Marie Curie, The Mother of Physics
Many know Marie Curie won two Nobel Prizes, one in 1903 for Physics and the other in 1911 for Chemistry, but how many people know she was the mother of two children? The quandry of how women balance a research profession and motherhood is being tackled by Emily Monosson according to a report on the The American Astronomical Society website. Ms. Monosson is focusing on women, science, and family and has tentatively titled the book Motherhood: The Elelphant in the Laboratory.
An excerpt follows:
The aim of this book is to initiate a national discussion about science, work,
and motherhood, by highlighting the unique accomplishments and challenges of
women, as scientists and as mothers, with the ultimate goal of redefining the
concept of career scientist.
Scientists with families, particularly women with young children, find it
difficult to achieve a balance between work and family in these highly
competitive often male dominated fields. But many do. They work
part-time or full-time, they opt-out, and opt back-in, they become
entrepreneurs, they job share, they get creative.
If you are interested in contributing and would like more information or would
like the full proposal, please respond to:
emonossonverizon.net
Wednesday, October 18, 2006
Use of Marrow Stromal Cells for the Therapy of Heart Disease
Darwin Prockop, PhD, Department of Medicine and Center for Gene Therapy at Tulane University is one of several investigators working on animal models of cardiac diseases using marrow Stromal cells and other immortal cell lines.
Dr. Prockop's work focuses on injecting stromal cells into damaged myocardium. The cells differentiate into myocardial muscle instead of skeletal muscle.
Companies interested in this therapy should contact Doug Adams at
Drexel University's Entrepreneurship & Technology Commercialization Office. He can be reached at 215-895-0304.
For more information on cardiac treatments and stem cell research go to the latest issue of The Scientist.com
Darwin Prockop, PhD, Department of Medicine and Center for Gene Therapy at Tulane University is one of several investigators working on animal models of cardiac diseases using marrow Stromal cells and other immortal cell lines.
Dr. Prockop's work focuses on injecting stromal cells into damaged myocardium. The cells differentiate into myocardial muscle instead of skeletal muscle.
Companies interested in this therapy should contact Doug Adams at
Drexel University's Entrepreneurship & Technology Commercialization Office. He can be reached at 215-895-0304.
For more information on cardiac treatments and stem cell research go to the latest issue of The Scientist.com
Women, Heart to Heart
Female physicians at Penn Medicine dole out some thoughtful gems of advice on including themselves in their family's cardiac health equation.
"Women need to stop caring for all the members of their families for a few minutes and start caring for themselves. They need to know their risk factors for heart disease and take steps to reduce future risk. Heart disease kills women five times more than any cancer in the U.S."
Mariell Jessup, MD
Medical Director, Heart Failure & Transplant Program
Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania
"I often talk to women who insist that their husbands get evaluated, but they don’t apply the same standards to themselves. Women delay going to hospital, when having a heart attack, more than three hours more than men do. Women need to get to the emergency room quickly so that they're symptoms can be evaluated promptly.
"If I could tell my female patients one thing, it would be to stop smoking! The only young women I’ve seen with heart attacks are smokers."
-- Susan Wiegers, MD
Director, Clinical Echocardiography Laboratory
Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania
"A recent survey showed that a majority of women can not identify risk factors for heart disease or steps they can take to reduce their own risks. And many do not know their cholesterol levels, and have never discussed heart disease with their doctors. This illustrates the enormous treatment gap that results in premature strokes, heart attacks, heart failure, and death. Both health care providers and patients need to close this gap with better education, awareness, and communication."
-- Laura Demopoulos, MD
Director, Women's Cardiovascular Health
Penn Medicine at Radnor
"Women don't realize how important heart disease is to their own health. There's a major disconnect between what women know about heart disease and what they actually do to prevent it. They don't pay attention to their symptoms or take preventive measures. Why aren't women talking about heart disease with their primary physicians? They are talking about breast cancer.
"Women are starting to understand that heart disease is important but they still aren't connecting it to themselves and taking the steps to prevent it. Think about your risk factors and take care of them before you end up in a cardiologist's office."
