Health Care Sector Update for 01/21/2015: ADXS,NVIV,OCLS

Posted on by

Top Health Care Stocks

JNJ +0.63%

PZE -1.39%

MRK -0.62%

ABT -0.65%

AMGN -0.32%

Health care stocks were mixed in late trade with the NYSE Health Care Sector Index dropping less than 0.1% and shares of health care companies in the S&P 500 climbing less than 0.1% as a group.

In company news, Advaxis ( ADXS ) plunged Wednesday, with shares of the biotech company falling under $10 for the first time since Jan. 8 after a short-seller posted a negative Seeking Alpha article today, writing trial data for the company's ADXS-HPV lead drug candidate overstates its ability to fight tumors.

Blogger Richard Pearson dismisses many of the factors helping lift ADXS shares more than 60% since November, arguing the company's stock is soon poised for a steep drop. In particular, he directs much of his scorn at Mission IR and its "Dream Team Group," which he accuses of "dumping" favorable articles onto stock research websites as part of a broader effort to push ADXS' share price higher.

"This is simply another heavily promoted, retail-driven microcap stock being traded by technical day traders for the moment," Pearson said, later adding it and similar stocks lacking broad institutional support are often subject to "wild swings on [investor] sentiment."

See more here:

Health Care Sector Update for 01/21/2015: ADXS,NVIV,OCLS

One acronym that's totally transforming health care

Posted on by

One acronym that's totally transforming health care

By Regence BlueCross BlueShield of Utah

January 21st, 2015 @ 10:00am

The health care industry is rife with acronyms: ICU, RN, MD, HMO and PPO just to name a few. Now, yet another three-letter combination is rising in popularity within the industry's vernacular: ACO.

ACO stands for Accountable Care Organization, first introduced during the development of the Affordable Care Act, which is also commonly known as the ACA.

A provider group organizes an ACO to work on increasing the quality of care patients receive while also lowering costs. These provider groups partner with third-party payers to get access to detailed cost data that identifies inefficiencies, redundancies and gaps in care.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, commonly referred to as CMS, pioneered ACOs with passage of the ACA.

Regence BlueCross BlueShield of Utah took the ACO concept outside of Medicare and launched a separate model called Total Cost of Care for physician groups of all specialties, but largely addressing primary care.

Although the concept is still new to many physicians, the rollout of the Total Cost of Care program has been well received. Several of Utah's larger provider groups have embraced it, serving as pilot groups, and have reported great results.

Two notable examples are University of Utah Medical Group and Central Utah Clinic, with nearly 1,400 providers between them.

Read this article:

One acronym that's totally transforming health care

What is President Obamas precision medicine plan, and how might it help you?

Posted on by

In his hour-long State of the Union address Tuesday night, President Obama spent a few seconds announcing a "Precision Medicine Initiative," but did little to explain what he has in mind. Background materials distributed by the White House show that Obama wants to invest in this "innovative field that provides healthcare professionals with tools, knowledge and treatments to tailor care to a person's unique characteristics--such as their genetic makeup."

Here's a primer on "precision medicine," a term you'll doubtless hear more about in years to come.

What is precision medicine?

Clinically, experts don't even agree on a single term for it. But "individualized," "personalized," and "precision," medicine are all used to convey the same idea, according to Gianrico Farrugia, former director of the Mayo Clinic's Center for Individualized Medicine: "rather than treating a person as [part of] a group, treat the person as an individual, based on [his or her] own genetic material, to enable us to provide individualized, personalized and precise care."

On a grander scale, said Keith Yamamoto, vice-chancellor for research at UC San Francisco, precision medicine envisions collecting enormous amounts of information -- not just from humans, but from other species and from basic science research -- and crunching that data to identify ways to diagnose and treat individuals.

What does that mean for me, in a practical sense?

Let's say you have cancer. By analyzing the makeup of a tumor, doctors may be able to better choose which drug to use, rather than employing a hit-and-miss approach based on knowledge of your form of cancer. The use of Tamoxifen for one form of breast cancer is a good example. And they can track the evolution of the tumor over time, to determine whether you need a different drug. If you need medication for another kind of illness, analyzing part of your genome might allow physicians to avoid ineffective or even dangerous drugs that interact poorly with your personal makeup.

