More than 90 countries have given the artificial sweetener aspartame the green light to be used in thousands of food and beverage products.1 Two hundred times sweeter than sugar, aspartame allows food manufacturers to produce sweet foods they can market as ?low calorie,? ?diet,? or sugar-free,? appealing to hundreds of millions of consumers looking to cut sugar from their diets. No doubt about it, the less sugar you include in your diet, the better. But replacing sugar with aspartame is not the solution, and in fact is likely to be even worse for your health. Despite assurances from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and other public health agencies that aspartame is safe, the research says otherwise?
So What the Heck is Aspartame Made Of?
Virtually all of the marketing material emphasizes the fact that aspartame is natural and made of two amino acids, the building blocks of protein. But, like many deceptions, this is only partially true. While there are two amino acids that comprise 90% of aspartame, aspartic acid and phenylalanine, they are held together in a methyl ester bond that comprises 10% of the molecule. The methanol is released from the aspartame within hours of consumption after hydrolysis of the methyl group of the dipeptide by chymotrypsin in the small intestine. Once this methyl ester bond is broken it liberates free methyl alcohol or methanol, which is commonly called wood alcohol. The problem with methanol is that it passes into your blood-brain barrier and is converted into formaldehyde, which causes the damage. You may recognize formaldehyde as embalming fluid. Interestingly, methanol is only toxic in humans. All other animals are able to detoxify it before it causes damage. Methanol is a toxin that destroys the myelin tissue in your body, which is the insulating material around your nerves that allows nerve signals to travel properly. Once injured, one can have what are called demyelinating symptoms that are commonly seen in diseases like MS and also migraines?that can?include bizarre and inconsistent visual field disruptions. My sister that helped me start my practice in 1985 is actually one of the people that develops these symptoms when exposed to aspartame. In the late ?80s I helped to diagnose her with this sensitivity and she has avoided it for over 25 years.
Why is Methanol So Toxic?
Methanol breaks down into formic acid and formaldehyde in your body. Many experts believe formic acid is the problem but the real problem is the formaldehyde, which is a deadly neurotoxin and carcinogen. An EPA assessment of methanol states that methanol "is considered a cumulative poison due to the low rate of excretion once it is absorbed. In the body, methanol is oxidized to formaldehyde and formic acid; both of these metabolites are toxic."2 They recommend a limit of consumption of 7.8 mg/day. But according to Woodrow Monte, Ph.D, R.D., director of the Food Science and Nutrition Laboratory at Arizona State University:3
?When diet sodas and soft drinks, sweetened with aspartame, are used to replace fluid loss during exercise and physical exertion in hot climates, the intake of methanol can exceed 250 mg/day or 32 times the Environmental Protection Agency's recommended limit of consumption for this cumulative toxin.?
Further, he states that due to the lack of a couple of key enzymes, humans are many times more sensitive to the toxic effects of methanol than animals. Therefore, tests of aspartame or methanol on animals do not accurately reflect the danger for humans.
?There are no human or mammalian studies to evaluate the possible mutagenic, teratogenic, or carcinogenic effects of chronic administration of methyl alcohol,? he said.
Symptoms from methanol poisoning are many, and include headaches, ear buzzing, dizziness, nausea, gastrointestinal disturbances, weakness, vertigo, chills, memory lapses, numbness and shooting pains in the extremities, behavioral disturbances, and neuritis. The most well known problems from methanol poisoning are vision problems including misty vision, progressive contraction of visual fields, blurring of vision, obscuration of vision, retinal damage, and blindness. Formaldehyde is a known carcinogen that causes retinal damage, interferes with DNA replication and may cause birth defects. The researchers in the featured study then reasoned that the aspartame-induced methanol exposure was likely possible for oxidative stress in the brain.
New Study Shows Aspartame Damages Your Brain
A newly published study with rats investigated the chronic effect of aspartame on oxidative stress in the brain. Researchers found that there was a significant increase in lipid peroxidation levels, superoxide dismutase activity, GPx levels and CAT activity, showing that chronic exposure of aspartame resulted in detectable methanol in the blood, which may be responsible for the generation of oxidative stress and damage in the brain.4 So the study found that aspartame exposure did result in ?detectable levels? of methanol in the blood. Methanol is gradually released in the small intestine when the methyl group of aspartame encounters the enzyme chymotrypsin.
Are Artificial Sweeteners Stressing Out Your Brain?
Oxidative stress can be defined as the state in which damaging free radicals outnumber your antioxidant defenses. Oxidative stress tends to lead to accelerated tissue and organ damage. Case in point, earlier this year another study investigated the effect of long-term intake of aspartame on the antioxidant defense status in the rat brain and also found it leads to oxidative stress.5 Male rats that were given a high dose of the artificial sweetener exhibited a lowered concentration of reduced glutathione (the active, antioxidant form of glutathione), and reduced glutathione reductase activity, a sign of increased oxidative stress-induced damage in the body. Glutathione deficiency has also been linked to age-related diseases such as Alzheimer's. Examination also revealed mild vascular congestion ? an obstruction of the normal flow of blood within the brain ? in these rats. Researchers concluded:
"The results of this experiment indicate that long-term consumption of aspartame leads to an imbalance in the antioxidant/pro-oxidant status in the brain, mainly through the mechanism involving the glutathione-dependent system."
Adding to the problem, one of the amino acids in aspartame, aspartic acid is capable of crossing your blood-brain barrier. There it attacks your brain cells, creating a form of cellular overstimulation called excitotoxicity, which can lead to cell death. Your blood-brain barrier, which normally protects your brain from excess aspartate, as well as toxins, is not able to adequately protect you against the effects of aspartame consumption because it:
Is not fully developed during childhood Does not fully protect all areas of the brain Is damaged by numerous chronic and acute conditions Allows seepage of excess aspartate into the brain even when intact
That excess aspartate slowly begins to destroy neurons, and the large majority (75 percent or more) of neural cells in a particular area of the brain are killed before any clinical symptoms of a chronic illness are noticed. Then, when they do occur, they may or may not be associated with aspartame consumption, even though examples of chronic illnesses that are made worse by long-term exposure to excitatory amino acid damage include:
Multiple sclerosis (MS) ALS Memory loss
Hormonal problems Hearing loss Epilepsy
Alzheimer's disease and dementia Parkinson's disease Hypoglycemia
AIDS Brain lesions Neuroendocrine disorders
Why Was Aspartame Ever Approved?
