20 reasons why Tokyo for the 2016 Olympic Games -- and what Chicago is competing against for athletes and spectators alike

While we were in Tokyo earlier this month, we experienced that city's Olympic movement in full swing.

And on the way home, I read a feature in Monocle magazine promoting Japan's urban champion position. You can read it at http://www.tokyo2016.or.jp/en/whytokyo/

And consider joining me as a member of the Chicago2016 Supporters group on LinkedIn
http://www.linkedin.com/groups?viewMembers=&gid=54811&sik=1237756702918

2 nuevos marcadores detectan precozmente el 70% de casos que afectan a los ovarios -- Avance en terapias personalizadas para menores con cáncer

I'm pleased to post this research news from the School of Medicine at University of Navarra, Spain. Important clinical research is being conducted there with interdisciplinary groups of medical doctors, biologists, pharmaceutical specialists, engineers, nurses, among others. This research is primarily carried out within the context four distinct lines: Genetic Therapy, Physiopathology, Oncology, and Neurosciences.

This particular report is relevant to our client, Fujirebio Diagnostics, and its advanced marker HE4.

I made the decision to post in the original Spanish language to preserve the authenticity of the news report from El Correo Gallego (http://www.elcorreogallego.es/gente-y-comunicacion/ecg/avance-terapias-personalizadas-menores-cancer/idNoticia-395717/)



Un equipo de expertos de la Clínica Universidad de Navarra ha comprobado la existencia de variantes genéticas que hacen que algunos pacientes infantiles con osteosarcoma presenten mayor resistencia y menor tolerancia a determinados fármacos, un descubrimiento que profundiza en los mecanismos de esta enfermedad y avanza en el camino para la obtención de una terapia personalizada para los niños.

En concreto, la investigación, que se publicará en la revista científica The Journal of Pediatrics, se ha centrado en el análisis de los efectos secundarios del metotrexato en 100 pacientes, una de las mayores muestras del mundo dada la escasa incidencia de la enfermedad, estimada en una persona por cada millón de habitantes al año. Según la doctora Ana Patiño, investigadora principal del artículo, "el medicamento elegido para tratar el osteosarcoma infantil se administra dosis muy elevadas, cuantificadas en gramos, lo que significa multiplicar por 1.000 las dosis de metotrexato que se aplican en otras enfermedades oncológicas más frecuentes, como puede ser la leucemia". "Unas dosis tan altas pueden provocar efectos tóxicos muy importantes; de ahí la necesidad de conocer los mecanismos genéticos que intervienen en la resistencia al tratamiento y en la tolerancia al fármaco", apuntó la doctora.

Por otra parte, más del 70% de los cánceres de ovario se pueden detectar precozmente en mujeres propensas usando dos marcadores tumorales, según se anunció en el Simposio Internacional sobre Biología y Utilidad Clínica de los Marcadores Tumorales en Barcelona.

El doctor Rafael Molina, jefe de la unidad de Oncobiología del servicio de Bioquímica Clínica del hospital Clinic de Barcelona, y uno de los organizadores del encuentro, señala en un comunicado que este hallazgo es importante porque el cáncer de ovario es un tipo de tumor que no produce síntomas, por lo que suele diagnosticarse tardíamente, y presenta un nivel de mortalidad elevado.

Añadió que, combinando dos marcadores, el HE4, muy reciente, y el CA 125, se mejora la detección, permitiendo que los resultados y posibilidades de curación se incrementen.



To learn more about monitoring recurrence and risk stratification of ovarian cancer, visit http://taketherightpath.com/

700 Boise creatives ignited by 15 presenters with only 20 slides and 5 minutes of stage time each

The great industrialist and tire magnate Harvey Firestone once said: "Capital isn't that important in business. Experience isn't that important. You can get both of these things. What is important is ideas."”

