Health News and Scoops

Hosted by Microsoft in conjunction with DEMO and the Startup America
Partnership, Mega Startup Weekend focuses on building a web or mobile
application to address social issues

LOS ANGELES–(BUSINESS WIRE)–As Education and Healthcare remain two of the biggest social issues in
need of innovation, and Gaming continues on a rapid growth path,
entrepreneurs will gather under one roof for 54 hours during Mega
Startup Weekend with the express challenge of solving problems and
providing solutions in these technology verticals.

“We are extremely excited for this opportunity to present some of
today’s best and brightest minds with the challenges faced by both the
education and healthcare industries, and to watch them use gaming and
other technology related solutions to facilitate positive change”

Hosted by Microsoft’s BizSpark,
in conjunction with DEMO and the Startup America Partnership, Mega
Startup Weekend (powered by the Kauffman Foundation) will take place
September 9 to 11, 2011 in Mountain View, California.

Keynote speaker, Reid Hoffman, from LinkedIn and Greylock Partners, will
kickoff the event on Friday, September 9, followed by a two-day intense
focus on building a web or mobile application, which could form the
basis of a credible business over the course of the weekend. Mega
Startup Weekend will attract an expected 300 individuals with
different skill sets – primarily software developers, graphic designers
and business people – to build applications and develop a commercial
case around them. A group of industry leaders and mentors will provide
business and technical advice to assist the teams throughout the event.

“We are extremely excited for this opportunity to present some of
today’s best and brightest minds with the challenges faced by both the
education and healthcare industries, and to watch them use gaming and
other technology related solutions to facilitate positive change,”
remarked Ahmed Siddiqui, Mega Startup Weekend organizer and founder of
Go Go Mongo!

Microsoft will host a “Celebration of Entrepreneurship” fete on Saturday
evening, September 10; and on Sunday, September 11 at 4pm, each team
will give a five-minute presentation to a panel of judges, and each
winner will present their idea in front of the entire group of event
attendees. Each winner will receive a coveted booth at the DEMO
Conference on September 12 to 14, and a chance to win the Audience
Choice Rising Star slot to pitch at DEMO.

About Mega Startup Weekend

Mega Startup Weekend (http://mega.startupweekend.org/)
is an intense 54-hour event, which focuses on building a web or mobile
application that could form the basis of a credible business over the
course of a weekend. The weekend brings together people with different
skill sets – primarily software developers, graphics designers and
business people – to build applications and develop a commercial case
around them.

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TARRYTOWN, N.Y.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Regulatory News:

EpiCept Corporation (Nasdaq and Nasdaq OMX Stockholm Exchange: EPCT)
today announced that Jack Talley, President and CEO, will be presenting
at two upcoming industry conferences.

• The Stifel Nicolaus 2011 Healthcare Conference, taking place September
  7^th-9^th, 2011 at the Four Seasons Hotel in
  Boston, MA. Mr. Talley’s presentation will take place on Wednesday,
  September 7^th at 3:15 p.m. Eastern time.
• The Rodman Renshaw 13^th Annual Healthcare Conference,
  taking place September 11^th – 13^th, 2011 at the
  Waldorf Astoria in New York City. Mr. Talley’s presentation will take
  place on Monday, September 12^th at 11:15 a.m. Eastern time.

At each conference, Mr. Talley will present an overview of the Company.
The presentations will be available live via webcast and for 90 days
thereafter. The webcasts can be accessed by visiting www.epicept.com.

About EpiCept Corporation

EpiCept is focused on the development and commercialization of
pharmaceutical products for the treatment of cancer and pain. The
Company’s lead product is Ceplene^®, approved in the EU and
Israel for the remission maintenance and prevention of relapse in adult
patients with AML in first remission. The Company has two other oncology
drug candidates currently in clinical development that were discovered
using in-house technology and have been shown to act as vascular
disruption agents in a variety of solid tumors. The Company’s pain
portfolio includes AmiKet™, a prescription topical analgesic cream in
late-stage clinical development designed to provide effective long-term
relief of pain associated with peripheral neuropathies.

