Just weeks before the presidential election, we reached out to an eclectic mix of men and women – from Kobe Bryant to the first lady to Alicia Keys – asking them why they vote – and why they think YOU should make your voices heard this year. Find out what they had to say and hear more on the issues women care about most in our special election section, iVote.
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Source: http://ohnotheydidnt.livejournal.com/73158177.html
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Pulse, the popular news-reading app for Android and iOS, just announced that its users have now read more than 4 billion stories since it launched in 2010. While it took the company 100 days to reach 10 million read stories, its users now read just as many posts every day.Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/YxSxJg1NIxo/
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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/russia-spend-3-5-billion-buying-35-planes-112145457--finance.html
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As Zayn flaunts his comic-book tattoo, Liam channels his inner superhero.
By Emilee Lindner
One Direction's Liam Payne and a friend dress up for halloween
Photo: Twitter
Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1696442/one-direction-liam-payne-zayn-malik-batman-tattoos.jhtml
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Brand-new clip for 'The Forgotten' features never-before-soon footage from 'The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2.'
By Ryan J. Downey
Green Day's "The Forgotten" video
Photo: Atlantic Records
Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1696479/green-day-breaking-dawn-the-forgotten-video-premiere.jhtml
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NEW YORK (Reuters) - The stock market was closed for a second straight day on Tuesday as cash equity trading was canceled in the wake of Hurricane Sandy.
Tuesday's shutdown was the first time weather had resulted in a two-day market shutdown since the Great Blizzard of 1888. Exchanges expect to reopen on Wednesday.
NYSE Euronext
Index futures stopped trading electronically at 9:15 a.m. on Tuesday (1315 GMT) and ended the session largely flat. S&P index futures ended 0.2 percent higher.
Futures will reopen at 7 p.m. ET (2300 GMT) for the overnight session during European and Asian hours, closing again at 9:15 a.m. Wednesday morning.
Sandy, a mammoth storm, slammed into a large swathe of the densely populated U.S. eastern seaboard on Monday, forcing hundreds of thousands to seek higher ground, halting public transport and closing schools, businesses, financial markets and government departments. At least 18 people died and more than eight million homes and businesses were without power.
Investors expect heightened volatility when markets do reopen as the two-day closure creates pent-up demand.
Certain sectors are seen as especially tied to the fallout from the storm, which caused major flooding from storm surge during high tides, along with extensive damage from high winds and lashing rain. Disaster-modeling company Eqecat estimates Sandy caused between $10 billion and $20 billion in total economic damages, with $5 billion to $10 billion in insured losses.
Construction sectors as well as retailers such as Home Depot
"With winds 75 miles per hour along with flooding in the most populated area of the country, you could have an unparalleled loss picture for insurance companies," said Joe Heider, a Cleveland based wealth manager at Rehmann.
Compounding the issue, Sandy arrived in the middle of the corporate earnings season. While some companies, including Pfizer Inc
With their results out but investors unable to trade on them, those stocks may see particular interest on Wednesday.
(Editing by James Dalgleish)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/stock-index-futures-edge-lower-cash-indexes-shut-101010601--finance.html
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PhoneWorks 2004 Professional's new Optical Character Recognition (OCR) module enables you to easily turn your faxes into documents compatible with Microsoft Office Word, Excel and other popular applications. Based on best-of-class FineReader Optical Recognition engine, PhoneWorks 2004 Professional offers unsurpassed accuracy in fax and scanned document recognition. OCR module is ONLY available with the Professional version of PhoneWorks.
FEATURES
Fax
Reliable send/receive fax module
Send broadcast faxes to any number of recipients
Fax scheduling allows you to take advantage of low long distance calling rates
Create faxes with unlimited number of file attachments
NEW: create fax attachments from paper documents, using our new TWAIN drivers
Send faxes from within any Windows application (using the included printer driver)
Keep detailed logs and records of all you incoming and outgoing faxes and outgoing pages.
Fax Editor
View, edit, and sign faxes using a fully-featured fax editor
Use one of several predefined cover pages or simply create your own
Import graphics into your fax documents
NEW: Extremely accurate Optical Character Recognition (OCR) lets you convert faxes to Microsoft Word, Excel, text or other Microsoft Office files (Professional version ONLY).
Changes on the new version:
NEW: Windows XP support
NEW: Integrates directly with Microsoft Outlook and Outlook Express
NEW: Optical Character Recognition (OCR) module let's you convert faxes directly into Word, Excel or text files (Professional version ONLY)
NEW: Create fax attachments from paper documents by using your TWAIN-compatible scanner
Source: http://www.free-to-try.com/windows/communications/fax-tools/phoneworks-pro/
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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/shirtless-horse-head-wearing-jogger-wins-hurricane-sandy-111556965.html
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![[ Back to EurekAlert! ]](http://www.eurekalert.org/images/back2e.gif){kind=small}
Public release date: 29-Oct-2012
Share ] Contact: Jane-Diane Fraser
jfraser@hsf.ca
613-569-4361 x273
Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada
Kids born to moms who have lost a substantial amount of weight after undergoing bariatric surgery have fewer cardiovascular risk factors than their siblings who were born before the weight loss surgery.
This is because the metabolic changes and weight loss that occur after the surgery have a positive effect on inflammatory disease-related genes in the offspring, according to a new study presented at the Canadian Cardiovascular Congress, co-hosted by the Heart and Stroke Foundation and the Canadian Cardiovascular Society.
"Our research found that maternal obesity affects the genes of the offspring," says Dr. Frdric Gunard, a post-doctoral fellow under the supervision of Dr. Marie-Claude Vohl of the Functional Food Institute at Laval University and a recipient of a Heart and Stroke Foundation Research Fellowship.
