Friday, January 10, 2014
Robotic Surgery:Overhyped and Sometimes Dangerous
Researchers at Johns Hopkins University have raised serious concerns about the trend of robotic surgery in hospitals.Sifting through news reports and court records,they pieced together a disturbing picture of a technology that has gone somewhat wild-sometimes with fatal consequences.Harmful events were vastly under-reported.*
The New York Times added that medical device expert Diana Zuckerman also questioned the trend of adopting the costly technique,which is known as Da Vinci surgery and sold by Intuitive Surgical of California's Silicon Valley.Little is known of the real disadvantages of the equipment,according to Zuckerman,and the injuries and deaths it may cause,even as it is widely marketed to consumers.*
Between January 2000 and June 2012,the FDA received thousands of reports of errors made by the equipment.Some of these resulted in injuries or deaths.A total of 71 people died and 174 were injured just in the reported incidents.It is believed that an untold number of other cases were never reported by hospitals.
Principal author of the study Dr.Martin A. Makary,associate professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine,said the whole issue is symbolic of a larger problem in American health care,which is a lack of proper evaluation of what we do.We adopt expensive technologies,but we don't know what we're getting for our money-if it's of good value or harmful.In health care,one fifth of the economy,we have this haphazard smattering of reports that relies on voluntary self-reporting with no oversight,no enforcement and no consequences.
Years of data tell us that for many procedures,there's no benefit to the patient over standard minimally invasive surgeries.While the robotic provides a benefit in some operations,most uses are for procedures where there are no advantages and there may be potential risks,Dr.Makary noted.*
The problem seems to be a combination of system faults and inadequate training of surgeons,in the context of heavy promotion of the devices and pressure to use them within hospitals,coupled with lax oversight.The upshot is,be cautious when this type of surgery is recommended to you.Carefully consider the downside of the lack of a surgeon's skilled hands touching your body,of the lack of all the surgeon's five senses being used to carry out your operation,plus his or her level of training and experience with the technology.*
Intuitive Surgical(ISRG)
Labels:Johns Hopkins Universty,Intuitive Surgical,Da Vinci surgery,robotic surgery,Food and Drug Administration,Silicon Valley
The New York Times added that medical device expert Diana Zuckerman also questioned the trend of adopting the costly technique,which is known as Da Vinci surgery and sold by Intuitive Surgical of California's Silicon Valley.Little is known of the real disadvantages of the equipment,according to Zuckerman,and the injuries and deaths it may cause,even as it is widely marketed to consumers.*
Between January 2000 and June 2012,the FDA received thousands of reports of errors made by the equipment.Some of these resulted in injuries or deaths.A total of 71 people died and 174 were injured just in the reported incidents.It is believed that an untold number of other cases were never reported by hospitals.
Principal author of the study Dr.Martin A. Makary,associate professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine,said the whole issue is symbolic of a larger problem in American health care,which is a lack of proper evaluation of what we do.We adopt expensive technologies,but we don't know what we're getting for our money-if it's of good value or harmful.In health care,one fifth of the economy,we have this haphazard smattering of reports that relies on voluntary self-reporting with no oversight,no enforcement and no consequences.
Years of data tell us that for many procedures,there's no benefit to the patient over standard minimally invasive surgeries.While the robotic provides a benefit in some operations,most uses are for procedures where there are no advantages and there may be potential risks,Dr.Makary noted.*
The problem seems to be a combination of system faults and inadequate training of surgeons,in the context of heavy promotion of the devices and pressure to use them within hospitals,coupled with lax oversight.The upshot is,be cautious when this type of surgery is recommended to you.Carefully consider the downside of the lack of a surgeon's skilled hands touching your body,of the lack of all the surgeon's five senses being used to carry out your operation,plus his or her level of training and experience with the technology.*
Intuitive Surgical(ISRG)
Labels:Johns Hopkins Universty,Intuitive Surgical,Da Vinci surgery,robotic surgery,Food and Drug Administration,Silicon Valley
Tuesday, January 7, 2014
The Worry For 2014;The Wolf of Wall Street
If you're trading off of China,you shouldn't be that bullish.If you're trading off of the US,you should be,said CNBC analyst Jim Cramer.*
As for the new film "The Wolf of Wall Street,"I'm about getting rich carefully;they're about getting rich at the expense of the customer.Was it really like that?No.*
I don't think this downgrading of any US bank is gonna work.The big story of 2014:commercial construction.Watch the commercial construction market.That's gonna be the big story for the banks in 2014.*
