Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
European offshore wind companies look to China for expansion
 This article first appeared on the BNEF mobile app and the Bloomberg Terminal.

China’s market to be bigger than the U.K. or Germany by 2022

China could make up a third of the total market by 2030

Global cumulative installation forecast

Source: Bloomberg New Energy Finance. Note: ‘Other’ includes Finland, France, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, U.S., Norway, Portugal, and Sweden.

The global offshore wind market will almost double by 2020, and China will be the fastest-growing region outside core markets in Europe. Installations in China will surpass those in the U.K. and Germany in 2022, according to the latest forecast from Bloomberg New Energy Finance. European offshore wind turbine companies are looking for routes to market or gain a foothold in the region. Dong Energy A/S and Macquarie Group Ltd. currently own stakes in projects in Taiwan. MHI Vestas Offshore Wind A/S is opening a regional office in Japan. They expect these bases to make the leap into China a little easier.

Clients can access the full report here.

BNEF Shorts are research excerpts available only on the BNEF mobile app and the Bloomberg Terminal, highlighting key findings from our reports. If you would like to learn more about our services, please contact us.

Output: European offshore wind turbine companies including MHI Vestas Offshore Wind and Dong Energy are seeking to enter China's rapidly growing offshore market. Dong Energy and Macquarie Group own stakes in projects in Taiwan, which they may use as a base to set up operations off mainland China. Meanwhile, MHI Vestas Offshore Wind is opening an office in Japan and may have similar plans. With the help of the growth of the sector in China, global offshore wind energy production is forecast to nearly double between now and 2020 to 34 GW.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

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Japan's construction boom deflates hotel rates
 TOKYO -- International tourists keep flocking to Japan, but hotel rates are softening thanks to a construction boom and intensifying competition.

Hotel Villa Fontaine Osaka-Shinsaibashi saw its average rate dip several percent on the year for the April-June quarter. The figure was still 60% above the same period six years earlier, right after the catastrophic March 2011 earthquake and tsunami. But business is "entering the doldrums," said Shoji Kumagai, president of Sumitomo Fudosan Villa Fontaine, the hotel's operator.

Output: A boom in construction and growing competition among hotels is causing rates for rooms in Japan to ease. The average rate for a room per night in Osaka for the last quarter was down 3.2% on the year to $140, reported British research firm STR. Meanwhile, the number of guest rooms in Osaka will this year rise to more than 10% higher than 2016's levels, according to CBRE data. Room rates may continue to ease as more hotels open ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

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Regus [4]: Regus to occupy 10,000 sq ft at Cape Town’s Black River Park
 Redefine Properties has announced that it has signed the world’s leading provider of fully serviced, flexible work spaces Regus Business Centres as a tenant at its iconic Black River Park in Cape Town. Starting in July, the company will occupy over 10,000 square feet under a ten-year lease.

The growing demand for short-term and flexible work spaces in South Africa has already seen over 45,000 square feet of Redefine’s prime properties come under Regus’s roof. The Black River Park (BRP) tenancy is Regus’ sixth building with Redefine.

“We are delighted to have Regus as a tenant at Black River Park in Cape Town which is fast re-configuring itself into a diversified business hub with an economy that is outpacing the national growth. We believe this spells opportunity for both Redefine and Regus,” says Grant Elliott, General Manager Coastal at Redefine Properties.

“BRP will allow entrepreneurs to focus on running their companies and not be distracted by the costs associated with maintaining their own office space.”

Traditionally when businesses are first established, entrepreneurs need to have a fixed address. Startups can ill-afford upfront costs of acquiring commercial premises or even renting as costs cannot be contained and easily add up with monthly utility bills and maintenance.

Flexible and temporary office space gives startups a more affordable option when it comes to occupying an office in a sought after location according to Joanne Bushell, Regus Country Manager, South Africa.

“BRP allows us to offer entrepreneurs’ serviced office solutions to conduct their business in the heart of the city, without the expense and risk of long-term leases or upfront capital expenditure.”

BRP is the first office precinct in the country to receive Green Building Council of South Africa (GBCSA) certified Green Star existing building ratings for all of its eight buildings, with a combined 75,000sqm of office space.

“BRP was a natural choice as increasingly sustainability is fast becoming a key differentiator for companies and entrepreneurs alike. Companies are trying to be greener today and want it reflected across their operations,” says Bushell in conclusion.