All of this followed the completion of the Human Genome Project in 2003. As my colleague Brady Dennis wrote last year: "For reasons scientific and economic, one-size-fits-all blockbuster drugs are giving way to treatments tailored to individuals genetic makeups and aimed at narrow subsets of broader diseases."

Other possible applications: alternatives to opioids for pain relief, drugs for specific psychological illnesses, a drug for a small sliver of the people who suffer from cystic fibrosis.

What if I'm healthy? Can precision medicine do anything for me?

See the article here:

What is President Obamas precision medicine plan, and how might it help you?

New York's Program for Jewish Genetic Health and Montefiore Health System Partner to Offer Subsidized Genetic Testing …

Posted on by

Contact Information

Available for logged-in reporters only

Newswise NEW YORK, January 21, 2015 New York metropolitan area Ashkenazi Jewish women and men aged 25 and older can now opt to undergo testing for the three common Ashkenazi Jewish BRCA founder mutations at a fraction of the commercial price, thanks to a new, philanthropy-based initiative from the Program for Jewish Genetic Health (PJGH), a not-for-profit organization affiliated with Yeshiva University and Albert Einstein College of Medicine (Einstein), in conjunction with Montefiore Health System (Montefiore). This initiative, the first of its kind in the United States, makes this testing available to all Ashkenazi Jewish individuals, regardless of their BRCA-related cancer histories or their insurance/financial situations, both of which have been barriers to date.

Most insurance companies currently require people to already have had family members with cancer if they want to be covered for BRCA genetic testing, said Susan Klugman, MD, medical director for the Program for Jewish Genetic Health, director of the division of reproductive genetics at Montefiore, and professor of clinical obstetrics & gynecology and women's health at Einstein. We at the Program for Jewish Genetic Health are not willing to wait for that.

Background Approximately 1 in 40 individuals of Ashkenazi Jewish descent carries one of three founder mutations in the BRCA1 or BRCA2 genes, a carrier rate tenfold higher than that of the general population. Females carrying a BRCA mutation face a significantly higher risk of developing breast and ovarian cancer in their lifetime, while male BRCA mutation carriers are at higher risk of developing prostate and breast cancer, among other cancers. BRCA carriers also have a 50 percent chance of passing the altered gene on to each of their offspring, who in turn will have an increased susceptibility for these cancer types. Individuals who find out that they are BRCA carriers through genetic testing have cancer risk-reducing and reproductive options.

Today, most health insurance policies cover BRCA testing only for those who are considered at high risk to have a BRCA mutation those with a significant personal or family history of these cancers. However, individuals who are at low risk to have a BRCA mutation those who do not have a significant personal or family history of cancer along with those with no health insurance, are faced with steep out-of-pocket costs. Testing for the three common Ashkenazi Jewish BRCA founder mutations via the traditional, commercial-based process can cost more than $600 for these low risk and uninsured individuals. The Program for Jewish Genetic Health is now providing testing for $100, along with complimentary pre-test genetic counseling courtesy of Montefiore.

According to the PJGH, one of the primary goals of the new initiative, that also includes a research component, is to identify new BRCA mutation carriers in this low-risk group who otherwise would have gone undetected. Recent studies from Israel have reaffirmed that the 1 In 40 carrier rate in Ashkenazi Jews also applies to these low risk individuals, and suggest that the risks to develop cancer in BRCA carriers coming from both low risk and high risk families may be more equivalent than originally thought.

The Process Interested participants aged 25 and older who self-identify as Ashkenazi Jewish will begin by visiting the PJGHs BRCAcommunity Study website (http://brcacommunitystudy.einstein.yu.edu/), where they can learn more about BRCA and the initiative, and then be directed to complete a detailed demographic form and personal/family history questionnaire. The PJGHs genetic counselors will analyze all responses and assign each participant into one of two groups. Those who meet National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) testing criteria (high risk) will be offered comprehensive genetic counseling and BRCA genetic testing through standard-of-care insurance-based processes. These individuals will be scheduled for appointments at the PJGHs clinical affiliate, the Division of Reproductive Genetics at Montefiore, or directed to the National Society of Genetic Counselors (NSGC) website to identify other available genetic counselors.

Individuals not meeting NCCN testing criteria will be considered low risk and invited for a group genetic counseling session which will be provided free-of-charge. After the session, those who would like to proceed with testing will submit a saliva sample that will be tested for the three common Ashkenazi Jewish BRCA gene mutations at the subsidized rate; this rate is thanks in part to a generous grant from the Foundation for Medical Evaluation and Early Detection.

