April 30, 2009

Reviews

Connor is Albert in Bye Bye Bridie. This review of opening night is on Philly.com. As a proud dad I really liked the third paragraph.

Even mom didn't notice his pump tubing opening night. That's great.

Tickets 14/$12/$10. (A few still available for this weekend!)
Pump - a few grand.
That being on stage is what defines him and the pump just comes along for the ride. Priceless

April 28, 2009

From The News Wire: OmniPod CE Mark

Insulet Receives CE Mark for the OmniPod(R) Insulin Management System

CE Mark Enables Insulet to Begin Marketing In Europe
BEDFORD, Mass.,


April 28 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Insulet Corporation (Nasdaq: PODD), the leader in tubing-free insulin pump technology, announced today that the Company has received the CE Mark approval for its OmniPod(R) Insulin Management System. The CE Mark gives Insulet authorization to distribute the OmniPod System throughout the European Union and in other countries that recognize the CE Mark.

April 17, 2009

From The News Wire: Yuck It Up

Hey! Science new items that doesn't involve mice! More significantly it is about a subject near and dear to YDMV, Laughs. Yes humor fans finally a research study that ask the burring question, "If stress messes up BG do laughs help out?"


Laughter Remains Good Medicine

ScienceDaily (Apr. 17, 2009) — The connection between the body, mind
and spirit has been the subject of conventional scientific inquiry for some 20
years. The notion that psychosocial and societal considerations have a role in
maintaining health...

Conclusion
The study suggests that the addition of an adjunct therapeutic mirthful laughter Rx (a potential modulator of positive mood state) to standard diabetes care may lower stress and inflammatory response and increase “good” cholesterol levels. The authors conclude that mirthful laughter may thus lower the risk of cardiovascular disease associated with diabetes mellitus and metabolic syndrome. Further studies need to be done to expand and elucidate these findings.


So what I want to know is this, will insurance cover Mel Brooks DVDs?

LOL it is good for ya.

April 10, 2009

Of Mice and Men: Transplanted Pancreatic Cells Protected From T-Cell

Device Protects Transplanted Pancreatic Cells From The Immune System

ScienceDaily (Apr. 9, 2009) — Scientists at Burnham Institute for Medical Research (Burnham) and the University of California San Diego (UC San Diego) School of Medicine have demonstrated in mice that transplanted pancreatic precursor cells are protected from the immune system when encapsulated in polytetrafluorethylene (PTFE). The study, which suggests a new approach to treating Type 1 diabetes, was published online on April 8 in the journal Transplantation.

From the News Wire: Overpriced Crap that Wont Help

Oh Please! 32 oz of cinnamon flavored cranberry juice for only $26.95. Ads to run on dLife.

Nuvilex, Inc. Announces New Pricing for Cinnergen and Launch of dLife Advertising and Promotion Campaign


Cherry Hill, NJ - (WORLD STOCK WIRE) -
April 9, 2009 -- Nuvilex, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: NVLX.OB), an emerging healthcare consumer products company with a portfolio of aesthetics, dermatology, environmental and nutraceutical products, announced today that it intends to reduce the suggested list price and launch an advertising and promotion campaign for Cinnergen, a cranberry cinnamon liquid supplement that helps promote healthy glucose metabolism, to raise customer awareness and garner increased demand for the product at a lower price point.

Effective May 1, 2009, Nuvilex' wholly owned subsidiary, Cinnergen, Inc., will reduce the suggested retail price for a 32 ounce bottle of Cinnergen to $26.95 from $34.95....

Nuvilex has separately executed a partnership agreement for the promotion of Cinnergen with dLife, the only multimedia network serving the diabetes community....

http://www.worldstockwire.com/viewpressrelease/prID/1060/

April 4, 2009

Kindly Dr Txt

There is a raging thread over at CWD that started as a MiniMed reaches out to Cosmo families and has digresses into a flame festival of brand loyalty. We T1 parents are fairly rational people for the most part, necessity forces it on even those like me who resist it. You may not be able to prove it by that thread.

Diabetes is a deeply emotional thing for us parents for a whole lot of reasons. Not the least is that it has taken the illusion that we can protect our kidsfrom us.

