Dr M Khalid's global village blog

The last chart also shows the economic condition of a country. The United States spends almost $1,000 per person per year on pharmaceuticals. That’s around 40 percent more than the next highest spender, Canada, and more than twice as much as than countries like France and Germany spend. So why does the U.S. spend so much? Is it because Americans take more medicines or because they pay higher prices? Can Americans afford the drugs they need? And will the Affordable Care Act change anything? Americans use more pharmaceuticals Overall, Americans use more medicines than people in other developed countries. They rank first for their use of antipsychotics as well as drugs for dementia, respiratory problems and rheumatoid arthritis. This is partly explained by medical needs: The burden of disease in the U.S. — as measured in “years of life lost” — is higher than in many OECD countries for the most common forms of heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases, diabetes, and ...

China could be the world's second largest drug market, after the United States, by 2015, according to IMS Health data. Market Size in 2011: $63.9 billion Population: 1.3 billion Industry Makeup: Very diverse with more than 3,000 local manufacturers, major multinationals and traditional medicine. Branded vs. Generic: Generics represented about 64 percent of the market by value, with over-the-counter drugs representing about 26 percent. Distribution: Regional market distribution system utilizing many different distributors. ==== Brazil Market Size in 2011: $22.7 billion Population: 206 million Industry Makeup: Multinationals currently dominate Brazil's pharmaceutical market but the country has a rapidly growing local industry led by EMS, Aché, Eurofarma and Hypermarcas. Branded vs. Generic: Branded generics (70 percent) lead the market, followed by over-the-counter (17 percent) and patented (12 percent). Brazil's generic sector is the largest among Latin ...

Its evident that retailers are pressing companies like Lenovo and Toshiba to give  them products at discounts as they have to compete among themselves to offer a competitive price to sonsumers due to e-retailing sites like flipkart and Snapdeal. Issuing statements like the below one, Companies like Lenovo and Toshiba will only make a mockery of themselves. Online retailing is here and will only grow with time offfering consumers with more and more competitive pricing.  The e retailers are only connecting the authorised retailers with the consumers with all the privilages as those who buy a product from a physical shop. Lenovo warns users Amazon, Flipkart and Snapdeal are not authorised resellers Chinese PC and smartphone maker Lenovo has issued an advisory cautioning consumers when buying its products from e-commerce companies like Snapdeal, Flipkart and Amazon.in, as these are not its authorised resellers. "What we have noticed in the past few mont...

Avoiding the Pampered Child Syndrome- a behavioral disorder (Psychological disorder)  by  Clinical psychologist Dr Maggie Mamen Teachers recognize them in their classrooms; professionals encounter them in their offices; parents live with them in their homes — children who: •  are given everything, but constantly demand more; •  believe that they are entitled to the same rights as adults, but are not ready to accept grownup responsibilities; •  are loved, nurtured and protected, yet are unhappy, anxious or angry; •  are increasingly being diagnosed with emotional, behavioural or other major psychiatric disorders. Use nonverbal behaviour management strategies How many times do we say: “I’ve told her again and again, but she never does anything I ask?” There is a wonderful book by cartoonist Lynn Johnston entitled  If This is a Lecture, How Long Will it Be ? that depicts her teenaged son rolling his eyes and yawning as she is flapping her...

Using the natural language processing technology that underpins  IBM   Watson, Carilion Clinic was able to identify 8,500 patients who are at risk of developing congestive heart failure within one year. The pilot project, which began in October, took only six weeks to wrap up. “We look at this as the tip of the iceberg–the power of predictive modeling and natural language processing,” says Steve Morgan, chief medical information officer at Carilion, which operates eight hospitals in southwest Virginia. Hospitals spent millions implementing electronic health records, and are now under pressure to harness data to improve patient outcomes and lower costs, as reimbursement shifts from fee for service to payment based on performance. Carilion is part of an accountable care organization, where it stands to reap financial rewards by intervening to keep patients out of the hospital.  As a result, the business of predictive analytics in health care has exploded. Hospitals t...

Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve. –Napoleon Hill Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value. –Albert Einstein Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.  –Robert Frost I attribute my success to this: I never gave or took any excuse. –Florence Nightingale You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take. –Wayne Gretzky I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed. –Michael Jordan The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity. –Amelia Earhart Every strike brings me closer to the next home run. –Babe Ruth Definiteness of purpose is the starting point of all achievement. –W. Clement Stone The past is a ghost, the future a dream. All we ever have is now. –Bill Cosby Li...

WhatsApp's Brian Acton and Jan Koum (Photo: Robert Gallagher for Forbes) Jan Koum picked a meaningful spot to sign the $19 billion deal to sell his company WhatsApp to Facebook earlier today. Koum, cofounder Brian Acton and venture capitalist Jim Goetz of Sequoia drove a few blocks from WhatsApp’s discreet headquarters in Mountain View to a disused white building across the  railroad tracks, the former North County Social Services office where Koum, 37, once stood in line to collect food stamps.  That’s where the three of them inked the agreement to sell their messaging phenom –which brought in a miniscule $20 million in revenue last year — to the world’s largest social network. Koum, who Forbes believes owns 45% of WhatsApp and thus is suddenly worth $6.8 billion (net of taxes) — was born and raised in a small village outside of Kiev, Ukraine, the only child of a housewife and a construction manager who built hospitals and schools. His house had no hot w...