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things around here were more interesting during the Stoll years when there was still the ability to raise decent amounts of money
Yes, when the economy was better and he didn't brush a histopath finding under the rug (or overlook its' significance), he had some credibility and allure. It was interesting up to and around the hold, peaked after the 'artifact' finding, but then got downright dirty and sloppy. The hoax really began to take over at that point (from merely 'surfacing' with the FDA hold), which is too bad considering the still burgeoning potential of the molecules and the science. Stoll had ADHD in his mind and dollar signs in his eyes, and all that clouded his judgement and dampened his lazy retirement. He took is eye of the ball, the stock took a fall, and shareholders almost lost it all. So here we are, so near yet so far, Stoll's sidekick driving the car, and our 'hero to goat'/'man to mouse' still 2nd in charge. What a scourge. I'm sure some on this board will say or think the same about me...and I say...that I am.
The fact that the OTCBB eligibility requirements (or 'lack there of') are being used as a defense resource for argument's sake, such as to say, Corx can't be reduced to a lesser platform, is not exactly a good point to summons. But I guess we've gotten to the point of stretching great distances for some semblance of victory.
What's the difference? They are the envy of people like Stoll/Varney anyway. Emulate their idols at all costs--to shareholders! They have the formula down, just not the wherewithal.
That said, it is tough to raise cash in today’s markets for companies like Cortex.
Is that so? Let me ask you, is Acadia or Prana like Cortex?: _______________________________________________________________________
1) >>>ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Announces $15 Million Private Placement --Proceeds to Support Advancement of Pimavanserin Phase III Program--
Press Release Source: ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Inc. On Monday January 10, 2011, 8:30 am EST
SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:ACAD - News), a biopharmaceutical company utilizing innovative technology to fuel drug discovery and clinical development of novel treatments for central nervous system disorders, today announced that it has entered into a securities purchase agreement for a private placement financing with a select group of institutional investors, including New Enterprise Associates and Venrock. Upon the closing of the transaction, ACADIA will receive gross proceeds of $15.0 million from the sale of approximately 12.57 million units at a price of $1.19375 per unit. ***{my note: the stock went to $1.60+ps on this, and is still...drum roll please...$1.56ps}***. Each unit consists of one share of ACADIA's common stock and a warrant to purchase 0.35 shares of common stock. The private placement is expected to close on January 12, 2011 and is subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions
2) >>>Press Release Source: Prana Biotechnology On Monday November 8, 2010, 10:08 am EST NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwire - 11/08/10) - Prana Biotechnology (NASDAQ:PRAN - News) (ASX:PBT - News) has today announced it has received confirmation that a re-elected Victorian Labor Government would commit $15 million AUD to the Mental Health Research Institute (MHRI) as crucial funding toward the commencement of a large scale trial of PBT2. MHRI is Prana Biotechnology's long standing partner in Alzheimer's research and PBT2 is its lead compound for the treatment of Alzheimer's and Huntington's Disease.
3) >>>Quintiles to Invest in Prana Biotechnology
Press Release Source: Prana Biotechnology On Monday June 28, 2010, 12:16 pm EDT
MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA--(Marketwire - 06/28/10) - Prana Biotechnology Limited (NASDAQ:PRAN - News) (ASX:PBT - News) today announced that it had reached an agreement with leading clinical research provider Quintiles that will see Quintiles subscribe for up to US$2 million in new Prana shares. The Company also announced that it had signed a mandate agreement with Southern Cross Equities Limited for the private placement of up to 225 million new shares to assist in the funding of Prana's planned Definitive Phase II Clinical Trial into Alzheimer's Disease.
Investment by Quintiles
Quintiles is a leading global fully integrated biopharmaceutical services company, offering commercial consulting and capital solutions worldwide. Quintiles has been intimately involved with Prana for a number of years and acted as the clinical research partner for Prana's last successful clinical trial. Quintiles has agreed to support the future activities of Prana via:
1. The acquisition of 7,064,749 new ordinary shares in Prana at an issue price of AUD$0.1624 (16.24 cents per share) raising AUD1.15 million. 2. An agreement to subscribe for up to a further US$1 million (AUD1.15m) of new Prana shares in the private placement being conducted by Southern Cross Equities.
Prana is delighted to have secured an organization of the caliber and influence of Quintiles as a significant shareholder and supporter of Prana's therapeutic goals.
4) >>>MELBOURNE, Australia – 9th September 2009 : Prana Biotechnology (ASX:PBT; NASDAQ:PRAN) today announced that it has reached agreement to raise $6 million (Australian) to support its R&D programs, to promote its drug development pipeline and to maintain corporate activities. The funds come from an existing shareholder committed to Prana’s strategy to become a leader in the development of drugs to treat age related neurodegenerative diseases.
5) >>>Prana Announces $7 million Placement to Fund Research Programs -Additional Investment from Existing Shareholders - MELBOURNE, Australia – May 21, 2008 – Prana Biotechnology Limited (NASDAQ: PRAN / ASX: PBT), a biopharmaceutical company focused on the research and development of treatments for neurodegenerative disorders, today announced it has raised in a private placement transaction over A$7 million (Australian) dollars from existing investors at a price of $0.40 (AUS) a share. Investors include both US and Australian professional and sophisticated investors. _______________________________________________________________________
I'll answer that for you, Mr. Varney: No. Why? Because they are successful at generating interest and raising funds...tough times included! Please--enough with the excuses--get something done on behalf of the shareholders.
Now, what companies, or should I say failures, are you lumping in with Corx?
The answer is finding an orphan drug indication. That will be the quickest way to advance ampakines. Getting support when support is hard to find.
I agree with Neuro--the answer is not orphan indications...per se. The critical solution is finding a quality mngmnt team that knows how to generate capital investment (on reasonable terms) from multiple sources via partnering or stock offerings, so they can progress several molecules/indications simultaneously. This tag team of Stoll/Varney has absolutely no skilled or intuitive sense of how to run a company--no business acumen whatsoever. Ampakines are the victim to these lethargic, pushover, slobs. Did I mention their apathetic streak on everything, sans the self-pity regarding financing difficulties? Once again, cry me a river Varney and his apologists. This is one vacuum--absent creative and substantive effort, and consisting mainly of excuses--which needs to rupture for any hope of prosperity. Let them go...or let yourselves go, just step up to the plate and take control. Stoll, Varney, reward the shareholders with your departure. This must be as excruciatingly ugly for you as it is for us/me (I'm not speaking for anyone who doesn't want to be spoken for). BOD, act like you have a vested interest in the future of this company, and do something more...rather than simply maintaining the status quo and collecting paychecks and/or near worthless shares.
