Philips Respironics improves health care delivery and quality of life for sleep and respiratory patients

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ATLANTA, Oct. 16, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --Philips Respironics, a unit of Royal Philips Electronics (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHI), today at Medtrade 2012 showcases advancements that allow patients to sleep and breathe easier, demonstrating its commitment to improving the quality of life of those who suffer from chronic sleep and respiratory conditions. Medtrade, taking place this week at the Georgia World Congress Center, is the nation's largest conference and exposition focused exclusively on the home medical equipment (HME) industry.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110726/NY41282LOGO )

At Medtrade 2012, Philips Respironics will offer homecare providers a first-hand look at solutions that treat and manage conditions that affect millions of Americans each year such as obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and asthma. Designed with the patient in mind, these new solutions bring quality care into the home, enabling those with sleep and respiratory conditions to maintain their freedom and independence. Philips Respironics will offer an interactive experience with multimedia displays, hands-on demonstrations and docent tours of its new products and programs.

"The role of the homecare provider has never been more critical," says John Frank, senior vice president, general manager, Sleep and Respiratory Care, Philips Home Healthcare Solutions. "We are committed to helping homecare providers enhance patients' lives by delivering cost-effective solutions that drive better treatment, monitoring and management of their conditions. We are working together with all stakeholders to navigate through the changes in the new era of health care."

Some of the new offerings that Philips Respironics will be highlighting include:

- Fit for Life specialized resupply mask solution

Fit for Life, a comprehensive mask and service program, gives providers a way to offer their patients easy and reliable access to important replacement masks, supplies and resources they need to benefit from their OSA therapy. It also offers simple ways for homecare providers to monitor and document compliance with major commercial and public insurance providers' eligibility requirements and the recently released Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' (CMS) resupply policy clarification.

"We now have a comprehensive program to help providers meet the needs of their OSA patients through a lifetime of care, while effectively coordinating payer and industry requirements," said Mr. Frank. "Fit for Life acknowledges the operational and economic forces that are shaping the industry and is another example of our commitment to the industry. The program is a natural complement to our growing portfolio of masks."

- Wisp minimal contact hybrid nasal mask (coming soon)

The Wisp minimal contact nasal mask, a hybrid nasal/pillow mask that offers the emotional appeal and benefits of a low profile mask with best in class performance, delivers in four key areas: comfort, ease of use, visual appeal and the ability to fit a wide range of patients. The modular frame comes in two styles that patients can switch between: a reversible fabric and clear silicon. This allows patients to watch television or read a book before going to bed, making it easy to live with.

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Philips Respironics improves health care delivery and quality of life for sleep and respiratory patients

Noticeable difference between Quebecers' and other Canadians' perspectives on factors affecting health

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http://www.conferenceboard.ca

OTTAWA, Oct. 16, 2012 /CNW/ - Compared to Canadians in other provinces, Quebecers put more emphasis on the health care system and less on daily activities as the factors having the biggest impact on a person's health, according to an EKOS Research Associates survey released by The Conference Board of Canada today.

"The differences between Quebecers and the national results are slight on most of the individual questions, but, when the survey results are taken as a whole, there is a noticeable difference in perspectives," said Louis Thriault, Director, Health Economics.

When asked to identify the factor that has the biggest impact on the health of the average Canadian, 39 per cent of Quebecers selected daily activities, more than any other factor. Nationally, 48 per cent of survey respondents said daily activities had the biggest impact on a person's health. This figure rose to 60 per cent of respondents in Alberta.

Quebecers were most likely to say that the health care system had the biggest impact on the health of Canadians (21 percent versus 17 per cent nationally). Quebecers were also the most likely respondents in the country to say that food, water and environmental factors had the biggest impact on personal health.

Quebecers considered environmental factors marginally more important than respondents elsewhere in Canada (87 per cent versus 85 per cent nationally) and they were somewhat more likely to see income as an important factor (69 per cent versus 63 per cent nationally).

When asked how important lifestyle factors are to their health: Physical activity: 76 per cent of the national population said being physically active was very important to their health, compared to 71 per cent of Quebecers; Diet and nutrition: 74 per cent of respondents nationally said it was very important to eat a well-balanced diet, compared to 52 per cent of Quebecers; Smoking: Nationally, 82 per cent of respondents said not smoking is very important to their health, a sentiment shared by 79 per cent of Quebecers; Alcohol consumption: 44 per cent for respondents nationally said it was very important not to drink too much alcohol; 37 per cent of Quebecers agreed.

EKOS Research Associates conducted this study to update and refine the understanding of Canadian views on health and the health care system. The methodology involved a nationally representative survey of 2,047 Canadians 18 years of age and older - 519 were surveyed by telephone and 1,528 completed the survey online. The sample source for this study was members of the EKOS panel, which was specifically designed for online/telephone surveys, Results include a margin of errors of plus or minus 2.2 per cent 19 times out of 20. The survey took place in May 2012, and the findings will be released throughout October and November 2012.

The study was supported by the Canadian Medical Association, Accreditation Canada and the Conference Board's Canadian Alliance for Sustainable Health Care (CASHC). Launched in 2011, CASHC is a five-year Conference Board program of research and dialogue. It will delve deeply into facets of Canada's health care challenge, including the financial, workplace, and institutional dimensions, in an effort to develop forward-looking qualitative and quantitative analysis and solutions to make the system more sustainable.

As part of the CASHC initiative, the Conference Board is hosting the Summit on Sustainable Health and Health Care in Toronto on October 30 and 31. The Summit will bring together Canada's health system leaders to discuss the latest research, learn from top Canadian experts, and explore solutions for Canada's greatest health challenges and opportunities.

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UMass Memorial Health Care Teams Up with Informatica and MedCPU on Innovative Solution for Reducing Preventable …

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WORCESTER, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

UMass Memorial Healthcare (UMMHC), the largest health care system in Central New England, is implementing innovative technology to reduce the frequency of preventable readmissions as per the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Readmissions Reduction Program. The new UMMHC Readmissions Reduction Initiative will cover the entire inpatient and ambulatory environments of UMMHC, including all its affiliated physicians, their outpatient offices and their patients.

