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dreamsafire...There are NO direct competitors. They are reselling DNAP's test.
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mingwan0...I have noted a subtle rewrite to the text on the AncestryByDNA webpage. There has also been considerable revision to the genelex site. In the case of genelex, they are now talking about being able to identify additional subgroups. I wonder if this is instructive of potential changes coming to the DNAPrint SAB (perhaps, perhaps not):
http://www.healthanddna.com/genealogy.html
Both sites are now stressing the anthropological nature of the test, and have clarified it's statistical nature as well. In addition, genelex is now offering Y-Chromosome and mtDNA testing.
Interesting...
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samlion...Excellent post...This is particularly interesting:
The tools used to predict preclinical safety (e.g., animal toxicology) are time consuming and cumbersome. In some cases, particularly for assessment of products based on recent innovative science, entirely new tools must be developed. There is an urgent need for new biomarkers for evaluating safety during human trials.
Thanks again...
W2P
Something up? Can't access either the DNAPrint or AncestryByDNA websites right now...
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Not...eom
Thanks ifida:
Looks like the Biometrics Council has undergone a name change:
http://www.biologicalthreatscouncil.org/
A few new faces, and a couple of extremely fascinating women...
"Dr. Lathan, who was cited by MIT's Technology Review in 2002 as one of the top 100 innovators in the world under the age of 35, says, "I never thought about what I wanted to be. I always just looked for cool things to do."
Can you imagine this group just sitting around shootin' the bull?????? lol
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A little more from the 10K:
Growth Strategy for Contract Genotyping
"We continue to pursue customers within the contract genotyping market. To date, our customers have come to us either through client referrals or our general website. In the future, we plan to concentrate our genotyping services on specific diseases, including cancer, neurological disorders, and heart disease. By concentrating on specific diseases, we hope to develop an expertise that will attract customers in those areas requiring external assistance and additional research capacity. Through this strategy, we will continue to build our reputation as a reliable and cost effective supplier of high quality data using our UHT SNP machine.
LOL, I'll bet they do...
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2004 Capital Expenditures:
http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1127354/000095014404003262/g88133e10ksb.htm
During 2004, we anticipate developing the required infrastructure to realize our 2004 operational growth plan, including acquiring or leasing property, equipment and other operating assets.
We are actively seeking to acquire or lease a new building that has 15,000 to 20,000 square feet with additional expansion potential. We estimate that lease costs will be between $15 and $25 per square foot. This does not include fit out or other associated costs such as utilities, taxes and maintenance. The initial build out of 7,000 square feet is estimated at approximately $780,000 which includes laboratory, office and warehouse space. Additional costs for equipment, furniture and fixtures are estimated at $257,000. Timing of the incurrence of the expense will depend upon the length of time required to find the appropriate facility.
In addition, it is anticipated that new laboratory and computer equipment will be purchased during 2004. Computer purchases for programming, modeling and business use is estimated at $100,000 and scientific and business programs and software at $65,000. Capital expenditures for laboratory equipment are estimated at $500,000 which includes a new robotic SNP machine at a value of approximately $250,000.
Tony discussed the need for the new SNP machine in the TWST article in July 2003:
"We are going to have to acquire another automated genotyping instrument even though the one we have now does 160,000 genotypes per day. We need one that is dedicated for the clinical genotyping."
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chig...Ifida deserves the credit for digging that one up.
There were many things I found fascinating about the presentation. I'll list a few here:
- Dalton talked about how they had been putting this together for better than a year (Gabriel said they had been working on the Moffitt collaboration for about 1-1/2 years).
- In describing the spherical graphic that explained the interrelation of all the program elements (minute 25 of the video) he mentioned that the Model was originally developed by Jim Fiorica for Ovarian Cancer, and that he adapted it to fit all cancers for the Total Cancer Care Initiative (we know from the Ovanome Executive Summary and Tony's TWST article that Ovanome was in clinical trial from late 2002 into the summer of 2003, we just don't know where).
- Dalton alluded to the NIH, and discussed the need for the program to address the economies, as well as, the benefits associated with a personalized medicine approach. That we can't simply throw Fort Knox at one patient (in the way of treatment and testing costs), without showing how you pay for that. I can envision DNAPrint having had this same argument with NIH or FDA regarding the utility of their tests. I am very excited at the prospect that DNAPrint, with Moffitt as a collaborator, will get the opportunity to DEMONSTRATE the economies of a personalized approach to medicine, which should help pave the way for regulatory approval for reimbursement from insurance plans and medicare when their tests become a routine element in medical prescription practice.