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release and any oral statements made with respect to the
information contained in this news release contain forward-looking
statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation
Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements include statements
which express plans, anticipation, intent, contingency, goals, targets,
future development and are otherwise not statements of historical fact.
These statements are based on our current expectations and are subject
to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results or
developments to be materially different from historical results or from
any future results expressed or implied by such forward-looking
statements. Factors that may cause actual results or developments to
differ materially include: the risk that our securities may be delisted
from The Nasdaq Capital Market, the risks associated with the adequacy
of our existing cash resources and our ability to continue as a going
concern, the risks associated with our ability to continue to meet our
obligations under our existing debt agreements, the risk that Ceplene^®
will not receive regulatory approval or marketing authorization in the
U.S. or Canada, the risk that Ceplene^® will not achieve
significant commercial success, the risk that any required post-approval
clinical study for Ceplene^® will not be successful, the risk
that we will not be able to maintain our final regulatory approval or
marketing authorization for Ceplene^®, the risk that Azixa™
will not receive regulatory approval or achieve significant commercial
success, the risk that we will not receive any significant payments
under our agreement with Myrexis, the risk that the development of our
other apoptosis product candidates will not be successful, the risk that
clinical trials for AmiKet™ or crolibulin will not be successful, the
risk that AmiKet™ or crolibulin will not receive regulatory approval or
achieve significant commercial success, the risk that we will not be
able to find a partner to help conduct the Phase III trials for AmiKet™
on attractive terms, a timely basis or at all, the risk that our other
product candidates that appeared promising in early research and
clinical trials do not demonstrate safety and/or efficacy in
larger-scale or later stage clinical trials, the risk that we will not
obtain approval to market any of our product candidates, the risks
associated with dependence upon key personnel, the risks associated with
reliance on collaborative partners and others for further clinical
trials, development, manufacturing and commercialization of our product
candidates; the cost, delays and uncertainties associated with our
scientific research, product development, clinical trials and regulatory
approval process; our history of operating losses since our inception;
the highly competitive nature of our business; risks associated with
litigation; and risks associated with our ability to protect our
intellectual property. These factors and other material risks are more
fully discussed in our periodic reports, including our reports on Forms
8-K, 10-Q and 10-K and other filings with the U.S. Securities and
Exchange Commission. You are urged to carefully review and consider the
disclosures found in our filings which are available at www.sec.gov
or at www.epicept.com.
You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking
statements, any of which could turn out to be wrong due to inaccurate
assumptions, unknown risks or uncertainties or other risk factors.

*Azixa is a registered trademark of Myrexis, Inc.

EPCT-GEN

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New OR/Surgical Suite Surg5 Luminaire Delivers Consistent Quality of
Lighting, Energy Savings, Ease of Maintenance

ATLANTA–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Acuity
Brands, Inc. (NYSE: AYI; “Company”), a market leader in innovative
energy-efficient lighting and control solutions, is pleased to introduce
the Healthcare
Lighting® Surg5™
surgical troffer luminaire. The Surg5 luminaire is the newest addition
to the Healthcare
Lighting® OR/Surgical Suite product line. While lighting in
high-performance areas of a hospital are, in general, exempt from energy
usage calculations, the Healthcare
Lighting® Surg5,
delivers consistent high-quality of lighting while providing significant
energy savings and overall ease of maintenance. Fairview, PA based Healthcare
Lighting was acquired by Acuity Brands in May 2011.

“Our luminaire products, including the OR/Surgical
Suite Surg5,
are designed with the direct inputs of healthcare professionals,
evidence of how our focus on delivering the specific lighting
requirements healthcare facilities need results in better lighting
options for our customers”

Designed to provide supplemental lighting in surgical suites, surgical
troffer luminaires are usually mounted in arrays surrounding the
perimeter of the operating table. The Surg5
luminaire is designed to deliver the equivalent light output of a 6-lamp
fluorescent troffer while requiring only 5 lamps. The elimination of one
lamp within the fixture also allows a design with more accessible
placement of the ballast for faster and more cost-effective maintenance.
Typical surgical troffers require the removal of all lamps and
reflectors to access ballasts. In the Surg5 luminaire, these components
are readily accessible on each side after simply opening the sealed door
frame and removing the tool-free ballast tray covers. The lamps stay in
place during ballast maintenance, reducing the risk of glass breakage,
which is especially important in a critical-care area of a hospital. The
potential savings in both energy and maintenance costs makes the Surg5 a
notable advancement in surgical troffer luminaires.

