Scanning Faces for Autism

(If only they will use this tech for good instead of evil...)

Carl Evans a researcher at Salk isolated the protein gene PPARS for endurance, and genetically engineered mice with this extra gene protein. The end result was the creation of endurance mice which had double the endurance of ordinary mice, but the result was contingent on if the mice had been trained.

Given that exercise was needed to jump start the PPARS drug, researchers now looked into what would happen if the tricked the body into thinking it was exercise. Another gene protein was given to the mice which put the body into the same biochemical state if exhibits when exercising. Lazy couch potato like mice got and instant surge of endurance by up to 44%– without even exercising! This shocked researchers. After 4 weeks on this therapy, the same mice behaved as though they had workout out every day. I wonder if they lost weight?

Evans, concluded that the body’s pathway can be manipulated– or exploited, Other world wide researchers following Evan’s work, have been shocked by the study results and have been quoted “Its a bit scary”

Researchers and myself are excited about the possibilities these drug will present for people with sedentary disease such as obesity or diabetes. Conversely they are worried that a lot of athletes will think they can use this drug to enhance athletic performance.

Although these drugs are revolutionary, they will not boost your desire to workout, says researchers who also add, “Even if you have so much capacity, if its not being used, what does it matter”

Well, despite advances in medical technology, it looks like personal training will always prevail, and best case scenario my clients can make it through their workouts without tanking or getting nauseated.

For more information how Somagenesis can keep you accountable despite being on the endurance pill, visit our “Award Winning” web site at www.somagenesis.com

The report places such research in the context of theNational Service Framework for Long-term conditions and the White Paper on Health and Social Care. The report describes the wide range of government-funded projects supporting the development, introduction and evaluation of assistive technology. Relevant projects funded by the EU are also listed.

• I don't need to carry around crutches while fearing my knee will 'lock up'.  I did that for 8 months.
• I can walk more than a few feet without experiencing any knee joint pain.
• I can do aerobic exercises without having any knee pain.
• I can engage in daily activities without wondering what my knee will do.
• I can walk upstairs without any knee pain.
• I am not bowlegged anymore.  The surgery realigned my leg.
• I do not wear a 1.25" shoe lift anymore.
• I am stretching and using leg muscles I had not used in 30 years due to my trauma injury.
• I know that the pain of recuperation is temporary (has been almost 5 months already).
• I have the highest praise to say about the surgery process and the team that worked on me.
• Modern medical technology is truly remarkable.
• The surgery itself is the easiest part.  Recuperation is the hardest.

Hope this helps all who are contemplating having a total knee replacement done.

As the cost of health care continues to rise, someone has to make choices about what to cover.  Question:  Who is making those choices right now?  The answer is:  mostly employers.  As everyone knows, the vast majority of Americans get their health care coverage through their workplace, and so it is left to the employer to decide what gets covered.  The various states of the union make these kinds of choices for those people who buy health care for themselves directly.  The Federal Government makes these choice for the elderly, the poor and for Federal workers.

So who should be making the hard choices of what kind of things to cover?  It seems fairly obvious that employers should NOT be making these decisions, as they are motivated almost exclusively by the bottom line.  What about the various states making these decisions?  This is not the best solution, for why do something fifty ways when you could do it one way?  That left the Federal Government.  Why not have panels – similar to the way the FDA works – made up of doctors, ethicists and financial experts, who would work together to make the tough choices need to ensure that health care is affordable for everyone?

What do you think about this? Who do you think should be making these choices?  What would YOU like to see?

–Cynthia Haggard is a medical writer and editor and lives in Washington DC.  She recently opened her own business, Clarifying Concepts, which provides grant writing, speechwriting, technical writing, writing for the public and regulatory affairs services.  To see more, please go to clarifyingconcepts. (c) 2008 All rights reserved. 

Nintendo Wii popular choice for therapists, children
WICHITA FALLS, Texas — Jackson Peterson is running fast.

