A coalition of former tech executives launched a coalition to reach 55,000 US public schools to warn kids about the effects of tech addiction.
Research has found heavy tech users show higher risks for depression, anxiety, and thoughts or attempts of suicide.
A group of ex-Facebook, Google, and Apple employees have announced the formation of The Center for Humane Technology, a coalition designed to fight the growing threat of tech addiction among teens and adolescents, the New York Times reports.
The coalition will first launch a campaign called The Truth About Tech. One of the main goals is targeting up to 55,000 US public schools in an effort to publicize research on tech addiction's effects, relying on $7 million in funding from Common Sense Media.
The announcement comes amid a growing movement in Silicon Valley that has been openly critical of Facebook and other tech companies for designing addictive platforms, which may hook young brains from early ages. Psychology experts say the worst-case scenarios of tech overuse include heightened risks for depression, anxiety, and thoughts or attempts of suicide.
"The decline in happiness and the rise in depression might be caused by the overuse of screens leaving less time for activities more beneficial for mental health such as seeing friends in person, sports and exercise, and sleeping," psychologist Jean Twenge, author of the book "iGen" and coauthor on numerous studies of tech addiction, told Business Insider.
The coalition is comprised of Justin Rosenstein, the creator of the Like button; Roger McNamee, an early Facebook investor; Lynn Fox, a former Apple and Google communications executive; and Tristan Harris, a former design ethicist at Google, among others.
Together, they'll create a Ledger of Harms, a living document that helps engineers learn more about the technology they're creating for major companies. In addition, the coalition will lobby public officials to fund research into tech addiction and its effects, and propose tech fixes that prevent harmful content from reaching young users.
Harris and his colleagues say they have seen the engineering tricks firsthand. Features like autoplay videos, endless scrolling, and gamification encourage constant use, Harris has said. They help explain how people may plan to watch just one YouTube video and glance at Twitter but somehow end up spending a half hour on both.
"We were on the inside," Harris told the Times. "We know what the companies measure. We know how they talk, and we know how the engineering works."
The Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY) is drafting another letter asking the Facebook-owned platform to design a technology-led solution to trace the origins of incendiary messages.
The gravity of the situation can be gauged from the fact that at the end of 2014/15, the amount stuck in different tax disputes (direct and indirect taxes) at different levels of adjudication and appeals were worth Rs 7.7 lakh crore. Of these, disputes related to direct taxes alone accounted for Rs 6.15 lakh crore.
The messaging app company had zero users around January 2013. It crossed 35 million users in August 2014 and in January this year claimed over 100 million users. That is a mind-boggling number for any start-up.
The rural economy is reeling under erratic monsoons and unfriendly government policies. The crisis is so deep that its spillover has made the whole economy anaemic.
SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., the world leader in advanced memory technology, announced today that Samsung’s SM1625 SSD, a high-performing solid state drive with high density and low power consumption has been certified by VMware as an optimized solution for VMware Virtual SAN™.
The SM1625 SSD, Samsung’s first dual-ported SAS SSD with densities of up to 800 gigabytes (GBs), has been certified for VMware Virtual SAN for use in data centers and other enterprise applications. VMware Virtual SAN is a new offering that allows customers to pool server disks and flash resources to create a resilient, high-performance and dynamic shared storage solution for virtual machines.
“VMware Virtual SAN™ provides customers a simpler and more flexible tier of storage for their virtual machines,” said John Gilmartin, vice president, Cloud Infrastructure Products, VMware. “By clustering flash and direct-attached storage, VMware Virtual SAN provides a shared storage solution that is high-performing, cost-effective, and seamlessly integrated into VMware vCenter™ Server. We are pleased to have Samsung’s SM1625 SSD as a high-performance storage option for our joint customers.”
“We are very enthusiastic about this SM1625 certification as the basis for partnering with VMware to offer a SAS storage solution for the enterprise,” said JaeHyeong Lee, vice president of memory product planning & application engineering, Samsung Electronics. “We will work closely with not only our OEM customers but also global software companies such as VMware in looking to develop high performing and environmentally-friendly IT systems for data center applications and enterprise storage.”