Following Harvey's advice, more than 700 geeks, techies, artists, philosophers, bankers, lawyers, writers, marketers and other characters converged on the Egyptian Theater last night for the first Ignite Boise event-- a 3-hour series of presentations meant to excite, intrigue, educate and entertain.

Armed only with 20 slides and 5 minutes of stage time, 15 presenters held forth in double-time on topics that included the business lessons of Star Wars,”the importance of public art, e-mailing effectively, commercializing your ideas, the wonders inside useless things--and how our lives are affected by ever expanding communications technology.

Zach Hagadone of Idaho Business Review (http://www.idahobusiness.net/) reports that the mood at the Egyptian was a mixture of a comedy club, a pep rally and a variety show, as total strangers mingled in the aisles, sipped beer and wine in the lobby, chatted in their seats, and laughed and clapped along with presenters.

Inspired by similar events in places like Seattle, Portland and Boulder, Ignite Boise was free and open to all and put on by a group of volunteers. Sponsors were as diverse as the subjects discussed and included: Boise Valley Commercial R.E., the Boise Weekly, BrightPath, the city of Boise, Hawley Troxell, Idaho TechConnect, iQuestions, rizen creative, T.V. Consultants’ Network, Tablerock Printing, TechBoise, The Invent Blog, and Valitics.

Far from the typical business or networking presentation, audience members were told not to turn off their iPhones, cell phones or laptops -- and they were encouraged to text, tweet or blog the event as it happened.

"Do that," said Jeff Reynolds of Rizen Creative as he warmed up the crowd. "Whatever the kids are doing today, do it. It's working.”

Sure enough, Twitter was alive with a play-by-play of the event, and on this Friday morning more than a few blogs are carrying a re-cap of the night:

http://igniteboise.com/
http://www.newwest.net/city/article/ignite_boise_inspires_idahos_twitterati/C108/L108/
http://www.idahostatesman.com/localnews/story/704445.html
http://underdogeffect.typepad.com/index/2009/03/index.html

There's even a flicker page with photos from the event:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/27896276@N02/3369765847/



The common theme: Bringing together a couple hundred fast talking, big thinking members of the creative class”is sure to result in at least one or two next-big-things.”

9 Cool Millennials: a generation of dorm room brand innovators

INC. magazine decided to try a new approach to reporting on promising start-ups founded by college students. They turned to their very own student journalists.

Assignments and deadlines were set via Twitter, and drafts were traded and edited over Facebook. INC reported on the future, by using the future – and discovered some very exciting up-and-coming businesses that grew amid the craziness that is college.

Go to “The Coolest College Start-ups” to read more about these innovative ideas: http://www.inc.com/magazine/20090301/index.html

3 years instead of 10: BioMarin accelerates drug development process

Yesterday, Jeffrey Cooper, Senior VP and COO of BioMarin, presented a company update at the Cowen and Company 29th Annual Health Care Conference in Boston.

In his twenty-minute talk, Jeffrey offered up a wide variety of insights about this successful pharmaceutical company.

He highlighted the fact that BioMarin has been extremely successful at getting products to the market quickly. He attributes this success to reducing overall R&D cost by minimizing time and development and starting revenues sooner. Specifically, Kuvan reached market within 3 years – while it usually takes an average 10-year process to get drug approval.

For more on Jeffrey’s update on BioMarin, and their products follow the link and click on Replay Webcast:
http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=106657&p=irol-irhome

8 brand case studies of social media practices

Today at noon, Michelle and I attended a very informative presentation on social media at a luncheon meeting of the Capital City Communicators.

Sara Prentice and Ethan Huffman of the Idaho National Laboratory were the speakers. They are from the public affairs and strategic communications groups at INL (operated by the US Department of Energy).

Sara and Ethan said their research began with the use of social media in emergency management. It developed into a complete overview of the trends and best practices.

A definition by the Web Content Report says social media is “web users generating their own content in a collaborative, community-driven way.””

