Early success in cancer drug trial gives patients 'promising' future

A London hospital’s trial of a prostate cancer drug has been stopped early because it was so successful doctors felt it would be "unethical" to deny the treatment to other patients.

By Edward Malnick

1:41PM BST 24 Sep 2011

 

Medics halted tests of the life-extending drug because it would have been “unethical” not to offer the treatment to all 922 cancer sufferers taking part in the trial.

Patients who were given the drug found that it eased pain and caused only minor side effects.

The new drug accurately targets tumours using alpha radiation, which doctors conducting the study said is the most effective form of radiation to eliminate cancer because it limits damage to surrounding tissue.

Dr Chris Parker, lead researcher on the project at the Royal Marsden Hospital, said: “It’s more damaging. It takes one, two, three hits to kill a cancer cell compared with thousands of hits for beta particles.”

The drug, Radium-223 Chloride – known as Alpharadin TM – will also do less damage to surrounding tissue because it accurately targets calls, the doctors said.

Speaking at an international gathering of cancer experts, Dr Parker, a consultant clinical oncologist, said: “They have such a tiny range, a few millionths of a metre. So we can be sure that the damage is being done where it should be.”
Patients taking the drug has a 30 per cent lower rate of death compared top patients taking a placebo pill.
“It would have been unethical not to offer the active treatment to those taking placebo,” Dr. Parker said.
Radium-223 has “a completely different safety profile” to chemotherapy, he added.
The trial’s results were presented this week at the 2011 European Multidisciplinary Cancer Congress in Stockholm.
The researchers, who have pointed out the urgent need for an effective treatment for prostate cancer, will now submit their findings for approval by regulators.
Prof Gillies McKenna, Cancer Research UK’s radiotherapy expert said: “This appears to be an important study using a highly targeted form of radiation to treat prostate cancer that has spread to the bones.
“This research looks very promising and could be an important addition to approaches available to treat secondary tumours – and should be investigated further.”

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/8786451/Early-success-in-cancer-drug-trial-gives-patients-promising-future.html

StartMate releases investment raising docs

Start-ups that can't raise investment because of prohibitive legal costs now have an alternative, after local mentor-backed investment firm StartMate released the documentation that it used to invest in its first five start-ups.
The documents were used by StartMate to facilitate investments on behalf of the organisation's founders, and co-founder Niki Scevak said that he hopes releasing the documents will help streamline the investment process by eliminating excessive legal fees.
"We used these documents to invest in the first five Startmate companies, and will use them again to invest in our next round," Scevak said.
"We thought that they could be useful for any kind of start-ups in Australia, and hope that they can reduce the amount of money spent on legal fees in the beginning."
It will also mean that companies are properly structured to gather more investment down the line, Scevak said.
The documents are free to start-ups, and can also be used for other administrative tasks, such as establishing a company and developing a constitution.
"Also, they can be useful for companies who are raising small amounts of capital, but also those just getting set-up.
"Part of the set of documents is simply for incorporating your company and having a workable constitution that would be needed for professional investors to consider putting in money."
They are based on a set of documents in the US called series seed, but adapted for Australian law by law firm DLA Piper.
Docs and more info are available here.

http://www.zdnet.com.au/startmate-releases-investment-raising-docs-339321740.htm?ocid=nl_TNB_05092011_fea_3

http://www.startmate.com.au/financing-docs

Reach for the stars: How to futureproof your career

Many of the jobs that will provide employment in Australia for years to come are yet to be invented. Picture: NASA

ROBOT repairman and flying-car mechanic still may be far-fetched but medical roboticist and transhumanist designer are already among emerging careers of the future.

Many of the jobs that will provide sustainable employment in Australia for years to come are yet to be invented.

But experts say information communication and technology will pave the way in employment.

Roles in some fields are already declining - likely to be redundant by 2016.

Employment projections from the Federal Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations show that by 2015-16, the industries to experience the greatest growth are healthcare and social assistance (323,300 jobs), construction (195,800 jobs) and professional, scientific and technical services (149,800 jobs).

The three sectors combined represent 50 per cent of the total jobs growth expected for the period to 2015-16.

