Portable Planet

A new report published in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) shows that patients treated with bronchial thermoplasty, the first non-drug treatment for asthma, demonstrated an overall improvement in asthma control.

Co-Principal Investigators, Dr. Gerard Cox, respirologist at St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton’s Firestone Institute for Respiratory Health, and Professor at McMaster University, and Dr. John Miller, Division Head of Thoracic Surgery at St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton and McMaster University authored the study. The study revealed improved asthma control at one year following the bronchial thermoplasty procedure.

The publication entitled, “Asthma Control during the Year after Bronchial Thermoplasty”, showed that patients treated with bronchial thermoplasty, compared to another group that did not receive the procedure, showed significant positive changes such as: decreases in asthma attacks, increases in days with no asthma symptoms, improvement in quality of life, reduction in using medication, and an improvement in asthma control.

“These findings are very encouraging and are consistent with earlier trial results on bronchial thermoplasty,” explains Dr. Cox. “These results make us hopeful that bronchial thermoplasty may be a new option for asthma patients who have asthma symptoms despite use of current drug therapies.”

Bronchial thermoplasty is a minimally invasive procedure that reduces the amount of airway smooth muscle that is responsible for the constriction of airways in asthma patients. Using a flexible bronchoscope through the nose or the mouth, a routine procedure. physicians treat small to medium sized airways with Bronchial Thermoplasty (BT). The BT device generates radio frequency/thermal energy and reduces areas of underlying smooth muscle in the airways. The procedure is completed in three treatment sessions, each lasting less than one hour, and spaced apart by about three weeks. The procedure, like many other flexible endoscopy procedures, is done under light anesthesia, and the patient returns home the same day.

The objective of the Asthma Intervention Research (AIR) Trial, led by Drs. Cox and Miller, as part of a global clinical trial, was to examine the effectiveness and safety of bronchial thermoplasty as a treatment for patients with moderate or severe asthma. The randomized controlled trial included 112 patients between the ages of 18-65 at 11 centers in four countries, and followed these patients for one year after treatment.

Several years ago, Dr. John Miller began limited bronchial thermoplasty procedures in patients who were scheduled to have lung surgery. “We saw that this particular way of treating the airway had a profound effect on the smooth muscle and not much else, Dr. Miller explains. “The amount of smooth muscle is significantly reduced by thermoplasty and we recognized that this procedure might therefore be an appropriate treatment for people with asthma.”

“I’m quite pleased to say that our experience suggests that the Bronchial Thermoplasty procedure is quite well-tolerated, and it holds considerable promise for patients with asthma.”

Asthma is a common disease in which the airways in the lung become inflamed, excess airway mucus is produced, and airways narrow when muscles within the airway walls contract. During an asthmatic attack, in response to an asthma trigger such as an allergen or irritant, the airway smooth muscle may contract leading to airway narrowing and breathing difficulties. Asthma currently affects more than 2 million people in Canada.

Source: McMaster University

A secret draft of regulations that fundamentally rewrite the Endangered Species Act was leaked to two environmental organizations, which provided them to the press last night.  An article in Salon quotes Earthjustice attorney Jan Hasselman saying, “The proposed changes fundamentally gut the intent of the Endangered Species Act.”

The changes are fiercely technical and complicated, but make future listings extremely difficult, redefine key concepts to the detriment of protected species, virtually hand over administration of the act to hostile states, and severely restrict habitat protections.

Many of the changes — lifted from unsuccessful legislative proposals from then-Senator (now Interior Secretary) Dirk Kempthorne and the recently defeated congressman Richard Pombo — are reactions to policies and practices established as a result of litigation filed by environmental organizations including Earthjustice.

“After the failure of these legislative proposals in the last Congress, the Bush administration has opted to gut the Endangered Species Act through the only avenue left open: administrative regulations,” said Hasselman. “This end-run around the will of Congress and the American people will not succeed.”

A major change would make it more difficult for a species to gain protection, by scaling back the “foreseeable future” timeframe in which to consider whether a species is likely to become extinct. Instead of looking far enough ahead to be able to reasonably determine whether a species could be heading for extinction, the new regulations would drastically shorten the timeframe to either 20 years or 10 generations at the agency’s discretion. For species with long generations like killer whales and grizzly bears, this truncated view of the future isn’t nearly enough time to accurately predict whether they are at-risk now.

“These draft regulations represent a total rejection of the values held by the vast majority Americans: that we have a responsibility to protect imperiled species and the special places they call home,” said Kate Freund, Legislative Associate at Earthjustice.

According to several sources within the Fish and Wildlife Service quoted by Salon, hostility to the law within the agency has never been so intense. “I have 20 years of federal service in this and this is the worst it has ever been,” one unnamed source is quoted as saying.