Output: From July, Regus is to occupy 10,000 sq ft at Cape Town’s Black River Park after signing a 10-year lease deal with Redefine Properties. This is the firm’s sixth building with Redefine, adding to the existing 45,000 sq ft of Redefine’s prime properties already under its roof.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

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#cityofsmiles project shows how humour can transform the mundane
 4 Foods That Are Likely to Suffer From Climate Change

Output: City planner Brent Toderian has been sharing humorous improvements to city street scenes with the hashtag #cityofsmiles, documenting creative reinterpretations of everyday city objects. Examples include telephone boxes being transformed into pop culture images and fun additions to warning or instructional signs.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

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Swedish banks look to chatbots to boost customer service
 For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

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Aida is the perfect employee: always courteous, always learning and, as she says, “always at work, 24/7, 365 days a year.”

Aida, of course, is not a person but a virtual customer-service representative that SEB AB, one of Sweden’s biggest banks, is rolling out. The goal is to give the actual humans more time to engage in more complex tasks.

After blazing a trail in online and digital banking, Sweden’s financial industry is now emerging as a pioneer in the use of artificial intelligence (AI). Besides Aida at SEB, there’s Nova, which is a chatbot Nordea Bank is introducing at its life and pensions unit in Norway. Swedbank is adding to the skills of its virtual assistant, Nina. All three are designed to sound like women, based on research suggesting customers feel more comfortable with female voices.

“There are some frequent, simple tasks that we need to deal with manually today, and in that effort we’re looking into AI to see how we can deploy it and Aida is one,” Johan Torgeby, the chief executive officer of SEB, says.

Chatbots have access to vast amounts of individual client data, meaning they can quickly handle straightforward customer requests. That in turn frees up human employees to deal with more complex services, like coming up with the best mortgage plan to suit a specific customer.

“Basically all banks are closing branches,” Mattias Fras, head of robotics, strategy and innovation at Nordea, says. “This is a way to return to full service again.”

Nordea’s chatbot will eventually help customers who want investment advice, who want to cancel lost credit cards or to open savings accounts.

Swedish banks have already seen their customer satisfaction scores drop to a 20-year low after shutting branches and pushing people onto online services. But AI might be part of the cure. According to a recent study by market researcher GfK, there are wide gaps between what consumers hope to receive from banks in terms of service and financial advice, and what they actually get. AI applications such as chatbots “hold the promise of filling in these service gaps, given the right data and programming”, GfK says.

Business news: In pictures Show all 13 1 / 13 Business news: In pictures Business news: In pictures Flybe collapses Airline Flybe has collapsed. All future flights on the Exeter-based airline have been cancelled – leaving more than 2,300 staff facing an uncertain future, and wrecking the travel plans of hundreds of thousands of passengers. The chief executive, Mark Anderson, said: “Europe’s largest independent regional airline has been unable to overcome significant funding challenges to its business. AFP via Getty Business news: In pictures Future product placement will be 'tailored to individual viewers' Marketing executives say that product placement in films and televison shows on streaming services such as Netflix may be tailored to individuals in future. For instance, if data shows that a viewer is a fan of pepsi, a billboard in the background of a shot would host an advert for pepsi, while for a viewer known to have different tastes it could be for Coca-Cola Paramount Business news: In pictures Corbyn wishes Amazon a happy birthday In a card sent to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos on the company's 25th birthday, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn writes: "You owe the British people millions in taxes that pay for the public services that we all rely on. Please pay your fair share" Business news: In pictures No deal, no tariffs The government has announced that it would slash almost all tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit. Notable exceptions include cars and meat, which will see tariffs in place to protect British farmers Getty Business news: In pictures Fingerprint payment NatWest is trialling a new bank card that will allow people to touch their hand to the card when paying rather than typing in a PIN number. The card will work by recognising the user's fingerprint NatWest/PA Wire Business news: In pictures Mahabis bust High-end slipper retailer Mahabis has gone into administration. 2 Jan 2019 Mahabis Business news: In pictures Costa Cola Coca-Cola has paid £3.9bn for Costa Coffee. A cafe chain is a new venture for the global soft drinks giant PA Business news: In pictures RIP Payday Loans A funeral procession for payday loans was held in London on September 2. The future of pay day lenders is in doubt after Wonga, Britain's biggest, went into administration on August 30 PA Business news: In pictures Musk irks investors and directors Elon Musk has concluded that Tesla will remain public. Investors and company directors were angry at Musk for tweeting unexpectedly that he was considering taking Tesla private and share prices had taken a tumble in the following weeks Getty Business news: In pictures Jaguar warning Iconic British car maker Jaguar Land Rover warned on July 5, 2018 that a "bad" Brexit deal could jeopardise planned investment of more than $100 billion, upping corporate pressure as the government heads into crucial talks AFP/Getty Business news: In pictures Spotif-IPO Spotify traded publically for the first time on the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday. However, the company isn't issuing shares, but rather, shares held by Spotify's private investors will be sold AFP/Getty Business news: In pictures French blue passports The deadline to award a contract to make blue British passports after Brexit has been extended by two weeks following a request by bidder De La Rue. The move comes after anger at the announcement British passports would be produced by Franco-Dutch firm Gemalto when De La Rue’s contract ends in July. The British firm said Gemalto was chosen only because it undercut the competition, but the UK company also admitted that it was not the cheapest choice in the tendering process. Business news: In pictures Beast from the east economic impact The Beast from the East wiped £4m off of Flybe’s revenues due to flight cancellations, airport closures and delays, according to the budget airline’s estimates. Flybe said it cancelled 994 flights in the three months to 31 March, compared to 372 in the same period last year.

