ISRAELIS DEVELOP BLOOD TEST FOR CANCER

Eventus Diagnostics, and Israeli life-sciences company, has produced a blood test for early detection of breast cancer, after 8 years of painstaking research.  Breast  cancer is by far the most common cancer in women worldwide, with 1.6MM new cases diagnosed in 2010. 

Called the Octavia Pink test, this first ever blood test to reveal cancer is available now in Israel and Italy and is undergoing clinical trials to receive US Food and Drug Administration approval.  It identifies markers that might indicate cancer or something else.  Its innovations also lie in its examination of antibodies in the blood to pinpoint this specific cancer.

The company released a peer-reviewed study that confirms the diagnostic accuracy of its Octava(TM) blood tests designed for use with screening mammography. The study showed that the Octava(TM) Blue test has excellent sensitivity and good specificity in helping to identify whether or not women who have had an abnormal mammography result actually have breast cancer. The study was conducted by researchers at Eventus Diagnostics and at major cancer centers in the U.S., Italy and Israel.

Galit Yahalom, Head of the 15-member Research Team, is a 43-year old Israeli mother of two who has worked on this project since its inception.  She says, “We know that it recognizes cancer as an external enemy that must be destroyed. It is possible that each of us has had instances of cancer we were unaware of, because our immune systems killed it when it was still very small. For whatever reason, the immune system of people with cancer is not functioning properly.” She also states, “For the last decade, we have known that there is a connection between cancer and the immune system.”

The Octava breast cancer tests are the first in a new class of rapid, accurate and cost-effective immune system-based blood tests that detect the presence or absence of cancer by measuring ratios of autoantibodies produced by the body in response to the presence of tumor-specific antigens.

For more information: http://www.israel21c.org/health/israelis-develop-first-blood-test-for-breast-cancer/

COME AND FIND YOUR NEW BEST FRIEND...

TIPS FOR A SUCCESSFUL MOVE!

·      Plan ahead: Start about 6 weeks before the move with a file and calendar handy.  Keep details for utility turn ons, copy of contract, lease or mortgage, and other important papers.

·      Get organized: Start with boxes and mark on the outsides which room the items will go to.  List furniture and which room they will go to.  Share with movers.

·      Don't crack under pressure: Keep plates in one piece by stacking Styrofoam plates between each one. Protect glasses by putting them inside pairs of clean socks.

·      Vacuum seal out-of-season clothing: Save space, and put into a storage shelf in your new home.

·      Think of the little things: Keep sandwich bags handy to hold small items that must be taken apart, such as screws for a mounted flat-screen television or a bed frame, and tape the bag to the back of the object. Label bags in case they get separated.

·      Sweet dreams: If it's time to replace an item, do so during the move to avoid extra packing. It might be a good time, for example, to replace an older mattress, pillows and sheets.

·      Green thumb: Transport plants delicately by using a plastic bag to keep all of the appendages safe and prevent snapping.

·      Survival kit: Pack an overnight kit to take and use your first day in the new home.  Put in night clothes, a change of clothes for the next day, toiletries and towels.  Include moving staples, such as a box cutter, paper towels, trash bags and power strips.  Be sure to pack pet’s necessities and a few cans or bags of pet food along with their favorite toys.

APPARENTLY I'VE BEEN DOING IT WRONG ALL THESE YEARS...

http://cdnapi.kaltura.com/index.php/extwidget/openGraph/wid/0_u0r71mg5

WHAT IS LOCK BUMPING AND WHY SHOULD YOU KNOW ABOUT IT

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hr23tpWX8lM

FORGETFUL? MAYBE A FREE MEMORY SCREENING WOULD HELP!

FREE MEMORY SCREENING

Friday, June 20^th, 2014

9 am – 3 pm

 

 

Call for an appointment

Or information

561-968-2933

 

JEM RESEARCH INSTITUTE

130 JFK Drive, Suite 203

Atlantis FL 33462

BIG TIME DONATION FROM KRAVISES WILL MOVE CANCER RESEARCH FORWARD

Through the generosity of the Marie-Josee and Henry R. Kravis Foundation, who are contributing $100MM to Memorial Sloan Kettering, the Center for Molecular Oncology will move forward more quickly on its goal to expand gene coverage above the currently 341 known cancer-causing genes  and monitor therapy at the molecular level.   