The newly certified SAS SM1625 enterprise storage, which is produced using 20 nanometer (nm) class* technology, can read data sequentially at 950 MB/s (megabytes per second). In addition, the SM1625 has a random read speed of 120,000 IOPS (inputs/outputs per second). Further, it can handle up to 10 drive writes per day, an endurance rate that covers a typical warranty period for its full five years.
By utilizing 20nm-class technology, Samsung’s SM1625 SSD provides up to 200 times greater power efficiency than conventional (15k rpm) hard drives, and also comes with power loss protection to ensure data is safe in a power outage.
The SM1625 is the starting lineup of how Samsung has been driving development of the industry’s most advanced SAS SSD solutions to enable significant improvements in server system performance, while meeting a rapidly growing need for energy efficiency and higher densities.
Samsung will continue to partner with VMware to offer other high performance, power saving solid state drives with rich-storage optimized features, such as V-NAND and NVMe SSDs for use with VMware infrastructure.
Samsung will work closely with not only our OEM customers but also global software companies in developing the highest performing and most environmentally-friendly IT systems for data center applications and enterprise storage, as we continue to affirm our leadership in the SSD market.
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. is a global leader in technology, opening new possibilities for people everywhere. Through relentless innovation and discovery, we are transforming the worlds of televisions, smartphones, personal computers, printers, cameras, home appliances, LTE systems, medical devices, semiconductors and LED solutions. We employ 270,000 people across 79 countries with annual sales of US$187.8 billion. To discover more, please visit www.samsung.com.
* Editors’ Note: 20 nm-class means a process technology node somewhere between 20 and 30 nanometers.
VMware, vCenter and VMware Virtual SAN are registered trademarks or trademarks of VMware, Inc. in the United States and other jurisdictions. The use of the word “partner” or “partnership” does not imply a legal partnership relationship between VMware and any other company.
Orano, refocused on the nuclear fuel cycle, announces the launch of its first Euro Medium Term Note (EMTN) Programme. The Base Prospectus of the Programme received a visa from the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) on 6 April 2018. It provides a legal framework for Orano’s potential future financing transactions in the form of notes.
The Base Prospectus of the Programme - including a description of Orano as well as the composition of its share capital updated following the finalization of the restructuring transactions of AREVA - is available on the internet on the website of Orano at the following address: http://www.orano.group/en/debt/.
KENILWORTH, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--AstraZeneca and Merck (NYSE:MRK), known as MSD outside the United States and Canada, today presented data from the Phase 3 OlympiAD trial showing the final overall survival (OS) results for LYNPARZA in metastatic breast cancer at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting in Chicago from April 14-18.
Results at AACR include updated findings from the secondary endpoint of overall survival (OS). While the trial was not powered to demonstrate a statistically significant difference, the median OS was 19.3 months in patients treated with LYNPARZA and 17.1 months for patients treated with chemotherapy (HR 0.90, 95% CI 0.66-1.23; p=0.513). At the final OS data cutoff (64% maturity), 13 percent of patients remained on LYNPARZA and no patients remained on chemotherapy.
Sean Bohen, executive vice president, global medicines development and chief medical officer at AstraZeneca, said, “OlympiAD is the first Phase 3 trial to demonstrate disease control with a PARP inhibitor in gBRCA-mutated, HER2-negative metastatic breast cancer. While the trial was not powered to show overall survival compared to chemotherapy, the results are another encouraging factor in the use of LYNPARZA for this patient population.”
Dr. Roy Baynes, senior vice president and head of global clinical development, chief medical officer, Merck Research Laboratories, said, “For patients and physicians, these results are meaningful in that they support the progression-free survival endpoint – which showed that patients treated with LYNPARZA gained seven months chemotherapy-free time – and reinforce the importance of identifying BRCA status to optimize metastatic breast cancer management.”
When analyzing the predefined subgroups, the results were consistent with the overall analysis, which did not show a statistically significant difference between arms. The greatest difference was seen in patients who had not received chemotherapy in the metastatic setting with a median difference in OS of 7.9 months with LYNPARZA (HR 0.51, 95% CI 0.29-0.90; nominal p=0.02; median 22.6 vs 14.7 months).