It’s an important topic for many reasons:

• Audiences changing
(77% of GenX, GenY, and Millenials would rather give up newspapers and TV rather than computer and internet access)
• Not just a trend -there are now 130 million blogs
• News media are looking at blogs as much as traditional sources
• Global shift in communications practices
• Corporate distrust (only 17% of people believe what CEO says)


So, what organizations are capitalizing on social media?

1. Goodwill
A fashion icon for Goodwill stores? Check out: “DC Goodwill Fashion Blog”

2. LA Fire Department
The fire chief blogs about training, awards, and programs. They even Twitter about every call & response and post on YouTube & Flicker.

3. JetBlue Airways
Shape public perception with its Customer Bill of Rights. Two full-time employees follow social media. And now the airline is also tweet-ing deals: http://twitter.com/JetBlue

4. Comcast
Turning around customer service by responding to complaints online. Now they have a comcastcares twitter

5. Blendtech
A $400 blender? Supported by a award-winning “Will It Blend?”series on YouTube with CEO Tom Dickson.

6. Southwest Airlines
Nuts About Southwest gives their side of the story faster.

7. Deloitte

Built company morale across all its offices with an internal film festival. Employees made their own videos about why they liked their jobs. Some 350 were submitted -employees voted the winner "The Green Dot”

8. Idaho National Laboratory
Dave & Juan’s blog for employee relationships. INL@Work promotes its workforce community. Check out the YouTube video of the INL glass blower. www.youtube.com/idahonationallab

Overall, here is what Sara and Ethan say works:
• Conversational dialogue
• Corporate transparency
• News not found anywhere else
• Personal stories
• Live or first-hand accounts (red cross chat)



They also offered these 7 tips to get started:
1. educate yourself
2. be a change agent
3. put together a plan
4. adapt your content
5. identify and develop relationships
6. being monitoring the networks
7. be disruptive

3 Leadership Lessons to Push Through Tough Times

These times demand more of a leader (of a company, a team, a brand, a nonprofit group, whatever you’re leading). And we can all learn from others’ successes and failures.
So I’m pleased to share How Not to Succeed in Business from Businessweek, which offers these three cardinal rules of leadership:

1. First, business leaders gain nothing by showing uncertainty and indecision.
Every leader grapples with a monster of a challenge at some point, and may feel unsure or overwhelmed by complexity. The problem is taking those feelings public. As a leader, your job is to steer and inspire. First thing you need to do is huddle with your trusted advisors, discuss the challenge, probe it, debate it, and formulate the best plan to move the business forward.

2. Second, Business leaders undermine success by talking about the risk of failure.
The best kind of leadership can be found by putting yourself in a can-do mindset. Business leaders know that any strategy they adopt holds the risk of failure-but you can’t win unless you believe you can.

3. Finally, Business leaders cannot indulge bureaucratic data dumpers.
If you want to build leadership in your ranks, make sure your managers don’t bring you stacks of PowerPoint slides describing their problems in bone-crushing detail. Demand that they sort through the data with their team and deliver a decision with their rationale for it in unambiguous terms. If you’ve got a manager working for you who is paralyzed by information, options, and obstacles, you can be sure his people are confused. The only way to break the cycle is by not tolerating leaders who obfuscate with data to avoid taking action.

As a leader at STINSON, I want us to aspire to be trusted advisors – to our clients and to each other. Collectively we know we can win-and that mentality keeps us moving forward, fast-no matter what challenges we face.

2 kinds of organizations

In Seth Godin’s book “The Big Moo,” he shares inspirational words from 33 of the world’s smartest business thinkers.As he suggests (and offers permission on his website), I’m sharing with you a chapter from the book. Check our library or call me to get a copy. I’m glad to pass one along to you.



TWO KINDS OF ORGANIZATIONS


Have you ever seen a recumbent bicycle? They look sort of like Easy Rider-style chopper motorcycles, but the seat is even more reclined and there’s no engine, except the driver.

It turns out that recumbent bikes are faster, more comfortable, and more fun to ride than the bikes we all grew up with.

