Science and Tech

VIENNA (Reuters) - Austrian biotech firm Intercell's Japanese Encephalitis virus vaccine, due to be launched in 2007, was well tolerated by patients in a clinical trial, the company said on Thursday.

The vaccine, which will be marketed in Europe and the United States by Swiss drug giant and Intercell shareholder Novartis, produced no critical adverse effects in around 2,700 patients in the so-called Phase III trial, Intercell said.

Intercell shares were sold to the public in an initial public offering last year. The stock has gained 63 percent so far this year and traded 2.8 percent higher at 14.99 euros just after markets opened on Thursday.

The safety trial, part of a broader test, was conducted at 39 sites in Austria, Germany, Romania, Israel, Australia, New Zealand and in the United States and was designed to analyze the safety and tolerability of the vaccine candidate.

'First analyses of this trial show that Intercell's investigational Japanese Encephalitis vaccine was systemically and locally well tolerated,' Intercell said in a statement.

The entire clinical trial program, needed to meet regulatory requirements, is expected to be completed by early 2007, Intercell said.

University of Iowa asthma experts are trying to ensure that an asthma drug combination is prescribed only when truly necessary.



The long-acting asthma drug salmeterol used in combination with an inhaled corticosteroid can dangerously worsen asthma for a small subgroup of people with the condition.

In a letter published in the Aug. 24 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), the UI physicians reported two cases representing the few patients for whom the combination can make asthma more severe or even fatal.

'For most patients whose asthma cannot be controlled with a low-dose inhaled steroid, adding salmeterol to the steroid provides increased benefits. So there's no question this can be a useful combination drug for many individuals,' said Miles Weinberger, M.D., professor of pediatrics in the University of Iowa Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine.

'However, some patients are receiving the combination drug but don't actually need it, and there is at least a small subgroup of patients for whom previous research showed the salmeterol-steroid combination has a very negative, rather than beneficial, effect,' said Weinberger, who also directs the UI Division of Pediatric Allergy and Pulmonary Diseases.

Advair, made by GlaxoSmithKine, contains salmeterol in addition to an inhaled corticosteroid and is extensively marketed, Weinberger said. It is one of the most commonly prescribed maintenance asthma medications in the United States and is meant to be used by patients on a regular, preventive basis, not to treat sudden asthma attacks.

'We do not want to unduly alarm people, but instead help spread the word that patients should talk with their physicians if they are using Advair, or another inhaled asthma medication that contains salmeterol and feel that it worsens symptoms instead of making them better,' Weinberger said.

The UI physicians' letter follows up a related editorial published December 2005 in the NEJM by Fernando Martinez, M.D., a leading asthma expert. The letter also helps illustrate findings reported this year in a large, population-based study in the United States that is consistent with a previous study in England.

The U.S. study showed a very small, but statistically significant, increased risk of asthma-related deaths -- 13 among 13,000 individuals who received salmeterol but only three among another 13,000 individuals who received a placebo during a 28-week treatment period. Other studies have suggested that some people have a genetic variation that causes them to respond negatively to the class of medications that includes salmeterol, Weinberger said.

The concern about salmeterol and a related medication, formoterol, led the U.S. Food and Drug Administration this year to add a 'black box' warning to products containing these medications.

The warning is appropriate, Weinberger said, but many people, including health care professionals, remain unaware of the problem. To raise awareness, Weinberger and Mutasim Abu-Hasan, M.D., UI clinical associate professor of pediatrics, documented two cases they saw at the UI that showed the risk of these medications.

Each of the two patients had life-threatening problems related to salmeterol use. When the patients switched to a different asthma medication, their asthma was successfully managed.

Weinberger emphasized that people currently taking asthma medication that contains salmeterol should continue taking it until they consult their physicians.

'For many patients, adding salmeterol to an inhaled corticosteroid provides additional clinical benefit. Patients should contact their physicians if they notice their response to a 'rescue' inhaler such as albuterol is lessened when they're taking salmeterol as part of a regular maintenance medication,' he said.

Weinberger said that many primary care physicians, partly in response to heavy drug marketing, immediately start patients on the combination drug instead of first trying the inhaled steroid alone.