They want to discover why tumors spread and if the patients were predisposed to cancer, determine what mutations are driving growth of the tumors.  The gift will create a precision oncology center which will bear the names of Henry and Marie-Josee Kravis.  The center states that cancer is a disease of the genome and they need to integrate vast amounts of molecular discoveries and analyze patients’ DNA and tumors to develop tumor-specific treatments.

Six gene-sequencing machines are being installed to analyze tumors.

Mrs. Kravis is Chairperson of the Sloan Kettering Institute, the research arm, and has been on their Boards of Overseers and Managers since October 2000.  Mr. Kravis is a private-equity investor.  Mr. Kravis told the Wall Street Journal, “I like to do things that are transformative and more importantly make a difference.”  

 Kravis gifted the Columbia Business School with $100MM in 2010 to fund a new building that will be completed this year and will bear his name.

FAU'S NEW PHYSICIAN RESIDENCY PROGRAM BRINGS GOOD NEWS FOR OUR LOCAL MEDICAL CENTERS AND FOR FUTURE PATIENTS

With New York having 82 medical residents and Massachusetts having 84 per 100,000/population, Florida is hard at work to catch up, to fill the gap of shortages of residents with our FAU (Florida Atlantic University) playing a big part.  Florida had about 19 physicians in training per 100,000/population and placed 42nd in the United States. About 25% of Florida’s physicians are over age 65.

Three local community hospitals will be benefiting from the new Florida Atlantic University (FAU) physician residency program.  Recently there were 36 medical school graduates, who will be employed at Boca Regional Medical Center, Delray Medical Center and Bethesda West (near Boyton Beach), and these medical centers are becoming academic teaching hospitals.  About half of these grads will be at Boca Raton Regional. The new physicians will be using the FAU Medical Simulation Centers and Boca Raton and West Palm Beach to learn about high risk procedures, and connected to FAU’s Boca Raton campus through conferencing and virtual classrooms. 

While serving hospital patients, two new FAU outpatient clinics are coming to Boca Raton Regional and Bethesda West where these residents will provide primary care and conduct wellness programs in the communities.  Thirty-nine percent have roots in Florida.  They begin working on July 1. FAU’s College of Medicine’s program began in 2011 with 64 students, who will be eligible to be residents after next year’s graduation.  FAU’s goal is within three years to grow to 96 physicians in their new internal medicine residency and to 400 within five years, serving at the three hospitals above and adding St. Mary’s Medical Center in West Palm Beach and the West Boca Medical Center.  The college medical association says that 47% of doctors set up practices where they complete their residency, making friends in the area, establishing roots, working with colleagues, buying a property and finding a partner.  Half the current graduates will be working at Boca Raton Regional.

Dr. David Bjorkman, Dean of the FAU College of Medicine says that FAU is awaiting approval from its accrediting body on a surgical residency and developing programs in emergency medicine, psychiatry, pediatrics and considering other programs.  Dr. Charles Posternack, Chief Medical Officer at Boca Raton Regional, said that “the physician trainees will being patient care to a new level…academic medical centers perform research that benefits patients locally and around the world, and become a magnet to physicians”. 

Boca Raton Regional has been aiming to transition into a teaching hospital for the past seven years and their working together with FAU has brought new and wonderful benefits to our area.