Speed aside, for anyone with back trouble, neck trouble, or the need to make a spectacle of himself, a recumbent bicycle is a great choice. There are more than a dozen “major” manufacturers of the bikes, each producing a few hundred or a few thousand recumbents a year. In total, the industry accounts for less than 1 percent of all bikes sold.

Here’s the surprising problem: Recumbent bikes are taking off. At InterWest 2005, the giant bike show held every year in Las Vegas, all the major traditional-bike manufacturers were showing off bikes that are beginning to look more and more like recumbents.

They’re just responding to the changing market. Aging baby boomers don’t want a Lance Armstrong bike—instead, they want to be comfortable. So brands like Trek and Giant (which sell, in one day, as many bikes as most recumbent companies do in a year) are starting to push their designs in the recumbent direction.

So why is this a problem? Why isn’t this great news for the existing recumbent manufacturers? After all, they’re already good at building the bikes people want.

It’s a problem because the long-suffering existing manufacturers are delighted that the marketplace has finally seen the light.

“We were right!” they’re thinking, and they’re responding to the competitive pressure of traditional-bike manufacturers’ going after recumbents by making their recumbent bikes more like traditional ones. In essence, they’re emulating Trek while Trek is emulating them.

They’re going to get crushed.

There are two kinds of organizations. One kind likes to be on the cutting edge, to do what hasn’t been done before, to embrace the new. The other kind fears that, and holds back to allow someone else to go first.

The United Way is facing tough times because they’re afraid to change. The Saddleback Church in California is doing wonderfully (10,000 percent growth over the last few years) because they love to change.

The recumbent-bicycle companies aren’t organized to compete on price and distribution and consistency. They should let the Treks and the Giants of the world teach everyone what to buy, while they keep making the expensive, quirky stuff for the real aficionados.

As the market gets bigger, they’ll thrive. They’re good at staying on the edge, and they should stay there.

Companies that are good at being edgy will always find a way to thrive. The sure way to fail, it seems, is to attempt to compromise that affinity for edginess for the mass market. It’s harder than it looks.

But what if your organization embraces its stuckness? What’s it going to take for you to start changing? What do you do when the market is moving away from you, not toward you? It seems to me that if you wait too long, it’ll be too late to do much of anything at all. Instead, recognize that change is coming, that the reality you operate in is dying out, and start practicing how to do the next big thing.

Betting on change is always the safest bet available.

2009 AAAAI presentation on C1-Esterase Inhibitor Concentrate -- rapidly relieves acute swelling attacks across all body sites in patients with HAE

And it improves health-related quality of life measures.

Nancy Burgess from Stinson Brand Innovation is attending the 2009 American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology (AAAAI) Annual Meeting, and she reported on some important data presented today about C1-esterase inhibitor.

According to the study, C1-INH concentrate is an effective, well-tolerated therapy that rapidly relieves acute swelling attacks at any body location in patients with hereditary angioedema (HAE), a rare and serious genetic disorder.

Interim results from the ongoing, prospective, open label International Multi-center Prospective Angioedema C1-Inhibitor Trial (I.M.P.A.C.T. 2), showed a median time to the onset of symptom relief of 16 minutes for laryngeal attacks, 23 minutes for abdominal attacks, 28 minutes for facial attacks and 31 minutes for peripheral attacks, such as attacks in the hands and feet. In total, 57 patients who experienced 640 HAE attacks in any body location were studied.

"This study shows that C1-INH replacement therapy is highly effective for the treatment of acute HAE attacks and it dramatically shortens attack duration," said Timothy J. Craig, D.O., Professor of Medicine and Pediatrics at Penn State University in Hershey, PA. "The I.M.P.A.C.T. 2 results underscore the versatility of C1-INH and validate the long-standing observation that this therapy effectively treats HAE attacks at many different regions of the body."

