Lillian Hensley is still shaky over what was supposed to be a fun cruise with her family on a five-day Carnival cruise to Jamaica.

"It felt like a nightmare," said Hensley.

Hensley's disabled daughter Christine requires nightly dialysis. Hensley said she got clearance from Carnival to bring on board a portable dialysis machine.

Shortly after checking in Saturday, Hensley said she got a call from the ship's staff saying they couldn't find their luggage or the dialysis machine.

"I said, 'My daughter cannot live without the dialysis,'" said Hensley. "They said, 'Well, then, get off the ship. You've got to get off the ship.' I said, 'I'm not leaving without her equipment and her supplies.'"

In a statement, Carnival said there was some question at the time that the dialysis machine made it on board.

"Given that it is imperative that Ms. Hensley have her dialysis equipment in order to sail, it was decided it would be in her best interest that she disembark the vessel," the statement read.

"I said, 'Without everything? You're giving me like a death sentence for my daughter,'" said Hensley.

But she said Carnival staff called security and escorted the family off the ship.

Hensley and her family were stranded in Miami without a ride back to Boynton Beach as the ship set sail with the dialysis machine and their luggage.

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ATLANTA—New findings suggest a need to proceed with caution when deciding whether to use nonsurgical management (NSM) for patients with renal cell carcinoma, according to a report presented at the American Urological Association 2012 annual meeting.

In a study comparing 1,007 patients managed with NSM, 5,935 who underwent partial nephectomy (PN), and 13,721 who underwent radical nephrectomy (RN), investigators led by Maxine Sun, PhD, of the University of Montreal Medical Center, found that NSM was associated with a significantly higher five-year cancer-specific mortality rate compared with those who underwent PN and RN (22% vs. 4.6% and 4.2%, respectively), even after accounting for differences in patient comorbidities and other factors and mortality from other causes.

These findings are not meant to discourage use of NSM, but to highlight a need to weigh careful whether NSM is an appropriate approach, Dr. Sun said.

The study also points to a need to improve patient selection and uniform follow-up strategies, she said. Otherwise, clinicians could wind up following high-grade tumors that are probably better managed surgically.

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SUNNYVALE, Calif. and BELGRADE, Serbia, May 22, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Sorbent Therapeutics, Inc. a biopharmaceutical company developing therapies for cardiovascular and renal diseases, presented positive data from its Phase 2a clinical study of CLP1001. In the study of 111 heart failure patients with chronic kidney disease, CLP1001 demonstrated improvement in heart failure symptoms as compared to placebo.

Data from the randomized, double-blind Phase 2a study were presented in an oral session at the Annual European Society of Cardiology Heart Failure Congress 2012 in Belgrade, Serbia. A manuscript detailing the results of the Phase 2a clinical study, titled "A Double-Blind, Randomized, Parallel, Placebo Controlled Study Examining the Effect of Cross-linked Polyelectrolyte (CLP) in Heart Failure Patients with Chronic Kidney Disease," will be published in the June 2012 issue of the European Journal of Heart Failure.

"Addressing the symptoms of heart failure is critically important to patients' quality of life. The beneficial effects of CLP1001 represent a meaningful improvement in heart failure signs and symptoms in a difficult-to-treat patient population," said Maria Rosa Costanzo, M.D., F.A.C.C., Medical Director of the Edward Center for Advanced Heart Failure in Naperville, Illinois and member of Sorbent's Medical Advisory Board. "I am excited by the data obtained from this trial and look forward to CLP1001's continued clinical development in heart failure."

"Despite available therapies, heart failure is the most common cause of hospitalizations in patients 65 years and older in the U.S. The positive findings from this Phase 2a clinical study of CLP1001 are highly promising with regard to reducing fluid retention and shortness of breath, which are considered critical measures of success in the treatment of heart failure patients," said Howard C. Dittrich, M.D., F.A.C.C., Sorbent's Chief Medical Officer. "CLP1001 could ultimately be used alongside standard medications to improve the physical functionality and overall quality of life of these heart failure patients."

About the Phase 2a StudyThe double-blind, randomized, parallel, placebo-controlled study examined the effect of CLP1001 over eight weeks in 111 heart failure patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD).

CLP1001-treated patients achieved significantly greater weight loss - an accepted measurement of fluid retention - as compared to placebo over the first two weeks of treatment. This trend continued through the end of the study. After eight weeks of treatment, a greater number of patients experienced marked or moderately improved breathing in the CLP1001 group and the average distance walked in the 6-Minute Walk Test was larger in patients receiving CLP1001 versus the placebo population. CLP1001 improved functional heart capacity as assessed by the New York Heart Association (NYHA) classification by at least one class compared to the placebo group (48.8% vs. 17.4%; p=0.002). Similar results favoring the CLP1001 group were seen when examining quality of life.

