“New Bioactive Beverage Industry Created by Tahitian Noni International (Marketwire via Yahoo! Finance)” plus 3 more |
- New Bioactive Beverage Industry Created by Tahitian Noni International (Marketwire via Yahoo! Finance)
- How to Promote and Regulate International Investments? (China Daily)
- International student group collects ‘Change for Chile’ (The Daily Athenaeum)
- Transplant drug preserves kidneys, avoids toxicity, studies suggest (Science Daily)
| Posted: 09 Mar 2010 04:00 AM PST PROVO, UT--(Marketwire - 03/09/10) - Tahitian Noni International (TNI) has announced the creation of a new industry in bioactive beverages. Armed with 14 human clinical studies, company leaders have realized that noni is more than just a juice -- and they are using that information to set themselves apart from the crowded superfruit industry that they originally created. Noni is packed with bioactives -- such as vitamins, minerals, and electrolytes -- that produce biological activity in the body. These dynamic compounds provide a wide range of bioactivity. The key bioactives in noni are iridoids, which have been closely studied for more than 50 years and have been linked to over two dozen real health benefits. Iridoids have been scientifically proven to eliminate harmful free radicals, maintain healthy HDL cholesterol at existing healthy levels, increase energy, promote heart health, boost the immune system, support DNA, and support healthy brain activity. They are also adaptogenic, which means they can adapt to an environment to safely benefit the health and function of biological systems. "Our understanding of what our products do -- including the importance of bioactives and the impact of iridoids -- has changed the way we look at ourselves," said John Wadsworth, president of Tahitian Noni. "We've discovered that noni is superior in every way. It is more than a superfruit, more than a juice. And now we have the science to prove it." "Just like we created the superfruit industry back in 1996, we will now create a new industry category of bioactive beverages. Beverages that provide proven health benefits through human clinical trials. Beverages with specific benefits that can be measured, quantified, studied, and reproduced. Tahitian Noni International created the superfruit industry -- we will now create a new industry of bioactive beverages." About the Company Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. |
| How to Promote and Regulate International Investments? (China Daily) Posted: 09 Mar 2010 07:41 PM PST There is plenty of knowledge about possible benefits of international investments in an economy. I discussed these benefits with China Daily readers on our article of February 21st. In this story, I will point out for a country wanting to receive these investments that an institutional arrangement must be built, since these international investments may have positive and negative impacts. Considering this, some regulations are important to try to avoid negative impacts from transnational companies' investments, and to enhance the positive effects of these foreign direct investments. There are 8 major topics that should be studied and covered by public policies. The objective here is to facilitate local, state or even federal Governments and agencies in setting a framework where international investments can be attracted to promote development and avoid possible negative externalities. The first one relates to governance structure of the investments. In this arena, we may take care of the wide arrange of possibility of investments (joint-ventures, vertical integration, franchisees…), money entrance conditions, the promotion policies to receive these investments, safeguards for risk protection (invasion, expropriation, fees, etc) and others. How direct investment will take place and sorts of assets ownership (land, industry and others) must be considered and planned, and also how the stimulus package for these investments (like energy supply, logistics and other related to infrastructure) will be built and even how to remove the existing obstacles to attract investments. The second topic relates to environmental protection, focusing on policies of water usage, agricultural practices (soil preservation, harvest, among others), policies on pollution control, sanitary measures, international standards and certifications that will be required and, finally policies regarding the preservation and rights over the biodiversity. Some companies are accused of not having the same environmental practices they have in the home base, and this should be avoided by suitable policies. The third topic deals with regulation of human resources. These regulations may include salaries, labor and wages, benefits, working conditions, corporate social responsibility, ethics and codes of conduct and community relations. This is one of the most important topics, since most problems on international investments done in the past happened in the field of bad management of human resources. Taxation policies (taxes) comes as a fourth topic that must be defined for transnational investments. Questions regarding the structure of taxes and tax policies, export tax policies, purchase and compensation taxes and