When test results are available, all participants in either group who are found to be carriers will be scheduled for an in-person genetic counseling appointment to review their results. These individuals will be counseled about screening and risk-reducing and reproductive options, advised to inform their at-risk relatives about their genetic test results, and directed to support resources, in part through the network of the Program for Jewish Genetic Health. High risk participants who are not found to be carriers of the three common BRCA mutations will be counseled appropriately, including given the option to undergo more comprehensive genetic testing.

See the article here:

New York's Program for Jewish Genetic Health and Montefiore Health System Partner to Offer Subsidized Genetic Testing ...

USC neuroscientists lead global ENIGMA consortium to crack brain's genetic code

Posted on by

Global research alliance ENIGMA finds 8 common gene mutations leading to brain age in over 30,000 brain scans that may some day unlock mysteries of Alzheimer's, autism and other neurological disorders

LOS ANGELES -- In the largest collaborative study of the brain to date, researchers from the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California (USC) led a global consortium of 190 institutions to identify eight common genetic mutations that appear to age the brain an average of three years. The discovery could lead to targeted therapies and interventions for Alzheimer's disease, autism and other neurological conditions.

An international team of roughly 300 scientists known as the Enhancing Neuro Imaging Genetics through Meta Analysis (ENIGMA) Network pooled brain scans and genetic data worldwide to pinpoint genes that enhance or break down key brain regions in people from 33 countries. This is the first high-profile study since the National Institutes of Health (NIH) launched its Big Data to Knowledge (BD2K) centers of excellence in 2014. The research was published Wednesday, Jan. 21, in the peer-reviewed journal Nature.

"ENIGMA's scientists screen brain scans and genomes worldwide for factors that help or harm the brain -- this crowd-sourcing and sheer wealth of data gives us the power to crack the brain's genetic code," said Paul Thompson, Ph.D., Keck School of Medicine of USC professor and principal investigator of ENIGMA. "Our global team discovered eight genes that may erode or boost brain tissue in people worldwide. Any change in those genes appears to alter your mental bank account or brain reserve by 2 or 3 percent. The discovery will guide research into more personalized medical treatments for Alzheimer's, autism, depression and other disorders."

The study could help identify people who would most benefit from new drugs designed to save brain cells, but more research is necessary to determine if the genetic mutations are implicated in disease.

The ENIGMA researchers screened millions of "spelling differences" in the genetic code to see which ones affected the size of key parts of the brain in magnetic resonance images (MRIs) from 30,717 individuals. The MRI analysis focused on genetic data from seven regions of the brain that coordinate movement, learning, memory and motivation. The group identified eight genetic variants associated with decreased brain volume, several found in over one-fifth of the world's population. People who carry one of those eight mutations had, on average, smaller brain regions than brains without a mutation but of comparable age; some of the genes are implicated in cancer and mental illness.

In October 2014, the NIH invested nearly $32 million in its Big Data Initiative, creating 12 research hubs across the United States to improve the utility of biomedical data. USC's two BD2K centers of excellence, including ENIGMA, were awarded a total of $23 million over four years.

"The ENIGMA Center's work uses vast datasets as engines of biomedical discovery; it shows how each individual's genetic blueprint shapes the human brain," said Philip Bourne, Ph.D., associate director for data science at the NIH. "This 'Big Data' alliance shows what the NIH Big Data to Knowledge (BD2K) Program envisions achieving with our 12 Centers of Excellence for Big Data Computing."

###

Other USC co-authors include Derrek P. Hibar, Neda Jahanshad and Arthur Toga. ENIGMA was supported in part by a Consortium grant (U54 EB020403) from the NIH BD2K Initiative, supported by a cross-NIH partnership, and by public and private agencies worldwide.

Read more:

USC neuroscientists lead global ENIGMA consortium to crack brain's genetic code

2015’s Top Trends And Technologies Shaping Medicine – The Medical Futurist – Video

Posted on by


2015 #39;s Top Trends And Technologies Shaping Medicine - The Medical Futurist
Let #39;s see the top trends and technologies that will shape the year 2015 in medicine and healthcare! Every year, I come up with a list of trends and technologies that I think will shape the...