I guess my question is this: Why can't Corx impress upon a wealthy family, or several well endowed entities, the tremendous potential of Ampakines, and secure significant capital (lol)? Is it because of the economy, dummy? Ask yourself the last time they signed a substantive partnership, or executed a lucrative financing, and figure out if the economy was poor throughout that time span. Oh, the artifact excuse, that was the problem in the good years. Boy, if it wasn't for that monkey. The last time I saw/sensed a pulse on Stoll, he rewarded us with the spiel that the electron microscopy proved the histo finding was an artifact, and furthermore, was exclusive to CX-717. What was that again? 99.9% certainty? Well played Doc, well played. No wonder you are still here, lol.
One would have thought RD reversal, as a potential life-saving indication for barbituate overdoses with no substitute medication available to save those lives, coupled with RD reversal for opiate overdoses with significantly reduced side effects (analgesic properties maintained) in relation to current medication (Narcan), might have been our ticket to paradise, but one would have overlooked the stumbling underachievers at the helm. I for one didn't overlook this point, but I did overestimate the abilities of the science/scientists to compensate for this shortcoming. Similarly, I judged too highly the value, dedication, and contributions of the rest of the BOD to institute the necessary changes to make something happen at a more brisk pace.
Ps-Retaliators: I'm not the only repetitive one...
Son of Broward medical examiner among those arrested
February 23, 2011|By Bob LaMendola and Alexia Campbell, Sun Sentinel
Drug agents raided 11 pain clinics from Miami to West Palm Beach on Wednesday, arresting 23 people and seizing $2.5 million in cash and dozens of cars in the biggest single strike yet at Florida's pain pill industry.
Among those arrested were four physicians, including the son of Broward Medical Examiner Joshua Perper, and five owners of raided pain clinics, officials said.
The biggest catch, officials said, was Vincent Colangelo, 42, a Davie man who earned an estimated $150,000 a day from the seven now-shuttered pain centers he owned.
Law enforcement agencies moved to seize from the Colangelo operation $22 million in assets, including homes, an Okeechobee trailer park and 46 vehicles. Agents displayed a parking lot full of the high-priced cars, such as a Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren sports car and two Lamborghinis.
"Woo hoo, I want to do cartwheels," said Tina Reed, a Davie pill mill activist whose son almost died from an addiction from a pain clinic.
The raids were made by more than 400 federal, state and local officers, who fanned out in an orchestrated sweep that shut down some of the busiest and best known pain clinics in Broward, Palm Beach and Miami-Dade counties. Agents with federal search warrants also raided and seized boxes of documents at 15 other clinics.
"We have indicted doctors and clinic owners who are acting as drug dealers," said Wilfredo Ferrer, U.S. Attorney for South Florida.
The raids were run by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, Broward Sheriff's Office, Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office and police departments from four cities. Florida Department of Health inspectors were on hand to initiate disciplinary actions against doctors and owners.
The raids ratchet up the campaign against rogue pain clinics that officials said have doled out upwards of 15 million tablets per year of the the narcotic oxycodone, many to drug runners who stream down Interstate 95 from other states. Pill mills are called a major cause behind the deaths of seven Floridians a day from prescription drug overdoses.
Local police have been arresting addicts, who snort or smoke the drugs in pill mill parking lots. The state has disciplined doctors for excessive pain pill prescriptions. But Wednesday's raids go after those making big money from the drug sales, officials said.
Colangelo and six others who ran his centers were charged with trafficking more than 660,000 doses of narcotic pills in one year. They were accused of marketing the clinics on 1,600 Internet sites, making profit by selling pills at their own locations and charging each patient $250 cash per visit.
Only one doctor who works at Colangelo's clinics was arrested, but DEA Special Agent Mark Trouville, chief of the South Florida operation, said more arrests are coming. Undercover agents have made 340 buys of pain pills from 60 doctors and 40 clinics, only a fraction of which were raided Wednesday, he said.
In Oakland Park, a physician and several medical personnel in scrubs were handcuffed during a morning raid at Colangelo's high-volume Commercial Medical Group clinic, which was popular with out-of-state pill seekers.
"We're so happy all this is happening," said Julie DePasquale, a clerk at German Bread Haus two doors away. "I'll feel safer coming to work at 7 o'clock in the morning. The druggies are out there like the night of the living dead, waiting for that place to open. It's scary."
In Delray Beach, police arrested Dr. Zvi Harry Perper, the Broward medical examiner's son, at busy Delray Pain Management where the son is listed as the owner on state registration documents. Also arrested was the manager, Kent Murry, who had opened the clinic in 2009 and also trafficked in pain pills, prosecutors said in the charges.
After a 10 a.m. raid, Perper was led out in handcuffs and beige medical scrubs and escorted to a police car. One of many reporters watching the raid shouted a question, asking Perper if he thought this day would ever come.
"No," he said, refusing to comment further. Perper began working at the pain clinic after he was fined $10,000 by the state in 2008 for a botched abortion in Orlando, according to state records.
In Lake Worth, Dr. Robert Elessar was arrested at his 45th Street Medical pain clinic. Dr. Carlos Gonzalez Jr. was arrested at North Palm Beach Pain Management in Lake Park, along with the owners, Anthony Laterza and Donna Palemire.
The raids stem from pill mill investigations run by a multi-agency task force formed in 2009 at the DEA's local headquarters in Weston. Also involved were state and federal insurance fraud investigators and the Internal Revenue Service.
Some of the raided clinics have been under investigation for more than a year, officials said, and have supplied millions of narcotic pills to drug dealers and addicts across the Southeast.
South Florida has long been an easy source for pain pills, but a cottage industry of rogue pain clinics sprang up in Broward and Palm Beach counties over the past few years. At the peak, an estimated 300 pain clinics operated in the two counties, although it's now closer to 220.
I'm proud of you--you handled yourself very well. Very well spoken...and not hypocritical whatsoever. Go back to the Values board, fool. If I would like to state the obvious (the obvious to me, anyway), by your very admission, I have the right. No need for you to get involved, that is, if you are the adult you claim (at least a 'technical' adult I assume).
Yoohooo!!! Over here!!! We...ummm...could use a new head?:
Lilly’s Neuroscience Research Chief Resigns
By Jonathan D. Rockoff
The head of Eli Lilly’s research into Alzheimer’s disease, schizophrenia and other neurological diseases is unexpectedly leaving the company.
David Bredt’s last day at the drug maker is Feb. 25, a company spokeswoman says. He had joined Lilly in 2004.
Fellow industry drug researchers expressed surprise at the news, especially since Bredt had given no indication of his plans at recent events.
His departure comes after Lilly experienced a number of setbacks in its Alzheimer’s research, in particular. Most notably, the company halted development of an experimental Alzheimer’s drug called semagacestat last August, after studies showed it was worsening patients’ conditions.
More recently, the FDA gave Lilly a scare when two staff members recommended against approving a drug called Amyvid that detects the plaques in the brain found in Alzheimer’s patients.