In addition, the proposal would allow projects by the Forest Service and other agencies to proceed even if scientific evidence suggests that the projects might drive species to extinction so long as the rate of decline doesn’t accelerate owing to the project.

The Bush administration’s antipathy to the law is shown by the numbers of species it has protected, in each case as the result of litigation — 57. By comparison, 253 species were listed during the Reagan administration, 521 under Clinton, and 234 under Bush I.

The administration reportedly had expected to reveal the new regulations in a few weeks. The draft regulations must be published in the Federal Register for public comment before they can become final, which is likely to be at least a year off.

Source: Earthjustice

Circuit City Stores, Inc. today announced a series of changes to improve financial performance largely by realigning its cost and expense structure.

“We are taking a number of aggressive actions to improve our cost and expense structure, which will better position us for improved and sustainable returns in today’s marketplace,” said Philip J. Schoonover, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Circuit City Stores, Inc. “These actions represent the execution phase of the work initiated this winter to accelerate Circuit City’s transformation. We expect to deliver improvements in our selling, general and administrative expense rate while maintaining appropriate investments to drive our key strategic initiatives such as digital home services, multi-channel and home entertainment.

“We are continuing to challenge all aspects of our SG&A expense. We are reviewing our organizational structures to ensure that they are efficient and promote productivity; evaluating spans of control and layers of management to ensure that our front-line Associates are empowered; instituting more discipline and controls around expense management; identifying overlapping functions that can be combined to drive efficiency; outsourcing functions where appropriate; and eliminating entire pieces of non-value added work. Unfortunately, a number of Associates are directly impacted by the actions, but we are making Circuit City stronger for the long term.”

Business Changes

Domestic Segment

The company has completed a wage management initiative that will result in the separation of approximately 3,400 store Associates. The separations, which are occurring today, focused on Associates who were paid well above the market-based salary range for their role. New Associates will be hired for these positions and compensated at the current market range for the job.

In a separate release today, the company announced that it has entered into an agreement with IBM to outsource its information technology infrastructure operations. The arrangement will result in a benefit to general and administrative expenses in fiscal 2008 and is expected to reduce planned information technology infrastructure expenses by more than 16 percent over the life of the contract. A total of approximately 130 Circuit City corporate Associates will be impacted by the change. Approximately 50 of them will transition to jobs with IBM and remain on-site serving the Circuit City contract. More details about the agreement are available in the separate news release.

In February, the company re-aligned its regional retail operating structures to streamline responsibilities, ensure more consistent communication, increase accountability and reduce field leadership costs. The number of operating regions was reduced from 10 to 8. The company’s retail transformation initiative is structured to generate a more consistent in-store customer experience while reducing the performance gap among various stores and regions. The organization is now structured to provide clear lines of accountability for operational execution and change implementation with a minimal impact to total headcount.

In February, the company was able to terminate the lease on a previously closed distribution center in Columbus, Ohio. The company has recorded a loss of $4.8 million for exiting this lease obligation, but will reduce its future net cash outflows associated with the lease by approximately $6 million. The company completed the previously announced closure of a distribution center in Louisville, Kentucky, that was used primarily for store fixtures and signage.

International Segment

The board of directors has authorized management to explore strategic alternatives for InterTAN, Inc., which could include the sale of the operation. The company has engaged Goldman Sachs to act as an advisor in connection with the exploration of strategic options.

The company previously announced its intention to close approximately 60 international segment stores. The international segment closed 55 stores in February 2007 and expects to close approximately 10 additional stores in the first half of fiscal 2008.

Financial Impact/Benefit

In the fourth quarter of fiscal 2007, including the charges announced in today’s release and the previously announced charges, the company expects to record pre-tax expenses of $92 million in goodwill impairment; $31 million related to store and other facility closings; and $21 million related to other restructuring activities.

The company expects actions included in today’s announcement as well as the actions included in the February 8, 2007, release to reduce consolidated fiscal 2008 SG&A expenses by approximately $110 million and at least $140 million annually beginning in fiscal 2009. The fiscal 2008 estimated reduction is approximately $96 million for the domestic segment and approximately $14 million for the international segment.

The company expects greater sales volatility during the first half of fiscal 2008 due to the significant nature of changes being implemented. The company has plans in place to quickly rebuild and improve its level of execution prior to the holiday selling season.

Stock Buyback

Circuit City continued to repurchase stock, consistent with the board’s $1.2 billion authorization, during the fourth quarter, repurchasing 5.0 million shares at a cost of $100.0 million. As of February 28, 2007, the company had repurchased 57.9 million shares under this authorization at a cost of $919.6 million.

Weighted average common shares outstanding for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2007 is 169.5 million, and weighted average common shares outstanding for fiscal 2007 is 170.4 million shares.