- Dalton referred over and over again to "evidence-based" medicine. No more shotgun approach. Along these lines, he referred on more than one occasion to a population based approach to the cancer therapies and he credited "the sequencing of the Human Genome" for making such an approach possible. Nothing earth shattering in these thoughts, just very well aligned with what DNAPrint has been saying for several years.
- Lastly, I found the reference to "smart cards" fascinating. I remember Tony Frudakis talking about this years ago when describing his vision of personalized medicine? I know there were and are others with similar thoughts. Just thought it was VERY cool to see it here.
"Moffitt scientists and physicians were impressed with DNAPrint's ADMIXMAP approach for using a population's structure as a fuel for mapping drug response gene variants. We recognized its profound potential for contributing to the enhancement of cancer treatment," said Moffitt's Dr. Timothy Yeatman.
Yep, I get more comfortable with my investment every day...
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ifida...Thanks for that link. They ARE setting up a real world model for personalized medicine, focused around Cancer!
And he's right, if successful, it won't just apply to cancer. The same model could be applied to many areas of personalized medicine.
It's about an hour long folks, but if you want to know what's going on at Moffitt, it's well worth the listen.
Ttttttoooooodddddaaaaammmmmmooooooooooonnnnnnnnn!!!!!!!!
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DougS...That is one interesting article:
...For example, why subject a patient to a standard and rigorous, debilitating procedure if it is not likely to work on that patient?...
Boy, does THAT sound familiar...lol
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DougS...I know you couldn't highlight EVERY paragraph in that article, but I do think this one also bears emphasis:
The project would mean Floridians everywhere would have the best care available where they live — no matter where they live — through creation of a database that can determine what works and why, an expanded network of affiliates (now mostly in Central and South Florida) and enlarged patient access to clinical trials.
And how did the DNAPrint PR put it?
...DNAPrint will work with primary investigator Dr. Timothy Yeatman, Moffitt's Associate Center Director for Clinical Investigations.
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Grateful...The first trial you mention involves both drugs mentioned in the Moffitt PR (Xeliri and Xelox).
Cetuximab is, of course, better known as Erbitux (of Imclone/Martha Stewart fame). It is a monoclonal antibody that has shown ability in some patients to shrink tumors.
Whether or not these are "the" studies they are involved in is impossible to say...
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mingwan0...Apparently Mark is out helping run more demonstraton projects....lol
I recall that the ancestry patent application placed particular emphasis on the need to identify allele frequency differences in the Amerindian population (as opposed to the HapMap project that seems to be ignoring them). It appears that this study would support DNAP's position.
Thanks for the article...
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National Association of District Attorneys - Policy Position on DNA Technology and the Criminal Justice System
http://www.ndaa-apri.org/pdf/dna_policy_position_july_20_2003.pdf
A couple of interesting excerpts:
PRIVACY RIGHTS
The National District Attorneys Association supports the use of DNA testing results primarily for the purposes of resolving crimes, identifying criminals, and identifying unknown victim remains.
The DNA loci, which are tested for law enforcement purposes do not identify specific diseases, predispositions toward certain diseases or conditions, or other private medical information which, if released to certain entities (e.g. health and life insurance companies) would be potentially damaging to the DNA donor. With the advancement of DNA technologies, has come the ability for forensic scientists to determine not only an individual's gender but also their ancestry. Such information should be used for identification and evidentiary purposes only. In addition, DNA blood and tissue samples that are retained should not be provided to any agency or group, except for law enforcement related activities.
Apparently, they were aware as early as last summer that advances in DNA technologies allowed for the determination of ancestry from crime scene DNA.
I also really liked this one:
In the years ahead, DNA technology holds enormous promise to enhance our quality of justice even more dramatically. Its potential, however, will not be fully realized unless public policy-makers act boldly in pursuit of this new technology. Significant increases in federal, state and local government resources are needed to enlarge forensic laboratory capacity, to fund the advancement of new DNA technologies, to expand DNA databases, and to provide training for participants in the criminal justice system. No other investment in our criminal justice system will do more to protect the innocent, convict the guilty and reduce human suffering.
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Scarlet/Patience/frog/tam...Your sentiments are greatly appreciated.
Sincerely,
Mike
OT: terry...
I have a bit of experience with Pancreatic Cancer. A couple of years ago, I had the distinct displeasure of spending several hundred hours researching the disease. What you find out in such an endeavor is that efficacy in chemotherapy is a very relative term.