If it causes brain damage, why is aspartame allowed in our food and drinks? The truth of the matter is the FDA rejected aspartame not once but multiple times. The scientific data just did not support it as a safe product. But the FDA is a federal agency subject to the political winds, and the people in charge of the agency have repeatedly and notoriously been accused of many conflicts of interest, both economically and ethically. In 1975, the FDA came to the conclusion that aspartame should not be allowed on the market. They requested that further studies be conducted. The FDA's next move was to set up a public board of inquiry composed of outside experts to investigate the safety of aspartame, and in 1980 that board unanimously rejected aspartame's request for approval. Another internal FDA panel convened in 1980 also rejected aspartame for approval. So it was three strikes against aspartame at this point, four strikes if you count the Bressler Report. This report was compiled in 1977 after FDA scientists looked into the field studies conducted on aspartame. The Bressler Report uncovered fraud and manipulation of data so serious that the FDA forwarded their files to the Chicago U.S. Attorney's office for prosecution. Basically the results of the scientific data were fairly clear up until 1980: Aspartame was a dangerous, brain-tumor-causing man-made poison and the company trying to get it into the food supply was recommended for prosecution by the FDA. You would think that would be the end of aspartame, right? Not by a long shot. For more details on the story of how aspartame made it through the FDA approval process despite warning signs of potential health hazards and alleged scientific fraud, please watch the 60-Minutes report below, as Mike Wallace does a nice job of summarizing an otherwise very?long story.
Did You Know Aspartame May Make You Fat?
If you?re one of the people who suffers from headaches/migraines, vision problems, fatigue, anxiety attacks,?abdominal pains or other symptoms when you consume aspartame, deciding to eliminate it?from your diet was probably an easy choice. For the rest of you, doing so based on the possibility that it could ?one day? cause symptoms of brain damage is much more abstract, and probably much less likely to make you take action today. That?s why I want to share with you one of the major deceptions surrounding artificial sweeteners like aspartame, which is that they will help you lose weight by avoiding sugar. This is a MYTH. Research has shown that artificial sweeteners can:
Stimulate your appetite Increase carbohydrate cravings Stimulate fat storage and weight gain. In fact, diet sodas, which are well-known sources of artificial sweeteners, may actually double your risk of obesity!6
So much for being a dieter's best friend... The point is, if you?re having a hard time giving up aspartame based on its potential to damage your brain, maybe the fact that it could make you pack on the pounds in the very near future will motivate you toward positive change.
My Favorite Tool for Addressing Artificial Sweetener Addictions
Artificial sweeteners tend to trigger enhanced activity within your brain's pleasure centers, yet at the same time provide less actual satisfaction. This separation of the taste of sweetness from caloric content means that when you consume artificial sweeteners, your brain actually craves more of it because your body receives no satisfaction on a cellular level by the sugar imposter. This can actually contribute to not only overeating and weight gain, but also an addiction to artificial sweeteners. In order to break free, be sure you address the emotional component to your food cravings using a tool such as the Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT). More than any traditional or alternative method I have used or researched, EFT works to overcome food cravings and helps you reach dietary success. If diet soda is the culprit for you, be sure to check out Turbo Tapping, which is an extremely effective and simple tool to get rid of your soda addiction in a short amount of time. If you're determined to sweeten your foods and beverages, I urge you to consider using stevia extract ? a safe and natural sweet herb, which is my personal sweetener of choice. Lo Han is another herbal sweetener that doesn?t have the aftertaste of stevia that many object to. Health ?
Three executives from troubled imaging giant Olympus have pleaded guilty to artificially boosting the company's true value in 2007 and 2008 by concealing losses in financial statements. Former chairman Tsuyoshi Kikukawa, ex-auditor Hideo Yamada and former VP Hisashi Mori were charged with fraud in the scandal, which was brought to light last year by ex-CEO Michael Woodford. He was fired by the Olympus board for blowing the whistle, but reportedly received a large settlement for his troubles. The company has since confessed to cooking the books as far back as the '90s to hide investment losses, and revealed in 2011 that it had a billion dollars less in value than previously stated. That, along with the poor performance of its camera division, has forced Olympus to seek a partner or raise capital to survive.
ScienceDaily (Sep. 24, 2012) ? The first two of the 18 primary mirrors to fly aboard NASA's James Webb Space Telescope arrived at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.
The mirrors are going through receiving and inspection and will then be stored in the Goddard cleanroom until engineers are ready to assemble them onto the telescope's backplane structure that will support them.
Ball Aerospace, Boulder, Colo., under contract to Northrop Grumman, is responsible for the Webb's optical technology and lightweight mirror system. On September 17, 2012, Ball Aerospace shipped the first two mirrors in custom containers designed specifically for the multiple trips the mirrors made through eight U.S. states while completing their manufacturing. The remaining 16 mirrors will make their way from Ball Aerospace to Goddard over the next 12 months as they await telescope integration in 2015.
"These first two completed flight mirror assemblies arriving at Goddard are an important first step leading towards the integration of the mirrors onto the flight structure," said Lee Feinberg, NASA Optical Telescope Element Manager for the James Webb Space Telescope at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. "These delivered flight mirrors meet their requirements, which is great news for Webb telescope being able to fulfill its scientific potential."
One of the Webb's science goals is to look back through time to when galaxies were young. To see such far-off and faint objects, Webb needs a large mirror. A telescope's sensitivity, or how much detail it can see, is directly related to the size of the mirror area that collects light from the objects being observed. A larger area collects more light, just like a larger bucket collects more water in a rain shower than a small one.
Webb's scientists and engineers determined that a primary mirror 6.5 meters (21 feet 4 inches) across is what was needed to measure the light from these distant galaxies. Each of the 18 hexagonal-shaped mirror assemblies that make up the primary mirror measures more than 1.3 meters (4.2 feet) across, and weighs approximately 40 kilograms, or 88 pounds.
The Webb will be the first space astronomy observatory to use an actively-controlled, segmented mirror. The Webb is critical for future infrared observations. The Webb will be the premier observatory of the next decade. It will study every phase in the history of our universe, ranging from the first luminous glows after the Big Bang, to the formation of stellar systems capable of supporting life on planets like Earth, to the evolution of our own Solar System. It is a joint project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency.
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Self Help is actually a movements containing grown considerably in latest time. While self improvement is really a respectable target, the process of personal development could be fulfilled with lots of roadblocks for an individual who lacks the correct information. This post consists of a number of advice on self improvement and the way to be successful within your self help experience.
Self improvement starts off with a confident frame of mind. Having a good mindset will have an impact on all the parts of each and every day in your life. Everybody has their downward days and difficulties, but go on a second to step back, inhale and exhale, regroup, and tackle whatever condition having a quiet thoughts and clean outlook.
Should you be in a dreadful disposition, even perhaps angry, spend some time to exercising. Just about the most efficient ways to combat with frustration is actually by receiving a weighty travelling bag and defeating into it when you are burned out. It would discharge endorphins that can make you are feeling a lot better about lifestyle.
Usually do not put off essential things. Even if you must cope with stress filled things in your lifetime, preventing them may be the worst issue you could do. For you to do your best to cope with what scares you the most that it is out of the way and you can focus on another thing. 2012 halloween costumes
As soon as you make the existence strategies, make sure you stick with them. Understand that as you go on your daily life altering experience, you will certainly be up against a lot of distractions that might be really appealing. By maintaining focused entirely on your goal and strategy, it will be easy to achieve your main goal quicker.
