I know I’ve written about this before, but I can’t just pass it over for the pure fact that what a word means in one language doesn’t exactly carry over to another. 

 

Dong-A Pharma Announces Positive Results from ED Study

 

Dong-A PharmTech announced it has completed a 340-patient, Phase IIb clinical study for udenafil, its new long-acting oral phosphodiesterase type 5 (PDE5) inhibitor for treating erectile dysfunction (ED).

 

The multicenter study, conducted in the U.S., was a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study designed to investigate the efficacy and safety of udenafil in patients with ED. Following a four-week non-drug baseline period, 340 men with ED were randomized to one of four treatment groups: placebo, udenafil 50 mg, udenafil 100 mg or udenafil 150 mg. The drug treatment period was 12 weeks with evaluations every four weeks.

 

The primary efficacy endpoints were the change in the International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF) Erectile Function Domain (EF) score from baseline to final visit. The study had several secondary efficacy measurements including changes in scores from the other IIEF domains, changes from baseline in the Patient Self-Assessment Questionnaire and the mean Global Assessment Score.

 

All primary efficacy endpoints were statistically significant compared with placebo. Fifty percent of the patients in the 150-mg group shifted to normal erectile function (EF domain scores of greater than 25) after 12 weeks on the drug, compared with 14 percent in the placebo group. All three active dose levels were well tolerated. The most frequently reported adverse events were nasal congestion, flushing and headache and were mostly mild to moderate in intensity.

 

The company believes that the completion of the Phase IIb trial will allow it to proceed with Phase II clinical trials in the U.S. and Europe.

 

Udenafil was approved by the Korean FDA in November 2005 and launched by Dong-A in Korea under the brand name Zydena.

 

You know, the company could just call the product Dong-A and everyone would know what it was for.  I was unaware that there was an International Index of Erectile Function score for testing the woodiness of woodies.  I’ll have to look that up to see what the measurements are based on.  If the patients have to lift something, then you know it is a true test of something…

Well, I’m back.  A good time was had by all.

 

Looks like Utah is getting a new men’s head basketball coach.  Assistant coach at Michigan State, Jim Boylen, will be tapped as the next coach after Ray Giacoletti was forced to resign after an 11-19 season - the worst in 23 years.  Since athletic director Chris Hill could not get Larry Krystkowiak from the NBA's Milwaukee Bucks due to his promotion to head coach, Hill fell back to option number two.  Why can’t they just fire people anymore?  No, they had to have him “resign”.  Everyone knows the school forced him out, why try to act like it was Ray’s idea to quit?  Just come out and say it, “Ray wasn’t getting the recruits or winning the games we thought he should have and the team was pummeled by BYU twice this year, so we fired him.”  See, isn’t that simple and to the point?

Lets try some bigger pictures so you can actually see:

 

 

 

Oh, where to start.

 

Purdue last to Florida in the tournament the other day.  If they could hit a few free throws they may have been able to pull it out.  That’s okay, I think the program is doing well and Matt Painter should be able to put a pretty good team on the floor next year.

 

I’m heading to Indy tomorrow, so no posts for the rest of the week.

 

The plan is for me to ride in the MS Bike Tour this June 23-24 in northern Utah.  I’ve got to go out and get a road bike now.  I’ve been putting it off for years because the mountain bike has been doing just fine.  But since this is 150 miles over 2 days, I think a bike made for distance is probably in order.  I’ll be sending out an email for more information, but you can learn a little more at my page (MS PAGE).

 

Stupid Utah News:

Two items this week.  First, a man has been told by the Utah Tax Commission that he may no longer have the word “merlot” on his vanity license plate.  He has had it for 10 years.  Someone had to tell the state that merlot was an alcoholic drink.  The man plans to challenge this idiocy, because he says he can’t fit cabernet sauvignon on the plate.

 

Second, SkyWest Airlines apologized to a Utah man barred from a plane's restroom by a flight attendant.  James Whipple says that after repeated asking to empty his beer-filled bladder on a recent flight, he finally found relief with an air sickness bag.  The captain had switched on the fasten-seatbelt light during the hour-long flight because the bathroom was unusable - the light was out.  So, the pilot thinks that keeping everyone in their seats is better than someone knock on the bathroom door to figure out if someone is in there.  Oh, and those doors do have locks on them.  SkyWest stated that the policy is a matter of passenger safety.  "I really had to go.  I kept asking three or four times, 'may I use the bathroom?'  She kept telling me no.  The fourth time I asked, we were in final descent, which was her excuse," Whipple said.  Whipple said there didn't seem to be anything wrong with the bathroom when he used it earlier.