He's running in place, moving his arms back and forth. So excited about the virtual race he is running that his physical therapist, Barbara Maxwell, is having trouble catching up with him — on screen, of course.

"Oh, there he goes, got him," said Maxwell, a little winded after catching up to her client in one of the activities of the interactive Wii Fit, a popular video game on the Nintendo Wii console.

The North Texas Rehabilitation Center has recently adapted the highly interactive game console into its physical therapy program.

"It gets them moving, and it is something that is interacting with them; they don't realize they are doing therapy," said Susan Knowles-Martin, Director of Marketing and Development for the center.

According to an article in PT Magazine, a professional magazine of the American Physical Therapy Association, physical therapists around the nation have been introducing the Wii to patients. This has led to a dramatic increase in treatment compliance and a general upbeat attitude about therapy.

"It's about making the therapy interactive and fun," said Knowles-Martin, who explained that because of the large number of children treated at the center, the Wii has allowed them to make therapy sessions more fun.

"It's perfect for a facility like this. Half of our clients are kids from 3 years old all the way up to teenagers," she said.

The trick is in the motion. The Wii Fit uses a unique platform called the Wii Balance Board that can measure a user's weight and center of gravity. The game has about 40 different activities, which include yoga, aerobics and various balance games which have allowed the therapists to target specific areas of concern.

"It's a way to measure their progress," said Lesa Enlow, director of programs, who was showing the game off to a group of students from Archer City High School visiting the facility.

"This balance stuff is hard," said one of the students as he stood on his toes while attempting a high jump in the ski-jumping module of Wii Fit.

Enlow sees the Wii as a training tool that can adapt to the needs of their clients as well.

"It's modifiable enough to where you can be disabled and still use it," she said.

The Wii wireless controller can also be used as a handheld pointing device since it can detect acceleration and orientation in three dimensions. This allows for therapists to use the game controller to measure various types of movements, she said.

"We have a machine back there for wheelchair patients; the wheel simulates the turning and you can do the exact same thing with the Wii," Knowles-Martin said. "Instead of keeping them in the gym, you can have them turn a steering wheel with the Wii and watch their wrist movement."

The Wii also has other therapeutic uses. According to PT Magazine, rehabilitation clinics around the country are making use of the Wii fitness package for improving weight bearing and balance in patients following total knee replacement or back surgery.

So far it has been a hit with the younger clients like Jackson.

As his head moved from one side to the other, a little character on the screen was heading soccer balls back to the kicker.

"Wow! I got it," he said as the 20 minutes of physical therapy came to an end.

Knowles-Martin said kids see the game as play instead of an extension of therapy.

"Since they have a shorter attention span, you have to incorporate play into therapy. If it's not fun to them and they don't know why they are doing it, they won't do it," she said. "With the Wii they can see how good they do and it gets them excited."

Asbestos treatment of lung cancer and mesothelioma information

Even with the best available techniques for the early detection of mesothelioma can now often miss diagnosis. The best thing to do is to provide early detection and systematic, especially when you asbestos exposure. The medical technology has every day, and where appropriate, a cure is found. But until then, the victims of mesothelioma should take action against those responsible. With a lawyer in your state today, for you to receive any compensation for their suffering.

The affected areas are cancer mesothelioma from the wall of the internal organs of the body. Because of the location of the infected cell, mesothelioma is not responding well to conventional therapy, in contrast to most other forms of cancer. In addition, there is no blatant symptoms of the illness, when the doctors can not correctly diagnose the disease until it is good. Due to these factors, the effectiveness of many conventional treatments are limited.

In the treatment of Mesothelioms, doctors have different ways of treatment. Surgery, radiation therapy and chemotherapy treatments were traditional options for slowing the growth of cancer cells. The doctors that deal with mesothelioma have for the planning of a new, innovative attack for combating this disease. New treatments, such as angiogenesis, Photo Dynamic and gene therapy in possession of a new hope for the victims of mesothelioma everywhere. Depending on the condition and location of the cancer, doctors to choose the best approach for the circumstances. If it is discovered early enough, doctors can the lives of the victims, but unfortunately can not cure the disease.