"The good news is that we can do something to change this outcome: Reducing obesity in the mother has a positive health impact on the health of future offspring."
The study comes from the cutting-edge field of epigenetics, which looks at how our genes can be switched on and off by environmental changes. What's novel here is that the scientists looked at how these changes can impact the DNA of our offspring (without necessarily altering the DNA sequence).
Think of identical twins with the same DNA how can two individuals with the same DNA have different states of health? It was once thought that only DNA structure changes caused genetic variation. But we now know that genes can be turned on or off ("expressed"). A variety of processes is thought to "flick the switch."
One such process is that small molecules bind to DNA. These molecules are produced by one's own body and their binding to DNA is modulated by the environment (for example, from foods or from toxins in the environment).
Scientists now know that molecules called methyl groups can turn genes on and off a process called DNA methylation that can change the gene expression, but doesn't change the gene sequence. Generally speaking, more methylation means a gene is turned off and less means a gene is turned on.
Parental obesity contributes substantially to pediatric obesity through genetic, environmental and epigenetic influences. Obesity during pregnancy predisposes the offspring to lifelong excess body weight and increased risk of heart disease.
Bariatric surgeons and researchers at Laval University observed that children born after their mothers had a type of bariatric surgery called bilio-pancreatic bypass surgery were less likely to be obese, had improved insulin resistance, lower blood pressure and an improved cardiovascular disease risk profile.
This observation prompted Dr. Gunard and his team to study the underlying reasons for this improvement in heart disease risk.
They took blood samples from 25 children of 20 mothers who were born before their mothers had bilio-pancreatic bypass surgery and blood samples from 25 of their siblings who were born afterwards.
The children ranged in age from two to 24 years. The average body mass index (BMI) of the mothers was 45 before bariatric surgery and 27 after. Bariatric surgery is indicated for individuals with a BMI of 40 or greater, or those with a BMI of 35 or greater who have co-morbid conditions (for example, diabetes) and are of low surgical risk.
They then tested the DNA from blood samples, using a special tool the Infinium HumanMethylation450 BeadChip to find any changes in the genes caused by methylation.
They found that methylation levels were very different in the children born to mothers before bypass surgery from those who were born after.
Specifically, they found that more than 5,500 known genes with differential methylation in the children born before their mothers had bypass surgery compared to children born afterwards.
"Our findings show that maternal bariatric surgery results in significant metabolic effects to the methylation profiles of inflammatory disease-related genes," says Dr. Gunard. "The bariatric surgery and weight loss experienced by the mothers created an in utero environment that favorably changed the gene methylation levels of the fetus."
"Basically, this study tells us that maternal obesity affects the obesity and cardiovascular risk profile of offspring and that weight loss can improve the cardiovascular health of children."
"We know our genetic makeup influences our children's risks but so can our environment," says Heart and Stroke Foundation spokesperson Dr. Beth Abramson. "For example, if a disease runs in a family, we know to watch out for it in the children as they age. This study shows that external factors also influence our risk for heart disease and that of our offspring by switching genes on or off in our DNA; providing a glimpse as to why this occurs. This is why lifestyle behaviours are so important."
Dr. Abramson says this study is another reminder about why we need to manage and control our weight at all stages of life. "What other things could we be doing to flip those switches and provide a better blueprint for our kids to start them off right in life?"
Dr. Gunard says we would need other genetics studies to find out if weight loss changes the methylation profile of the genes of offspring of women who have lost weight through other measures.
###
Statements and conclusions of study authors are solely those of the study authors and do not necessarily reflect Foundation or CCS policy or position. The Heart and Stroke Foundation and the Canadian Cardiovascular Society make no representation or warranty as to their accuracy or reliability.
The Heart and Stroke Foundation (heartandstroke.ca), a volunteer-based health charity, leads in eliminating heart disease and stroke and reducing their impact through the advancement of research and its application, the promotion of healthy living and advocacy.
Healthy lives free of heart disease and stroke. Together we will make it happen.
For more information and/or interviews, contact the CCC 2012 MEDIA OFFICE AT 416-585-3781 (Oct 28-31)
OR
Diane Hargrave Public Relations
416-467-9954 ext. 104
dhprbks@interlog.com
Congress information and media registration is at www.cardiocongress.org
After October 31, 2012 contact:
Jane-Diane Fraser
Heart and Stroke Foundation
(613) 569-4361 ext 273
jfraser@hsf.ca
[ | E-mail | Share ] ?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Public release date: 29-Oct-2012 Share ] Contact: Jane-Diane Fraser
jfraser@hsf.ca
613-569-4361 x273
Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada
Kids born to moms who have lost a substantial amount of weight after undergoing bariatric surgery have fewer cardiovascular risk factors than their siblings who were born before the weight loss surgery.
This is because the metabolic changes and weight loss that occur after the surgery have a positive effect on inflammatory disease-related genes in the offspring, according to a new study presented at the Canadian Cardiovascular Congress, co-hosted by the Heart and Stroke Foundation and the Canadian Cardiovascular Society.
"Our research found that maternal obesity affects the genes of the offspring," says Dr. Frdric Gunard, a post-doctoral fellow under the supervision of Dr. Marie-Claude Vohl of the Functional Food Institute at Laval University and a recipient of a Heart and Stroke Foundation Research Fellowship.
"The good news is that we can do something to change this outcome: Reducing obesity in the mother has a positive health impact on the health of future offspring."
The study comes from the cutting-edge field of epigenetics, which looks at how our genes can be switched on and off by environmental changes. What's novel here is that the scientists looked at how these changes can impact the DNA of our offspring (without necessarily altering the DNA sequence).
