healthy4u

AstraZeneca Settles

Here is the latest in the parade of legal settlements of cases of alleged wrong-doing by health care organizations.  As reported <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/30/business/30drug.html">by Duff Wilson in the New York Times</a>, <blockquote>The pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca said Thursday that it had reached a $520 million agreement to settle two federal investigations and two whistle-blower lawsuits over the sale and marketing of its blockbuster psychiatric drug Seroquel. One of the investigations related to 'selected physicians who participated in clinical trials involving Seroquel,' AstraZeneca disclosed in a government filing. The other case related to off-label promotion of the drug. Seroquel was the top-selling antipsychotic drug in America. It had $17 billion in sales in the United States since 2004, according to IMS Health, a research firm. Tony Jewell, a company spokesman, declined to be more specific about the physicians or clinical trials under investigation. He said the company was in final negotiations to settle the whistle-blower suits and reach a corporate integrity agreement with the Justice Department. The name of the whistle-blowers and other details of the suits remained sealed in federal court. Stephen A. Sheller, a lawyer in Philadelphia for the whistle-blowers, and Patricia Hartman, a spokeswoman for the United States attorney in Philadelphia, both declined to comment. </blockquote> Here we go again. As the Times article noted, <blockquote>AstraZeneca, based in Britain, joins a list of drug makers that have paid billions to settle inquiries initiated by complaints from former company insiders. Earlier this year, Eli Lilly & Company paid $1.4 billion over its marketing of Zyprexa, another antipsychotic drug. And Pfizer announced it would pay $2.3 billion, including a record $1.195 billion criminal fine, mostly over its painkiller Bextra, which has been withdrawn from the market. </blockquote> Does anyone really still believe that integrity agreements, and settlements assessed against huge corporations deter such profitable bad behavior? A half a billion dollar one-time settlement is just a small cost of doing business for a company that sold $17 billion worth of the offending drug in the last five years. As in the case of many other previously announced <a href="http://hcrenewal.blogspot.com/search/label/legal%20settlements">settlements</a>, it appears that nobody who authorized, directed, or implemented the bad behavior that led to the settlement will suffer any sort of negative consequences. We previously discussed allegations that AstraZeneca manipulated and suppressed clinical research, and organized deceptive marketing campaigns in support of Seroquel sales (<a href="http://hcrenewal.blogspot.com/2009/10/more-on-misleading-promotion-of.html">here</a>, and <a href="http://hcrenewal.blogspot.com/2009/10/nemeroff-seroquel-and-accme.html">here</a>).  If we do not discourage such practices, they will continue to bias the clinical evidence making expensive drugs and devices seem more effective and less dangerous than they really are.  Is it any wonder that we over-use and over-pay for these products?  Anyone seriously interested in reforming health care to improve quality and access while moderating costs ought to pay attention to behavior that leads to such over-use and over-payment.  (However, there may be hope.  Perhaps in the future there will be more effective deterrence.  A recent indictment named not only the device company Stryker Biotech (a subsidiary of Stryker Corporation), but also its former CEO and three managers.)

AstraZeneca Settles

Here is the latest in the parade of legal settlements of cases of alleged wrong-doing by health care organizations. As reported by Duff Wil...

