Our friend Robert Gracey sends the following:

Massachusetts acupuncturists in affiliation with the New England School of Acupuncture (NESA), Acupuncture & Oriental Medicine Society of Massachusetts (AOMSM) and Acupuncture Without Borders (AWB) are joining together through Boston Acupuncture Trauma Relief (BATR) to provide treatment and healing for those affected by the tragic Boston Marathon bombings and related events. Participating acupuncturists are offering free acupuncture treatments to those in need.

The development of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a possible result of both man-made and natural disasters. Acupuncture has been used by AWB in tragic situations like the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, Hurricanes Katrina and Sandy, and most recently in Newtown, Connecticut. The Department of Defense has also been working with acupuncture to help veterans returning from foreign wars alleviate trauma symptoms that may linger after deployment.

It is common for those who have undergone trauma to experience “triggers” that will set off a response, like a car backfire, the sounds of heavy equipment, or news updates as the case unfolds. It is also common for sufferers to experience physical symptoms like sweating, labored breathing, increased heart rate, and nausea. The most important thing to know is everyone reacts to traumatic exposure differently and there is no right or wrong way to feel or act. It is perfectly normal to have a reaction; it’s a natural part of the healing process.

Common Symptoms Following Exposure to Trauma:

• Restlessness/anxiety/lack of focus
• Difficulty sleeping/nightmares
• Reactions to loud noises or sudden movements
• Feeling a sense of danger or extreme alertness
• Upsetting images coming up at unwanted times
• Reliving/re-experiencing the event in your mind
• Feelings of numbness, guilt, or depression
• Loss of interest in daily activities

While acupuncturists are not first responders, we understand, because we feel it ourselves, the feelings of angst and confusion that simmer in the aftermath. The use of acupuncture for trauma is a vital bridge between first intervention and the healing process that allows those affected to move through the experience and heal. In addition, acupuncture can also help those recover from their physical injuries.

As one of many acupuncturists offering free trauma relief, Gracey and others are offering free services to those in need. For more information please contact Robert Gracy 617-549-1196 or rgracey@graceyhealth.com  ( Gracey Holistic Health),   the New England School of Acupuncture clinic at 617-558-6372, or chose from a list of acupuncturists via the following NESA landing page: http://traumarelief.nesa.edu/.

-Anita M. Harris

New Cambridge Observer is a publication of the Harris Communications Group, an award-winning PR and marketing firm in Cambridge, MA. 

Mary Landrieu Speaks at Cambridge Innovation Center Venture Cafe

Tim Rowe, CEO, Cambridge Innovation Center and US Senator Mary Landrieu, at Venture Cafe, April 4, 2013. In her remarks, Landrieu emphasized the importance of the CIC–now the largest organization of its type in the world.
Photo by Bill Lichtenstein,  Lichtenstein Creative Media

–Anita M. Harris

New Cambridge Observer is a publication of the Harris Communications Group, an award-winning public relations firm based in Kendall Square, Cambridge.

Cambridge-based Latitude News is a global Website with a mission is to make what’s going on in the world relevant to what’s happening in the US.   It’s a sort of  “local global mashup” in which writers and editors produce stories that are ” fresh, relevant and crying out to be told,” says founder and veteran BBC journalist Maria Balinska.

Recent examples include :

• Texans Victims to Algerian Hostage Crisis?
• Do Casinos Prey on Asian Americans?
• In Turkey The Simpsons and Game of Thrones Are Blasphemy

Balinska points out that Latitude News stories have  been featured in the Christian Science Monitor, the Week, Mental Floss, Marketplace, Hoy and the BBC.  And PRX (the Public Radio Exchange, another Cambridge-based outfit) commissioned a series of monthly podcasts last summer.

Latitude News recently launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund production of  a weekly audio program, The Local Global Mashup Show,  that, Balinska says,  “will give you the inside edge on the stories that connect Americans with the world.”   It’s an ambitious project, Balinksa adds,  in part because it proposes to use  a subscription model in order to become a sustainable business.

