured patients.
  
• Differences in survival between privately insured and uninsured patients were seen for all stages of colorectal cancer.
  
• Privately insured patients diagnosed with Stage II colorectal cancer were more likely to survive 5 years than uninsured patients diagnosed with Stage I.

Other findings from the study:

• Women between 40 and 64 without insurance were less likely than women with private insurance to have had a Pap test in the past three years (68 percent versus 87.9 percent).
  
• More than one in three privately insured men (37.1 percent) aged 50 to 64 years had received a prostate specific antigen test versus just one in seven (14 percent) uninsured men.
  
• Among individuals under age 65 years, those aged 18 to 24 years have the highest probability of being uninsured.
  
• The probability of being uninsured varies inversely by income.
  
• African Americans, Hispanics, Asian American/Pacific Islanders, and American Indian/Alaska Natives are much more likely to be uninsured than non-Hispanic Whites.
  
• More than half (53.6 percent) of uninsured individuals aged 18 to 64 years have no usual source of health care.
  
• The uninsured are more likely to report that cost issues caused them to delay care, not receive care, and not obtain prescription drugs.
  
• Among those who saw a health care practitioner, the uninsured were less likely to be advised to quit smoking or to lose weight.

As our nations investments in cancer research provide greater understanding of how to prevent cancer, detect it early, and treat it effectively, access to health care becomes even more important to the American Cancer Societys goal of eliminating cancer as a major public health problem, said Otis Brawley, M.D., chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society. This report clearly suggests that insurance and cost-related barriers to care are critical to address if we want to ensure that all Americans are able to share in the progress we have achieved by having access to high-quality cancer prevention, early detection, and therapy services.

These findings put insurance status squarely on the table as an important factor in cancer care disparities, said Elizabeth Ward, Ph.D., director of surveillance research and co-author of the report. Its important to note that eventhough variations in health insurance coverage likely contribute to racial and ethnic disparities in cancer outcomes, those disparities persist for several outcomes even when differences in insurance status are accounted for. So even if health insurance and financial barriers can be overcome, further research and interventions will be needed to address these other barriers.

The truth is that there are gaping holes in our health care safety net and that most of these safety-net services are neither effective nor efficient in providing chronic-disease prevention, detection, or therapy, writes Elmer Huerta, M.D., American Cancer Society president, in an accompanying editorial. The truth is that our national reluctance to face these facts is condemning thousands of people to die from cancer each year and thousands more to die of other diseases, adding that [f]or too a number of hardworking average Americans, paying for cancer therapy means not paying rent, mortgage (resulting in foreclosure or eviction), or utility bills, or even going hungry.
Posted by: Janet      Read more     Source

Tue, 20 Nov 2007 01:44:37 GMT

Health loves a Second Life

Second Life News Network has recently asked me to answer some of their questions about the role of Second Life in medical education. The article is here:

Bertalan Mesko, a medical student in Hungary, has brought his desire to learn more into Second Life. "I have to say it’s a fascinating experience and a unique opportunity to learn with medical students and learn from physicians andscientists from around the world. I do my medical studies in Hungary so it wouldn’t be an easy task to meet people working in the same field but located in different parts of the world." Posted by: Bertalan      Read more     Source

Tue, 23 Oct 2007 02:10:05 GMT

Ultreo Ultrasonically Bubbles Your Teeth and Gums Clean

Also at the Silver Spoon was Dentist Dr. Lynn A Jones, DDS . She was consulting and also recommending a new ultrasonic bubbling toothbrush called Ultreo!

This is one cool toothbrush!! It's ultrasonic and bubbles your teeth, between your teeth and beneath your gumline to kill bacteria and keep everything clean and healthy. VERY cool. You can find it at drugstore.com or Ultreo too
A bit pricey at $169.00 and refill brushes run about $25.00 each, but a great gift for the holidays!

Read more of "Ultreo Ultrasonically Bubbles Your Teeth and Gums Clean!" Posted by: Stevie Wilson      Read more     Source

Wed, 17 Oct 2007 01:02:25 GMT

The first Journal dedicated to Personalized Genetics?

I often get some e-mails from my readers asking me to tell them which journal focuses only on personalized genetics and I always have to say, as far as I’m concerned, there aren’t any really focused journals in this field of medicine. But now:

The biological sciences have been transformed by genomics over the past ten years, and the next decade will see a similar revolution in medicine. The medical research community is increasingly turning to the use of large-scale, high-throughput genomic techniques to address clinical questions.