Judy Kay Moore, a Lilly spokeswoman, tells the Health Blog Bredt left to pursue other opportunities. “He left voluntarily, and we wish him well,” she says. (We’ve reached out to Bredt via email and will update this post if we hear back.)
Lilly will look for a successor, Moore says. “We are committed to neuroscience research and development. This remains a major therapeutic area for Lilly.”
The Indianapolis drug maker’s top-selling drug is schizophrenia treatment Zyprexa. The company, which has one of the steepest patent cliffs in the industry, needs its pipeline of experimental drugs to pay off soon.
Almost 1 in 5 compounds in that pipeline are neuroscience drugs, including solanezumab for Alzheimer’s disease and Neri for depression, both in phase 3 of development.
The fact that some don't acknowledge the decimated share price and its direct tie-in to the amateurish management is a colossal denial, and manipulative.
Medicine pursues a mind-heart connection It's hard to map, but evidence suggests a link between cardiac problems and depression.
By Melissa Healy, Los Angeles Times February 21, 2011
The melancholy mind and the broken heart: For poets and philosophers through the ages, the two have been fellow travelers, chicken and egg, bookends in a long litany of tragedies.
Leave it to medical researchers, then, to put the dark bond between heart and mind under a microscope — and find even deeper mysteries.
Nearly 25 years of research has drawn a clear connecting line between depression and heart disease, making the link Exhibit A in the modern compendium of mind-body connections.
But that research has yet to explain the connection. And it has yet to convince many cardiologists that depression care could be a tool in preventing and treating heart disease.
"That you can die of a broken heart isn't a new idea. But unfortunately, the idea is much more complex than any of us expected," says Dr. Alexander Glassman, a psychiatrist with the New York Psychiatric Institute.
Complex, yes. But the bond between heart disease and depression is also undeniable.
People who have had episodes of depression are roughly twice as likely as those with no such history to develop cardiovascular disease in their lifetimes — making depression a more powerful predictor of heart disease than high blood pressure, elevated cholesterol readings, a history of smoking or diabetes.
After a heart attack, surgery to clear blocked arteries or a diagnosis of heart failure, a person is three to four times more likely than a healthy peer to show signs of clinical depression. Those who show depressive symptoms in the weeks and months following a heart attack or an artery-clearing procedure are two to three times more likely than those who don't to die or have another cardiovascular "event" within a year. The more severe a patient's depression, the worse the prognosis.
The link is not lost on many seasoned cardiologists. Dr. Marc Penn of the Cleveland Clinic's Bakken Heart-Brain Institute says it's hard not to be pessimistic when he sees a patient with clear signs of depression. In such cases, it's a cardiologist's ethical obligation to ensure that a patient gets treated for depression, he adds — even though there's no proof that such treatment will improve the outcome of his heart disease.
That lack of proof is only one of the puzzles. Many central questions remain: Which affliction comes first, and does one cause the other? Or do the two spring from some common source?
Could early depression treatment head off development of heart disease in the first place — or could better management of cardiac risks prevent depression?
And why, when the connection between the two seems so clear, would anyone tend to the heart and not the mind?
For busy cardiologists, these uncertainties pose a dilemma. In 2008, the American Heart Assn. called for routine depression screening of heart patients. Three years on, many remain wary of the value of doing so.
"When the rubber hits the road in cardiology clinics, routine screening [for depression] is hard," says Dr. Jeffery Huffman, a Harvard University psychiatrist and researcher who consults with heart patients admitted to Massachusetts General Hospital. The questions eat up time, he says — and then, if a patient says he or she is depressed, what next? Few heart specialists have developed close working relationships with mental health professionals, Huffman says, and patients — already overwhelmed with their heart troubles — are often resistant to going.
The hurdles are both medical and cultural.
Treating an ailing heart is no medical walk in the park, but treating depression is a thicket of murk and uncertainty by comparison. The well-charted sinews, electrical currents and hydraulic dynamics of the heart lend themselves to clean diagnoses, straightforward treatments and clear measures of whether treatment has worked.
Depression, by contrast, is shrouded in social stigma, difficult to assess, tricky and time-consuming to treat, and in as many as half of patients, remarkably stubborn. It's an awkward subject for physicians more comfortable explaining QT intervals and ejection fractions than inquiring about feelings of worthlessness or guilt.
Physicians "are frequently timid about assessing emotional problems," wrote UC San Diego psychiatrist Joel E. Dimsdale in the American Journal of Cardiology in June, while commenting on two finding that early anxiety is strongly linked to later heart problems. "It is odd that we thread catheters, ablate lesions, and give rectal exams but are uncomfortable asking patients about their lives."
The fact that there is scant evidence that treating the depression will help the patient's heart only adds to doctors' reluctance to probe their patients' psyches. The American Heart Assn.'s 2008 advisory concluded that patients with heart disease should routinely be screened for depressive symptoms, that a relatively new generation of antidepressants, the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), are safe for use in this patient population, and that antidepressant use can increase a patient's willingness to make recommended lifestyle changes and to stay on medications aimed at reducing the odds of further damage to the heart.
But that was as far as the statement could go, says Glassman, who coauthored the guidelines. Trials in which depressed heart patients got treatment — medication, psychotherapy, exercise regimes or stress-reduction techniques — have improved patients' cardiac outcomes anywhere between modestly to not at all.
Only one study, published in 2005, has found more than modest evidence that treating depression might improve a heart patient's prognosis. Among depressed heart attack patients who took SSRI antidepressants following their hospitalization, the likelihood of dying or having another heart attack dropped 43% over a 21/2 -year period compared to those who had not been treated with SSRIs. But that study allowed patients and their physicians to choose whether they got the drugs — a shortcoming that limits the strength of the finding, Glassman says. (Several trials are now underway to explore whether depression treatments, when they're successful, can improve heart patients' prognoses.)
Increasingly too, researchers are looking for deeper physiological connections. As they do so, they're finding that the early harbingers of heart disease — measures such as inflammation, platelet aggregation in the blood and endothelial function — also play a role in depression, suggesting the two may have a common root.
These studies focus on a measure of overall wellness called "good autonomic tone" — a state in which a patient's stress hormones are properly regulated, his heartbeat shows small variations and his blood vessels expand and contract properly in response to changes in blood flow. Increasingly, researchers are recognizing that when autonomic tone is out of whack, inflammation increases. Heart function suffers. And so does mood.
"The physiology is becoming better understood," says Penn. "We're starting to put the whole package together and really understand" some of the heart-depression links. As this research proceeds, he says, physicians may learn better ways to head off heart disease and depression before they take hold — or to limit the collateral damage once one of the two has planted its flag.
Other researchers view the connection more simply: that the sadness, low energy, poor sleep, anxiety and guilt that come with depression make us less likely to get out and exercise, more likely to engage in unhealthy behaviors such as smoking and drug and alcohol abuse, and more resistant to staying on medications prescribed by doctors.