Swedbank, which already operates its chatbot Nina in Sweden and plans to roll it out to its Baltic markets as well, says one of the benefits to the technology is that it eases users into the new digital age. AI “can help our customers become more digitised, for example by guiding a client in paying bills on the Internet”, Swedbank spokeswoman Josefine Uppling says.

Petra Stenqvist, a partner at Pond, which looks into innovative business ideas, says it’s unlikely AI will ever be able to think like humans. It “will never be able to replace subjective assessments”, she says. “But it will be able to contribute to better decision making.” And because of the massive amounts of data that AI can store, “individuals will be able to find out things about themselves that they didn’t even know”.

Bloomberg

Output: SEB, Nordea and Swedbank have developed AI-driven chatbots to handle customer requests and free staff time for more complex issues. Chatbots Aida, Nova and Nina respectively, sound like women, as research suggested people feel more comfortable with female voices. Nordea’s chatbot will be used to offer investment advice, help customers open savings accounts and cancel lost cards, said Mattias Fras, Nordea’s head of strategy. Following branch closures, customer satisfaction scores for Swedish banks have hit 20-year lows. A GfK study suggested correctly programmed AI and chatbots could bridge the gap between expected and actual service levels provided by banks.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

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Pandora aims to regain listeners with enjoyable ad experience
 Pandora’s active listeners in Q2 declined 2.7% YoY to 76 million, the company reported on its Monday earnings call. That’s down from 78 million active listeners during the same period last year.

To bolster its user base, Pandora will refocus its marketing efforts on getting users to sign up for its ad-supported tier and upgrading to subscriptions from there, said interim CEO Naveen Chopra. Chopra, formerly Pandora’s CFO, stepped into the position when Pandora co-founder Tim Westergren resigned in June. Sixty-four percent of Premium subscribers have been upsold from the ad-supported tier.

“We’re broadening our audience and increasing direct-response spend to drive new and lost users back to the ecosystem,” Chopra said. “But there’s more we can do to combat loss of users.”

One way Pandora hopes to bring back users is by creating more enjoyable ad experiences. The platform will invest in personalized messaging and more innovative ad formats like sponsored listening, which trade an impression for an hour of unlimited music.

Ad revenue was up 5% year over year to $287 million, a modest yet necessary bump from Q1’s growth of just 1%. Total revenue grew 10% to $377 million.

Pandora was able to grow ad revenue by shifting sales from low- to high-value channels while increasing ad load from roughly three to five spots an hour, Chopra said. RPMs (the streaming equivalent of a CPM) were up 24% year over year to $66, while video and display ad sales grew by 8% and 22%, respectively.

“That occurred during a quarter where we were using more inventory than normal to promote our subscription product,” Chopra said.

That small burst of momentum in Pandora’s ad biz will set it up to launch programmatic video in Q3 and programmatic audio in Q4, Chopra said.

“We’re getting much more of our inventory into programmatic channels over the next few quarters,” he said. “That’s a critical milestone for us. It opens us up to a much better pricing environment, new sources of demand and plays to our strengths in data, measurability and targeting.”

But Pandora must be careful not to increase ad load too heavily or it risks losing even more users.

“We are able to monetize without necessarily just creating more interruption for the user,” Chopra said, referring to video products like sponsored listening.

Even as active users waned, Pandora claimed those sticking with the platform are engaged.