The three main types of malignant mesothelioma are epithelioid, sarcomatoid and mixed / biphasic. Epithelioid is the most common form of 50-70% of all cases of mesothelioma are such. Epithelioid also has the best chance to survive. It affects the internal organs and the surfaces ceilings. Sarcomatoid is much worse, because it concerns the secondary tissues of the body, such as cartilage, muscle, bone and fat. However, this form of cancer is much rarer, because he is only 7-20% of the time. Mixed / biphasic is, the two types of cancer, both what 20-35% of cases.

There are three areas, target groups, which also affect the mesothelioma. Mesothelioma pleural mesothelioma affects the cave around pleural fibrosis of the lungs and is responsible for the majority of 75% of all cases diagnosed. Mesothelioma peritoneal is 10-20% of all cases, and the tissues of the stomach (including stomach and intestinal complaints). Pericardial mesothelioma is the shape that rare that is in the bag, and the lining around the heart.

What is happening online today is very different than what we experienced in the early days of the Internet – remember the term eHealth? The early eHealth sites were information aggregators, primarily one-way in nature. They did not encourage interaction among site participants. Today’s sites are the opposite, all about community, conversations, collective wisdom and UCG (user generated content).

So where does pharma fit into all of this? Traditionally the pharmaceutical industry has been a sizable funder of web-based activities through sponsorships, online CME, unbranded disease sites and branded product sites. According to eMarketer (April 2008), online ad spending will reach $1.2 billion in 2008 and nearly double to $2.2 billion by 2011. Indeed without support from the pharma industry, many health sites would have failed.

Today’s web, however, poses new challenges for pharma marketers. Dialogue is happening all over the Internet - patients talk about drugs in online videos, physicians discuss products they have used (and perhaps disliked) on blogs, parents post information (and misinformation) about childhood vaccines in social networks. In the old days, pharma could control the message; today that is neither possible nor desirable.

So then how and when should pharma engage? The goal of this blog is to address that question. We will explore specifics related to social media and identify how industry (pharma, biotech and medtech) to can engage successfully and meaningfully. We will look at specific examples of programs that are launched, interview industry leaders, talk to CEO’s of interesting social media companies, examine the regulatory environment, capture insights from patient opinion leaders and highlight relevant data.

In the true spirit of Web 2.0, please join me as co-creators of this blog. Send ideas, comments, let me know if you'd like to write a post. Email me at bellerin@interbrandwood.com.

Bunny Ellerin

My name is Mark Leahey, and I am the Executive Director of the Medical Device Manufacturers Association (MDMA).  MDMA is a national trade association representing innovative, entrepreneurial medical technology companies across the country.  Our mission is to ensure that patients have timely access to the latest advancements in medical technology, most of which are developed by small, research-driven medical companies.

With advancements in science, increasing regulatory requirements and market access challenges, significant investments from the government and venture capital are often needed to develop these life enhancing and life sustaining technologies. 

The majority of the most innovative advances in medical technology over the past twenty years have been developed by small, entrepreneurial medical companies.  These technologies are continually advancing and improving the health care for many Americans every day. At the same time, these innovative products are reducing long-term health care costs by improving outcomes, reducing hospitalization time and increasing productivity.

One of the cornerstones of government investments in small medical technology companies has been the SBIR program.  However, as you are aware, the Small Business Administration (SBA) implemented a change that significantly worsened the landscape of the public-private partnership envisioned by the SBIR program.  As a result, many promising technologies from smaller companies did not receive SBIR support, and patients suffered as a result.   The Medical Device Manufacturers Association would like offer the following recommendations that will help reestablish the program’s success.