HAE is a genetic disorder affecting approximately 6,000 to 10,000 Americans and is caused by a deficiency of C1-INH, which is inherited in an autosomal dominant manner. Symptoms include episodes of edema or swelling in the hands and feet, the face, the abdomen, and/or the larynx. Patients who have abdominal attacks can experience episodes of severe pain, diarrhea, nausea, and vomiting caused by swelling of the intestinal wall. Attacks that involve the face and larynx can result in airway closure, asphyxiation, and, if untreated, death. Diagnosis of HAE requires a blood test to confirm low or abnormal levels of C1-INH. Hereditary angioedema attacks cause considerable morbidity and can be disruptive to patients' daily life activities for several days, requiring trips to an emergency room and hospitalization. Recognizing an acute attack in its early stages is vital in successfully managing the disease.

In parallel with the I.M.P.A.C.T. 2 trial, a patient-driven automated survey was conducted with a subset of 27 patients to assess their views of HAE treatment before and after C1-INH therapy. Following treatment with C1-INH approximately two-thirds of patients reported "much better" physical and emotional health and change in outlook, while half of the patients reported feeling more secure in leaving home and returning to their normal daily activities.

"The patient survey findings highlight the unmet medical need in the HAE community and the positive impact that a treatment for acute attacks can have on quality on life," said Val Romberg, Senior Vice President of Research and Development at CSL Behring. "CSL Behring is excited about the prospect of meeting that need with C1-INH and is committed to improving the lives of patients with HAE and other rare disorders."

Currently, there are no approved therapies for acute attacks of HAE in North America. CSL Behring manufactures and sells C1-INH concentrate in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Japan, and several other countries.

About I.M.P.A.C.T. 2

Findings of I.M.P.A.C.T. 2 were based on treatment with 20 U/kg bodyweight of C1-INH in 640 episodes of HAE attacks at any body location in 57 patients. The main study end-points were: time to onset of symptom relief; complete resolution of all symptoms, and safety.

The median times to complete resolution of all symptoms were reported as early as 8 hours for laryngeal attacks, 11 hours for abdominal, 24 hours for facial and 25 hours for peripheral attacks. No drug-related serious adverse events have been reported to date, nor were any rebound effects observed following C1-INH administration.

About the Patient Survey

Twenty-seven participating patients at seven sites reported 273 attacks over 16 months, with a median of 3.0/patient (range 1 to 70). Approximately 68 percent of the attacks were treated with C1-INH, 98.7 percent of which were reported by patients as responding satisfactorily. The average time from C1-INH administration to symptom relief onset was 1.3 hours and an average time to resolution was 1 day, 9 hours. According to the patients surveyed, if C1-INH was not available, 47 percent would have deferred medical therapy, 33 percent would have sought emergency care, and 7 percent would have self-treated with analgesics.

2nd I.M.P.A.C.T. results in HAE attacks -- treat rapidly at onset of prodromal symptoms

The importance of recognizing prodromal symptoms and treating acute attacks of hereditary angioedema (HAE) at the onset of these symptoms was highlighted in a survey presented Sunday at the 2009 American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology (AAAAI) Annual Meeting.

Nancy Burgess from Stinson Brand Innovation is attending the AAAAI conference and let us know about this paper on Sunday. HAE is an area we’ve been interested in for several years, and we’re interested in new medical treatments for this disease.

While symptoms of acute HAE attacks include episodes of edema or swelling in the hands and feet, the face, the abdomen, and/or the larynx, prodromal symptoms, which occur before an attack, are often non-specific and highly-variable, according to study findings. Treatment at the onset of these early symptoms can decrease morbidity and mortality associated with this rare and serious genetic disorder.