 

"She acted like we were all cattle and she wanted her shift done," Whipple said.  The airplane wasn't full, Whipple said.  Nobody was seated next to him, and the closest passenger was across the aisle in a window seat.  So he unzipped his pants, covered himself and urinated into the bag.  He closed the bag and laid it on the seat beside him. 

 

Oops!  The attendant then telephoned the captain.  When the plane reached the terminal, Whipple was asked to stay on board while the other passengers got off.  A policewoman entered the jet and escorted him to the tarmac, where more than a dozen officers were waiting.  Some of the officers questioned the attendant.  Other police spoke to passengers.  Some said they had seen nothing. One passenger said Whipple wasn't abusive or belligerent.  Whipple was taken to a police station at Salt Lake City International Airport.  He said he asked to take a sobriety test, which showed his blood alcohol content was 0.08 percent, which is considered legally impaired. After two hours, he took a taxi home.  No charges were filed.  By Paul Beebe - The Salt Lake Tribune

 

All I have to say is thank goodness I wasn’t sitting next to the guy.

 

But even with the craziness that is Utah, I like it for a few reasons.  Here’s one – the view from my new office at work:

 

 

 

 

And this isn’t even the clearest of days.

I’ve been busy and haven’t had time to keep up with all the wonderful wackiness that is Utah.  Here is a quick recap:

 

An 18-year-old girl was recovering Friday from injuries she suffered when a bowling ball fell on her head - from a flag pole.  The girl and five other college-age friends were in a private park in the Box Elder County town when friends shaking a flag pole dislodged the ball that struck her.  Marble Park, named after its creator, Boyd Marble, contains antiques such as horse-drawn carriages, and some eclectic artwork, including the flag pole with a bowling ball secured by brackets to look like a crown, Marble's wife, Cheryl, said.  "It's just a freak thing that's too bad," said Randy Marble, Boyd's son.  Boyd Marble stated that "He wants his bowling ball back.”

 

Real Salt Lake has a new investment partner to build its Sandy soccer stadium.  Goldman Sachs is out; another New York investment firm is in.  But the team will not disclose the new partner.  During its financial wrangling with Salt Lake County government for a public-funding package, the backing of Wall Street giant Goldman Sachs was touted as evidence of the team's solid financial plan.  But Goldman became impatient with delays in the deal and withdrew, Sandy Mayor Tom Dolan said Friday.  RSL spokesman Eric Gelfand on Friday said a confidentiality agreement prevents him from sharing the new investor's identity, but that the switch won't impact the stadium's viability.  "They're just stepping into Goldman's position," Gelfand said. "The effects on our business plan are materially equal."

 

Excuse me?  If Goldman Sachs thought the deal was no longer any good, why should the city.  This whole thing stinks worse than a fish market in August.

 

And there is a large peace rally happening in D.C. this weekend, or at least there is supposed to be.  The pouring rain will probably keep at least half the expected crowd away.  Why write about this here?  Well, Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson is there to give a speech calling for the impeachment of the president.  "Now is the time for all good patriotic Americans to call for Congress to finally step up and do the right thing: impeach this president," Anderson said from the podium overrun with 13 microphones all aimed at his head. "Send him over for trial before the United States Senate. And remove this president and the vice president of the United States from office."  The mayor also went on to accuse the media of not seeking the truth.  The mayor seems to have a lot of time on his hands since he doesn’t really do much in Salt Lake these days.  When he isn’t off at global warming summits or anti-war rallies, he’s trying to get on national radio shows like Sean Hannity.  The two were supposed to have an on-air debate a few weeks ago, but supposedly Fox affiliates, along with KSL News Radio, want have exclusive broadcast rights, as Hannity's team prefers and Anderson rejects.

 

Things like this make me glad there isn’t going to be a Rocky 3 – as in he isn’t running for a third term as mayor.  If he wants to do all this stuff, that’s fine.  He should do it when he isn’t mayor because right now he isn’t doing squat in city hall and the city council pretty much runs things.  He should worry about doing his job until it is done, and his job isn’t hopping all over the world when I’m paying his salary to be here.