Even in the Aphton trial that you refer to, successful results were described as median survival of 154 days, and a nine month survival rate of 22%.
When my mother was diagnosed, her Oncologist gave her an 8 to 12 month prognosis. My own research into survival rates for Pancreatic Cancer patients with non-resectable Pancreatic Cancer indicated that 3 to 6 months was more likely.
I did find an interesting immune based therapy that seemed to have promise. It involved the administration of low doses of an anti-opiate. The theory was that the immune system is regulated in large part by endorphins (particularly met-5-enkephalin), produced by the body's adrenal glands. Further, that 90% of endorphin production ocurrs at night while we sleep.
Early research was conducted by a Harvard trained physician in New York, who at the time was treating heroin addicts using the standard 50 mg dose of naltrexone. Many of the addicts had contracted AIDS, and what he noted was that as he weaned them from their naltrexone by giving smaller and smaller doses, that at some point their AIDS stabilized.
His findings have been presented at several International AIDS Conferences. In addition, as I searched PubMed I came across study abstracts detailing work done at Penn State University in the mid-80's, that seemed to confirm the immune regulation aspects and in-vitro and in-vivo evidence that low doses of naltrexone had a cancer inhibitory effect.
There's actually quite a bit of work being done as we speak and interestingly enough, the lead investigator at Penn State is also studying Gastrin receptors (The targets of Aphton's drug).
http://www.hmc.psu.edu/depts/cgi-bin/faculty.pl?name=zagon.html&folder=faculty&code=neuroana...
It turns out that the way the drug works is to trick the body. Our cells have opioid receptors, and for some reason cancer cells seem to have more than normal cells. Naltrexone is an opioid receptor blocker, which explains it's use in treatment of addiction.
What the good Doctor in New York determined was that if he gave his patients a small dose (only 4.5 mg) of naltrexone at bedtime, only enough to block the receptors for a few hours, that the body apparently believed that it's output of endorphins was low. In response, the adrenal glands would upregulate endorphin production resulting in metenkephalin levels that were 2.5 to 3 times their normal level. This, in turn, caused a large increase in the production of CD4, CD8, and Natural Killer Cells.
To make a long story short, low dose naltrexone upregulates the immune system and has shown efficacy for a number of autoimmune diseases and cancers. I know it made a big difference for my mother. She was on 5FU for months at a time, yet her immune system remained very strong throughout. I believe it was also a major reason for her avoiding many of the usual side-effects of the chemo.
Later on, we added the GMED Ace Inhibitor program as well and it seemed to make a remarkable improvement. In March 2003, her doctor told her "frankly, six months ago I'd have told you you wouldn't BE here now. I don't know what we're doing, but we're going to keep doing it!"
From her original 8-12 month prognosis, she ultimately survived for 25 months. She passed away earlier this month. And all but the last couple of months, she led an active life.
BTW, if anyone is interested, the website is www.lowdosenaltrexone.org. NCI has collected some of his patient files and is looking into the therapy. Penn State is also doing clinical trials using metenkephalin as a therapeutic modality in the treatment of Pancreatic Cancer.
There are virtually NO side effects at the 4.5 mg dose. In fact, the medication is FDA Approved at a 50 mg dose. Cost for a one month supply runs about $35.00.
Anyone with Crohn's Disease should contact Penn State University about the clinical trial they are organizing. Anyone with MS, or Chronic Fatigue should definitely investigate this therapy as well.
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Miss Scarlet...Nicely put, although I'll have to be honest and say that the sinful part of my nature is looking forward to the "commercial" success as well...lol
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66fan...As you are aware, I have a very personal interest in the issue of cancer treatment. You hit it pretty much on the head.
Taxol is first line treatment. When a woman walks into a clinic and is diagnosed with Ovarian cancer, she will be prescribed Taxol. It's great to be able to identify the responders/nonresponders, if for nothing else, the peace of mind that the responders would get when the Doctor could tell her that new science can assure her a 95% chance of responding to the treatement. But in the end, she would have responded regardless of whether she knew or not. In other words, the survival rate of the responders will not change because of this test.
As for the non-responders, it's great that they can avoid the treatments (they're no picnic), but they still have the disease. On top of that, they are told that they in all likelihood will NOT respond to the normally prescribed treatment. These are the patients that need to be addressed, and these are the patients that will allow the OVERALL survival rates for the disease to be improved.