1)  Reauthorization should include language -- similar to that passed in H.R. 3567 -- to restore the participation of venture-backed companies.  This will serve to provide SBIR grants to the most promising technologies which are likely to provide more patients with access to life-saving medical devices.

2)  Increase the dollar amounts of the Phase I and Phase II awards, given increasing development costs and to provide a greater incentive for companies to participate in the program.

3)  Provide agencies with more flexibility in administering the SBIR program.  Specifically, we believe it would be helpful to agencies if a small percentage of the SBIR set-aside could be used for activities such as conferences aimed at helping small businesses to compete successfully; commercialization assistance programs to help companies transition to the marketplace; and improved systems for assessing program effectiveness

The Discovery Channel features a short film from Malaysia, which compares traditional community events for mass circumcision against no fuss procedures at medical clinics.

Thanks to a disposable circumcision clamp invented by a Malaysian doctor, parents of young Muslim boys increasingly favor getting it done at clinics.  Tara KLamps are supposed to make the experience less traumatic.

It’s quite a successful invention.  To order the device you need a gauge for size, like the way jewelers measure fingers for rings.  I find this rather amusing.  Check out pictures of the gauge at the site.

Muslims circumcise their boys when they reach 12 years of age.  That was how old Ishmael (the forefathers of the Arabs?) was when God instructed Abraham to keep his covenant by circumcising every male.

The Jews circumcise their boys when they are eight days old, like it was the case for Isaac.

Thank goodness, in the New Testament, it is no longer important that a person is physically circumcised.  It is the heart that counts.

To top off my old age shock, my Doc wants me to start eating healthier, for my FUTURE?!!! My word! It was a lot to digest! All very good news, but wow! Something I never expected!

It is very hard for me to adjust to the thought of being on a "diet". For all of my life my diet was to eat anything and everything humanly possible. Now I need to start thinking about my future health which includes all the real world issues that everyone else has to deal with. My doc suggests a "heart healthy" plan, or an anti-inflammatory diet, but with the reminder that I am on a high calorie, high protein diet.

This new lifestyle change will be difficult since I live off of fast food. But I am going to do it! The anti-inflammatory diet is something I have been interested in for a while and now I guess it is time to put it into action. I noticed while I was sick over the past few months that if I would eat a vegetarian dinner I would feel much better in the morning. Refreshed and ready to go.

Not only is AHA "heart healthy", "no fad diet" plan good for people with Cystic Fibrosis and/or CF related Diabetes, but it is good for EVERYONE!!! :D

Good advice my doc gave me about changing my diet was to take "baby steps" so I don't get overwhelmed, and to "think about all the good things" I get to eat with my new diet plan. Over the next few months or so, I will fill you in on what I am learning, step by step. I may even give YOU a challenge or two to help you improve your life!

I have soooo much news about a lot of various things I want to tell all of you about, I hope I can get a few minutes this weekend to write at least some of it down! In the mean time, take care!

Mesothelioma Cancer | Asbestos

Even with the best available techniques for the early detection of mesothelioma can now often miss diagnosis. The best thing to do is to provide early detection and systematic, especially when you asbestos exposure. The medical technology has every day, and where appropriate, a cure is found. But until then, the victims of mesothelioma should take action against those responsible. With a lawyer in your state today, for you to receive any compensation for their suffering.

The affected areas are cancer mesothelioma from the wall of the internal organs of the body. Because of the location of the infected cell, mesothelioma is not responding well to conventional therapy, in contrast to most other forms of cancer. In addition, there is no blatant symptoms of the illness, when the doctors can not correctly diagnose the disease until it is good. Due to these factors, the effectiveness of many conventional treatments are limited.

In the treatment of Mesothelioms, doctors have different ways of treatment. Surgery, radiation therapy and chemotherapy treatments were traditional options for slowing the growth of cancer cells. The doctors that deal with mesothelioma have for the planning of a new, innovative attack for combating this disease. New treatments, such as angiogenesis, Photo Dynamic and gene therapy in possession of a new hope for the victims of mesothelioma everywhere. Depending on the condition and location of the cancer, doctors to choose the best approach for the circumstances. If it is discovered early enough, doctors can the lives of the victims, but unfortunately can not cure the disease.