The safety profile of LYNPARZA remained consistent with the primary analysis. Serious adverse events (AEs) (Grade ≥3) were reported in 38 percent of patients who received LYNPARZA vs 49.5% of patients in the chemotherapy arm. AEs leading to drug discontinuation were 4.9 percent for LYNPARZA vs 7.7 percent for chemotherapy. AEs leading to dose reductions were 25.4 percent for LYNPARZA vs 30.8 percent for chemotherapy. AEs leading to dose interruptions were 36.1 percent for LYNPARZA vs 28.6 percent for chemotherapy. Please see Important Safety Information below.
These results build on previously reported primary and secondary endpoints, which demonstrated LYNPARZA significantly improved PFS (HR 0.58, 95% CI 0.43-0.80; p=0.0009 median 7.0 vs 4.2 months) and showed data beyond initial disease progression, prolonging time to second progression or death (PFS2) by 3.9 months (HR 0.57, 95% CI 0.40-0.83; P=0.003 median 13.2 months vs 9.3 months). Previously reported findings also showed LYNPARZA doubled objective response rates (52% [95% CI 44-60] vs 23% [95% CI 13-35]). The data from the OlympiAD trial can be found in the August 10 2017 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.
In January 2018, LYNPARZA was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use in the treatment of g BRCA-mutated metastatic breast cancer based on the OlympiAD data. A Type 2 Variation application was recently validated by the European Medicines Agency for LYNPARZA in BRCA-mutated, HER2-negative metastatic breast cancer.
A Phase 3 trial (n=1800), OlympiA, is evaluating LYNPARZA as an adjuvant treatment in patients with gBRCA, HER2-negative breast cancer with results expected in 2020. The trial is powered to assess potential benefit in OS.
LYNPARZA is approved in around 60 countries for advanced ovarian cancer and has treated more than 20,000 patients globally. It has the broadest clinical development program of any PARP inhibitor, and AstraZeneca and Merck are working together to bring LYNPARZA to more patients across multiple cancers.
Myelodysplastic Syndrome/Acute Myeloid Leukemia (MDS/AML): Occurred in <1.5% of patients exposed to LYNPARZA monotherapy, and the majority of events had a fatal outcome. The duration of therapy in patients who developed secondary MDS/AML varied from <6 months to >2 years. All of these patients had previous chemotherapy with platinum agents and/or other DNA-damaging agents, including radiotherapy, and some also had a history of more than one primary malignancy or of bone marrow dysplasia.
Do not start LYNPARZA until patients have recovered from hematological toxicity caused by previous chemotherapy (≤Grade 1). Monitor complete blood count for cytopenia at baseline and monthly thereafter for clinically significant changes during treatment. For prolonged hematological toxicities, interrupt LYNPARZA and monitor blood count weekly until recovery.
If the levels have not recovered to Grade 1 or less after 4 weeks, refer the patient to a hematologist for further investigations, including bone marrow analysis and blood sample for cytogenetics. Discontinue LYNPARZA (olaparib) if MDS/AML is confirmed.
Pneumonitis: Occurred in <1% of patients exposed to LYNPARZA, and some cases were fatal. If patients present with new or worsening respiratory symptoms such as dyspnea, cough, and fever, or a radiological abnormality occurs, interrupt LYNPARZA treatment and initiate prompt investigation. Discontinue LYNPARZA if pneumonitis is confirmed and treat patient appropriately.
Embryo-Fetal Toxicity: Based on its mechanism of action and findings in animals, LYNPARZA can cause fetal harm. A pregnancy test is recommended for females of reproductive potential prior to initiating treatment.
Advise females of reproductive potential of the potential risk to a fetus and to use effective contraception during treatment and for 6 months following the last dose.
Advise male patients with female partners of reproductive potential or who are pregnant to use effective contraception during treatment and for 3 months following the last dose of LYNPARZA and to not donate sperm during this time.