Think of identical twins with the same DNA how can two individuals with the same DNA have different states of health? It was once thought that only DNA structure changes caused genetic variation. But we now know that genes can be turned on or off ("expressed"). A variety of processes is thought to "flick the switch."
One such process is that small molecules bind to DNA. These molecules are produced by one's own body and their binding to DNA is modulated by the environment (for example, from foods or from toxins in the environment).
Scientists now know that molecules called methyl groups can turn genes on and off a process called DNA methylation that can change the gene expression, but doesn't change the gene sequence. Generally speaking, more methylation means a gene is turned off and less means a gene is turned on.
Parental obesity contributes substantially to pediatric obesity through genetic, environmental and epigenetic influences. Obesity during pregnancy predisposes the offspring to lifelong excess body weight and increased risk of heart disease.
Bariatric surgeons and researchers at Laval University observed that children born after their mothers had a type of bariatric surgery called bilio-pancreatic bypass surgery were less likely to be obese, had improved insulin resistance, lower blood pressure and an improved cardiovascular disease risk profile.
This observation prompted Dr. Gunard and his team to study the underlying reasons for this improvement in heart disease risk.
They took blood samples from 25 children of 20 mothers who were born before their mothers had bilio-pancreatic bypass surgery and blood samples from 25 of their siblings who were born afterwards.
The children ranged in age from two to 24 years. The average body mass index (BMI) of the mothers was 45 before bariatric surgery and 27 after. Bariatric surgery is indicated for individuals with a BMI of 40 or greater, or those with a BMI of 35 or greater who have co-morbid conditions (for example, diabetes) and are of low surgical risk.
They then tested the DNA from blood samples, using a special tool the Infinium HumanMethylation450 BeadChip to find any changes in the genes caused by methylation.
They found that methylation levels were very different in the children born to mothers before bypass surgery from those who were born after.
Specifically, they found that more than 5,500 known genes with differential methylation in the children born before their mothers had bypass surgery compared to children born afterwards.
"Our findings show that maternal bariatric surgery results in significant metabolic effects to the methylation profiles of inflammatory disease-related genes," says Dr. Gunard. "The bariatric surgery and weight loss experienced by the mothers created an in utero environment that favorably changed the gene methylation levels of the fetus."
"Basically, this study tells us that maternal obesity affects the obesity and cardiovascular risk profile of offspring and that weight loss can improve the cardiovascular health of children."
"We know our genetic makeup influences our children's risks but so can our environment," says Heart and Stroke Foundation spokesperson Dr. Beth Abramson. "For example, if a disease runs in a family, we know to watch out for it in the children as they age. This study shows that external factors also influence our risk for heart disease and that of our offspring by switching genes on or off in our DNA; providing a glimpse as to why this occurs. This is why lifestyle behaviours are so important."
Dr. Abramson says this study is another reminder about why we need to manage and control our weight at all stages of life. "What other things could we be doing to flip those switches and provide a better blueprint for our kids to start them off right in life?"
Dr. Gunard says we would need other genetics studies to find out if weight loss changes the methylation profile of the genes of offspring of women who have lost weight through other measures.
###
Statements and conclusions of study authors are solely those of the study authors and do not necessarily reflect Foundation or CCS policy or position. The Heart and Stroke Foundation and the Canadian Cardiovascular Society make no representation or warranty as to their accuracy or reliability.
The Heart and Stroke Foundation (heartandstroke.ca), a volunteer-based health charity, leads in eliminating heart disease and stroke and reducing their impact through the advancement of research and its application, the promotion of healthy living and advocacy.
Healthy lives free of heart disease and stroke. Together we will make it happen.
For more information and/or interviews, contact the CCC 2012 MEDIA OFFICE AT 416-585-3781 (Oct 28-31)
OR
Diane Hargrave Public Relations
416-467-9954 ext. 104
dhprbks@interlog.com
Congress information and media registration is at www.cardiocongress.org
After October 31, 2012 contact:
Jane-Diane Fraser
Heart and Stroke Foundation
(613) 569-4361 ext 273
jfraser@hsf.ca
[ | E-mail | Share ] ?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-10/hasf-omg102212.php
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FILE - In this Jan, 11, 2000 file photo, British performer Gary Glitter, during a press conference in London. Police investigating the sex abuse scandal surrounding late BBC children's television host Jimmy Savile have arrested pop star Gary Glitter in connection with the case, British media said Sunday, Oct. 28, 2012. Metropolitan Police said they arrested a man in his 60s early Sunday morning at his London home, on suspicion of sexual offenses, and that he remains in custody in a London police station. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant, File)
FILE - In this Jan, 11, 2000 file photo, British performer Gary Glitter, during a press conference in London. Police investigating the sex abuse scandal surrounding late BBC children's television host Jimmy Savile have arrested pop star Gary Glitter in connection with the case, British media said Sunday, Oct. 28, 2012. Metropolitan Police said they arrested a man in his 60s early Sunday morning at his London home, on suspicion of sexual offenses, and that he remains in custody in a London police station. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant, File)
FILE - In this March 3, 2006 file photo, former British rocker Gary Glitter smiles at journalists prior to his verdict and sentencing at Ba Ria-Vung, Vung Tau province People's Court in Vietnam. Police investigating a sex abuse scandal surrounding late BBC television host Jimmy Savile have arrested pop star Gary Glitter in connection to the case, British media said Sunday, Oct. 28, 2012. Metropolitan Police said they arrested a man in his 60s early Sunday morning at his London home, on suspicion of sexual offenses. The force did not identify the man, but British media including the BBC and Press Association reported he was Glitter, 68, a former rock musician and a convicted sex offender. Glitter's real name is Paul Gadd. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel, File)
Cameras are seen above a sign at the BBC Television Centre, in London Wednesday, Oct. 24, 2012. The BBC is facing questions over sexual abuse allegations against former television presenter Jimmy Savile. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
FILE - This is a March 25, 2008 file photo of Sir Jimmy Savile, who for decades was a fixture on British television. A year after he died, aged 84 and honored as Sir Jimmy, several women have come forward to claim he was also a sexual predator and serial abuser of underage girls. The child abuse scandal that has enveloped the BBC, one of Britain's most respected news organizations, is now hitting one of America's, as the incoming president of The New York Times is on the defensive about his final days as head of the BBC. Mark Thompson was in charge of the BBC in late 2011 when the broadcaster shelved what would have been a bombshell investigation alleging that the late Savile was a serial sex offender. (AP Photo/ Lewis Whyld/PA, File)
LONDON (AP) ? The sex abuse scandal surrounding the late BBC children's television host Jimmy Savile widened on Sunday as police arrested former glam rock star and convicted sex offender Gary Glitter in connection with the case, British media said.