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A ghooooulish Googleween

When it comes to holidays, Halloween is one of our favorites. You get candy corn, creepy crawlies, ghosts and goblins, blustery weather and the goopy joys of pumpkin carving all crammed into one glorious fall fun-fest. It's also the one holiday where you can dress up as whatever you want — your favorite <a href="http://images.google.com/images?q=bjork">celebrity</a>, your favorite <a href="http://images.google.com/images?q=owl">animal</a> or even, like <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/gblogphotos/Googleween2008#5263450162978470722">one Googler last year</a>, your favorite gadget. <a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/10/what-are-you-going-to-be-for-halloween.html">As usual</a>, we're in the process of devising brilliant last-minute costumes, and we got curious about what others around the globe have been searching for in preparation for Halloween. We used Insights for Search to track the <a href="http://www.google.com/insights/search/#q=costume&geo=US&date=1%2F2009%2012m&cmpt=q">fastest-rising searches related to [costume] in the U.S. in 2009</a>. The query at the top of the charts is [<a href="http://www.google.com/search?q=lady+gaga+costume">lady gaga costume</a>] — no surprise, as the star wears quite a few costumes on a regular basis herself: <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDOiSsBKzooz9zgQqy1f1Qcr7GnxrA-DvSb35v1Xu-UOjJxuCZ4nVinGK6ILeMVjLKuvuR4m8HYSeV3N96XuJO7yans7PSBbluyM2YI0s8QvYMKZ2Xkdtbv-Cp2bcLcKxHTzh23Pvxyjo/s1600-h/je1.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5398468788053364946" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDOiSsBKzooz9zgQqy1f1Qcr7GnxrA-DvSb35v1Xu-UOjJxuCZ4nVinGK6ILeMVjLKuvuR4m8HYSeV3N96XuJO7yans7PSBbluyM2YI0s8QvYMKZ2Xkdtbv-Cp2bcLcKxHTzh23Pvxyjo/s400/je1.png" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 329px; height: 306px;" /></a> And many people seem to be planning a tribute to the late pop star Michael Jackson — searches for [<a href="http://www.google.com/search?q=michael+jackson+costume">michael jackson costume</a>] started spiking in June of this year and have increased steadily since then: <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5tudD9TwdLKHQFbmuesNgAzJaCN0ehKBkuFAB4-edVY-4oq8T0tV-6xPqQHvXvaieM27KLFyJ1iGpEZeB2uBunMcxvLdaShrvtL7VFQSkI-p0x2o5sealQ_lkOlXW6NqdiKYpH1mO31c/s1600-h/je2.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5398468790732007826" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5tudD9TwdLKHQFbmuesNgAzJaCN0ehKBkuFAB4-edVY-4oq8T0tV-6xPqQHvXvaieM27KLFyJ1iGpEZeB2uBunMcxvLdaShrvtL7VFQSkI-p0x2o5sealQ_lkOlXW6NqdiKYpH1mO31c/s400/je2.png" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 153px;" /></a> Since Halloween is most popular in the U.S., we focused on queries there — but we did investigate searches in <a href="http://www.google.com/insights/search/#q=costume&geo=CA&date=1%2F2009%2012m&cmpt=q">Canada</a> and the <a href="http://www.google.com/insights/search/#q=costume&geo=GB&date=1%2F2009%2012m&cmpt=q">U.K.</a> for good measure. In Canada, people are overwhelmingly searching for costumes for two — variations on [<a href="http://www.google.com/search?q=couples+costumes">couples costumes</a>] dominate the top 10. Both in Canada and across the pond, searchers are looking for costumes based on Lewis Carroll's classic story Alice in Wonderland, with [<a href="http://www.google.com/search?q=mad+hatter+costume">mad hatter costume</a>] in the top 10 in the U.K. and [<a href="http://www.google.com/search?q=alice+in+wonderland">alice in wonderland</a>] in Canada. Since [<a href="http://www.google.com/search?q=vampire+costume">vampire costume</a>] was one of the top 10 searches this year, we figured we'd check in with the various vampire TV shows and movies to see which is, um, making a killing in the costume race. The query [<a href="http://www.google.com/#hl=en&source=hp&q=twilight+costume&aq=f&aqi=g10&oq=&fp=b8148470ea1f7ec2">twilight costume</a>] has the most search volume, with [<a href="http://www.google.com/#hl=en&safe=off&ei=gD_rSrrDPI6OMdi2lIQM&sa=X&oi=spell&resnum=0&ct=result&cd=1&ved=0CAkQBSgA&q=true+blood+costume&spell=1&fp=b8148470ea1f7ec2">true blood costume</a>] not far behind. (Pointy teeth and body glitter — done!) <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhl9e7OsOG90ezgVzF93OVgNPGeSuGLHfaqDmnnFSjYp8MIBikwkCZzf_GkXxBI3G43Ya-fnwDS827V8cv8rHnyKogJw3cpAz9Ydy7-F3WnaOlw7ArPZsanqeU4ACgTuOQEyxOx9qfnwF8/s1600-h/je3.