By: The Medical Futurist

View original post here:

2015's Top Trends And Technologies Shaping Medicine - The Medical Futurist - Video

When it Comes to Future Technology Trends & Investment Banking Global Futurist Jack Uldrich Predicts 'Greater Outcomes'

Posted on by

Baltimore, MD (PRWEB) January 21, 2015

Bill Gates once famously said, Banking will remain necessary in the future, banks may not." Futurist Jack Uldrich wants his audiences in the financial sector, especially in the world of investment banking to be ready to embrace the future. To that end, Signal Hill has invited Uldrich to address their annual meeting being held in Las Vegas. Uldrich will focus on the major technological trends that will impact Signal Hill, and how they can utilize his concept of the the "Big AHA to better embrace those changes. (AHA is Uldrichs acronym for Awareness, Humility and Action.) He says these three elements are key components in future-proofing ones business against the changing tides of tomorrows technological trends.

As a futurist, Jack Uldrich is often asked the question as to what the coming decade will look like. He responds by saying, The honest answer is that no one knows. The better question to be asking is: how can business leaders prepare for a constantly changing future? An AHA moment may be the very answer to that question.

First, Uldrich claims that "leaders must become aware of the extraordinary changes taking place across todays global landscape. Not everything learned in the past about business, customers or competitors is still necessarily true today. Secondarily, having a sense of humility and admitting that outmoded ideas may no longer be serving a company is a crucial aspect in powerfully moving ahead into the future--even though we may not know what that future is.

Lastly, Once a leader is aware that change is the the only 'constant' in todays world, that leader must be humble enough to accept the fact that unlearning will be just as important as learning, and that specific actions must be taken to prepare for the future.

The answers to questions such as this and many more will be addressed in Uldrichs January 21st keynote to attendees of the Signal Hill Annual Meeting in Las Vegas, as well as in six more presentations focusing on future-proofing across the U. S. throughout the month of January.

Parties interested in learning more about Jack Uldrich, his books, his daily blog or his speaking availability are encouraged to visit his website. Media wishing more details about specific events or those interested in an interview with Jack can contact Amy Tomczyk at (651) 343.0660.

See the original post:

When it Comes to Future Technology Trends & Investment Banking Global Futurist Jack Uldrich Predicts 'Greater Outcomes'

Why All Managers Must Be Leaders

Posted on by

Anyone within an organization has the potential to become a leader, but managers must be leaders. In schools and in our organizations we have been taught and conditioned to believe that managers and leaders are two separate people which is quite a harmful assumption. As a result we have managers who cannot lead and leaders who cannot manage. A leader who cannot manage has a vision of where they want to go but no idea of how to get there. A manager who cannot lead is not able to build trust and create engagement within an organization to get to where they need to go. Neither of these scenarios are practical or effective.

Management and managers are human inventions that were designed with a single purpose in mind, to enforce controls and protocols. The role of a manager was to make sure that employees showed up on time, did their jobs, didnt cause any problems, and showed up the next day to repeat the process. There was no emphasis on creativity, innovation, engagement, empowerment, or the like; nor was there a need for any of these things. However today we live and work in a very different world where all of these things are essential. This means that managers must be leaders.I believe we have reached an important tipping point which is forcing us to rethink managers andmanagementaltogether

I have been exploring this in a series of posts which you can find here (with much more on the way):

The stereotypical manager focuses on control, delegation, productivity, the bottom line, process, and efficiency. The leader focuses on vision, engagement, big ideas, empowerment, innovation, and transformation. One without the other is meaningless. Jeff Bezos and Steve Jobs are of course considered to be great leaders in the world of business, but do you think that they didnt know how to build a team, look at the bottom line, execute strategies, and improve productivity? Of course they did. We dont need to look to the likes of Bezos or Jobs, any manager regardless of how junior or senior needs to be able to come up with big ideas, inspire employees, take on a certain degree of risk, or engage team members. We spend a lot of time taking people in positions of power and trying to train them to be leaders when we should be finding the leaders inside of our organizations and training them to be managers. The only thing worse than working for a manager that cant lead is missing out on the opportunity to turn our existing leaders into managers. We need to stop assuming that managers is a dirty word, if managers must be leaders then they should be looked at with a positive lens.

Greg Schott, the CEO of Mulesoft is a managerthat personally interviews every candidate that applies to work there.

Todd Etter, the chief collaboration officer of The Motley Fool is a managerwho uses games to inspire and engage his employees.