To maximize the visibility and impact of this vital and growing field of research, we are pleased to announce the launch of the latest addition to the , BMC Medical Genomics. The journal is entirely - all articles will be immediately available to read online at no charge. BMC Medical Genomics will publish original peer-reviewed research articles on functional genomics, genome structure, genome-scale population genetics, epigenomics, proteomics, systems analysis and pharmacogenomics in relation to human health and disease. As well as research articles, we aim to publish Commentary articles exploring new directions and innovations in medical genomics. As with the other medical journals in the BMC series, BMC Medical Genomics will use open peer review; the names of the peer reviewers will be known to the authors and the reports will be made public alongside the published article.

I’m very excited! Check out the ! Posted by: Bertalan      Read more     Source

Sun, 14 Oct 2007 21:10:03 GMT

What is a Gene?

Mark Gerstein and colleagues published a very nice review of the gene in Genome Research this summer, and I missed it. I think I was on vacation in Wyoming. Anyway, I just found it now. If you missed it too, definitely check it out. The review covers how genes were conceptualized since their "discovery" by Mendel, and touches upon all the major milestones in the history of genetics. The authors then discuss issues with the current conception of the gene, and propose a new model. Here is their summary:
A proposed updated definition
There are three aspects to the definition that we will list below, before providing the succinct definition:

A gene is a genomic sequence (DNA or RNA) directly encoding functional product molecules, either RNA or protein.

In the case that there are several functional products sharing overlapping regions, one takes the union of all overlapping genomic sequences coding for them.

This union must be coherent—i.e., done separately for final protein and RNA products—but does not require that all products necessarily share a common subsequence.

This can be concisely summarized as:



The gene is a union of genomic sequences encoding a coherent set of potentially overlapping functional products.

We've come a long way from "One Gene, One Protein".

If you have some way of printing it out, there is a fantastic time-line poster of genetics milestones here. Posted by: Dennehy      Read more     Source

Wed, 10 Oct 2007 02:50:28 GMT

VC Funding is Expensive

We've said that venture capital is data driven and time consuming. We've said that having the right VC partner can be very valuable. Let's add to the list of things you should know: venture capital funding can be expensive.

The normal venture capital path is simple. A VC company is going to look at your risks, weigh them against your potential, offer you a sum of money, ask for a certain level of control, and cash out down the road somehow - leaving you with whatever's left. If you crash and burn, they eat their losses. If the VC people give you $5 million in exchange for a 30% stake in your company and five years down the road your ideas coupled with their management have created a company worth $90 million on an initial public offering, the VC firm is going to walk away with $27 million or your money.

Now figure out how much you would have paid in interest if you'd found a way to borrow that $5 million for five year at 10% or 15% interest. I guarantee you that repaying that loan would cost you less than $27 million....



Of course, as Amar Goel points out in his blog, the problem is finding someone who will loan you the $5 million at any interest rate for a high risk project. Maybe the venture capital route is one of the few choices you have.

Be prepared for the simple fact that it is an expensive choice.... Posted by: Greg Cruey      Read more     Source

Tue, 09 Oct 2007 04:16:02 GMT

The Power of Sarcasm in Medical Education

I believe you can spread the word of the importance of prevention more efficiently if you use the power of sarcasm. It’s not enough to say “Don’t smoke!”, you know it well. Let’s try saying “Smoke and elevate your risk for cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and coronary heart disease!”. That’s why I worked so much on my post, 10 Tips for How to Acquire a Disease.

So I’ve come across this interesting series of books at Omni Brain. Check out the site of KnockKnock:

The world's worst maladies, conveniently organized by symptom (real or imagined), will ignite even the mildest hypochondriac's fantasy life. Posted by: Bertalan      Read more     Source