'We want to build on Dr. Martinez's recommendation and encourage primary care physicians to start asthma patients on just the inhaled steroid as a regular maintenance medication and then add the salmeterol by using a combination product only if the person's asthma symptoms are not adequately controlled,' Weinberger said.

Nearly 20 percent of all children have some degree of asthma. At least 6 percent of adults have asthma, as well.

It is not currently possible to test each patient with asthma to see if he or she has genetic risk factors for a bad reaction to Advair. The genetic testing is not commercially available, and all the genetic variations that could contribute to the problem are not yet known.

A team headed by biologists from the University of California, San Diego has discovered the cells and the protein that enable us to detect sour, one of the five basic tastes. The scientists, who included researchers from the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, suggest that this protein is also the long-sought sensor of acidity in the cerebrospinal fluid.

The study, featured on the cover of the August 24 issue of the journal Nature, reports that each of the five basic tastes is detected by distinct taste receptors—proteins that detect taste molecules—in distinct cells. The team previously discovered the sweet, bitter and umami (savory) receptors and showed that they are found in separate cells, but some researchers have argued that sour and salty tastes, which depend on the detection of ions, would not be wired in the same way.

“Our results show that each of the five basic taste qualities is exquisitely segregated into different taste cells” explained Charles Zuker, a professor of biology at UCSD and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator, who headed the study. “Taken together, our work has also shown that all taste qualities are found in all areas of the tongue, in contrast with the popular view that different tastes map to different areas of the tongue.”

To determine if the taste cells and receptors for sour were separate from the receptors for the other basic tastes, the researchers tested mice in which they had genetically ablated the cells containing the sour taste receptors. The mice could not taste sour, but had completely normal sweet, bitter, umami and salty tastes. Therefore, although the salt taste receptor has not yet been discovered, it and the four identified receptors must each be segregated into distinct taste cells.

In addition to being found in the taste buds, the researchers discovered that the sour protein receptor, PKD2L1, is also found along the entire length of the spinal cord in nerve cells that surround and reach into the central canal. Because sourness is a reflection of the acidity, or the pH of a solution, the researchers suspected that the spinal neurons with PKD2L1 might be responsible for monitoring the pH of the cerebrospinal fluid.

Electrical recordings taken from these spinal neurons showed that they were able to detect and respond to very small changes in pH, confirming their role as pH detectors.

“There have been many claims for pH detectors that monitor the health of different body fluids, but the nature of the circuit and the receptors has been unknown,” said Zuker. “Therefore it is significant to discover that the same protein that detects sour tastes also functions as a sentinel of pH in the central nervous system.”

To discover the sour taste receptor, the researchers first turned to bioinformatics. According to Angela Huang, a graduate student working with Zuker and the lead author of the Nature paper, they started with three simple assumptions and then hunted the entire genome.

“First, we expected the taste receptors to be embedded in the cell membrane where they could be in contact with taste molecules on the tongue,” explained Huang. “Therefore, we narrowed the search down to genes for proteins with a structure that would allow them to be in a cell membrane. Second, we ruled out candidates that were found in many different tissues and focused on those mainly in the taste cells. Third, we looked for a candidate that was made in select populations of taste cells, rather than all taste cells.”

The three assumptions resulted in just a handful of possible candidates. PKD2L1 stood out because it was strongly produced in select cells in all of the different types of taste buds. PKD2L1 is a member of a family of proteins called polycystic-kidney-disease-like ion channels. Mutations in some members of this protein family lead to kidney failure, but according to Zuker, the cause of failure has been an open mystery.

“We don’t know if the other members of the protein family work in the same way as PKD2L1, but our findings could be an exciting and unexpected entry into understanding these devastating kidney disorders,” he said.

At least three severe, potentially fatal genetic diseases leave patients with aortas so flimsy that they can rupture in pregnancy and labor or even lesser activities, often without warning. Beta blockers, curbing exercise, proactive blood vessel surgery and other approaches can be helpful, but their usefulness varies according to which disease and when they're offered.

Now a large follow-up study of more than 50 families by a multi-institutional team led by Johns Hopkins scientists should bring better guidelines for treating the disorders. The work, published August 24 in The New England Journal of Medicine, closely compares patients having one of two types of the lesser known Loeys-Dietz syndrome or Ehlers-Danlos syndrome with better-understood Marfan syndrome. It stresses the importance of comprehensive clinical evaluations when diagnosing the diseases.

