Friday, February 24, 2006
New Search Engine Indexes Only Mesothelioma Sites
Mesothelioma Search Engine To Consolidate Medical and Legal Information
New lung cancer search engine provides information on medical and legal web sites for those researching this asbestos-caused killer cancer
Minneapolis, MN (NTS) February 23, 2006 On the one-year anniversary of the launch of their Vioxx Search Engine (http://www.vioxx-search-engine.com), Nielsen Technical Services today announced the launch of their Mesothelioma Search Engine (www.mesothelioma-search-engine.com).
Niche search engines or vertical search engines have increased in popularity, but the time and expense of creating and maintaining a search engine for a highly vertical segment of an available search audience is generally not a good investment financially. When asked about the financial viability of such a site, owner Chris Nielsen said, We have some interested parties that would like to be associated with us and are exploring those options, but will not compromise our values for the sake of making a buck. The massive amount of money the asbestos and mesothelioma lawyers are spending have resulted in a feeding frenzy which has spawned thousands of sites and millions of pages of fluff, trash, and recycled content. I admit our site is expected to carry ads at some point, but that is not the reason for creating the site.
Nielsen was then asked the reason for creating such a site. I just could not find a central source to go for information where sites were not bidding or competitively optimizing for position and search engine ranking. Search engines are fighting to maintain relevancy but they are having problems. Many scraper sites are only looking to get visitors that will click on ads to reach real content. If you try a search for mesothelioma it should be clear what the problem is.
As with their Vioxx medical and legal search engine, Mesothelioma Search Engine will carry no paid search engine results or paid inclusion of sites. The site has a form for visitors to suggest sites. The list of sites included in the index is posted on the site and available for download, a feature not offered by other search engines.
The company is indexing selected sites for those looking for more information such as patients, researchers, families, doctors, pharmacists, students, and those in the legal profession. This site is offered as a public service for those looking for information related to medical and legal information on mesothelioma lung cancer, or asbestos lung cancer for which there is no cure and is caused by exposure to asbestos fibers or asbestos dust.
About Nielsen Technical Services
The company is based in Minneapolis, Minnesota and has been providing computer and software services since 1988. The Internet has transformed the company from a hardware services company into Internet consulting and specializes in search engine optimization.
Contact:
Chris Nielsen
Mesothelioma Search Engine
952-943-0170
http://www.mesothelioma-search-engine.com
webmaster@Mesothelioma-Search-Engine.com
Nielsen Technical Services
952-943-0170
sales@nielsentech.com
http://www.NielsenTech.com
"Be what they're searching for!"
Founding member of www.SEOBy.org
Tuesday, February 21, 2006
Significance of Mutations in the Avian Influenza Viruses
Avian Influenza: Significance of Mutations in the H5N1 Virus
GENEVA, Feb. 21 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- Several recent media reports have included speculations about the significance of mutations in H5N1 avian influenza viruses. Some reports have suggested that the likelihood of another pandemic may have increased as a result of changes in the virus.
Since 1997, when the first human infections with the H5N1 avian influenza virus were documented, the virus has undergone a number of changes.
These changes have affected patterns of virus transmission and spread among domestic and wild birds. They have not, however, had any discernible impact on the disease in humans, including its modes of transmission. Human infections remain a rare event. The virus does not spread easily from birds to humans or readily from person to person.
Influenza viruses are inherently unstable. As these viruses lack a genetic proof-reading mechanism, small errors that occur when the virus copies itself go undetected and uncorrected. Specific mutations and evolution in influenza viruses cannot be predicted, making it difficult if not impossible to know if or when a virus such as H5N1 might acquire the properties needed to spread easily and sustainably among humans. This difficulty is increased by the present lack of understanding concerning which specific mutations would lead to increased transmissibility of the virus among humans.
Animal viruses
Virtually all the known subtypes of influenza A viruses circulate in some wild birds, most notably wild waterfowl. In these birds, different viruses constantly mingle with each other and frequently exchange genetic material, resulting in a huge pool of constantly changing viruses. Mutations and reassortment events are commonly observed in the affected bird populations.
In animals, some recent evolutionary changes in the H5N1 virus appear to have made control efforts more difficult and further international spread of the virus in birds more likely. Such changes are fully understandable, particularly in view of the exceptionally large number of birds that have been infected with the H5N1 virus and the frequent interactions between infected free-ranging poultry and wild waterfowl.
