Redmond, U.S.A. — Major global brands, including Twentieth Century Fox Television Distribution, Johnson & Johnson Services, Rooms To Go, Bank of America and PCL Constructors, are among the early adopters deploying Windows 8-based apps to address their business needs and engage consumers in new ways.

From offering partners sneak peeks at TV shows and movies, to staying in lockstep with consumers at retail, to helping keep workers safe by preventing construction site incidents, these companies are discovering how Windows 8 apps can improve the way they do business.

“It’s so great to see a number of the world’s most well-known companies choosing Windows 8 to advance their businesses,” said Erwin Visser, senior director of Windows Commercial Marketing at Microsoft. “Windows 8 opens new doors for businesses to improve the way they collaborate and share information, enhance customer experiences, uncover new business opportunities, and much more.”

Twentieth Century Fox Television Distribution

Twentieth Century Fox Television Distribution, a division of Twentieth Century Fox responsible for the global distribution of its library of television series and feature films, has developed a Windows 8 app for its industry-leading customer site, FoxFast.com. FoxFast.com was created to give broadcast partners 24/7 access to screen the vast library of programs, as well as to easily access all the marketing materials needed to create and support launches.

With an increasingly mobile business landscape and the division’s transition to a fully digital distribution model, the studio needed a simple method for broadcasters to securely screen its products and download their marketing assets on-the-go. Creating the Windows 8 app was the next natural evolution for FoxFast.com — a touch-first app that scales to work on a variety of devices — making the site’s offerings accessible anytime, anywhere around the world. Like FoxFast.com, the new app provides customers with an authenticated user experience to securely screen content and manage marketing assets. The FoxFast app is now available in the Windows Store for download.

Johnson & Johnson Services

Johnson & Johnson has developed a new Windows 8 app called the Digital Health Scorecard. Available in the Windows Store, the app provides consumers with a simple way to understand the state of their health and what they can do to lessen their long-term risk for developing chronic diseases such as diabetes, cancer and heart disease. According to the World Health Organization, these common conditions account for three out of every five deaths around the globe. The insight gained from the Digital Health Scorecard can help engage and motivate people to make small changes that can lead to healthier, happier lives.

The Digital Health Scorecard has been designed to be fast and easy to use. The app can and should be reused on a regular basis so that people can understand their progress over time. Johnson & Johnson has led the effort to develop the science behind calculating the score and will update it over time as new data becomes available.

Rooms To Go

Rooms To Go, a furniture retailer, has developed a Windows 8 line-of-business app that provides an intuitive, touch-enabled point-of-sale experience for customers, taking advantage of continuous connectivity. The app consists of a suite of mini-apps that allow the sales associates to stage the sales process and transaction in-store without leaving the customer’s side. Customers can also seamlessly browse the full line of available inventory through the app and conceptualize different room settings. This allows for a cost-effective solution for all sales associates across 175 stores.

Bank of America

Bank of America has developed the Bank of America Mobile Banking app for Windows 8 that gives customers a digital experience that is optimized for the Windows 8 user interface and takes advantage of features such as Live Tiles.

Customers have the convenience and accessibility of checking balances, paying bills, making transfers, locating ATMs and banking centers, making deposits, receiving alerts, and redeeming BankAmeriDeals offers from tablets, laptops and desktops.

PCL Construction

PCL Construction, a construction company based in North America and Australia, relies on technology to enable the business. PCL considered Windows 8 a promising new platform for improving the capabilities available to its employees, with a particular focus on field staff, executives and frequent travelers. The company developed a Windows 8 line-of-business app called the Safety Management Center that allows its field staff to record observations while on the construction site and simultaneously fill out inspection forms remotely — helping employees address potential incidents on the job site before they occur. More importantly, Safety Management Center is helping PCL deliver on its ongoing goal of zero safety incidents.

Read more about Windows 8 enterprise customers developing apps on the Windows for your Business blog. More information about how organizations are turning to Microsoft technology is available on the Microsoft Customer Spotlight newsroom.

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Washington, U.S.A. — Online registration is now open for Keep America Beautiful’s America Recycles Day (ARD), the one day to educate and motivate people about the importance of recycling to our economy and for our environmental well-being.