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5398468795151057682" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhl9e7OsOG90ezgVzF93OVgNPGeSuGLHfaqDmnnFSjYp8MIBikwkCZzf_GkXxBI3G43Ya-fnwDS827V8cv8rHnyKogJw3cpAz9Ydy7-F3WnaOlw7ArPZsanqeU4ACgTuOQEyxOx9qfnwF8/s400/je3.png" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 155px;" /></a> Thinking of dressing up your little ones? Popular queries in the U.S. related to [<a href="http://www.google.com/search?q=kids+costume">kids costume</a>] <a href="http://www.google.com/insights/search/#q=kids%20costume&geo=US&date=1%2F2009%2012m&cmpt=q">include</a> [<a href="http://www.google.com/search?q=ladybug">ladybug</a>], [<a href="http://www.google.com/search?q=minnie+mouse">minnie mouse</a>] and [<a href="http://www.google.com/search?q=tinkerbell">tinkerbell</a>]. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIoOhf0jwEaVVmgjmbKHDrfxFRefK3EVKNvur0h1gpPmVcAiAe236wh6Qs_ig4LVtb-ptqYYrKRbx7gZzK3hlM_7nYmviQSgp-wNDMpnGU73BLZRbwfvG3461ASJkOVSl8z_MAGU71Fgg/s1600-h/je4.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5398468798365632226" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIoOhf0jwEaVVmgjmbKHDrfxFRefK3EVKNvur0h1gpPmVcAiAe236wh6Qs_ig4LVtb-ptqYYrKRbx7gZzK3hlM_7nYmviQSgp-wNDMpnGU73BLZRbwfvG3461ASJkOVSl8z_MAGU71Fgg/s400/je4.png" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 304px;" /></a> We also did some <a href="http://www.google.com/insights/search/#q=max%20costume&geo=US&date=1%2F2009%2012m&cmpt=q">digging</a> to see if people were taking inspiration from the movie Where the Wild Things Are and wearing a [<a href="http://www.google.com/search?q=max+costume">max costume</a>] this year. Based on the fastest-rising related terms [<a href="http://www.google.com/search?q=footie+pajamas">footie pajamas</a>], [<a href="http://www.google.com/search?q=footed+pajamas">footed pajamas</a>] and [<a href="http://www.google.com/search?q=max+costume+pattern">max costume pattern</a>], it seems like at least a few folks are choosing to make [<a href="http://www.google.com/search?q=max+wolf+suit">max wolf suit</a>] costumes at home: <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjf_C2q8HGsOlauOdJ5Tc2dWXHz-lj4xwpcA2ukWp_7LdHtFaQODPxHCja8rtM3SsGnlWw3ILGPf2VzXCjQCI47vM2pyHis0QMyudVa1lVA4SNQdMo9EROp7d1g7OVykrXrAZg95snmC3E/s1600-h/je5.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5398468803981784082" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjf_C2q8HGsOlauOdJ5Tc2dWXHz-lj4xwpcA2ukWp_7LdHtFaQODPxHCja8rtM3SsGnlWw3ILGPf2VzXCjQCI47vM2pyHis0QMyudVa1lVA4SNQdMo9EROp7d1g7OVykrXrAZg95snmC3E/s400/je5.png" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 322px; height: 301px;" /></a> As a dog-friendly company, we share the <a href="http://www.google.com/insights/search/#q=dog%20costume&geo=US&date=1%2F2009%2012m&cmpt=q">country-wide impulse</a> to dress up our dogs for the holiday. Related searches for [<a href="http://www.google.com/search?q=taco+dog">taco dog costume</a>], [<a href="http://www.google.com/search?q=dog+shark">dog shark costume</a>] and [<a href="http://www.google.com/search?q=banana+costume">banana costume</a>] (so cute!) all rank high. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjayaLiA-i7eVFQgR7AEyfmbcvKHPfZP5sdalzsSJUZv5MBS58TuGeqvSSe20ieij7xweG73rORfvZaFOG5pq-yjIsLMmZOkO8__vAlG6rOddaI5lGN5-2-69k6DUiLyjAtaxqMtqlWjBY/s1600-h/je6.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5398469661940210082" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjayaLiA-i7eVFQgR7AEyfmbcvKHPfZP5sdalzsSJUZv5MBS58TuGeqvSSe20ieij7xweG73rORfvZaFOG5pq-yjIsLMmZOkO8__vAlG6rOddaI5lGN5-2-69k6DUiLyjAtaxqMtqlWjBY/s400/je6.png" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 308px; height: 301px;" /></a> At Google, we've been gearing up for tomorrow's real deal with festivities on our Mountain View campus, complete with Halloween crafts for visiting kids and a haunted house. Googlers are also pulling out all the stops for the costume contest: <embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://picasaweb.google.com/s/c/bin/slideshow.swf" width="400" height="267" flashvars="host=picasaweb.google.com&hl=en_US&feat=flashalbum&RGB=0x000000&feed=http%3A%2F%2Fpicasaweb.google.com%2Fdata%2Ffeed%2Fapi%2Fuser%2F116887554964117158278%2Falbumid%2F5398455116874395617%3Falt%3Drss%26kind%3Dphoto%26hl%3Den_US" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer"></embed> We hope you have a happy Googleween! Posted by Jordan Newman and Emily Wood, Editors, Google Blog team