People with Loeys-Dietz syndrome have wideset eyes, a cleft palate or split uvula (the tissue that hangs down in the back of the throat), and a convoluted arrangement of the body's blood vessels, in addition to aggressive swelling of the aorta. In these patients, the aorta breaks at a much smaller size than it does in people with Marfan syndrome or most other causes of aortic aneurysm.

Marfan and Ehlers-Danlos syndromes both are similar heritable conditions with overlapping symptoms that affect the connective tissue, the tissue that holds the body together. Marfan syndrome can affect many body systems, including the skeleton, eyes, heart and blood vessels, nervous system, skin and lungs. The vascular variant of Ehlers-Danlos also affects skin, muscles and ligaments and causes hypermobility of joints and fragile blood vessels that tear easily.

'This study shows that both clinical and molecular analyses can distinguish patients with Loeys-Dietz syndrome from those with either Marfan syndrome or vascular Ehlers-Danlos syndrome,' says Harry Dietz, M.D., director of the William S. Smilow Center for Marfan Syndrome Research at Johns Hopkins, professor in the McKusick-Nathans Institute of Genetic Medicine, and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator, 'Distinguishing these conditions is essential in many ways. For example, when compared to Marfan syndrome, Loeys-Dietz patients are at high risk of rupturing their blood vessels at smaller dimensions, at a younger age, and in a wider distribution throughout the body. They are also at a much greater risk of tear or rupture of blood vessels or the uterus during pregnancy. When compared to people with vascular Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, patients with Loeys-Dietz syndrome do much better with cardiovascular surgery, highlighting the importance of aggressive surgical intervention for this disorder.'

'Because Loeys-Dietz shares so many symptoms with other conditions like Marfan or vascular Ehlers-Danlos, it's critical that diagnostic distinctions are made accurately.'

The researchers gathered detailed information on patients' physical characteristics, their symptoms, course of disease and timing and effect of treatments. They also used gene analysis of the DNA sequences that encode for two proteins, the transforming growth factor-beta protein receptors type 1 (TGF-betaR1) and type 2 (TGF-betaR2). All cases of Loeys-Dietz studied so far have mutations in either TGF-betaR1 or TGF-betaR2.

The two TGF-beta receptors act together to bind TGF-beta, a family of signaling molecules that controls cell growth, movement, activity and death by controlling whether certain genes are turned on or off. TGF-beta receptors normally are found on the cell's surface, facing the outside of the cell, where TGF-beta can be found floating around.

The receptors contain specialized domains - dubbed kinase domains -- that, when bound by TGF-beta, add a chemical phosphate group to molecules that set in motion a domino-like effect within the cell to activate other chemical reactions that eventually lead to changes in cellular growth or movement or activity.

Nearly all Loeys-Dietz patients studied thus far have mutations in or near the kinase domains in their TGF-beta receptors. The mutations are passed on through families; however, syndrome-causing mutations also have been found in patients whose parents were not affected.

'The bottom line here is that looking for TGF-beta receptor mutations will be most useful in patients who have features shared by multiple syndromes,' says Dietz.

A diagnostic test is available at Johns Hopkins' DNA Diagnostic Laboratory.

Super-hot atoms in space hold the key to an astronomical mystery, and an Ohio State University astronomer is leading an effort to study those atoms here on Earth.

Anil Pradhan, professor of astronomy, and his team have used supercomputers to perform the most precise energy calculations ever made for these atoms and their properties. As a result, astronomers -- in particular, those hunting black holes -- will have a better idea of what they are looking at when they examine faraway space matter using X-ray telescopes.

The results appear in the September issue of the Journal of Physics B: Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics. And while the paper's subject matter is highly technical, it tells a story that weaves together atomic physics, Einstein's theory of relativity, cutting-edge astronomical observations, and some of the world's fastest supercomputers.

Astronomers have spied seas of super-hot atoms in plasma form, circling the centers of very bright galaxies, called active galactic nuclei. The plasma is thought to be a telltale sign of a black hole; the black hole itself is invisible, but any material spiraling into it should be very hot, and shine brightly with X-rays.

Before anyone can prove definitively whether active galaxies contain black holes, astronomers need to measure the energy levels of the excited atoms in the plasma very precisely, and match the measurements with what they know about atomic physics.

