Boston/Cambridge/Quincy rank 8th most stressful cities to live in

I was interested to see that Boston/Cambridge/Quincy Metro area ranked eighth in a Forbes.com study of the most stressful US cities to live in.

Topping the list were Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, Cleveland, Providence, RI, San Francisco, and Detroit; Washington DC was ninth, followed by San Jose, Seattle, Riverside CA, and Philadelphia and, surprisingly, Portland, Ore.

I was interested to see that Boston/Cambridge/Quincy Metro area ranked eighth on a Forbes.com study of  the most stressful US cities to live in.  

 Topping the list were Chicago,  Los Angeles, New York, Cleveland, Providence, RI, San Francisco,  and Detroit; Washington DC was ninth, followed by San Jose, Seattle, Riverside CA, and Philadelphia and, surprisingly, Portland, Ore.

Forbes ranked the metropolitan areas by quality of life factors including medium home price drop, unemployment, cost of living, air quality,  sunny days per year, and population density.

The Boston  metropolitan area was  ranked 17th for media home price drop, 30th for unemployment rate, 7th for cost of living, 20th for air quality, 12 th for sunny days per year, and 5th for population density.

Providence was  ranked 4th most stressful overall–based on  mainly on high unemployment and  cost of living.

Chicago was labelled  stressful primarily based on air quality, a low number of sunny days per year and high population density. LA came in second–with high rankings for median home price drop, cost of living, air quality and population density. New York, with the highest cost of living, and population density and relatively poor air quality  ranked fourth most stressful.

For a link to the list and Forbes rationale, click here.

—Anita M. Harris

New Cambridge Observer is a publication of the Harris Communications Group of Cambridge, MA. We also publish the HarrisCom Blog.

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Scientia Advisors:neurostimulation technology could supplant drugs for certain conditions

A Scientia Advisors study suggests that neurostimulation technologies have fewer side effects and could help cut health care costs by doing away with the need for lifelong drug regimens.

Cambridge managing consulting firm Scientia Advisors (my client!) has released a fascinating study about growth in the neurostimulation technology markets. 

Scientia has found that these technologies–electrical devices implanted to stimulate portions of the brain, spinal cord and sacral nerve– are growing at a rate of 16 percent –and are beginning to supplant drugs as the treatment of choice for certain conditions.

The study, described in the August 21 Medical Device Daily and in a press release issued yesterday, suggests that these new technologies have fewer side effects and could help cut health care costs by doing away with the need for lifelong drug regimens. Scientia   recommends that device companies become involved in this growth area.

More at www.Scientiaadv.com or http://blog.harriscom.com.

Anita Harris

New Cambridge Observer is a publication of the Harris Communications Group of Cambridge, MA.

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CCTV Named #1 Public Access Station in U.S. for 8th Time

Cambridge Community Television has once again received the Overall Excellence in Public Access Programming Award from the national Alliance for Community Media in its Hometown Video Festival.

I’ve taken several excellent courses at CCTV–in Dreamweaver, Excel, and MS Publisher; also on video shooting and editing. If you join, fees are nominal–you get $100 worth of courses for $55–less if you put in volunteer time; more if you’re not a Cambridge resident. Check it out!

I’m pleased to report that Cambridge Community Television has once again received the Overall Excellence in Public Access Programming Award from the national Alliance for Community Media in its Hometown Video Festival.

 This is the eighth time in CCTV’s twenty-one year history that the station has received this award, recognizing the diversity and quality of CCTV’s programming, as well as its relevance to the Cambridge community.

CCTV competed in the highest budget category, against much larger access centers in major cities throughout the United States. Numerous CCTV producers also received high accolades in the festival:

Project Documentary’s The Dames, about Boston’s roller derby team, placed first in the Sports Entertainment category; teens participating in CCTV’s youth program were also recognized: Josh Washington and William Sheffield for their original teleplay “Homies”, Julie Pan for “King Open Extended Day Program”, Cody Romano for “Dawn”, and Alex Ayabe for his music video “Guarantee”, which he produced at Cambridge Educational Access.