Listeners used Pandora 26 days per quarter on average in Q2, up 10% year over year. That number will continue to rise as listeners are able to access Pandora on more devices, like smart cars and home assistants, Chopra said. Pandora reaches 9.4 million users on connected devices, with voice-activated devices accounting for 1.6 million of those listeners, up 282% year over year.

“We’ve reached an all-time high of hours of engagement per user,” Chopra said. “We’re well poised to capitalize on voice activation and connected autos.”

To boost user numbers, Pandora will introduce new audio content beyond streaming music, like podcasts, and be more aggressive in its own consumer marketing.

Q2 has been busy for Pandora. Earlier on Monday, the company announced it would pull its operations out of New Zealand and Australia, its only international markets.

“I don’t want people to conclude that the decision is a proxy for how we look at international more broadly,” Chopra said.

Output: Digital music streaming service Pandora has seen active listeners in Q2 drop 2.7% year on year to 76 million, according to the company’s latest earnings call. Pandora plans to bolster marketing efforts for its ad-supported tier and encourage users to upgrade to the subscription level from there; 64% of Pandora’s Premium subscribers were upsold using this method. Pandora hopes to improve users’ ad experiences through personalised messaging and sponsored listening, an ad format that exchanges an impression for one hour of uninterrupted music. Ad revenue for the company increased by 5% year on year to $287m up from a 1% rise in Q1.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

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TV networks double amount of sponsored video on Facebook
 Broadcast and cable networks have literally doubled down on the amount of sponsored video content they’ve posted to in the last nine months — and trend is just in its early innings.

The number of branded posts across TV network and show pages on Facebook increased 115% from October 2016 to June 2017, according to an analysis by research firm ListenFirst Media.

In the second quarter, Turner’s Adult Swim topped the list of networks with the highest response on branded content among Facebook users, with an average of 129,000 responses per post for the period — outperforming the average branded post by a staggering 2,187%.

That was largely driven by the teaser for the upcoming season debut of “Rick and Morty,” sponsored by The Real Cost, the FDA’s tobacco prevention campaign aimed at teens. The FDA was the top advertiser by engagement on TV network branded content in Q2, capturing 932,000 total responses on Facebook (likes, shares and comments). So far, the video has been viewed 24 million times since it was posted June 29.

“Rick and Morty” also scored second place with its promo for Ridley Scott’s “Alien: Covenant” (pictured above), which received 376,000 responses on Facebook in the quarter. It’s been viewed 8.9 million times.

Turner’s truTV grabbed the No. 2 network spot on the strength of engagement from the “Impractical Jokers” fanbase (including this spot sponsored by PepsiCo’s Mountain Dew), followed by Fox, driven by “Empire.”

Dan Riess, Turner’s EVP of content partnerships and co-head of Turner Ignite, said a few years ago the company might have simply distributed a marketer’s content on social media “as a favor” — a value-added extension of a TV ad deal. Now, Turner is selling branded content separately for digital.

“We’re using our [intellectual property], our premium creators – they’re social influencers at the biggest level,” he said. “Initially brands went for cheap and easy. Now they’re starting to see the value of great IP and people who can make great content.”

Turner Ignite, launched in early 2016, is focused on branded content services, ad targeting capabilities, and social-optimization tools and distribution. The unit includes Launchpad, a group of 20 social-advertising analysts who track real-time analytics and big data visualizations.

Overall, the average engagement for TV nets’ Facebook branded posts continues to outperform all other content they distribute on the social service: In Q2, sponsored posts outperformed non-branded content by 67%, ListenFirst found. At the same time, branded content remains less than 1% of all posts published by television networks and programs on Facebook.

As TV networks invest more in branded posts “we’ll see the quality of branded content get better, resulting in more engagement from fans and better returns for TV networks and sponsors,” said Jason Klein, co-founder and co-CEO of ListenFirst.

However, according to Turner’s Riess, while “branded stuff absolutely has room to run, we wouldn’t want 40% of what is coming out from Adult Swim to be branded.”

Automotive, led by Toyota USA, was the top advertiser category by number of posts, followed by food/beverage/restaurants, led by Coca-Cola, and Film Entertainment. Government advertising took the No. 1 spot in engagement, with the Real Cost’s partnership with Adult Swim driving the majority of the category’s responses.