Trying to keep our sites established on life?s most appropriate goals and turned away from the a lot more deleterious versions can often be a complicated process. When we continue one increment at any given time, however, we are able to attain that in a much more foreseeable length of time. The ideas delineated previously mentioned allow us to do exactly that
AAA??Sep. 24, 2012?5:19 AM ET Activists: Syrian warplanes bomb Aleppo, killing 5 AP
A Free Syrian Army soldier stands on a damaged Syrian military tank in front of a damaged mosque, which were both destroyed during fighting with government forces, in the Syrian town of Azaz, on the outskirts of Aleppo, Sunday, Sept. 23, 2012. Syria's bloody 18-month conflict, which activists say has killed nearly 30,000 people, has so far eluded all attempts at international mediation. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
A Free Syrian Army soldier stands on a damaged Syrian military tank in front of a damaged mosque, which were both destroyed during fighting with government forces, in the Syrian town of Azaz, on the outskirts of Aleppo, Sunday, Sept. 23, 2012. Syria's bloody 18-month conflict, which activists say has killed nearly 30,000 people, has so far eluded all attempts at international mediation. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
A Free Syrian Army soldier, stands on a damaged Syrian military tank, which was destroyed during fighting government froces, in the Syrian town of Azaz, on the outskirts of Aleppo, Sunday, Sept. 23, 2012. Syria's bloody 18-month conflict, which activists say has killed nearly 30,000 people, has so far eluded all attempts at international mediation. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
A Syrian man searches through rubble of his home, which was destroyed from a Syrian government airstrike earlier in the day, in Marea village, on the outskirts of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday Sept. 23, 2012. Syria's bloody 18-month conflict, which activists say has killed nearly 30,000 people, has so far eluded all attempts at international mediation. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
BEIRUT (AP) ? Activists say Syrian warplanes have bombed two buildings in the northern city of Aleppo, killing at least five people.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and the Local Coordination Committees say Monday's raids in a southern neighborhood badly destroyed the buildings.
An amateur video showed people digging through a pile of rubble in search for survivors.
The Observatory says five people were killed while the LCC says eight lost their lives in the bombing. The LCC says the dead included three children of the same family.
The months-long battle for Aleppo ? a city of 3 million that was once a bastion of support for President Bashar Assad ? is critical for both the regime and the opposition.
Syria's 18-month crisis has left nearly 30,000 dead, according to activists.
For some personal trainers to mention the word sales freaks them out!
I agree, when you think of sales the image of pushy sales people in shopping centres comes to mind, selling products and services that you do not necessarily need.
We are not pushy sales people, everyone on this earth needs health and fitness and we have a duty of care to help these people. We are the solution to their needs and when you look at it from this aspect your attitude around it changes.
It is not that hard once you know how, I have been fortunate to be given the?opportunity to learn so much in my fitness career and now have the opportunity?to share these skills with you! Yes I still do practice what I preach and to this day?convert a minimum of 97% of leads that come though my fitness business.
So here are 47 ways in which you can increase your conversions.
1. Know your product back to front.
2. Be confident in your product and know that you can help people.
3. People come to you for a reason and you need to find out what that?reason is and I am not talking weight loss, there is an emotional reason?behind that, they do not come to waste your time.
4. Have a sales system in place from initial enquiry through to referrals.
5. Know every conversion rate from start to finish.
6. Be organized and have all your paperwork/pens etc ready for when the?client walks in.
7. Smell and look good, you have only 10 seconds to make an impression.
8. Ensure your centre is clean and tidy.
9. Have scripts so you and your team are providing consistency.
10. Ensure that you overcome objections before they arise in the initial needs analysis.
11. Build rapport and make a friend, ask them would they like a drink, cause?that is what you do when your friend comes to your house.
12. People buy from people they like and trust.
13. Get rid of the hard?core pressure sales, it really turns people off and you?come across as desperate.
14. Be genuinely interested in them.
15. People care about themselves, so let them talk and you shut up.
16. ?Sell? them what they want, if they want personal training then don?t focus?on your group fitness.
17. Listen listen listen to their needs!
18. Show them how you can help them achieve their goals ? they are crying?out for help
19. Focus on the emotional reasons of why they are there ? people buy on?emotion. Get specific.
20. Do what you say you are going to do!
21. Always be learning, the more you learn the more you earn.
22. Make it easy for your clients to buy off you, people hate hassle.
23. Don?t be like other personal trainers, what makes you different from the?other trainers? Most PT?s are not unique and try and fit into the market?and offer the same services and generally these are the same trainers?complaining about their business, not getting clients and struggling?financially.
24. Be wary of the words you use some of them conjure up negative images,?for example sign here, instead if use can you just ok this!
25. Get your mindset right, if you hate sales guess what you are unconsciously?portraying.
26. STOP SELLING PACKS AND CASH EACH SESSIONS! It really screws with?your cash flow!
27. Get all your clients on direct debit! If you want a recommendation email?me!
28. Ask the right questions, that being open ?W? questions ? what, where,?when, why ? how!
29. Be HONEST with them.
30. Sales fixes everything, if you need more money ? make more sales!
31. Relax and have a conversation with them.
32. Create an atmosphere where they want to buy!
33. Do not have too many price options, you will just confuse them.
34. After you price present be quiet, he who speaks first loses.
35. Engage with the client in a way that you gain their interest.
36. Show the value in what you provide and that you are the solution to their?problems.
37. You control the conversation.
38. People do not like being sold to, but they love to buy.
39. Ask for the sale!
40. What does your voice mail say about you? Does it entice prospective?clients to leave a message?
41. When a prospective client walks out the door without getting started with?you, you can pretty much guarantee you will not see them again!
42. Be conscious of body language.
43. Under promise and over deliver.
44. Pre qualify them on the phone, you just do not want anyone!
45. Want to make more sales, double the amount of people who sit in front of?you
46. Regularly get someone to evaluate your sales process
47. Practice practice practice!
48. You need to be the solution to their pain.
As a personal trainer you should be converting at least 80% of your leads, if this?is not happening have a look at your processes and if you are still stuck contact?me! Because if someone does not purchase from you they will go to your?competition or worse do not do anything about their health and fitness.
Generally is it only a minor tweak that you need to make to really turn around your conversions.
If you are converting less that 60% then you need to work out why as you are having money walk out the door.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 25th, 2012 at 7:45 am and is filed under Personal Training Sales. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Ron Fugelseth's video documents Stanley the train's flight into the stratosphere and back.
By Alan Boyle
Sending your child's toy train into the stratosphere is no mean feat, but turning that train into an animated character requires a special blend of mechanical and computer-generated magic. Ron Fugelseth just happened to be the right magician for the job, as evidenced by the video that he and his 4-year-old son Jayden created.