Lynanne Kunkel, the VP of Global Talent Development at Whirlpool Whirlpool is a managerthat recently helped introduce a program across the company that instills the values of leadership and innovation across all employees.

Bob Chapman, the CEO of Barry-Wehmiller Companies, is a managerwho measures heart count at his company to look at how engaged and happy the employees are.

Scott Abel, the CEO of Spiceworks, is a managerwho has something called slices with Scott where he orders pizzas for the whole company who then get to spend hours asking Scott any questions they want whether it be whats our company strategy going forward to how come you dont have kids?

Excerpt from:

Why All Managers Must Be Leaders

Tech Up S2E4 – News From Futurism [DNA in space, touchable holograms and underwater cities] – Video

Posted on by


Tech Up S2E4 - News From Futurism [DNA in space, touchable holograms and underwater cities]
TechUp S2 Episode 4 premiers in January on Bell Aliant Community One. For full episodes you can visit: http://www.techup.tv/watch Follow us on Twitter - http...

By: TechUp

See the original post here:

Tech Up S2E4 - News From Futurism [DNA in space, touchable holograms and underwater cities] - Video

Finding The Next Great Inventor On The Airwaves

Posted on by

Inventors get ripped off way more than you think. So we wanted to create a safe haven for them.

That, Akos Jankura explained to me, is the core idea behind My Cool Inventions, a talk radio program that he co-hosts with John Cremeans. The format of the show is pretty simple: the hosts bring on five new inventors a week who talk about their products. As they talk about the product, the two hosts also share some thoughts and insights for the inventor to improve his product and/or business strategy.

They have pretty strong credentials to do so. Both men are decades-long veterans of the home shopping industry and infomercials, between them racking up millions in sales. Jankura has also invented and successfully marketed several products.

We know what it takes to sell a product. We know what it takes to demo a product. We know what it takes to have it somewhere and make money with it, said Cremeans on a recent broadcast.

After talking about the invention for a few minutes, the show then allows the inventor to give a 60 second pitch for his product to the audience, who can then vote online or by text to give a thumbs up or thumbs down to the idea. Once a month, the duo gives away a marketing package worth $20,000 to an inventor selected by the audience.

Its kind of like a huge focus group, said Jankura. And its brutally honest.

The show has a strong audience that, according to Jankura, includes retailers and catalogers. During the live broadcasts, there are 50-70,000 radio listeners, according to Arbitron, along with an additional 25,000 audience members who are listening online.

John Cremeans showing off one of the products featured on the show.

Read more:

Finding The Next Great Inventor On The Airwaves

Non Attachment The Real Secret to Manifestation and Freedom with Elder, Rev., Dr. Patrick Harbula – Video

Posted on by


Non Attachment The Real Secret to Manifestation and Freedom with Elder, Rev., Dr. Patrick Harbula
Honoring the Full Moon of January, Rev. Elder Patrick J. Harbula will lead us in his famous Shamanic Intention Setting Ceremony. Everyone is asked to bring drums if you have them (and there...

By: Spiritual Unity Movement

Read the original:

Non Attachment The Real Secret to Manifestation and Freedom with Elder, Rev., Dr. Patrick Harbula - Video

RELEASE WEIGHT RECEIVE FREEDOM Virtual Book Launch with Author Brandi Mitchell HD 720p – Video

Posted on by


RELEASE WEIGHT RECEIVE FREEDOM Virtual Book Launch with Author Brandi Mitchell HD 720p
Join me and special guest for my first ever Virtual Book Launch on Google Hangouts for my NEW Book Release Weight Receive Freedom! What We Will be doing During the Launch: I will share: ...

By: Brandi Mitchell

Follow this link:

RELEASE WEIGHT RECEIVE FREEDOM Virtual Book Launch with Author Brandi Mitchell HD 720p - Video

Ayutha Ezhuthu – Debate On "Exploring The Boundaries For Freedom of Expression"(21/1/2015) – Video

Posted on by


Ayutha Ezhuthu - Debate On "Exploring The Boundaries For Freedom of Expression"(21/1/2015)
Ayutha Ezhuthu - Debate On "Exploring The Boundaries For Freedom of Expression"(21/1/2015) Catch us LIVE @ http://www.thanthitv.com/ Follow us on - Facebook ...

By: Thanthi TV

Read more:

Ayutha Ezhuthu - Debate On "Exploring The Boundaries For Freedom of Expression"(21/1/2015) - Video