The three main types of malignant mesothelioma are epithelioid, sarcomatoid and mixed / biphasic. Epithelioid is the most common form of 50-70% of all cases of mesothelioma are such. Epithelioid also has the best chance to survive. It affects the internal organs and the surfaces ceilings. Sarcomatoid is much worse, because it concerns the secondary tissues of the body, such as cartilage, muscle, bone and fat. However, this form of cancer is much rarer, because he is only 7-20% of the time. Mixed / biphasic is, the two types of cancer, both what 20-35% of cases.

There are three areas, target groups, which also affect the mesothelioma. Mesothelioma pleural mesothelioma affects the cave around pleural fibrosis of the lungs and is responsible for the majority of 75% of all cases diagnosed. Mesothelioma peritoneal is 10-20% of all cases, and the tissues of the stomach (including stomach and intestinal complaints). Pericardial mesothelioma is the shape that rare that is in the bag, and the lining around the heart.

Though portable ultrasound machines are not new in India, this machine doubles up as a laptop and a multi-utility ultrasound machine. It is easy to use, carry and send body images even to your e-mail," Director (imaging) of Trivitron Medical Systems, A B Sivasankar. 

The laptop, touted for its convenience, efficiency, and multi-functionality (including its small size), has so far won doctors' approval:

"Now a patient or a doctor need not always go to a hospital for any kind of tests like heart scan, thyroid scan, abdomen scan and even pregnancy tests. This helps one to reach the bedside of a patient and treat him," said a Bangalore-based radiologist Vinutha Shivakumar.

"You can do the scanning of different parts of your body and get the image printouts through the same laptop. The images can also be transferred to a PowerPoint presentation or emailed for convenience of a doctor or a patient," Shivakumar said.

To learn more, go here.

A few weekends ago Jerry and I were driving back to Phoenix after our weekend road trip to Los Angeles. As usual Jerry fell asleep after a few hours in the car, so I started flipping around the satellite to find something to entertain me. I eventually landed on "Doctor Radio" where there was a special edition in progress covering various infectious disease topics. Jackpot!

One of the topics that was discussed over the course of the next hour or two was information about various STDs and the vaccines that are available to prevent them. Specifically, the doctors were talking about Hepatitis A and B, and HPV (Human Papillomavirus, or genital warts). Although the show wasn't focused on gay patients, it was mentioned that gay men are many times more likely to contract these viruses and experience complications from them. I made a mental note to follow up on this after I got settled back in at home.

After some online research was completed, I called my doctor's office a few days later to make an appointment to come in and get some vaccinations. The voice on the other end of the line sounded a little skeptical and confused why I was calling about this. As it turned out, they did not have the HPV vaccine available, but could offer me a Hepatitis A and/or B vaccine. They would "have to figure out which ones I needed." I made the appointment and prepared myself to pay cash for this.

Hepatitis A is quite easy to contract whenever anal sex is involved. Aside from that, it can also be contracted anywhere feces are present, such as in a public bathroom. You're completely over it in a couple months, and you'll probably develop immunity against future infection. Hepatitis B can be contracted from blood or bodily fluid (even saliva) contact. You can get it from kissing, it doesn't have to be sex or drug use. It's a lot more severe, although it's usually self-limiting and 95% of patients will fully recover and develop immunity on their own against future infection (the other 5% develop a chronic infection that doesn't go away and they might get liver cancer and/or cirrhosis). Chronic infection doesn't always show symptoms, and you might not know about it until later in life when you actually get liver cancer.

