Amid few jobs, construction worker struggles to cope
By Gayathri Vaidyanathan and Mirela Iverac (December 2008)
See project here: Coping in NY
Raoul Osario used to earn $2000 a month; now he tries to support himself and his nine-year-old son, Jonathan, with just $130.
“I could afford anything for the first 45 years of my life,” said Osario, 50, a superintendent of a building in Jackson Heights, Queens. He started working in this building in 2003 for $130 and a basement apartment for which he doesn’t have to pay rent or utilities. Osario supplemented the small income earned there with contract construction jobs, such as putting up and repairing air conditioning and refrigerators, which brought him a monthly income of up to $2000.
NY State Sets Payments to Egg Donors for Stem-Cell Research
New York has become the first state to pay women for donating egg cells for taxpayer-funded research into embryonic stem cells, according to the Washington Post. New York’s Empire State Stem Cell Board will offer as much as $10,000 in state funds to a qualified donor.
Read More at wsj health blogs
Miracle prostate cancer drug not so miraculous?
The Mayo clinic reported over the weekend in its news section that two men with late-stage prostate cancer were successfully treated with a monoclonal antibody treatment (one of the most promising areas of research for cancer drugs) developed by Medarex Inc. Shares increased by 20% on Monday. An article by the AP pointed out at the time that the news must be treated with caution.
Mayo has not included a summary of Phase 2 clinical trials of the drug in its news, as pointed out in Seeking Alpha. The Phase 2 results were presented at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center on May 29-June 2, 2009.
In their report, researchers said that of the 45 patients had been treated with the drug (16 with Ipilimumab alone, 15 with the Ipilimumab + other drugs, and 14 with Ipilimumab + other drugs + chemotherapy).
Antibody declines of 50% or greater were seen in 10 out of the 45 patients, or 22%. Only one patient who was solely treated with Ipilimumab demonstrated complete resolution of lesions.
Alas, the drug may not be so successful as the hype suggests. Why did the researchers release the results of just two patients, with no reference to the larger study presented at the conference? Something shady. Others agree.
Songs About Time
From The Rentals website
Came across a blog post in BBG about Fuji Film giving The Rentals 365 limited edition black-and-white film to capture the making of their new album Songs About Time.
You can see the photo diary here: pretty cool.