Assuring the accuracy of atomic data doesn't sound like the most exciting job in astronomy, Pradhan admitted -- but it is fundamentally important.

'Most astronomers take it for granted that the atomic data they are referencing are correct -- they have to, in order to interpret their observations,' he said.

For 30 years, the professor of astronomy has worked on the problem. The new, high-resolution X-ray data gathered by NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and the European Space Agency's X-ray Multi-mirror Mission-Newton satellite spurred him on. Believing that such high-quality observations demanded good atomic data, he and his team -- which is also led by Ohio State senior research scientist Sultana Nahar -- decided to make the most precise atomic calculations possible.

After years of writing computer codes and thousands of hours of computing time at the Ohio Supercomputer Center, they calculated the energy levels of high-temperature atoms ranging from carbon to iron -- the atoms found in these plasmas.

Some of the previously accepted values for these atoms had acknowledged error rates from 30 percent to as high as factors of two or three. With the new calculations reported in this study, the error for all the atoms has been reduced to a few percent.

This means that from now on, when astronomers record X-ray images of objects in space, they will have a much better idea of what atoms make up the material they are looking at, and the physical conditions inside that object.

The atom that most black-hole hunters are interested in is iron, and that's where Einstein's general theory of relativity comes in.

The immense gravity of a black hole should, according to relativity, distort the X-ray signal as seen from Earth, particularly for iron atoms. The signal is a spectrum, and looks like a series of lines, with each atom having its own line. One line in particular, called the iron K-alpha line, appears broadened for X-rays emanating from the center of active galaxies, and it is often cited as a key indication of a black hole.

Thirteen years ago, Pradhan, Nahar, and their colleagues began a study called the Iron Project. Their goal, in part, is to find out why the iron K-alpha line is broadened and what the implications are for X-ray astronomy.

'The most direct observation of a black hole is considered to be the iron K-alpha line,' Pradhan said. 'So it's very important to find out whether it's been broadened because there is a black hole nearby, or if there is some other cause.'

He is hopeful that astronomers will apply his new data to studies of the iron K-alpha line and help solve the mystery.

A new breed of permanently 'cheerful' mouse is providing hope of a new treatment for clinical depression. TREK-1 is a gene that can affect transmission of serotonin in the brain. Serotonin is known to play an important role in mood, sleep and sexuality. By breeding mice with an absence of TREK-1, researchers were able create a depression-resistant strain. The details of this research, which involved an international collaboration with scientists from the University of Nice, France, are published in Nature Neuroscience this week.

'Depression is a devastating illness, which affects around 10% of people at some point in their life,' says Dr. Guy Debonnel an MUHC psychiatrist, professor in the Department of Psychiatry at McGill University, and principal author of the new research. 'Current medications for clinical depression are ineffective for a third of patients, which is why the development of alternate treatments is so important.'

Mice without the TREK-1 gene ('knock-out' mice) were created and bred in collaboration with Dr. Michel Lazdunski, co-author of the research, in his laboratory at the University of Nice, France. 'These 'knock-out' mice were then tested using separate behavioral, electrophysiological and biochemical measures known to gauge 'depression' in animals,' says Dr. Debonnel. 'The results really surprised us; our 'knock-out' mice acted as if they had been treated with antidepressants for at least three weeks.'

This research represents the first time depression has been eliminated through genetic alteration of an organism. 'The discovery of a link between TREK-1 and depression could ultimately lead to the development of a new generation of antidepressant drugs,' noted Dr. Debonnel.

According to Health Canada and Statistics Canada, approximately 8% of Canadians will suffer from depression at some point in their lifetime. Around 5% of Canadians seek medical advice for depression each year; a figure that has almost doubled in the past decade. Figures in the U.S. are comparable, with approximately 18.8 million American adults (about 9.5% of the population) suffering depression during their life.

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CUPERTINO, Calif., Aug. 24 (UPI) -- California's Apple Computer Co. said Thursday it was recalling 1.1 million battery packs because the lithium-ion batteries may overheat.

Such overheating may pose a fire hazard to consumers, Apple said. Apple has received nine reports of batteries overheating, including two reports of minor burns from handling overheated computers and other reports of minor property damage. No serious injuries were reported.

