Islands Group sets expansion in 2015

Posted on by

PLATFORM FOR SMALL BUSINESSES.Islands Group president and chief executive officer Jonathan Jay Aldeguer says they will be aggressive in expanding Islands Pasalubong because it also serves as a platform for community-based business to tap. (SUN.STAR FILE)

THE Islands Group of Companies is beefing up its business units by branching out to more areas across the country on the back of the thriving tourism-retail sector.

Islands Group president and chief executive officer Jonathan Jay Aldeguer said the company is set to open nine additional outlets of Islands Pasalubong in Manila and Cebu beginning the first half of 2015.

The firm opened its flagship store in Manila in Quezon City last month. By next year, four more outlets will open in Manila in areas like Makati, Paraaque-Alabang and another outlet in Quezon City.

In Cebu, Aldeguer said they plan to open at least five outlets. A new outlet of Islands Pasalubong costs from P8 million to P10 million.

Small businesses

We are a bit aggressive in expanding Islands Pasalubong because this is a business that caters to everybody. Aside from that this is a concept that showcases the delicacies of the different destinations in the country, and more importantly, a platform for community-based business to plug in their business to us, said Aldeguer.

He noted that for their Manila operation alone, they have already tapped at least 20 micro-entrepereneurs. Every quarter, the store will introduce or feature different delicacies.

Islands Pasalubong is a one-stop shop that houses the best and most complete assortment of Cebuano brands in local delicacies as well as the hard to find homemade varieties.

Follow this link:

Islands Group sets expansion in 2015

Exploring the Sub-Antarctic Islands

Posted on by

Dunedin Botanic Garden Collection Curator, Kate Caldwell is off to explore the native flora and fauna of wildlife reserves in the Sub-Antarctic Islands after winning an Enderby Trust Scholarship.

Ms Caldwell was awarded the Enderby Trust Scholarship to travel to the UNESCO World Heritage Site after demonstrating her commitment to conservation and ecology through her work at the Garden and for the Department of Conservation (DOC).

Ms Caldwell undertook an apprenticeship with the Botanic Garden before taking up the Collection Curator role and has also volunteered and worked for DOC in pest eradication as well as native plant monitoring and restoration.

Going to the Sub-Antarctic Islands will feed into Ms Caldwells work with native plants at the Garden giving her further insight into New Zealand native flora.

"The Sub-Antarctic Islands are a mecca in New Zealand for plant people" says Ms Caldwell "This trip will really broaden my understanding of New Zealand flora as offshore the plants are unique due to their adaptations to each islands environment."

The expedition she will join, Forgotten Islands of the South Pacific will leave from Bluff on 4 January 2015 and return on 11 January. During the journey Ms Caldwell will visit the pristine Snares Island, observing the seabird burrowed landmass from a boat from which she may see endemic Snares Crested Penguins, Fernbirds and Tomtits, dramatic coastline and tree daisy forests. She will then go ashore on the flora rich Auckland Islands and Campbell Island.

Ms Caldwell says it is a privilege to be chosen to go on the expedition and to experience such untouched, remote and wild places.

"I am drawn to places that belong to nature. Places that teem with life, evoking primeval Aotearoa. Places whose rhythms are not, like almost everywhere else on earth, modified and moderated by humans," says Ms Caldwell. "I wouldnt have been able to do this without the support of the Trust who is committed to sending young people down to experience these special places."

Curator Team Leader, Alan Matchett says the trip is an incredible opportunity for Ms Caldwell on all counts and her colleagues at the Botanic Garden are excited for her.

"Kate already has a very good knowledge of our native flora and their habitats, but what she will encounter on the Sub-Antarctic Islands will mostly be new and result in an unforgettable adventure that will be enthusiastically shared on her return," he says.

Read the original:

Exploring the Sub-Antarctic Islands

Scientists map the human loop-ome, revealing a new form of genetic regulation

Posted on by

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

11-Dec-2014

Contact: Glenna Picton picton@bcm.edu 713-798-4710 Baylor College of Medicine @bcmhouston

EMBARGOED for release Thursday, Dec. 11, 2014, at 12 p.m. ET

HOUSTON - (Dec. 11, 2014) - The ancient Japanese art of origami is based on the idea that nearly any design - a crane, an insect, a samurai warrior - can be made by taking the same blank sheet of paper and folding it in different ways.

