Precision Medicine National Campaign Launched at OME Summit

Posted on by

At the OME Precision Medicine summit at UC San Francisco today, attendees launched a social media campaign to engage the nation in an effort to transform medicine as we know it. The MeForYou.org campaign aims to engage the public in addressing a key roadblock to advancing a new model of medicine, known as precision medicine, to provide preventive, predictive and precise care.

The roadblock stems from the fact that while todays federal regulations are effective in protecting patients privacy, there are circumstances in which that very protection impedes scientists ability to understand disease. That has consequences not just for individuals but for their families and the world at large. The campaign aims to educate the public about these consequences and begin a national discussion about ways in which patients could be protected, while not slowing discovery or research collaborations -- both key to progress in the field.

We want patients to know that if we perfectly protect all data, this could impede progress in advancing precision medicine, said UCSF Chancellor Susan Desmond-Hellmann, MD, MPH. Desmond-Hellmann, an oncologist, previously was director of product development at Genentech, where she helped bring two of the first gene-targeted therapies for cancer to market a goal of precision medicine.

The first step of the social media campaign is to share the concept of precision medicine with the public and explain how patient data would be key to advancing the field.

The launch of the campaign was the finale of the two-day OME Precision Medicine Summit, hosted by UCSF, which brought together 150 leaders in technology, health, government and industry to address the major stumbling blocks to advancing precision medicine.

UCSF convened the Summit in an effort to move beyond the fact that, today, diseases are defined primary by symptoms and organs. The goal of precision medicine is to identify the underlying molecular drivers of disease, as has been done in a handful of illnesses, mostly certain subtypes of cancer.Understanding diseases at the molecular level would allow for more precise diagnoses, targeted therapies and, in some cases, disease prevention.

Precision medicine promises to harness the great advances in technology, genetics and biomedical research to understand the roots of disease, develop targeted therapies, and ultimately provide precise care to patients worldwide.

Central to the success of precision medicine is the involvement of the public in making their de-identified health and genetic information available for scientists, who could use the data to understand the genetic basis of disease, including who is at greatest risk for medical conditions across a diverse population.

"Every day, people see their caregivers for both health checkups and critical illnesses. At the end of each of those visits, these individuals leave behind simple information on their health, disease risk and responses to medications," Desmond-Hellmann said. "If we could collect that and other data in a secure and private way, we could tap into it to improve the lives of these individuals and patients throughout the world."

Current patient privacy laws are critical in protecting patients from misuse of that information. But those protections also prevent doctors and scientists from sharing de-identified data that could offer key links between seemingly unrelated diseases, or insights on how medications and illness affect diverse populations. "Those laws are crucial in protecting patients, and we need to make sure they remain strong," she said. "But patients are already disclosing much of this information through social media. We need people to understand the impact they could have on other people's lives and their own health by sharing it with science. That's why we created the MeForYou campaign."

Read more from the original source:

Precision Medicine National Campaign Launched at OME Summit

Many people hate taking their medicine, new survey finds

Posted on by

By Chris Reidy, Globe Staff

Many people hate to take their medicine --- and thats become such a problem that it costs the US an estimated $290 billion and 125,000 deaths a year, according to HealthPrize Technologies.

Thats also a potential problem for Massachusetts, a hotbed for developing new medical treatments. Whats the point of commercializing a great new drug if many patients dont want to take it?

According to a new survey from Connecticut-based HealthPrize, a large segment of the population finds taking prescription drugs distasteful. In an effort to quantify the problem, HealthPrize commissioned the research firm Research Now to survey 1,021 US adults who take prescription drugs.

One finding: 47 percent of people surveyed indicated they would rather take out the trash than take their prescribed medications. Among the reasons cited for such a response is that taking pills reminds people that theyre getting old.

Taking medication is a daily reminder of your illness and your status as a patient so its a negative experience that people instinctively want to avoid, Dr. Katrina Firlik, cofounder and chief medical officer of HealthPrize, said in a statement. Psychologically, people tend to prefer actions that offer short-term benefits but most chronic medications provide no short-term benefits -- only short-term annoyances. So people may skip taking or stop refilling their medication altogether even if the long-term risks to their health are enormous. Thats the reality of medication non-adherence that needs to be addressed.

