The Nanostart holding ItN Nanovation AG has successfully completed its capital increase with pre-emptive subscription rights against cash contributions, generating gross income for the company of EUR11.0 million.
Monthly Archives: May 2011
Women Taking Calcium Supplements May Risk Heart Health, Researchers Say
(HealthDay News) -- More evidence is emerging that women who take calcium supplements to prevent bone deterioration may, in fact, be risking their heart health.
But even when added to previous studies with similar findings, the new conclusions don't necessarily mark a death knell for calcium supplements, say the authors of a study released online April 19 in the BMJ.
"There is a lack of consensus at the present time as to what recommendations should be regarding the use of calcium supplements," said study senior author Dr. Ian Reid, who fully expected that the new results will have a "significant impact on recommendations."
"Our own recommendation is to critically review the use of calcium supplements, since the data in this paper suggests that they do more harm than good," added Reid, who is professor of medicine and endocrinology at the University of Auckland in New Zealand. Read more...
PAML Adds Aurora Interactive’s mScope to Its Suite of Innovative Connectivity Solutions
This new partnership is dedicated to bringing cutting edge digital pathology tools to PAML and its partners and enable them to benefit from collaboration
SPOKANE, WASHINGTON--(Marketwire - May 4, 2011)
PAML a medical reference laboratory ranked among the top clinical reference laboratories in the United States and an industry leader in joint venture partnerships with community based hospitals and Aurora Interactive, a world leader in digital pathology communications announced today that they have signed a license agreement for Aurora's mScope digital pathology communications platform and viewer to enhance PAML's technology services offering.
"The partnership with Aurora is an important part of our commitment to the community practice of medicine and the virtue of collaboration in the medical sphere," said Dr. Tom Tiffany, PAML's CEO/President. "Our choice of a platform designed from its inception for the efficient and flexible networking of pathologists is fully consistent with our goal of providing turn-key solutions to enable competitive offerings to physicians in their local communities."
"Aurora's proven commitment to interoperability, image-type agnostic open architecture, and service culture were also key to our decision" added Mr. Sonny Varadan, Chief Information Officer.
"We firmly believe that mScope will allow us to provide our pathologist partners with best in breed communications tools they need while maintaining their freedom to choose their preferred scanning and analysis tools" said Dr. Joseph Schappert MD, Medical Director
"We are very excited about PAML's decision to include mScope in the cutting edge technology offering to its partners. We believe that PAML's vision of making it possible for pathologists to practice within their community while bringing them together virtually for better patient care is fully aligned with Aurora's commitment to collaborative pathology", stated Pierre Le Fèvre, President and Chief Executive Officer, Aurora Interactive.
About Aurora Interactive Ltd.
Aurora Interactive has developed the leading web based software platform (mScope) for simplification, productivity and ease of communications. mScope's Universal Web Viewer has collaborative tools to view medical slides and images anytime, anywhere, regardless of file format. The software has three applications to aid digital pathology web based communications needs: mScope Education, mScope Clinical, and mScope Universal Viewer. Aurora's mission is to improve patient outcomes and help members of the medical community achieve their full potential by eliminating the learning, diagnostic and collaborative restrictions imposed by time and space. http://www.aurorainteractive.com
About Pathology Associates Medical Laboratories, LLC
PAML, a full-service medical reference laboratory located in Spokane, WA, is owned by two of the nation's largest healthcare systems – Providence Health & Services (PH&S) and Catholic Health Initiatives (CHI). One of the top reference laboratories in the country, PAML is also considered an industry leader in joint venture partnerships with community-based hospitals because of their expertise in developing cutting-edge laboratory management systems, including state-of-the-art automation, and support services. PAML is a co-founder of PACLAB Network Laboratories, which provides laboratory services throughout Seattle and western Washington, and is a partner in several other hospital-based laboratory joint ventures, including Alpha Medical Laboratory (AML) serving northern Idaho; Tri-Cities Laboratory (TCL) serving central Washigton; Treasure Valley Laboratory (TVL) serving southern Idaho and northeastern Oregon; and MountainStar Clinical Laboratories (MSCL) serving Utah. For more information, visit PAML website at http://www.paml.com.