A ghooooulish Googleween

When it comes to holidays, Halloween is one of our favorites. You get candy corn, creepy crawlies, ghosts and goblins, blustery weather and ...

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An Alliance on Mental Illness or for Pharmaceutical Companies?

A recent <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/22/health/22nami.html">article</a> by Gardner Harris in the New York Times focused on the financial links among health care corporations and not-for-profit disease (or patient) advocacy groups. <blockquote>A majority of the donations made to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, one of the nation’s most influential disease advocacy groups, have come from drug makers in recent years, according to Congressional investigators. The alliance, known as NAMI, has long been criticized for coordinating some of its lobbying efforts with drug makers and for pushing legislation that also benefits industry. Last spring, Senator Charles E. Grassley, Republican of Iowa, sent letters to the alliance and about a dozen other influential disease and patient advocacy organizations asking about their ties to drug and device makers. The request was part of his investigation into the drug industry’s influence on the practice of medicine. The mental health alliance, which is hugely influential in many state capitols, has refused for years to disclose specifics of its fund-raising, saying the details were private. But according to investigators in Mr. Grassley’s office and documents obtained by The New York Times, drug makers from 2006 to 2008 contributed nearly $23 million to the alliance, about three-quarters of its donations. Even the group’s executive director, Michael Fitzpatrick, said in an interview that the drug companies’ donations were excessive and that things would change. </blockquote> However, he tried to downplay the influence of the pharmaceutical industry on the Alliance. <blockquote>'I understand that NAMI gets painted as being in the pockets of pharmaceutical companies, and somehow that all we care about is pharmaceuticals,' Mr. Fitzpatrick said. 'It’s simply not true.' </blockquote> Note the careful wording of this denial, though. He did not deny that most of what NAMI cares about is pharmaceuticals. Moreover, the article suggested how cozy pharmaceutical companies and the Alliance's leadership have become. <blockquote>The close ties between the alliance and drug makers were on stark display last week, when the organization held its annual gala at the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium on Constitution Avenue in Washington. Tickets were $300 each. Before a dinner of roasted red bell pepper soup, beef tenderloin and tilapia, Dr. Stephen H. Feinstein, president of the alliance’s board, thanked Bristol-Myers Squibb, the pharmaceutical company. 'For the past five years, Bristol-Myers has sponsored this dinner at the highest level,' Dr. Feinstein said. He then introduced Dr. Fred Grossman, chief of neuroscience research at Bristol-Myers, who told the audience that 'now, more than ever, our enduring relationship with NAMI must remain strong.' Documents obtained by The New York Times show that drug makers have over the years given the mental health alliance — along with millions of dollars in donations — direct advice about how to advocate forcefully for issues that affect industry profits. </blockquote> In a <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/30/opinion/l30donors.html">letter today </a>to the NY Times, NAMI Executive Director Fitzpatrick tried again to correct "misimpressions." <blockquote>First, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, or NAMI, has always disclosed corporate and foundation sources of revenue. Until this year, specific amounts remained private for competitive fund-raising reasons. Second, your estimate that pharmaceutical companies account for three-quarters of “donations” has been misinterpreted as a share of NAMI’s total annual budget — which is actually about 50 percent. </blockquote> Perusal of the <a href="http://www.nami.org/Content/NavigationMenu/Inform_Yourself/About_NAMI/Annual_Reports/NAMIAnnualReport2008.pdf">2008 NAMI Annual Report</a> does include this impressive list of "Corporate Partners": <blockquote>Abbott Alexza Pharmaceuticals Amazon AstraZeneca Blue Cross Blue Shield Bristol-Myers Squibb College of Psychiatric and Neurologic Pharmacists Corcept Therapeutics Cyberonics Delivery Agent, Inc. Forest Laboratories GEO Care GoodSearch.com The Health Central Network Janssen Pharmaceutica Eli Lilly and Company Magellan Health Services McNeil Pediatrics Neuronetics Novartis Otsuka America Pharmaceuticals Pfizer PhRMA RF Binder Sanofi-Aventis Shire Solvay Validus Pharmaceuticals WellPoint Wyeth YTB Travel Network </blockquote> The NAMI web-site now includes <a href="http://www.nami.org/Template.cfm?Section=Major_Foundation_and_Corporate_Support">lists of specific corporate donations</a> that individually exceeded $5000 since the beginning of 2009. So far this year, the biggest pharmaceutical corporate donors appear to be AstraZeneca ($350,000), Bristol-Myers-Squibb ($506,205), and Eli Lilly ($675,500).  Looking at the latest Form 990 filed on behalf of NAMI with the US Internal Revenue Service (available from GuideStar <a href="http://www.guidestar.org/FinDocuments//2008/431/201/2008-431201653-0469e087-9.pdf">here</a>)  provides more interesting detail. (Keep in mind that the 2008 form covers July 1, 2007 to June 30, 2008.)   This form listed the organization's total revenue as $13,788,288, and expenses as $12,796,205.  These expenses included $1,785,060 (13.9%) for management and $1,520,637 (11.9% ) for fund-raising.  The form listed eight NAMI executives who made more than $100,00 a year, including Mr Fitzpatrick ($210,685 total compensation). So, in summary, it appears that corporate donations, mainly from a few large pharmaceutical companies, supply a substantial portion, (maybe half, if I read the letter by Mr Fitzpatrick correctly) of the annual budget of NAMI. About one-quarter of that budget is spent on administration and fund-raising, including six-figure salaries for at least eight executives.  So who do you expect would more easily get access to the $200K+/year NAMI Executive Director, an executive of a pharmaceutical firm that supplies more than $500,000 a year, or a NAMI member who pays $35 dues? Here we have another example of a respected patient advocacy organization which gets a substantial portion of its revenue from (presumably the marketing departments of) a few large pharmaceutical companies.  (See another example <a href="http://hcrenewal.blogspot.com/2009/02/who-supports-fibromyalgia-patient.html">here</a>.)  Its well-paid executive director can at best bring himself to deny that the only purpose of the organization is to support pharmaceutical marketing and lobbying.  It seems reasonable that for supplying half the budget, the pharmaceutical companies expect considerable help not only with marketing but also with advocacy of policies that favor their corporate goals.  As I have said before, I do not have a problem with pharmaceutical and other health care corporations marketing their products, and expressing their views on policy. I do have a problem with corporate marketing or policy advocacy is disguised as grass-roots, not-for-profit education and advocacy.  If ostensibly not-for-profit disease (or patient) advocacy organizations like NAMI want to continue to accept corporate money, they should make it clear that they speak for their corporate donors as well as, and probably with priority over their members and patients with the diseases of interest.  Well-intentioned people who pay their dues, and/or make small contributions to NAMI to help the mentally ill might want to consider whether they are likely to have any influence compared to the individual pharmaceutical executives who oversee $500,000+ a year corporate donations. ADDENDUM (2 November, 2009) - See also <a href="http://www.furiousseasons.com/archives/2009/10/nami_lies_in_nyt_letter_to_the_editor.html">comments</a> on the Furious Seasons blog.