possible Government temporary tax incentives for the investment to be done, to be stimulated are focus of the analysis here. As fifth we have research and development policies. At this point, the most relevant would be a kind of stimulus to improve development of local knowledge and R&D. Property rights, licensing contracts and royalties must be discussed. Stimulus for linkages with local research organizations and institutions can be an important incentive to integrate and promote development. The sixth topic is more related to agricultural or agribusiness investments, and deals with joint actions for farmers and industry. It is important to have policies stimulating linkage of the international investments to local organizations, an incentive for cooperatives and association's formation and sustainability, previous preparation of farmers, coops or organizations for the relationships with the international investments and incentives for building sustainable supply contracts. It could be important also to establish a framework for dispute mechanisms and even private arbitration. The seventh topic regards to financing and credit. Discuss and implement policies on how an international investor can have access to public sources of financing, state banks and public credit lines. This offer of credit, linked to the technology of the international investor gives a nice possibility of growth. Finally, the last topic relates to policies regarding market access. In each of these policies, there are suggestions of incentives to international investments. These can consider government purchasing of products generated by the investment and facilitating local access to investors, international agreements for market access to improve export channels of this new entrant and general competition policies. In food investments, it is also important to evaluate and promote food safety policies to facilitate international market access. The relevance of studies of international investments to produce food is of fundamental importance. It is well known that food production needs to be enhanced and in order to accomplish these needs, international investments are of fundamental importance. In a moment where countries are establishing policies towards food security, with Governmental and private funds being allocated to buy land abroad and secure food supply the role of these investments increase in importance. This article provided for Government, agencies and companies involved with international investments, a list of 8 major topics that must be considered for regulation of these investments in order to try to bring as much as possible sustainable economic development. The author is professor of strategic planning and food chains at the School of Economics and Business, University of Sao Paulo, Brazil (www.favaneves.org) and international speaker. The opinions expressed are his own. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. |
| International student group collects ‘Change for Chile’ (The Daily Athenaeum) Posted: 09 Mar 2010 09:08 PM PST Published: Tuesday, March 9, 2010 Updated: Tuesday, March 9, 2010  "Photo: N/A")
Jessica Galica, left, a junior pre-biology major, drops a coin in a jar at the International Student Organization's "Coins for Chile" booth Monday in the Mountainlair. Dave Slusarick is on the International Student Organization board and said that Coins for Chile is set up much like a penny war, where students can choose to donate their change to an individual country in South America. The booth will be set up again today in the Mountainlair. The International Student Organization at West Virginia University is collecting money this week to relief for the Chilean Earthquake. "Change for Chile," which began Monday, will have a table in the Mountainlair today and Friday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and donation jars at the Office of International Students and Scholars in E. Moore Hall throughout the week. Dave Slusarick, a graduate student in education leadership studies, said the organization had already raised more than $1,400 for Chile through WVU's Dollars for Disaster. He worries, however, the most recent earthquake has not received as much attention as it deserves due to the recent earthquake in Haiti. "Just in general, people are less aware," Slusarick said. ISO President Eileen Huang said she was also not aware of any other student "We are willing to work with other student organizations to fund raise for Chile," Huang said. She believes the timing of the Chilean quake has affected fundraising, but encourages people to donate again, even if only a small amount. "Even $1 from one person can make a huge difference," Huang said. The ISO fundraiser is a penny war. Those donating put pennies in the jar of their favorite country, which count toward that country's score. Any other type of change or paper money in a country's jar counts against the country's total. At the end of the fundraiser the country with the highest total wins. Huang said there is no prize for winning but thinks the penny war is a fun way to raise money for a good cause. All proceeds from the penny war will benefit the recovery effort in Chile. The Feb. 27, 8.8 magnitude earthquake in Chile struck a little over a month after a 7.0 magnitude quake devastated the nation of Haiti in the Caribbean. Be the first to comment on this article!Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. |