Most common laboratory abnormalities (Grades 1-4) in ≥25% of patients in clinical trials of LYNPARZA in the maintenance setting (SOLO-2/Study 19) were: increase in mean corpuscular volume (89%/82%), decrease in hemoglobin (83%/82%), decrease in leukocytes (69%/58%), decrease in lymphocytes (67%/52%), decrease in absolute neutrophil count (51%/47%), increase in serum creatinine (44%/45%), and decrease in platelets (42%/36%).
Most common laboratory abnormalities (Grades 1-4) in ≥25% of patients in clinical trials of LYNPARZA for advanced gBRCAm ovarian cancer (pooled from 6 studies) were: decrease in hemoglobin (90%), increase in mean corpuscular volume (57%), decrease in lymphocytes (56%), increase in serum creatinine (30%), decrease in platelets (30%), and decrease in absolute neutrophil count (25%).
Most common laboratory abnormalities (Grades 1-4) in ≥25% of patients in OlympiAD were: decrease in hemoglobin (82%), decrease in lymphocytes (73%), decrease in leukocytes (71%), increase in mean corpuscular volume (71%), decrease in absolute neutrophil count (46%), and decrease in platelets (33%).
Anticancer Agents: Clinical studies of LYNPARZA in combination with other myelosuppressive anticancer agents, including DNA-damaging agents, indicate a potentiation and prolongation of myelosuppressive toxicity.
CYP3A Inhibitors: Avoid concomitant use of strong or moderate CYP3A inhibitors. If a strong or moderate CYP3A inhibitor must be co-administered, reduce the dose of LYNPARZA. Advise patients to avoid grapefruit, grapefruit juice, Seville oranges, and Seville orange juice during LYNPARZA treatment.
CYP3A Inducers: Avoid concomitant use of strong or moderate CYP3A inducers when using LYNPARZA (olaparib). If a moderate inducer cannot be avoided, there is a potential for decreased efficacy of LYNPARZA.
Lactation: No data are available regarding the presence of olaparib in human milk, its effects on the breastfed infant or on milk production. Because of the potential for serious adverse reactions in the breastfed infant, advise a lactating woman not to breastfeed during treatment with LYNPARZA and for 1 month after receiving the final dose.
Hepatic Impairment: No adjustment to the starting dose is required in patients with mild hepatic impairment (Child-Pugh classification A). There are no data in patients with moderate or severe hepatic impairment.
Renal Impairment: No adjustment to the starting dose is necessary in patients with mild renal impairment (CLcr=51-80 mL/min). In patients with moderate renal impairment (CLcr=31-50 mL/min), reduce the dose to 200 mg twice daily. There are no data in patients with severe renal impairment or end-stage renal disease (CLcr ≤30 mL/min).
To avoid substitution errors and overdose, do not substitute LYNPARZA tablets with LYNPARZA capsules on a milligram-to-milligram basis due to differences in the dosing and bioavailability of each formulation. Recommended tablet dose is 300 mg, taken orally twice daily, with or without food. Continue treatment until disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. For adverse reactions, consider dose interruption or dose reduction.
For the maintenance treatment of adult patients with recurrent epithelial ovarian, fallopian tube, or primary peritoneal cancer, who are in complete or partial response to platinum-based chemotherapy.
For the treatment of adult patients with deleterious or suspected deleterious germline BRCA-mutated (gBRCAm) advanced ovarian cancer who have been treated with 3 or more prior lines of chemotherapy. Select patients for therapy based on an FDA-approved companion diagnostic for LYNPARZA.
In patients with deleterious or suspected deleterious gBRCAm, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-negative metastatic breast cancer who have previously been treated with chemotherapy in the neoadjuvant, adjuvant or metastatic setting. Patients with hormone receptor (HR)-positive breast cancer should have been treated with a prior endocrine therapy or be considered inappropriate for endocrine treatment. Select patients for therapy based on an FDA-approved companion diagnostic for LYNPARZA.
OlympiAD is a global, randomized, open-label, multi-center Phase 3 trial of 302 patients, assessing the efficacy and safety of LYNPARZA tablets (300 mg twice daily) compared to chemotherapy (physician’s choice of capecitabine, eribulin or vinorelbine). 205 patients were randomized to receive LYNPARZA and 97 patients were randomized to receive chemotherapy.