Source: Circuit City

The Rudy Giuliani Presidential Exploratory Committee today announced that Steve Forbes, President and Chief Executive Officer of Forbes and Editor-in-Chief of Forbes magazine, has endorsed Rudy Giuliani for President of the United States. Mr. Forbes will serve as a National Campaign Co-Chair and Senior Policy Advisor.

“I am honored to support Rudy Giuliani for President,” Steve Forbes said. “As Mayor of New York City, Rudy Giuliani showed how exercising fiscal discipline, including tax cuts, lowers deficits, spurs economic growth, and increases revenue. It is time the rest of the country benefit from a true fiscal conservative leader who gets real results.”

“Steve and I share an economic vision that embraces supply-side economics, tax relief, and spending restraint,” said Mayor Giuliani. “I look forward to working with Steve and am proud to have him as a member of our team.”

About Steve Forbes:

Mr. Forbes is a distinguished leader in the business community. He is President and Chief Executive Officer of Forbes and Editor-in-Chief of Forbes magazine, and is also a frequent business commentator for Fox News Channel’s “Forbes on Fox.”

In 1985, President Reagan appointed Mr. Forbes as Chairman of the bi-partisan Board for International Broadcasting (BIB), where he directed the programming for Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty. He was reappointed by President George H.W. Bush and served until 1993.

In 1996 and 2000, Mr. Forbes ran as a Republican candidate for president on a platform that advocated a flat income tax.

He is currently on the boards of The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation, the Heritage Foundation and The Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, and is the author of two books on political and economic policy issues.

Source: The Rudy Giuliani Presidential Exploratory Committee

Scholastic, the global children’s publishing, education and media company, today released both the front and back covers of the highly anticipated “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,” J.K. Rowling’s seventh and final Harry Potter book due in stores on July 21st at 12:01 a.m. Once again, the stunning cover art was created by Mary GrandPre, the acclaimed illustrator of all six previous U.S. editions of the Harry Potter books.

“The front cover of ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows’ features a dramatic sky of oranges and golds. It depicts 17-year-old Harry with arm outstretched, reaching upward. The structures around Harry show evident destruction and in the shadows behind him, we see outlines of other people,” said David Saylor, Scholastic’s Vice President and Creative Director who has designed all seven Harry Potter covers.

“For the first time the cover is a wrap-around. On the back cover spidery hands are outstretched towards Harry. Only when the book is opened does one see a powerful image of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, his glowing red eyes peering out from his hood.”

Bloomsbury Publishing Plc also today released the cover images for “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,” which will appear on editions distributed in Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and many other countries throughout the world.

Source: Scholastic Corporation

President Bush has renewed his threat to veto a bill before Congress that would fund the Iraq war, but would also set a deadline for a U.S. troop withdrawal. Paula Wolfson reports it is the latest escalation in tensions between the White House and the Democratic Party majority on Capitol Hill.

President Bush says money for the war is desperately needed. But he says he will block any effort by Congress to mandate a withdrawal.

“It makes no sense for politicians in Washington D.C. to be dictating arbitrary timelines for our military commanders in a war zone 6,000 miles away,” he said.

The House of Representatives has passed legislation calling for a mandatory withdrawal by August 31, 2008. The Senate version of the bill - still under debate - sets a non-binding deadline of March 31, 2008.

Mr. Bush says both versions are unacceptable, even though they provide billions of dollars for military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. And he charges Democrats are pushing the bills through the legislature to make a political point, even though they know they do not have the two-thirds majority needed to override his veto.

“Congress continues to pursue these bills,” he said. “And as they do, the clock is ticking for our troops in the field. Funding for our forces in Iraq will begin to run out in mid-April. Members of Congress need to stop making political statements and start providing vital funds for our troops.”

The president calls the legislation the worst kind of congressional meddling in military strategy - one with disastrous consequences.

“Now, some of them believe that by delaying funding for our troops, they can force me to accept restrictions on our commanders that I believe would make withdrawal and defeat more likely. That is not going to happen,” he said.

But the top Democrat in the Senate - Majority Leader Harry Reid - is also standing firm. He says the president needs to realize just how serious Congress is about its desire for a change of course in Iraq.

“He is the president and we are the Congress,” Reid said. “I would hope that he would be willing to work with us in coming up with some language both bodies could accept.”

The president spoke to a conference of ranchers and others involved in the cattle industry.

Mr. Bush also used the occasion to push his trade agenda, calling for Congress to approve new trade agreements with Peru, Colombia and Panama, and to extend his fast track trade negotiating authority.

Fast track means that Congress gives up the right to amend any trade deals struck by the president, and agrees to consider them with a simple up or down vote.

Source: VOA