Fugelseth's video traces the flight of his son's silver train, named Stanley, to an altitude of 18 miles or so. From that height, Stanley could see the curvature of the planet with the black sky of space above. The train's face reflects the wonder of the sight ? as well as his distress when the helium-filled balloon that got him that high bursts into bits. The animation is what transforms the tale of Jayden's toy train from your garden-variety balloon experiment into ... something wonderful.
"To me, the whole thing about this is the storytelling," Fugelseth, creative director for California-based?Oxygen Productions, told me today.
It all started months ago, when Fugelseth saw the video showing the balloon-borne flight of a Lego astronaut. "When I saw that Lego video, I thought, 'I should totally see if I could get Stanley to space,'" he said.
But Stanley is no cheap prop. To Jayden, the train is much more than a toy. "It's been his imaginary friend since he was 2," Fugelseth said. "It's like Linus and his blanket. This never would have popped into my head if it wasn't for that family member, that little white train."
So Fugelseth did his research and assembled the components for a stratospheric flight: a mail-order weather balloon, a palm-size HD video camera, an old cellphone capable of transmitting GPS location readings, a pocket warmer for heat, the necessary batteries, and a foam box for insulation and padding. (Check out the YouTube video description for other details, such as the procedure for letting the FAA know you're sending up a high-altitude balloon.)
Four weeks ago, Fugelseth and his son launched Stanley from Tracy, Calif. Then they waited for the balloon to pop and for the payload to come back down. When Fugelseth lost the cellphone signal, he worried over whether he'd ever be able to recover the precious cargo ? but the phone "magically started working again," he said. With a little assistance from Dad, Jayden found Stanley in a cornfield 27 miles from the launch site.
That's when the computer-generated magic kicked in: Fugelseth used video processing software to create the expressions on the toy train's face, just as he did two years earlier for a Jayden-and-Stanley video titled "A Train and His Boy." The trick isn't all that different from what Fugelseth does for his day job, but it's still a challenge. "It's not every day that a client asks for something like manipulating a face on a train," he joked.
A day in the life of 2-year-old Jayden and his favorite train, Stanley.
Fugelseth finished the 2?-minute video about Stanley's stratospheric voyage on Wednesday night, and since then it's gotten more than 91,000 views and a raft of positive reviews on YouTube. "If any video has ever deserved to go viral, this is it," one viewer wrote. "C-o-o-o-o-o-lest dad in the world. ... Dude, you gave me a warm feeling, looks like there's still hope for the human race after all."
But perhaps the most influential review came from Jayden and his 2-year-old sister. "They just went crazy," Fugelseth said. "They've watched it a million times now. ... One thing that Jayden said was, 'I wish I was a train, so I could go to space.'"
Be patient, Jayden. Maybe someday, you'll fly higher than Stanley ever could.
More near-space adventures For a more grown-up tale, check out this "Now Is the Time" video presentation, recorded by a trio of space enthusiasts using a weather balloon, a platform made of plastic pipes and two GoPro cameras pointed at an iPhone. The main video is a tribute to spaceflight, but the "behind-the-scenes" video just might be more entertaining: It chronicles the three attempts to get the setup airborne, plus a backstory about the director's efforts to propose to his girlfriend using video from the stratosphere. (She said "yes.") Here are a few more tales of high-altitude high jinks:
Alan Boyle is NBCNews.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's?Facebook page, following?@b0yle on Twitter?and adding the?Cosmic Log page?to your Google+ presence. To keep up with Cosmic Log as well as NBCNews.com's other stories about science and space, sign up for the Tech & Science newsletter, delivered to your email in-box every weekday. You can also check out?"The Case for Pluto,"?my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.
Posted on September 21, 2012. Filed under: Consulting/Contracting | Tags: business owner, corporate America, entrepreneur |
By Stephen Van Vreede (@ITtechExec)
Not too long after the meltdown with unemployment began in the United States, across social media, there was some buzz surrounding the declaration by a well-known Internet marketer that job seekers should just quit the job search and start their own companies instead. The reaction among career support professionals was mixed. Some loved the advice. Others hated it. And many others fell somewhere in between.
As for me, I think it is like so many of these things?it got the reaction it was looking for. In other words, it produced the shock value it needed to get everyone talking about it.
So does that mean I disagree? Not exactly. As a small business owner who left the corporate world to try my own venture (which has thankfully done well), of course I think I made a great decision. But as a job search coach who works with hundreds and hundreds of job seekers each year, I can honestly say that not everyone is suited for being a business owner (much like not everyone is suited for being a lawyer [thank God]). And it is pretty unrealistic to think that will happen. (Not to mention the logical implications of it as well?if we all owned businesses, who would do the leg work?most business owners need support, etc.)
For some job seekers, a layoff, firing, and so on is just the push they need to move forward on that great business idea they have always wanted to try.
And with some startup capital available and a good understanding of their market, they go for it.
But for those job seekers who see starting their own business as just a way out of a bad time for job searching and are looking for that interim thing (see my post titled ?Hey, Consultants, You Are Entrepreneurs Too?), the plan could backfire. For one, leaving the corporate world is a big decision. Even though corporate American is grinding, to say the least, being a business owner is probably one of the hardest jobs out there, particularly if you have to start the business from the ground up.
And corporate America does not always value the little guy. So if you want to go back to corporate life a couple years down the road, not everyone is going to welcome you back, happy to see that entrepreneur experience on your resume (many like the entrepreneurial spirit, but?most don?t really want renegade entrepreneurs on their ?teams?; in other words, act like one, but don?t actually be one!).
Second, to make a business work, you have to really love at the very least some aspect of it or you will fall flat pretty quickly. For me, I love negotiating and dealing with people. My business partner, on the other hand, loves to make it rain. So after she goes in and creates the possibility (often out of thin air), I like to come in and finalize the particulars. It works great now, but it took a long time to figure that out. And it was only drive and determination (and necessity) that made us figure it out.
If we had been in it just to keep us going until we went back to corporate life, it never would have worked.
Still other job seekers out there just want and desire to be part of the corporate rat race. They like support roles. Or they like coming in and learning the structure in place, and figuring out how to maneuver in it. That is where the excitement comes into play for them. They want to see the upward mobility and know the potential. They like being a part of something, a group, team, etc. They don?t want to start it; they want to make it grow or sustain what?s already in place. I?m not sure how these types of people could be expected to be business owners (unless, like me, they had a real rainmaker at their side). And there is nothing wrong with this. These are the people business owners dream about!
So the point is that you really need to know the kind of worker you are.
Finally, even if you are a business owner, truly, you are always working for somebody.
Honestly, I never had so many bosses until I started working for myself. If you need to make cash (and we all do), you need someone to give it to you. And that someone (or someones) becomes your boss, at least for a period of time, so to speak.
So the decision really is whether you have the entrepreneurial temperament combined with a strong business concept, perseverance, and startup funds.