HealthPrize looks to use game dynamics and behavioral economics to devise programs that encourage patients to take their medications as prescribed. For example, a patient who sticks to his or her drug regimen might be rewarded with an Amazon gift card. Drug companies hire HealthPrize to create such programs for their medications.

Read the original:

Many people hate taking their medicine, new survey finds

Tong Ren Tang Chinese Medicine Doubles on Debut: Hong Kong Mover

Posted on by

Beijing Tong Ren Tang Chinese Medicine Co. more than doubled from the offer price on its first day of trading in Hong Kong amid speculation the seller of traditional drugs and health products will boost profitability.

The shares rose to HK$7.01 at the midday trading break in the city, about 2.3 times the offer price of HK$3.04. The Hong Kong-based company was spun off from Tong Ren Tang Technologies Co. (1666), a maker of traditional Chinese medicines.

Tong Ren Tang is a very strong brand, Derrick Sun, a health-care analyst at Bank of China International in Hong Kong, said by phone. Investors should prefer the spinoff to Tong Ren Tang Technologies, as the spinoff might enjoy higher margins and faster growth going forward.

Demand for Beijing Tong Ren Tangs offering was expected to be strong because the parent company granted preferential shares to qualified existing stockholders, limiting the stock available to other investors, Sun said.

The preferential offer was 6.45 times oversubscribed, the company said in an e-mailed statement yesterday.

The company is about 40 percent owned by Tong Ren Tang Technologies, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Beijing Tongrentang Co., a traditional-medicine maker listed in Shanghai, holds a 35 percent stake.

To contact the reporter on this story: Natasha Khan in Hong Kong at nkhan51@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Jason Gale at j.gale@bloomberg.net

View original post here:

Tong Ren Tang Chinese Medicine Doubles on Debut: Hong Kong Mover

Johns Hopkins Medicine Integrates Hyland Software's OnBase with Epic EMR

Posted on by

CLEVELAND, May 7, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Johns Hopkins Medicine, a global health enterprise and one of the leading healthcare systems in the United States, has integrated its Epic electronic medical record (EMR) with OnBase, Hyland Software's enterprise content management (ECM) solution. The integrated solution provides clinicians and staff immediate access to patient information stored outside of the EMR, empowering staff to deliver superior patient care.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20090130/65710LOGO )

Johns Hopkins is standardizing on Hyland's OnBase solution and moving from multiple legacy systems including EMC's ApplicationXtender, Meditech Scanning and Archiving and GE Centricity's DocuTrak product for a stronger integration with its Epic EMR. Johns Hopkins will use OnBase across the healthcare system in ambulatory and inpatient departments in its hospitals as well as in community physician practices to capture and securely store critical patient information. Created specifically for Epic, the integration provides access to all clinical content whether it started as paper or was electronically created directly from the Epic EMR.

With more Epic customers using OnBase than any other ECM suite, Hyland offers the broadest experience in clinical solutions that complete the patient record. OnBase provides clinicians with the most comprehensive view of their patients through a single interface. Eliminating reimbursement delays by integrating with Epic's Resolute solution, OnBase also enhances business processes like patient registration by integrating ID and insurance scan capture through Epic's Prelude solution.

"Our extensive industry expertise allows an enhanced experience for Johns Hopkins patients, clinicians and staff members," said Susan deCathelineau, vice president of healthcare sales and services at Hyland Software. "With more than 120 Epic customers, representing more than 600 hospitals and 4,900 ambulatory and sub-acute sites, our services team has an established track record of delivering tightly aligned solutions on time and on budget."

For more information about Hyland's healthcare solutions, visit Hyland.com/Healthcare.

About Hyland SoftwareFor over 20 years, Hyland Software has helped our more than 11,500 lifetime customers by providing real-world solutions to everyday business challenges. That dedication is why Hyland realizes double-digit growth, and why 98 percent of our customer base continues to renew its annual maintenance. Our customers see the ongoing value of partnering with Hyland and continue to work with us year after year.

Hyland's enterprise content management (ECM) solution, OnBase, is one of the most flexible and comprehensive ECM products on the market today. OnBase empowers healthcare organizations to provide better patient care by providing instant access to clinical and financial content normally outside of core IT applications. Every day, more than 1,600 healthcare organizations use OnBase to complete patient records, eliminate reimbursement delays and enhance business processes. Tailored for departments and comprehensive for the enterprise, OnBase is designed to grow with an organization, whether it chooses an on-premises or software as a service (SaaS) model.