So I saw the doctor this last Wednesday. He also seemed a little skeptical as to why I was there, but after I explained that I was listening to the radio show about STDs and vaccines and so "here I am," he suddenly understood and started looking at my chart. It seemed that he had already noticed from my last liver test results that I had partial Hepatitis antibodies, but not enough to actually protect me...I had a "4 out of 10" on whatever scale this was. So I explained that I had two out of the three required jabs about 20 years ago when I volunteered at a hospital, and did not get the third because I had stopped working there a few months later. This made sense to him and he recommended that I start over with the three jab course, and get the Hepatitis A and B combination vaccines.

I asked him if I was going to have to pay cash for this, and he said that most insurance plans will cover it and I probably didn't need to worry about it. This was really interesting to me, because I wondered why they didn't offer me the vaccine when I was here a few months ago for my last physical? I have a gay-friendly doctor, and so it seemed like they really ought to know the importance if this.

Anyway, he also gave me the phone number for the only clinic in the area that he knew offered the HPV vaccine. I asked him if he recommended that I get it, and he said that if he had a son he would definitely make sure he got it. I already knew from my research that it was recommended for all gay men to get it, although it has to be given "off-label" since the FDA only recommends it for women at this point in time. I made another mental note to call this other clinic when I got home.

I asked him if there were any other vaccines I could get, and added that I make no apologies for being a bit of a crazy germophobe. He replied that I could get a tetanus booster that was recommended every 10 years, although it wasn't really necessary unless I get cut a lot as part of my job or something. Great! I told him that I never get cut, but will take what I can get and I accepted in ernest.

The doctor left, probably while writing something about my craziness in my chart, and then while later a nurse came in with two syringes. She cleaned my right shoulder and then she slowly injected the tetanus vaccine as something stirred. Wait...huh?

I awkwardly pulled up my shirt from my left shoulder as she cleaned it with a cold alcohol pad and then started to inject the Hepatitis vaccine. I confirmed that it was a combination of A and B vaccine. After she jabbed the needle in, I looked at the wrapper and saw the medical labeling. This time there was more to inject, and it burned a little. After she was done I slowly exhaled and felt a little shaky and light headed. I was hooked!

......

This afternoon I was at the Fit Health clinic to get my HPV vaccine. I waited for the admin at the desk to ask me what I was doing there getting a women's vaccine, but she didn't. Instead, she sheepishly asked me if I wanted to read some pages of information she had printed out for me regarding the effectiveness of the Gardasil vaccine. Didn't she know that this was basically porn for germophobes? Of course I wanted to read it, and I scanned it as she asked me to pay my $150 for the first of what would be three doses required for full immunity.

There was of course no way that my insurance was going to cover this one. Just as the HPV virus causes almost all cases of cervical cancer in women, it causes almost all cases of anal cancer in men. Being gay and having anal sex increases your risk of anal cancer significantly. In fact you've probably heard this mentioned from some of the religious nutjobs as proof that homosexual sex is unhealthy - this is somewhat true, although it's funny that they don't mention cervical cancer as proof that heterosexual sex is unhealthy! Both involve the likelihood of the eventual transmission of one or more HPV virus strains, which cannot be prevented through condom use.

There are over 100 different strains of HPV virus out there. The Gardasil vaccine gives you immunity to four strains of the HPV virus. This doesn't seem like much, but two of those strains (16 and 18) were selected because they are the strains that cause nearly all of the cancer, and two were selected (6 and 11) because they cause nearly all of the actual cases of genital warts. Most people have at least one strain after they have been sexually active for awhile, but the vaccine is still recommended so that immunity can be achieved against the other remaining strains. It is rare for someone to be infected with all four of those strains.

So, back to the clinic as I'm called back for my injection. Clean the shoulder, unwrap the syringe, push the needle, and...

I'm imagining recombinant viral proteins beings sprayed into my muscle tissue, proteins assembled maybe months after they were stripped from the shells of virus particles (the technology!). Before that, a process invented somewhere by lab coated medical God warriors in the bowels of the R&D department of Merck.