The human body faces a similar problem. The genome inside every cell of the body is identical, but the body needs each cell to be different -an immune cell fights off infection; a cone cell helps the eye detect light; the heart's myocytes must beat endlessly.

Appearing online this week in the journal Cell, researchers at Baylor College of Medicine, Rice University, the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, and Harvard University describe the results of a five-year effort to map, in unprecedented detail, how the 2-meter long human genome folds inside the nucleus of a cell. Their results show that the cell-- like a microscopic origamist - modulates its function by folding the genome into an almost limitless variety of shapes.

A centerpiece of the new study is the first reliable catalog of loops spanning the entire human genome. For decades, scientists have examined the regions in the close vicinity of a gene to understand how it is regulated. But as the genome folds, sequences far from a gene loop back and come in contact with those nearby elements.

Looping has been a blind spot for modern biology. "For over a century, scientists have known that DNA forms loops inside of cells, and that knowing where the loops are is incredibly important," said co-first author Suhas Rao, a researcher at the Center for Genome Architecture at Baylor. "But mapping the positions of all those loops was long thought to be an insurmountable challenge."

The researchers showed that the 3 billion DNA letters of the human genome are partitioned into roughly 10,000 loops, a surprisingly small number. (Prior work on loops had suggested that the genome contains over a million.)

More:

Scientists map the human loop-ome, revealing a new form of genetic regulation

Human DNA Shows Traces of 40 Million-Year Battle For Survival Between Primate and Pathogen

Posted on by

Contact Information

Available for logged-in reporters only

Newswise (SALT LAKE CITY) Examination of DNA from 21 primate species from squirrel monkeys to humans exposes an evolutionary war against infectious bacteria over iron that circulates in the hosts bloodstream. Supported by experimental evidence, these findings, published in Science on Dec. 12, demonstrate the vital importance of an increasingly appreciated defensive strategy called nutritional immunity.

Weve known about nutritional immunity for 40 years, says Matthew Barber, Ph.D., first author and postdoctoral fellow in human genetics at the University of Utah. What this study shows us is that over the last 40 million years of primate evolution, this battle for iron between bacteria and primates has been a determining factor in our survival as a species. The study also models an approach for uncovering reservoirs of genetic resistance to bacterial infections, knowledge that could be used to confront emerging diseases.

Following infection, the familiar sneezing, runny nose, and inflammation are all part of the immune systems attempts to rid the body of hostile invaders. Lesser known is a separate defense against invasive microbes, called nutritional immunity, that quietly takes place under our skin. This defense mechanism starves infectious bacteria by hiding circulating iron, an essential nutrient it needs for survival. The protein that transports iron in the blood, transferrin, tucks the trace metal safely out of reach.

Clever as it sounds, the ploy is not enough to keep invaders at bay. Several bacterial pathogens - including those that cause meningitis, gonorrhea, and sepsis - have developed a weapon, transferrin binding protein (TbpA), that latches onto transferrin and steal its iron. Though scientists have known of the offensive strategy, they failed to realize how pivotal the battle over iron has been in the conflict between host and pathogen.

Interactions between host and pathogen are transient and temporary, says senior author Nels Elde, Ph.D., assistant professor of human genetics at the University of Utah. It took casting a wide net across all of primate genetic diversity to capture the significance.

Just as details of a struggle can be gleaned from battle scars, Barber and Elde reconstructed this evolutionary conflict by documenting when and where changes in transferrin and TbpA have occurred over millennia. They examined the DNA of transferrin in 21 species from the primate family tree, and of TbpA from dozens of bacterial strains. The majority of accumulated changes in transferrin and TbpA cluster around a single region of contact between the two proteins, highlighting it as a site of evolutionary conflict between host and pathogen. The authors then used these genetic observations as a guide to perform experiments, which showed changes in TbpA enable the protein to grasp hold of transferrin, and that recent changes in transferrin allow it to evade TbpA.