Just knowing who will or won't respond won't change the survival statistics for the disease. The key is to then be able to help the identified non-responders. I pray to God they are successful.
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Robert...Excellent post and fascinating questions. I can tell from the tone that you are quite energized these days...lol
Here's a small piece that may (or may not) help to answer your first point concerning clinical trials. Dr. Frudakis gave that interview to TWST in July 2003. I ordered the full transcript, and in response to the question, "Are you trying to be predictive of what peoples' sensitivities are or what markers might indicate bad reactions to a drug and then match it back to people?", he had this to say:
"...That is exactly what our test does — we have found a collection of human genome markers that comprise a set that is predictive for Taxol response, with 95% accuracy, and we intend to market this test as a tool for flagging potential nonresponders. The idea now in clinical trial, which may seem trivial to most of us, is if you can predict response before drug treatment begins, identify who is not going to respond to Taxol, and give them another drug, do overall survival rates increase? Clearly one would expect the answer to this to be yes, but one has to show it. So once that trial is finished, we expect to have our first pharmaco-predictive test, which could be sold to doctors and patients around the country to help them guide their chemotherapy decisions, especially for ovarian cancer..."
Now clearly there was some sort of clinical trial in progress as early as last July. Perhaps at Moffitt, perhaps not. But note that the clinical trial seemed not to be so much about testing the ability to select the responders/nonresponders. That they can already do. But the question was, if you give the nonresponders ANOTHER DRUG, do overall survival rates increase? In other words, what do we do with the nonresponders once identified.
So what do we have now? DNAPrint working with Moffitt on VARIOUS chemotherapies, probably to determine whether there is overlap among responders, or whether those that are nonresponders to some therapies are responders to others.
That's how you REALLY improve OVERALL survival rates for cancer patients, and is probably what has the Moffitt scientists and physicians impressed at the profound potential of DNAPrint's science.
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Last one, this page details MedTRACK's company analysis and defines their analytical criteria and weighting:
http://www.medtrack.net/Comparator/home.asp
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This one is very interesting, in that it's focus is tracking companies with Stage III Pharmaceutical and therapeutic products:
http://www.medtrack.net/research/default.asp
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New research report available for DNAPrint from MedTRACK:
http://reports.finance.yahoo.com/w0?r=30229692:1
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tam...Thank you, thank you, thank you...lol
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Tam...Thanks againg to you and your sister. And I don't want to sound like an ungrateful idiot...lol...but please, please, please post this as soon as you can:
She was reading to me the handout that DNAPrint gave out. She was going to email me tonight what was on it.......it explained the companies that they wanted to partner with and why they wanted to partner...so it will be interesting when she gives me the rest of the story....................tam
Have a great evening...
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Tam...Thanks so much for the effort. Looking forward to reading the transcript.
Give your sister a BIG hug for us next time you see her...
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Interesting board, right now seven MM's on the Bid at 0.041 and another six lined up at 0.040. Ask is at 0.044.
What, everybody looking to fill short positions as cheaply as possible, eh? lol No shares traded for close to an hour.
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mongwan0...I don't know about anyone else, but I'm BUYING on THAT news!!!!! ROTFLMAO! Happy April Fools!
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Just to give everyone an idea of where in the Moffitt organization we will be working, here is the org chart. Associate Director for Clinical Investigations, Dr. Timothy Yeatman was quoted in the DNAPrint PR. Dr. Daniel Sullivan, Program Leader for Experimental Therapeutics reports directly to Dr. Yeatman:
http://www.moffitt.usf.edu/cancer_research/MRIDiagram.gif
When it first appears it is rather small. Run the cursor over the diagram and when the button with the arrows pops up, click it to expand the image.
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Robert...Missed this little tidbit from the DNAPrint/Moffitt PR:
Moffitt will contribute gene expression and proteomics data resources currently in development and DNAPrint will contribute its ADMIXMAP platform and SNP analysis for mapping the genetic determinants of variable drug response by harnessing the power of human population genetic structure.
I Be seein' some Mighty nice synergy And other Formidable Forces eXtruding from this news...
JM(half-educated)O,
W2P
maha...lol I guess the same thought crossed your own (half educated) mind. Oh well, since I am destined to go through life half educated, it's nice to find myself in good company!
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mahastock...Excellent...Gee, you don't suppose that the 100 patient colorectal trial that DNAPrint will be working on is one of those mentioned here do you? And if so, do you suppose that part of that $9.3 million might flow in revenue to cover all or a portion of DNAPrint's contribution to the work?