For more information about Hyland Software's ECM solutions for healthcare, please visit Hyland.com/Healthcare.

Media contact:PJ Carter (440) 788-5558 pj.carter@hyland.com

Read more here:

Johns Hopkins Medicine Integrates Hyland Software's OnBase with Epic EMR

GoPro

Posted on by


GoPro Phantom Quadcopter Flying over Liberty Square Luxury Senior Apartments
Trying the GoPro DJI Phantom Quadcopter over Liberty Square Luxury Senior Apartments.

By: David Pestana

Continue reading here:

GoPro

Aureus Mining Inc. – Ball mill order for the New Liberty Gold Project

Posted on by

TSX : AUE AIM : AUE

TORONTO , May 7, 2013 /CNW/ - Aureus Mining Inc. (TSX: AUE / AIM: AUE) ("Aureus" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has placed an order for the ball mill for the New Liberty Gold Project ("New Liberty" or the "Project") in Liberia , which is the key plant item as described in its independent technical report dated 1October2012. The placement of this order is part of Aureus' strategy to source the longer-lead key plant items for the New Liberty process plant in sufficient time to facilitate the successful achievement of first gold in December 2014 .

An order has been placed with NCP International Ltd ("NCP") for the supply, delivery and installation of a ball milling system, which is due for delivery in May 2014 . The ball mill has a rating of 145t/hr and is capable of processing at a rate of up to 1.1Mtpa of ore. The civil foundations will have been completed by the time of delivery, ready for the erection and assembly of the mill and supporting equipment. The mill is a critical component in the commissioning process and pre-commissioning checks on the mill are scheduled to be carried out in October 2014 , with first gold production on track for December 2014 .

The other key plant items that will be ordered in Q22013 include the crushers, apron feeder, slurry pumps, spillage pumps, water pumps, carbon pumps, screens as well as the re-grind mill.

The procurement schedule for the ordering of key plant items is being driven by the DRA engineering team and the engineering activities for the overall plant construction are well progressed.

Commenting on the ordering of key plant items, David Reading , President and Chief Executive Officer of Aureus, said:

"We continue to make significant progress on the development and construction of New Liberty. The ordering of the ball mill is another critical step to ensure the timely and successful development of the Project. The placing of the mill order is an exciting step for Aureus, as the mill is the heart of our new process plant. We are pleased to be associated with NCP, which brings many years of milling experience to the Project.

"As a consequence of having all permits in place, key management personnel, an owner team assembled and project debt financing process in place, Aureus continues to de-risk the Project and is well placed to achieve first gold by December 2014."

About Aureus Mining Inc.

The Company's assets include the New Liberty gold deposit in Liberia (the "New Liberty Gold Project" or the "Project"), which has an estimated proven and probable reserve of 910,000 ounces of gold grading 3.3 g/t and an estimated measured and indicated mineral resource of 1,143,000 ounces of gold grading 3.6 g/t and an estimated inferred mineral resource of 593,000 ounces of gold grading 3.2 g/t. A feasibility study has been completed on the Project and construction has commenced with initial earthworks. The Project is expected to have an eight and a half year mine life and annual production of 120,000 ounces for the first five years of production. The Company has financed the Project's equity funding requirement and is in advanced discussions with interested parties to fund the balance.

Continued here:

Aureus Mining Inc. - Ball mill order for the New Liberty Gold Project

Liberty Institute Vows To Protect Religious Freedom Of Persecuted Christian Military

Posted on by

DALLAS, May 6, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Liberty Institute announces the launch of the Armed Forces Religious Liberty 800 hotline 800-259-9109 and petition drive to support persecuted members of the United States Military, threatened with court martial for sharing their Christian faith under the Pentagon's unconstitutional, new policy restricting proselytizing. In addition, the constitutional attorneys, some of whom served in the military, vow to provide legal defense for men and women service members who contact Liberty Institute to protect their First Amendment rights. To view the online petition, visit: https://secure.giveworks.net/m/liberty/armed_forces_petition?src=ban1112

(Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120523/DC12743LOGO-b)

In 2010, Liberty Institute successfully stopped President Obama's Department of Veterans Affairs from banning God at funerals in veterans' cemeteries, and in late 2012 following 13 years of litigation, the attorneys, on behalf of The American Legion, restored the Mojave Desert Veterans Memorial Cross that honors the sacrifice of World War I Veterans. Currently, Liberty Institute continues its fight to prevent the ACLU from tearing down the historic Mt. Soledad Veterans Memorial Cross that overlooks San Diego, CA.