Ruchira Glaser, MD
Interventional Cardiologist
Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania
Female physicians at Penn Medicine dole out some thoughtful gems of advice on including themselves in their family's cardiac health equation.
"Women need to stop caring for all the members of their families for a few minutes and start caring for themselves. They need to know their risk factors for heart disease and take steps to reduce future risk. Heart disease kills women five times more than any cancer in the U.S."
Mariell Jessup, MD
Medical Director, Heart Failure & Transplant Program
Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania
"I often talk to women who insist that their husbands get evaluated, but they don’t apply the same standards to themselves. Women delay going to hospital, when having a heart attack, more than three hours more than men do. Women need to get to the emergency room quickly so that they're symptoms can be evaluated promptly.
"If I could tell my female patients one thing, it would be to stop smoking! The only young women I’ve seen with heart attacks are smokers."
-- Susan Wiegers, MD
Director, Clinical Echocardiography Laboratory
Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania
"A recent survey showed that a majority of women can not identify risk factors for heart disease or steps they can take to reduce their own risks. And many do not know their cholesterol levels, and have never discussed heart disease with their doctors. This illustrates the enormous treatment gap that results in premature strokes, heart attacks, heart failure, and death. Both health care providers and patients need to close this gap with better education, awareness, and communication."
-- Laura Demopoulos, MD
Director, Women's Cardiovascular Health
Penn Medicine at Radnor
"Women don't realize how important heart disease is to their own health. There's a major disconnect between what women know about heart disease and what they actually do to prevent it. They don't pay attention to their symptoms or take preventive measures. Why aren't women talking about heart disease with their primary physicians? They are talking about breast cancer.
"Women are starting to understand that heart disease is important but they still aren't connecting it to themselves and taking the steps to prevent it. Think about your risk factors and take care of them before you end up in a cardiologist's office."
Ruchira Glaser, MD
Interventional Cardiologist
Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania
Monday, November 07, 2005
WHAT TO BUY
China Medical Technologies, Inc. CMED 24.45 9.83% 383,567
Sell @ 24.64
Multi-Fineline Electronix, Inc. MFLX 34.4 N/A 538,540
Sell @ 34.64
Geac Computer Corporation Ltd GEAC 10.74 22.46% 1,319,095
Thoughts? Up too high at 2Pm for a profit
Internet Initiative Japan, Inc. IIJI 10.87 9.31% 2,155,565
Sell @ 10.95
U.S. Concrete, Inc. RMIX 7.00 9.37% 83,078
Sell @ 7.05
eSpeed, Inc. ESPD 7.89 8.67% 179,432
Dendreon Corporation DNDN 6.09 9.13% 1,580,497
Sell @ 6.14
China Medical Technologies, Inc. CMED 24.45 9.83% 383,567
Sell @ 24.64
Multi-Fineline Electronix, Inc. MFLX 34.4 N/A 538,540
Sell @ 34.64
Geac Computer Corporation Ltd GEAC 10.74 22.46% 1,319,095
Thoughts? Up too high at 2Pm for a profit
Internet Initiative Japan, Inc. IIJI 10.87 9.31% 2,155,565
Sell @ 10.95
U.S. Concrete, Inc. RMIX 7.00 9.37% 83,078
Sell @ 7.05
eSpeed, Inc. ESPD 7.89 8.67% 179,432
Dendreon Corporation DNDN 6.09 9.13% 1,580,497
Sell @ 6.14
Thursday, June 02, 2005
ECC Capital Corporation Completes $1.4 Billion Offering
ECC (NYSE: ECR), a mortgage finance real estate investment trust that originates and invests in residential mortgage loans, announced on PRNEWSWIRE.COM the successful completion of a securitization and related offering by Encore Credit Receivables Trust 2005-2.
The offering includes approximately $1.4 billion of notes backed by a pool of fixed and adjustable rate, subprime mortgage loans secured by first liens on one-to-four family residential properties transferred to the trust in the securitization. The securitization co-lead managers were Countrywide Securities Corporation and Wachovia Securities and the Co-Manager was Credit Suisse First Boston.