This summer, Mitt Romney and President Obama appeared to be neck and neck in Wisconsin. But now in polls, the president seems to be gaining independents at his opponent?s expense.
By Mark Guarino,?Staff writer / September 20, 2012
President Obama shakes hands with people outside OMG! Burgers, Thursday, Sept. 20, in Miami, Fla. In new polls, Obama appears to be pulling ahead in the battleground state of Wisconsin.
Carolyn Kaster/AP
Enlarge
The independent voter, perhaps upset by Mitt Romney?s recent remarks and his attacks on President Obama, appears to be behind a shift in polling numbers in Wisconsin that indicate Mr. Obama is pulling ahead there.
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Wisconsin is among a handful of battleground states in the November presidential election. This summer, the fight appeared to be neck and neck in the state, and before the national conventions of both parties, Obama edged Mr. Romney by merely one or two percentage points.
Now, more than half of Wisconsin voters are favoring Obama, according to several new polls this week. And it?s not necessarily because Republicans are suddenly switching from red to blue, says Charles Franklin, polling director for the Marquette University Law School in Milwaukee.
The president is gaining independents at Romney?s expense, Mr. Franklin says in a video posted on the university website. A poll for the school, released Wednesday, shows Obama with a 54 to 45 percent advantage among Wisconsin independents, compared with 38 to 43 percent in August.
Overall in the state, the school?s poll finds that Obama has a 14-point lead over Romney, 54 to 40 percent. Obama?s lead against Romney was just three points in August.
?Those shifts among independents are the biggest single driving force behind those results,? he says.
One theory is that Romney?s attacks on Obama for the economic downturn may not be taking root in Wisconsin. Marquette?s polling shows 55 percent of Wisconsin voters blame the recession on President Bush, while 30 percent say it is Obama?s fault.
?The problem for the Romney campaign is to convince voters that it is all about the economy and it?s Obama?s fault. So far, the public thinks largely it?s George Bush?s fault,? Franklin says.
Results from Public Policy Polling of Raleigh, N.C., also indicate that Wisconsin independents are shying away from Romney. In a PPP poll released Thursday, 39 percent of such voters said Romney?s unscripted comments about the ?47 percent? of Americans who don?t pay income taxes made them less likely to vote for him in November. By comparison, 20 percent of independent voters in the state were encouraged by the comments and considered them a positive.
Obama?s current lead among independents in Wisconsin is 52 to 43 percent, according to the poll. Overall, the poll shows Obama enjoying a seven-point lead in the state against Romney, 52 to 45 percent. Last month, the president and Romney were just a single point apart.
?Wisconsin?s looking like much less of a swing state than it did a month or even a week ago. Voters there are warming up to Obama, and Romney?s not making a terribly good impression right now,? said Dean Debnam, president of Public Policy Polling, in a statement released Thursday.
In a third poll released this week about Wisconsin ? by Quinnipiac University, CBS News, and The New York Times ? Obama leads Romney by six points, 51 to 45 percent. In August, Obama?s lead was just six points.
Politico identifies Wisconsin as one of nine battleground states this election ? even though voters there have not voted for a Republican president since 1984. Obama won the state by 14 points in 2008. Since then, however the state has produced many rising stars in the Republican Party: Gov. Scott Walker; Rep. Paul Ryan, Romney?s running mate; and Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus.
Obama?s campaign staff in Wisconsin is actively recruiting deputy field organizers from Chicago and elsewhere to give the campaign a boost during its last six weeks. And both presidential campaigns are spending significant ad dollars in the state: After the national conventions, each has now bought a second week of air time in the state, with Obama outspending Romney this week $353,000 to $205,000, CNN reports.
?Super PACs? such as Restore Our Future, which supports Romney, and Priorities USA Action, which supports Obama, are already heavily investing in television airtime in Wisconsin.
Romney is not yet scheduled to make an appearance in the state this week or next, but his wife, Ann Romney, held a rally Thursday morning at Marquette University.
Obama is scheduled to host a campaign event at Henry Maier Festival Park in Milwaukee late Saturday afternoon. That night, he will host a fundraiser and round-table discussion at the Milwaukee Theatre, where he?ll be joined by Baseball Hall of Fame great Hank Aaron. Cost for the round table is $25,000, while a general reception costs a minimum of $250 each.
A recent expedition to an isolated archipelago in the middle of the Indian Ocean came back with footage of thriving sea life swarming the slopes of a newfound seafloor mountain.
Videos captured by baited cameras revealed a rich underwater community of hammerhead sharks, silvertip sharks, large groupers, rays and a variety of other fish near the Chagos Archipelago, a string of 55 islands designated as a marine protected area by the British government in 2010.
Some have expressed concern over the newly established protections, because it appears they may be interfering with the efforts of local people to return to islands from which they were evicted in the mid-20th century. However, many have heralded the creation of the vast marine reserve.
Much of the riot of undersea life was congregated around a seafloor mountain, or seamount, a dramatic feature more than a mile in diameter that rises far above the ocean floor. Finding these geological features, which provide welcome habitat for sea creatures in the open ocean, is a huge challenge.
"There was a serious 'aha' moment," said Jessica Meeuwig, a professor at the University of Western Australia. Meeuwig, along with colleagues from the Zoological Society of London and Warwick University, were exploring an area that is poorly documented.
The first spot they visited ? an area chart suggested it was home to a seamount ? proved a disappointment. There was nothing there.
"Then, in crisscrossing the next location, sure enough ? a seamount came rising out of the depths," Meeuwig told OurAmazingPlanet in an email.
Although Meeuwig qualified the find as more of a confirmation of the seamount's existence, rather than an outright discovery, she said it was incredibly exciting nonetheless. Because seamounts attract such a large variety of sea life, they are often the target of large-scale fishing operations. This seamount appears to be untouched by trawlers.
Meeuwig said she was surprised by the sheer diversity and abundance of the sea life living near it, and by the large size of the creatures themselves. "Such big fish," she said.
Science news from NBCNews.com
Seamount teems with sea life
A recent expedition to an isolated archipelago in the middle of the Indian Ocean came back with footage of thriving sea life swarming the slopes of a newfound seafloor mountain.
African clans linked to earliest human split
Warming Arctic fossil forest may live again
50-million-year-old redwood chunk found
The team dubbed the seamount Sandes Seamount in honor of Neil Sandes, captain of their research vessel, who took great pains to explore the region in intimate detail.
"Oceans are really hard to study because we can't see easily below the water's surface," Meeuwig said. "So managing to pinpoint a proverbial needle in the haystack and documenting its marine biodiversity was very cool."
Reach Andrea Mustain at amustain@techmedianetwork.com, or follow her on Twitter @AndreaMustain. Follow OurAmazingPlanet on Twitter @OAPlanet. We're also on Facebook? and Google+.
? 2012 OurAmazingPlanet. All rights reserved. More from OurAmazingPlanet.