Police would not directly identify the suspect arrested Sunday, but media including the BBC and Press Association reported he was the 68-year-old Glitter.
The musician made it big with the crowd-pleasing hit "Rock & Roll (Part 2)," a mostly instrumental anthem that has been a staple at American sporting events thanks to its catchy "hey" chorus. But he fell into disgrace after being convicted on child abuse charges in Britain and Vietnam.
On Sunday, the BBC and Sky News showed footage of Glitter, who wore a hat, a dark coat and sunglasses, being taken from his home by officers and driven away.
British police do not generally identify suspects under arrest by name until they are charged. When asked about Glitter, a spokesman said only that the force arrested a man in his 60s early Sunday morning in London on suspicion of sexual offenses in connection with the Savile probe. He remains in custody in a London police station, police said.
Hundreds of potential victims have come forward since police began their investigation into sex abuse allegations against Savile, the longtime host of popular shows "Top of the Pops" and "Jim'll Fix It" who died at age 84 last year. Most allege abuse by Savile, but some said they were abused by Savile and others.
Glitter is the first suspect to be arrested in the scandal, which has raised questions about whether the BBC turned a blind eye to the alleged sexual crimes. It was not immediately clear if Glitter, whose real name is Paul Gadd, and Savile knew each other.
Glitter rose to fame in the 1970s with a string of U.K. hits and his look of shiny jumpsuits, silver platform shoes and bouffant wigs, but his music has often been shunned since his abuse convictions. In 2006, the NFL advised its football teams not to use the Glitter version of "Rock and Roll (Part 2)" at games.
Glitter was jailed in Britain in 1999 for possessing child pornography, and convicted in 2006 in Vietnam of committing "obscene acts with children" ? offenses involving girls aged 10 and 11. He was deported back to Britain in 2008.
Police have said that though the majority of cases it is investigating related to Savile alone, some involved the entertainer and other, unidentified suspects. In addition, some potential victims who reported abuse by Savile also told police about separate allegations against unidentified men that did not involve the BBC host.
The scandal has horrified Britain with revelations that Savile cajoled and coerced vulnerable teens into having sex with him in his car, in his camper van, and even in dingy dressing rooms on BBC premises.
One witness told the BBC that she once saw Glitter having sex with a schoolgirl in Savile's dressing room at the broadcaster's TV center in the 1970s. Glitter has denied the allegations.
On Sunday, the chairman of the BBC Trust said he was committed to finding out the true scale of the scandal to save the broadcaster's reputation.
"Can it really be the case that no one knew what he was doing? Did some turn a blind eye to criminality? Did some prefer not to follow up their suspicions because of this criminal's popularity and place in the schedules?" Chris Patten wrote in The Mail on Sunday.
The BBC has set up an independent inquiry into the corporation's culture and practices in the years Savile worked there. It also launched a separate inquiry into whether its journalists dropped an investigation into the allegations.
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For me, at least, religious horror has always been a special kind of terrifying. Films like The Omen and The Exorcist were always far more frightening than simpler tales of hook-handed serial killers or more aggressive than average sharks. The kind of existential fear that comes from the unknown and unknowable realm of gods and the afterlife, utilized so effectively by Lovecraft and his contemporaries, taps into a far deeper level of the human psyche than more the more immediate and comprehensible threats of bodily harm.It is appropriate, then, for me to review one of Current 93's earliest efforts, a bleak and relentless patchwork of New Testament nightmares that could be described as an aural equivalent of the Book of Revelations. David Tibet, the creative force behind Current 93, has always had a fascination early Christianity and describes himself as a Gnostic, referring to the early sects of that religion that were shunned and quickly drummed out of existence by the Catholic Church in the first few centuries AD. Gnostic literature can get pretty wild, with a far greater penchant for the fantastic and otherworldly than the rest of the accepted Christian canon. Their somewhat darker outlook is perhaps understandable when one realizes that one of the central themes of Gnosticism is the idea of a wicked creator deity, the Demiurge (the Old Testament, vengeful God), who is separate from the pure and loving God of the New Testament.
With this little bit of backstory, we are at least a little more prepared for this noisy and disturbing record. A bed of sampled Gregorian chants floats eerily in the background, while discordant industrial noises clank and moan over them, punctuated by hellish growling and Tibet's strident vocals proclaiming that "Maldoror is dead" (a reference to Lautreamont's classic proto-surrealist, stream of consciousness novel that is itself quite unsettling.)