 Laura Asherman also received an Honorable Mention for her video “You Contribute to Global Warming”. Watch some of our finest programming from 2008 in this video! You can also view the full list of winners at http://2009.acmhometown.org/

I’ve taken several excellent courses at CCTV–in Dreamweaver, Excel, and MS Publisher; also on video shooting and editing.  If you join, fees  are nominal–you get $100 worth of courses for $55–less if you put in volunteer time; more if you’re not a Cambridge resident.  It’s a great way to learn about new technologies,  learn television production, produce videos–even host your own TV program. Check it out!

Anita M. Harris

New Cambridge Observer is a publication of the Harris Communications Group of Cambridge, MA. HarrisCom also publishes www.blog.harriscom.com

July 8, 2009 – 1:04pm — Nilagia
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Mass. Life Sciences Center sees 8-fold return in year 1

The MLSC, charged with distributing some $1B over a ten year period, invested $48.5 M in public dollars this year–its first full year of operation. The funds, in turn, have attracted nearly $359M in matching investments from companies, foundations, government, institutes and other private investors–an eight-fold return.

Over lunch at the Cambridge Innovation Center on Wednesday,   Mass Life Sciences Center (MLSC) President and CEO Susan Bannister told a gathering of some 100 life science afficionados that the first year of Gov. Deval Patrick’s Life Science Initiatiative has been a success. 

The MLSC, charged with distributing some $1B over a ten year period,  invested  $48.5 M in public dollars this year–its first full year of operation.  The funds, in turn, have attracted nearly $359M in matching investments from companies, foundations, government, institutes and other private investors–an eight-fold return.  

“There’s still capital out there and life science is a good place to put your money,” Bannister said.  “By putting state money into the pot, we have ‘de-risked’ investment that the state would have had to find elsewhere”.

 The funded projects–in biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, diagnostics and bioinformatics–could create some 950 jobs in the near term, Bannister said.

By adding employment opportunities,  Massachusetts’  investments and incentives could help to absorb some of the job losses expected in other sectors, according to Bannister.

Frank Reynolds, CEO of InVivo Therapeutics, which is developing stem cell/ polymer technology aimed at halting the effects of traumatic spinal cord injury, said that receiving a $500 thousand loan just as  venture capital possibilities tanked this fall made a tremendous difference in his company’s ability to proceed. ”  It’s a great program,” Reynolds said. (Disclosure:   I work with InVivo).

Bannister cautioned  that in the current economic downturn, tax revenues are “iffy” and it’s not yet clear how much money will be available for the Initiative in 2010.

For more details, please visit  Harriscomblog.wordpress.com.

—Anita Harris

New Cambridge Observer is a publication of the Harris Communications Group of Cambridge, MA. Continue reading “Mass. Life Sciences Center sees 8-fold return in year 1”

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Bob Langer: inspiration for job seekers

In a recent talk, MIT Institute Professor Bob Langer described the difficulties he faced in his early career. For job hunters out there the message is simple but profound. Believe in yourself and your ideas, treat people kindly, and keep on going.

Great talk, Bob. Once again, bravo.

As a graduating  PhD, Robert Langer, now Institute Professor at MIT, was having trouble finding work.

As he told the Health Innovators Group of Combined Jewish Philanthropies on Friday, most of his classmates took jobs with oil companies but  he knew that wasn’t for him.  Having helped found an alternative high school in Cambridge, he  applied for 50 or 60 jobs in curriculum development, but no one wrote him back. Then he tried medical schools and hospitals, but “they didn’t write back, either.”  Finally, someone  in his lab told him that someone at Children’s Hospital sometimes hired “unusual people.”

That “someone” was Judah Folkman, who, in 1974,  was beginning to work on angiogenesis, which involved the idea that cutting the blood flow to tumors could halt  their growth.  The possibility  intrigued Langer, who  was hired–but made a rather inauspicious start.