The notes are offered pursuant to a Prospectus dated October 25, 2004 and Prospectus Supplement dated May 25, 2005.
ECC (NYSE: ECR), a mortgage finance real estate investment trust that originates and invests in residential mortgage loans, announced on PRNEWSWIRE.COM the successful completion of a securitization and related offering by Encore Credit Receivables Trust 2005-2.
The offering includes approximately $1.4 billion of notes backed by a pool of fixed and adjustable rate, subprime mortgage loans secured by first liens on one-to-four family residential properties transferred to the trust in the securitization. The securitization co-lead managers were Countrywide Securities Corporation and Wachovia Securities and the Co-Manager was Credit Suisse First Boston.
The notes are offered pursuant to a Prospectus dated October 25, 2004 and Prospectus Supplement dated May 25, 2005.
Thursday, May 26, 2005
CHINA JOINS IN
ChinaView.cn reported that The China Development Bank (CDB) will launch asset securitization this year after about three years of preparation.
Securitization, which originated in the United States in the 1970s, and has grown a following in Europe, has become a major financial instrument around the world. Asset securitization can be defined as changing non-liquid assets (mortgages, automotive financing) into securities that can be traded in a capital market. The practice bridges currency and capital.
Earlier this year, authorities ratified the asset securitization plans in the China Development Bank (CDB) and China Construction Bank (CCB).
The CCB, one of the country's Big Four state-owned commercial banks, will launch the asset securitization move backed by housing mortgage loans.
The CDB, a policy bank whose loans largely go to construction of infrastructure, was given the green light to securitize its loan assets, involving electric power, railway, high ways, airports, ports and other public facilities, and energy industries including oil and natural gas.
ChinaView.cn reported that The China Development Bank (CDB) will launch asset securitization this year after about three years of preparation.
Securitization, which originated in the United States in the 1970s, and has grown a following in Europe, has become a major financial instrument around the world. Asset securitization can be defined as changing non-liquid assets (mortgages, automotive financing) into securities that can be traded in a capital market. The practice bridges currency and capital.
Earlier this year, authorities ratified the asset securitization plans in the China Development Bank (CDB) and China Construction Bank (CCB).
The CCB, one of the country's Big Four state-owned commercial banks, will launch the asset securitization move backed by housing mortgage loans.
The CDB, a policy bank whose loans largely go to construction of infrastructure, was given the green light to securitize its loan assets, involving electric power, railway, high ways, airports, ports and other public facilities, and energy industries including oil and natural gas.
Wednesday, May 18, 2005
Asset-Backed Alert, by Harrison Scott Publications
The writers at Asset-Backed Alert reported in March that market players were starting to worry that the values of asset-backed securities may have climbed too high.
The article noted "... as investors continue to gorge themselves on securitized products, industry participants are beginning to wonder whether it would take much to send those buysiders scurrying out of the market - reversing the favorable technicals that have been in place for the past two years.
Their concern is that less-experienced buyers are indiscriminately purchasing bonds without enough regard to the risk they incur, therefore driving up the values of lower-quality products to unjustified levels. "We've seen better economic conditions, and spreads haven't been this tight," one longtime investor said..."
The writers at Asset-Backed Alert reported in March that market players were starting to worry that the values of asset-backed securities may have climbed too high.
The article noted "... as investors continue to gorge themselves on securitized products, industry participants are beginning to wonder whether it would take much to send those buysiders scurrying out of the market - reversing the favorable technicals that have been in place for the past two years.
Their concern is that less-experienced buyers are indiscriminately purchasing bonds without enough regard to the risk they incur, therefore driving up the values of lower-quality products to unjustified levels. "We've seen better economic conditions, and spreads haven't been this tight," one longtime investor said..."