Recognized annually on November 15, ARD celebrates the benefits of recycling while providing an educational platform that helps raise awareness about the value of reducing, reusing and recycling – every day – all throughout the year.

Online registration is now open at AmericaRecyclesDay.org for local organizers to schedule events in their communities and gain access to valuable resources to plan, promote and host an event. To support event organizers, there are best practices guides for hosting events from plastics bag and film recycling to tailgate recycling, activity ideas, posters (on recycled paper), banners (made from recycled plastic bottles), pencils (made from recycled newspaper), buttons (made from recycled steel), and much more.

Access to these collateral materials and other resources is available to any organization ranging from state and municipal governments to local “green teams” or scouting troops. Many collateral materials are offered “first-come, first served,” so early registrations are highly encouraged. Events can be scheduled any time during the month of November, but should be held as close to November 15 as possible.

Many more opportunities are becoming available and will be announced soon, so stay tuned. Be sure to bookmark AmericaRecyclesDay.org and “Like” their Facebook page (facebook.com/AmericaRecyclesDay) for the latest information.

America’s leading companies are proud to make America Recycles Day, a national initiative of nonprofit Keep America Beautiful, possible. National sponsors to date include: American Chemistry Council, Anheuser-Busch, Glad, Johnson & Johnson, Nestle Waters North America, Owens-Illinois, PepsiCo and Waste Management.

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A version of this story was published in The Washington Post.

As the U.S. Senate Finance Committee launched an investigation Tuesday into makers of narcotic painkillers and groups that champion them, a leading pain advocacy organization said it was dissolving “due to irreparable economic circumstances.”

The American Pain Foundation, which described itself as the nation’s largest organization for pain patients, was the focus of a December investigation by ProPublica in The Washington Post that detailed its close ties to drugmakers.

The group received 90 percent of its $5 million in funding in 2010 from the drug and medical-device industry, ProPublica found, and its guides for patients, journalists and policymakers had played down the risks associated with opioid painkillers while exaggerating the benefits.

It is unclear whether the group’s announcement Tuesday evening — that it would “cease to exist, effective immediately” — was related to letters sent earlier in the day from Sens. Max Baucus, D-Mont., the finance panel chairman, and Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, to the foundation, drug companies and others.

In the letters, the senators cited an “an epidemic of accidental deaths and addiction resulting from the increased sale and use of powerful narcotic painkillers,” including popular brand names like Oxycontin, Vicodin and Opana.

Growing evidence, they wrote, suggests that drug companies “may be responsible, at least in part, for this epidemic by promoting misleading information about the drugs’ safety and effectiveness.”

The American Pain Foundation’s website carried a statement Tuesday night saying its board had voted May 3 to dissolve the organization because it couldn’t stay “operational.” The foundation did not respond to requests for comment Tuesday.

The senators are targeting a who’s who of the pain industry, seeking extensive records and correspondence documenting the links, financial and otherwise, between them and the makers of the top-prescribed narcotic painkillers.

Letters went to three pharmaceutical companies, Purdue Pharma, Endo Pharmaceuticals and Johnson & Johnson, as well as five groups that support pain patients, physicians or research: the American Pain Foundation, American Academy of Pain Medicine, American Pain Society, Wisconsin Pain & Policy Studies Group, and the Center for Practical Bioethics.

The Federation of State Medical Boards, the trade group for agencies that license doctors, received a letter, as did The Joint Commission, an independent nonprofit that accredits hospitals nationwide and made pain management a national priority in 2001.

A report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office in 2003 noted that the commission partnered with Purdue Pharma, the maker of Oxycontin, to distribute pain educational materials nationwide. The committee’s letter to Purdue noted that the company pleaded guilty in 2007 to federal criminal charges that it misled regulators, physicians and consumers about Oxycontin’s risk of addiction.

The senators requested payment information since 1997 to 10 groups and eight people, including two doctors featured in ProPublica’s December report. They asked about any influence the companies had on a 2004 pain guide for physicians that was distributed by the Federation of State Medical Boards; on the American Pain Society’s guidelines; and on the American Pain Foundation’s Military/Veterans Pain Initiative.