Studies have shown that H5N1 viruses from the current outbreaks, when compared with viruses from 1997 and 2003, have become progressively more lethal in experimentally infected chickens and mice, and are also hardier, surviving several days longer in the environment. Other studies have shown that the virus is not yet fully adapted to poultry and is continuing to evolve.
Domestic ducks have acquired an ability to resist the disease caused by some strains, and are now capable of excreting large quantities of highly pathogenic virus without showing the warning signs of illness. In endemic countries, this altered role of domestic ducks is now thought to contribute to perpetuation of the transmission cycle. Research conducted in South-east Asia has recently shown that multiple distinct lineages of H5N1 virus have become established in poultry in different geographical regions, indicating the long- term endemicity of the virus in parts of Asia. That research also detected highly pathogenic H5N1 virus in apparently healthy migratory birds.
In birds, one important recent finding has been the remarkable similarity of viruses from recent outbreaks to those isolated from migratory birds that began dying at the Qinghai Lake nature reserve in central China in late April 2005. Evidence is mounting that this event, which resulted in the deaths of more than 6,000 wild birds, signalled an important change in the way the virus interacts with its natural reservoir host.
Unlike the case with mutations of human viruses (some of which have been transient), it appears that some changes have become fixed in viruses circulating in at least some species of wild birds.
Prior to the Qinghai Lake event, the highly pathogenic H5N1 virus was known to cause occasional sporadic deaths in migratory waterfowl, but not to kill them in large numbers or be carried by them over long distances.
Viruses from Qinghai Lake showed a distinctive mutation at one site experimentally associated with greater lethality in birds and mice. Viruses from the most recent outbreaks, in Nigeria, Iraq, and Turkey, as well as from earlier outbreaks in Russia, Kazakhstan, and Mongolia, are virtually identical to Qinghai Lake viruses.
It is considered unusual for an avian influenza virus causing outbreaks in birds to remain this genetically stable over so many months. This finding raises the possibility that the virus -- in its highly pathogenic form -- has now adapted to at least some species of migratory waterfowl and is co-existing with these birds in evolutionary equilibrium, causing no apparent harm, and travelling with these birds along their migratory routes.
If further research verifies this hypothesis, re-introduction of the virus or spread to new geographical areas can be anticipated when migratory birds begin returning to their breeding areas.
The recent appearance of the virus in birds in a rapidly growing number of countries is of public health concern, as it expands opportunities for human exposures and infections to occur. These opportunities increase when the virus spreads from wild to domestic birds, especially when these birds are kept as backyard flocks in close proximity to humans.
To date, no human cases have been linked to exposure to wild birds. Close contact with infected poultry and other domestic birds remains the most important source of human infections.
Human viruses
Some mutations have been detected in human viruses isolated in 2005 and, most recently, in one virus isolated from a fatal case in the January 2006 outbreak in Turkey. Although these mutations were found at the receptor- binding site and involved the substitution of more mammalian-like amino acids, the effect of these changes on transmissibility of the virus, either from birds to humans or from one person to another, is not fully understood. Moreover, recent studies show that these mutations were transient and did not become fixed in the circulating viruses.
Scientists do not presently know which specific mutations are needed to make the H5N1 virus easily and sustainably transmissible among humans. For example, it is not known whether the absence of a specific receptor in humans for this purely avian virus is responsible for the present lack of efficient human-to-human transmission. For this reason, virological evidence of mutational changes must be assessed together with epidemiological information about transmission patterns actually occurring in human populations. This necessity further underscores the importance of close surveillance and thorough investigation during every outbreak involving human cases.
Assessments of the outbreak in Turkey, conducted by WHO investigative teams, have produced no convincing evidence that mutations have altered the epidemiology of the disease in humans, which was similar to the pattern consistently seen in affected parts of Asia. There is no evidence, at present, from any outbreak site that the virus has increased its ability to spread easily from one person to another.
who.int/csr/2006_02_20/en/print.html
Cumulative Number of Confirmed Human Cases of Avian Influenza A/(H5N1) Reported to WHO
20 February 2006
Country 2003 2004 2005 2006 Total
cases deaths cases deaths cases deaths cases deaths cases deaths
Cambodia 0 0 0 0 4 4 0 0 4 4
China 0 0 0 0 8 5 4 3 12 8
Indonesia 0 0 0 0 17 11 9 8 26 19
Iraq 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1
Thailand 0 0 17 12 5 2 0 0 22 14
Turkey 0 0 0 0 0 0 12 4 12 4
Viet Nam 3 3 29 20 61 19 0 0 93 42
Total 3 3 46 32 95 41 26 16 170 92
Total number of cases includes number of deaths.