Here’s the breakdown of Facebook branded content from TV networks for the second quarter:

Top 5 TV Network or Show Sponsored Posts, Q2 2017

Network/show; sponsor; post responses on branded content on Facebook network/show page

1. Adult Swim’s “Rick and Morty” for FDA’s The Real Cost; 932,435

2. Adult Swim’s “Rick and Morty” for “Alien: Covenant”: 375,580

3. Adult Swim for Carl’s Jr.: 152,356

4. TBS’s “Conan” for “Wonder Woman”: 134,603

5. Adult Swim for Hardee’s: 61,287

Source: ListenFirst Media

Top TV Networks by Volume of Sponsored Facebook Posts, Q2 2017

1. BET: 131

2. Viceland: 87

3. World Fishing Network: 85

4. Freeform: 64

5. Discovery: 55

6. CBS: 50

7. History: 49

8. MTV: 42

9. ABC: 35

Source: ListenFirst Media

TV Networks Ranked by Average Engagement of Branded Posts, Q2 2017

Network/show; average engagement of sponsored posts

1. Adult Swim: 128,818

2. truTV: 26,902

3. Fox: 24,749

4. Food Network: 22,605

5. ABC: 17,342

6. TBS: 16,934

7. Nat Geo Wild: 14,129

8. NBC: 14,047

9. HGTV: 8,045

Source: ListenFirst Media

Output: Broadcast and cable television networks have doubled the amount of video content they promoted on Facebook in the past nine months. Branded posts on Facebook increased 115% between October 2016 and June this year, and growth is set to continue, according to research company ListenFirst Media. Turner’s Adult Swim was the most successful network using the service, with an average of 129,000 responses on each post.


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ExecOnline targets executive learning with $16m funding round
 ExecOnline announced it has secured $16 million in Series B financing. NewSpring Capital, Osage Partners, New Atlantic Ventures, and Kaplan Ventures participated in the funding.

ExecOnline partners with elite business schools to enable executives at the world’s largest companies to master and apply critical insights and practical solutions. The company’s goal is to break the compromise between cost and quality through a dynamic and interactive online learning environment that scales across the enterprise and fosters collaborative skill-building. ExecOnline provides school partners with everything they need to develop successful online executive education programs, including a customizable learning management system, online instructional design, and full sales and marketing capabilities.

In its announcement, ExecOnline said proceeds from the round will be used to extend its market leadership through expanded sales and marketing capabilities and to grow its suite of enterprise-focused online leadership development offerings.

Output: Edtech start-up ExecOnline has successfully raised $16m in series B funding, with input from Osage Partners, NewSpring Capital, Kaplan Ventures and New Atlantic Ventures. ExecOnline works with business schools to offer further education opportunities to executives at leading firms. The company offers an interactive online learning environment to its school partners, giving them the tools to create educational programmes. The funding will be used to extend its market position and implement further sales and marketing efforts.


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UK financial planner Fairey offers range of personal insurance
 A Chartered Financial Planner’s firm is widening the services it provides to clients by moving into insurance broking.

Fairey Associates, established by planner Ed Fairey, in 2008, has already run a three month trial or soft-launch, which he said had been a success.

The firm, which has 17 advisers and recently signalled it was seeking to recruit more Chartered Financial Planners to cope with ‘increasing demands’, said it will provide expert, impartial advice on personal insurance to its clients.

This will be delivered from its head office in Chelmsford.

The latest Financial Planning Today magazine is out and available to read below...https://t.co/BBvoXy7IWj pic.twitter.com/wOeisaeG7P — FP Today Magazine (@FPTodayMagazine) July 17, 2017

Mr Fairey, managing director for Fairey Associates, said: “We have been delighted with the soft launch of our personal insurance service. Our processes are refined, and the rates we get for clients are very competitive. Now we can officially launch to our wider client and contact base.

“Already we are seeing up to 40% reductions in costs for some of our clients who have house building and contents insurance with the major banks. A big area of demand is also from the over 55’s looking into Private Medical Insurance due to concerns over the local strain on the NHS resources.

“Our general insurance service is another piece in the jigsaw to provide our clients with true holistic financial advice.”

Fairey said it can put in place cover from the UK’s leading insurance companies in the following classes of business:

Home Insurance

Motor Insurance

High net worth and listed properties

Prestige and classic cars

Arts and Antiques Insurance

Holiday Home and Overseas Property Insurance

Private Medical Insurance

The company has offices across the South and East of England in Brighton, Chelmsford, Croydon, Guildford, Hatfield, Leatherhead, London, and Norwich.