In addition to citing ProPublica’s work, the letters also mention the reporting of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and MedPage Today.

Patients in serious pain need access to opioids, the senators wrote, but drugmakers and health-care groups “must distribute accurate information about these drugs in order to prevent improper use and diversion to drug abusers.”

“The problem of opioid abuse is bad and getting worse,” Sen. Grassley said in a statement. “Something has to change.”

“When it comes to these highly addictive painkillers, improper relationships between pharmaceutical companies and the organizations that promote their drugs can put lives at risk,” Baucus said in a prepared statement.

Dr. Andrew Kolodny, chairman of psychiatry at Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., and president of Physicians for Responsible Opioid Prescribing, applauded the investigation.

“These groups, these pain organizations … helped usher in an epidemic that’s killed 100,000 people by promoting aggressive use of opioids,” Kolodny said. “What makes this especially disturbing is that despite overwhelming evidence that their effort created a public health crisis, they’re continuing to minimize the risk of addiction.”

Concerns about the overuse and abuse of painkillers have intensified in recent years. As sales of the powerful drugs have boomed — rising 300 percent since 1999 — so, too, have overdose deaths. Opioids were involved in 14,800 overdose deaths in 2008, more than cocaine and heroin combined, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In 2009, the use and misuse of the drugs were cited in more than 475,000 emergency department visits, nearly doubling the 2004 number, the CDC said.

Pain doctors and patient groups say that while drug overdoses are a legitimate concern, only a small percentage of deaths involves patients who receive them from their doctors. Most deaths involve illicitly obtained drugs, statistics show.

The groups also say that patients’ risk is low if they do not have addictive personalities, and that any restrictions should not punish patients who suffer from serious pain.

In recent weeks, two articles in medical journals have documented different aspects of abuse.

According to a paper published online this week by the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, one of every eight high school seniors surveyed said they had used prescription opioids for nonmedical reasons.

A paper released last month by The Journal of the American Medical Association found that the rate of newborns diagnosed with drug withdrawal jumped threefold from 2000 to 2009. And the rate of mothers using opioids at the time of delivery was five times higher in 2009. (Not all babies born to mothers using the drugs exhibit signs of withdrawal.)

Janssen Pharmaceuticals, a Johnson & Johnson subsidiary that makes the painkiller Nucynta, said in a statement that it “is committed to the responsible prescribing and appropriate use of opioid pain medications” and has supported educational websites about safe use.

The company is reviewing the senators’ letter and “will work with them to fulfill their request for information,” spokesman Mark Wolfe said via email.

Purdue Pharma acknowledged in a statement that it had received the letter, was reviewing it and looked forward to “cooperating with the committee on this matter.”

Endo did not return a request for comment. A spokeswoman for The Joint Commission said the group had just received the senators’ letter and had no comment yet. The Federation of State Medical Boards responded but did not offer immediate comment.

by Charles Ornstein and Tracy Weber, ProPublica, May 8, 2012, 9:57 p.m.

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Nearly one in five African-American babies in Newark is born too soon, and a new community-based program announced aims to help more of these babies be born healthy and full-term.

March of Dimes launched Healthy Babies are Worth the Wait, a program to reduce preterm births in Newark.  Healthy Babies are Worth the Wait is a partnership of the March of Dimes, the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services, the City of Newark Department of Child and Family Well Being, Newark Beth Israel, UMDNJ – The University Hospital and Newark Community Health Centers, conducted in collaboration with Johnson & Johnson.

The primary goal of this partnership in Newark is to reduce the rate of singleton (one baby) preterm birth with particular concern for reducing preterm birth within the African-American community. The March of Dimes has been working with prenatal care providers and community-based organizations to select interventions and develop materials specifically for African-American women.

African-American women are more than one and a half times as likely to have a preterm baby compared to white women; and disparities persist even when age, education and other demographics are considered. According to the National Center for Health Statistics, in 2009, the preterm birth rate in Newark for African-American women was 18.6 percent, while the overall rate for the city was 16.5 percent — both substantially higher than the statewide preterm birth rate of 12 percent.

In Newark the preterm birth rate is more than 66 percent higher among African-Americans babies when compared to non-Hispanic whites. ”Preventing preterm birth saves babies’ lives and opens up a healthy future for them and their families,” said LaVerne Council, chair of the March of Dimes Board of Trustees.