The result: Depressive behavior makes heart disease more likely; and once heart disease sets in, depression continues to cast a long shadow, making a patient less hopeful and engaged in her recovery, and thus, more likely to succumb.
That finding emerged strongly from a three-year study called "Heart and Soul," published in 2008. Its lead author said she was completely surprised by the findings — that depressive behaviors, including poor diet, lack of exercise, fitful compliance with medication schedules and doctor appointments, trumped a raft of physiologic measures in predicting a patient's subsequent heart disease.
"I was absolutely floored at how strong an effect the health behaviors had, and how relatively little effect these biological factors had," said Dr. Mary Whooley, a UC San Francisco epidemiologist.
The message from "Heart and Soul," says Whooley, is both simple and humbling. Patients should get treatment for their depression because it saps them of the energy and will they need to keep their hearts healthy or help them heal, says Whooley. And physicians should brace for frequent failure in their efforts to save patients from their unhealthy habits.
"As physicians, we're always saying to patients, 'You should lose weight and exercise,' but it really doesn't go very far," Whooley says. "It's so difficult to change behaviors."
I can agree/relate to some of what you said, but, when you provide crass generalizations and attach blame to a particular entity, ie. the left-wing, then your extremist viewpoint gets the better of you. Food, you are better than that. You are more compassionate than that. Just to balance you out, why does the Right seem to have this indulgent sense of entitlement and wealth preservation? It's not good enough that they may make 1000+% more what their much-needed employees make (without which, they would not be successful)? Do they intrinsically deserve the 2nd and 3rd home; the 3 or 4 cars; the nicest, priciest knick knacks and accessories to assert their feeling of power and self-worth? Talk about extreme and self-serving. I agree that some unions have gotten fat and indulgent in their own right, and that must be dealt with also, but they were created for a very real reason: To protect the workers from their employers. If the last 13 years is any indication, this is as relevant as ever. Nobody is looking out for the middle-class, not business owners, not executives, and not politicians. This particular group, the middle class, is the bread and butter of our society, yet, they suffer the most from current policies and economic manipulation--too fairly compensated to receive aid, but too strapped to live comfortably, and getting worse every day. The capitalistic system is rooted in corruption, and there doesn't appear to be a reasonable approach to straighten it out. Hell, the perpetual denial that the system is broken, tells us we have not even begun to acknowledge that battle, let alone fight it. Government may be too big, but they are also too lax on corporate regulation, and the corporation are all too willing to exploit the loopholes, relationships (lobbyists), and indeed, their fellow man, who works equally as hard (if not harder) to make a living and raise a family.
Let me give you an example of the distorted mentality you carry. In the old days of professional sports, who made the money? It was the owners. They hoarded the revenues derived from an ever-growing fan base and paid the players very little. Players began to get smart: they realized the owners were looking out for themselves, and thus decided they needed representation (in the form of agents and lawyers). Maybe it was the agents or lawyers who approached them--the talent--but that is irrelevant. Now the players are well compensated, the owners still well compensated, and the regular joe must pay the price, literally. Okay, they don't have to pay--they choose to--but either way, the consumer gets drawn into a lifestyle that continues to cost more and more, so those at the top can continue to make more and more, thus leaving the dominant consumers (the middle class) with less and less. Eventually this will peak, and we will all suffer indiscriminately. It should have happened already, but we didn't want to face the consequences naturally, hence, the bail out for the rich, the very culprits who orchestrated this fraud. Two massive investment and consumer bubbles in 8 years...phenomenal. Or is it? Not really, when you consider the degree of intervention, manipulation, and deception that comprises our economic and political system now. There are very few innocent parties, but the least culpable and most negatively affected are the middle class, the bread and butter of our society. They are also overwhelmingly moderate, unlike the talking heads, which garner so much of the media attention on both sides, as if we are either for them or against them, unwaveringly. The real losers are the ones who unequivocally attach themselves to one mindset or another, like the talking heads, politicians, right-wing, left-wing, etc. They are not the majority of us, yet that is the image that is being broadcast here and abroad. It's absurd.
The middle class and the moderates are the true players in this society, yet their voices are muted by the elite--the politicians, the talking heads, and the corporate leader's/executives. The disconnect/disparity is strong and getting stronger. I'm not sure how things will transpire, but "the times they are a changin'."
The more general point this finding raises is that the world isn't standing still. Corx is.
Some may say "timing is everything," and sometimes that may be true. But I agree with you enemem, in this instance, "time" is everything.
Recently on this board, there was an assessment regarding the timing of the SA study results. It was suggested that we can't be sure if it would have been more beneficial to have had the results ready last year, presently, or next year. This was a based on the machinations/trends of the pharmaceutical industry and the dearth/breadth of investment capital available.
Inputting Cortex into this generalization is a rather amateurish, yet predictable, approach by the apologists. It is the amateurish part that took me by surprise, as passing the buck has been the modus operandi all along.
As someone else pointed out recently (it may have been you, enemem): Cortex can't seem to get out of their own way. All signs point to the need for quality in mngmnt...
Sounds to me like the Gov is trying to ram a one-sided bill through, which has far reaching implications for the future of workers rights. The concern is not about pay cuts or dishing out a higher portion of health care premiums--the workers have made concessions after negotiations from budget shortages following the nation destroying Bush era--this is about fighting for their right to not get reamed for generations to come (ie., repealing collective bargaining). Is the Gov. making efforts to bring down health care premiums with insurance companies?--not if he is asking the people to pay higher premiums. Is the Gov negotiating a bill which could be arguably agreed upon by both sides?--not given the 4 day life span of the measure. Is he proposing to increase or decrease corporate tax credits for the larger organizations in the state?--I'm guessing the former. I believe the people have this one right, and are exercising their rights, through peaceful demonstrations. Good for them!
Ombow--My wife has been a teacher for 7 years and she makes about 37k. I believe she started at 34k and there has been a salary freeze for 3 years or so, even though the contract called for structured salary increases. She gets free health care for herself, but the family plan is extremely expensive (maybe $800 per mo.), so we use mine. I find her poor family med plan to be quite odd, as this school district employs some 35k people and is perhaps the 5th largest district in the nation. You would think with that many representatives, they would have more leverage in negotiating a reasonable family health plan. She has about 7 weeks off a year. She works with many dedicated teachers who put in more time and contribute their own personal finances (supplies, rewards) towards teaching. Yes, there are a few who consciously make very little effort and are ineffective teachers. These are the exception. The latter group tend to be older, and either cynical or disengaged to the profession and students, yet they are protected by the system, and are just selfishly waiting out their time to retire--and getting paid/overpaid to do it.
However, none of this even scratches the surface of the crux of the problems regarding government and public service; The real problem is the systemic abuse of power within these groups (the school boards and governments). South Florida, on both accounts, is particularly bad.