About Providence Health & Services
Providence Health & Services, California, operates five award-winning medical centers in Southern California: Providence Saint Joseph, Providence Holy Cross, Providence Tarzana, Providence Little Company of Mary Torrance and Providence Little Company of Mary San Pedro medical centers. Providence Health is a nonprofit Catholic organization dedicated to quality, compassionate care for all and to investing in the health of the communities we serve. The Providence medical centers provide a full continuum of health care services. For more information, visit http://www.providence.org.
Free Webinar – Clarient PATHSiTE Scope IA: Improving Patient Care – Powered by Definiens.
Please Join Definiens with special guest Dr. Roscoe Atkinson, M.D. from Clarient Inc. for a free webinar on May 11th, 2011 @ 11am EST:
Clarient PATHSiTE Scope IA: Improving Patient Care – Powered by Definiens.
Topics that will be covered:
- The evolution and development of Image Analysis and Scope IA at Clarient Inc.
- Clarient’s utilization of Definiens algorithms and technology
- How Clarient’s application of Scope IA and Definiens improves patient care
Speakers:
- Dr. Roscoe Atkinson, M.D. – Pathologist, Clarient
- Peter Duncan – Director, Marketing and Business Development Translational Research, Definiens
Title: Clarient PATHSiTE Scope IA: Improving Patient Care – Powered by Definiens.
Date: Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Time: 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM EDT
Reserve your Webinar seat now at:
https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/173191610
After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the Webinar.
Mikroscan images to be seen
Despite mentioning MikroScan 3 times during the month of November, I inadvertently omitted mentioning them in my Year in Review post at the end of December. While details began to come out about the size, capacity and price of the device, I did not know what scan times or image quality were and how they compared with established vendors or higher throughput devices.
Last month someone attending the USCAP meeting sent me a text that read "They are 3 deep in the MikroScan booth". The images I was told were of high quality with ease of use on the scanner and viewer side.
I had to see for myself. After accepting my offer to scan my slides complete with cracked cover slips, air bubbles, pen marks, fingerprints and coffee stains along with the tincture of time for some of the slides, the challenge was on.
A few days later with remote viewing through join me, a simple and easy application, I got what one would expect - a digital reproduction of every cell and the flaws on/in the slide. Despite intentionally using non-ideal slides, the images were excellent and the artifacts, while present were no more a distraction or deterrant to viewing the slides than if I were at a microscope.
What does this mean for the digital pathology user and laboratories?
For use cases that have a limited number of slides in an environment with limited space available (i.e. pathologist office, frozen section, cytology cart) this may just be what the doctor's doctor ordered for a rapid, reliable whole slide image that can be viewed for solo pathologist support, remote frozen section consultation between pathologists or immediate FNA interpretations.
This is not to suggest that it eliminates devices that process 4,5 or 300 or more slides with workflow and image managment software capabilities from the respective manufacturer. I am suggesting users may need both.
One device for the 1 or 2 slide frozen section or FNA case or limited consultation within arm's reach of a pathologist or technical assistant and a larger capacity device for large cases to be signed out, tumor boards, image analysis and archiving, likely to be centrally located where there is the greatest volume of slides and pathologists.
For more information check out http://www.mikroscan.com.
Lecture: Mark Dion, "My Taxidermy Taxonomy," Museum of Natural History, London, Darwin Center, Thursday May 12
My good friend Petra Lange-Berndt at University College London would like to invite all of you London-based folks out there to a free and fascinating sounding lecture--as part of an equally fascinating sounding series--by one of my favorite contemporary artists, Mark Dion.
Full details on both the lecture and the series follow; hope you can make it!
"My Taxidermy Taxonomy"
Mark Dion (Visual Artist, USA)
Venue: Museum of Natural History, London, Darwin Center, Attenborough Studio
Time: Thursday, 12 May 2011, 5pm
The lecture is free and open to all - but please phone to book tickets on
+44 (0)20 7942 5725Mark Dion is one of the world's foremost ecological artists. He is best known for investigating and intervening into the cultures of natural history collections through site-sensitive installations. In this slide lecture Dion will examine the ways in which dominant ideologies and public institutions shape our understanding of history, knowledge, and the natural world. The artist will address more specifically the politics of taxidermy, the preservation of animal skins, and its many practices. What kind of stories, curiosities and oddities can be unearthed from the archives of the natural history museum? How is taxidermy linked to extinction and colonialism? And what is the role of the museum in contemporary society?