 

And lastly, Purdue beat Arizona with some scrappy defense and sound ball handling (except for a 3 minute stretch in the second half) to move to the next round of the NCAA Tournament.  Congrats!  Now you get to play Florida - good luck with that.

 

Happy St. Drinking Day

So Purdue made it into the NCAA tournament – and I’m happy I was wrong.  But then again, 6 teams from the Big 11 made it in, which makes me wonder about the committee picking teams.  A team like Akron doesn’t make it in yet 7 teams from the ACC make it in.  Most years the ACC is pretty tough, but not this year. 

 

Dan Wetzel  has a great article about the tournament.  I typically like reading his stuff, even if he is just a writer for Yahoo.  He doesn’t focus on one sport too much so he comes across as fairly objective about must subjects.  Well, as objective as one can be about sports.  His opinion does make it in there quite a bit.  He points out how Akron got screwed.  Evidently, RPI doesn’t count for much when the selection committee makes their picks.  Why have it in the first place?  On a brighter side, if Purdue hadn’t made the NCAA tournament, they would have been a lock for the NIT.  Why?  Because Gene Keady and his comb-over sits on the selection committee for the NIT tournament.  Don’t get me wrong, I like Mean Gene.  I always thought they should make Purdue Pete, the school’s mascot, look more like Gene and his scowl.  But that hair has got to go.  His part is below his ear.  Come on Gene, embrace the baldness!  Oh, and give Akron some love.  (The Zips didn’t make it into the NIT either.  Like I said – screwed)

 

I’m not making any predictions on the tournament other than Florida will not repeat.  Having a national championship at the same school for two major sports in one year is not allowed. 

 

Oh, and I’m getting an office at work.  It has a window with a view.  I’ll get a picture sooner or later.

 

Purdue beat Iowa fairly easily on Friday in the Big 11 tournament, but then lost to Ohio State by 11 yesterday in a low scoring game.  Just like their last meeting, Purdue kept it close for 30 minutes of the game, but unfortunately games are 40 minutes in length (barring overtime).  So, what of it?  Will this be enough to get the Biolers into the NCAA tournament?  I still say they are going to the NIT, but I say that because I’ve been saying that since late December, so I’m sticking with it.  The middle teams in the Big Ten are all pretty much the same, so OSU and Wisconsin are locks followed by IU.  After that it is all up to the selection committee to use all sorts of wonderful logic to pick the teams.  Really, if a team’s record is decent and they finish the season strong, big conference teams can make it in.  Purdue has a great shot at it.  We’ll just have to see. 

 

On an unrelated note, or maybe not, I’ll be heading to Indianapolis in a week, so the weather better be warning up there.  I’m so freaking spoiled here right now. 

I could write something provocative and though invoking here, but all I’ve got is this:

 

 

 

 

Yes, this is the average Utah family.  Correction: this is the average Utah Mormon family.  The funny thing is that I'm not making this up.

 

...but they are crazy.

 

 

 

I've added some additional pictures to the picture page

Sure, it is still winter.  We get snow in winter.  It is the fact that now that winter is winding down we are getting all of our snow.  It has been snowing every other day here lately.  And by that I mean multiple inches of snow each time.  The mountains have been getting anywhere between 6 inches to over a foot each time.  I think some places got close to 3 feet the other day.  But the beautiful thing about snow here in this part of Utah is that it is usually very light and powdery.  It is always impressive watching it fall, especially when we get the massive flakes that sometimes occur.  Sometimes it comes down looking like little styrofoam balls – they call that popcorn snow.  The best part is that more often than not the sun will come out after it snows and the streets clear up fairly quickly because it isn’t that cold out and the pavement heats right up.  We got about 5 inches of snow yesterday morning.  By the time I left work the sun was out and the streets were dry.  Not just clear, but actually dry in most places. 

 

I poke fun of, or complain about, a lot of things in Utah, but the winters are one thing that I really like.  We get snow, we get sun, and it isn’t bone-numbingly cold all the time.  Rarely do the weather people use the term “wind chill”.  With all of this you would think I would ski or snowboard more, but I don’t.  I’m going to go snowshoeing today.  There is at least 10 inches of new snow about a half hour drive from here, and I’m going to find a spot no one else has touched yet.

…because if these types of things weren’t being invented there, they would have to be invented by rednecks and the population as a whole wouldn’t know about them.

 

http://www.duke.edu/~jwc13/beerlauncher.html

 

Thanks to Matt Simko for directing me to this site.