"The Pentagon released an appalling official statement that I didn't believe at first, but unfortunately it's true. They are about to implement a new policy under which any members of the military "caught" talking about their Christian faith will be subject tocourt martialorimprisonment!" said Liberty Institute President and CEO Kelly Shackelford. "We are establishing this emergency hotline to protect our armed forces members, who can call and get free legal representation when they are persecuted for their Christian faith."

The Armed Forces Religious Liberty hotline and petition drive directly responds to the implementation of the Pentagon's new policies formulated by avowed atheist Mikey Weinstein, founder of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation. In recent news articles, Weinstein made pejorative remarks about Christians, recommended that military service members sharing their faith should be subject to court martial and that the government should abolish the Chaplains Corps.

About Liberty Institute

Liberty Institute is a nonprofit legal group dedicated to restoring and defending religious liberty across America in our schools, for our churches, and throughout the public arena. Liberty Institute's vision is to reestablish liberty in accordance with the principles of our nation's founders. Visit http://www.LibertyInstitute.org for more information.

SOURCE Liberty Institute

See original here:

Liberty Institute Vows To Protect Religious Freedom Of Persecuted Christian Military

Liberty Global Misses 1Q Earnings – Analyst Blog

Posted on by

Liberty Global Inc. ( LBTYA ) declared mixed financial results for the first quarter of 2013. While net earnings fell below the Zacks Consensus Estimate, revenues beat the same. In the reported quarter, the company added 373,000 organic revenue generating units (RGU), down 16.2% year over year. Liberty Global currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Quarterly GAAP net loss was $1 million or a break-even per share compared with a net loss of $25.7 million or 9 cents per share in the prior-year quarter. However, first-quarter 2013 adjusted earnings per share of 9 cents were way below the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 28 cents. Quarterly total revenue of $2,767.7 million was up 9.1% year over year, easily surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $2,714 million.

Quarterly cost of operations was $1,027 million, up 14.4% year over year. Selling, General and Administrative expenses were $497.9 million, up 5.6% year over year. In the first quarter of 2013, operating income was $525.4 million, up 6.3% year over year.

During the first quarter of 2013, Liberty Global generated $557.7 million of cash from operations compared with $805.8 million in the year-ago period. Free cash flow in the reported quarter was $23.1 million compared with $241.9 million in the prior-year quarter.

At the end of the first quarter of 2013, Liberty Global had $2,906.8 million of cash and marketable securities and $29,600.1 million of outstanding debt on its balance sheet compared with $2,989 million of cash and marketable securities and $27,524.5 million of outstanding debt at the end of 2012.

Subscriber Statistics

As on Mar 31, 2013, Liberty Global had 19.7457 million customers in 13 countries. Out of the total, customer count at UPC Broadband, Telnet and VTR was 16.1984 million, 2.1062 million and 1.1679 million, respectively. Puerto Rico and Chile had 273,200 customers. The total Single-Play customer count was10.4666 million, down 6.8% year over year. The total Double-Play customer count was 3.092 million, up 5.9% year over year. The total Triple-Play customer count was 6.1871 million, up 13.8% year over year.

During the reported quarter, Liberty Global added 373,000 net RGUs including net gains of 233,000 and 231,000 subscribers, respectively, for broadband Internet and telephony services and a net loss of 92,000 subscribers for video services. In the first quarter, the company added 217,000 digital video subscribers. At present, the company has more than 200,000 Horizon TV subscribers (145,000 in the Netherlands and 55,000 in Switzerland). Recently, Liberty Global started offering Horizon TV in Ireland and will also deploy it in Germany later this year.

Segment wise Results

Total revenue from the total UPC Broadband division was $1,801.4 million, up 5.6% year over year. Within this segment, revenues from Western Europe were $1,481.6 million, up 6.1% year over year. Revenues from Central and Eastern Europe were $287.8 million, up 2.5% year over year. Revenues from Central and other operation were $32 million, up 13.5% year over year. In the reported quarter, Telenet revenues were $536.2 million, up 12.3% year over year. VTR revenues were $250.4 million, up 11.5% year over year. Corporate and other revenues were $199.3 million, up 31.6% year over year.