The ability to accurately monitor patients clinical status and identify, in real-time, any administrative or clinical deficiencies in patients care that might increase the risk of avoidable readmission, is critical for our success in fighting the readmissions challenge, said George Brenckle, PhD, senior vice president and chief information officer at UMass Memorial Healthcare. Theres so much information about the patient, spread over multiple systems and multiple formats, that only with advanced technology that can consolidate it all into an accurate discrete snapshot of the patients clinical picture, we can provide significant assistance to our clinicians and case managers in maximizing our efforts for better patient care.

UMass Memorial teamed with two technology companies, Informatica and MedCPU, to create a complete Readmissions Reduction initiative. The solution provides full administrative and clinical support, in one application, to providers, care managers and patients in managing and reducing avoidable readmissions. The solution:

With the Readmissions Reduction legislation recently coming into effect, it is imperative that UMass Memorial Healthcare have access to the most accurate and trustworthy data to ensure the best patient care possible, said Richard Cramer, chief healthcare strategist, Informatica. By partnering with MedCPU to address the readmission challenge, weve been able to offer a comprehensive solution that identifies high-risk patients and focuses on intervention and proactive medicine.

Our collaboration with Informatica enables us to deliver a highly accurate and efficient prompting system that overcomes one of the most difficult hurdles in healthcare significant loss of information due to narrative documentation by clinicians, said Eyal Ephrat, M.D., MedCPU CEO and co-founder. UMass Memorial Health Care led us to a highly significant goal of creating a reliable solution that gains the clinicians respect for its accuracy and proficiency in promoting better patient care. We have strong confidence that our partnership shall deliver these expectations, and beyond.

About UMass Memorial Health Care

UMass Memorial Health Care is Central Massachusetts' largest not-for-profit health care delivery system, covering the complete health care continuum with UMass Memorial Medical Center, its academic medical center, member and affiliated community hospitals, freestanding primary care practices, ambulatory outpatient clinics, a rehabilitation group and mental health services. UMass Memorial is the clinical partner of the University of Massachusetts Medical School. To learn more about UMass Memorial, please visit http://www.umassmemorial.org, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

About MedCPU:

MedCPU delivers accurate real-time clinical care advice through its revolutionary Advisor Button technology. It uniquely captures the complete clinical picture from clinicians free-text notes, dictations and structured documentation entered into any EMR, and analyzes it against a growing library of best-practice content, generating real-time precise prompts for best care consideration. MedCPUs founding multi-disciplinary team has been leading the field of real-time clinical decision support for over 17 years, delivering intelligent error reduction software systems to many hospitals in the US. MedCPU applications include clinical and compliance support solutions. For more information, visit http://www.MedCPU.com

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Health-care Stocks: J&J, UnitedHealth get a lift from earnings reports

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By Russ Britt, MarketWatch

LOS ANGELES (MarketWatch) Two health-care giants, Johnson & Johnson and UnitedHealth Group Inc., moved higher Tuesday after the companies reported third-quarter earnings that beat analyst estimates.

Shares of Johnson & Johnson /quotes/zigman/230812/quotes/nls/jnj JNJ +1.28% got the boost that many investors were looking for, climbing more than a buck at one point as the health-care conglomerate said adjusted third-quarter earnings were $1.25 a share. That was ahead of the FactSet consensus of analyst estimates, which came in at $1.19 a share.

Citigroup Chief Executive Vikram Pandit is stepping down, effective immediately, and will be succeeded by Michael Corbat.

J&J said net income for the quarter was $2.63 billion, or $1.05 per share including one-time charges, compared with $3.2 billion, or $1.15 a share, for the same period a year ago. Sales were $17.1 billion against last years $16 billion. The FactSet consensus called for sales of $17.5 billion, though analysts said the Street consensus was closer to $17 billion, meaning the company came in ahead of forecasts.

J&J also increased its own forecast for full-year results, saying that 2012 earnings should come in at $5.05 to $5.10 a share, up from its earlier prediction of $5.00 to $5.07 a share.

J&J shares should trade higher today in reaction to what we view as a strong, basically clean quarterly beat, Leerink Swann analyst Danielle Antalffy said in a note to clients.

J&J shares were up 78 cents, or 1.1%, to $69.38 in recent action.

UnitedHealth /quotes/zigman/258846/quotes/nls/unh UNH -1.11% , meanwhile, had a similar earnings report but it wasnt as surprising to investors, and so the share boost wasnt as great. UnitedHealth previewed its earnings recently. Shares were up marginally to $57.67 in recent action.

The company said net income was $1.56 billion, or $1.50 a share, compared with $1.27 billion, or $1.17 a share. Revenue for the health-insurance behemoth was $27.3 billion against last years $25.3 billion. Analysts said they had expected the company would earn $1.34 a share.

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Health Care Service Corporation And Loveisrespect Announce Initiative To Educate One Million Teens On Teen Dating …

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CHICAGO, Oct. 16, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Health Care Service Corporation (HCSC), the nation's largest customer-owned health insurer, and Loveisrespect, the ultimate source of support for young people to prevent and end dating abuse, announce an initiative to educate one million teens on teen dating abuse and prevention.

HCSC, operator of Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans in Illinois, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas, and Loveisrespect's new collaboration will reduce the growing epidemic of teen dating violence with tailored, on-the-ground outreach and awareness programs that will better equip our schools, families and communities with the information and resources needed to respond to this issue. According to multiple studies, one in three adolescents in the U.S. is a victim of physical, sexual, emotional or verbal abuse from a dating partner a figure that far exceeds rates of other types of youth violence and nearly 1.5 million high school students experience physical abuse from a dating partner in a single year.

Through this alliance, communities in Illinois, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas will learn to identify the warning signs and better respond to teen dating violence through the creation of school-based initiatives such as "Loveisrespect Institutes." As many as 1,000 free toolkits, the largest single distribution of its kind, will be sent out and will include a curriculum which leverages technology to provide teachers with web-based activities and methods for creating a supportive community.

"As a result of HCSC's support, our innovative service-learning programs will help young people develop healthy definitions of positive relationships. We're creating, conducting, evaluating and distributing a comprehensive dating abuse prevention program that will lead to measurable successes," said Cristina Escobar, director of Loveisrespect.