Healthcare and social assistance is led by people living to an older age, ensuring aged care continues to be a big employer.

Growth in technical services in part is driven by the surge of technology use in the Australian community.

The industries with the highest percentage of new-job growth in the next five years are mining (6.1 per cent), healthcare and social assistance (4.5 per cent), electricity, gas, water and waste services (3.9 per cent), construction (3.6 per cent) and professional, scientific and technical services (3.3 per cent).

To further improve chances of future proofing a career, recruitment company Peoplebank chief executive Peter Acheson says to aim for IT.

"(There's) a creeping amount of technological proficiency required in mainstream jobs in the future,'' he says.

"There's also an increasing trend towards mobility, and the globalisation of markets means that we could have virtual teams from across the world working together.

Technology also will resign other jobs to the scrap heap. Business futurist Morris Miselowski predicts the end is nigh for job types such as:

•  Machinist: Robotics will render this career obsolete.
•  Desktop publishers: Advances in software will mean people do this role themselves.
•  Fabric and apparel patternmakers: New software programs will mean this job is a career of the past.
•  Supermarket cashiers: Shops will be only self-serve.
•  Film processors: There will be so few film cameras will no longer exist in the volume needed to it won't justify film processing.
•  DVD storeperson: People will buy more movies online.

But Mr Miselowski believes some of the jobs that will be around for years to come include:

•  Transhumanist designer/technician: They will work with people who have suffered disabilities such as amputation, loss of hearing or eyesight or lack of physical mobility.
•  Retirement consultant: They will help people get the best out of their retirement such as finances, lifestyle and living arrangements.
•  Cyber security: As the community increasingly lives life online, people will need more security specialists able to keep their information safe.
•  Genetic counsellor: Now that people can find out their genetic make-up, there is a growing need for genetic counsellors to help address such questions as "I have a gene that says I'm at increased risk for breast cancer and many of my family members have breast cancer, should I have a mastectomy?''.
•  Custom implant organ designer: They will build specific organs from scratch for people who need them.
•  Medical roboticist: The six-million-dollar man may one day be a reality, as medical roboticists take prosthetics far beyond what we see today.

Stuart Atkins, of HRnet, says staff in the following 10 fields have a sustainable career, for the foreseeable future: aged care, education, web development and IT, emergency services, veterinary services, financial planning, accounting, employment services, hairdressing, funeral directors.

Dr Raymond Choo, who has worked in cyber security for eight years, says there is "absolutely'' a shortage of cyber security-savvy individuals.

"Cyber security is an interdisciplinary profession and not only restricted to technical positions in computer science and engineering disciplines,'' he says.

"There is a wide range of career options ranging from national security, legal and policy advisers in governments to security consultants, penetration testers (also known as white hats) and digital forensic specialists in both public and private sectors to cyber security researchers in academia and think tanks.''

Growth industries

• 4.5 per cent: Jobs growth inhealth to 2016

• 6.1 per cent: Jobs growth in mining to 2016

• 3.6 per cent: Jobs growth in construction to 2016

• 3.9 per cent: Jobs growth in energy and water to 2016

• 50 per cent: of total jobs growth to 2016 in health, construction and

Read more: http://www.news.com.au/business/reach-for-the-stars-futureproof-your-job/story-e6frfm1i-1226128668770#ixzz1Wu11Nvap

Virtual Router - Wifi Hot Spot for Windows 7 / 2008 R2

Project Description


Virtual Router turns any Windows 7 or Windows 2008 R2 Computer into a Wifi Hot Spot using Windows 7's Wireless Hosted Network (Virtual Wifi) technology.
What is Virtual Router?


Virtual Router is a free, open source software based router for PCs running Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2. Using Virtual Router, users can wirelessly share any internet connection (Wifi, LAN, Cable Modem, Dial-up, Cellular, etc.) with any Wifi device (Laptop, Smart Phone, iPod Touch, iPhone, Android Phone, Zune, Netbook, wireless printer, etc.) These devices connect to Virtual Router just like any other access point, and the connection is completely secured using WPA2 (the most secure wireless encryption.)

http://virtualrouter.codeplex.com/