For more info or to donate and receive a reward,  go to the Latitude News  Kickstarter page  before February 15.

–Anita M. Harris

New Cambridge Observer is a publication of the Harris Communications Group, a collaborative team of experts in public relations, content marketing and new media services.

The Cambridge Innovation Center, (CIC) where I work,  has signed a new lease for 52,000 square feet of space on the 1st, 14th and 15th floors at 101 Main Street in Cambridge. 101 Main Street is two doors down from CIC’s current home at One Broadway. The new location is owned by RREEF Real Estate, the real estate investment business of Deutsche Asset Management.

CIC has already vastly expanded since I first started working there in the Spring of 2010; currently, some 450 companies and 1700 people rent space on seven floors.

According to a recent communiqué from the CIC, “ We have seen strong continuing interest from the CIC community to grow here in Kendall Square, as well as interest from many others not currently located at CIC. This new space will create increased space options and amenities for our current and future clients and most importantly, the space will create more opportunities for entrepreneurs to collaborate and flourish.

This is a 33% increase in the CIC”s  total space — to a total of 207,000 square feet in Kendall Square. Occupancy of the new space will begin in early March.

With the expansion, I hope that  the  stellar CIC team and residents will be able to maintain the warm,  friendly and stimulating community atmosphere that makes the CIC at 1 Broadway a wonderful place to work.

Anita M. Harris

Anita Harris is the founder and CEO of the Harris Communications Group, a collaborative team of experts  in public relations, social media, content and marketing services for health, science, technology and energy, worldwide.

Want  to  lunch one-on-one with a senior exec from a major pharma company and help people in the developing world at the same time?

UK/US Life science consulting firm Alacrita,  based in the Cambridge Innovation Center, has launched a benefit auction in which you can bid for a two-hour, one-to-one lunch with senior executives from the pharmaceutical industry who have donated their time to the appeal.

According to Alacrita Partner Rob Johnson,   the appeal aims to raise money for WaterAid, an international non-profit organization that  transforms the lives of people in the world’s poorest countries by improving access to safe water and sanitation.

Bidding opened Monday 3^rd December and closes on Thursday 13^th December on 5pm EST/10pm GMT.

In order to bid,  click on a name, below. You will be redirected to eBay for bidding.

• Heather Bell, Head of Corporate Strategy and Shaun Grady, Head of Business Development at AstraZeneca (one lunch)
• Moncef Slaoui, Chairman, Research & Development at GlaxoSmithKline
• Douglas Giordano, Senior Vice President, Worldwide Business Development at Pfizer
• Susan Silbermann, President and General Manager, Vaccines, Specialty Care Business Unit and Polly Murphy Vice President, Specialty Care Business Unit Business Development at Pfizer (one lunch)
• Graham Brazier, Vice President, Business Development, Strategic Transactions Group at Bristol-Myers Squibb
• Pamela Demain, Executive Director, Corporate Licensing at Merck
• Susan Jane Herbert, Executive Vice President and Head of Global Business Development and Strategy and Annalisa Jenkins, Executive Vice President and Head of Global Drug Development & Medical and Belen Garijo, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at Merck Serono (one lunch)

Bidding  will be open until 13^th December, 5pm EST/10pm GMT.

Johnson said: “We are thrilled to launch this year’s seasonal appeal to raise funds for WaterAid. 783 million people, or one in ten of the world’s population, live without access to safe water and last year WaterAid reached 1.6 million people with water and 1.9 million people with sanitation in 27 countries. ”

David Winder, CEO of WaterAid, America added: “We are delighted that Alacrita has chosen to  donate the proceeds of their charity auction to  WaterAid.  Every day, 2,000 children die from water-related diseases that could easily be prevented.  The funds raised will help us reach more of the world’s poorest people with safe, clean water and sanitation.  These vital basic services are essential for saving  lives, improving health and reducing poverty in the world’s poorest countries.”