This lecture is part of the AHRC Research Network "The Culture of Preservation" series, at the UCL History of Art Department, run by Petra Lange-Berndt and Mechthild Fend in collaboration with the Natural History Museum London, The Hunterian Museum, and the Grant Museum of Zoology, London.
More about this series:
Prepared specimens appear in many guises: as monstrous or typical organs preserved in formaldehyde and kept in glass jars not unlike pickled food, as stained and fixed tissue slices, or as skilfully arranged stuffed animals. They may be found in cabinets of curiosities, in the laboratories of histologists, in anatomy theatres or in natural history collections, but nowadays equally in art galleries and the shop windows of fashionable boutiques. This project is concerned with such kinds of preserved natural objects, in particular with anatomical wet preparations and taxidermy. It explorses the hybrid status of these objects between nature and representation, art and science and studies their fabricaton, history and display.Events
Workshop 1: Taxidermy: Animal Skin and Colonial Practice
12 May 2011, 5pm
Keynote Lecture – free and open to all but please telephone to book tickets on +44 (0)20 7942 5725 –13 May 2011 Workshop
Workshop 2: Wet Preparations: Anatomy, Pathology and the Body Contained
9 June 2011, 6 pm Keynote Lecture – free and open to all –
10 June 2011 Workshop
For further information please contact Mechthild Fend m.fend(@)ucl.ac.uk or Petra Lange-Berndt p.lange-berndt(@)ucl.ac.uk
The network is a collaboration between the UCL History of Art department, UCL collections, in particular the Grant Museum of Zoology, the Hunterian Museum, London and the Natural History Museum London.
The lecture is free and open to the public, but you will need to make reservations; you can do so by calling +44 (0)20 7942 5725. You can find out more about the event and the series by clicking here.
Image: Mark Dion: An Account of Six Disastrous Years in the Library for Animals (detail), Installation at the Centrum Sztuki Wspólczesnej, Zamek Ujazdowski, Warsaw 1992
Collaboration using Open Notebook Science in Academia book chapter
I am very pleased to report that the book chapter that I co-wrote with Andrew Lang, Steve Koch and Cameron Neylon is now available online: Collaboration using Open Notebook Science in Academia. This is the 25th chapter of Collaborative Computational Technologies for Biomedical Research, edited by Sean Ekins, Maggie Hupcey, Antony Williams and Alpheus Bingham.
Our chapter provides some fairly detailed examples of how Open Notebook Science can be used to enhance collaboration between researchers from both similar or distant fields. It also suggests certain paths towards machine/human collaboration in science. Hopefully it will encourage researchers who have an interest in Open Science to experiment with some of the tools and strategies mentioned.
I am also grateful to Wiley for choosing our chapter as the free online sample for the book!
This book discusses the state-of-the-art collaborative and computing techniques for the pharmaceutical industry, the present and future implications and opportunities to advance healthcare research. The book tackles problems thoroughly, from both the human collaborative and the data and informatics side, and is very relevant to the day-to-day activities running a laboratory or a collaborative R&D project. It can be applied to help organizations make critical decisions about managing drug discovery and development partnership. The book follows a “man- methods-machine” format with sections on how to get people to collaborate, collaborative methods, and computational tools for collaboration. This book offers the reader a “getting started guide” or instruction on “how to collaborate” for new laboratories, new companies, and new partnerships, as well as a user manual for how to troubleshoot existing collaborations.
Horses Need Gas Masks Too [Animals]
Horse gas masks first came about around World War I to protect them from chemical agents. Amazing that we still used horses during warfare then! I do love how fitting them up with these crazy masks makes the little horsey look a lot more intimidating and apocalyptic. Gas masks have that effect. [Industrial Anatomy via Neatorama] More »
Alan Shepard
On May 5, 1961, Mercury astronaut Alan B. Shepard, Jr. made history, becoming the first American in space with a 15-minute suborbital flight in his Freedom 7 capsule. 50 years of human spaceflight ala NASA start to finish.