Up to 25 percent of people in the worlds populations have a small alteration in the transferrin gene, which prevents recognition by several infectious bacteria, the most recent sign of this long battle. Up until this study no one had come up with a functional explanation for why this variation occurs at an appreciable frequency in human populations, says Elde. We now know that it is a consequence of the pathogens we and our ancestors faced over millions of years.

Understanding the strategies that underlie natural defense mechanisms, including nutritional immunity, could inform new approaches to combatting antibiotic-resistant bacteria and emerging diseases. By examining the natural conflicts that have played out for millions of years, we can determine what has worked, and apply them in new situations, says Elde.

See original here:

Human DNA Shows Traces of 40 Million-Year Battle For Survival Between Primate and Pathogen

The Wall Street Journal: Human trial of experimental Merck Ebola vaccine is suspended

Posted on by

A pedestrian walks outside a Merck & Co. facility in Summit, New Jersey.

A human trial of an experimental Ebola vaccine recently licensed by Merck & Co. has been suspended until January after four healthy volunteers receiving it experienced mild joint pain, according to a Geneva hospital helping conduct the trial.

As a precautionary measure, the study team has declared a pause in the injections, the hospital said. It added that joint pain after infection or vaccination is a well-documented phenomenon which does not worry specialists. However, it deserves to be carefully studied. The hospital said the vaccine overall has been very well tolerated among the 59 people who have received it in Geneva.

Merck agreed in November to pay NewLink Genetics Corp. NLNK, -3.96% of Ames, Iowa, $30 million for the rights to the vaccine, plus an additional $20 million and royalties on sales if the vaccine meets certain development targets.

Merck MRK, -0.32% , of Whitehouse Station, N.J., said in a statement that it was aware the study had been placed on a temporary hold after transient complaints of joint pain in Geneva. These events have not been reported at any of the other clinical sites, the company added. It is not known at this time whether these events are related to the vaccine or not. We understand the level of vaccine being administered in the trial, which is being conducted at a number of other sites, will proceed using lower doses of the vaccine.

NewLink didnt immediately respond to a request for comment.

An expanded version of this report appears at WSJ.com.

More here:

The Wall Street Journal: Human trial of experimental Merck Ebola vaccine is suspended

Scientists define important gene interaction that drives aggressive brain cancer

Posted on by

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

11-Dec-2014

Contact: John Wallace wallacej@vcu.edu 804-628-1550 Virginia Commonwealth University @vcunews

Targeted therapies are a growing and groundbreaking field in cancer care in which drugs or other substances are designed to interfere with genes or molecules that control the growth and survival of cancer cells. Now, scientists at Virginia Commonwealth University Massey Cancer Center and VCU Institute of Molecular Medicine (VIMM) have identified a novel interaction between a microRNA and a gene that could lead to new therapies for the most common and deadly form of brain tumor, malignant glioma.

In a study recently published in the journal Neuro-Oncology, a team of scientists led by Luni Emdad, M.B.B.S., Ph.D., and Paul B. Fisher, M.Ph., Ph.D., provided the first evidence of an important link between a specific microRNA, miR-184, and a cancer promoting gene, SND1, in the regulation of malignant glioma. miR-184 is known to suppress tumor development by regulating a variety of genes involved in cancer growth, while SND1 has been shown to play a significant role in the development of breast, colon, prostate and liver cancers. Through a variety of preclinical experiments, the team demonstrated that increasing the expression of miR-184 slows the growth and invasive characteristics of glioma cells through direct regulation of SND1. Additionally, they showed that reduced levels of SND1 led to reduced levels of STAT3, a gene that has been shown to promote the most lethal characteristics of brain cancer.

"Patients suffering from brain tumors are in desperate need of improved therapies," says Fisher, Thelma Newmeyer Corman Endowed Chair in Cancer Research and co-leader of the Cancer Molecular Genetics research program at VCU Massey Cancer Center, chairman of the Department of Human and Molecular Genetics at VCU School of Medicine and director of the VIMM. "We're hopeful that this new understanding of the relationship between miR-184 and SND1 ultimately will lead to the development of new drugs that reduce SND1 expression and improve patient outcomes."