–Anita M. Harris
New Cambridge Observer is a publication of the Harris Communications Group,  an award-winning PR/content marketing and social media firm specializing in health, science, technology and energy.

Sorry I couldn’t make it to this year’s Global  Cleantech Meetup but am pleased to post information provided  by Harold Simansky about his company, 360 Chestnut , which provides resources for consumers and service providers  in the home improvement market, and about WeFunder, a crowd investing platform for startups.

Both companies are headquartered at the Cambridge Innovation Center in Kendall Square, where I share space, although I have not yet met either Simansky or WeFunder cofounder and President Mike Norman.

Simansky says the two companies “stole the show,” but I’ll bet they got a run for their money (so to speak) from my friend and informal PR client,  Christine Adamow, who announced that her company, EuphorbUS,  which has produced pure fuel oil from tree seeds in Africa since 2007, is setting up shop in Hawaii. [Link to Euphorbus release.]

Simansky writes that WeFunder is the premier crowd investing platform for startups, while 360Chestnut is growing into one of the largest home improvement sites on the web.

Both startups were featured presenters at the  two day conference: Norman gave the keynote address to the more than 500 attendees and Simanski spoke on home improvement and sustainability.

Simansky points out that 360Chestnut is using the WeFunder  platform to raise its most recent round  of  investment, and in his  keynote, Norman called  360Chestnut an “ideal company” to use crowd investing to fund its growth.

Simansky describes WeFunder as “a crowd investing platform for startups.”  Using the platform, crowd investors can purchase stock for as little as $100 in promising new businesses around the country.  With the passage of the  US JOBS Act in April,  startups will soon be allowed to solicit investment from small, “unaccredited” investors and sell small stakes in their businesses online.

He says that  360Chestnut is “a no-cost, trusted source” where homeowners learn what to do to make their homes more healthy, energy-efficient and comfortable;  connect with qualified service providers, and access the more than 5000 rebate and incentives that will pay for this type of work.

For service providers, 360Chestnut is “a constant source of educated, nurtured customers; marketing & sales support; easy-to-use software and applications; online training; financing options and more.   Service providers pay to join and may purchase products and service son the site.

–Anita M. Harris

New Cambridge Observer is a publication of the Harris Communications Group, an award-winning public relations and online-marketing firm based in Cambridge, MA.

This agreement between the Republican incumbent and his Democratic challenger comes only two years after the decision in the now-infamous Citizens United case, in which the United States Supreme Court effectively ruled — to put it rather bluntly — that money is speech and corporations are people in the realm of campaign finance law. Whatever one thinks of either Warren or Brown, they’re certainly bucking a national trend.

With an eye toward the rest of the country in this heated election season, Bierman writes that over $90 million have been in spend in 13 states with Senate races this year alone. None of this money, trickling down from political action committees (PACs) and other interest groups, has so much as paid for a sound bite in the election here in Massachusetts.

You have to wonder how the candidates are making this work in what might very well be one of the country’s most acrimonious, grudging, and competitive Senate race this year. But early on they came up with a relatively simple solution: every time a third-party group runs an advertisement, the party that benefits from the advertisement’s message must make a donation to charity directly out of its own coffers.

The Brown-Warren pledge represents a model for the rest of the country, one that should be strictly adhered to in an election season that promises to be rife with a slew of misinformation and even outright lies. And while I’ll refrain from coming down in this post for one candidate or the other, I should mention that I have a great deal of respect for both Scott Brown and Elizabeth Warren in light of this agreement. At least the candidates are speaking for themselves.

–Will Holt also blogs at Letters from a Bay Stater, where this blog initially appeared.  http://williambrianholt.wordpress.com/

New Cambridge Observer is a publication of the Harris Communications Group, an award-winning  marketing and communications firm.