WHO reports only laboratory-confirmed cases.
http://www.who.int/csr/disease/avian_influenza/country/
cases_table_2006_02_20/ en/print.html
For more information, please contact:
Aphaluck Bhatiasevi
Communications Officer
World Health Organization (China)
Mobile: +86-1361-117-4072
Tel: +86-10-6532-5687
Fax: +86-10-6532-2359
Email: Photo: NewsCom:
http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20040610/CNTH001LOGO
AP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org/
PRN Photo Desk, +1-888-776-6555 or +1-212-782-2840
Source: World Health Organization
CONTACT: Aphaluck Bhatiasevi of World Health Organization (China), +86-1361-117-4072 or +86-10-6532-5687, or fax, +86-10-6532-2359, or bhatiasevia@chn.wpro.who.int
Web Site: who.int/csr/2006_02_20/en/print.html
_______________________________________________________
Free trade and professional industry magazines are available at
http://www.consultant-directory.tradepub.com
_______________________________________________________
Lung Cancer caused by asbestos exposure is known as
Mesothelioma. Learn more about this killer cancer.
Visit http://www.Mesothelioma-Search-Engine.com
_______________________________________________________
JR Roberts, a Security Expert Witness can help you prosecute or defend
your criminal or negligent liability case in court.
http://www.jrrobertssecurity.com/expert.html
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http://www.legal-search-engine.com
http://www.vioxx-search-engine.com
http://www.security-guard.org
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Food Can Treat Many Illnesses As Effectively As Drugs
Science Reveals That Food Can Treat Many Illnesses As Effectively As Drugs |
| Press Release by: Innovative Healing |
| Published on openPR 02-20-2006 11:04 am - CET |
(openPR) - February 20, 2006 -- Naturopathic doctor, Michael Murray will appear Wednesday, March 15, 2006 as a special guest as a guest on Dr. Liz Lipskis Access to Health Experts interview series to discuss his new book, The Encyclopedia of Healing Foods. Dr. Murray will discuss his work showing that diet plays a major role in both provoking and preventing a wide range of diseases. The presentation will have a special focus on the medicinal properties of food.
During the free one-hour teleseminar Dr. Murray will cover the following topics:
using foods to stimulate the bodys natural ability to rejuvenate and heal
discovering the role of fiber, enzymes, fatty acids, and other dietary components
understanding which food prescriptions will help you safely treat more than 70 specific ailments, including acne, Alzheimers disease, immune system depression, insomnia, migraine headaches, PMS, and rheumatoid arthritis
preparing foods safely in order to prevent illness and maximize health benefits
Grounded in rigorous scientific research, the Dr. Michael Murrays interview is expected to offer health-conscious eaters scores of valuable food facts. Dr. Murray is known for his ability to make learning about nutrition fascinating, with historical tidbits and discoveries from the laboratory. And he makes practicing it easy and enjoyable, with tips on selecting, storing, and preparing all kinds of healthful foods, plus quick, inventive, and delicious recipes.
To attend the free Access to Health Experts interviews visit http://innovativehealing.com.
Written and audio transcripts are available for purchase after the event from the Innovative Healing Book Store.
About Dr. Murray:
Michael T. Murray, N.D. is widely regarded as one of the world's leading authorities on natural medicine. He is a graduate, faculty member, and serves on the Board of Trustees of Bastyr University in Seattle, Washington. Dr. Murray is the co-author of A Textbook of Natural Medicine, the definitive textbook on naturopathic medicine for physicians, as well as the consumer version Encyclopedia of Natural Medicine. He has also written over 20 other books.