Output: UK-based chartered financial planner Fairey Associates has moved into insurance broking and is offering personal lines coverage for private medicine, high value property and other categories. The company, which has offices around the south and southeast of England, said its soft launch had enabled it to offer prices up to 40% lower than clients were paying their banks for insurance. Significant demand was coming from the over 55s for private medical insurance, said founder Ed Fairey.


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Founder of online agency Hatched joins easyProperty
 Post navigation

Adam Day, founder of one of the very earliest online agencies, Hatched, has joined easyProperty as head of operations.

The move unites two well-known figures in the industry, Day and easyProperty chief Jon Cooke, both regarded as innovators.

The new appointment comes after EYE earlier this month reported Day’s departure from Hatched, now a Connells Group brand.

Day told EYE that a few days later, after seeing our story, easyProperty CEO Jon Cooke rang him.

“I knew immediately it was one of those calls that I really wanted to take,” said Day.

“I had been planning to take the summer off, but that all changed after the EYE story and Jon’s call.”

In his new job, which officially starts today, Day will be responsible for establishing the new systems and procedures needed to transform easyProperty from a consumer-facing online agent into a business-to-business entity, enabling high street branches to offer an online brand.

easyProperty is licensing its brand and technology to independent estate agents who belong to the Guild of Property Professionals and Fine & Country, both of which are part of GPEA. So far, there have been commitments to buy 270 monthly licences.

easyProperty was acquired by GPEA on July 13, in a deal financed by Toscafund, previous backers of easyProperty when it was led by Robert Ellice.

For the first time, GPEA has formally confirmed that the reverse takeover deal was worth £60m.

Cooke – who was behind both the LSLi venture and Fine & Country – said: “I’ve known Adam for a number of years and, like me, he has worked in a traditional agency so understands the best of both worlds.

“Adam brings his vast experience and knowledge of the online sales and lettings processes to easyProperty which, in conjunction with our licensees, is a real asset to our future growth.

“With Adam now on the team, we are confident of a successful relaunch in early September.”

Day launched Hatched in 2006, the second online agency to emerge in the UK. Connells acquired the business in November 2015, making it the first bricks and mortar property company to buy an online agency. Connells paid £400,000 for the business and potentially up to £1.5m.

Day, who left after running Hatched for 11 years, confirmed there was no gardening leave but has previously revealed that succession plans were put in place a year ago.

He said: “I had a wonderful time with Hatched. It was fantastic, and I don’t think I would have changed anything.

“Connells knew I wanted to move on, and were respectful of that. In any case, I am not the kind of person to sit around for months on end doing nothing.”

Day said that September’s relaunch of the easyProperty brand will be in the “new world”, enabling high street agents to complement their existing offering.

He also revealed that while there will still be an easyProperty presence in its current Docklands offices in London, the main hub will move to Kettering, in Northants.

At the weekend, easyProperty had 132 available sales properties on Rightmove. Many look to have been reduced in price, with the last new property added on July 14.

Here is how we reported Day’s departure from the Connells brand:

https://www.propertyindustryeye.com/hatched-founder-adam-day-says-he-is-taking-a-break-less-than-two-years-after-sale-to-connells/

Output: The founder of one of the first online property agencies, Adam Day, has become head of operations for easyProperty, an online estate agency. Day left Hatched, the company he created, now owned by Connells Group, in July 2017. He will oversee the establishment of new systems and procedures to develop easyProperty into a business-to-business entity that can work alongside high street branches.


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New avian virus discovered in migratory bird species
 © Isaac Simão Neto