The recalled batteries, made by Sony Energy Devices Corp., were used in 12-inch iBook G4, 12-inch PowerBook G4 and 15-inch PowerBook G4.

Consumers should remove the battery from the computer to view the model and serial numbers labeled on the bottom of the unit.

Consumers should stop using the recalled batteries immediately and contact Apple to arrange for a replacement battery, free of charge. After removing the recalled battery from their iBook or PowerBook, consumers should plug in the AC adapter to power the computer until a replacement battery arrives.

Viruses that jump the species barrier between monkeys and humans can harm both people and animals, and we should take steps to reduce the risk of virus transmission. That's the message running through the September issue of the American Journal of Primatology, a special issue on disease risk analysis edited by a primate expert at the University of Washington.

The special issue covers a range of topics, including an estimate of the viral transmission risk for visitors to a monkey temple in Indonesia, and a study showing how methods to limit contact between monkeys and humans can reduce the risk of transmission between the species. Other researchers describe how human viruses infecting monkeys and apes can wreak havoc on those animals' populations.

'Viruses are already jumping the species barrier and affecting both people and animals, and there is the potential for much worse,' explained Dr. Lisa Jones-Engel, a research scientist in the Division of International Programs at the UW's Washington National Primate Research Center and guest editor for the journal's special issue. 'It's especially cause for concern in Asia, where people and monkeys have so much interaction, and there has been little research done on this topic.'

Scientists believe that HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, started out as simian immunodeficiency virus (or SIV), and jumped to humans decades ago when African bush meat hunters became infected by the monkeys they were hunting for food. Other viruses, like influenza, have also jumped species barriers with frightening results. In one article, researchers estimate that about six people out of every thousand who visit a monkey temple in Bali, Indonesia, will be infected with simian foamy virus (SFV) from a monkey bite. SFV is a primate retrovirus that so far has not been shown to cause disease in humans. Monkey temples are religious sites that have become gathering spots for populations of wild macaque monkeys fleeing deforested areas.

'This study is basically the first step in quantifying the risk associated with human-to-monkey viral transmission,' said lead author Dr. Gregory Engel, attending physician at Swedish/Providence Hospital in Seattle, and clinical assistant professor of family medicine at the UW. 'We have a lot more work to do in determining the risk of viruses jumping the species barrier in these different settings, but the risk is obviously there.' In addition to bushmeat hunting, people are in close contact with monkeys in many settings in Asia: religious temples, open-air markets, street performances, nature preserves, zoos, and even homes, where monkeys are kept as pets. Each of these settings could provide entry points for monkey viruses like SFV to infect humans, or for human viruses like measles to jump to monkeys. Either population can be at risk from these transmissions: measles can devastate monkey populations, while some monkey viruses can also harm people.

Though SFV and a similar primate virus called SRV are not yet known to cause disease in humans, both are retroviruses, which are typically slow-acting in their host. It could be many years before physicians know the effects of those virus exposures. Other viruses carried by monkeys can cause disease and death in humans.

Visitors to monkey temples shouldn't avoid monkeys at all costs, Engel said, but they should use caution and common sense to keep themselves and the animals safe. People should not feed the monkeys or encourage the animals to climb on them. Such precautions can help reduce the risk of exposure. In the event of a bite or scratch, proper wound care can reduce the likelihood of infection, he said.

'Governments and non-governmental organizations can also take steps to reduce the risk of virus transmission,' said Jones-Engel. 'Better management of monkey populations, disease surveillance of human and primate populations, and improved public sanitation can all cut down on the risk of viral transmission within monkey populations, and between animals and people.'

In the United States, a patient adds their name to a list to receive a replacement organ. Every day, sixteen people die waiting for their replacement organ. This shortage pushes researchers to find alternatives in treating patents in need of new organs. Regenerative medicine, or the creation of replacement cells or organs, may be the wave of the future, but is also hampered by many obstacles. Human stem cell research holds promise to produce fresh cells or even organs one day but remains shrouded in controversy. In answer to this, some physicians propose using cells from aborted fetuses. This procedure also carries controversy and the additional problem of supply.


Is there a regenerative medicine solution without controversy? Most likely not, however, some researchers successfully used cells and tissues from pigs to treat human ailments. Read the following news stories to see how and why our familiar barnyard friend may hold hope for future cures, and find out about some other possibilities.