| Transplant drug preserves kidneys, avoids toxicity, studies suggest (Science Daily) Posted: 09 Mar 2010 07:24 PM PST ScienceDaily (Mar. 10, 2010) — The experimental drug belatacept can prevent graft rejection in kidney transplant recipients while better preserving kidney function when compared with standard immunosuppressive drugs, data from two international phase III clinical trials show. The results are published in the March issue of the American Journal of Transplantation. The senior author of the paper describing BENEFIT (Belatacept Evaluation of Nephroprotection and Efficacy as First-line Immunosuppression Trial) is Christian P. Larsen, MD, DPhil, director of the Emory Transplant Center and chair of the department of surgery at Emory University School of Medicine. The lead author is Flavio Vincenti, MD, professor of medicine (nephrology) at University of California, San Francisco. Thomas C. Pearson, MD, DPhil, professor of surgery at Emory and co-director of the kidney/pancreas transplant program at Emory Transplant Center, is a co-author on a companion paper describing belatacept's performance on "extended criteria" kidney transplants (Kidneys from donors that are older or have other factors associated with shorter graft survival). The drugs most transplant patients now rely on to inhibit their immune systems and prevent graft rejection have serious side effects. The class of drugs known as calcineurin inhibitors (cyclosporine and tacrolimus, for example) can damage the kidneys and lead to high blood pressure and diabetes. The data from the BENEFIT trial, which tracked 666 kidney transplants at 100 sites around the world, shows that patients taking belatacept had similar graft survival rates to those taking cyclosporine, while maintaining higher kidney function and lower blood pressure and cholesterol. In addition, instead of requiring patients to take pills twice every day, in the case of calcineurin inhibitors, belatacept can be given every few weeks. Trial data and side effects: The BENEFIT trial, which was sponsored by Bristol Myers Squibb, compared three regimens: a more intensive and a less intensive course of belatacept treatment and a standard cyclosporine course. All patients received a temporary course of an anti-T cell antibody called basiliximab and the standard transplant drugs mycophenolate mofetil and corticosteroids. After one year, the proportion of patients with impaired kidney function (defined through glomerular filtration rate) was 55 percent for more intensive and 54 percent for less intensive, compared to 78 percent for cyclosporine. Patients' blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar profiles were also more favorable with belatacept. More patients experienced acute rejection -- a temporary flare-up of the immune system against the donated kidney -- under belatacept (22 percent for more intensive, 17 percent for less) compared to 7 percent with cyclosporine. However, in most cases the acute rejection was successfully treated with drugs and did not lead to graft failure. With belatacept, there was a higher incidence of a serious complication called post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorder (PTLD) -- five patients total in the BENEFIT trial, compared to one with cyclosporine. PTLD is associated with infection with the Epstein-Barr virus, which many humans have as a low-level chronic infection. The authors say PTLD might be reduced by avoiding use of belatacept in Epstein-Barr-naïve patients. Background on belatacept: Belatacept, whose development was significantly contributed to by Larsen and Pearson in collaboration with other investigators at Emory University and researchers at Bristol Myers Squibb, is a "costimulation blocker," which inhibits one of two signals T cells require to trigger an immune response. Belatacept is a modified version of a fusion protein known as CTLA4-Ig, which mimics a regulatory molecule found on T cells and acts as a decoy. CTLA4-Ig (commercial name: abatecept/Orencia) is FDA approved to treat rheumatoid arthritis. In the 1990s, Larsen and Pearson found that CLTA4-Ig could control graft rejection in mice, but it didn't work as well in non-human primates. Researchers at Bristol Myers Squibb sifted through mutations to find two that made CTLA4-Ig bind tighter to its target. Larsen and Pearson then showed that the modified protein could be effective in a non-human primate model for kidney transplant at Emory's Yerkes National Primate Research Center. FDA review: On March 1, 2010, an outside committee of U.S. regulatory advisers recommended to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of belatacept for the prevention of kidney transplant rejection. The FDA is scheduled to make a decision May 1 on whether to approve the medicine. Story Source: Adapted from materials provided by Emory University, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS. Journal References:
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. |
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