As a post doc, he spent half of his time scraping meat off of cow bones delivered from a South Boston slaughterhouse. He   discovered 200 methods that didn’t work;. He  faced  hostile scientists who told him they didn’t believe anything he said, and,  as time went on,  was denied many patents by officers who were were unwilling to accept his proof.

It took until 2002 for  the first angiogenisis drug to gain FDA approved.  By then, Bob, who wouldn’t take “no” for an answer, was MIT’s most prolific inventor and a University Professor who had helped found many companies and   inspired countless students–who now run departments, labs, and companies of their own.

I’ve known Bob since the 7th grade…and was in the 8th-grade English class  in which, he tells people , he was so shy that he froze during a public speaking exercise, and got an F.  We both went to Cornell, where, he’s told me, he found that he learned more studying on his own (and playing bridge) than going to class.  And I remember sitting in a pizza parlor with him in  1982, watching as he diagrammed  his ideas on a mechanism for “slow release” for pharmaceuticals–on a napkin.

Despite his success, a recent writeup in Nature,  and much  excitement about possible “pharmacies on a chip,”,  a stem cell device to help individuals with spinal cord injuries,  and an adhesive for heart surgery based on the sticky-stuff that allows gekkos to climb up walls, Bob  remains the same old Bob, who sometimes gets  ideas for new devices, materials and methods  from television and magazine magazines.    He’s still down-to-earth, supportive, and even funny.   (Did  you know that the most  surgical devices are invented by doctors who use household materials to fit their operating needs…which is why the “stretchiness” material used in artificial heart is the same stuff used in ladies’ girdles? )

So- for job hunters out there the message is simple but profound. Believe in yourself and your ideas, treat people kindly, and  keep on going.

Great talk, Bob. Once again, bravo.

AMH

New Cambridge Observer is a publication of the Harris Communications Group of Cambridge, MA.

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Non-invasive test predicts risk of sudden cardiac arrest

A meta-analysis and four additional studies published in the March 2009 Heart Rhythm journal show clearly that Cambridge Heart’s non-invasive MTWA test can accurately predicts the risk of sudden cardiac arrest–the leading killer in the US.

I’m  helping Cambridge Heart and Kogs Communications get out the good news that the company’s non-invasive test, which is administered much like a stress test, on a treadmill, accurately predicts the risk of sudden cardiac arrest–the leading killer in the US.

Here’s today’s release:

Tewksbury, Mass., March 3, 2009 – Cambridge Heart, Inc. (OTCBB-CAMH), today announced the publication of five articles supporting the use of Microvolt T Wave Alternans™ (MTWA) testing in a supplement to the March issue of the Heart Rhythm journal. Featured in the supplement is a comprehensive meta-analysis of 6,000 patients confirming the value of MTWA as a non-invasive marker of risk for sudden cardiac arrest (SCA).

The MTWA test, administered much like a stress test on a treadmill, was developed by Cambridge Heart as a diagnostic tool to help physicians determine a patient’s risk of sudden cardiac arrest — the leading cause of death in the United States.

The meta-analysis, conducted by a group led by Stefan Hohnloser, MD, FHRS, of the JW Goethe University Division of Cardiology in Frankfurt, Germany, assessed 13 MTWA clinical studies involving approximately 6,000 cardiac patients.

“The results demonstrate that MTWA testing is a consistently accurate predictor of sudden cardiac death and cardiac arrest in patients who do not already have implantable cardiac defibrillators (ICDs),” said Dr. Stefan Hohnloser. “These are the patients for whom MTWA testing is intended.”

The meta-analysis authors also conclude that:

· Patients who test negative for MTWA abnormalities are at extremely low risk (0.3%) for SCA in the next 12 months.

· MTWA testing can help doctors guide ICD therapy to appropriate patients and overcome the widespread reluctance of patients and referring physicians to accept ICD therapy.