Special risks of mortgage-backed and asset-backed securities
Mortgage-backed securities represent an interest in a pool of mortgages. When market interest rates decline, more mortgages are refinanced, and mortgage-backed securities are paid off earlier than expected. Prepayments may also occur on a scheduled basis or due to foreclosure. The effect on the fund’s return is similar to that discussed above for call risk. When market interest rates increase, the market values of mortgage-backed securities decline. At the same time, however, mortgage refinancings and prepayments slow, which lengthens the effective maturities of these securities. As a result, the negative effect of the rate increase on the market value of mortgage-backed securities is usually more pronounced than it is for other types of fixed-income securities, potentially increasing the volatility of the fund.
Asset-backed securities are structured like mortgage-backed securities, but instead of mortgage loans or interests in mortgage loans, the underlying assets may include such items as motor vehicle installment sales or installment loan contracts, leases of various types of real and personal property, and receivables from credit card agreements. The ability of an issuer of asset-backed securities to enforce its security interest in the underlying assets may be limited. Asset-backed securities are subject to many of the same risks as mortgage-backed securities.
At times, some of the mortgage-backed and asset-backed securities in which the fund may invest will have higher than market interest rates and therefore will be purchased at a premium above their par value. Prepayments may cause losses on securities purchased at a premium. Unscheduled prepayments, which are made at par, will cause the fund to experience a loss equal to any unamortized premium.
Mortgage-backed securities represent an interest in a pool of mortgages. When market interest rates decline, more mortgages are refinanced, and mortgage-backed securities are paid off earlier than expected. Prepayments may also occur on a scheduled basis or due to foreclosure. The effect on the fund’s return is similar to that discussed above for call risk. When market interest rates increase, the market values of mortgage-backed securities decline. At the same time, however, mortgage refinancings and prepayments slow, which lengthens the effective maturities of these securities. As a result, the negative effect of the rate increase on the market value of mortgage-backed securities is usually more pronounced than it is for other types of fixed-income securities, potentially increasing the volatility of the fund.
Asset-backed securities are structured like mortgage-backed securities, but instead of mortgage loans or interests in mortgage loans, the underlying assets may include such items as motor vehicle installment sales or installment loan contracts, leases of various types of real and personal property, and receivables from credit card agreements. The ability of an issuer of asset-backed securities to enforce its security interest in the underlying assets may be limited. Asset-backed securities are subject to many of the same risks as mortgage-backed securities.
At times, some of the mortgage-backed and asset-backed securities in which the fund may invest will have higher than market interest rates and therefore will be purchased at a premium above their par value. Prepayments may cause losses on securities purchased at a premium. Unscheduled prepayments, which are made at par, will cause the fund to experience a loss equal to any unamortized premium.
Rapid Reporting's President Addresses Fraud, Quality Subprime Loans and Regulatory Compliance
Businesswire.com reported that on Thursday, May 19, 2005, industry observers will meet for a finance symposium.
WHAT: SourceMedia's Subprime Lending Symposium Forum entitled, "Building a Quality Subprime Business."
WHO: Jay Meadows, CEO and president of Rapid Reporting,
will provide commentary on the checks and balances in
place to prevent fraud within the mortgage industry,
the integration of fraud prevention tools at the point
of sale as well as legal requirements and regulations
surrounding consumer information security.
WHERE: The Rio Suite Hotel and Casino; Las Vegas, Nev.
WHEN: 1:30 p.m., Thursday, May 19
CONTACT: Meredith Fletcher,Media Contact for Rapid Reporting
678.781.7207
Businesswire.com reported that on Thursday, May 19, 2005, industry observers will meet for a finance symposium.
WHAT: SourceMedia's Subprime Lending Symposium Forum entitled, "Building a Quality Subprime Business."
WHO: Jay Meadows, CEO and president of Rapid Reporting,
will provide commentary on the checks and balances in
place to prevent fraud within the mortgage industry,
the integration of fraud prevention tools at the point
of sale as well as legal requirements and regulations
surrounding consumer information security.
WHERE: The Rio Suite Hotel and Casino; Las Vegas, Nev.
WHEN: 1:30 p.m., Thursday, May 19
CONTACT: Meredith Fletcher,Media Contact for Rapid Reporting
678.781.7207
Monday, April 11, 2005
Math for the Networks
Gen X + Gen Y = An Audience Harder to Delude Than We Baby Boomers.