The prodromal symptoms companion survey, administered in parallel with the ongoing, prospective, open label International Multi-center Prospective Angioedema C1-Inhibitor Trial (I.M.P.A.C.T. 2), was designed to assess prodromal symptoms at the time of treatment of HAE attacks. Twenty-seven different patients were surveyed, representing 273 attacks, two-thirds of which were treated with C1 esterase inhibitor concentrate (C1-INH) at the time of their attack. The most commonly reported prodromal symptoms across all types of attacks were fatigue (27.83%), nausea (19.41%) and flu-like feelings (13.19%). Other prodromal symptoms included bowel movement change (7.33%), rumbling (5.86%), urticaria-like skin eruptions (6.54%), non-itchy rash (5.38%) and tingling (3.30%).

"To date there has been very little research into prodromal symptoms associated with HAE attacks," said Timothy J. Craig, D.O., Professor of Medicine and Pediatrics at Penn State University in Hershey, PA., and one of the study's investigators. "This survey underscores how important it is for patients to recognize the early symptoms of an HAE attack, as rapid treatment and resolution at this stage can reduce the impact the disease has on their quality of life."

HAE is a genetic disorder affecting approximately 6,000 to 10,000 Americans and is caused by a deficiency of C1-INH, which is inherited in an autosomal dominant manner. Patients who have abdominal attacks can experience episodes of severe pain, diarrhea, nausea, and vomiting caused by swelling of the intestinal wall. Attacks that involve the face and larynx can result in airway closure, asphyxiation, and, if untreated, death. Diagnosis of HAE requires a blood test to confirm low or abnormal levels of C1-INH.

About I.M.P.A.C.T. 2

Findings of I.M.P.A.C.T. 2 were based on treatment with 20 U/kg bodyweight of C1-INH in 640 episodes of HAE attacks at any body location in 57 patients. The main study end-points were: time to onset of symptom relief; complete resolution of all symptoms, and safety.

The median time to the onset of symptom relief was 16 minutes for laryngeal attacks, 23 minutes for abdominal attacks, 28 minutes for facial attacks and 31 minutes for peripheral attacks, such as attacks in the hands and feet. The median times to complete resolution of all symptoms were reported as early as 8 hours for laryngeal attacks, 11 hours for abdominal, 24 hours for facial and 25 hours for peripheral attacks. No drug-related serious adverse events have been reported to date, nor were any rebound effects observed following C1-INH administration.

Currently, there are no approved therapies for acute attacks of HAE in North America. CSL Behring manufactures and sells C1-INH concentrate in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Japan, and several other countries.

5 great sites on our tour of Tokyo

On our tour of Tokyo, Melanie and I had a wonderful local guide who helped us navigate the streets and subways – and even took us “behind the scenes” in a few places.

We had a great time visiting five major areas:

1. Tsukiji Fish Market (inner market for a wholesale and outer market for retail)




2. Ginza (Mitsukoshi department store and Kyukyodo for paper shop)





3. Asakusa (Sensoji temple, Nakamise street and neighborhood)






4. Imperial Palace (walked from Tokyo station)








5. Akihabara (electronic town) and had sushi for lunch

6-hour tour of Tokyo with our friend, Junko

Junko Matsuda was a fantastic hostess to us in Tokyo. She was more than just a tour guide; it was like spending a day in the city with a friend. She even took us to a great little neighborhood place for sushi.

We had a great time visiting five major areas:
1. Tsukiji Fish Market
2. Ginza shopping district
3. Asakusa and the Sensoji temple
4. Imperial Palace
5. Akihabara (electronic town)

If you plan to visit, I highly recommend Junko. You can contact her at Junko's Tokyo Discovery Tours.

5 great places in Tokyo for signs and outdoor ads

While in Tokyo, we were amazed at the variety of advertising. In fact, since I didn’t
know the language, I found myself on the train considering the visual communication
power. (I also pondered how many people must see these signs everyday.
Tokyo is a true mecca for branding.



1. Electronics & Games









2. Restaurants





3. Buildings







4. Street Banners


5. Subways



Read more about advertising in and around Tokyo trains at
http://pingmag.jp/2006/10/13/top-10-ad-tricks-in-tokyos-train-stations/