Tue, 09 Oct 2007 04:13:46 GMT

The Temptations of Sunshine and a New Florida Auction

Ah, sunny Florida. As autumn closes in on the PNW (rain, fog, cool days) with winter not far behind (rain, fog, cool days), sunshine fanatics like me look to southern getaways. Originally an easterner, I'm accustomed to Florida as a destination, especially as one can drive there from Toronto, Buffalo, etc., in 36 hours or less. California's now a lot closer but if I still lived in Ontario Russo & Steele's new Florida venue would be a tempting winter diversion. The innovative auctioneer, well known for muscle car sales during Scottsdale's January auction week, is launching a new auction event in the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood Florida (not CA!) from March 27-29. (Excuse me while I check the map.... okay, it's somewhere between Miami and Fort Lauderdale. That should be easy to find from the airport.) 200 cars, reserves welcome, consignments invited. Get yours now and maybe start that vacation with a weekend at the Sebring historic races. Posted by: Philip Powell      Read more     Source

Tue, 09 Oct 2007 03:11:16 GMT

Do You Want a Great Life?

PeopleJam was initiated as a way to bring like minded people together. These are people who are seeking out help to guide them through life.



Looking at the blog feature offered on PeopleJam, you can really tell that they're serious about making their site all about success. The blog on PeopleJam offers and area where you can write a story about life experiences and the lessons you learned from your experience. You can also list your goals and tell about how you want to accomplish them in your blog.

PeopleJam is staffed with volunteer life coaches. They moderate the site and help people with their goals. Where else can you find that? Posted by: Linda Roeder      Read more     Source

Wed, 03 Oct 2007 11:42:10 GMT

What Is A Limbic-Friendly Site?

Sounds foreign? But have you any idea what a limbic-friendly site is?

Actually, the limbic system influences the development of memory by combining emotional states with memoirs of physical sensations. Limbic comes from the Latin word 'limbus' which means edge or border. The limbic system covers the putative structure in the brain responsible in emotional connection with memory. The said system in intertwined with the 'nucleus accumbens' popularly known as the pleasure center of the brain.

It's instinctive - quicker than thought. It may not be necessarily logical but it elicits trust. Also, it manipulates desire and interest. As such, logic must step aside in order for the limbic part of the brain to capture confidence. Then the rational part of the brain comes into play.

Limbic system plays a crucial role in the success of your website. A positive, engaging, trustworthy first impression gives a 93% chance of making a sale. The non-limbic-friendly web site, on the other hand, drops your chances down to 1%. And the chances are very high that they won't be able to rise again.

Remember this: The limbic mind has already decided before the words are read. Since the limbic mind calls the shots, you need to lure it. Send the messages it would love to ingest. Finally, look for ways to make your site limbic-friendly. Posted by: noel      Read more     Source

Tue, 02 Oct 2007 18:09:51 GMT

Hedge Funds In Europe Vs. US

The new edition of IFSL's annual report; Financial Market Trends Europe vs. US 2007, shows that in three quarters of indicators, 14 out of 18, financial markets in Europe have been growing faster than those in the US between 2001 and 2006.

The 14 indicators showing improvement in Europe included 8 out of 9 in sectors such as private equity and hedge funds. Funds raised by European private equity companies have moved up from half of funds raised in North America in 2004 to almost equal in 2006.

European hedge fund assets moved up from 12% of US assets in 2001 to 42% in 2006. Growth in European IPOs has been even more dramatic, increasing ten times between 2002 and 2006 and were well ahead of US IPOs in 2005 and 2006.

More at; Growth in IPOs Help European Hedge Funds Gain Ground. Posted by: Alex Akesson      Read more     Source

Tue, 02 Oct 2007 12:00:22 GMT

Bookkeeping Home Based Business

If there's one occupation that you can take to the next century, it's bookkeeping. Someone, somewhere will always need help in figuring out which asset is what and which liability goes where. Plus, there's always the taxes to consider. No wonder why bookkeeping is one of today's most popular and active home-based businesses around. Is this the right business for you?

To start, you'll need to have a background in accounting and bookkeeping. Usually, a certificate degree will suffice. You can also take special courses in business bookkeeping to help you understand what you're supposed to do. Once you have the knowledge, you must begin collecting your tools.

Tools and equipment you need to start your own bookkeeping business
A bookkeeping business is one of those home-based businesses that you can start at a low cost - hence, its popularity. Here are some of the tools and equipment you'll need to have:

A typewriter and a computer
Of course, you can fill out forms using a pen but a typewriter is so much neater. Besides, it's quite difficult to use a printer with a pre-printed form. An old but working typewriter picked up a sale will do.