Prior studies have shown that levels of miR-184 are unusually low in tissue samples from patients with malignant gliomas. Using advanced computer analysis techniques designed to study and process biological data, the researchers identified SND1 among a handful of other genes that miR-184 helps regulate. Knowing SND1 is implicated in a variety of cancers and having previously defined its role in liver cancer, Emdad, Fisher and their colleagues explored this relationship further. They confirmed low levels of miR-184 expression in human glioma tissue samples and cultured cell lines as well as an increase in the expression of SND1 compared to normal brain tissue. Using data from a large public brain tumor database called REMBRANDT, the researchers confirmed that patients with lower levels of SND1 survived longer than those with elevated SND1 expression.

"We still have a long way to go and many challenges to overcome before we will have therapies that are ready for clinical use, but this is a significant first step in the process," says Emdad, member of the Cancer Molecular Genetics research program at Massey, assistant professor in the VCU Department of Human and Molecular Genetics and member of the VIMM. "Future studies will aim to explore the relationship between SND1 and STAT3, identify additional microRNAs that may be relevant to malignant glioma and explore the effects of drugs that block SND1 expression in more advanced preclinical models."

###

Fisher and Emdad collaborated with Devanand Sarkar, M.B.B.S., Ph.D., Harrison Scholar and member of the Cancer Molecular Genetics research program at Massey, Blick Scholar and associate professor in the Department of Human and Molecular Genetics at the VCU School of Medicine and member of the VIMM; Swadesh K. Das, Ph.D., member of the Cancer Molecular Genetics research program at Massey, member of the VIMM and assistant professor in the VCU Department of Human and Molecular Genetics; Mitchell E. Menezes, Ph.D., Prasanna K. Santhekadur, Ph.D., and Bin Hu, Ph.D., all postdoctoral research scientists in the VCU Department of Human and Molecular Genetics; and Aleksandar Janjic, Mohammad Al-Zubi and Xue-Ning Shen, all research technicians in the VCU Department of Human and Molecular Genetics and the VIMM.

More here:

Scientists define important gene interaction that drives aggressive brain cancer

Best Chiropractor in Agoura Hills CA Chiropractic Care Back Pain Relief – Video

Posted on by


Best Chiropractor in Agoura Hills CA Chiropractic Care Back Pain Relief
Best Chiropractor in Agoura Hills CA Chiropractic Care Back Pain Relief Chiropractic Agoura Hills CA care Care Recommendation And also Insight For The Beginner Every person has actually...

By: Jerry Moen

More here:

Best Chiropractor in Agoura Hills CA Chiropractic Care Back Pain Relief - Video

Why Universal Health Care Is No Cure-All – Businessweek

Posted on by

Theres good news to report on health care in America. Obamacare has increased coverage by 10 million people, spending growth has dramatically declined, and preventable hospital errors such as drug mistakes fell 17 percent from 2010 to 2013, saving 50,000 lives.In the U.S., at least, it appears possible to increase efficiency, cost-effectiveness, and access all at the same time.

The picture is less positive across much of the developing world. While the call for universal health care in every country is now the official stance of the World Health Organization, attempts to meet that goal have often seen limited returns.The overwhelming focus on quantity of care is ignoring a massive problem with quality and efficiency. Unless thats addressed, a lot of money will be spent on expanding accesswith little impact.

A World Bank review of extending universal health coverage in developing countries found that providing subsidized or free care did increase access to those services, especially by the poorest people. Such schemes also reduced recipients out-of-pocket expenses associated with health care. There were also some successes related to health outcomes. Argentinas Plan Nacer, for example, provided services to pregnant women and young children, which was associated with a 2 percentage point reduction in early newborn mortality.

Yet only five out of 18 studies of coverage roll-out found a positive impact on health indicators such as death rates or reduced sickness. In India, for example, the government has started paying mothers who deliver children in hospitals. As a result, from 2005 to 2011, the number born in a health facility more than doubled in nine Indian states. But the massive increase in institutional births had no impact on infant mortality. If anything, according to World Bank researcher Jishnu Das, the rise of hospital births is remarkably consistent with the halting of a slow decline in infant mortality. Rwanda has seen a similar phenomenon: a big rise in births with a skilled attendant with no impact on health.