An Alliance on Mental Illness or for Pharmaceutical Companies?

A recent article by Gardner Harris in the New York Times focused on the financial links among health care corporations and not-for-profit d...

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Three contest winners making their way to television

(Cross-posted from the <a href="http://google-tmads.blogspot.com/2009/10/three-contest-winners-making-their-way.html">Google TV Ads Blog</a>) Small businesses often think that television advertising is too expensive and cumbersome for them to use. They assume that they need a fancy, expensive commercial to use in their TV campaign. But <a href="http://google.com/tvads">Google TV Ads</a> changes all of that — we make it easy and affordable for you to make a TV ad, plan a campaign and reach your customers through the power of television. We launched the <a href="http://google-tmads.blogspot.com/2009/09/google-tv-ads-announces-tv-for-all.html">TV for All</a> contest two months ago to prove just that. More than 200 companies submitted commercials for the opportunity to win $25,000 worth of free national advertising on cable channels such as CNBC, Hallmark and Bloomberg using Google TV Ads. Today, we're happy to announce the three winners of the TV for All contest based on votes from the YouTube community. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2TC_ot2aFU">Amazing Gates</a>, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bcgAFfTaZM">Owners.com</a> and <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKJxgMNt48o">ZAGG.com</a> received the largest number of votes among the 10 finalists. Each of these businesses will receive $25,000 in free national advertising through Google TV Ads advertising. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKJxgMNt48o" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5398201225432639890" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgerW8AsbDi_KGc1i7jlxnCqpZBygmnq5GDgTKUNS2mSAGw2-RqFFZAvhrFr4ni6zGWWKS8UqFcxbvnnPN_WDQBgdswKPMITIWvIRSaY6R3s8b6xJ7teAFOQE8GorzhvPbMowPEsMB4hHc/s200/tv3.png" style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 182px;" /></a><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bcgAFfTaZM" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5398201217906373522" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyYRpCJt_FfLXJQ5vpTqd_z6dOJ99QaqTdFPWHoekeHJAIMCHGWXjSRtIn_Y2RpL4GjGwCvp9ENeZF9GAdNiGJFCKGzYFeYo-WVd0EupUJCzHVL_ubICqM0_Mo4KEZNy3SfO20yb-Gm6A/s200/tv2.png" style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 182px;" /></a><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2TC_ot2aFU" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5398201217117755154" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6bmb6gMA17-xEjA67EaQiWDFTNmUaOEmsex3SGQhr9SQcddUUfrEkfDSuen86VptX77KultyF7iMwMnSGsGCIp0slcwsjSgrUbCm7v1OvDBPXFalpUxJr9G14KmILQCdLBs43aUiIQ3k/s200/tv1.png" style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 182px;" /></a> Check out the three winners and all entries at <a href="http://www.youtube.com/tvforallcontest">www.youtube.com/tvforallcontest</a>. For more information on Google TV Ads and how it can help your small business succeed, visit our website at <a href="http://google.com/tvads">google.com/tvads</a>. Posted by Deeksha Hebbar, Associate Marketing Manager, Google TV Ads

Three contest winners making their way to television

(Cross-posted from the Google TV Ads Blog ) Small businesses often think that television advertising is too expensive and cumbersome for the...