Born addicted: Number of Florida newborns treated for drug withdrawal is skyrocketing
By Amy Pavuk and Tonya Alanez 4:33 p.m. EST, February 12, 2011
Florida's prescription drug epidemic, already responsible for nearly seven deaths a day, is taking its toll on the youngest, most vulnerable in our communities: newborns.
In 2009, nearly 1,000 babies born in Florida hospitals were treated for drug withdrawal syndrome. They're irritable. They don't eat well. They can spend days, even weeks, detoxing.
And the number is skyrocketing.
Janet Colbert, a registered nurse in a neonatal intensive care unit at a Broward County hospital, witnesses with alarming frequency the heartbreaking physical trauma these newborns endure.
"I kept seeing the torture these babies are going through," said Colbert, 59, of Dania Beach. "This one baby, he couldn't even feed. He was screaming, his face was just quivering so badly he couldn't even get his face around the nipple to feed — and I just said I have to do something."
Last spring, Colbert and two other women, also healthcare professionals, founded the STOPP Now organization (Stop the Organized Pull Pushers). They stage monthly protests at certain Broward County pain clinics they consider to be pill mills doling out excessive quantities of narcotic painkillers.
From 2006 to 2009, there was a 173 percent increase in newborns treated at Florida hospitals for drug withdrawal syndrome, according to Agency of Health Care Administration records obtained by the Orlando Sentinel.
The most recent data show no signs of a slowdown. During the first half of 2010, 635 cases were reported.
While the state records don't specify which narcotics those babies tested positive for, South and Central Florida doctors say a majority of the withdrawal cases involve prescription drugs.
"We see them here almost daily," said Dr. Matthew Seibel, a pediatric hospitalist at Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children and Winnie Palmer Hospital for Women & Babies. "It is standard operating procedure around here, unfortunately."
Infants suffer
It used to be that infants born with drug withdrawal symptoms were more likely to be suffering from a crack cocaine addiction.
But doctors, nurses and social workers say cases of "crack babies" are dwindling, while cases of prescription drug dependence are becoming more prevalent.
Colbert, the nurse, said more often than not the babies at her hospital are testing positive for oxycodone and other prescription drugs.
Former state Sen. Dave Aronberg, a Palm Beach County attorney now leading Attorney General Pam Bondi's new anti-pill mill initiative, called the newborn drug withdrawal statistics "horrifying."
"Prescription drug abuse has become the number one public safety threat to Florida," he said.
State child-welfare officials in Central Florida have taken notice of the surge. The problem was escalating so much in Orange County that in 2008, the local Department of Children and Families office reinstituted its Drug Dependent Newborn unit. It's the only DCF unit in the state dedicated to serving newborns dependent on drugs.
Last year, the unit received 206 cases.
In South Florida, all the hospitals with delivery rooms see babies born addicted to painkillers, nurses said. Fifty-five were born addicted to some substance — the state doesn't break out painkillers — in the first half of last year in Broward and Palm Beach counties, up sharply from 29 in all of 2006, state figures show.
From her experience, Colbert said, those numbers sound low. That may be because some doctors classify cases as maternal drug abuse rather than neonatal drug abuse, she said.
Hospitals prefer to keep addicted babies for at least four weeks to gradually wean them off drugs, rather than send them home to detox, said registered nurse Mary Osuch, manager of the neonatal intensive care unit at Broward General Medical Center in Fort Lauderdale.
"If we don't intervene, they are more vulnerable to child abuse because they are inconsolable and the parents can't take it after a while," Osuch said.
The drugs steal their appetites and cause stomach cramps. When the babies do eat, they get diarrhea. They don't rest well. And they are irritable all the time, Osuch said.
"It's so hard to watch them," Osuch said. "You can't console them."
Typically, NICU doctors give addicted babies the sedative phenobarbital to ease the withdrawal, Osuch said. If that doesn't work, they use methadone or even morphine. Over days or weeks, they reduce the dosage until the baby is drug free and eating and sleeping normally.
Mothers are steered toward parenting classes, counseling and assistance with scheduling doctors appointments and follow-up care for the newborn.
Mores seek treatment
At the Center for Drug Free Living's Addictions Receiving Facility near downtown Orlando, the number of people being treated for prescription drug abuse — including pregnant women — is on the rise.
Doctors have treated pregnant women with methadone, often prescribed in place of oxycodone for pain management, since the 1960s.
That method still stands today, because women who abuse drugs like oxycodone cannot go cold-turkey while they are pregnant. Doctors say it's too stressful on the mother's body, which imposes stress on the developing baby.
Doctors would rather have a steady level of methadone in the developing baby than a mother who takes other drugs, explained Dr. Stacy E. Seikel, medical director at the center.
"When the mother is in withdrawal, the baby is in withdrawal," she said. "If the baby is in and out of withdrawal the entire pregnancy … the baby can't grow and mature well."
'Prescription nation'
Officials say the increase in drug-dependent newborns is further evidence of Florida's — and the nation's — growing use of prescription drugs.
Drug addicts and dealers from northern states, dubbed "pillbillies," travel to Florida, where a plethora of pain clinic doctors are willing to dole out addictive, powerful painkillers and sedatives like oxycodone and alprazolam.
From October 2008 to March 2009, 49 of the nation's top 50 dispensing doctors of oxycodone were in Florida, with the majority concentrated in Broward and Palm Beach counties, a grand jury reported. And according to one national study, the use of prescription pain medication increased 400 percent from 1998 to 2008.
Colbert, the neonatal nurse, says every time she tries to comfort yet another inconsolable newborn through withdrawals, she wonders why politicians allow the abuse to continue.
"It's like a side effect no one's seeing," she said. "Every time we admit another baby like this, I wonder, why isn't somebody doing something about this."
Sen. Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey, who has been a state leader in the pill mill fight, said he was unaware of this aspect of the prescription drug scourge.
"You don't realize how there's that trickle-down effect," Fasano said. "This is another perfect example of why we have to address this crisis in Florida, this epidemic."
Sun Sentinel staff writer Bob LaMendola contributed to this report.
If you are right, I have no doubt that BP is colluding with them:
Born addicted: Number of Florida newborns treated for drug withdrawal is skyrocketing
By Amy Pavuk and Tonya Alanez 4:33 p.m. EST, February 12, 2011
Florida's prescription drug epidemic, already responsible for nearly seven deaths a day, is taking its toll on the youngest, most vulnerable in our communities: newborns.
In 2009, nearly 1,000 babies born in Florida hospitals were treated for drug withdrawal syndrome. They're irritable. They don't eat well. They can spend days, even weeks, detoxing.
And the number is skyrocketing.
Janet Colbert, a registered nurse in a neonatal intensive care unit at a Broward County hospital, witnesses with alarming frequency the heartbreaking physical trauma these newborns endure.
"I kept seeing the torture these babies are going through," said Colbert, 59, of Dania Beach. "This one baby, he couldn't even feed. He was screaming, his face was just quivering so badly he couldn't even get his face around the nipple to feed — and I just said I have to do something."