BTW: Happy Mothers Day to all the moms out there!
Bin Laden algined with AntiWar movement, liked Democrat ex-President Carter, praised 9/11 Truther Noam Chomsky and listened to the BBC
From Eric Dondero:
Seems that the very worst suspicions about Bin Laden of conservatives and pro-defense libertarians may have just been confirmed.
More intelligence from his compound has just been released. We are learning that the Al Qaeda leader was a fan of AntiWar activists in the West, listened "constantly" to elitist liberal taxpayer-subsidized Western media, was vociferious in his anti-Capitalist views, and rooted for the Democrat Party in US politics.
From the NY Times "Bin Laden’s Secret Life in a Diminished World" May 8:
In 2007, he complained that Democratic control of Congress had not ended the war in Iraq, a fact he attributed to the pernicious influence of “big corporations.” In other messages he commented on the writings of Noam Chomsky, the leftist professor at M.I.T., and praised former President Jimmy Carter’s book supporting Palestinian rights.
From TeaPartyPetersburg "BBC, Chomsky, Carter and Democrats":
They should be proud that their leftist views are commensurate with bin Laden's views, something that has been apparent for years but only now is revealed to the public.
bin Laden was depending on the Democrats in Congress to do his will and was disappointed when they didn't withdraw troops from Afghanistan; in addition, he despises the capitalist influence of "big corporations,"
bin Laden admired Jimmy Carter, whose behavior and positions have been pretty much crazed and out of touch with reality... Carter seems to have a problem with Jews and democracies and thinks terrorists (some of them anyway) are really friendly.
Note - Chomsky has been a frequent guest on AntiWar.com radio.
Photos - Chomsky bottom left, BBC Exec Dir. Mark Thompson
Easily Distracted People May Have Too Much Brain [Republished]
Lazy Sunday of DEATH | Bad Astronomy
When I was at the Northeast Conference on Science and Skepticism (NECSS) in April, my epidermically bepated pal George Hrab and I performed an acoustic version of his song "Death from the Skies", based on my book. We actually did it twice; once at a bar where Geo was playing with his trio, and again at the conference to close the whole thing out.
People seemed to like it. Geo certainly did, so much so that he wanted a nicer version to release. He therefore did such a thing and made it available to you, the science-loving throng out in the vast BA sphere of influence. He included the song in Episode 212 of his Geologic Podcast, and the skeptiliciousTM MsInformation put it into a feed of its own for you to download and keep in your digital music storage device.
I love both the original version of the song with its funky beat, but I also love this new version. The tongue-in-cheek lazy Sunday feeling of the soothing music coupled with me talking about the statistics of ...
Tim Pawlenty looks to appeal to libertarians too
An important part of the Coalition
Quoted in the WSJ Washington Wire, "Pawlenty Applauds ‘New Republican Party’":
“If you look at this field of likely 2012 candidates,” he said, “all of them appeal to just one or two” of the conservative factions: the defense hawks, the strong social conservatives, the small government types, the libertarians.
“But I will be the only one in the race who can authentically and genuinely appeal to all of them,” he asserted.
Editor's comment - Of course, we Pro-Defense libertarians long for a candidate with appeal to the defense hawks and small government types, libertarians. With Sarah apparently not running, Ted Nugent, where are you?
San Francisco Bookstore posts Anti-Nanny-State sign in Window
From Eric Dondero:
Not all is well in hyper-liberal San Francisco. Some of the local civil libertarians are rebelling against ever encroaching Nanny-State rules and regulation.
The famed Borderlands in the Mission district, described by the SFist blog as a "libertarian SF cafe bookstore," posted the following sign in the window:
Our Nanny State Would Like to Remind Us: Smoking Only 1) at the curb, or 2) if no curb, At least 15 ft. from exits, entrances, operable windows, & vents.