It burns as I visualize lymphocytes from my immune system swarming around the proteins and destroying them. Killer T cells are searching (searching!) to make sure that no cells were infected. They weren't, this time. B cells start dividing to make millions of new antibodies and spread them through my whole body. B cells and T cells now remember the virus and will overwhelm it the next time it's encountered.

I feel like Neo in The Matrix. "I know Kung Fu."

The nurse discards the syringe and asks me if I want a call in two months to help me remember to come in for my second injection.

"Sure," I manage to say to her. But I don't need it.

Please come visit us at 3GenFamily.com

By CK Wilde for 3GenFamily Blog

Sorry, Eric (Schmidt, CEO of Google).
Google doesn't belong in the health records business.

For those of you who don't follow Google's business on a daily basis, here is a brief rundown of what has happened.

Last year, Microsoft announced a new service called Health Vault to help individuals manage health records online. This is not a revolutionary idea. There are already several smaller companies on the Internet offering individuals the convenience of storing health records online so that they are more available when they are needed. Several of the large players in the business of providing technology to doctors offices and medical clinics also have digital records initiatives.

But, no one company has been able to gain serious momentum in digital health records. It is a gargantuan task to coordinate doctors, labs, hospitals, pharmacies, insurance companies and individuals AND meet all of the requirements of HIPAA for privacy. Microsoft has already collected an impressive number of partners to work with Health Vault.

Google Announcement Starts Tsunami

In Orlando, Florida last week, Google announced Google Health, a platform for individuals to manage medical records such as medical test results and prescriptions. The announcement set off a wave of protests from consumer privacy advocates. Eric Schmidt is trying to soothe the uproar by saying that Google won't sell ads on Google Health.

Oh really?
Here's how one analyst sees the situation:

"Gene Munster, an analyst at Piper Jaffray, firmly believes ads will happen. 'Advertisers would pay absurd amounts of money to be seen when someone wants to, say, refill a subscription online,' he says.' This is more lucrative than commerce-related search." For the complete story, click here to see Jefferson Graham's article in USA Today.

Digital Records Could Save Lives

I'm not a Luddite. I work for a company that develops mobile technology.

And, I have had to fight ferociously with doctor's office administrators to obtain my Dad's medical records as well as my own and my children's records. In one case, I had to pay $100 for a file of poor photocopies that I could barely read. Forget about scanning to digitize them.

My father was caught in the bind between doctor and hospital. His regular family doctor had all of his records but she wasn't admitted to practice at the hospital closest to my father's home. The hospital would "assign" him a doctor while he was there. But the records never made it back to the family doctor.

The cardiologist at the hospital might not have put my father on Plavix if the doctor knew my father had a history of gastrointestinal bleeding. At one point, the docs who did not talk to each other had my father on DOUBLE doses of 4 different medications. It only got corrected because he could feel that the medications were not working right. He went to the family doctor who reduced all the doses and got rid of the duplicate medications.

That was a close call! And, it is a safe bet that this happens to thousands of Americans everyday.

If you have experienced anything like this, you may think I am crazy to oppose help from the two tech companies that have the best chance of making digital records happen. Pam Dixon, executive director of the non-profit World Privacy Forum, said it best,"A publicly traded company is supposed to have shareholders (my emphasis) in mind first." (As quoted in an Associated Press article by Travis Reed.)

The Push for Quarterly Profits

Wall Street, institutional and individual shareholders are illogically relentless in their push for quarterly profits from publicly traded companies. Every employee knows what ROSHE (Return on Shareholder Equity) its company is trying to achieve. The focus may be making customers happy so they buy more product or service but the goal is always ROSHE.

The bulk of Google's revenue comes from selling ads. Microsoft sells software and services. These companies are locked in a battle to gain your attention for its products and partners' products. Each is working to dominate the marketplace.

So, it is easy to envision a scenario in which our personal privacy gets compromised.