What is Regenerative Medicine?

In many diseases, injuries or even natural processes, functional tissue is lost. When a person has a heart attack, part of the heart tissue dies. The pancreas of patients with diabetes type I, cannot produce the insulin needed to process dietary sugar. The brains of Parkinson’s disease patients do not produce the dopamine they needed for normal function. In each of these cases, new functioning cells could take over function from the damaged or dead cells.


Pork: Not Just for Breakfast Anymore

For organ transplant to humans, seemingly the most logical match for donor cells and organs would come from non-human primates, like chimpanzees or gorillas. However, their natural populations are often threatened and some people see it as morally unacceptable to use these animals for tissue donor purposes. In addition they are so closely related to humans that a virus may easily jump from the transplanted primate tissue into the human recipient.

Pigs are farmed, so the numbers would not be threatened. Surprisingly, pig physiology is similar enough to human physiology to make them candidates for transplants to humans, although they differ enough to possibly prevent a pig virus adapting to human cells.



First Target: Parkinson’s Disease

Parkinson’s disease afflicts 50,000 Americans each year. The lack of dopamine in the brain causes tremors in the hands, rigid muscles, and slow movement. The cells that produce dopamine stop doing their job.

Some solutions to this problem do exist. Levodopa, a drug now prescribed to replace the lost dopamine, has harsh side effects including nausea and heart problems. And after a few years, the treatment begins to wear off. Worse, even more serious side effects, such as psychological disturbances, can result. The newest treatment called seligiline stops the natural breakdown of dopamine in the brain. So far, this drug seems to delay the onset of Parkinson’s symptoms.


Pig Brain Cells Treat Parkinson’s Disease

Samual Ellias at the Boston University Medical Center conducted the first human trial of pig cells to treat Parkinson’s disease. Dr. Ellias’ study involved twelve patients with advanced Parkinson’s disease. Dr. Ellias’ team surgically transplanted pig embryonic brain cells into the brains of the patients with Parkinson’s disease. The transplants went well and had no serious side effects. However, all of the patients did have to undergo anti-rejection therapies.

After one year, ten of the twelve patients had a significant improvement. Two patients were excluded from the study for unrelated reasons. Three of the patents improved motor function over 34%.


How Many Cells Does It Take?

In order to treat a Parkinson’s disease patient, 48 million fetal pig brain cells must be surgically implanted into the patient’s brain. The brains of 26 pig fetuses are needed to provide this staggering number of brain cells.


What About Other Diseases?

Other research in regenerative medicine focuses on replacing a whole organ, by growing it from stem cells. One day this work may particularly help people who need kidney transplants.


At the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, researchers led by Dr. Marc Hammerman made a leap forward in growing new organs, a procedure called organogenesis. These scientists grew new, functional kidneys from a special type of cells called organ primordia. Organ primordia, can potentially grow into a whole organ, the type of organ from which they originated. In this case, Dr. Hammerman grew kidney organ primordia cells from rats into whole kidneys. His research team then transplanted the newly grown kidneys into adult rats. The research team showed that the kidneys were indeed filtering the blood and producing urine. Even though the rats only lived for seven to eight days, the results demonstrated that the new kidneys were capable of maintaining life.


Alternatives to Regenerative Medicine

Regenerative medicine research started in part due to a donor organ shortage. One obstacle in efficient organ transplant is organ storage. Organs have had only a short shelf life until become unsuitable for transplantation…until now. Organ Recovery Systems, a company based in Chicago, developed a way to deep-freeze organs until they are needed. Previously, doctors couldn’t freeze organs because the ice crystals would damage the tissue. Organ Recovery Systems found a special mixture of cryoprotectants that preserve the tissue during freezing and warming. Now doctors may be able to transport an organ over long distances, or store an organ until it is needed.

A new Sub-Conscious MIRRORING™ method (SCM) allows sales people and others to boldly go where no one has ever gone.

(PRWEB) September 3, 2006 -- SCM is a structured method for using and enabling the detection of priority interests and thoughts in individuals. This cutting-edge type of 'mind-sensitivity' process can be used in supporting developing technology automation, even to the degree of allowing the detection of priority preferences and the orientation of needs the minute a person walks into a room—all without any dialogue or keystrokes.