“Healthy Babies are Worth the Wait will offer more New Jersey moms, especially African-American moms who are at greater risk, the best information and services geared especially for them.”

Healthy Babies are Worth the Wait provides education for perinatal providers, pregnant women, and the greater Newark community on the problem of preterm birth, its risk factors and strategies for reducing risk.  Additionally, it provides a supportive structure for implementing bundled evidence-based clinical and public health interventions to reduce preterm birth.

HBWW-Newark works to increase early entry into prenatal care by building strong collaborations among the health department, healthcare providers and community organizations as only 55% of African-American women receive prenatal care within the first trimester.

“Preparing for a new baby should be a time of great excitement,” said Mary O’Dowd, New Jersey Health and Senior Services Commissioner. “Premature birth is the number one obstetrical problem in the U.S. and African-American women in particular, across all socioeconomic groups, are at a much greater risk of delivering their babies too soon.  Healthy Babies are Worth the Wait aims to help prevent preterm births with a model that combines clinical, educational and community efforts to improve overall systems of care.”

“I am proud to be working with the March of Dimes to implement Healthy Babies are Worth the Wait inNewark,” said Newark City Council woman Mildred Crump. “Culturally competent prenatal care and education messages are vital to improving birth outcomes in our city.”

“Johnson & Johnson is committed to improving the health of mothers and babies worldwide.  Healthy Babies are Worth the Wait has proven that community-based programs can reduce pre-term birth rates. We are excited to be a partner in this project which focuses on a particularly vulnerable group of mothers and babies right here in New Jersey,” said Joy Marini, Director, Corporate Contributions, Johnson & Johnson.

The Healthy Babies are Worth the Wait program is an important component of the March of Dimes Prematurity Campaign, a nationwide effort to address the growing problem of premature birth, the leading cause of newborn death and a major cause of serious health problems. Prematurity costs U.S. society 26 billion dollars every year. The March of Dimes also funds research to find the causes of premature birth.

“I thank the March of Dimes for marshaling their considerable reputation and resources to address the critical issue of preterm birth in African-American women,” said New Jersey State Lt. Governor Kim Guadagno. “Like other March of Dimes efforts, I have no doubt this new community-based program will raise awareness and prove tremendously effective.”

In 2007 in Kentucky, Healthy Babies are Worth the Wait began as a demonstration project of the March of Dimes, the Kentucky Department of Health and the Johnson and Johnson Pediatric Institute. Healthy Babies are Worth the Wait is now a signature program of the March of Dimes with 13 sites nationwide in Kentucky, Texas, and New Jersey.

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Nearly one in five African-American babies in Newark is born too soon, and a new community-based program announced today aims to help more of these babies be born healthy and full-term.

The March of Dimes has launched Healthy Babies are Worth the Wait, a program to reduce preterm births in Newark.  Healthy Babies are Worth the Wait is a partnership of the March of Dimes, the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services, the City of Newark Department of Child and Family Well Being, Newark Beth Israel, UMDNJ – The University Hospital and Newark Community Health Centers, conducted in collaboration with Johnson & Johnson.

The primary goal of this partnership in Newark is to reduce the rate of singleton (one baby) preterm birth with particular concern for reducing preterm birth within the African-American community. The March of Dimes has been working with prenatal care providers and community-based organizations to select interventions and develop materials specifically for African-American women.

African-American women are more than one and a half times as likely to have a preterm baby compared to white women; and disparities persist even when age, education and other demographics are considered. According to the National Center for Health Statistics, in 2009, the preterm birth rate in Newark for African-American women was 18.6 percent, while the overall rate for the city was 16.5 percent — both substantially higher than the statewide preterm birth rate of 12 percent.

In Newark the preterm birth rate is more than 66 percent higher among African-Americans babies when compared to non-Hispanic whites. ”Preventing preterm birth saves babies’ lives and opens up a healthy future for them and their families,” said LaVerne Council, chair of the March of Dimes Board of Trustees.

“Healthy Babies are Worth the Wait will offer more New Jersey moms, especially African-American moms who are at greater risk, the best information and services geared especially for them.”