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Making search more musical

Every day we get millions of search queries about music. You want to know more about your favorite artists, find that new album or iconic song or figure out the name of that tune stuck in your head. In fact, according to Insights for Search, two of the <a href="http://www.google.com/insights/search/#geo=US&cmpt=q">top 10 queries</a> in the U.S. are music-related. But often, if your answer is in a song, it can take a while to get there. We call this "time to result" — and we're always looking for ways to reduce it. Today, we're rolling out a search feature that does just that by enabling you to search and more easily discover millions of songs, all via a simple Google web search. If you're searching for music, "time to result" is really "time to music." Now, when you enter a music-related query — like the name of a song, artist or album — your search results will include links to an audio preview of those songs provided by our music search partners <a href="http://www.myspace.com/">MySpace</a> (which just acquired <a href="http://www.ilike.com/">iLike</a>) or <a href="http://www.lala.com/">Lala</a>. When you click the result you'll be able to listen to an audio preview of the song directly from one of those partners. For example, if I search for [21st century breakdown], the first results provide links to songs from Green Day's new album. MySpace and Lala also provide links to purchase the full song. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC9qcUsWfSVknDN0F7SzomgfsTnSxjFrQOQZSbkmxYMJXz1SArG9ewM0hEIv26QPdM1z3z_kuU7-6JzOOvSQTRVZfxEp2tgCdHN229m9wlF6xZXiypuVBUM1rriKBwGIT9XNAUDXd2qzw/s1600-h/ms1.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5397774682044699730" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC9qcUsWfSVknDN0F7SzomgfsTnSxjFrQOQZSbkmxYMJXz1SArG9ewM0hEIv26QPdM1z3z_kuU7-6JzOOvSQTRVZfxEp2tgCdHN229m9wlF6xZXiypuVBUM1rriKBwGIT9XNAUDXd2qzw/s400/ms1.png" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 202px;" /></a> Many times, though, you don't know the name of the song or the artist who sings it. Maybe you remember only the chorus — or maybe you remember who sang it, but you forgot the exact name of the song. If you've ever heard a catchy song in a car or cafe, but just can't figure out the name of the song, you'll know what I'm talking about. This search feature also helps you find many of those songs by entering a search containing a line or two of lyrics. So if I search for [static silhouette somehow], I'll get results for Phoenix's song "Rome." <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgthIzumW2VtpyhJGgJ1kP1VYQBye1g_0vK-2D6HbqwF6-OYqcxY3HNv65L1qMqF2KuiVX9L1sFLlFp42XjdBD8PQo64C2f-W6WfD3bwTY2Lwy7vCF3WbJt2aQaOirXgjmY2yst_O2nhUI/s1600-h/ms2.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5397774715885577426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgthIzumW2VtpyhJGgJ1kP1VYQBye1g_0vK-2D6HbqwF6-OYqcxY3HNv65L1qMqF2KuiVX9L1sFLlFp42XjdBD8PQo64C2f-W6WfD3bwTY2Lwy7vCF3WbJt2aQaOirXgjmY2yst_O2nhUI/s400/ms2.png" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 185px;" /></a> Finally, a search engine should also be able to help you discover music you'll like, even if you can't tell it what exactly you want to hear. We've partnered with <a href="http://www.pandora.com/#/stations/create/">Pandora</a>, <a href="http://www.imeem.com/">imeem</a> and <a href="http://www.rhapsody.com/home.html">Rhapsody</a> to include links to their sites where you can discover music related to your queries as well. This feature doesn't just make search better. It also helps people discover new sources of licensed music online while helping artists to discover new generations of fans and reconnect with longtime listeners. Our users love music, and this tool introduces millions of music seekers in the U.S. to a new generation of licensed online music services, from MySpace and Lala to Pandora, imeem and Rhapsody. Of course, this is just a first step toward making search more musical. There's a lot of music out there in the world, and in some instances, we may not return links to the song you're looking for. But by combining the strength of Google's search algorithms with our music search partners' efforts to increase the comprehensiveness of their music content, we're on track to answer more of your rhymes with the right rhythms. We'll be rolling this feature out gradually to users across the U.S. over the next day. To learn more, check out <a href="http://www.google.com/landing/music/">this page</a> or watch the video below. As we said back when we first announced <a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2007/05/universal-search-best-answer-is-still.html">universal search</a>, the best answer is still the best answer, whether it's in the form of a video, an image, a magazine — or a song. And of course, the best way to know you've found the music you were looking for is to hear it. Well, let the music begin! <object height="340" width="560"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/DV24RBmy-2I&hl=en&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/DV24RBmy-2I&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="560" height="340"></embed></object> Posted by Murali Viswanathan, Product Manager and Ganesh Ramanarayanan, Software Engineer

Making search more musical

Every day we get millions of search queries about music. You want to know more about your favorite artists, find that new album or iconic so...

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Failing to Report Adverse Effects of Treatments