The album is broken up into two, side-long tracks, but it really sounds like a single piece of music. Tape manipulation stretches vocals out into deep bass groans. Christian themes are repeated throughout, with the title of side one referencing Golgotha, the place in which Christ was crucified. Although Nature Unveiled bears little resemblance musically to Current 93's later, folk-influenced work, thematically there is much in common, and the listener is always left feeling that the Apocalypse is just around the corner.
Towards the end of the album, the vocals fade away and are replaced by distant wailing and increasingly urgent sirens, a harbinger of imminent and inescapable doom. Then, suddenly, it's all over, the vision of the end of days complete.
Nature unveiled is a raw, powerful and extremely noisy record, and although Tibet and most of his collaborators drifted away from and ultimately rejected the "industrial" label, there is no doubt that this album remains one of the best and most effective examples of what industrial music was all about in the early eighties. Still, it will probably leave most people desperate to turn on all the lights and put on something a little more cheerful.
thellama73 | 4/5 |
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Source: http://www.progarchives.com/Review.asp?id=846329
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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/jon-stewart-pick-winners-losers-130654540.html
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Drugmaker Merck & Co. said Friday that third-quarter profit rose 2 percent as reduced spending on overhead offset lower sales due to new generic competition for its top-selling drug, Singulair.
The maker of diabetes pill Januvia beat Wall Street's profit expectations. The company also narrowed its 2012 profit forecast, to a range of $2.08 to $2.24 per share, from its July forecast of $2.04 to $2.30.
Merck, based in Whitehouse Station, N.J., said net income was $1.73 billion, or 56 cents per share. That was up from $1.69 billion, or 55 cents per share, a year earlier.
Excluding charges totaling $1.2 billion, net income was $2.93 billion, or 95 cents per share, 2 cents more than analysts expected. Charges included $1.34 billion in acquisition and integration costs, plus $163 million in restructuring costs.
Revenue was $11.5 billion, down 4 percent. Analysts expected $11.57 billion.
Sales of asthma and allergy pill Singulair dove 55 percent, to $602 million.
Strong global sales offset the impact of Singulair's U.S. patent expiring on Aug. 3, CEO Kenneth Frazier said in a statement. The drug brought Merck $5.5 billion in sales last year.
Like nearly all big drugmakers that have reported third-quarter results, Merck has been hit by new generic competition to a top seller, as patients and insurance plans defect almost overnight to the much-cheaper copycat drugs. But Merck has fared better than most, with only a small drop in total revenue and slightly higher profit.
That's because four Merck growth drivers posted sales increases of at least 15 percent: Januvia and combination diabetes pill Janumet, HIV drug Isentress and Gardasil, a vaccine against sexually transmitted cancers caused by human papilloma virus. Januvia and Janumet together brought in nearly $1.4 billion.
In addition, the company reduced spending on production, marketing, administration and research, and also benefited from lower taxes.
Prescription drug sales totaled $9.88 billion, down 5 percent. But consumer health products, including the Coppertone sun-care line and Dr. Scholl's foot-care products, saw sales climb 7 percent to $451 million. Sales of veterinary medicines dipped 1 percent to $815 million.
"With our robust pipeline, we remain on target to submit multiple new products for marketing approval between now and the end of 2013," Frazier said.
Those include suvorexant, a new type of insomnia drug with minimal morning grogginess, and vorapaxar, an anticlotting drug for preventing heart attacks and strokes in certain patients. Others include osteoporosis drug odanacatib, cholesterol medicine Tredaptive, ovarian and lung cancer drug vintafolide, a drug to reverse the effects of anesthesia called Bridion and an improved version of Gardasil.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/merck-3q-profit-2-pct-despite-sales-decline-112935245--finance.html
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We have a guest post this week, from Liz at WeLoveDates.com
As the social media manager for a worldwide online dating site, relationship blogger and all around wanna-be Carrie Bradshaw type girl, I tell women all the time to avoid falling for a guy on the first date. There is a part of me though that wants to tell them that stranger things have happened, and that falling in love on the first date can happen?because it happened to me.
I was in the midst of an online dating whirlwind. You know, when the stars, sun and moon align and you?re having so much fun emailing and talking to guys online and have dates planned every weekend? Things were clicking, and at one point I was having such a blast that the thought of a long term relationship was the furthest thing from my mind. But of course, isn?t that always what happens right before you fall hard for someone?
The particular guy in question was hard to nail down. He only checked his online dating inbox sporadically and since he took a week to respond to simple ?How was your day?? messages, I wrote him off as either not interested or not interesting. There were too many other guys to distract me. But, somehow we became friends on Facebook and I spent more time than I?d like to admit combing through his profile and liking what I saw. Every time I logged into my online dating account, I?d hope there was a message from this mysterious handsome stranger.
We finally scheduled a date-margaritas and Mexican food at the best place in town. As a seasoned online dater, I went into the whole thing knowing to keep my expectations low. I?d long learned that it?s much better to be pleasantly surprised than to be disappointed. Truth be told, I made plans with another online date for later on that night, which goes to show how I was not expecting to fall head over heels in love.
I?m a writer, I should be able to find a more eloquent way to describe our date other than-It was the best first date ever. It was one of those dates where you almost can?t believe it?s happening to you, and you know that no matter what happens with you and the man sitting across from you that you will never forget this moment. You feel lucky just to have been apart of it.
Of course, an incredible first date doesn?t equal a great relationship. We didn?t go from margaritas and hysterical laughter to living happily ever after. It?s been a winding road. But sometimes, I look over at him and get the same feeling I had when I was sitting across from him in the Mexican restaurant. I can?t help but feel lucky.
Liz is the social media manager for We Love Dates, a worldwide online dating site. Join for free using code WLD GUEST. For more dating tips and advice, visit the popular We Love Dates blog.
