Are Patents Impeding Medical Care and Innovation?

This month's debate examines whether the current patent system is crucial for stimulating health research or whether it is stifling biomedical research and impeding medical care. Background to the debate: Pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers argue that the current patent system is crucial for stimulating research and development (R&D), leading to new products that improve medical care. The financial return on their investments that is afforded by patent protection, they claim, is an incentive toward innovation and reinvestment into further R&D. But this view has been challenged in recent years. Many commentators argue that patents are stifling biomedical research, for example by preventing researchers from accessing patented materials or methods they need for their studies. Patents have also been blamed for impeding medical care by raising prices of essential medicines, such as antiretroviral drugs, in poor countries. This debate examines whether and how patents are impeding health care and innovation

Factors that influence tunneling in the eastern subterranean termite, Reticulitermes flavipes (Kollar) (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae

ABSTRACT Although subterranean termite (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae) foraging behavior involves the construction of gallery systems in soil, few studies have examined how colony size or soil environmental factors influence rates of construction and morphology of gallery systems. In this study, we investigated the effects of soil texture, soil moisture, and termite density on the rate of tunnel construction and tunnel morphology in Reticulitermes flavipes (Kollar). Tunneling rate and tunnel morphology were measured in laboratory arenas by simulating a thin slice of subterranean habitat. Tunneling rates were faster in arenas containing soils with higher sand concentrations. High termite densities had little effect on tunneling rates in small gallery systems, but differences were observed after gallery systems became large. The rate of tunnel construction along edges of tunneling arenas was significantly greater than in the interior. Tunneling distance on days after the addition of water was higher than on days prior to adding water. Differences in tunnel morphology were variable and were not associated with treatment levels in any of these experiments. The results of this study suggest that R. flavipes tunneling rates are strongly influenced by environment, whereas tunnel morphology is variable but not associated with any of the factors we examined. Key environmental variables include soil texture, moisture availability, and tactile orienting stimuli

Exploring Regulatory Flexibility to Create Novel Incentives to Optimize Drug Discovery

Efforts by governments, firms, and patients to deliver pioneering drugs for critical health needs face a challenge of diminishing efficiency in developing those medicines. While multi-sectoral collaborations involving firms, researchers, patients, and policymakers are widely recognized as crucial for countering this decline, existing incentives to engage in drug development predominantly target drug manufacturers and thereby do little to stimulate collaborative innovation. In this mini review, we consider the unexplored potential within pharmaceutical regulations to create novel incentives to encourage a diverse set of actors from the public and private spheres to engage in the kind of collaborative knowledge exchange requisite for fostering enhanced innovation in early drug development

Ice Particle Impacts on a Moving Wedge

This work presents the results of an experimental study of ice particle impacts on a moving wedge. The experiment was conducted in the Adverse Environment Rotor Test Stand (AERTS) facility located at Penn State University. The wedge was placed at the tip of a rotating blade. Ice particles shot from a pressure gun intercepted the moving wedge and impacted it at a location along its circular path. The upward velocity of the ice particles varied from 7 to 12 meters per second. Wedge velocities were varied from 0 to 120 meters per second. Wedge angles tested were 0 deg, 30 deg, 45 deg, and 60 deg. High speed imaging combined with backlighting captured the impact allowing observation of the effect of velocity and wedge angle on the impact and the post-impact fragment behavior. It was found that the pressure gun and the rotating wedge could be synchronized to consistently obtain ice particle impacts on the target wedge. It was observed that the number of fragments increase with the normal component of the impact velocity. Particle fragments ejected immediately after impact showed velocities higher than the impact velocity. The results followed the major qualitative features observed by other researchers for hailstone impacts, even though the reduced scale size of the particles used in the present experiment as compared to hailstones was 4:1

Differential Effects of Emotional Information on Interference Task Performance Across the Life Span