"We are honored to have an opportunity to team with other organizations who share our commitment to creating pathways for teenagers, their families and friends to build relationships of warmth, mutual respect and love," said Conway McDanald, chief medical officer, behavioral health, HCSC. "In our initative with Loveisrespect, we have tailored the program to our states to spread awareness and provide support to prevent teen dating violence and abuse. The collective impact creates a safe space for teens to talk about things that may be difficult and helps them decide when and where they want to do it, at any time, using any mode of communication they choose."

This program is in conjunction with Healthy Kids, Healthy Families (HKHF), a three-year initiative with a goal of improving the health and wellness of at least one million children in four states, Illinois, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas.

The HKHF initiative invests in and partners with nonprofit organizations that offer sustainable, measurable programs to reach children and their families in four pillar categories including supporting safe environments, nutrition education, physical activity, and disease prevention and management. Overall, the Healthy Kids, Healthy Families initiative reflects HCSC's commitment to make a meaningful difference across all of the areas we serve. Within the first year, the HKHF initiative granted more than $6 million to more than 90 community partners across the four states it serves. Currently in the second year of the initiative, funding decisions and new partnerships are being identified across our four states. Additional "Healthy Kids, Healthy Families" pillar partners include:

About Health Care Service Corporation Health Care Service Corporation is the country's largest customer-owned health insurer and fourth largest health insurer overall, with more than 13 million members in its Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans in Illinois, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas. A Mutual Legal Reserve Company, HCSC is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association. For more information, please visit http://www.HCSC.com, visit our Facebook page or follow us at http://www.twitter.com/HCSC.

About Healthy Kids, Healthy Families Healthy Kids, Healthy Families is a three-year initiative designed to improve the health and wellness of at least one million children through community investments by Health Care Service Corporation and its Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans in Illinois, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas. The initiative will invest in and partner with nonprofit organizations that offer sustainable, measurable programs to reach children and their families in areas of nutrition education, physical activity, disease prevention and management, and supporting safe environments. To learn more about Health Kids, Healthy Families, please visit http://www.healthykidshealthyfamiles.org.

About Loveisrespect Loveisrespect helps teens and young adults, ages 13-24 navigate the spectrum of healthy relationship behaviors. From the program, young people learn there are options, answers and support available to them every hour of every day. Forming the national partnership to end dating abuse, Break the Cycle and the National Dating Abuse Helpline designed the new loveisrespect specifically for young people, emphasizing confidentiality and trust to ensure teens and 20-somethings nationwide feel safe and supported online and off. Find out more at http://www.loveisrespect.org.

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Discovering genetic associations using large data

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David Heckerman from Microsoft Research presents a summary of his work in the session Discovering Genetic Associations on Large Data. This was part of the Strata Rx Online Conference: Personalized Medicine, a preview of OReillys conference Strata Rx, highlighting the use of data in medical research and delivery.

Heckermans research attempts to answer essential questions such as What is your propensity for getting a particular disease? and How are you likely to react to a particular drug?

Key points from Heckermans presentation include:

The full presentation follows:

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23andMe Compares Family History and Genetic Tests for Predicting Complex Disease Risk

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MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Oct. 15, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --In a new theoretical study, 23andMe, the leading personal genetics company, developed a mathematical model which shows that family history and genetic tests offer different strengths. The study results suggest that both family history and genetics are best used in combination to improve disease risk prediction. The full results of the study have now been published online in the journal PLOS Genetics.

Family history is most useful in assessing risks for highly common, heritable conditions such as coronary artery disease. However, for diseases with moderate or low frequency, such as Crohn's disease, family history accounts for less than four percent of disease heritability and is substantially less predictive than genetic factors in the overall population. The study results indicate single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP)-based genetic tests can reveal extreme likelihood ratios for a relatively large percentage of individuals, thus providing potentially valuable evidence in differential diagnoses.

"Both family history and genetics are important tools for assessing an individual's risk for disease," 23andMe CEO and co-founder Anne Wojcicki said. "We believe it will become increasingly important for individuals and physicians to know both family history and genetic profile to provide optimal healthcare."

Lead author and 23andMe scientist Chuong Do, Ph.D, worked with 23andMe senior medical director Uta Francke, M.D., and principal scientists David Hinds, Ph.D., and Nicholas Eriksson Ph.D. to make a comprehensive comparison of family health histories and genetic testing to assess risk for 23 different conditions. These conditions included coronary artery and heart diseases, type 1 and 2 diabetes, prostate cancer, Alzheimer's disease, breast cancer, lung cancer, Crohn's and celiac disease, ovarian cancer, melanoma, bipolar disease and schizophrenia among others.

The analysis confirms that family history is most useful for highly common, heritable conditions and for single-gene (Mendelian) disorders with high penetrance, where the specific genetic cause is not yet known. For relatively common diseases that may have many contributing genetic and environmental factors, such as coronary artery disease, knowing that your father had the disease is helpful at predicting whether or not you might be at risk for the same condition.

For less common diseases involving many weak genetic, such as Crohn's disease, knowing family history seldom helps in making a risk prediction, in part, because these diseases are uncommon enough that they would rarely show up in the immediate family health history. When family histories are uninformative, genetic testing may still reveal the genetic variants that would put an individual at a higher or lower risk for the condition. For example, Crohn's disease might not show up in a family history, but the risk prediction from a genetic test can be relatively more informative.

"These results indicate that for a broad range of diseases, already identified SNP associations may be better predictors of risk than their family history-based counterparts, despite the large fraction of missing heritability that remains to be explained," stated lead researcher Chuong Do, Ph.D. "They also suggest that in some cases, individuals may benefit from supplementing their family medical history with genetic data, in particular, as genetic tests are improving and more risk factors are discovered."

"This study addresses the false division between these two diagnostic tools, genetic testing versus family health histories, where the approaches have traditionally been portrayed as competing alternatives," explained Uta Francke, M.D., senior medical director. "Physicians rely on a variety of tools such as a stethoscope or a thermometer both are useful in their own way. Similarly, family health histories and genetics both offer different but equally valuable information to inform patient care."

"Using genetic testing or SNP-association based methods to estimate risk for some rare complex diseases is as good as family histories can be at estimating risk for common heritable conditions," Dr. Francke continued, "and for individuals who don't have access to their family health history, genetic testing can alert them to risks they wouldn't be aware of otherwise."