THIRTY SECONDS OVER TOKYO

THIRTY SECONDS OVER TOKYO

When asked to identify the base from which they flew, President Franklin Roosevelt replied, "Shangri-La." Recently, in Fort Walton Beach , Florida , the surviving Doolittle Raiders gathered publicly for the last time.  They were among the most universally admired and revered men in the United States. There were 80 Raiders who, in April of 1942, just four months after the attack on Pearl Harbor, embarked on one of the most courageous and heart-stirring military operations in this nation's history. The mere mention of their unit's name, in those years, would bring tears to the eyes of grateful Americans.   After Japan 's sneak attack on Hawaii , with the United States still licking its wounds, something dramatic was needed to turn the war effort around.  Even though there were no friendly airfields close enough to Japan for the United States to retaliate, a daring plan was devised. Sixteen North American B-25s, twin-engine "Billy Mitchells," were modified so that they could take off from the deck of an aircraft carrier. This had never before been tried -- sending Army Air Corps medium bombers from the deck of a ship at sea. The 16 five-man crews, under the command of then Lt. Col. James Doolittle, (he retired as a brigadier general) who himself flew the lead plane off USS Hornet, knew that they would not be able to return to the carrier. They would have to hit Japan and then hope to make it to China for a safe landing.  On the day of the raid, the Japanese military caught wind of the plan. The Raiders were told that they would have to take off from much farther out in the Pacific Ocean (more than 600 miles) than they had counted on. They were told that because of this they would not have enough fuel to make it to safety. They went anyway.  They bombed Tokyo, then flew as far as they could. Four planes crash-landed in China ; 11 crews bailed out, and three Raiders died. Eight more were captured; three were executed.  Another died of starvation in a Japanese prison camp. One crew made it to Russia.  The Doolittle Raid sent a message from the United States to its enemies, and to the rest of the world: We will fight. And, no matter what it takes, we will win.  Of the 80 Raiders, 62 survived the war. They were celebrated as national heroes, models of bravery. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer produced a motion picture based on the raid. "Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo ," starring Spencer Tracy and Van Johnson, was a patriotic and emotional box-office hit, and the phrase became part of the national lexicon. In the movie-theater previews for the film, MGM proclaimed that it was presenting the story "with supreme pride." Beginning in 1946, the surviving Raiders have held a reunion each April, to commemorate the mission. The reunion is in a different city each year. In 1959, the city of Tucson, Arizona, as a gesture of respect and gratitude, presented the Doolittle Raiders with a set of 80 silver goblets. Each goblet was engraved with the name of a Raider.  Every year, a wooden display case bearing all 80 goblets is transported to the reunion city. Each time a Raider passes away, his goblet is turned upside down in the case at the next reunion, as his old friends bear solemn witness.  Also in the wooden case is a bottle of 1896 Hennessy Very Special cognac. The year is not happenstance: It was Jimmy Doolittle's birth year. There has always been a plan: When there are only two surviving Raiders, they would open the bottle, at last drink from it, and toast their comrades who preceded them in death.  As 2013 began, there were five living Raiders.  Then, in February, Tom Griffin passed away at age 96.  What a man he was. After bailing out of his plane over a mountainous Chinese forest, he became ill with malaria and almost died. When he recovered, he was sent to Europe to fly more combat missions. He was shot down, captured, and spent 22 months in a German prisoner of war camp.  Out of the original 80, only four Raiders remain: Dick Cole (Doolittle's co-pilot on the raid), Robert Hite, Edward Saylor, and David Thatcher. All are in their 90s. They have decided that there are too few of them for the public reunions to continue. The men have decided that after this final public reunion they will wait until a later date -- sometime this year -- to get together once more, informally and in absolute privacy. That is when they will open the bottle of brandy. The years are flowing by too swiftly now; they are not going to wait until there are only two of them. They will fill the four remaining upturned goblets, and raise them in a toast to those who are gone. I received this historic footnote in an email... source unknown... it is worth passing on to my Readership.  MARILYN

SENIOR SERVICES - YOU MAY WANT TO SAVE THIS LIST

www.allianceforaging.org  Find answers about aging and eldercare services. Here is a good place to start

www.caremanager.org Can find you a geriatric care manager who can help find local resources for seniors.

www.nasmm.org  The National Association of Senior Move Managers can handle logistics when a senior wants to downsize – here you can find a Senior Move Manager.

www.naela.org can design a financial plan to take advantage of government assistance and handle estate planning.

www.palmbeachseniorplacement offers FREE service to help seniors find the best match for independent and assisted living facilities, including Alzheimer's/dementia care in Broward, Palm Beach, Martin and St. Lucie Counties.  We take you on tours, refer to resources for VA and Medicaid finnacing and more.  Contact Candy Cohn, 772-486-4914, candy@palmbeachseniorplacement.com

Readership: if you want to add another resource, it will be appreciated if you email marilynfjacobs@gmail.com.

SELLING YOUR HOME? HERE IS SOME FOOD FOR THOUGHT...

MY SON, DAUGHTER-IN-LAW AND I WERE ON OUR WAY TO WATCH MY GRANDDAUGHTER IN A PLAY AT DONNA KLEIN SCHOOL...

I tried to access the school the usual way, from the 95th Street entrance road, but there was a police car blocking the road.  There was construction going on at the entrance, and that appeared to be the reason we had no access.

Like others going to the school, I went around the corner to the other gate off 441 for school access.  There were police cars there and a big traffic jam at the Donna Klein Jewish Academy.

Saw a fellow walking with a cell phone and I yelled to him, while I was stuck in a big traffic jam, "What is happening?"  He yelled back, "School is on lockdown.  Bomb threat."