Source: http://lifebytesrealstories.wordpress.com/2012/10/27/i-fell-in-love-on-the-first-online-date/
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Xbox modding. Photo: videocrab
Copyright regulators rejected on Thursday proposals to make it lawful for people to copy DVDs for personal use or to jailbreak videogame consoles to run custom software.
The ruling hands yet another loss to digital rights groups who are waging an ongoing campaign to chip away at the scope of a law that limits citizens? rights by treating copyright owners? encryption techniques as sacrosanct.
Every three years, the U.S. Copyright Office entertains requests to create temporary loopholes in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which makes it unlawful to circumvent encryption technologies in items that you buy.
It?s all part of a long-running showdown between the big copyright holders who view the world as divided into creators and consumers, and a coalition of librarians, digital rights groups, disability activists and hackers who seek to preserve a world where people can repurpose, upgrade and build upon the devices and media they legally buy ? just as hackers, painters and culture jammers had done for decades before the DMCA was adopted in 1998.
Librarian of Congress James Billington and Register of Copyrights Maria Pallante rejected the two most-sought-after items on the docket, game-console modding and DVD cracking for personal use and ?space shifting.? Congress plays no role in the outcome.
The regulators said that the controls were necessary to prevent software piracy and differentiated gaming consoles from smart phones, which legally can be jailbroken:
The record demonstrated that access controls on gaming consoles protect not only the console firmware, but the video games and applications that run on the console as well. The evidence showed that video games are far more difficult and complex to produce than smartphone applications, requiring teams of developers and potential investments in the millions of dollars. While the access controls at issue might serve to further manufacturers? business interests, they also protect highly valuable expressive works ? many of which are created and owned by the manufacturers ? in addition to console?firmware itself.
On the plus side, the regulators re-authorized jailbreaking of mobile phones.
On the downside, they denied it for tablets, saying an ?ebook reading device might be considered a tablet, as might a handheld video game device.? We don?t suspect Apple or Google would sue anybody for jailbreaking their tablets, as they never sued anybody for jailbreaking mobile phones even before regulators first approved jailbreaking in 2010.
That said, when the only difference between a Galaxy Note and a Android tablet is an inch and a radio that can handle voice and data channels, it?s a pretty odd line to draw.
Digital-rights group Public Knowledge blasted the decision forbidding DVD cracking to enable consumers the ability to make copies of their DVDs so they can be watched on various devices in different platforms.
The group had asked regulators to grant consumers the lawful right to make copies of DVDs for personal use, a request the Motion Picture Association of America strongly opposed. While plenty of programs exist to decrypt the so-called content-scramble-system encryption on DVDs, the decision against making it lawful means the mainstream public must live under Hollywood?s rules.
?Today?s decision flies in the face of reality. The register and the librarian were unable to recognize that personal space shifting is protected by fair use. This has implications beyond making personal copies of motion pictures on DVD,? said Michael Weinberg, a Public Knowledge vice president. ?Under this view of the law every personal non-commercial space shift is a violation of copyright law. That means, according to the Copyright Office, every person who has ever ripped a CD to put on her iPod is a copyright infringer.?
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Source: http://z4webhosting.com/blog/47585/feds-reject-legalizing-dvd-cracking-game-console-modding/
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photo by JF Schmitz
Do you have a team working for you every single week to ensure you are a success? Do you protect your writing time, getting strategic or tactical help with some aspects of your writing career, freeing up your creative energy and your time to actually WRITE? Today, we are going to talk about how you can ? and SHOULD ? build a team to give you more time to write, and find more success doing so.
YOU ARE NOT AN (OVERWHELMED) ISLAND
Drowning? You are not alone. So many authors I know feel completely overwhelmed with some, if not all, of the following:
So stop pretending you can do it all, that you are just one productivity app or one productivity book away from balancing it all. Balance is an illusion. Why? Well, imagine a perfectly balanced scale. What does it take for it to become unbalanced? ANYTHING! The slightest movement, the slightest weight put on one side or the other kills the balance. Now, imagine a scale trying to balance six thing, representing each of the obligations many writers face which I described in the bullets above. How easy is that to balance?
Managing a successful writing career takes time to figure out. You need a team. The best time to start building one? Right now.
When you are overwhelmed, you miss opportunities. You don?t show up to events, you don?t schedule meetups, you don?t pursue new ideas to find an audience, you don?t take some crazy risk. You? just? try? to? keep? your? head? above? water.
You need space to not just be creative in your writing, but to be open to new experiences, have the space for long unexpected conversations, and to potentially try new things.
Opportunities happen because of relationships. Getting that speaking engagement, a chance meeting with an agent, connecting with another author who reshapes how you think about your own writing career.
NO, EVERYTHING DOESN?T NEED TO BE CRAFTED BY YOU
In my life, I have created a lot of art, writing, and (very bad) music. I believe in the power of art, and that it?s value cannot be judged merely by sales figures.
But I also know that many writers, artists and musicians feel that their hands must craft EVERY aspect of their careers. That every strategic or tactical decision must be 100% their own. And that is often a mistake. Instead, one needs to understand how the entirety of what needs to get done breaks down into specific skillsets and actions. That, NO, you are not the only person that needs to do absolutely everything. There are aspects of your writing career where the input of others is incredibly helpful. That you want to preserve your creative energy to do what you do best. (hint: WRITE!)
Is your career being managed by merely falling forward? Where you wake up one day and say, ?WOAH! It?s NEARLY NOVEMBER ALREADY?!? You need a strategy. And you need a team to help keep you on track, strategic, motivated, and able to focus on ONLY what matters.