· In clinical trials, appropriate ICD shocks are an unreliable surrogate endpoint for SCA and can skew results of risk stratification studies.

“This comprehensive analysis confirms the findings of numerous peer-reviewed studies which underscore the important role of MTWA in assessing a patient’s risk of sudden cardiac arrest,” said Ali Haghighi-Mood, PhD, Chief Executive Officer of Cambridge Heart.

The Heart Rhythm supplement also includes:

· A second meta-analysis of MTWA testing in patients with non-ischemic heart disease, authored by Gaetano De Ferrari, MD and Antonio Sanzo, MD of the Department of Cardiology at Fondazione IRCCS Policlinico San Matteo, Pavia Italy. Analyzing eight available trials involving 1,450 patients, the paper indicates that in this population negative MTWA results can help patients and their physicians decide whether ICD therapy may safely be avoided.

· An article by Michael J. Mirro, MD, Medical Director of the Parkview Health System Clinical Research Center in Fort Wayne Indiana, who describes how his center has incorporated MTWA testing into clinical practice to complement other methods for identifying and educating patients about the risk of SCA.

· A review of numerous studies concerning the underlying cellular mechanisms of T-wave alternans. The authors conclude that microvolt T-wave alternans is a marker of cellular changes that make the heart susceptible to sudden cardiac arrest. The review was carried out by Michael Cutler, DO, PhD, and David S. Rosenbaum, MD, of the Heart and Vascular Research Center at the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland.

· A review by Navinder Sawhney, MD and Sanjiv Narayan, MD of the University of California at San Diego that underscores the value of MTWA testing in patients who have had heart attacks but do not fall within current guidelines for ICD implantation.

The articles in the supplement can be found on the Heart Rhythm journal website at:

http://www.heartrhythmjournal.com/issues/contents?issue_key=S1547-5271(09)X0006-8

About Cambridge Heart, Inc.

Cambridge Heart develops and commercializes non-invasive diagnostic tests for cardiac disease, with a focus on identifying those at risk for sudden cardiac arrest (SCA). The Company’s products incorporate proprietary Microvolt T-Wave Alternans measurement technologies including the patented Analytic Spectral Method® and ultrasensitive disposable electrode sensors. Medicare reimburses the Analytic Spectral Method® under its National Coverage Policy. Cambridge Heart, founded in 1990, is based in Tewksbury, MA. The company’s Microvolt T-Wave Alternans™ (MTWA) test, developed by Cambridge Heart (OTCBB: CAMH), is based on research originally conducted at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. http://www.cambridgeheart.com.

Statements contained in this press release are forward-looking statements for purposes of the safe harbor provisions under The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. In some cases, we use words such as “believes”, “expects”, “anticipates”, “plans”, “estimates”, “could”, and similar expressions that convey uncertainty of future events or outcomes to identify these forward-looking statements. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by these forward-looking statements. Factors that may cause or contribute to such differences include failure to achieve broad market acceptance of the Company’s MTWA technology, failure of our sales and marketing organization to market our products effectively, inability to hire and retain qualified clinical applications specialists in the Company’s target markets, failure to obtain or maintain adequate levels of third-party reimbursement for use of the Company’s MTWA test, customer delays in making final buying decisions, decreased demand for the Company’s products, failure to obtain funding necessary to develop or enhance our technology, adverse results in future clinical studies of our technology, failure to obtain or maintain patent protection for our technology and other factors identified in our most recent Annual Report on Form 10‑K/A under “Risk Factors”, which is on file with the SEC and available at www.EDGAR.com. In addition, any forward-looking statements represent our estimates only as of today and should not be relied upon as representing our estimates as of any subsequent date. While we may elect to update forward-looking statements at some point in the future, we specifically disclaim any obligation to do so except as may be legally necessary, even if our estimates should change.

The New Cambridge Observer is a publication of the Harris Communications Group of Cambridge, MA.

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