Patients in the OlympiAD trial had germline BRCA-mutated, HER2-negative breast cancer and received LYNPARZA for treatment in the metastatic setting. Prior to enrollment, 71 percent of patients had received no more than two previous chemotherapy treatments for metastasized breast cancer and 28 percent of patients had received prior platinum-based chemotherapy. Also enrolled were patients with hormone receptor (HR)-positive breast cancer who had received at least one endocrine therapy (adjuvant therapy or therapy for metastatic disease) and had disease progression during therapy unless they had disease for which the endocrine therapy was considered inappropriate.
The primary endpoint was PFS. Secondary endpoints included OS, time to second progression or death, overall response rate, health-related quality of life, and safety and tolerability.
Progesterone receptors (PR), estrogen receptors (ER) and HER2 receptors may be expressed on breast cancer cells. A patient’s breast cancer will test either negative or positive for these three receptors. If a tumor tests positive for PR and/or ER, it is considered HR-positive. If a tumor tests negative for all three receptors, it is considered triple negative. These receptors indicate which hormones or other proteins may be promoting growth of the cancer.
Metastatic breast cancer (MBC) is the most advanced stage of breast cancer (Stage 4), and occurs when cancer cells have spread beyond the initial tumor site to other parts of the body, outside of the breast and nearby lymph nodes.
Despite the increase in treatment options during the past three decades, there is currently no cure for patients diagnosed with MBC and only 26.9 percent of patients survive for five years after diagnosis. Thus, the primary aim of treatment is to slow progression of the disease for as long as possible, improving, or at least maintaining, a patient’s quality of life.
Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women, with an estimated 1.67 million new cases diagnosed worldwide in 2012 alone - one in four of all cancer cases. Approximately 30 percent of women who are diagnosed with early breast cancer will go on to develop advanced disease.
BRCA1 and BRCA2 are human genes that produce proteins responsible for repairing damaged DNA and play an important role maintaining the genetic stability of cells. When either of these genes is mutated, or altered, such that its protein product either is not made or does not function correctly, DNA damage may not be repaired properly and cells become unstable. As a result, cells are more likely to develop additional genetic alterations that can lead to cancer.
LYNPARZA was the first in class PARP inhibitor and the first targeted treatment to potentially exploit DNA damage response (DDR) pathway deficiencies, such as BRCA mutations, to preferentially kill cancer cells. Specifically, in vitro studies have shown that LYNPARZA-induced cytotoxicity may involve inhibition of PARP enzymatic activity and increased formation of PARP-DNA complexes, resulting in DNA damage and cancer cell death.
LYNPARZA, which has the broadest clinical development program of any PARP inhibitor, is being investigated in a range of DDR-deficient tumor types.
In July 2017, AstraZeneca and Merck, known as MSD outside the United States and Canada announced a global strategic oncology collaboration to co-develop and co-commercialize LYNPARZA, the world’s first PARP inhibitor, and potential new medicine selumetinib, a MEK inhibitor, for multiple cancer types. The collaboration is based on increasing evidence that PARP and MEK inhibitors can be combined with PD-L1/PD-1 inhibitors for a range of tumor types. Working together, the companies will develop LYNPARZA and selumetinib in combination with other potential new medicines and as a monotherapy. Independently, the companies will develop LYNPARZA and selumetinib in combination with their respective PD-L1 and PD-1 medicines.
Our goal is to translate breakthrough science into innovative oncology medicines to help people with cancer worldwide. At Merck, helping people fight cancer is our passion and supporting accessibility to our cancer medicines is our commitment. Our focus is on pursuing research in oncology and we are accelerating every step in the journey – from lab to clinic – to potentially bring new hope to people with cancer.
As part of our focus on cancer, Merck is committed to exploring the potential of immuno-oncology with one of the fastest-growing development programs in the industry evaluating oncology medicines in more than 30 tumor types. We also continue to strengthen our oncology portfolio through strategic acquisitions and are prioritizing the development of several promising candidates with the potential to improve the treatment of advanced cancers.