You should also eat all your vegetables, chew with your mouth closed, brush your teeth, and stop slouching already. Did you write a thank-you note to Aunt Edna for those nice socks? Good. Now finish your homework and get to bed at a reasonable time.We would like to add that, while slowly poisoning yourself it's a good idea to remain 15 ft (4.572 m) away from open buckets of gasoline or similar fuels. It would also be best to avoid mummies, the Scarecrow of Oz, Frankenstein's Monster, and other flammable film icons.
Of course the above admonitions apply to tobacco as well as anything else you might be smoking nudge, nudge, wink, wink. The lighting of incense is also heavily discouraged. We cannot legally forbid the application of way too much perfume/cologne but...
Borderlands is a home of sorts to the annual Promestheus Awards for libertarian Sci Fi, sponsored by the Libertarian Futurist Society.
RLC Member elected Chairman of the Alaska LP
BREAKING...
From Eric Dondero:
Tea Party Republican Mark Fish was elected yesterday to the Chairmanship of the Libertarian Party of Alaska. The annual convention was held in Anchorage at the Lion's Head Best Western. Over 40 delegates attended.
Fish was a Republican candidate for State House in 2008. He was also deeply involved in the Joe Miller for US Senate campaign against Lisa Murkowski in 2010. Behind the scenes he was instrumental in ensuring that the Libertarian Party would not allow Senator Murkowski on their ticket for the Fall election, after she had lost to Miller in the primary.
Fish is a staunch gun rights advocate, and outdoorsman. He is also a US Army Veteran.
Note - In Alaska, the Libertarian Party has a tradition of working closely with Republicans. In 2006, the full membership of the LP Executive Committee endorsed Sarah Palin for Governor. In 2010, the Republican Party of Alaska endorsed ALP Chairman Scott Kohlhaas for state legislature. There was no Republican running in his district.
Medical School: FJMC convocation on 11th – The Express Tribune
 The Express Tribune | Medical School: FJMC convocation on 11th The Express Tribune LAHORE: The Fatima Jinnah Medical College will hold its 11th convocation for graduates of 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009 at its auditorium on May 11. As many as 100 graduates will receive medals and be placed on rolls of honour. ... |
Pickering school turns 50 – Newsdurhamregion.com
Pickering school turns 50 Newsdurhamregion.com Vincent Chien -- director of the FitzGerald Academy (the education division for medical students at St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto). He is also a professor at University of Toronto Medical School. - Samantha Espie -- starred in many movies, ... |
Applications up 67% at Virginia Tech Carilion medical school – Roanoke Times
Applications up 67% at Virginia Tech Carilion medical school Roanoke Times Johnson was among the speakers at a grand opening held Saturday for the medical school and companion Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute, about nine months after the two began operations. Michael Friedlander, executive director of the institute, ... |
The slow decline of trust over time | Gene Expression
Yesterday I made an admission of my lack of trust after the 2008 financial crisis. I should have been more precise and clarified that my collapse in trust has been particularly aimed at elites and “experts.” In any case, I realized that the General Social Survey has 2010 results available. This means that I could check any changes in public trust and confidence from 2008 to 2010! Below in the set of charts there is one that assesses trust in banks and financial institutions. The direction of change validates my specific implication. But it seems that my intuition was wrong in that American society had slouched toward more general distrust. This makes me less pessimistic about the direction of our culture and the future rationally (I can’t say that my visceral emotional cynicism has been abolished).
As you can see there wasn’t much change between 2008 and 2010. For the broad question of “can you trust people” I also decided to break it down by political ideology, education, and intelligence in two year rages, 1972-1991 and 1992-2010. There are noticeable differences in intelligence and education (less intelligent and less ...
Owning a Private Island: Far From a Dream
As the Chinese economy continues to grow in leaps and bounds more and more Chinese are exploring the Private Island Market. More and more English Chinese news outlets are running stories about the privilege of private island ownership and travel. Here is what one article recently had to say.
“Owning one’s own private island is a fantasy for many people, poor and wealthy alike. For some people, it’s even a realistic possibility. Is it a risky investment or a lucrative strategy?
For many of China’s wealthy, owning a private island has become a reality as a result of China’s April listing of 176 uninhabited islands available for lease and development.”
To read the rest of the article visit Xinhua.net