About Access to Health Experts:
Access to Health Experts is a monthly teleseminar interview series hosted by Liz Lipski, PhD, CCN. The program features interviews with many of the most prominent and authoritative experts in integrative medicine. Dr. Lipski is a nationally-known nutritionist and author of Digestive Wellness (3rd Edition McGraw Hill). Innovative Healing is located in Asheville, North Carolina. For more information visit http://innovativehealing.com.
_______________________________________________________
Free trade and professional industry magazines are available at
http://www.consultant-directory.tradepub.com
_______________________________________________________
Lung Cancer caused by asbestos exposure is known as
Mesothelioma. Learn more about this killer cancer.
Visit http://www.Mesothelioma-Search-Engine.com
_______________________________________________________
JR Roberts, a Security Expert Witness can help you prosecute
or defend your criminal or negligent liability case in court.
http://www.jrrobertssecurity.com/expert.html
__________________________________________________
http://www.legal-search-engine.com
http://www.vioxx-search-engine.com
__________________________________________________
Saturday, February 11, 2006
Vioxx Lawyers Switch Legal Tactics
Plaintiff attorneys change approach in first federal Vioxx case
By JANET McCONNAUGHEY
Associated Press Writer
February 7, 2006 - NEW ORLEANS -- Lawyers switched legal tactics for the retrial of the first federal Vioxx case, working to convince jurors that manufacturer Merck & Co. ignored safety in favor of sales, rather than opening with medical testimony.
That approach is much closer to an earlier trial in a Texas state court, in which jurors decided Whitehouse Station, N.J.-based Merck should pay $253.4 million, than to the original federal trial. The federal trial ended with a hung jury; jurors reached afterward said the deadlock was 8-1 in Merck's favor.
Evelyn Irvin Plunkett claims that taking Vioxx for a month caused the heart attack which killed her husband Richard "Dickie" Irvin in 2001, and that Merck hid the dangers of its product from scientists and the public.
In the Texas trial, the first witnesses were physicians and pathologists who explained why they believed that Vioxx had caused the heart attack. Merck contends that the heart attack was caused by a 30-year buildup of plaque in his blood vessels and had no relation to Vioxx.
This time, the first three witnesses all worked in Merck's marketing or public relations department. On Tuesday, off-camera attorneys questioned J. Martin Carroll, who was executive vice president of marketing in 2001, and Jan Weiner, executive director of public affairs, about why information about heart attacks wasn't part of marketing or press materials.
"It's not a change of tactics," just a matter of bringing in evidence which became available after the first trial, said Russ Herman, head of the federal plaintiffs' steering committee and spokesman in this trial for Plunkett, said Monday.
The first witness, whose testimony was played Monday afternoon, was asked about internal correspondence including a reference to a "bad guys list" of doctors who questioned the drug's safety, and a memo listing "physicians to neutralize."
The "neutralize" list was among the first evidence brought up in the earlier state trial in Angleton, Texas. However, Herman said the legal team didn't have other documents to support their claim that Merck used "junk science."
The e-mail nomination of a doctor to the "bad guys list" had been sent to Baumgartner. "That wasn't my phrase," she said. She said "neutralize" meant to provide correct information so those doctors would "come to a neutral or fair position," she said.
In rebuttal testimony played for the jury Tuesday, she said she got a pharmacology doctorate to follow her father's footsteps, and worked for Merck because it embodied her values of putting patients first. Meetings which the plaintiff's attorney had characterized as attempts to change doctors' minds included physicians whose opinions crossed the spectrum, because the aim was to learn what they thought, she said.
Merck did not put on any rebuttal video for Carroll or Weiner. It didn't need to because the witnesses were clear, spokesman Kent Jarrell said.
"This case is all about causation. That is the most important part of the case," he said. "Marketing doesn't go to the point because the prescribing doctor never reviewed the literature and never met with marketing representatives" from Merck.
Carroll, who now is president and chief operating officer of Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Ridgefield, Conn., was shown several Merck studies in which patients taking Vioxx had more heart attacks and other cardiovascular problems than those given another drug or sugar pills. He said he hadn't seen them before.
They were written while Carroll was at Merck, and its sales representatives had information cards saying Vioxx was about as safe for the heart as a sugar pill.
"This says the trend is against Vioxx. Not similar. Right?" an off-camera attorney asked.
"That's what it says," Carroll answered.
A bit later, the attorney asked, "Did you share this information with doctors?"