Use a fast computer for better efficiency, with enough memory to handle additional software and files. You will also need accounting software to handle functions such as bookkeeping, inventory, even payroll if necessary.

A printer
You will be using a printer regularly to provide hard copies of documents so invest in a reliable but cost-effective unit. Some computers can come cheap but their brand of ink cartridges may be too expensive to use.

A business line
If you're just starting, you can use your home phone line, provided you can keep it free most of the time, if only to receive calls from clients. You will appreciate a separate business line if you are living with other people who also need to use the phone. Some states might also require you to have a separate phone line for your bookkeeping home business.

A fax machine
Although you can communicate through e-mail, your clients might also appreciate being able to use your fax machine to send you data and copies of documents. If you need to copy something, a fax machine can also come in handy.

A secure and separate area
No, you cannot use your kitchen table. Remember that you will be handling your client's personal and financial papers. Imagine having coffee and ketchup stains on your client's tax return. Find a suitable area where you can set up a small working table, your computer and a filing cabinet or drawers to store all those forms and documents. Posted by: noel      Read more     Source

Sat, 29 Sep 2007 18:00:46 GMT

Insurance Offshoring in India

The future for the Indian Offshoring Sector is looking quite good.

This was the general conclusion derived from the research study done by KPMG regarding the said industry. The study entitled Frontiers in finance: For decision makers in financial services focused on this topic and also states that this service would rise from 2 billion dollars to 790 million dollars by the year 2010.

Here are the reasons attributed to the predicted growth:
-shrinking margins
-higher claims disbursement
-increasing competition

If this would be the future of Insurance Offshoring, India should take particular care regarding this industry and make sure that all issues regarding this would be resolved instantly. Posted by: Carol Kendrick      Read more     Source

Sat, 29 Sep 2007 11:19:53 GMT

Hedge Fund Launch

In a HedgeCo.Net story today, the MPC Samsara Team announced the launch of a new hedge fund, the MPC Samsara Fund. The hedge fund will be run by Ajay Gambhir and he will follow the same successful strategy as the JPMorgan Europe Dynamic Long Short hedge fund of which Ajay was the sole portfolio manager.

This hedge fund returned, net of fees, 31.5% in 2005 and 40.2% in 2006. The Fund won the Eurohedge Best European Equities Hedge Fund 2006 award (under $500m) with a fund size of $400m (as at February 2007). Over the three years to end 2006 the Europe Dynamic Long Short hedge fund returned 104.7% with a sharpe ratio of 3.1.

MPC Samsara has a directional long short strategy with the ability to be net short of the market. Therefore it is able to vary its exposure to the market and thus profit even in poor stock market environments. Ajay will manage the hedge fund with precisely the same approach as he has used at JP Morgan which was bottom-up stock-picking fund with a top down overlay, using rigorous fundamental analysis and an active approach to stock selection. Posted by: Alex Akesson      Read more     Source

Sat, 29 Sep 2007 07:43:08 GMT

U.K. Business Finder

Tipped is an mobile social networking community. With Tipped you can review businesses and services that you've had experiences with and recommend them if you were impressed with them. Tipped can also be used with a mobile handset.



You can also locate them on a map that's part of the service so your friends will know where the business is located. With Tipped you can even send listings for businesses to your friends that include your map.

Since Tipped is out of London, most of the businesses you'll find listed will be in the U.K.

This is a great way to let other people know what you think about businesses near you. It's also a great way to find good businesses in your area. There should be more sites like this one for other places around the world. Posted by: Linda Roeder      Read more     Source

Fri, 28 Sep 2007 23:28:12 GMT

Socially responsible investing

Darron Stover of www.invest4change.com wrote in this month's Innerchange magazine about investing in energy. Although somewhat vague and obvious, he does offer some good tips for those that wish to invest in better energy alternatives.

One of the key worries for socially responsible investors is the fact you must invest in small individual alternative energy stocks, which are well known for being quite risky and volatile. Darron suggests diversifying by investing in stocks that focus in alternative energy companies and companies whose products or services make our world more energy efficient or reduce pollution.

The article also mentions the general concensus that more efficient production and distribution is an excellent way to conserve energy mined by the notoriously socially irresponsible energy giants. This brings to mind companies that focus on helping other companies minimize the carbon footprint of their distribution chains as another way to safely diversify your socially conscious investment portfolio. Posted by: Miche      Read more     Source