For example, in a sales or high-risk/high-stress decision-making situation, the sales person and executive decision-maker can obtain an accurate depiction of the final sales and/or priority decision-making outcome within 30 seconds. This depiction includes elements that lead toward a customer’s motivation, individual preference priorities and needs, explained Rida H. Schenck, M.Sc., the developer of SCM and founder of Oracles4Business.

'Clearly, SCM revolutionizes the sales-development process and business relationship information industry,' Schenck said. 'This is the official introduction of a new way of having a sales agent 'know' you and what you want even before you describe yourself. It is also the first trainable process that introduces the concept of data-free intelligence to the information and automation industry.'

Contrary to what some people may assume or suggest at first hearing of it, Schenck said, SCM is not psychic or intuitive dilly-dally. SCM stems from unbiased detection of data-free values that produce thought priorities. Here’s how it works: With SCM, priority activity triggers of the mind (particularly the sub-conscious) are detected and can be apparently 'mirrored' by another party. This then becomes the basis for tracking outcomes related to these active triggers and their thoughts during high-stress/high-risk situations as well as high-interest decisions.

In fact, the process enables the detected details to be converted into useful—even visual and auditory—information into an instant set of insights about the remote individual, whether a new customer or remote business associate. This extremely raw and accurate profiling of priority sub-conscious orientation represents core intermediary bridges of intimate understanding about the priorities in the thoughts of literally a perfect stranger. Brought to customer relationship development environments and sales, this process seems to reflect a process of acquiring intimate knowledge between a customer’s priorities and understandings of a business system and what needs to be driven in order to obtain faster deal turnaround and successful relationships, time and time again, according to Schenck.

'The process does not render conclusions but only a depiction of events that describe the next step, the outcome and a forecast of the direction or physical orientation,' she added. 'It cannot render a prediction of will because will is not an event until a decision is executed about what the person is seeing/feeling/hearing. From experience, this is a powerful process that can be used to reveal a sensitive acute understanding of a person’s thoughts and emotions belonging to that execution and/or the fulfillment or acquisition of further choices and needs by that person. Again, the important feature is that it is a reliable process which does not depend on background data or other sources of information about that person.'

These distinctions take SCM well beyond the limits of mere customer relationship management (CRM). This is because current CRM systems basically do not truly reflect intimate sales knowledge of the customer or their inclinations except through a process of standardized information collection—which is inherently biased, Schenck explained. 'In other words, the customer will only choose what he knows and the sales agent will use what is ultimately really a trial-and-error evaluation of what the customer needs through questioning or giving a list of online options, and other fixed historical information-dependent pathways to the final sale,' she said.

SCM is based on a business engineering development model. However, SCM fills an important gap in forecasting. It enables users to incorporate human sensitivity like never previously imagined in today’s markets, and it removes the limitations of data dependency, which can allow technology used in people management and forecasting to reach into information in areas where data is almost impossible or too costly to collect.

Uses for the SCM methodology include CRM-strategic enhancement, technology automation with mind-sensitive control and data-free intelligence system design and development. Through successful adoption at the commercial level, SCM can also be incorporated into the design of future entertainment devices and appliances that are logically useful when designed to determine thought priorities and automatically respond to their owner’s needs. This innovative way of thinking represents the future of understanding how technology can work with mind–sensitivity to produce intelligent information and event forecasts that are consistent and repeatable, Schenck said.

Oracles4Business, according to Schenck, is the first and only company to provide a consultation mechanism for evaluation of key business relationships using SCM and for acquiring effective customer priority orientation on an intimate level—rather than on past information. Schenck has both a Master and Bachelor of Science Degree from the School of Engineering of the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada. While there, she was one of the first graduate students to develop competitive object-oriented executive engineering and forecasting technologies that actively engaged the latest on-line analytical processing and modeling tools for best management decision-support. Both her software product and research received international exposure and interest from firms and government agencies in North America, South Africa and Australia.

Recently, Schenck started making SCM training and business re-engineering services available in customizable programs, specifically for sale to technology development corporations and private engineering firms. They are provided to such companies with a money-back guarantee for the post-training business implementation stage. For additional information, visit www.subconsciousmirroring.com and www.subconsciousmirroring.com/blog.