It's an age old question: Why do we do good? What makes people sometimes willing to put "We" ahead of "Me?" Perhaps our first impulse is to be selfish, and cooperation is all about reining in greed. Or maybe cooperation happens spontaneously, and too much thinking gets in the way.
Harvard scientists are getting closer to an answer, showing that people's first response is to cooperate and that stopping to think encourages selfishness.
David Rand, a Post-Doctoral Fellow in Psychology, Joshua Greene, the John and Ruth Hazel Associate Professor of the Social Sciences in the Department of Psychology, and Martin Nowak, Professor of Mathematics and of Biology, and Director of the Program for Evolutionary Dynamics, have published their findings in the September 20 issue of Nature. They recruited thousands of participants to play a "public goods game" in which it's "Me" vs. "Us." Subjects were put into small groups and faced with a choice: Keep the money you've been given, or contribute it into a common pool that grows and benefits the whole group. Hold onto the money and you come out ahead, but the group does best when everyone contributes.
The researchers wanted to know whether people's first impulse is cooperative or selfish. To find out, they started by looking at how quickly different people made their choices, and found that faster deciders were more likely to contribute to the common good.
Next they forced people to go fast or to stop and think, and found the same thing: Faster deciders tended to be more cooperative, and the people who had to stop and think gave less.
Finally, the researchers tested their hypothesis by manipulating people's mindsets. They asked some people to think about the benefits of intuition before choosing how much to contribute. Others were asked to think about the virtues of careful reasoning. Once again, intuition promoted cooperation, and deliberation did the opposite.
While some might interpret the results as suggesting that cooperation is "innate" or "hard-wired," if anything they highlight the role of experience. People who had better opinions of those around them in everyday life showed more cooperative impulses in these experiments, and previous experience with these kinds of studies eroded those impulses.
"In daily life, it's generally in your interest to be cooperative," Rand said. "So we internalize cooperation as the right way to behave. Then when we come into unusual environments, where incentives like reputation and sanctions are removed, our first response is to keep behaving the way we do in normal life. When we think about it, however, we realize that this is one of those rare situations where we can be selfish and get away with it."
Unlike many psychology studies, which use small numbers of college students, these experiments tested thousands of people from around the world using Amazon Mechanical Turk, an online labor market that's becoming an increasingly popular tool for social science research.
According to Rand, the findings highlight an interesting and counterintuitive truth ? that careful thought and reflection have a dark side. But is reflection always bad?
"When it's 'Me' vs. 'Us,' our intuitions seem to work well. That's what's going on here," explains Joshua Greene. "But what happens when people have different moral intuitions, for example, about abortion or raising taxes? When intuitions clash?when it's the values of 'Us' vs. 'Them'?reasoning and reflection may be our best hope for reconciling our differences."
"Over millions of years we've evolved the capacity for cooperation," explains Martin Nowak. "These psychological experiments examine the causes of cooperation on a shorter timescale, on the order of seconds. Both perspectives are essential as we face global problems which require cooperation on a massive scale. We need to understand where cooperation comes from historically and how best to make it happen here and now."
###
Harvard University: http://www.harvard.edu
Thanks to Harvard University for this article.
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WASHINGTON (AP) ? Nearly 6 million Americans ? significantly more than first estimated? will face a tax penalty under President Barack Obama's health overhaul for not getting insurance, congressional analysts said Wednesday. Most would be in the middle class.
The new estimate amounts to an inconvenient fact for the administration, a reminder of what critics see as broken promises.
The numbers from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office are 50 percent higher than a previous projection by the same office in 2010, shortly after the law passed. The earlier estimate found 4 million people would be affected in 2016, when the penalty is fully in effect.
That's still only a sliver of the population, given that more than 150 million people currently are covered by employer plans. Nonetheless, in his first campaign for the White House, Obama pledged not to raise taxes on individuals making less than $200,000 a year and couples making less than $250,000.
And the budget office analysis found that nearly 80 percent of those who'll face the penalty would be making up to or less than five times the federal poverty level. Currently that would work out to $55,850 or less for an individual and $115,250 or less for a family of four.
Average penalty: about $1,200 in 2016.
"The bad news and broken promises from Obamacare just keep piling up," said Rep. Dave Camp, R-Mich., chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, who wants to repeal the law.
Starting in 2014, virtually every legal resident of the U.S. will be required to carry health insurance or face a tax penalty, with exemptions for financial hardship, religious objections and certain other circumstances. Most people will not have to worry about the requirement since they already have coverage through employers, government programs like Medicare or by buying their own policies.
A spokeswoman for the Obama administration said 98 percent of Americans will not be affected by the tax penalty ? and suggested that those who will be should face up to their civic responsibilities.
"This (analysis) doesn't change the basic fact that the individual responsibility policy will only affect people who can afford health care but choose not to buy it," said Erin Shields Britt of the Health and Human Services Department. "We're no longer going to subsidize the care of those who can afford to buy insurance but make a choice not to buy it."
The budget office said most of the increase in its estimate is due to changes in underlying projections about the economy, incorporating the effects of new federal legislation, as well as higher unemployment and lower wages.
The Supreme Court upheld Obama's law as constitutional in a 5-4 decision this summer, finding that the insurance mandate and the tax penalty enforcing it fall within the power of Congress to impose taxes. The penalty will be collected by the IRS, just like taxes.
The budget office said the penalty will raise $6.9 billion in 2016.
The new law will also provide government aid to help middle-class and low-income households afford coverage, the financial carrot that balances out the penalty.
Nonetheless, some people might still decide to remain uninsured because they object to government mandates or because they feel they would come out ahead financially even if they have to pay the penalty. Health insurance is expensive, with employer-provided family coverage averaging nearly $15,800 a year for a family and $4,300 for a single plan. Indeed, insurance industry experts say the federal penalty may be too low.
The Supreme Court also allowed individual states to opt out of a major Medicaid expansion under the law. The Obama administration says it will exempt low-income people in states that opt out from having to comply with the insurance requirement.
Many Republicans still regard the insurance mandate as unconstitutional and rue the day the Supreme Court upheld it.
However, the idea for an individual insurance requirement comes from Republican health care plans in the 1990s.
It's also a central element of the 2006 Massachusetts health care law signed by then-GOP Gov. Mitt Romney, now running against Obama and promising to repeal the federal law.
Romney spokeswoman Andrea Saul said Wednesday the new report is more evidence that Obama's law is a "costly disaster."
"Even more of the middle-class families who President Obama promised would see no tax increase will in fact see a massive tax increase thanks to Obamacare," she said.
Romney says insurance mandates should be up to each state. The approach seems to have worked well in Massachusetts, with virtually all residents covered and dwindling numbers opting to pay the penalty instead.
Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz confirmed Thursday?to a House panel that President Barack Obama?s White House obstructed his investigation into Operation Fast and Furious.
The administration has also been accused of stonewalling the congressional investigation into the scandal.