These data were presented by Dr. Costanzo during the Late-Breaking Trials 2 Special Session at the ESC Heart Failure Congress in a talk titled "A Double-Blind, Randomized, Parallel, Placebo Controlled Study Examining the Effect of Cross-linked Polyelectrolyte (CLP) in Heart Failure Patients with Chronic Kidney Disease - Sorbent CTST-21."

About Heart FailureHeart failure is a progressive condition in which the heart muscle becomes weakened after it is injured, most commonly from heart attack or high blood pressure, and gradually loses its ability to pump enough blood to supply the body's needs. Many people are not aware they have heart failure because the symptoms are often mistaken for signs of getting older. Heart failure affects approximately 5.8 million individuals in the United States annually. Demographic and clinical evidence strongly suggests that the prevalence of heart failure will increase throughout the next decade. Ten to fifteen years ago heart failure was considered a "death sentence"; however, recent advances in treatment have shown that early diagnosis and proper care in early stages of the condition are key to slowing, stopping or in some cases reversing progression, improving quality of life, and extending life expectancy.

About CLP1001CLP1001 is a non-absorbable, super-absorbent cross-linked polyelectrolyte polymer that acts by removing sodium and fluid along the gastrointestinal tract. There is a significant need for agents other than diuretics to treat fluid overload associated with heart failure. Each year there are approximately one million hospitalizations plus re-hospitalizations in the US alone due to fluid overload. A majority of hospital admissions occur in patients already being treated with optimal medical therapy including diuretics. CLP1001 has the potential to provide additional sodium and fluid removal independent of the kidneys, making it an attractive alternative therapy.

About SorbentSorbent Therapeutics is a private biopharmaceutical company developing therapies for patients requiring targeted cation and fluid removal from the body. The company is focused on the development of non-absorbed polymeric drugs to satisfy unmet clinical needs in large cardiovascular and renal markets such as heart failure, end-stage renal disease, chronic kidney disease and hypertension. Sorbent is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California. For more information, visit www.sorbent.com .

SOURCE Sorbent Therapeutics

Copyright (C) 2012 PR Newswire. All rights reserved

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You are here: Home » Trading commentaries » Daily brief: Moneycorp » Financial markets relax after weeks of stress

Publication date: 22 May 2012
Author: Mark Deans, Moneycorp

Britain’s Environment Agency thinks the word “drought” is too blunt. It worries that people might quibble with the accuracy of the expression when they need to be rescued from their houses by boat during a hosepipe ban. The Agency would prefer to become “more sophisticated in the terminology” it uses. Catchy descriptions toted to far are ESRD (environmental stress due to rainfall deficit) and AIIA (antiquated-infrastructure-induced aridity). This sort of circumlocution could be useful to politicians too. “Austerity” is awfully blunt. People would feel much happier with “Jointly-Owned Budgetary Strategies” and “Household Oversight and Management Enhancement Scenarios”.

Even without the uplift of equivocal acronyms, investors are in a much better mood this week than they were during the last two or three. With the prospect of almost four weeks’ respite ahead of them before Greece returns to the polls there is almost a holiday atmosphere in financial markets. Who knows, there may even be a positive outcome from last weekend’s G8 conference. The world’s leaders certainly talked a good book. Is it possible they could actually deliver a solution to prevent Mr Tsipras pushing the button?

Whether or not this now-found relaxation turns out eventually to be misplaced, investors displayed every semblance of enthusiasm for their work on Monday. Oil and UK equities hauled themselves up from six-month lows. Commodity prices steadied. Commodity- and energy-related currencies moved ahead, assisted by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao’s pledge to give “more priority to maintaining growth”. The more mainstream currencies were left on the sidelines; sterling, the euro, the US dollar and the yen scarcely moved relative to one another.

The day was driven almost entirely by improved sentiment, with no hard economic data to help. After a 12.4% increase in March that reversed the previous month’s decline, eurozone construction output was still down on the year by -3.8%. And that was the lot, apart from an easing of New Zealand inflation expectations from 2.5% to 2.4%.

Investors’ bonhomie ought not to be too severely tested today either, at least by the scheduled economic data. Britain is the main provider with BBA mortgage approvals, inflation and public sector net borrowing, all for April. The consumer price index is predicted to be up by 3.1% on the year, a touch lower than the previous month’s 3.5% reading, but after the Bank of England Governor’s warning last week a higher number would not be a complete surprise.

The only figure from continental Europe is Eurostat’s measure of consumer confidence. America’s National Association of Realtors reports on existing home sales for April and the Richmond Federal Reserve publishes its manufacturing index; with a bit of luck it will be less damaging to the dollar than last week’s equivalent from the Philadelphia Fed.

The exchange rate to watch today is GBP/EUR. Two weeks ago it gapped higher following the Greek election. After turning lower last Wednesday the price filled the gap last night. From a technical standpoint it would be bearish for sterling if it were to close lower today. (For the technical nitty-gritty, look up “exhaustion gap” on the internet.)

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