Across countries, there is no relationship between overall levels of health expenditures and health outcomes at a given income per head, nor a link between health inputs such as doctors and nurses per capita and health outcomes. The number of hospital beds per person worldwide actually fell by a quarter from 1960 to 2005, even as global health massively improvedwith average planetary life expectancy climbing from 52 years to 69 years.

One reason for the gap between health inputs and health outcomes is the low quality of care. Though many health-care practitioners are hard working and honest, a lot arent. In 2003, if you turned up unannounced to a health-care facility in India and asked to see a staff member, 40 percent of staffers who were meant to be there were absent. Among doctors in rural Bangladesh in 2004, that figure was above 70 percent.

And hospital staffers are often ignorant of the right approaches or face incentives to provide the wrong treatments. A 2013 survey in Kenya found that only a little over half of doctors and nurses could diagnose at least four out of five common conditions when their major symptoms were describedmalaria with anemia, diarrhea with dehydration, pneumonia, tuberculosis, and diabetes. When it came to treatment, health providers adhered to less than 43 percent of the clinical guidelines governing management of these conditions. Public providers only followed 44 percent of the guidelines for managing maternal and newborn complications.

The lack of a relationship between the availability of health care andlife expectancy in developing countries goes beyond weaknesses in hospitals and clinics. Its also related to the fact that what kills most people in poor countries are conditions that dont require hospitals to fix. In sub-Saharan Africa, the five leading killers are malaria, HIV, lower respiratory infections, diarrhea, and malnutrition. Further and growing causes of mortality across the developing world include traffic accidents, tobacco usage, and health conditions related to being overweight. Clean water, access to and use of toilets, condoms, soap, vaccinations, and and bed nets, alongside better nutrition, tobacco controls, and road safety measures can prevent the majority of these deaths. Doctors and nurses save thousands of lives a day, but infrastructure and public health interventionsneither requiring highly trained medical staffsave many millions each year. Often, the medical system can do little more than provide palliative care when these other approaches arent used or dont work.

Doctors, nurses, and hospitals remain vital to a countrys well-being. The Ebola virus outbreak in West Africa has demonstrated that there are times when only skilled care in medical facilities can adequately protect the public. It has also shown that even in health systems that are as weakly governed, understaffed, and woefully underfunded as Liberias or Sierra Leones, many people are willing to risk their lives, day after day, to help.

But when most people are dying from conditions that can be prevented at the cost a few cents, in countries where total health expenditures can be as low as a few dollars per year per person, its folly todivert scarce resources to expanding broken health-care systems. Doing so will only mean that more people are going to die. While governments and donors should spend more money on the health needs of the worlds poorest peoplethey should also insist that money is spent efficiently, rather than on simply chasing an illusory goal of universal coverage.

Original post:

Why Universal Health Care Is No Cure-All - Businessweek

Nj Health Care – Hot Quotes

Posted on by

multicar insurance quotes illinois home insurance medical insurance cost pinnacle car insurance online auto insurance rate best healthcare insurance in arizona road buggy insurance best health insurance for students life insurance veteran health insurance dc medical insurance deductible brooklyn condo insurance tire road hazard insurance car insurance wichita ks insurance companies in kentucky independent insurance home insurance fort myers lujan insurance medical insurance colorado cheap sr22 insurance

Nj health care Aim to spend a good amount of time researching the market to get the best deal possible. nj health care If you take the time to find the right travel insurance policy for your needs, you can rest easy, knowing that you are protected if you get sick, lose your documents, money or baggage, or if the holiday should be canceled or shortened. nj health care

Nj health care Many people have one of these animals to provide companionship and entertainment for them. nj health care Check this with the terms and conditions, you should also check to see what the exclusions are.All suppliers will put in a little amount can vary, but they should be checked against your situation, if you are to be sure you are eligible to apply.

CERTAIN CONTENT THAT APPEARS ON THIS SITE COMES FROM AMAZON SERVICES LLC. THIS CONTENT IS PROVIDED AS IS AND IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE OR REMOVAL AT ANY TIME.