Put it all on the table. What do you need to do to succeed? What specific tasks are involved in creating, publishing and finding an audience for your writing? How do you leave room for meaningful authentic engagement?
Create teams, both informal and informal relationships that push your career forward. This can be comprised of colleagues or friends. To put this in context, I will share some examples from my life. I am UNBELIEVABLY lucky to have a generous group of friends who spread the word about the work I do.
But I also have formal relationships that help me manage everything:
So that is 10 hours a month of critical discussion on strategy. On getting input about various aspects of what I need to accomplish. About making hard choices as to where I should ? and shouldn?t ? focus my resources. This is my team. These are the people who help me succeed, and fuel me to do things I would normally shy away from under the guise of ?I am too busy?? Everyone feels they are too busy. To address the problem, it is about better managing resources, not running faster on the treadmill.
FOCUS ON RELATIONSHIPS, NOT JUST ORGANIZING TASKS
Productivity tools can SOMETIMES give us a false sense of control. The day planner. The calendar in my iPhone. That amazing email system that helps you batch through hundreds of emails per day. They can be an illusion of control.
Relationships are a resource that is flexible and often provide far more than they take. For every ounce of energy you put into the right relationship, you can 10 ounces of energy in return. (Wait, is energy measured in ounces?!)
I build this into everything I do: RELATIONSHIPS, not just information. It?s how I construct my classes with authors. I work to connect them with not just myself, but with powerful experts and other writers. This week, one session of my Build Your Author Platform online course is ending, and all the writers in the course are busy chatting about how to stay connected, exchanging email addresses and ensuring that these relationships continue in powerful ways. For the session which starts next week, I have scheduled an INCREDIBLE list of guest experts that the writers in the course get to work with: Jane Friedman, Richard Nash, Joanna Penn, Jeff Goins, Colleen Lindsay, and Kathleen Schmidt. This is about relationships, not just information delivery. This is a TEAM of sorts.
The other day, I got to meet J.K. Rowling at an event in NYC ? she is an inspiration to so many writers. Now, one could say ?Jo didn?t have a team when she wrote Harry Potter, and look at where she is now, counting her billion$.? Two things on that:
As I was writing this post over the past week, I saw that Rachelle Gardener touched upon a similar topic: how to create your own marketing team. Well worth the read!
So tell me, do YOU have a team?
Thanks!
-Dan
Dan Blank
Source: http://writerunboxed.com/2012/10/26/a-successful-author-builds-a-team/
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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/german-regulator-recalls-novartis-flu-vaccines-141402482--finance.html
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Posted by Blake Cavignac on Wed, Oct 24, 2012 @ 06:25 AM
One of the main things we teach at The Sitkins Producer Training Camp is risk assessment. When you are working with a prospect or client, you should help them assess their risk and develop specific Risk Reduction Plans. It?s all part of our ?set offense?, known as The Risk Reduction Approach?.
Recently, it struck me that the majority of Independent Insurance Agencies are at risk in their own business because they?re not dealing with ? or are unaware of the need for ? their own risk reduction plans. We?re not just talking about the normal property and casualty risks inherent in business, we?re talking about strategic and tactical risks.
I?m sure many of you are fans of comedian Jeff Foxworthy and his ?You Might Be a Redneck if...? jokes. ?In fact, a few years ago, he inspired me to write, ?You might be an average agency if...? for Rough Notes. In this issue, I?m applying the Foxworthy approach to help you assess the risks facing your agency.? How many of the following ?ifs? do you identify with?
Your Agency Might Be At Risk, IF?.
You are not proactively innovating. If you aren?t proactively innovating /changing the way you do business, you are stagnating. Once you?ve stagnated and your business is based on price only selling, you?re going backwards but you just don?t know it. Innovation is about getting better all the time, constantly upgrading your business model, and no longer being a traditional insurance agency.
You still provide quotations to unqualified prospects and have a very low closing ratio (less than 50%). Unqualified prospects are the ones who ask you to give them an apples-to-apples quote because they ?just want to keep their agent honest.? If that?s the case, you?re wasting your time and your agency?s resources chasing business you have no chance of getting.
You don?t know your closing ratio. If you?re not tracking the number of quotes you?re giving and the number of sales you?re making, and comparing them among your producers, you?re at risk. There may be a lot of activity going on, but you really don?t know the results unless you know your closing ratio.
Your prospect pipelines are not overflowing and your producers don?t have walk-away power. If your pipelines aren?t filled to capacity (and beyond), you?re at risk. You?re working on accounts you shouldn?t be working on and your producers aren?t walking away because they don?t have anything else better to do. You simply don?t have enough opportunities.
Your culture is lacking or non-existent. You?re at risk if you don?t have a defined culture that spells out the expected, normal behaviors of your organization. You?re even further at risk if your culture isn?t focused on retaining and obtaining ideal clients.
You are not earning or generating referrals from at least 50% of your clients. This is a serious risk. What does it say about your agency when clients will renew but not refer? It means you?re doing just a good enough job to keep them, but not a great enough job that they?re referring prospective clients on a regular basis. If fewer than half of your clients are providing referrals, that is a major red flag that you?re at risk.
You are not earning and generating introductions from 20% of your clients. Although they?re similar to referrals, introductions are even more significant. You?re at risk if you?re? not getting at least 20% of your clients to introduce you to potential new clients.? The top 20% of your clients should be such raving fans that they are eager to personally introduce you to your next great client, either in person or in writing. If they don?t, you face problems with retention.
You are not positioned as a trusted advisor. Do your clients consider you part of their inner circle or do they see you as a vendor? If they view you as nothing more than a seller of a price-based commodity, you?re at risk with those clients.?