But, it doesn't have to be that way.

Microsoft has the platforms to connect little devices like a glucose monitor to your home computer but its web sites infrastructure is not as strong as Google's. (Full disclosure-- my company is a Microsoft Partner. I have many good things to say about Microsoft but not when it comes to its web sites.)

Google has the digital infrastructure to power web-based communications around our planet. If you use Google to search the Internet, you are tapping into an amazing, gigantic, distributed network that gives you search results after it has filtered out over 3 million malicious or problematic web sites in a small fraction of a second. But, even Google admits that its first version of a G-Phone is buggy beyond belief.

I admire both companies for what they have achieved and the vision they espouse. But both companies have the compelling need to make ROSHE. Right now Google has advertisers that are willing to pay $25, $50 or more when a person visits the advertiser's web site. The possibilities for enormous revenue for delivering pharmaceutical ads, for example, to consumers are easy to imagine. Google has all of the technology from Double Click to track every purchase you make. It's only a short step to your entire medical file.

Microsoft has slightly different, yet just has huge revenue possibilities. It's making the Wall Street analysts giddy with thoughts of double digit quarterly profits.

The Third Alternative -- A Consortium

It's hard to get things done by committee. Compromises can result in gazelles that look more like camels. But sometimes a non-profit organization or a governmental entity is the only way to protect citizens from the fallout of the giant corporate gladiators.

From my vantage point, the only way to assure that digital health care information does not become another series of battles like Blu-Ray versus HD-DVD (or Betamax vs. VHS for those who have long memories) is to have a non-profit consortium responsible to citizens to safeguard privacy and set standards for interoperability.

Think of the headaches if you want to change doctors but the new doctor doesn't use the same medical records system. If you choose to go with the new doctor, you have to figure out a way to get all of the pertinent data into the new system. That's more time out of your week, more money out of your pocket, and another point where your information could be corrupted or misused.

Now is the time for Microsoft and Google to call a truce and become part of a non-profit consortium for health care records. It won't be perfect, but when consumers trust that their information is safe, they will sign up to buy in droves. And that would make Wall Street happy, too.

The combined effect of the credit crunch and curtailed expansion plans by retailers will bring enticing retail property offerings to market in 2008, researchers predict. Lackluster asset sales in January, however, confirm that buyers remain rooted to the sidelines.

“It’s a very difficult selling market right now,” says Bernie Haddigan, a managing director at Marcus & Millichap and director of the company’s national retail group.

Many pessimists believe the current credit freeze in home markets will spread to commercial property, setting the stage for a full recession in 2008. Consequently, it's important for commercial property markets to estimate how big a fall in home market values and activity will occur.

We need to distinguish between what is happening in the for-sale markets for newly built housing vs. existing housing. U.S. homebuilders achieved over 2 million starts in both 2004 and 2005. In all past periods since World War II when the industry started over two million units in one to three years running, builders were selling into the future, setting the stage for declines in starts. Historically, the result was that new starts fell an average of 37% over the next three to four years.

I believe new housing starts will remain depressed in 2008 and perhaps 2009. Homebuilders will cut prices on existing inventories and put downward pressure on the prices of existing homes.

Part 1: Identifying the Property's Real Income: There are four financial components of income producing real estate that are crucial to successful investing. They are (1) income, (2) the costs of occupancy, (3) operating expenses, and (4) debt service.

Several factors continue to drive the medical office trend. The country’s aging population requires more medical care, and hospitals have been on a building binge for the past five years, spawning development of neighboring medical offices. Physicians and healthcare groups are also moving smaller stand-alone facilities closer to patients in suburban markets.

According to a recent study by Marcus & Millichap, the long-term outlook for the medical office market looks bright. “Once viewed as a higher-risk specialty asset, medical office properties have clearly become main stream for private and institutional investors,” notes the report. “Long-term leases and low tenant turnover, combined with a stable market outlook and advancing medical technology, point to a positive future.”