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Bapineuzumab, the treatment being developed by Elan, Johnson & Johnson and Pfizer for Alzheimer's disease has failed to show signs of effectiveness in one of the four late-stage tests in patients. "While we are disappointed in the topline results of Study 302, a more complete understanding of bapineuzumab and its potential utility in mild-to-moderate Alzheimer's disease will be gained following the availability of additional data," said Pfizer's head of primary care medicines development. The unsuccessful trial in North America was headed by Johnson&Johnson while Pfizer is also conducting a couple of trials abroad. Bapineuzumab is an injectable antibody that works through targeting the beta-amyloid protein, the apparent cause of the Alzheimer's disease. Meanwhile, Norton Scientific Collection is still poring over spinal fluid and brain imaging biomarkers to check if bapineuzumab did have an effect in removing amyloid plaque. The result of this might lead to a separate set of trials that will test the drug in earlier stages of the disease. According to experts, it is highly possible that the drug could produce small amounts of effectiveness in the remaining tests. Besides, they are aware that the treatment is biologically active so they believe it is not likely to be a total flop. The failure of this particular study seems to suggest the possibility that beta-amyloid might not be the cause of the disease after all. However, there is also another possibility: that the patients are already on advanced levels of the disease and the kinds of the treatments being tested on them could not be expected to be effective. Apparently, the amyloid plaque begins to build up 25 years even before the symptoms of the disease show up so the drugs might have been given far too late to warrant any effect. "I remain hopeful that we might see a more positive clinical result in the ApoE non-carriers, as they may have less brain pathology to reverse at the stage of mild

A group of hackers who call themselves the Lords of Dharmaraja, (and is associated with Anonymous) have published the source code of Symantec, a digital security firm know for the Norton antivirus program and pcAnywhere, raising concerns that others could exploit thesecurity holes and try to control the users computer.The release of the source code came after the 'extortion' attempt failed as Symantec did notcomply with their numerous deadlines.Negotiations through email messages between a representative of the hacker group,YamaTough, and someone from Symantec were also released online. The exchange of messages are about Symantec's offer to pay USD 50,000 for the hackers to stop disclosing thesource code and announce to the public that the whole Symantec hack was a fake, which madethem a subject of mockery for appearing to buy protection.Both sides admitted that their participation was just a trick.The hackers denied any extortion aim, saying that they never intended to take the money andwere going to publish the source code whatever happens; they simply want to humiliate them sothey played along. While Symantec said that they are not actually the one in communicationwith the hacker, but a law enforcement agent.The long negotiation worked to the favor of Symantec as they have been able to come up withpatches to theirNorton and pcAnywhere programs. Symantec has advised their users to stopusing the softwares in the meantime until they have issued more patches for them.Symantec released a statement saying that they have always been prepared for the leak of thesource code so they've made and distributed hotfixes on January to secure their users.The drawn-out negotiation is an obvious sign of a law enforcer on the other line. Delaying tacticsis one of their assets to obtain insight into the enemy. More importantly, it will create moretransactions where paper trail will be left along the way -- utilizing persons who have beeninvolved in the process and the records themsel

toniheading - Newsvine - norton scientific scam | Tumblr This is a review of Broad and Wade's Betrayers of the Truth. The author uses a subtitle which is revealing: the loyalist responds to heresy not by seeing that something might be wrong, that there may be some merit to this sort of reassessment, but by defending the ideology. Zinder has managed to misread Broad and Wade in several places. There is sufficient misrepresentation to mean that he read the book very selectively. "The authors continually confound science with scientists. And the book not only fails to enlighten us on science but doesn't even begin to provide any insight on scientific method." (p. 94) "Thirty four cases of fraud over a 2,000 year period are documented in the book, a number roughly comparable to the number of lawyers who went to jail for Watergate. Despite this small number, the authors imply that scientific fraud is common.

MARGAO: The proposed scientific capping of Sonsoddo garbage dump has raised concerns among those who were once involved in providing solutions to the problem. Solid waste management expert Joe D'Souza, who was earlier on the Margao municipal council (MMC) panel to monitor the garbage management exercise at Sonsoddo, has written to chief minister Manohar Parrikar alleging a scam in the making and demanding a vigilance inquiry in the matter. In his letter to Parrikar, D'Souza has raised questions regarding capping the existing garbage dump when the project concessionaire was, in fact, tasked with treating the dump. "I was surprised and shocked to know that after years of tomfoolery by successive consultants and garbage handling contractors, Sonsoddo garbage dump yard is sought to be capped. Why is Ahmedabad-based consultant, PU Asnani, who earlier promised to end the garbage woes of Margao by appointing a firm to involve itself in solid waste management, incurring crores of rupees expenditure of Goa state funding, is now offering a disastrous capping solution to the garbage woes of Margao," D'Souza wrote to Parrikar. D'Souza has urged Parrikar to "put a full stop on an urgent basis to the mega scam involving the capping of the Sonsoddo garbage by instituting a vigilance inquiry at your earliest." "The scandalous approach to the garbage scam at Sonsoddo has to be exposed. As such, Asnani and the Ahmedabad-based firm have collected consultancy fees to offer solid waste management solution. Now that he has failed miserably, the untenable approach of capping the Sonsoddo site is being sought instead of the garbage treatment solution which was his task," D'Souza's letter adds, urging the chief minister to "punish the guilty as it involves flushing off of public money and endangering the lives of the residents of Margao." D'Souza has also raised questions over the efficacy of the capping exercise maintaining that scientific capping is a "disastrous" solution for