I think that what works of me isn't necessarily what will work for anyone else. What works varies from family to family.

For example I can't be bothered with scales. Lots of folks love'm. I see these long online conversations on the virtues of features found on scales. I don't like scales. Starting with the one in the bathroom. That doesn't make scales bad for them or right for me. Our approach to raising kids with diabetes is different, so we use different tools.

These are big companies we are taking about. While their products keep our kids alive, we need to be emotionally separate from them.

Here is why. We need to be open to change. Maybe there is a better gizmo, it uses less blood or the light works better or the case comes in a color that makes our kids happy or what ever. What ever works, works.

In stead of fighting among ourselves over brand loyalty based on petty differences we should be focusing our attention on the companies we use and challenging them to do better. Much better.

For example: Wouldn't it be great if all meters, CGMs and pumps spoke the same data language? We could use what ever and look at our data with the programs the meet our needs. Heck the scale could bluetooth the weight to a program that flips that into carbs and shoots that barb value into the pump. (But even then I am not using a scale.)

If we all said in a clear voice that we will only buy products form companies that work towards open data standards, that let us choose product that work for our families and share common data in a common format so we can analyze it in programs based on features not proprietary data sets, they would, eventually, deliver it. Kicking and screaming and probably suing each other along the way.

But if we let them build brand loyalty on the basis of emotion that covers for lack of innovation, our kids loose, all our kids.

We deserve better from all of these companies. We will not get it unless we speak to them about our needs. To be honest I don't think they have a freaking clue what we need or want. They are in a market driven by the doctor writing a prescription and the insurance company paying and who the hell gets the prescription they don't know. They know they get years of revenue as that rx get refilled. Don't much care who or why it is being filled for.

We aren't customers, we aren't clients, we aren't patients, we don't matter. We are not part of the Doc+Rx+Insurance=cash for everyone equation.

Look at a big pharma diabetes dog and pony show, ad in amagazing, trade show booth what ever. The graphic is always a concerned typically older person in a white coat, aka the Kindly Doctor (typically a white male but not always but always with a little graying hair) looking at his or her PC while the harried younger mother (never a dad, ever) has an expression of concern and gratitude that the Kindly Doctor is looking at her child's chart on the screen. Sometimes Lassie does a cameo as if to say little Billy has been saved from the burning barn of blood sugar.

As if.

Yet they make that image with care to reinforce the idea that the system of doc, big pharma and big insurance are in control and they will take care of us.

How much time do you get with your doctor?

10 minutes every three months? You think she/he is gonna take a text message from your blood meter? Would you like it if five of your ten minutes the doc was reading texts from other patients meters? Would you ever go back to that quack?

We are our kids primary care givers.

We need to be part of the equation.

April 3, 2009

Who is SymCare?

Amy T has a post about SymCare on Diabetes Mine. I was trying to post a comment there but I guess she got smart, 'cause as soon as her server saw me coming it took a dive and wouldn't let me post. No dummy that Amy Bennet scares people away. Better have the site go down that have him post. LOL - Love Ya/ Mean It, Amy.

So who is this SymCare in West Chester PA? Were are they in West Chester? I looked for an address. It is no place on their web page. The FDA has an address for Symcare. Same address as Animas'.
SYMCARE PERSONALIZED HEALTH SOLUTIONS, INC
200 lawrence drive
west chester, PA 19380
As for the FDA clearance in the press release, it is "substantially equivalent (SE)... Clinical Chemistry."

inTouch is an old name for a LifeScan software program. Looks like they dusted of a golden oldie, the copyright on this inTouch PDF is 2001.

This time they mention wireless so all the pictures of hooking up you meter to the back of the PC will be replaces with trying to sync wireless.

SymCare was out hiring reps. Google returns a lot of hits for old Job postings. And a few lines in programmers resumes.

SymCare kinda feels like a marketing campaign waiting to happen. Wireless updating of BG to the doctor's office anyone? If it is, Mark has something really smart to say about that.

The first post I wrote for YDMV (back when it was part of another blog) was based on this simple idea that Mark expressed at FFL, "My wife and I are our daughter’s primary care team.” Mark is smart.

Remember what Mark said.