Researchers at the University of São Paulo's Biomedical Science Institute (ICB-USP) in Brazil haveThis is such a rare find that it can be considered a stroke of luck, especially because the virus in question is avian paramyxovirus 15, which belongs to the same family as avian paramyxovirus 1, the pathogen that causes Newcastle disease. This disease is not a health hazard for humans but can be lethal to wildfowl and domestic poultry."We perform active monitoring of viruses in migratory birds. I was looking for Newcastle disease virus, a type 1 avian paramyxovirus, and my colleague Jansen de Araújo aimed to detect avian influenza virus for his research project. Finally, we found a co-infection by two viruses, one of which was totally unknown until then," said Luciano Matsumiya Thomazelli, a researcher at ICB-USP's Clinical & Molecular Virology Laboratory.Since 2005, the lab team has been going into the field to perform epidemiological surveillance in different parts of Brazil as part of the Viral Genetic Diversity Network (VGDN), funded by FAPESP and headed by Professor Edison Luiz Durigon.Their goal is to detect the presence of avian influenza virus and Newcastle disease virus, among others, in birds and other wild animals. In addition to monitoring, they aim to assess the risk of new strains arriving in Brazil. The samples collected by the team are stored in freezers at -80 °C and used in scientific research.The new virus was found in a sample taken from a white-rumped sandpiper (Calidris fuscicollis) captured in April 2012 in the Lagoa do Peixe National Park in Rio Grande do Sul State. More research is required to determine how much of a threat the virus represents, but, the current evidence suggests that it is not a risk to humans. "Genetically speaking, it's closer to viruses first described in South America, which leads us to believe it may have originated in this part of the world," Thomazelli said.The researchers followed the standard method for analyzing samples. The result was positive for avian influenza on the basis of real-time PCR, a molecular biology technique that detects DNA or RNA in the sample. When the virus was isolated from embryonated chicken eggs, the result was negative for Newcastle disease virus, but the red blood cell agglutination reaction showed that it was a different virus from the one that the researchers were seeking."We sent the sample to collaborators at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee (USA), who sequenced the complete genome of the large amount found in the sample. To our surprise, the sample contained a co-infection by avian influenza virus and something entirely new. We focused on influenza and found this other virus as well," Thomazelli said.On the basis of these results, the researchers performed biological tests for pathogenicity and data confirmation. Because biosafety was involved, they sent an aliquot of the isolated virus to the Agriculture Ministry's National Laboratory, which also performed biological and serological tests confirming that the virus was a new species and did not pose a threat."This was a relief, especially considering that Brazil is the world's leading exporter of frozen chicken," Thomazelli said. "Any pathogenic avian virus would be a major concern, especially if it affected poultry, but that's not the case."The discovery of new viruses is still a rarity, but it is becoming less infrequent because of next-generation sequencing."The virus we discovered is the 15th type of avian paramyxovirus. Two years ago, there were only ten types. Knowledge in this area has increased significantly as a result," Thomazelli said.

Output: Scientists at the Brazilian University of Sao Paulo's Biomedical Science Institute have stumbled upon a new virus, called avian paramyxovirus 15. The virus was discovered in white-rumped sandpipers, a migratory bird species, and though it is harmless to humans, can be lethal to wildfowl and domestic poultry. Avian paramyxovirus 15 is thought to have originated in South America, and is a part of the same family as avian paramyxovirus 1, known as Newcastle disease. The discovery came after a the complete genome of a sample had been sequenced, revealing a co-infection with the avian influenza virus.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Researcher turns dirty tin foil into biofuel catalyst
 A researcher at Queen's University Belfast has discovered a way to convert dirty aluminium foil into a biofuel catalyst, which could help to solve global waste and energy problems.

In the UK, around 20,000 tonnes of aluminium foil packaging is wasted each year - enough to stretch to the moon and back. Most of this is landfilled or incinerated as it's usually contaminated by grease and oils, which can damage recycling equipment.

However, Ahmed Osman, an Early Career Researcher from Queen's University's School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, has worked with engineers at the university to create an innovative crystallisation method, which obtains 100% pure single crystals of aluminium salts from the contaminated foil. This is the starting material for the preparation of alumina catalyst.

Usually, to produce this type of alumina it would have to come from bauxite ore, which is mined in countries such as West Africa, the West Indies and Australia, causing huge environmental damage.

Osman, who took on the project under the University's Sustainable Energy, Pioneering Research Programme, has created a solution which is much more environmentally-friendly, effective and cheaper than the commercial catalyst which is currently available on the market for the production of dimethyl ether - a biofuel which is regarded as the most promising of the 21st century. Osman says making the catalyst from aluminium foil cost about £120/kg while the commercial alumina catalyst comes in at around £305/kg.

Its unique thermal, chemical and mechanical stability means it can also be used as an absorbent, in electronic device fabrication, as a cutting tool material or as an alternative for surgical material for implants.

The ground-breaking research has been published in Scientific Reports.

Osman commented: "I have always been inspired by Chemistry and I believe that catalysis especially can make the world a better place. One day I took a walk through our laboratories at Queen's and found lots of Aluminium foil waste so I did a little digging and after speaking to my colleagues, I ran my experiment and was astonished by the ultrapure single crystals - I didn't expect it to be 100% pure.

"At Queen's, our scientists and engineers often work hand in hand on common challenging problems for the society. By using our joint expertise, we have been able to tackle the issue of sustainable development and come up with a research solution which lies in an area between chemistry and chemical engineering.