?As we noted in the report ? and, as you know, Congressman, we did not get internal communications from the White House ? and Mr. [Kevin] O?Reilly?s unwillingness to speak to us made it impossible for us to pursue that angle of the case and the question that had been raised,? Horowitz testified in response to questioning from Texas Republican Rep. Blake Farenthold during a House oversight committee hearing.
In the report, Horowitz?s team wrote that ?[t]he White House did not produce to us any internal White House communications.?
Horowitz?s report said the Obama administration justified its non-cooperation with the inspector general by claiming the production of White House documents was ?beyond the purview of the Inspector General?s Office, which has jurisdiction over Department of Justice programs and personnel.?
Kevin O?Reilly, a now-former White House official who was reassigned to a State Department detail in Iraq after Fast and Furious became a national scandal, also refused to cooperate with Horowitz?s investigation.
O?Reilly, a National Security Council official who was directly involved in Operation Fast and Furious through his frequent communications with Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) official Bill Newell, refused through a lawyer to cooperate with Horowitz?s investigation, according to the inspector general?s.?Newell was the lead agent on Fast and Furious in his capacity as the head of the Phoenix ATF office.
Farenthold asked Horowitz if Congress should pursue O?Reilly?s testimony and press for tens of thousands of documents the White House withheld from Congress and the inspector general further.
?Well, certainly we have sought to pursue every lead we could,? Horowitz replied. ?I can just tell you from our standpoint it was a lead we wanted to follow.?
House oversight committee chairman Rep. Darrell Issa said during the hearing that the White House has resisted his committee?s efforts?to serve a subpoena on O?Reilly to compel his testimony.
Horowitz told Issa that because O?Reilly is no longer a DOJ employee and works in another cabinet department, he couldn?t require the interview.
?We reached out to his lawyer and requested an interview,? Horowitz explained. ?We have no basis to compel an interview from individuals who are outside the Department of Justice. He does not work in the Department of Justice so we had to ask for a voluntary interview, and he denied: His lawyer told us he would not appear voluntarily.?
Horowitz said Department of Homeland Security also impeded?his investigation, citing an?Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent ?who was assigned to Operation Fast and Furious on a full time basis [but] declined our request for a voluntary interview.?
That ICE agent, he added, requested immunity from prosecution and declined to be interviewed unless it was granted.
?There was an agent from the Department of Homeland Security that was assigned to the operation,? Horowitz said during Thursday?s hearing. ?As part of our effort to be thorough and interview all people who might have relevant information, we reached out. He, again, is outside the Department of Justice, so he declined our voluntary request to be interviewed by us.?
?We sought through the Department of Homeland Security to speak to him, and we understood that, absent being compelled ? and given immunity ? that he would not speak voluntarily. That request was declined, is my understanding.?
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Vall dHebron, VHIO and SOLTI head up an international 'dream team' against breast cancerPublic release date: 19-Sep-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Amanda Wren 34-695-207-886 Vall dHebron Institute of Oncology
Barcelona, 19 September 2012. The Vall d'Hebron Breast Cancer Unit, the Vall d'Hebron Institute of Oncology (VHIO) and SOLTI, an academic breast cancer research group , are heading up a multi-centre international study involving four Spanish and three North American research centres*. The aim of the study is to investigate whether BKM120, a drug that inhibits the PI3K pathway (phosphatidylinositol-3-Kinase) can be an effective treatment against triple-negative breast cancer.
At present it is known that breast cancer can be classified into different subtypes with varying prognoses and responses to treatment. This classification is essentially based on the presence of hormone receptors (oestrogen and progesterone) and the HER2 receptor. In clinical practice this has led to the development of increasingly selective and optimal treatments for patients. Advances in breast cancer treatment using new drugs on accurately-selected populations, along with the implementation of public screening programs, have contributed in recent years to reducing mortality from this disease.
Triple-negative breast cancer: the most aggressive form
Triple-negative breast cancer is defined by the absence of hormone receptors and HER2. This type of breast cancer is an aggressive variety of the disease that generally appears in younger women. Few treatment options beyond chemotherapy and anti-angiogenic agents are currently available. The present study aims to test whether BKM120 is effective for these patients and also, by means of biomarkers in the blood or in the tumour, identify which tumours respond to this new treatment.
The design initiative for this study falls within the grant awarded by the organization Stand Up to Cancer (SU2C), a non-profit entity whose objectives include supporting translational cancer research to ensure that the benefits of the most innovative treatments resulting from basic research can rapidly reach patients through study designs that allow fast-track application of the results.
"Dream Teams" against cancer
SU2C promotes the formation of multidisciplinary teams, known as "Dream Teams", which bring together the talent and knowledge of top scientists and cancer specialists from all over the world, bringing added value to research and allowing the rapid transfer of findings from basic research to clinical application.
Each Dream Team is made up of leading experts in certain tumour types and receives funding to develop their respective project over a three-year period in a highly collaborative and independent environment. The removal of bureaucratic barriers prevents part of the funding being lost through intermediaries, allowing experts to concentrate exhaustively on their research. This structure has been designed to obtain the optimum results with the highest assurance in the shortest possible time.
The team of Dr Jos Baselga from the VHIO is one of the Dream Teams selected by SU2C to take part in this ambitious project and head up the study on BKM 120 for the treatment of triple-negative breast cancer. This top-level collaboration stems from the experience and knowledge of the groups of excellence in the Breast Cancer Unit and the Research Unit for the Molecular Therapy of Cancer - "la Caixa" at the VHIO, headed respectively by Dr Javier Corts and Dr Jordi Rodn, as well as the expertise of SOLTI in coordinating multi-centre academic studies.
The Research Unit for the Molecular Therapy of Cancer (UITM) "la Caixa" and the Breast Cancer Unit already boast four years' experience in researching a broad spectrum of PI3K pathway inhibitors. They recently presented a study at the Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), Chicago, June 1 - 5, 2012, on the actions of these drugs in patients suffering from breast cancer, in monotherapy or in combination with other treatments. "This study, with data from the largest patient sample ever used, presents some encouraging findings with regard to the control time of the disease in metastatic patients," explains Dr Cristina Saura, the study coordinator in Spain as a member of SOLTI.
Innovations in breast cancer treatment
The PI3K pathway regulates key cellular functions such as cell growth, proliferation and survival. The appearance of mutations in this pathway is common and seems to contribute to the development of certain types of cancer in women, such as cancers of the breast, ovaries, uterus and endometrium. These mutations have also been implicated in the resistance mechanisms to certain conventional treatments (chemotherapy, hormone treatment or Trastuzumab).
The study that is already underway and open at the Vall d'Hebron University Hospital is a Phase II trial with a specific PI3K pathway inhibitor the molecule BKM120 and "the trial aims to determine the clinical activity of the molecule in patients with triple-negative metastatic breast cancer at an advanced stage of the disease still progressing following treatment with chemotherapy," comments Dr Javier Corts, the Head of the Breast Cancer Unit, and continues, "we are thus talking about advanced disease treatment, when the tumour has progressed to standard treatment options".