Last spring, Colbert and two other women, also healthcare professionals, founded the STOPP Now organization (Stop the Organized Pull Pushers). They stage monthly protests at certain Broward County pain clinics they consider to be pill mills doling out excessive quantities of narcotic painkillers.
From 2006 to 2009, there was a 173 percent increase in newborns treated at Florida hospitals for drug withdrawal syndrome, according to Agency of Health Care Administration records obtained by the Orlando Sentinel.
The most recent data show no signs of a slowdown. During the first half of 2010, 635 cases were reported.
While the state records don't specify which narcotics those babies tested positive for, South and Central Florida doctors say a majority of the withdrawal cases involve prescription drugs.
"We see them here almost daily," said Dr. Matthew Seibel, a pediatric hospitalist at Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children and Winnie Palmer Hospital for Women & Babies. "It is standard operating procedure around here, unfortunately."
Infants suffer
It used to be that infants born with drug withdrawal symptoms were more likely to be suffering from a crack cocaine addiction.
But doctors, nurses and social workers say cases of "crack babies" are dwindling, while cases of prescription drug dependence are becoming more prevalent.
Colbert, the nurse, said more often than not the babies at her hospital are testing positive for oxycodone and other prescription drugs.
Former state Sen. Dave Aronberg, a Palm Beach County attorney now leading Attorney General Pam Bondi's new anti-pill mill initiative, called the newborn drug withdrawal statistics "horrifying."
"Prescription drug abuse has become the number one public safety threat to Florida," he said.
State child-welfare officials in Central Florida have taken notice of the surge. The problem was escalating so much in Orange County that in 2008, the local Department of Children and Families office reinstituted its Drug Dependent Newborn unit. It's the only DCF unit in the state dedicated to serving newborns dependent on drugs.
Last year, the unit received 206 cases.
In South Florida, all the hospitals with delivery rooms see babies born addicted to painkillers, nurses said. Fifty-five were born addicted to some substance — the state doesn't break out painkillers — in the first half of last year in Broward and Palm Beach counties, up sharply from 29 in all of 2006, state figures show.
From her experience, Colbert said, those numbers sound low. That may be because some doctors classify cases as maternal drug abuse rather than neonatal drug abuse, she said.
Hospitals prefer to keep addicted babies for at least four weeks to gradually wean them off drugs, rather than send them home to detox, said registered nurse Mary Osuch, manager of the neonatal intensive care unit at Broward General Medical Center in Fort Lauderdale.
"If we don't intervene, they are more vulnerable to child abuse because they are inconsolable and the parents can't take it after a while," Osuch said.
The drugs steal their appetites and cause stomach cramps. When the babies do eat, they get diarrhea. They don't rest well. And they are irritable all the time, Osuch said.
"It's so hard to watch them," Osuch said. "You can't console them."
Typically, NICU doctors give addicted babies the sedative phenobarbital to ease the withdrawal, Osuch said. If that doesn't work, they use methadone or even morphine. Over days or weeks, they reduce the dosage until the baby is drug free and eating and sleeping normally.
Mothers are steered toward parenting classes, counseling and assistance with scheduling doctors appointments and follow-up care for the newborn.
Mores seek treatment
At the Center for Drug Free Living's Addictions Receiving Facility near downtown Orlando, the number of people being treated for prescription drug abuse — including pregnant women — is on the rise.
Doctors have treated pregnant women with methadone, often prescribed in place of oxycodone for pain management, since the 1960s.
That method still stands today, because women who abuse drugs like oxycodone cannot go cold-turkey while they are pregnant. Doctors say it's too stressful on the mother's body, which imposes stress on the developing baby.
Doctors would rather have a steady level of methadone in the developing baby than a mother who takes other drugs, explained Dr. Stacy E. Seikel, medical director at the center.
"When the mother is in withdrawal, the baby is in withdrawal," she said. "If the baby is in and out of withdrawal the entire pregnancy … the baby can't grow and mature well."
'Prescription nation'
Officials say the increase in drug-dependent newborns is further evidence of Florida's — and the nation's — growing use of prescription drugs.
Drug addicts and dealers from northern states, dubbed "pillbillies," travel to Florida, where a plethora of pain clinic doctors are willing to dole out addictive, powerful painkillers and sedatives like oxycodone and alprazolam.
From October 2008 to March 2009, 49 of the nation's top 50 dispensing doctors of oxycodone were in Florida, with the majority concentrated in Broward and Palm Beach counties, a grand jury reported. And according to one national study, the use of prescription pain medication increased 400 percent from 1998 to 2008.
Colbert, the neonatal nurse, says every time she tries to comfort yet another inconsolable newborn through withdrawals, she wonders why politicians allow the abuse to continue.
"It's like a side effect no one's seeing," she said. "Every time we admit another baby like this, I wonder, why isn't somebody doing something about this."
Sen. Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey, who has been a state leader in the pill mill fight, said he was unaware of this aspect of the prescription drug scourge.
"You don't realize how there's that trickle-down effect," Fasano said. "This is another perfect example of why we have to address this crisis in Florida, this epidemic."
Sun Sentinel staff writer Bob LaMendola contributed to this report.
That's not necessarily a bad thing: We've embarrassed ourselves regularly in the last decade. If there is a globalist strategy, I say, let them have a crack at it. Clearly, we let greed and power destroy us...
U of T researchers discover asphyxia trigger in opioid poisoning Posted on January 26, 2011
TORONTO, ON – Researchers at the University of Toronto have discovered a new way to combat asphyxiation caused by opioid poisoning, by “rescuing” a part of the brain which controls breathing. Having determined the mechanism of action of opiate suppression of breathing, the effectiveness of a commonly-used drug like naloxone provides a target for further drug development.
In a paper published today in the Journal of Neuroscience, a team including researchers from the University of Toronto and the University of Alberta, say they have identified a potential means to combat the growing problem of opioid poisoning resulting in asphyxia.
Opiates are among the oldest known drugs in the world, with recognition of their beneficial effects (especially the analgesic – painkilling – properties) and therapeutic use predating recorded history. Throughout the centuries, however, the dark side to these drugs has also been well recognized: opioid drugs have addictive potential and they have toxic side effects. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, opioid analgesics are involved in about 40% of all poisoning deaths in North America. Deaths related to opioid drugs are increasing in Canada. In 2009, the Canadian Medical Association Journal reported that in Ontario, there has been a two-fold increase in opioid-related deaths over the last 16 years, since the introduction of long-acting oxycodone to the provincial drug formulary.
“Asphyxia caused by severe under-breathing and ‘respiratory arrest’ is the most serious side effect produced by opioids. For centuries however, the critical site in the brain where opioid drugs critically affect breathing was not known,” said Prof. Richard Horner, of the Department of Medicine, Department of Physiology and the Canada Research Chair in Sleep and Respiratory Neurobiology.