The authors use their theoretical model to demonstrate the limits of predictive testing while also outlining specific areas where genetic tests have the potential to be medically useful. These results, which provide a cautiously optimistic outlook on the future of genetic testing, contrast with the conclusions reached in an independent study published earlier this year in Science Translational Medicine.

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23andMe Compares Family History and Genetic Tests for Predicting Complex Disease Risk

NextGxDx Launches Comprehensive Genetic Testing Platform, Curating Information on More Than 10,000 Genetic Testing …

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NASHVILLE, Tenn., Oct. 16, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- NextGxDx, a healthcare information technology company, today announced the release of its online genetic testing platform that curates information on the more than 10,000 genetic testing products currently offered by FDA and CLIA certified labs in the U.S. According to NextGxDx's research, the database is the most comprehensive catalog of all the genetic testing products available to U.S. healthcare providers. The company also found the number of available tests is tenfold greater than previously estimated by industry experts.

The company intends to help implement strategies that further clinical integration of genetic testing. The goal of the platform is to speed the process of diagnosing, and thus treating, patients with genetic diseases. The NextGxDx platform allows healthcare providers and hospitals to easily identify the appropriate genetic tests for their patients by searching the database by symptoms or browsing by clinical specialty. The platform also allows side-by-side comparison of tests, and the company's partnerships with laboratories across the country enable physicians to order tests directly from the NextGxDx website.

"Our research shows there are nearly ten times more genetic tests available today than commonly thought, and yet there has not been a centralized, well-curated, user-friendly platform to help healthcare providers find the right test for a patient. Our platform brings together all the disparate information about available genetic tests to help physicians find and order the best test the first time," said Mark Harris, Ph.D., founder and CEO of NextGxDx. "In addition to facilitating the diagnosis process, the technology we have developed will allow us to maintain the most accurate catalog of genetic testing products available."

NextGxDx explores the factors informing and shaping the industry in "The Genetic Testing Landscape: Finding the Needle in the Haystack" a white paper released today. The paper provides a comprehensive overview of the genetic testing industry, including the size of the industry, how genetic tests are used and how genetic information is communicated. It also outlines key strategies for the future of clinical integration of genetic testing and personalized medicine.

Among the paper's key findings:

"This report is designed to establish a robust analysis of genetic testing as it relates to the products currently available for clinical use," said Jud Schneider, Ph.D., scientific director of NextGxDx and author of the white paper. "As personalized medicine becomes a clinical reality, we think it's important for physicians to understand the scope and trajectory of the genetic testing industry and how it may impact their practices in the years ahead."

The white paper is currently available for free download on the NextGxDx website, http://www.NextGxDx.com.

About NextGxDx

NextGxDx is a healthcare information technology company that provides a web-based genetic diagnostics platform allowing hospitals and physicians to quickly and efficiently identify appropriate genetic tests and cross-reference multiple test providers. With the ability to research tests based on patient symptoms, instantly compare tests across laboratories, and determine existing institutional relationships, NextGxDx provides physicians with a single destination for discovering, comparing and ordering genetic tests. For more information, visit http://www.NextGxDx.com.

Media Contact: Erin Lawley 615-946-9914 erin@lovell.com

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Can vaccines be delivered via the lungs instead of by injection?

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Public release date: 15-Oct-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Vicki Cohn vcohn@liebertpub.com 914-740-2100 Mary Ann Liebert, Inc./Genetic Engineering News

New Rochelle, NY, October 15, 2012In addition to the obvious benefit of eliminating the need for an injection, new vaccine delivery methods via the lungs offer particular advantages for protecting against infectious agents that enter the body through the respiratory track. A comprehensive review article that presents the current status, challenges, and opportunities of pulmonary vaccine delivery is published in Journal of Aerosol Medicine and Pulmonary Drug Delivery, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. The article is available free online on the Journal of Aerosol Medicine and Pulmonary Drug Delivery website.

In "Pulmonary Vaccine Delivery: A Realistic Approach?" Wouter Tonnis and coauthors from University of Groningen and National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (Bilthoven), The Netherlands, describe the unique physiology and immune responsiveness of the respiratory track that make pulmonary vaccine delivery such an attractive alternative to traditional injections. Although pulmonary vaccination is still a young field, with much more research needed, evidence suggests administration of a vaccine to the lungs can induce a local immune response more effectively than conventional types of vaccine delivery, in addition to stimulating antibody production throughout the body. This could be especially important for combating pathogens that cause pulmonary diseases.

"The lung is an immunologic powerhouse that remains largely unexplored. Theoretically we should be able to avoid needles and simply inhale our vaccines," says Editor-in-Chief Gerald C. Smaldone, MD, PhD, Professor and Chief, Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at SUNY-Stony Brook.

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About the Journal

Journal of Aerosol Medicine and Pulmonary Drug Delivery is an authoritative peer-reviewed journal published bimonthly in print and online. It is the Official Journal of the International Society for Aerosols in Medicine. The Journal is the only authoritative publication delivering innovative articles on the health effects of inhaled aerosols and delivery of drugs through the pulmonary system. Topics covered include airway reactivity and asthma treatment, inhalation of particles and gases in the respiratory tract, toxic effects of inhaled agents, and aerosols as tools for studying basic physiologic phenomena. Complete tables of content and a sample issue may be viewed on the Journal of Aerosol Medicine and Pulmonary Drug Delivery website.

About the Publisher

Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers is a privately held, fully integrated media company known for establishing authoritative peer-reviewed journals in many promising areas of science and biomedical research, including Pediatric Allergy, Immunology, and Pulmonology, High Altitude Medicine & Biology, and Microbial Drug Resistance. Its biotechnology trade magazine, Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News (GEN), was the first in its field and is today the industry's most widely read publication worldwide. A complete list of the firm's 70 journals, books, and newsmagazines is available online on the Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers website.

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Can vaccines be delivered via the lungs instead of by injection?

Food labeling regulations

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Re: your Oct. 14 editorial, The propositions:

The Star believes that agencies at the federal and state levels should make sure foods are safe and properly labeled, but they are not doing. So, it is now up to the people to take food safety matters into their own hands when it comes to genetic engineering and the resulting effect on our health and the health of our families.

Proposition 37 is neither complicated nor technical, and rather than properly managing genetic engineering, federal and state agencies are leaving it in the hands of the chemical companies to assure us that our food is safe when it comes to genetic engineering.