More here:

Liberty Global Misses 1Q Earnings - Analyst Blog

Liberty Global Reports First Quarter 2013 Results

Posted on by

ENGLEWOOD, Colo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Liberty Global, Inc. (Liberty Global, LGI, or the Company) (NASDAQ: LBTYA, LBTYB and LBTYK), today announces financial and operating results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2013 (Q1 2013). Highlights for Q1 2013 as compared to the same period for 2012 (Q1 2012) (unless noted) include:

Liberty Globals President and CEO Mike Fries commented, Our track record of strong operating and financial performance from 2012 continued into the first quarter of 2013. We delivered mid-single-digit rebased revenue and OCF growth of 6% and 4%, respectively, with both results comparing favorably to the prior year period. Fueled by the addition of 1.5 million RGUs and over 500,000 mobile subscriptions over the last twelve months, we posted our fifth consecutive quarter with rebased revenue growth of better than 5%, led by Belgium and Germany.

Innovation remains a core focus this year as we continue to invest in the development of new product offerings. We launched our Horizon TV platform in Switzerland in Q1, with Ireland and Germany to follow later this year. Through April, we had over 200,000 Horizon TV subscribers in the Netherlands and Switzerland. In addition, we have significantly increased our broadband speeds in markets like the Netherlands, where we have key bundles positioned with 100 Mbps and a top-tier bundle at 200 Mbps.

We remain on track to complete the acquisition of Virgin Media4 before the end of the second quarter. We recently received regulatory approval from the European Commission and both companies have scheduled their respective shareholder votes for early June to approve the transaction. With a combined customer base of 25 million and an aggregate reach of over 45 million homes passed, we are excited about our collective growth potential and we will remain focused on delivering superior value to customers and shareholders.

Year-to-date, we have been active in the capital markets, raising the necessary financing to fund the Virgin Media acquisition, as well as opportunistically refinancing roughly $5 billion of debt at the UPC Holding and Unitymedia KabelBW credit pools. Upon completion of the Virgin Media transaction, we expect to have more than sufficient liquidity to fulfill our $3.5 billion share buyback target over the ensuing two years.

Subscriber Statistics

At March 31, 2013, our 19.7 million unique customers received 35.2 million total services, an increase of over 5% (inclusive of acquisitions) in our RGU base since March 31, 2012. On a product level, our RGU base consisted of 18.2 million video, 9.5 million broadband internet and 7.5 million telephony subscriptions at quarter-end. Bundling remains an important driver of our subscriber growth, particularly sales of our triple-play product offerings, as over 30% of our customer base, or approximately 6.2 million customers, subscribed to triple-play packages at March 31, 2013. In total, we finished the first quarter with aggregate bundled customers of 9.3 million (or 47% of our total customer base), which reflects an increase of over 920,000 (inclusive of acquisitions) over the last twelve months.

During Q1 2013, we added 373,000 RGUs as compared to 445,000 RGUs in Q1 2012. Geographically, our RGU additions in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) grew year-over-year by 30% to 70,000 and Latin America5 increased by 88% to 63,000, while western Europe6 experienced a decline of 33% to 240,000. The lower comparative western European result was directly attributable to our German and Dutch businesses, as each had their best quarterly subscriber performance of 2012 in the first quarter. With respect to Germany, we added 169,000 RGUs during Q1 2013 as compared to the record 219,000 we achieved in Q1 2012. A portion of this lower result is due to a housing association contract that we lost in Germany in December 2011, as approximately 16,000 of the impacted RGUs were transferred to the new provider during the quarter.

With respect to our Dutch operation, we lost 3,000 RGUs in Q1 2013, as compared to a gain of 42,000 in Q1 2012. However, this result is consistent with our Dutch subscriber performance in both the third and fourth quarters of 2012, as the Dutch market remains very competitive. To that point and subsequent to quarter-end, we further strengthened our customer proposition in the Netherlands, as we introduced basic digital unencryption and launched new triple-play bundles that include increased broadband speeds with our primary bundle offering 100 Mbps along with the introduction of a 200 Mbps internet product in certain areas.

See the original post:

Liberty Global Reports First Quarter 2013 Results