Nj health care Drivers over 50, those who take safety courses and owners of cars with safety equipment such as daytime running lights, airbags and antilock brakes all can receive discounts on monthly premiums. nj health care Some life insurance policies offer coverage of unemployment, burial, mortgage coverage and so on. nj health care

Visit link:

Nj Health Care - Hot Quotes

Single payer for health care gets a hearing in Buffalo

Posted on by

One patient went overseas for an operation to avoid paying high out-of-pocket costs here.

A single mother in a low-paying job worried that private health insurance will leave her financially strapped.

And a doctor described how the 18 health care providers where he practices need almost as many employees just to keep track of insurance paperwork.

Those stories highlighted a hearing this week on creating single-payer health care in the state that advocates contend would solve those problems.

The current system is not working, and we should not take a failure and make it a bigger failure, said Dr. Jason M. Matuszak, a family physician who specializes in sports medicine at Excelsior Orthopaedics in Amherst.

Matuszak was one of about two dozen people who voiced support for New York Health, a bill sponsored by Assemblyman Richard N. Gottfried, D-Manhattan, during a hearing in Hohn Auditorium at Roswell Park Cancer Institute. Hes conducting six hearings statewide, with plans to move the bill out of the Assemblys Health Committee, of which he is chairman, and introduce it into the Assembly for a vote in the spring.

Even people with coverage are finding obstacles to care and costs devastating to their finances, Gottfried said.

The bill, to no ones surprise, is receiving intense criticism.

The Business Council of New York State, which lobbies for private employers, has long been on record of opposing the proposal, calling its promise of universal, unlimited coverage a mirage.

Gottfried is no stranger to trying get approved single-payer health care. The plan was originally introduced 23 years ago and passed the Assembly. It has not been brought to the Legislature for a vote since then.

Read this article:

Single payer for health care gets a hearing in Buffalo

Health care regulators working to keep you safe

Posted on by

Press Release

In August 2013, the illegal activities of a man pretending to be a dentist captured the publics attention. A member of the public had complained to the College of Dental Surgeons of BC (CDSBC) after receiving treatment from this imposter in an operatory he had set up in his home. This complaint triggered an aggressive investigation by CDSBC to protect people who had sought treatment from him, and incited country-wide media attention.

In BC, dentists must be registered with the CDSBC, the regulatory body responsible for ensuring that registrants real dentists have a dental degree. Health professionals, including dentists, must also adhere to codes of ethics and standards of practice, and meet other stringent requirements. Health profession regulators investigate complaints against their registrants. The cost of these investigations and legal action taken is paid for by the regulator, not by taxpayers.

The College of Dental Surgeons of BC hired a private investigator to gather evidence and secured a court order for a search and seizure of the illegal dentists property. They discovered that this individual was performing dentistry on about 1,500 people and was not properly sterilizing tools and equipment. Due to these conditions, the CDSBC worked with Fraser Health Authority to issue a public health alert asking anyone who had received treatment from him to get tested for Hepatitis B and C, and HIV. As he had gone into hiding, the CDSBC offered a reward for information leading to his arrest and also applied to the Supreme Court of BC to get a permanent injunction to stop this imposter from practising dentistry.

In another high profile case, two individuals working at a clinic described themselves as naturopathic physicians and were giving injections to patients. Providing the injections constituted unauthorized practice under the Health Professions Act (HPA) as the individuals were not registered with a health professional college in this case, the College of Naturopathic Physicians of BC (CNPBC). The CNPBC investigated these individuals and received an agreement from them that they would not call themselves, or put themselves forward as naturopathic physicians again.

Unfortunately, the two individuals continued to mislead the public by advertising that they were actual naturopathic physicians. As well, they performed activities that are restricted to regulated health professionals under the HPA, putting patients at risk. The CNPBC applied to the Supreme Court of BC for an order to permanently stop these two individuals from endangering the public further. The CNPBC was successful in obtaining a Consent Order and undertaking from the two individuals such that they cannot use titles reserved to naturopathic doctors nor can they perform restricted activities.

These are examples of how health profession regulators work every day to protect the public from individuals who pose as regulated health professionals but who are, in fact, not registered or authorized to practice. Fortunately, these situations are rare, but when they do occur, they can be extremely dangerous.