Proposition 37 requires labeling of products that contain first generation genetically modified organisms - plain and simple. If these chemical companies, big agriculture, etc., are so proud of their laboratory created, genetically modified food, we say they should be proud to put a label on them so we know what we are buying, or not.

We have a right to know what we are eating, just like the citizens of the 50 other countries that already label genetically engineered food.

- Cyndi and Jude Egold,

Moorpark

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Genetic engineering

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Genetic engineering is a technology that combines genes from totally unrelated species in ways not possible using conventional breeding methods. For thousands of years farmers have used selective breeding in plants and animals to develop desirable traits, such as drought tolerance, increased yields, disease resistance and improved taste.

This is done through cross pollination, grafting and/or selective breeding between closely related species with a shared evolutionary origin (e.g. two varieties of corn or between a plum and an apricot).

Genetic engineering of food is done in a laboratory, where the genetic material from one or more species, including viruses, bacteria, plants, animals and humans, is artificially injected into a completely different species (e.g. fish genes into strawberries).

The process is unpredictable and can lead to unexpected allergies, toxins, new viruses and bacteria, and new diseases.

"Genetic engineering is inherently dangerous because it expands the scope for horizontal gene transfer and recombination, precisely the processes that create new viruses and bacteria that cause disease epidemics, and trigger cancer in cells." said Mae-Wan Ho, a geneticist and organic physicist.

Vote yes on Proposition 37 to label genetically engineered foods.

- Natalie Swarts,

Camarillo

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Sacred Heart partners with renowned N.Y. lab

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Jen Esposito, 15, of Bedford, N.Y., and Sabrina Carrozzi, 15, of White Plaines, N.Y., takes worms, to see in a microscope during Dr. Bruce Nash, of the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, meets with Upper School classes to discuss gene therapy at Convent of the Sacred Heart on Monday, October 15, 2012. Convent of the Sacred Heart is the third school, and the first Connecticut-based school, to become a charter member of the Cold Spring Harbor genetics lab. Photo: Helen Neafsey / Greenwich Time | Buy This Photo

Jen Esposito, 15, of Bedford, N.Y., and Sabrina Carrozzi, 15, of...

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Futurist Ray Kurzweil's new book predicts development of a super 'digital brain'

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Futurist Ray Kurzweil optimistically predicts much longer life expectancies, cures for cancer and heart disease, flying cars and robot butlers.

Humans will become capable of feats that now seem impossible for many of us, in our lifetime in large part due to expected advances in brain research, posits the inventor and author in his new book, "How to Create a Mind: The Secret of Human Thought Revealed," due out next month.

Key to his predictions, which he's also outlined in a series of other books including "The Age of Spiritual Machines" and "The Singularity Is Near," is the law of accelerating returns. Kurzweil suggests the pace of information technology advances will grow at an exponential pace until sometime near the end of the century.

In his new book, he predicts technology will virtually grow the human neocortex the section of the brain responsible for thinking, language, and sensory perception by directly tying into electronic resources, including the Internet.

"In another 25 years, computers will be the size of blood cells, they'll be another billion times more powerful and we'll put them inside our bodies and brains," says Kurzweil, who is speaking at Toronto's Danforth Music Hall on Thursday.

"Nanobots, little robotic computerized devices, will keep us healthy from inside by augmenting our immune system, they'll go inside our brain, interact with our biological neurons, put our brains in the cloud, on the Internet, and we'll be able to actually have direct brain connection to artificial intelligence, which will incorporate a synthetic neocortex."

While some will undoubtedly write off Kurzweil's predictions as hokum, he has an impressive list of inventions to his name and a proven capacity for visionary thinking. He's credited with inventing the first flatbed scanner, multi-font optical character recognition, the first print-to-speech reading machine for the blind, the first text-to-speech synthesizer, and the first music synthesizer to mimic the sound of a grand piano among many other things.

While his track record of previous predictions has been debated he claims he's been on the mark or close the vast majority of the time, while critics suggest that's not really true he has made a number of prescient calls.

In "The Age of Spiritual Machines," which he says he wrote in the mid to late 1990s, back when nearly everyone used dial-up modems, he outlined his visions for 2009. He wrote about the widespread use of portable computers, mobile devices without keyboards, the adoption of digital music, movies and books, the implementation of facial recognition technology, and distance learning.

A transition toward a cyborg future in which society accepts becoming part human, part computer may seem beyond belief, but Kurzweil doesn't think so. He points to present-day medical treatments that already involve brain implants of electronic devices and argues similar procedures could become common among the healthy, too.

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Review: A$AP Rocky at the Egyptian Room at Old National Centre

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A$AP Rocky, Schoolboy Q, Danny Brown

The Egyptian Room at Old National Centre

Wednesday, October 10

The pungent smell of weed smoke and Black & Milds wafted down the stairs as I waited in line for my tickets to the LongLiveA$AP tour at the Egyptian Room at Old National Centre. It was a night of post-racial celebration and generational kinship under the guise of military imagery, odes to marijuana and good ol' fashioned hip-hop hedonism. In the words of A$AP himself "It's two thousand twelve, two thousand thirteen. Race doesn't matter. We're not black or white, but we're all purple."

I missed the bulk of opener Danny Brown's short set but luckily caught the last few songs dealing mostly with ingesting various prescription pills and smoking "blunt after blunt after blunt after blunt." Like the rest of the performers on the LongLiveA$AP tour, Brown is an artist who simply couldn't have existed in the hip-hop sphere ten years ago. He pounced around in skinny jeans and a long, slim-fitting V-neck and an asymmetrical haircut, and delivered rhymes like a strangled B-Real after raiding his grandmother's medicine cabinet -- a nasal yap hinting at a special brand of insanity. Brown seems to be a descendent in a long line of hip-hop weirdos -- Kool Keith immediately comes to mind -- and his presence set a precedent for the night i.e. it was a show that refused to fully submit to hip-hop's traditionally heteronormative values.

Schoolboy Q followed Brown and by comparison seemed ludicrously normal. He arrived on the stage in a hoodie and sunglasses, muscling through a spirited set peppered with personal anecdotes about his personal struggles and love affair with marijuana. Green smoke plumes scattered through the air during his set (and frankly, pretty much the whole night) rendering the stage's smoke machines redundant. Q is a dynamic performer though - seeming sensitive, tough and personable simultaneously. His amped set prepared the crowd for the bizarre spectacle that was A$AP Rocky.