We have frequently advocated the evidence-based medicine (EBM) approach to improve the care of individual patients, and to improve health care quality at a reasonable cost for populations. Evidence-based medicine is not just medicine based on some sort of evidence. As Dr David Sackett, and colleagues wrote [Sackett DL, Rosenberg WM, Muir Gray JA, Haynes RB, Richardson WS. Evidence-based medicine; what it is and what it isn't. BMJ 1996; 312: 71-72. Link <a href="http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/312/7023/71">here</a>. ] <blockquote> Evidence based medicine is the conscientious, explicit, and judicious use of current best evidence in making decisions about the care of individual patients. The practice of evidence based medicine means integrating individual clinical expertise with the best available external clinical evidence from systematic research. </blockquote> One can find other definitions of EBM, but nearly all emphasize that the approach is designed to appropriately apply results from the best clinical research, critically reviewed, to the individual patient, taking into account that patient's clinical characteristics and personal values. When making decisions about treatments for individual patients, the EBM approach suggests using the best available evidence about possible benefits and harms of treatment, so that the treatment chosen is most likely to maximize benefits and minimize harms for the individual patient. The better the evidence about specific benefits and harms applicable to a particular patient, the greater will be the likelihood that a particular decision based on this evidence will result in the best possible outcomes for the patient. A new study in the Archives of Internal Medicine focused on how articles report adverse effects found by clinical trials. [Pitrou I, Boutron I, Ahmad N et al. Reporting of safety results in published reports of randomized controlled trials. Arch Intern Med 2009; 169: 1756-1761. Link<a href="http://archinte.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/169/19/1756"> here</a>.] The results were not encouraging. The investigators assessed 133 articles reporting the results of randomized controlled trials published in 2006 in six English language journals with high impact factors, that is, the most prestigious journals, including the New England Journal of Medicine, Lancet, JAMA, British Medical Journal, and Annals of Internal Medicine. They excluded trials with less common designs, such as randomized cross-over trials. The majority of trials (54.9%) had private, or private mixed with public funding. The major results were: 15/133 (11.3%) did not report anything about adverse events 36/133 (27.1%) did not report information about the severity of adverse events 63/133 (47.4%) did not report how many patients had to withdraw from the trial due to adverse events 43/133 (32.3%) had major limitations in how they reported adverse events, e.g., reporting only the most common events (even though most trials do not enroll enough patients to detect important but uncommon events). The authors concluded, "the reporting of harm remains inadequate." An accompanying editorial [Ioannidis JP. Adverse events in randomized controlled trials: neglected, distorted, and silenced. Arch Intern Med 2009; 169: 1737-1739. Link <a href="http://archinte.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/169/19/1737">here</a>] raised concerns about why the reporting of adverse events is so shoddy: <blockquote>Perhaps conflicts of interest and marketing rather than science have shaped even the often accepted standard that randomized trials study primarily effectiveness, whereas information on harms from medical interventions can wait for case reports and nonrandomized studies. Nonrandomized data are very helpful, but they have limitations, and many harms will remain long undetected if we just wait for spontaneous reporting and other nonrandomized research to reveal them. In an environment where effectiveness benefits are small and shrinking, the randomized trials agenda may need to reprogram its whole mission, including its reporting, toward better understanding of harms. </blockquote> Pitrou and colleagues have added to our knowledge about the drawbacks of the evidence about treatments that is publicly available to physicians and patients when making decisions about treatment. Even reports of studies with the best designs (randomized controlled trials) in the best journals seem to omit important information about the harms of the treatments they test. It appears that the majority of the reports that Pitrou and colleagues studied received "private" funding, presumably meaning most were funded by drug, biotechnology, or device companies and were likely meant to evaluate the sponsoring companies' products. However, note that this article did not analyze the relationship of funding source to the completeness of information about adverse effects. Nonetheless, on Health Care Renewal we have discussed many cases in which research has been <a href="http://hcrenewal.blogspot.com/search/label/manipulating%20clinical%20research">manipulated</a> in favor of the vested interests of research sponsors (funders), or in which research unfavorable to their interests has been <a href="http://hcrenewal.blogspot.com/search/label/suppression%20of%20medical%20research">suppressed</a>. Therefore, it seems plausible that sponsors' influence over how clinical trials are designed, implemented, analyzed and reported may reduce information about the adverse effects of their products reported in journal articles. Trials may be designed not to gather information about adverse events. Analyses of some adverse events, or some aspects of these events may not be performed, or if performed, not reported. The evidence from clinical research available to make treatment decisions consequently may exaggerate the ratios of certain drugs' and devices' benefits to their harms. Patients may thus receive treatments which are more likely to hurt than to help them, and populations of patients may be overtreated. Impressions that treatments are safer than they actually are may allow their manufacturers to overprice them, so health care costs may rise. The article by Pitrou and colleagues adds to concerns that we physicians may too often really be practicing pseudo-evidence based medicine when we think we are practicing evidence-based medicine. We cannot judiciously balance benefits and harms of treatments to make the best decisions for patients when evidence about harms is hidden. Clearly, as Ioannidis wrote, we need to "reprogram." However, what we need to reprogram is our current dependence on drug and device manufacturers to pay for (and hence de facto run) evaluations of their own products. If health care reformers really want to improve quality while controlling costs, this is the sort of reform they need to start considering. NB - See also the comments by Merrill Goozner <a href="http://www.gooznews.com/node/3148">in the GoozNews blog</a>.

Failing to Report Adverse Effects of Treatments

We have frequently advocated the evidence-based medicine (EBM) approach to improve the care of individual patients, and to improve health ca...

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Growing the next generation of computer scientists and business leaders