I managed to make my way close to the gate and park on the access road out of the way.  Stash, my son, saw me and came over.  Nobody knew anything.  This was about 12:30 pm.  The bomb squad had been there and police dogs. Nothing was found.  

Janice, my daughter-in-law, was in a nearby car.  They were letting the preschool children out at their regular time, and the parents were there to pick them up. 

About 2 pm, the Principal, Mrs.Feller, and others came over to be sure we were all calm, said the play Gabby (my granddaughter) was in was cancelled and soon they would let us in to get the children.

And so, we walked in and picked up Gabby and her brother Marty.  Later we were told that a threatening email had been received at the school early that morning, and taking no chances, "better safe than sorry," the lockdown proceeded.

A lot of prayers were said, and everyone did remain outwardly calm.

I hope none of you, my readership, goes through an experience like this.

Marilyn Jacobs, Editor

FISCAL CONDITION OF THE 50 STATES

Note that Florida came in #6, near the 

top of the list for fiscal conditions 

for all 50 states.

BOCA REGIONAL GETS KUDOS

Healthgrades ranks Boca Regional Hospital in top 5% of hospitals for 10th year in a row for clinical performance. 

Out of 4500 hospitals in the United States, only 24 have earned such a consecutive distinction.  The hospital earned six 5-star ratings for

·       treatment of heart attack

·       treatment of heart failure

·       Colorectal Surgeries

·       treatment of GI bleed

·       treatment of Bowel obstruction

·       treatment of Sepsis.

 

Ranked nationally in the top 10% for:

·       Overall Cardiac Services

·       Overall Gastrointestinal Services

·       Overall General Surgery

Healthgrades estimates that if all hospitals performed at the level that Boca Regional does, a Distinguished Hospital for Clinical Excellence, 156,036 lives could potentially have been served.

Boca Regional, an advanced tertiary medical center has 400 beds and more than 800 primary and specialty physicians on staff.  It is noted as a leader in oncology, cardiovascular disease and surgery, minimally invasive surgery, orthopedics, women’s health and emergency medicine and the neurosciences, all of which offer state-of-the-art diagnostic and imaging capabilities. The hospital is a designated Comprehensive Stroke Center, noted by the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA). 

Boca Regional announced an agreement with North Shore-LIJ Health System, the largest integrated healthcare network in NY state, and one of the nation's largest healthcare systems which has 16 member hospitals throughout the NY metropolitan area.  It is the largest private employer in NY with 47,000 in its workforce, a medical school and research enterprise.  The affiliation will focus on clinical care programming.

NOW is the time to buy in Florida

before prices rise again

FLORIDA REAL ESTATE MARKET IS 

IN RECOVERY MODE....

HOW MUCH ARE HOME SALES UP?

Florida Realtors News reports single family 
home sale closings are up 8.6% compared to 
Dec 2012.  National Association of Realtors 
says prices and sales are strongest in 7 years.  

The number of listings is increasing. 
Statewide consecutive gains began 
over two years ago. 

Generally, properties are closing faster with 
median days on market 50 days for 
single family homes and 51 days 
for townhouses and condos.  
Translation: 50% of homes on the Florida 
market sell in less than two months.  

While inventories are rising, cash sales are 
declining and there are fewer 
distressed properties on the market.  
Investor activity is lower.

NEW LUXURY HOMES TOLL BROTHERS COMMUNITY GOING UP ON JOG ROAD, BELOW POLO CLUB AND AZURA: "ROYAL PALM POLO"

South of Polo Club and Azura, we will soon see construction machinery and Toll Brothers crew starting to build a new gated community, Royal Palm Polo.  It is the first new single family luxury homes community to be built in this area in many years.  A model home is pictured above.

The Boca Raton City Council has given Toll Brothers the final approval to build 223 homes on 121.67 acres on the old polo grounds, single families, and a 5000 sq ft clubhouse with a resort-style pool, 6 tennis courts, state-of-the-art fitness center, spa and aqua lot.  Purchase of the land cost $83.5MM.

Description of homes, many with lake views, includes mahogany front doors and big back yards.  Plans are for each lot to be 90’wide and 140’ deep, and home will have 4 to 7 bedrooms and 3 or 5 car garages.  There will be seven home designs to choose from.  Features will include Sub-Zero and Wolf appliances, and optional elevator, 24” tiles in living areas, and there will be hundreds of design and structural options.

The Sales Office will open in spring.

Location is on Jog Road, north of Clint Moore Road. Just south of The Polo Club and Azura, a Toll Brothers property.