In the article, entitled “Pre-Bötzinger complex neurokinin-1 receptor-expressing neurons mediate opioid-induced respiratory depression,” Prof. Horner with Gaspard Montandon and their colleagues determined that a small collection of cells within the medulla oblongata – the section of the brain which controls vital bodily functions – is critical for maintaining breathing, but also sensitive to opioids. This region, known as the pre-Bötzinger Complex, can trigger asphyxia under the influence of opioids.
The cells in this region of the medulla oblongata that are affected by opioids have a chemical constitution that is distinct from other cells in this region. The goal is to specifically target these cells to reactivate them in the presence of opioids. Such a strategy would preserve the beneficial painkilling properties of these drugs but prevent the potentially lethal side effect of respiratory arrest.
“The good news is our research demonstrated that the respiratory distress can be rescued by the introduction of the drug naloxone, which reverses the effects of opioids,” Prof. Horner says.“These findings are essential to develop new pharmacological approaches to prevent life-threatening respiratory depression, without reducing the beneficial analgesic properties of opioid drugs.”
Collaborating Teams: University of Toronto: Gaspard Montandon, Richard Horner, Hattie Liu University of Alberta: Wuxuan Qin, Jun Ren, John Greer
Funding for this Research: Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) to Richard L. Horner; Ontario Thoracic Society, Canadian Lung Association to Richard L. Horner; Ontario Thoracic Society, Canadian Lung Association Fellowship to Gaspard Montandon; Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) to John J. Greer.
Sparky-The 'new guy' has been at the helm for 2 1/2 yrs. Varney is pulling buckshot out of his ass because the idiot in the back (in Dick Cheney fashion) accidently pulled the trigger-lol. I really wish he would take his Delcath and Chelsea gains and skeddadle, he's invoked enough harm since the presence of the anomaly that led to the artifact.
Yep, Sparky, better late than never, and, you gotta be in it to win it...there's no 'I' in 'team' (although there's an 'm' and 'e.')...the squeaky wheel gets the oil...
Ps. These guys get paid a lot of money to just 'show up."
More Cortex related--If you're early, you're on time; if you're on time, you're late; if you're late, your dead (or fired if you prefer)!
I think some of us have been looking for someone to blame, rather then something
Who needs to look around when we are staring right at them? This is the price they pay for incompetence, or ineffective methodology, or just downright bad luck or depressed atmosphere. Others see it also; they just don't smell it, even though it's right under their nose. Something clearly isn't working, and hasn't been for many years. Sure, it's been a series of things/causes/reasons/excuses for year over year weakness, but management has been a constant--at the center of this spiral. There have been no shortage of positive scientific announcements, so what's the problem? We've been a constant also, but clearly we don't effectuate change at the company (at least not the majority of us). Maybe a new mgmt team won't save the company, maybe this team can at some point, but it is excruciating watching it unfold. Enemem and Blatch know what I mean. So I have a unique way of projecting this, I mean no harm (although I can punish erratically).
I don't think the A-team is playing paper toss all day long. I don't think they are doing nothing, playing golf, or acting out some other repulsive or questionable behavior (booze, broads and gambling-other than for the SuperBowl). I believe there are plenty of arcane functions to perform, much of it revolving around scientific findings (patents, study data/analysis, etc), some modest amount of funding solicitations and follow-ups perhaps, and FDA submittals. I'm sure there are plenty of mundane procedures at the job--that's the problem--they need to bring this thing back to life. They need to get on their knees (and beg...sickos); step out of their shell (ie, alter their approach); forge new relationships (MJFF was a teasing start); befriend, befriend, befriend. They are in a wavering position which requires them to step out of --or share--their sandbox. They appear strategically bankrupt--whether it is true or not, it doesn't matter, that is what the market has been telling us. Perception is reality. I too am hopeful for the science, but doubtful mgmnt has it in them to sweep us confidently in the other direction. The pendulum ain't got no swing! This could be a Titan, where we dwindle down to a penny and change, only to be saved in the final hour by some surreal finding or announcement...wake up fool! I must have been dreaming. I don't think I could ride this stock down that low, although we just might get stuck with the bag by the time we decide to s...
Ombow-The Lord giveth, and the self-important censors taketh away. I, I, I...Oh freedom of expression where art thou? The pussification of America alive and well on the Corx board. One wouldn't think this esoteric dialogue would be important enough to be denied a lasting but relatively quiet existence, but one would be sadly mistaken...
Ombow--I'd prefer God save his miracles for situations that benefit considerably more creatures :)
Ps. You are right though, they could conceivably enter into a partnership before the [ADHD] study commences (as was hinted by MV) in e-mails, but I wouldn't hold my breath (it could amount to suicide). I think the last significant 'partnership' Cortex unveiled was before my time (Servier?), so, do you feel lucky? Do you? I know I don't, but I hope I'm wrong :)
Reflecting on the past year--the bittersweet reality:
March 29th, 2010, Neuro:
An ADHD partnership in the next 18-24 months trumps royalties in six or seven years so far as impact on Cortex's valuation is concerned.
My response on April 1st, 2010 (no foolin'):
an ADHD partnership in 18-24 months is, by and far, a joke. That is based on everything we have witnessed in the past. With the same leadership, we are destined to remain on the same slow course to achieve...most everything. Don't forget that we will need a financing anyway to get to the ADHD PhIIa finish line (and if we can complete the trial without further financing by some miracle, it will be said that a financing will be needed for leverage in negotiations, blah, blah, blah)
Neuro's successive comments on April 1st (April fool?):
...an ADHD partnership in 2011--provided that they show good results in Phase IIa
My reply:
Your unrealistic timeline (only the most naïve of us would anticipate such a near term target of 2011) on an ADHD deal is a perfect example of what I am attempting to convey.
Gfp's reply to me:
Haysaw, H-2 2011 is a realistic timeline for inking an ADHD deal, assuming it takes 12 months to complete the trial, and the trial starts in Summer 2010
Get Moving—Walking Enlarges Hippocampus, Preserves Memory in Seniors
4 February 2011. Listen up, seniors. In a randomized trial of 120 of your sedentary peers, 40 minutes of walking, three times a week for a year, brought measurable benefit in the form of bigger brains and improved spatial memory. “To get such dramatic results from a few hours a week was somewhat surprising,” said senior investigator Arthur Kramer of the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, in an interview with ARF. He and colleagues reported the findings online January 31 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA. Plenty of research suggests that physical activity is good for the mind. Prior studies of older adults correlated regular exercise with reduced dementia risk (Larson et al., 2006). Investigations by first author Kirk Erickson, University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, linked aerobic fitness to bigger hippocampi (Erickson et al., 2009) and showed, longitudinally, that walking prevents gray matter loss (Erickson et al., 2010 and ARF related news story).