One of the novel aspects of this project is that it has been specifically designed to determine, by an analysis of the genetic profiles of patients, whether there is an identifiable subgroup of patients that particularly responds to this treatment. "The analysis of the genetic profiles of patients who respond and those who don't will help us to understand the reasons for this response, thanks to the technology and specialist knowledge that only this Dream Team possesses, which gives it a unique value," explains Dr Rodn, Head of the UITM and principal researcher of this international study.
The study with BKM120 is an example of how the highest level of technology combined with excellence in biomedical research can translate into major benefits for patients. Future lines of research will be directed at the exploration and validation of new predictive biomarkers, bringing us one step closer to realising the promise of personalized medicine. It is becoming increasingly necessary to search for biomarkers of response to these molecules in order to determine, prior to treatment, which patients are going to benefit from this treatment and why.
###
*The Spanish centers involved in the BKM120 trial are: the University Hospital of Vall d'Hebron in Barcelona, the Valencian Institute of Oncology at the University Hospital of Valencia, and the 12 de Octubre Hospital in Madrid. Three North American centers are also expected to participate: the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Centre, and the Dana-Farber Clinic at Faulkner Hospital, all in Boston, MA.
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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.
Vall dHebron, VHIO and SOLTI head up an international 'dream team' against breast cancerPublic release date: 19-Sep-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Amanda Wren 34-695-207-886 Vall dHebron Institute of Oncology
Barcelona, 19 September 2012. The Vall d'Hebron Breast Cancer Unit, the Vall d'Hebron Institute of Oncology (VHIO) and SOLTI, an academic breast cancer research group , are heading up a multi-centre international study involving four Spanish and three North American research centres*. The aim of the study is to investigate whether BKM120, a drug that inhibits the PI3K pathway (phosphatidylinositol-3-Kinase) can be an effective treatment against triple-negative breast cancer.
At present it is known that breast cancer can be classified into different subtypes with varying prognoses and responses to treatment. This classification is essentially based on the presence of hormone receptors (oestrogen and progesterone) and the HER2 receptor. In clinical practice this has led to the development of increasingly selective and optimal treatments for patients. Advances in breast cancer treatment using new drugs on accurately-selected populations, along with the implementation of public screening programs, have contributed in recent years to reducing mortality from this disease.
Triple-negative breast cancer: the most aggressive form
Triple-negative breast cancer is defined by the absence of hormone receptors and HER2. This type of breast cancer is an aggressive variety of the disease that generally appears in younger women. Few treatment options beyond chemotherapy and anti-angiogenic agents are currently available. The present study aims to test whether BKM120 is effective for these patients and also, by means of biomarkers in the blood or in the tumour, identify which tumours respond to this new treatment.
The design initiative for this study falls within the grant awarded by the organization Stand Up to Cancer (SU2C), a non-profit entity whose objectives include supporting translational cancer research to ensure that the benefits of the most innovative treatments resulting from basic research can rapidly reach patients through study designs that allow fast-track application of the results.
"Dream Teams" against cancer
SU2C promotes the formation of multidisciplinary teams, known as "Dream Teams", which bring together the talent and knowledge of top scientists and cancer specialists from all over the world, bringing added value to research and allowing the rapid transfer of findings from basic research to clinical application.
Each Dream Team is made up of leading experts in certain tumour types and receives funding to develop their respective project over a three-year period in a highly collaborative and independent environment. The removal of bureaucratic barriers prevents part of the funding being lost through intermediaries, allowing experts to concentrate exhaustively on their research. This structure has been designed to obtain the optimum results with the highest assurance in the shortest possible time.
The team of Dr Jos Baselga from the VHIO is one of the Dream Teams selected by SU2C to take part in this ambitious project and head up the study on BKM 120 for the treatment of triple-negative breast cancer. This top-level collaboration stems from the experience and knowledge of the groups of excellence in the Breast Cancer Unit and the Research Unit for the Molecular Therapy of Cancer - "la Caixa" at the VHIO, headed respectively by Dr Javier Corts and Dr Jordi Rodn, as well as the expertise of SOLTI in coordinating multi-centre academic studies.
The Research Unit for the Molecular Therapy of Cancer (UITM) "la Caixa" and the Breast Cancer Unit already boast four years' experience in researching a broad spectrum of PI3K pathway inhibitors. They recently presented a study at the Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), Chicago, June 1 - 5, 2012, on the actions of these drugs in patients suffering from breast cancer, in monotherapy or in combination with other treatments. "This study, with data from the largest patient sample ever used, presents some encouraging findings with regard to the control time of the disease in metastatic patients," explains Dr Cristina Saura, the study coordinator in Spain as a member of SOLTI.
Innovations in breast cancer treatment
The PI3K pathway regulates key cellular functions such as cell growth, proliferation and survival. The appearance of mutations in this pathway is common and seems to contribute to the development of certain types of cancer in women, such as cancers of the breast, ovaries, uterus and endometrium. These mutations have also been implicated in the resistance mechanisms to certain conventional treatments (chemotherapy, hormone treatment or Trastuzumab).
The study that is already underway and open at the Vall d'Hebron University Hospital is a Phase II trial with a specific PI3K pathway inhibitor the molecule BKM120 and "the trial aims to determine the clinical activity of the molecule in patients with triple-negative metastatic breast cancer at an advanced stage of the disease still progressing following treatment with chemotherapy," comments Dr Javier Corts, the Head of the Breast Cancer Unit, and continues, "we are thus talking about advanced disease treatment, when the tumour has progressed to standard treatment options".
One of the novel aspects of this project is that it has been specifically designed to determine, by an analysis of the genetic profiles of patients, whether there is an identifiable subgroup of patients that particularly responds to this treatment. "The analysis of the genetic profiles of patients who respond and those who don't will help us to understand the reasons for this response, thanks to the technology and specialist knowledge that only this Dream Team possesses, which gives it a unique value," explains Dr Rodn, Head of the UITM and principal researcher of this international study.
The study with BKM120 is an example of how the highest level of technology combined with excellence in biomedical research can translate into major benefits for patients. Future lines of research will be directed at the exploration and validation of new predictive biomarkers, bringing us one step closer to realising the promise of personalized medicine. It is becoming increasingly necessary to search for biomarkers of response to these molecules in order to determine, prior to treatment, which patients are going to benefit from this treatment and why.
###
*The Spanish centers involved in the BKM120 trial are: the University Hospital of Vall d'Hebron in Barcelona, the Valencian Institute of Oncology at the University Hospital of Valencia, and the 12 de Octubre Hospital in Madrid. Three North American centers are also expected to participate: the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Centre, and the Dana-Farber Clinic at Faulkner Hospital, all in Boston, MA.
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Public release date: 19-Sep-2012
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