While functioning in multiple domains declines with age, emotional regulation appears to remain preserved in older adults. The Emotion Inhibition (Emotional Stroop) Test requires participants to name the ink color in which neutrally and emotionally valenced words are printed. It was employed in the current investigation as a measure of affective regulation in the context of an interference task in relation to age. Results demonstrated that while participants ranging from 20 to 50 years of age performed significantly worse on the emotion Stroop Inhibition relative to the neutral Stroop Inhibition condition, subjects over 60 years of age displayed the converse of this pattern, performing better on the emotion than the neutral condition, suggesting that they are less affected by the emotional impact of the positive and negative words used in the former condition. This pattern of age-related change in the ability to manage emotion may be related to blunting of affective signaling in limbic structures or, at the psychological level, focusing on emotional regulation

Amici Brief of Certain Academics in Law, Medicine, Health Policy, and Clinical Genetics in Support of Petitioners

Brief of Amici Curiae ("friend of the court") submitted by certain academics in law, medicine, health policy, and clinical genetics in support of petitioners on petition for a Writ of Certiorari (No. 11-725

Innovative interstellar explorer

An interstellar "precursor" mission has been under discussion in the scientific community for at least 30 years. Fundamental scientific questions about the interaction of the Sun with the interstellar medium can only be answered with in situ measurements that such a mission can provide. The Innovative Interstellar Explorer (IIE) and its use of Radioisotope Electric Propulsion (REP) is being studied under a NASA "Vision Mission" grant. Speed is provided by a combination of a high-energy launch, using current launch vehicle technology, a Jupiter gravity assist, and long-term, low-thrust, continuous acceleration provided by an ion thruster running off electricity provided by advanced radioisotope electric generators. A payload of ten instruments with an aggregate mass of ~35 kg and requiring ~30 W has been carefully chosen to address the compelling science questions. The nominal 20-day launch window opens on 22 October 2014 followed by a Jupiter gravity assist on 5 February 2016. The REP system accelerates the spacecraft to a "burnout" speed of 7.8 AU per year at 104 AU on 13 October 2032 (Voyager 1's current speed is ~3.6 AU/yr). The spacecraft will return at least 500 bits per second from at least 200 AU ~30 years after launch. Additional (backup) launch opportunities occur every 13 months to early 2018. In addition to addressing basic heliospheric science, the mission will ensure continued information on the far-heliospheric galactic cosmic ray population after the Voyagers have fallen silent and as the era of human Mars exploration begins

The relationship between indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase activity and post-stroke cognitive impairment

BACKGROUND: Activation of indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO) and higher concentrations of several kynurenine metabolites have been observed post-stroke, where they have been associated with increased mortality. While lower tryptophan or a higher ratio of kynurenine/tryptophan (K/T) in peripheral blood have been associated with dementia and the severity of cognitive symptoms in Alzheimer's disease, the association between K/T ratios and post-stroke cognitive impairment (PSCI) has not been investigated. METHODS: Patients were recruited from the acute stroke unit of a general hospital within 1 month post-stroke. Assessments included the Standardized Mini-Mental State Examination (sMMSE) for cognition, the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) for stroke severity, and the Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression Scale (CES-D) for depressive symptoms. Tryptophan and kynurenine concentrations were determined by high-performance liquid chromatography. RESULTS: A total of 41 patients with ischemic stroke ([mean ± SD] age 72.3 ± 12.2 years, 53.7% male, sMMSE 25.6 ± 4.1, NIHSS 7.27 ± 5.55) were recruited. Higher K/T ratios were associated with lower post-stroke global cognition (i.e. sMMSE scores; β = -.327, P = .037). A backward stepwise elimination linear regression (F(1,40)=6.15, P=.005, adjusted R(2)=.205) showed that the highest K/T ratio tertile (β = -.412, P = .006) predicted lower sMMSE scores, controlling for age (β = -.253, p = .081), with NIHSS (β = -.027, P = 0.859), and lesion volume (β = -.066, P = 0.659) removed from the model. In receiver operating characteristic analysis, a K/T ratio of 78.3 μmol/mmol (top tertile) predicted significant cognitive impairment (sMMSE score ≤ 24) with 67% sensitivity and 86% specificity (area under the curve = 0.730, p = .022). CONCLUSIONS: These data suggest an inflammatory response characterized by IDO activation may be relevant to the development of PSCI. Since the neuroactivity of kynurenine metabolites may be amenable to pharmacotherapeutic intervention, the K/T ratio may be a clinically important biomarker