You are not a favorite among carriers. If your carriers don?t constantly tell you that your submissions are better than those they receive from any other agency, you?re at risk. If your submissions look like everyone else?s, you?re not going to get the best attention from the underwriters and they aren?t going to do the best job for you.?
Your organization does not have a Relentless Preparation attitude. This centers on the belief that every event deserves your very best. When you?re working with a new prospect or you?re giving a presentation for a renewal, are you relentlessly prepared? If so, you have practiced your presentation internally, thoroughly researched the client or prospect and done everything else in your power to be in top form. It?s always a risk to compete against someone who is more prepared than you.
You don?t have a laser focus on the needs of the Top 20% of your clients. Because we know these clients generate 80% of your revenue, losing one of them could be a game-changing event. By the same token, keeping them and replicating them could also be a game changer. Accordingly, it?s critical to pay close attention to the needs and wants of that top 20%. While we strongly believe that everybody should get good service from an agency, we also believe that everyone should get the level of service that they?ve paid for.?
Your producers have fewer than 10 appointments each week with clients, prospects and centers of influence. You?re at risk if your producers have substantially fewer than that (and most of them usually have half that amount, at best). It means they?re simply not in the game enough. They can?t win if they don?t have ample opportunity to be on the field (or if they?re sitting in the office waiting for the roast duck to fly into their mouth).
You haven?t formally installed exit barriers with your key clients. How hard would it be for your best clients to jump ship? You?re at risk if you haven?t cultivated deep relationships with your clients and provided the kinds of services that make it extremely difficult for them to leave.
You renew accounts. You?re at risk if there is a big event every year known as The Renewal vs. an ongoing focus on continuing relationships. Rather than view accounts in terms of an annual renewal, you should have a multi-year risk-reduction plan in place that you can update and reacquaint clients with periodically.
You don?t have employee retention and attraction systems in place. We all know it?s hard to find great employees, so what are you doing to keep the ones you have? What systems, procedures and incentives do you offer to attract new ones? A study I read recently said that 85% of the employees that had been with the same company for more than five years were directly referred by an existing employee. Therefore, if you?re relying solely on professional headhunters and talent scouts to recruit the best new people , you?re at risk.
The majority of your clients are part-time. You?re at risk if most of your clients have only some of their coverages with your agency. Our studies continue to show that fewer than 50% of small- to mid-sized commercial accounts and 30% of personal lines accounts are full time. If they have coverage with someone else, there?s a good chance someone will eventually ask to write all of their insurance. Shouldn?t that someone be you?
You do not purposely manage your brand. We define ?brand? as the clear, powerful thoughts people have about the agency. We?ve also discussed personal brand management in terms of the clear, powerful thoughts people have when they meet the agency?s staff and producers. What do people think about your agency, staff and producers? In today?s world, a random brand won?t get your agency very far. Decide exactly what you want your agency?s brand to say about you and your business or risk the chance that someone else will decide what your brand should be.
Your producers still sell the ?old way.? If your producers are still using the Look, Copy, Quote and Pray approach to sales, they?re in trouble ? and so are you. Reviewing a prospect?s policies and coming back with multiple quotes is not only a terribly inefficient way to sell insurance, it does nothing to differentiate your agency from the pack. Being inefficient and coming across like everyone else puts you at risk.
Everyone is too busy to practice. You?re at risk if you never practice because everyone is always ?too busy.? For example, the service reps don?t have time to really study the automation system or gather the ex dates of personal lines accounts, even though both could enhance the agency?s bottom line. Similarly, too-busy producers never take the time to develop a differentiating type of discussion with clients and prospects, even at the cost of retaining or obtaining their business. How could it be that the entire team is too busy to get better?! Remember, if you don?t get better, you?re at risk.
You don?t take advantage of natural pipelines. These are the pipelines that an agency?s owners? and senior producers naturally develop over the years. They?ve been in business for a long time and they know a lot of people but typically, they don?t want to handle the account! There are probably hundreds of thousands of dollars of commission income sitting in those untapped, natural pipelines; potential income from potential clients who would gladly take a phone call if someone would just make it. The senior producers need to make rain and get some ?buckets? (aka younger producers) underneath them! You?re at risk if you don?t.?
Your first question you ask a prospect is, ?Tell me about your business. What do you do?? That tells me immediately that you didn?t care enough to do some research about me or my company. You haven?t even looked at my website or know what business we?re in! You?re at risk of losing face ? and business ? if you don?t make at least a minimal, initial effort to do some background work before contacting a prospect.
You constantly over-promise and under-deliver. Most producers make far more promises than they can possibly keep. Promise making and promise keeping systems have got to be in place to prevent producers from promising more than they can deliver.
You have no financial or leadership perpetuation plan in place. This puts your agency at serious risk, in the short-term as well as over the long-term. Although it?s difficult to address both the financial and leadership sides of perpetuation, you MUST. Unfortunately, most people don?t. As a result, their agency either ceases to exist when they leave or is significantly devalued when it is sold.??
The Bottom Line
The truth is, you are in the risk management business. However, if too many of the examples I?ve cited hit home with you, you are the one at risk!? That?s why it?s imperative to start developing some sort of business risk management plan for your agency. Feel free to use this article?s bullet points as a risk assessment outline for your agency.
Of course, you can choose to do nothing. Just remember that the cost of doing nothing could mean millions and millions of dollars in lost value for you and your agency. It?s your choice!
*This article was originally published in Rough Notes Magazine?
The Author, Roger Sitkins, is the Founder and Chairman of Sitkins International.
Source: http://www.sitkins.com/blog/bid/79688/Is-Your-Agency-at-Risk
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