(Cross-posted on the <a href="http://googleforstudents.blogspot.com/2009/10/growing-next-generation-of-computer.html">Google Student Blog</a>) We had a busy summer here at Google interacting with students through a wide variety of scholarship, internship and networking opportunities across North America. Here's a look back at a few of our programs (you can bet we'll be hosting them again!) along with news on some upcoming initiatives. Rising college sophomores participated in two Google programs: Google <a href="http://www.google.com/jobs/fuse/">FUSE</a>, in its inaugural year, and the Google <a href="http://www.google.com/intl/en/jobs/cssi/index.html">Computer Science Summer Institute</a> (CSSI). For FUSE, we welcomed 50 rising college sophomores to our <a href="http://maps.google.com/?q=Google%20New%20York@40.741962,-74.004624&hl=en">New York City office</a> for a three-day retreat designed to connect students from groups that are under-represented in the field of computer science. The retreat focused on making connections between students and Googlers, encouraging students to create meaningful academic experiences and allowing them to learn more about possible career paths via hands-on activities, panel discussions and a bit of fun around the New York City area. Another group of twenty rising sophomores spent two weeks at the Googleplex in Mountain View for the second annual Computer Science Summer Institute. This special program included an interactive and collaborative Computer Science curriculum, as well as a living-learning residential experience for student networking. Students worked in teams to create an interactive web application using Python in Google App Engine. When not in class, they heard technical talks from Google engineers, spoke with professionals from across the technology industry and academia about the many things they can do with a Computer Science degree. They also had some fun joining the Bay Area summer interns on a boat cruise and catching a baseball game after an exciting San Francisco scavenger hunt. In addition, our engineering internship program hosted more than 450 college (undergraduate and graduate) interns in 15 locations across North America. These interns were an integral part of the engineering team and made significant contributions this summer working on exciting projects including Android, Chrome, <a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/09/back-to-school-with-google-docs.html">Docs</a> and machine translation. We also had more than 100 students working across multiple functions, including sales and engineering in Mountain View, New York, Chicago, Ann Arbor, Washington, D.C., San Francisco and Boston as part of the Building Opportunities for Leadership and Development (<a href="http://www.google.com/support/jobs/bin/static.py?page=bold.html&src=bold">BOLD</a>) Program. BOLD is a 10-week internship program designed to provide exposure to the technology industry for students from groups that are historically underrepresented in technology. This summer experience includes a unique glimpse into a <a href="http://www.google.com/support/jobs/bin/static.py?page=bold.html&src=bold">business</a> or <a href="http://www.google.com/support/jobs/bin/static.py?page=boldpracticum.html">engineering</a> career, professional development and leadership courses, as well as one-on-one mentorship designed to further support professional growth. Of course, we realize that growing future leaders in engineering and business doesn't just start with college students. For this reason, we partner with the <a href="http://global.leadprogram.org/">LEAD</a> programs in both <a href="http://business.leadprogram.org/">business</a> and <a href="http://www.leadprogram.org/page/leadengineering.html">engineering</a> to encourage outstanding high school students to pursue careers in these fields. This year, all four LEAD Summer Engineering Institute participants had the opportunity to tour a local Google office to attend technical talks and interact with Google engineers (okay, with some tasty food and video games thrown in as well). As part of Google's ongoing commitment to recognizing student achievements and promoting leadership, we also offer a number of academic scholarships. We are currently accepting applications for the <a href="http://limeconnect.com/google.html">Google Lime Scholarship for Student with Disabilities</a> in the U.S. and Canada, and the Anita Borg Scholarship in <a href="http://www.google.ca/intl/en/anitaborg/">Canada</a>, <a href="http://www.google.com/anitaborg-emea/">Europe, the Middle East and Africa</a>, and the <a href="http://www.google.com/intl/en/anitaborg/">United States</a>. In case you're curious, we offer a <a href="http://www.google.com/jobs/students">host of scholarships</a> for many other international regions. If one or more of these opportunities sounds like something you'd like to participate in, you can find applications for full time opportunities and summer internship opportunities on our <a href="http://www.google.com/support/jobs/bin/static.py?page=students.html">student job site</a>. Visit our <a href="http://www.google.com/support/jobs/bin/static.py?page=students.html&sid=scholarships&src=scholarships">scholarship page</a> for more information on our scholarship opportunities. And follow us on <a href="http://twitter.com/googlestudents">Twitter</a> and <a href="http://www.facebook.com/GoogleStudents?ref=ts">Facebook</a> for updates on application deadlines and new program announcements. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxJujoe9X4lh0L3b2svRecsCKoAeEOaAhZWTh2ZekIiw9hpNsaJo3TEpMrTANglofb7kdl-f5I5wbc_iC91vz2uu__mc3xwSQ_sryNu5brF2MEMuhgpRAV8w3pkKGl5J_pKnkjI28cc9QC/s1600-h/bingo.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5397728403069673602" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxJujoe9X4lh0L3b2svRecsCKoAeEOaAhZWTh2ZekIiw9hpNsaJo3TEpMrTANglofb7kdl-f5I5wbc_iC91vz2uu__mc3xwSQ_sryNu5brF2MEMuhgpRAV8w3pkKGl5J_pKnkjI28cc9QC/s400/bingo.jpg" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 267px;" /></a><div style="text-align: center;">Making an early connection playing <a href="http://www.google.com/search?q=people+bingo">People Bingo</a> at Google FUSE. </div> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhj-BLYMpKghtkpu8dQTWNIRskcvZbMnckg5pLfsM5RYvBxMJvC94swRBAPYOh-zoN1ylSR1Pe0O60dJB3Jg1aIIVgMZm__PcU6K3HPLAvOl6kb3N6BTwTqJUxBOtw-9mI51S5b7XqAJIE/s1600-h/break.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5397728408312217554" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhj-BLYMpKghtkpu8dQTWNIRskcvZbMnckg5pLfsM5RYvBxMJvC94swRBAPYOh-zoN1ylSR1Pe0O60dJB3Jg1aIIVgMZm__PcU6K3HPLAvOl6kb3N6BTwTqJUxBOtw-9mI51S5b7XqAJIE/s400/break.jpg" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 267px;" /></a><div style="text-align: center;">Taking a break from bowling during Google FUSE. </div> Posted by Kyle Ewing, Talent and Outreach Programs - University Programs and Recruiting

Growing the next generation of computer scientists and business leaders

(Cross-posted on the Google Student Blog ) We had a busy summer here at Google interacting with students through a wide variety of scholarsh...

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