As the interim music played on full blast, a giant banner depicting soldiers raising an upside down American flag on Iwo Jima against a beating red sun was unveiled. The DJ table was clothed in camouflage mesh and two upside down American flags flanked the stage. After a spoken-word intro complete with helicopter and gunshot sounds, A$AP arrived on the stage donned in all black and wrapped in the stars and stripes. His set was marked by hits from his debut mixtape LiveLoveA$AP, the somewhat underwhelming appearance of the A$AP Mob and a few more spoken word interludes, including an especially haunting one that paired a washed out recording of The Mamas and the Papas "California Dreaming" with graphic war sounds. It was almost a theatrical production - one that used a war aesthetic to symbolize what he called a "struggle against being misunderstood."

A$AP Rocky seems like he lives inside the pop culture zeitgeist. He's a Harlem native whose sound seems more rooted in futurism and hazy, mid-tempo Houston hip-hop than anything found in New York. He preached a post-racial message that resounded with the diverse crowd. Amidst a financial recession and global anxiety, he told the crowd that, much like him, we could do whatever we wanted to. And that night, it all seemed possible.

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Review: A$AP Rocky at the Egyptian Room at Old National Centre

Singularity Summit 2012: the lion doesn’t sleep tonight | Gene Expression

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Last weekend I was at the Singularity Summit for a few days. There were interesting speakers, but the reality is that quite often a talk given at a conference has been given elsewhere, and there isnt going to be much value-add in the Q & A, which is often limited and constrained. No, the point of the conference is to meet interesting people, and there were some conference goers who didnt go to any talks at all, but simply milled around the lobby, talking to whoever they chanced upon.

I spent a lot of the conference talking about genomics, and answering questions about genomics, if I thought could give a precise, accurate, and competent answer (e.g., I dodged any microbiome related questions because I dont know much about that). Perhaps more curiously, in the course of talking about personal genomics issues relating to my daughters genotype came to the fore, and I would ask if my interlocutorhad seen the lion. By the end of the conference a substantial proportion of the attendees had seen the lion.

This included a polite Estonian physicist. I spent about 20 minutes talking to him and his wife about personal genomics (since he was a physicist he grokked abstract and complex explanations rather quickly), and eventually I had to show him the lion. But during the course of the whole conference he was the only one who had a counter-response: he pulled up a photo of his 5 children! Touch! Only as I was leaving did I realize that Id been talking the ear off of Jaan Tallinn, the founder of Skype . For much of the conference Tallinn stood like an impassive Nordic sentinel, engaging in discussions with half a dozen individuals in a circle (often his wife was at his side, though she often engaged people by herself). Some extremely successful and wealthy people manifest a certain reticence, rightly suspicious that others may attempt to cultivate them for personal advantage. Tallinn seems to be immune to this syndrome. His manner and affect resemble that of a graduate student. He was there to learn, listen, and was exceedingly patient even with the sort of monomaniacal personality which dominated conference attendees (I plead guilty!).

At the conference I had a press pass, but generally I just introduced myself by name. But because of the demographic I knew that many people would know me from this weblog, and that was the case (multiple times Id talk to someone for 5 minutes, and theyd finally ask if I had a blog, nervous that theyd gone false positive). An interesting encounter was with a 22 year old young man who explained that he stumbled onto my weblog while searching for content on the singularity. This surprised me, because this is primarily a weblog devoted to genetics, and my curiosity about futurism and technological change is marginal. Nevertheless, it did make me reconsider the relative paucity of information on the singularity out there on the web (or, perhaps websites discussing the singularity dont have a high Pagerank, I dont know).

I also had an interesting interaction with an individual who was at his first conference. A few times he spoke of Ray, and expressed disappointment that Ray Kurzweil had not heard of Bitcoin, which was part of his business. Though I didnt say it explicitly, I had to break it to this individual that Ray Kurzweil is not god. In fact, I told him to watch for the exits when Kurzweils time to talk came up. He would notice that many Summit volunteers and other V.I.P. types would head for the lobby. And thats exactly what happened.

There are two classes of reasons why this occurs. First, Kurzweil gives the same talks many times, and people dont want to waste their time listening to him repeat himself. Second, Kurzweils ideas are not universally accepted within the community which is most closely associated with Singularity Institute. In fact, I dont recall ever meeting a 100-proof Kurzweilian. So why is the singularity so closely associated with Ray Kurzweil in the public mind? Why not Vernor Vinge? Ultimately, its because Ray Kurzweil is not just a thinker, hes a marketer and businessman. Kurzweils personal empire is substantial, and hes a wealthy man from his previous ventures. He doesnt need the singularity movement, he has his own means of propagation and communication. People interested in the concept of the singularity may come in through Kurzweils books, articles, and talks, but if they become embedded in the hyper-rational community which has grown out of acceptance of the possibility of the singularity theyll come to understand that Kurzweil is no god or Ayn Rand, and that pluralism of opinion and assessment is the norm. I feel rather ridiculous even writing this, because Ive known people associated with the singularity movement for so many years (e.g., Michael Vassar) that I take all this as a given. But after talking to enough people, and even some of the more naive summit attendees, I thought it would be useful to lay it all out there.

As for the talks, many of them, such as Steven Pinkers, would be familiar to readers of this weblog. Others, perhaps less so. Linda Avey and John Wilbanksgave complementary talks about personalized data and bringing healthcare into the 21st century. To make a long story short it seems that Aveys new firm aims to make the quantified self into a retail & wholesale business. Wilbanks made the case for grassroots and open source data sharing, both genetic and phenotypic. In fact, Avey explicitly suggested her new firm aims to be to phenotypes what her old firm, 23andMe, is to genotypes. Im a biased audience, obviously I disagree very little with any of the arguments which Avey and Wilbanks deployed (I also appreciated Linda Aveys emphasis on the fact that you own your own information). But Im also now more optimistic about the promise of this enterprise after getting a more fleshed out case. Nevertheless, I see change in this space to be a ten year project. We wont see much difference in the next few I suspect.