“Acuity Brands’ focus on delivering a better quality of lighting aligns
perfectly with Healthcare Lighting’s long-standing commitment to address
the very specific needs of healthcare professionals and their patients,”
said Steve Day, Acuity
Brands Lighting Vice President, Healthcare
Lighting. “Our luminaire products, including the OR/Surgical
Suite Surg5,
are designed with the direct inputs of healthcare professionals,
evidence of how our focus on delivering the specific lighting
requirements healthcare facilities need results in better lighting
options for our customers,” Day added.

All Healthcare
Lighting products, including the new Surg5
are available nationally through the Company’s sales representatives and
authorized distributors. For additional information, please visit the Acuity
Brands and Healthcare Lighting websites and Acuity
Brands’ YouTube® Channel. You can also become a fan of Acuity
Brands and Healthcare
Lighting on Facebook® and follow Acuity
Brands on Twitter®.

About Acuity Brands

Acuity Brands, Inc. is a North American market leader and one of the
world’s leading providers of luminaires, lighting control systems and
related products and services with fiscal year 2010 net sales of over
$1.6 billion. The Company’s lighting and system control product lines
include Lithonia Lighting®, Holophane®, Peerless®, Mark Architectural
Lighting™, Hydrel®, American Electric Lighting®, Gotham®, Carandini®,
RELOC®, Antique Street Lamps™, Tersen®, Winona® Lighting, Synergy®
Lighting Controls, Sensor Switch®, Lighting Control Design™, Dark to
Light®, ROAM®, Sunoptics®, acculamp™ and Healthcare Lighting®.
Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, Acuity Brands employs approximately
6,000 associates and has operations throughout North America, Europe and
Asia.

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NEW YORK |
Tue Aug 30, 2011 4:37pm EDT

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Child brides more often face psychiatric disorders than women who marry after they turn 18, researchers have found.

Their work is the first to try to gauge the mental toll of child marriage, which has already been tied to several health problems, such as pregnancy complications and an increased risk of sexually transmitted infections.

So far, most research has focused on child marriages in low- and middle-income nations in Africa and Asia, where it is often rampant.

But according to the new report, the U.S. also has its fair share of underage brides.

Based on a government survey from 2001 and 2002, it estimates that as many as nine percent of American women took their vows as kids. About 9.4 million women were married at 16 or younger, and 1.7 million were no older than 15.

All but one U.S. state require couples to be at least 18 years old to be married. With parental consent, however, marriage age is only 16 in most states, and under some circumstances may be as low as 15 in Hawaii and Missouri.

Blacks and Native Americans were more likely to be child brides than whites, Dr. Yann Le Strat, of the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research in Paris, and colleagues report in the journal Pediatrics.

Although the rate of child marriage seems to be on the decline, they say, “support for psychiatric vulnerabilities of women married as children is required.”

Face-to-face interviews with nearly 25,000 women who were at least 18 revealed that 53 percent of those who had been child brides had some psychiatric disorder, such as depression or anxiety.

Of the women who married as adults, that figure was 49 percent.

Former child brides were also more likely to be diagnosed as “nicotine dependent” and with “anti-social personality disorder.”

The findings don’t prove that marrying as a child will necessarily lead to mental illness, the French team cautions.

Yet most women had been married before they developed mental problems, and the findings couldn’t be entirely chalked up to differences in household incomes, education and other social factors.

SOURCE: bit.ly/r92FZ1 Pediatrics, online August 29, 2011.

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CHICAGO |
Wed Aug 31, 2011 8:57am EDT

CHICAGO (Reuters) – Repackaged injections of the cancer drug Avastin, also known as bevacizumab, have caused a cluster of serious eye infections in the Miami, Florida area, the Food and Drug Administration said on Wednesday.

The Florida Department of Health notified the FDA of Streptococcus endophthalmitis infections in three clinics following injections given through the eye of repackaged Avastin, manufactured by Roche Holdings.

Investigators traced the tainted injections to a single pharmacy located in Hollywood, Florida. The pharmacy repackaged the Avastin from sterile injectable 100 mg/4 mL, single-use, preservative-free vials into individual 1 mL single-use syringes.

The pharmacy then distributed the Avastin to multiple eye clinics.

The FDA said it is aware of at least 12 patients in at least three of these clinics who had eye infections. While all of the patients had visual deficits prior to their injections with Avastin, some of these patients lost all remaining vision in that eye due to the endophthalmitis.

The agency and Florida health officials continue to investigate.

(Reporting by Debra Sherman, editing by Dave Zimmerman)

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