It's not pre-calculus, but it's close. The equation comes from a quick read of Merrill Brown's article Abandoning the News published in the Spring issue of the Carnegie Reporter, the online journal for the Carnegie Corporation of New York foundation. Mr. Brown's premise is that the future of American news is being threatened by the younger generations tuning out and away. Now I find that an interesting angle to investigate. Unfortunately Mr. Brown doesn't offer any facts to his premise. Scanning through the report you'll probably come to the same conclusion I did: here is some overpaid journalist-turned-consultant who got paid thousands of dollars to write well-known facts about teens and college folks using cell phones, the web and Palm Pilots to access news, moaning about it as if in 2005 that were news itself.
Mr. Brown writes, "... through Internet portal sites, handheld devices, blogs and instant messaging, we are accessing and processing information in ways that challenge the historic function of the news business and raise fundamental questions about the future of the news field."
Fine, but is that threatening the amount of news consumed?
Brown adds. "... clearly, young people don't want to rely on the morning paper on their doorstep or the dinnertime newscast for up-to-date information; in fact, they—as well as others—want their news on demand, when it works for them. And, say many experts, in this new world of journalism, young people want a personal level of engagement and want those presenting the news to them to be transparent in their assumptions, biases and history."
So for once the major networks will have to acutally report a real story, vette the issues and not just share and re-write a pretty version of the AP Wires, let me get a tissue. Maybe I'm jaded but this is where I think Mr. Brown earned his money. He keenly uncovered and revealed interesting blends of business and grassroots romances including The Command Post a site created by a worldwide network of bloggers set up to cover stories and package links to other sites that add documentation. The Bakersfield Californian's approach to citizen journalism was also mentioned with its Northwest Voice Project illustrating how a community weekly paper and its internet site can provide really localized news. In addition the financial success of the multi-faceted and fascinating Craigslist.com an uber site with city-specific laundry lists trumpeting everything from jobs, to prospective spouses to a used bicycle was discussed. Apparently the Craiglist.com website has reportedly re-directed $50 - $65 million dollars in ad revenue away from San Francisco Bay newspapers alone. These facts are probably provoking news executives 'round the world to regroup and react to this new environment.
Before I continue on a tangent, read the survey data and powerpoint. If you have a chance, write Mr. Brown himself at Merrillbrown02@hotmail.com. He is a dot com journalist from the print world and was the founding editor-in-chief of MSNBC.com (1996 to 2002.) He also served as a senior vice president of RealNetworks and was a founder of Court TV. He started his career in print and was the Wall Street correspondent for The Washington Post.
Gen X + Gen Y = An Audience Harder to Delude Than We Baby Boomers.
It's not pre-calculus, but it's close. The equation comes from a quick read of Merrill Brown's article Abandoning the News published in the Spring issue of the Carnegie Reporter, the online journal for the Carnegie Corporation of New York foundation. Mr. Brown's premise is that the future of American news is being threatened by the younger generations tuning out and away. Now I find that an interesting angle to investigate. Unfortunately Mr. Brown doesn't offer any facts to his premise. Scanning through the report you'll probably come to the same conclusion I did: here is some overpaid journalist-turned-consultant who got paid thousands of dollars to write well-known facts about teens and college folks using cell phones, the web and Palm Pilots to access news, moaning about it as if in 2005 that were news itself.
Mr. Brown writes, "... through Internet portal sites, handheld devices, blogs and instant messaging, we are accessing and processing information in ways that challenge the historic function of the news business and raise fundamental questions about the future of the news field."
Fine, but is that threatening the amount of news consumed?
Brown adds. "... clearly, young people don't want to rely on the morning paper on their doorstep or the dinnertime newscast for up-to-date information; in fact, they—as well as others—want their news on demand, when it works for them. And, say many experts, in this new world of journalism, young people want a personal level of engagement and want those presenting the news to them to be transparent in their assumptions, biases and history."