The two above talks seem only tangentially related to the singularity in all its cosmic significance. Other talks also exhibited the same distance, such as Pinkers talk on violence. But let me highlight two individuals who spoke more to the spirit of the Summit at its emotional heart. Laura Deming is a young woman whose passion for research really impressed me, and made me hopeful for the future of the human race. This the quest for science at its purest. No careerism, no politics, just straight up assault on an insurmountable problem. If I had to bet money, I dont think shell succeed. But at least this isnt a person who is going to expend their talents on making money on Wall Street. Im hopeful that significant successes will come out of her battles in the course of a war I suspect shell lose.

The second talk which grabbed my attention was the aforementioned Jaan Tallinns. Jaans talk was about the metaphysics of the singularity, and it was presented in a congenial cartoon form. Being a physicist it was larded with some of the basic presuppositions of modern cosmology (e.g., multi-verse), but also extended the logic in a singularitariandirection. And yet Tallinn ended his talk with a very humanistic message. I dont even know what to think of some of his propositions, but he certainly has me thinking even now. Sometimes its easy to get fixated on your own personal obsessions, and lose track of the cosmic scale.

Which goes back to the whole point of a face-to-face conference. You can ponder grand theories in the pages of a book. For that to become human you have to meet, talk, engage, eat, and drink. A conference which at its heart is about transcending humanity as we understand is interestingly very much a reflection of ancient human urges to be social, and part of a broader community.

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Singularity Summit 2012: the lion doesn’t sleep tonight | Gene Expression

The future according to Rush runs like clockwork

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Conceptual clocks were set every which way, calendars were meaningless, and the durable Rush trio was right on time for the first of its two shows at the Air Canada Centre on Sunday. The semi-legendary band is touring its latest album, Clockwork Angels, a thematic record inspired by H.G. Wells/Jules Verne-styled retro-futurism yesterdays imagined tomorrow land of steam-powered gadgets, adapted to flavour the bands accessible brand of Byzantine rock.

A three-hour concert saw furnace blasts of fire and belches of steam, literally and figuratively. There were old songs and new, and three drum solos at least. It all ended with a strong exit of parts of 2112, a forecasting album made 36 years ago and now a century ahead of its time.

On a stage of whimsical props and steam-punk gadgetry, the non-misfiring night began with Subdivisions, a thing of grandiose eighties synthesizer rock and tumbling drum fills that concerns urban planning, conformity and the restless dreams of youth. The Big Money followed, set to big-screen imagery of commercialism and cash registers, and cheered by audience members who had paid $70 to $160 to hear bassist-keyboardist Geddy Lee in high vocal shrill.

Lee, in shaded granny glasses, hippie hair and Chuck Taylor sneakers, is rather avuncular at the age of 59. Guitarist Alex Lifeson, also 59, used his collection of Gibson products to produce squealing solos and quick-fingered, high-fretboard note-hitting jumbo-screen close-ups of which enabled us to count the carats of his wedding ring. Drummer Neil Peart, who continues to morph into a sad-faced Buster Keaton look-alike at the age of 60, wore an African prayer cap and sat within an outstanding drum kit that had more chrome to it than a sixties Chrysler factory.

After that, things settled a bit, with a set list that disregarded well-known material and, after a short intermission, settled into the songs of Clockwork Angels, presented with a string ensemble. The crowd was politely appreciative of (though hardly wound up over) offerings strong in synchronized musicianship and a graceful sort of fury. What I would call a heavy, loud sereneness prevailed.

Rush makes serious music; the Peart-penned lyrics of Clockwork Angels were influenced by Voltaires Candide and John Barths The Sot-Weed Factor. It all distills into a vision, as Peart has explained, of one of many possible worlds, driven by steam, alchemy and intricate clockworks.

And yet part of Rushs charisma is its lack of self-seriousness. Some of the concert experience involved Monty Python-like animations on the big screen behind the band, as well as quirky high-budget vignettes starring actor Jay Baruchel and, as jokester gnomes, the members of the band.

The Clockwork Angels set had begun with the busy, shifting music of Caravan, with the line, In a world where I feel so small, I cant stop thinking big. That kind of thinking is a theme of the bands career a three-piece outfit of high-minded misfits, a group with no time or concern for expectations and naysayers. The train continues, powered by untraditional imagination and weird ticking.

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The future according to Rush runs like clockwork

Conservative values support freedom to marry

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What do Clint Eastwood, Dick Cheney, Ted Olson and John Bolton have in common? All are strong, lifelong conservatives. Each has fought on behalf of smaller government. And all support the freedom of same-sex couples to marry.

As voters in Maine consider the issue in this election, right-leaning voters like myself should consider why these prominent conservatives believe the freedom to marry is consistent with our values.

Conservatives have built a broad coalition, united around a single goal: more freedom, less government. Its key to our heritage and inherent to our DNA.

Freedom of Americans across all races is why the Republican Party was founded. And our most important accomplishments, from the economic growth unleashed when weve lowered taxes and reduced regulation to the fall of the Berlin Wall, have resulted when we promoted freedom.

Our concept of freedom is based in the Declaration of Independence, where every American was provided by their creator, not government, with the right to pursue happiness.

As former Vice President Dick Cheney noted in explaining why he supports civil marriage for all same-gender couples, freedom means freedom for everyone. Hes right.

What freedom is more basic and personal than the right to marry the person you love?

If we are serious in our belief that every citizen is endowed by his or her creator with the right to pursue happiness, then how can this not include the freedom to marry? What could be more central to a persons happiness? And alternatively, if we want a smaller, less obtrusive government, shouldnt individuals and not politicians decide who they can marry?

Maximizing freedom isnt the only conservative value enhanced by allowing civil marriage for same-gender couples. It will promote stability, responsibility, commitment family values that we often encourage in public policy.

Marriage encourages people to think beyond their own needs, to create loving households, to build a support network so people can be cared for in sickness, old age and hard times.

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Conservative values support freedom to marry

FreedomPop Freedom Spot Photon

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By Alex Colon

The Freedom Spot Photon from FreedomPop is a 4G hotspot thatgets you online for free. There's no catch. A free plan from FreedomPop is good for 500MB of data per month, with plenty of easy opportunities to earn more. Larger, inexpensive data plans are also available, and the Photon taps into Clearwire's 4G WiMAX network with aplomb.