Randomized trials on the benefits of physical activity are rare, though, as it is hard to get people to stick to a specific exercise regimen (McCurry et al., 2010). One such study on seniors with subjective memory complaints did have promising findings—six months of moderate exercise led to modest improvements on the Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Scale-Cognitive Subscale (ADAS-cog), measured at 18 months (Lautenschlager et al., 2008 and ARF related news story). The current study, another randomized trial of dementia-free seniors, offers “much more concrete proof” for the idea that exercise helps the brain, said Eric Larson of Group Health Research Institute in Seattle, Washington. “It looked at a biologic endpoint—the size of the part of the brain most important for memory, and one of the parts most affected by dementia”—i.e., the hippocampus.
Collaborating with researchers at Ohio State University in Columbus and Rice University in Houston, Texas, Kramer and Erickson analyzed 120 older adults (average age: 66.5 years) randomized to one year of moderate-intensity walking, or stretching and toning exercises as a control, three times a week. The groups began the study with comparable hippocampal volumes, assessed by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and had similar attendance rates. Participants had brain scans, as well as fitness and memory assessments, at baseline, six months, and after the 12-month intervention.
Consistent with the expected 1 to 2 percent annual hippocampal loss in dementia-free seniors (Raz et al., 2005), the control group lost about 1.4 percent volume in this brain region by the end of the 12-month trial. In contrast, the hippocampi of the walkers grew roughly 2 percent. The benefit seemed specific to the anterior part of this brain structure, which mediates acquisition of spatial memory. Similar effects did not appear in the thalamus, caudate nucleus, or posterior hippocampus.
By measuring changes in the participants’ maximal oxygen consumption, the researchers determined that the intervention succeeded in raising aerobic fitness levels, and that larger fitness boosts correlated with greater hippocampal growth. Furthermore, the team found that, within the control group, people with higher baseline fitness levels had less hippocampal shrinkage than those who were less fit, suggesting that fitness protects against loss of brain tissue.
How fitness and hippocampal size correlated with cognition was somewhat nuanced. By the end of the study, the exercise and stretching control groups both showed slight improvement in accuracy and reaction times on a spatial memory task. However, those with better aerobic fitness at baseline and 12 months had better memory performance, as did participants who started or ended the study with larger hippocampi.
To explore possible mechanisms underlying these changes, the authors looked at serum levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in blood collected from participants at baseline and 12 months. People who exercise more have higher levels of hippocampal BDNF (Cotman and Berchtold, 2002; Neeper et al., 1995), and increased serum BDNF levels have been correlated with larger hippocampi and better memory performance (Erickson et al., 2010 and ARF related news story). In the present study, greater elevations in serum BDNF were linked to greater gains in hippocampal volume.
All told, the study “attempted to tie together changes in anatomy with changes in blood chemistry with changes in cognition, in a brain region with a pretty well-defined function (episodic memory),” Kramer said.
Among the lifestyle factors proposed to affect cognitive impairment and AD, “the evidence is most persuasive for physical exercise,” commented Ron Petersen of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, in an e-mail to ARF. “This study supports that contention and lends some anatomical, biomarker support for this position.” In response to the recent declaration by a National Institutes of Health (NIH) expert panel that there is no strong evidence that anything helps prevent AD, some scientists stressed that people should make lifestyle choices that include physical exercise (see ARF related news story).
Of note, participants in the present study had fairly poor cardiovascular fitness and were asked, in the exercise group, to “walk to 60 percent of their maximal heart rate,” Larson said. “This is stuff anybody could do. You’re not getting winded by this level of exercise.”—Esther Landhuis.
Reference: Erickson KI, Voss MW, Prakash RS, Basak C, Szabo A, Chaddock L, Kim JS, Heo S, Alves H, White SM, Wojcicki TR, Mailey E, Vieira VJ, Martin SA, Pence BD, Woods JA, McAuley E, Kramer AF. Exercise training increases size of hippocampus and improves memory
Look at the bright side, Blatch, at least you are aware of the problem. Overcoming denial is half the battle. Give yourself some credit--most haven't even taken the first big step towards this 'awareness' yet :)
I really hate the biotech sector. Blue chips like cat, gpc, jci,are the only way to go.
Now for the obvious question: Why are you here?
Don't forget about the other blue chips--AIG, Citibank, Lehman, Smith Barney, GM, Chrysler, Fannie, Enron...just to name a few. Speaking of Enron, you hear about Skilling's 20 yr old son possibly committing suicide/OD'ing on prescription med's? Wonder if his dad's exploits put some undue emotional/psychological strain on him? Didn't Madoff's son take his life recently also? Sorry, I digress...
I'll bet I could name quite a few explosive biotechs at the other end of the spectrum also. My point is: You can't always generalize in these situations, this debacle goes far beyond simplifying it as the biotech sector; there are many, many biotech's that, while not multi-baggers, are not nearly as dismal either--especially when presented with reasonably good study data...
Ps. You know who else hasn't given up? Stoll and Varney. One thing I've learned in life--and I'm a fighter--sometimes it makes good sense to give up. That time has come for mgnmnt.
I agree with you on the conference call--it is too premature to host one. On the other hand, they gave us no indication of what they plan to do moving forward, and that is in stark contrast to previous news releases following study results. Take, for instance, the last sections of the press release following the second RD study completion results:
"...We are now extending our preclinical studies to determine whether AMPAKINE molecules can help the breathing problems in prematurely born babies and in adults with sleep apnea. This has been, and continues to be, an extremely productive collaboration with Cortex that is resulting in the translation of our basic scientific discoveries to clinical applications.”
Cortex plans to continue the development of AMPAKINE compounds in opioid-induced RD. An intravenous dosage form of CX717 is being finalized, and a follow-on compound, CX1942, a water soluble pro-drug of a novel AMPAKINE compound with improved potency over CX717, will shortly enter preclinical development for RD. Additionally, a novel AMPAKINE molecule, CX1739, is currently in Phase I clinical trials and is targeted to begin Phase II clinical trials for ADHD in Q2 2009.
Perhaps shareholders aren't the only ones clueless as to where we go from here, or if they have a good strategy moving forward, they were too thoughtless to share. I'm with Patco on where we stand as shareholders.
I feel like the guy in the crying game. As much as you love cortex, it looks like it has a penis. Can't they come up with something for these drugs, like an OTC focus factor of sorts.
Interesting analogy :) I think I may have the real reason for the problems that plague Corx: They are developing memory enhancement drugs, however, all everyone wants to do is forget about the past--ie., erase the horrible memories of this investment. Once again, the irony prevails. Maybe they should reverse the drug formulas, for the more fitting, mind-erasing class of molecules...
I believe that was my last post for the day. Just as well, I'm through roasting these pigs.
Hope things turn around for us--the deeply victimized, self-tortured, and anxiety-stricken, loyal shareholders. Despite the painful experiences and lessons, I've enjoyed this forum immensely.
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