That wasn't information for salespeople _ they have to stick to what's on the label and packaging insert, Carroll said. Doctors have plenty of other information sources, such as medical conferences, meetings and publications, he said.
_______________________________________________________
Free trade and professional industry magazines are available at
http://www.consultant-directory.tradepub.com
_______________________________________________________
Lung Cancer caused by asbestos exposure is known as
Mesothelioma. Learn more about this killer cancer.
Visit http://www.Mesothelioma-Search-Engine.com
_______________________________________________________
JR Roberts, a Security Expert Witness can help you prosecute or defend
your criminal or negligent liability case in court.
http://www.jrrobertssecurity.com/expert.html
__________________________________________________
http://www.legal-search-engine.com
http://www.vioxx-search-engine.com
http://www.security-guard.org
__________________________________________________
Sunday, February 05, 2006
Vioxx Background
Vioxx was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in May 1999. It is marketed as 12.5 mg, 25 mg and 50 mg tablets and as an oral suspension. It is also available in 73 other countries. Merck estimates that 13 and 24 million patients have been prescribed the drug in the U.S. and worldwide, respectively. U.S. Vioxx sales exceeded $2.5 billion in 2001.
Vioxx is classified as a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID or NANSAID) with anti-inflammatory, analgesic and antipyretic properties. As such, it is indicated for pain, dysmenorrhea, osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis. The earlier marketed NSAID products (i.e., ibuprofen, naproxen, etc.) are approved for similar indications, but are associated with greater (in frequency and severity) gastrointestinal-related adverse medical events.
Merck's VIGOR trial (Vioxx GI Outcomes Research) looked at the effects of Vioxx on stomach ulcers and bleeding. Submitted to the FDA in June 2000, the study showed that patients taking Vioxx had fewer stomach ulcers than those taking naproxen, but had more heart attacks.
The results of the VIGOR study led to new safety labeling requirements in April, 2002, advising of the increased risk of heart attacks.
Merck began a new trial in 2000, the APPROVe (Adenomatous Polyp Prevention on Vioxx) trial, to see if a 25 mg dose of Vioxx was more effective at preventing the recurrence of colon polyps than was a placebo. This trial was stopped early because it showed there was an increased risk for serious cardiovascular events, such as heart attacks and strokes, when the drug was taken for 18 months.
Vioxx was voluntarily withdrawn from the market by Merck Sept. 30, 2004.
_______________________________________________________
Free trade and professional industry magazines are available at
http://www.consultant-directory.tradepub.com
_______________________________________________________
Lung Cancer caused by asbestos exposure is known as
Mesothelioma. Learn more about this killer cancer.
Visit http://www.Mesothelioma-Search-Engine.com
_______________________________________________________
Saturday, February 04, 2006
Second Vioxx trial begins
09/12/05 - PHILADELPHIA - The nation's second Vioxx trial will begin today in Atlantic City, pitting a Vietnam War veteran against the New Jersey-based pharmaceutical company whose travails have reverberated across the industry, Wall Street and Congress.
In addition to people who took Vioxx, lawyers and Merck investors and employees are girding for the trial, the next among about 5,000 cases filed so far. Its outcome will weigh on Merck's legal strategy and financial outlook, the latter already clouded by a stock price near the level it was in the mid-1990s.
Both sides have a lot at stake. A second defeat for Merck would further sock morale.
_______________________________________________________
Free trade and professional industry magazines are available at
http://www.consultant-directory.tradepub.com
_______________________________________________________
Lung Cancer caused by asbestos exposure is known as
Mesothelioma. Learn more about this killer cancer.
Visit http://www.Mesothelioma-Search-Engine.com
_______________________________________________________
New Search and Email Marketing Research Results & CRM Magazine
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CRM Magazine aims to assist senior managers to identify how to maintain and gain profitable customers, generate loyalty and reduce business costs. New Search and email Marketing Research Results Join MarketingSherpa and NetLine's teleconference on Feb 15.
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_______________________________________________________
Free trade and professional industry magazines are available at
http://www.consultant-directory.tradepub.com
_______________________________________________________
Lung Cancer caused by asbestos exposure is known as
Mesothelioma. Learn more about this killer cancer.
Visit http://www.Mesothelioma-Search-Engine.com
_______________________________________________________