And at some point next year, when it switches from Clearwire to Sprint's 4G LTE network, you'll need to replace your hotspot. But as it stands, the Freedom Spot Photon is an inexpensive, innovative way to get online, and well worthy of our Editors' Choice award.

Pricing and PlansHere's how it works. There are three different plans: Free, Casual, and Premiere. With the free plan, you get 500MB of data every month. After that, extra data costs $0.02 per 1MB (which works out to $20 per 1GB). Thing is, if you play your cards right, you may earn enough extra free data that you never go over.

FreedomPop has a number of ways for you to earn additional data. For starters, you get an additional 10MB of data for every friend you refer, up to 500MB per month. You can also share or request data from friends. But really, that can only get you so far. To that end, FreedomPop has a number of offers and surveys you can participate in to earn extra data. Signing up for the Chili's email list, for instance, scored me 22MB of free data and only took a few seconds to do. I even got a coupon for free chips and queso.

Offers range anywhere from 4MB of data to a whopping 2.94GB. Some of them require you to actually pay for merchandise or services, though most of them are free. All of them want your email address, however. Though paid plans are also available, this is how FreedomPop makes its money. Every offer you sign up for puts a couple of cents in FreedomPop's pockets and a few megabytes of data in your till. That's fine by me.

If you don't want to jump through hoops for your data, you may be interested in one of the paid plans. $17.99 per month gets you 2GB of data. After that, each additional 1MB costs just $0.01 (which works out to $10 per 1GB). $28.99 per month is good for 4GB of data, $34.99 for 5GB, and $59.99 for 10GB, all with the same $0.01 charge for each additional megabyte you go over. So while it may not be free, those are some pretty great prices when compared with carriers like AT&T or Verizon Wireless. They may offer faster 4G LTE, but plans start at $50 per month, and only get you 4 or 5GB of data.

Keep in mind that FreedomPop currently uses Clearwire's 4G WiMAX network, which only covers about a third of the U.S. population. Be sure to check out Clear's 4Gcoverage mapto see if service is available where you live and where you plan to travel. You'll also figure that out when you try to sign up with FreedomPopyou won't be able to join the beta if you don't live within Clear's coverage area.

You can easily chew through 500MB of data on a rainy afternoon spent watching Netflix. If you're looking to stream music or video, you're better off with an unlimited data plan from a carrier like Clear, which offers unlimited 4G data for $49.99 per month on the same network.And now that Virgin Mobile has access to that very same WiMAX network, it too is worth checking out for inexpensive, contract-free mobile broadband. You can get 2GB of 3G data for $35 per month, or 5GB for $55, all with unlimited 4G WiMAX data. Performance should be equal across the board.

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FreedomPop Freedom Spot Photon

Berlin art show traces desire for freedom

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An exhibition exploring the concept of freedom through post-World War II artworks begins a European tour here Wednesday, a stone's throw from where the Berlin Wall once stood.

With paintings, videos, photos, drawings and art installations, the "Desire for Freedom" exhibition at the German Historical Museum in central Berlin spotlights the work of more than 100 artists from the East and West since 1945.

Featured artists range from German painter Gerhard Richter, Belgian surrealist Rene Magritte and Christo, known for his environmental works of art including the wrapping of the Reichstag in Berlin in 1995.

"It's not in chronological order and national differences are not underlined because basic questions such as 'who am I?', 'to what extent am I free?', 'who are the others?' are always the same," curator Monika Flacke said.

She said that freedom originated from the ideas of the Enlightenment and was much wider than just the division between East and West which resulted from World War II.

Divided into 12 sections, the exhibition, in Berlin until February, seeks to outline the idea of freedom in its different guises, from revolution to utopia via politics and sustainable development.

Visitors are reminded on entering the display of Article One of The Universal Declaration of Human Rights that "all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights".

The idea of freedom is "deeply anchored in Europe and has moved to America where it has also found expression in all these revolutions of recent years, in the Occupy movement, in student revolutions," Flacke said.

Berlin provides a fitting backdrop, having seen two dictatorships in the last century and been the setting of a peaceful revolution which led to the tearing down of the detested Wall in 1989 at the end of more than four decades of the Cold War.

And one photo by British sisters Jane and Louise Wilson questions repression or the deprivation of freedom with their work depicting a Berlin prison of former East Germany's dreaded Stasi secret police.

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Berlin art show traces desire for freedom

Pulpit Freedom: Should Churches Endorse Political Candidates?

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A group of rebel pastors is breaking the U.S. tax code which prohibits churches and other non-profits from engaging in electoral politics

John Adkisson / Reuters

Pastor Mark Harris of First Baptist Church gives his sermon during the fifth and largest "Pulpit Freedom Sunday" in Charlotte, N.C., Oct.7, 2012.

Cohen is the author of Nothing to Fear: FDR's Inner Circle and the Hundred Days That Created Modern America

On Sunday Oct. 7, about 1,500 pastors of various faiths engaged in an organized act of civil disobedience: they endorsed political candidates from the pulpit, and many will continue to do so until election day. That may not sound like a crime, but the pastors were violating the U.S. tax code, which prohibits churches and other non-profits from engaging in electoral politics.

(MORE: The Decline of the WASP President)

Pulpit Freedom Sunday, organized by a group called Alliance Defending Freedom, has been an annual event since 2008. The participants are trying to bait the IRS into coming after them so they can mount a legal challenge to the politics ban. So far, no luck, though they show no signs of quitting.

Many of the participants are from conservative evangelical churches, and one critic Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Church and State has argued that the Pulpit Freedom clergy want to elect Mitt Romney. It is hard to know how all of the actual endorsements broke down, but Lynns take may not be completely off.

(MORE: How Romneys Faith Could Help Him Win)

Indiana pastor Ron Johnson told his congregation that for people who believe in the Bible voting against President Barack Obama is a no-brainer. Jim Garlow told Skyline Church, a San Diego megachurch, that he himself planned to vote for Romney though he did not make a formal endorsement. (Some pastors avoided the presidential race altogether; Mark Harris of the First Baptist Church in Charlotte, N.C. only endorsed a Republican candidate for state Supreme Court.)

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Pulpit Freedom: Should Churches Endorse Political Candidates?