Homes will range from 4300 to 8500 sq ft and sell for $1.2MM to $2MM.  Th entrance and exit will be only off Jog Road.  A wall and landscaping will surround the property.

Voluntarily annexing the site which is mostly vacant right now, the city could receive as much as $1.1MM in revenue annually between property taxes, fire and other homeowner fees.   The future land use map was amended to designate the land for residential use, zone the land for single family residential and give tentative plat approval.

With mortgage rates still low, demand for new housing increasing, and improved consumer confidence amidst a shortage of existing homes, this new development appears to be a win/win.  Your editor, Realtor Marilyn Jacobs, can provide you with further information (561-638-9818).

WHERE DOES OUR COUNTY’S PROPERTY TAX MONEY COME FROM

West Palm Beach has the highest 2013 tax bill, 69.7mm with Boca Raton next at $59.1MM), Delray Beach at $47.3MM and Palm Beach Gardens at $47MM.  Palm Beach’s property tax bill of $41MM makes it 5^th highest in the county.

Largest tax bill goes to Florida Power & Light ($76.3MM), the Breakers is one of the top 10 taxpayers with the highest tax bill on the island, and includes properties in West Palm Beach. 

Other high tax payers include Boca Raton Town Center’s trust, Bell South Communications, U.S. Sugar Corp and the owner of the Gardens Mall in Palm Beach Gardens, Comcast, Boca Raton Reosrt & Club, and Wellington Green mall owners.

·       686,556 property tax bills are mailed out by the tax collector

·       Total tax revenue is $3,025 BB.

Tax Collector is Anne Gannon, whose name you know if you pay property taxes.

WHEN YOU DONATE TO A CHARITY DO YOU KNOW WHERE YOUR MONEY GOES?

PAP CORPS: CHAMPIONS FOR

CANCER RESEARCH

PALM BEACH COUNTY SHOPPING HAPPENINGS

If you have headed north from Okeechobee recently, you have seen large cleared areas in the Palm Beach Lakes Boulevard region, right side of I-95. 

A 900,000 sq ft development is under construction at this $200MM project.  The area covers 80-acres.  Palm Beach Outlets in West Palm Beach, scheduled to open on Valentine’s Day, will have more than 100 retail stores, including DKNY Saks Fifth Avenue OFF 5^th and Kenneth Cole Outlet.  These renderings will give you an idea of how nice it will look... and lure you to come and shop here once it opens.

This was the site of the former Palm Beach Mall.  An adjacent retail center whose opening is planned for next fall will include Whole Foods Market and a Nordstrom Rack.  Dining venues will be included. 

The City of West Palm Beach anticipates about $1MM annually in property taxes from this development.  About 1500 full-time and part-time jobs will be created.  Stay tuned at Facebook.com/Palm Beach Outlet.

NEWEST ZOO RESIDENT IS BEAUTIFUL FLORIDA PANTHER, MIRASOL

Next month, after “Mira” is out of quarantine, visitors can see this beautiful jungle cat, who is 12 years old.  Her elderly owner, founder of the South Florida Wildlife Rehabilitation Center in Homestead, has a terminal illness and he contacted state wildlife officials to help him find homes for his animals.

The Palm Beach Zoo and Conservation Society at Dreher Park is excited about their new resident and they say she is very affectionate with humans, and appears to have been well loved and cared for in her last home.  Yet, panthers are known to be solitary animals.  About 80 to 100 panthers remain in Florida, and they are now one of the most rare and endangered mammals in the world.  The Panther National Wildlife Refuges is east of Naples, Florida.  Panthers are at great risk of extinction.

Mira has a few health problems, including curvature of the spine, but otherwise is doing well. General curator Jan Steel says that having Mira, a “pure” Florida panther, is exciting and “It allows us to show the differences between the western cougar or puma and the Florida panther.

Three Malayan tiger brothers, Jaya, Bunga and Penari have left the Palm Beach Zoo for a new home at the Jacksonville Zoo.  Since 1900 the wild tiger population has decreased by more than 95% and there is a Tiger Conservation Campaign among zoos.  The Wildlife without Borders Rhinoceros and Tiger Conservation Fund funded 53 projects in 15 countries for these conservation project,  implemented by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, a federal agency of the Department of the Interior.  Here is more information.  The tiger pictured above is at the Smithsonian Zoo in Washington DC.

The Zoo recently added “and Conservation Society” to its name to stress they provide care for endangered species, which has been part of their agenda for a long time.