Regulated health professionals not only want to act in the best interests of the public, they must act in the best interests of the public as required by law. In British Columbia, the law that governs regulated health professionals is called the Health Professions Act. Protection from unauthorized practice is a priority for every regulated health profession, including physicians, nurses, physiotherapists, pharmacists and all of 26 health professions regulated by the Health Professions Act. Regulation itself makes sure that the publics best interest is always served.

Each of these regulated health professions has a website where the public can conduct a search through an online directory to confirm that the practitioner they want to seek treatment from is registered with their respective health profession regulator. For a full list of all health profession regulators in the province http://www.bchealthregulators.ca

Read the original:

Health care regulators working to keep you safe

Health Care Sector Update for 12/11/2014: LAKE,ABIO,MEIP

Posted on by

Top Health Care Stocks

JNJ +0.63%

PFE -0.13%

ABT +0.63%

MRK +0.45%

AMGN +1.32%

Health care stocks were higher this afternoon, with the NYSE Health Care Sector Index climbing about 0.8% and shares of health care companies in the S&P 500 ahead by 0.8% as a group.

In company news, Lakeland Industries ( LAKE ) stumbled Thursday after the maker of protective equipment for health care workers reported a wider Q3 net loss compared with the same quarter last year despite a substantial increase in revenue.

The company posted a fiscal Q3 loss of $2.5 million, or $0.42 per share, compared with a year-earlier loss of $1.8 million. Excluding one-time items, the adjusted net was $0.20 pr share compared with a $0.05 per share loss last year.

Sales grew 10% over year-ago levels to $25.1 million. No analyst estimates were available for comparison.

Read more here:

Health Care Sector Update for 12/11/2014: LAKE,ABIO,MEIP

Health care enrollment deadline approaches

Posted on by

LAS VEGAS - The deadline to sign up for health care insurance and avoid hefty fines approaches. Nevadans have until December 15 to enroll.

As of December 5, 10,198 people have enrolled through Nevada Health Link. Those who miss Monday's deadline will not only lack insurance on January 1, 2015, but they will also face a fine of $325 or 2 percent of their income whichever is higher.

Open enrollment runs through February 15th, but December 15th is the last day to sign up and qualify for subsidies, as well as dodge any fines.

This also applies to people who signed up for coverage during the first open enrollment period last year. If they fail to re-apply, their health care provider will automatically re-enroll them, however, they will lose any subsidies. That means their premiums will increase.

Last year, the website where people can enroll experienced numerous technological glitches. This year, NevadaHealthLink.com seems to be running smoother.

"The system is working dramatically better this year than it was during the first phase of open enrollment, said Andres Ramirez with the Ramirez Group, Health Care Navigators. We are completing applications much quicker than we did before, and there's obviously less glitches through the application process."

Ramirez says Nevadans are enrolling at a faster pace than last time. During the first enrollment period, 37,000 people signed up.

If you need help signing up, a Nevada Health Link store is open seven days a week at the Boulevard Mall.

See original here:

Health care enrollment deadline approaches

Health Care Sector Update for 12/11/2014: KPTI,ABIO,MEIP

Posted on by

Top Health Care Stocks

JNJ +0.33%

PFE -0.88%

ABT +0.01%

MRK -0.30%

AMGN +0.53%

Health care stocks were higher this afternoon with the NYSE Health Care Sector Index climbing about 0.4% and shares of health care companies in the S&P 500 ahead by 0.2% as a group.

In company news, Karyopharm Therapeutics ( KPTI ) fell again Thursday, more than matching its 10% slide yesterday despite the clinical-stage drugmaker today launching Phase IIb testing of its experimental treatment for certain types of lymphoma.

The company previously received Orphan Drug designation for its Selinexor drug candidate from authorities in the United States and Europe as a treatment of patients with relapsed/refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma.

The new, open-label trial is expected to enroll around 200 patients worldwide and will evaluate Selinexor's safety and efficacy in large and mid-sized oral doses, both as a single agent and in combination with an anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressant drug, dexamethasone. Testing is expected to take about two years.

Original post:

Health Care Sector Update for 12/11/2014: KPTI,ABIO,MEIP