Twitter is a cult.Being a cult did work for Amazon.It continues to work for Amazon,but they're the only ones it worked for.Twitter remains a juggernaut without any valuation parameters.Social,mobile and the cloud are the trilogy that makes all tech higher.*
Macy's CEO Terry Lundgren came on "Mad Money" and said this is a great holiday season.Macy's is on a roll.Lundgren is a marketable CEO.They've figured out how to have clout.The company and stock have done well.Because the group is a dog,people don't recognise it.*
Netflix and Tesla are both cult stocks like Twitter.Ford sells as many cars in a day as Tesla does in a year.It's the big worry for 2014.The bubble for some NASDAQ stocks is the big worry for you and for me,because we've seen it before,expert investor Jim Cramer warned.*
Twitter(TWTR),Amazon(AMZN),Macy's(M),Tesla(TSLA),Netflix(NTFX)
As for the new film "The Wolf of Wall Street,"I'm about getting rich carefully;they're about getting rich at the expense of the customer.Was it really like that?No.*
I don't think this downgrading of any US bank is gonna work.The big story of 2014:commercial construction.Watch the commercial construction market.That's gonna be the big story for the banks in 2014.*
Twitter is a cult.Being a cult did work for Amazon.It continues to work for Amazon,but they're the only ones it worked for.Twitter remains a juggernaut without any valuation parameters.Social,mobile and the cloud are the trilogy that makes all tech higher.*
Macy's CEO Terry Lundgren came on "Mad Money" and said this is a great holiday season.Macy's is on a roll.Lundgren is a marketable CEO.They've figured out how to have clout.The company and stock have done well.Because the group is a dog,people don't recognise it.*
Netflix and Tesla are both cult stocks like Twitter.Ford sells as many cars in a day as Tesla does in a year.It's the big worry for 2014.The bubble for some NASDAQ stocks is the big worry for you and for me,because we've seen it before,expert investor Jim Cramer warned.*
Twitter(TWTR),Amazon(AMZN),Macy's(M),Tesla(TSLA),Netflix(NTFX)
Monday, January 6, 2014
Friday, January 3, 2014
MedImmune,Hopkins Sign Research Pact
An R&D company and a research university have joined forces in the quest for new treatments for a number of serious illnesses,such as cancer,rheumatoid arthritis and infectious diseases.MedImmune,the Gaithersburg,Maryland biotech firm that is a subsidiary of pharma titan AstraZeneca,and Baltimore's The Johns Hopkins University signed the five year,6.5 million dollar research agreement on 11 December.*
The broad-scale,long-term partnership calls for both institutions to contribute funding,personnel and materials to the joint efforts and training programs.We believe this significant collaboration with JHU will create a new standard in how academia and inustry can work together,said Dr.Bahija Jallal,executive vice president at MedImmune.Our partnership with this prestigious research university will leverage each organisation's strength;advance research in critical therapeutic areas;and strengthen Maryland's presence as a growing hub in the bioscience industry.*
We are excited about the opportunity to collaborate with MedImmune researchers to accelerate the development of new therapies to treat a variety of serious diseases such as multiple sclerosis;rheumatoid arthritis;chronic obstructive pulmonary disease;and certain types of cancer,said Landon King,executive vice dean of The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.We believe that by working together to leverage the strength of each organisation,we can make significant advances.*
MedImmune focuses on the discovery,development and commercialisation of small molecule and biologic prescription medicines,pioneering innovative research and exploring novel pathways across its key therapeutic areas.It is best known for its vaccines FluMist and Synagis(R),which helps prevent respiratory syncytial virus infections in infants.*
AstraZeneca(AZN)
The broad-scale,long-term partnership calls for both institutions to contribute funding,personnel and materials to the joint efforts and training programs.We believe this significant collaboration with JHU will create a new standard in how academia and inustry can work together,said Dr.Bahija Jallal,executive vice president at MedImmune.Our partnership with this prestigious research university will leverage each organisation's strength;advance research in critical therapeutic areas;and strengthen Maryland's presence as a growing hub in the bioscience industry.*
We are excited about the opportunity to collaborate with MedImmune researchers to accelerate the development of new therapies to treat a variety of serious diseases such as multiple sclerosis;rheumatoid arthritis;chronic obstructive pulmonary disease;and certain types of cancer,said Landon King,executive vice dean of The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.We believe that by working together to leverage the strength of each organisation,we can make significant advances.*
MedImmune focuses on the discovery,development and commercialisation of small molecule and biologic prescription medicines,pioneering innovative research and exploring novel pathways across its key therapeutic areas.It is best known for its vaccines FluMist and Synagis(R),which helps prevent respiratory syncytial virus infections in infants.*
AstraZeneca(AZN)
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