Healthy Babies are Worth the Wait provides education for perinatal providers, pregnant women, and the greater Newark community on the problem of preterm birth, its risk factors and strategies for reducing risk.  Additionally, it provides a supportive structure for implementing bundled evidence-based clinical and public health interventions to reduce preterm birth.

HBWW-Newark works to increase early entry into prenatal care by building strong collaborations among the health department, healthcare providers and community organizations as only 55% of African-American women receive prenatal care within the first trimester.

“Preparing for a new baby should be a time of great excitement,” said Mary O’Dowd, New Jersey Health and Senior Services Commissioner. “Premature birth is the number one obstetrical problem in the U.S. and African-American women in particular, across all socioeconomic groups, are at a much greater risk of delivering their babies too soon.

Healthy Babies are Worth the Wait aims to help prevent preterm births with a model that combines clinical, educational and community efforts to improve overall systems of care.” ”I am proud to be working with the March of Dimes to implement Healthy Babies are Worth the Wait in Newark,” said Newark City Councilwoman Mildred Crump. “Culturally competent prenatal care and education messages are vital to improving birth outcomes in our city.”

“Johnson & Johnson is committed to improving the health of mothers and babies worldwide.  Healthy Babies are Worth the Wait has proven that community-based programs can reduce pre-term birth rates. We are excited to be a partner in this project which focuses on a particularly vulnerable group of mothers and babies right here in New Jersey,” said Joy Marini, Director, Corporate Contributions, Johnson & Johnson.

The article African-American Babies Born Too Soon appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

The jury verdict in the case of State of South Carolina versus Ortho-McNeil-Janssen Pharmaceuticals and Johnson & Johnson, has been upheld and requests for a new trial denied, affirming groundbreaking $327 million in civil penalties against the manufacturers of the drug Risperdal. Circuit Court Judge Roger Couch announced the rulings onDecember 20 through two written orders.

One order denies the defendant’s motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict or, in the alternative, for a new trial; the second order denies the defendant’s motion to alter or amend the judgment and/or for a new trial. John B. White, Jr. and Donald C. Coggins, Jr.of Harrison, White, Smith & Coggins, P.C., a Spartanburg-based law firm, along with John Simmons of the Simmons Law Firm, a Columbia-based law firm, and Bailey Perrin Bailey, a Texas based law firm represented South Carolina in the case.

“We are obviously very pleased with Judge Couch’s decision and his careful consideration of this matter,” stated John B. White, Jr. one of the attorneys representing the state in the case. “The verdict handed down by the jury is just and speaks the truth. The damages awarded further substantiated the level of deception Janssen used in business practices in our state. Once again, we have sent a clear message to drug companies that deceptive business practices will not be tolerated in South Carolina.”

On March 22, 2011 a jury in the Spartanburg Court of Common Pleas found that New Jersey-based Janssen willfully violated the South Carolina Unfair Trade Practices Act by engaging in unfair or deceptive acts or practices in the conduct of any trade or commerce in the “dear doctor” letter of November 10, 2003and the drug label (package insert).

This decision represents the first jury verdict that finds the defendant violated unfair trade practices since the inception of its pharmaceutical product. The “dear doctor” letter, sent to more than 7,000 doctors across South Carolina, and the package insert were found to be misleading about the safety and effectiveness of the antipsychotic drug Risperdal. Risperdal was introduced by Janssen in 1994 and by 2005, generated annual revenues in excess of $3.5 billion.

On June 3, 2011 civil penalties amounting to $327,073,700 were ordered by Circuit Court Judge Roger Couch based upon violations found with the drug labels and “dear doctor” letters. Regarding the drug label violations, the judge ruled that 509,499 package inserts were distributed with sample boxes, and levied$300 per violation for a total drug label awarded damages of $152,849,700.

Regarding the “dear doctor” letter violations, the judge ruled that 7,184 letters were mailed and 36,372 were provided during sales calls, and levied $4000 per violation for a total “dear doctor” letter awarded damages of $174,224,000. The combination of the drug label and letter damages of $327,073,700 amounts to the highest verdict brought against Janssen for the drug Risperdal.

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