About 100 patients will participate in each Mayo Clinic cancer prevention trial coordinated at 27 sites throughout the United States and Canada, including Mayo Clinic Jacksonville, Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute in Tampa and the University of Miami.
Early phase clinical trials for up to seven types of cancer including colorectal, breast, esophageal, liver, blood system, urinary tract and lung, are planned over the next three to five years.
Of course this is JM(half-educated)O.
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Haven't had a chance to review the complete 10K, but will be posting comments when I can. Wanted to point out something very interesting to the board, however.
Someone posted the IBM/Affymetrix Collaboration PR yesterday on RB. The complete PR is a very interesting read. The timing of it's release, given the DNAPrint/Moffitt collaboration, is interesting as well. For instance, compare this from the IBM/Affymetrix PR:
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/040330/sftu036_2.html
The H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute at the University of South Florida is collaborating with IBM and Affymetrix to design innovative clinical trials that take into account the latest genetic research findings and determine tailored treatment options for Moffitt patients.
"At Moffitt, we're committed to adopting the latest technologies to help researchers and clinicians speed cancer screening and diagnosis," said William Dalton, MD, Ph.D., CEO, Moffitt Cancer Center. "In order to quickly identify patients at risk and select potential clinical trial participants, we constantly seek out new solutions. Taking advantage of IBM's data integration services and life sciences expertise along with the Affymetrix GeneChip technology could lead to revolutionary ways to target cancer treatment."
The IBM/Affymetrix solution is being designed to enable genetic data, such as how genes are expressed in a disease state, to be cross-referenced with patient data, including medical histories and lab tests. This data integration will make it quicker and easier to translate research findings into new, more individualized therapies and diagnostics. It will also help clinical trial investigators choose the best potential candidates for clinical trials -- and help improve trial successes -- by matching patient history with a particular genetic profile.
It appears that the Affymetrix array will be geared towards gene expression, i.e. proteomics. Analysis of expression products, integrated with medical histories and tests, will define a precise phenotype for the individual genes involved in the disease. Not coincidentally, this is also a required data element for the work that DNAPrint will be performing at Moffitt. From the DNAPrint/Moffitt PR:
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/040329/flm018_1.html
The study design will aim to first discover and then evaluate the predictive power of predictive Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP) markers in tandem with biomarkers from gene expression chip and proteomics research currently under way at Moffitt. The first colon cancer study will involve 100 patients. Other phases of this particular project will permit a retrospective alignment of genetic risk and epidemiologic factors, and prospective evaluation of chemotherapy response prediction in the setting of GLP and FDA-approved clinical trial setting.
So the question is, has Moffitt decided to set up competing collaborations and compare the respective benefits? Or is the entire effort complimentary, with each company contributing their particular expertise towards a 21st Century model system for pharmacogenomics and personalized medicine?
JM(half-educated)O, but looks like the latter to me. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.
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During the second quarter of 2003, the Board of Directors approved the immediate vesting of these shares as the criteria the Board of Directors had set had been met, and in addition agreed to pay the related federal and state income taxes that this officer will incur as a result of these stock grants.
Don't have time to discuss it right now, but this one may be VERY significant. It relates to Tony's share grant. There were very specific criteria which according to this were met during the second quarter of 2003.
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Steve...It's a little odd. I see the iHub Level II Link is not functioning. My Ameritrade Streamer doesn't seem to want to pick up a quote for DNAP this AM.
According to the delayed Level II at the alternate DD site it is still 0.46 x 0.47, but I would expect to see that move up before the open.
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lugan...I was going to post a question to that effect. lol
Here's a link that will provide the info you're looking for:
http://www.geocities.com/RainForest/3745/tr.html
This is a great read. So much of it seems to describe what has afflicted modern day America.
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Miss Scarlet...Thank you for the kind words. I missed you too! I had some work related and personal matters that needed urgent attending. They are, for the most part, now resolved.
I look forward to following the progress of DNAPrint along with the rest of the investors here at iHub. Great little company, and a great bunch of folks. It should be fun.
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frog...lol It appears that Google has responded to your plight and devised a search engine to allow you to avoid salesmen. They even named it in your honor:
http://www.google.com/froogle?hl=en&tab=wf&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=
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lugan...The Emerson quote is from Emerson's Self-Reliance essay, published in 1841. Here's a link that provides a bit more context:
http://www.louisville.edu/~vppalu01/emerson.html
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mingwan0...lol This should be enough to keep you busy for months! Hope you got some sleep today...
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