So for once the major networks will have to acutally report a real story, vette the issues and not just share and re-write a pretty version of the AP Wires, let me get a tissue. Maybe I'm jaded but this is where I think Mr. Brown earned his money. He keenly uncovered and revealed interesting blends of business and grassroots romances including The Command Post a site created by a worldwide network of bloggers set up to cover stories and package links to other sites that add documentation. The Bakersfield Californian's approach to citizen journalism was also mentioned with its Northwest Voice Project illustrating how a community weekly paper and its internet site can provide really localized news. In addition the financial success of the multi-faceted and fascinating Craigslist.com an uber site with city-specific laundry lists trumpeting everything from jobs, to prospective spouses to a used bicycle was discussed. Apparently the Craiglist.com website has reportedly re-directed $50 - $65 million dollars in ad revenue away from San Francisco Bay newspapers alone. These facts are probably provoking news executives 'round the world to regroup and react to this new environment.
Before I continue on a tangent, read the survey data and powerpoint. If you have a chance, write Mr. Brown himself at Merrillbrown02@hotmail.com. He is a dot com journalist from the print world and was the founding editor-in-chief of MSNBC.com (1996 to 2002.) He also served as a senior vice president of RealNetworks and was a founder of Court TV. He started his career in print and was the Wall Street correspondent for The Washington Post.
Friday, April 08, 2005
Trophy Site: Divorcing Google for Technorati
If you find information on Google.com because the web page has high rankings due to Google's page-rank system (as some mysterious calculation of the importance of its external/internal links and incoming vs. outgoing links as well as keywords being consistent with the overall purpose and design of the site, to weed out "link farms"), but that page has not been updated for a long time and still shows up on the first page of the search results, how useful is it to the surfer?
You have to admit, it's a good point. Blogger Iyengar (or Aiyangar) from India posed that question on his blog pointing out the perils of the world's greatest search engine (my words) versus a younger, more attractive URL.
Enter Technorati. Writes Iyengar, "... with XML, RSS feeds and all the other things that blogs and their ilk live by and breathe today, to me it makes more sense to rank sites based on the frequency of their updates. This way, these newer crop of search engines like Technorati that search the "World Live Web" incentivize freshness of an entry (it may be a post or any other content and that is why I am careful to include not only blogs for this discussion but any site for that matter).
It is a real kick to watch your site show up on the top, only a few minutes after you have updated it. If this can become the paradigm for prioritizing the display of relevant pages for keyword(s) search (other than most tradename searches like IBM for example, where it is reasonable to expect that www.ibm.com shows up on top regardless of when it was last updated), I am sure we can move on to a brave new world where anyone can expect to land up on the first page of search results as long as they pass Google's existing methodology *and* update their content often."
If you find information on Google.com because the web page has high rankings due to Google's page-rank system (as some mysterious calculation of the importance of its external/internal links and incoming vs. outgoing links as well as keywords being consistent with the overall purpose and design of the site, to weed out "link farms"), but that page has not been updated for a long time and still shows up on the first page of the search results, how useful is it to the surfer?
You have to admit, it's a good point. Blogger Iyengar (or Aiyangar) from India posed that question on his blog pointing out the perils of the world's greatest search engine (my words) versus a younger, more attractive URL.
Enter Technorati. Writes Iyengar, "... with XML, RSS feeds and all the other things that blogs and their ilk live by and breathe today, to me it makes more sense to rank sites based on the frequency of their updates. This way, these newer crop of search engines like Technorati that search the "World Live Web" incentivize freshness of an entry (it may be a post or any other content and that is why I am careful to include not only blogs for this discussion but any site for that matter).
It is a real kick to watch your site show up on the top, only a few minutes after you have updated it. If this can become the paradigm for prioritizing the display of relevant pages for keyword(s) search (other than most tradename searches like IBM for example, where it is reasonable to expect that www.ibm.com shows up on top regardless of when it was last updated), I am sure we can move on to a brave new world where anyone can expect to land up on the first page of search results as long as they pass Google's existing methodology *and* update their content often."
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