"This breakthrough is significant as not only is the alumina more pure than its commercial counterpart, it could also reduce the amount of aluminium foil going to landfill while also sidestepping the environmental damage associated with mining bauxite."

Osman is hoping to continue his research into how these catalysts can be further improved and explore the opportunities for commercialisation of biofuel production or use the modified alumina catalyst in the catalytic converters in natural gas vehicles.

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Output: Ahmed Osman, an early career researcher from Queen's University Belfast's School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, has discovered a technique by which to convert dirty aluminium foil into a biofuel catalyst. Osman's process obtains 100% pure single crystals of aluminium salts from the foil, which acts as the starting material for the preparation of the alumina catalyst. Alumina usually comes from bauxite ore, which is mined and transported from the West Indies, West Africa and Australia, causing considerable environmental damage.


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L'Oréal to spend more of search budget on Amazon in the UK
 As brands circle Amazon’s advertising business, L’Oréal is eyeing its fast-growing search business in a bid to capitalize on the online retailer’s emergence as the preferred entry for internet shopping.

Thirty-eight percent of all beauty searches start on Amazon, according to Nick Buckley, L’Oréal’s digital director in the U.K. But rather than see the shift in search queries as a way to drive sales, the cosmetics giant wants to turn the online behemoth into a richer source of inspiration, such as identifying customer trends. Consequently, the business is pouring more of its search budget in the U.K. into Amazon.

As a percentage of L’Oréal’s total search budgets in the U.K., Amazon’s share is still in the single digits. But as the volume of searches increases, L’Oréal will “also look to increase in line with this, so anticipate this spend to grow,” said Buckley. For the beauty terms and searches the cosmetics company’s makeup brands are keen on, it is “buying up all the inventory on the platform,” Buckley revealed. He added: “As we start buying keywords in other categories [skin care and luxury goods], this will naturally increase the scale.”

This is because Amazon is increasingly the starting point for many people searching for L’Oréal’s products online. But just because consumers start on the site, it doesn’t mean they ultimately buy from Amazon, said Buckley. Instead, those shoppers often research and compare products on platforms and across other retailers.

“We’re seeing people initially go to Amazon to find out information about a product before then jumping outside of that to YouTube, where they can see how to apply those products,” Buckley said. “Then, they’re moving on to Google to compare that same product with others. [Amazon is] an e-commerce platform, but we believe it’s more than that.”

Part of Amazon’s allure to L’Oréal stems from the voice searches via Amazon’s Alexa voice assistant. The cosmetics business predicts that a fifth of total search will occur vocally in the next 18 months. While no major services are planned, Buckley and his team are watching Alexa as well as the likes of Apple’s Siri closely.

“Alexa is really interesting for us because it’s a huge opportunity that will fundamentally change the whole search environment,” Buckley said. “We’re spending a lot of time at the moment in terms of how we react to that. We haven’t got all the answers yet, but we’re looking into it.”

Commerce will still play a big part in L’Oréal’s upcoming investments on Amazon even if it is now admittedly overindexing on its ads. Like other businesses such as Nike, L’Oréal’s relationship with the sell-side of the business is that of a frenemy, and as such, has made it tread carefully. The company’s trepidation showed on its earnings call last week when CEO Jean-Paul Agon declined to comment on Amazon’s rumored move into cosmetics.

L’Oréal said its e-commerce sales grew 29.5 percent in the first half of the year and now represent 7 percent of total sales. But given that it wants 20 percent of its total revenue to come from e-commerce, working so closely with a retailer that could eventually become a rival is a precarious means to an end.

However, L’Oréal would argue that setting up “shops” on Amazon would balloon its presence and therefore push it to its sales target far quicker than if it had tried to resist selling directly to shoppers on Amazon. The cosmetics business launched an online store for its Men Expert line on Amazon at the turn of the year and plans to launch others in the coming months, building on momentum gained so far in 2017.

Output: L'Oréal will increase its spend on ad inventory from Amazon's advertising business to help it identify customer trends among the 38% of total beauty searches that begin on Amazon, said L'Oréal UK's digital director, Nick Buckley. Although the increase still means less than 10% of L'Oréal's search budget is allocated to Amazon search ads, the cosmetics company will spend more on the platform as the volume of customer searches increases. L'Oréal's e-commerce sales grew 29.5% in the first half of the year and represent 7% of total sales, the company said.


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Taylor Wimpy announces 24% profit fall due to leasehold scandal
 FTSE 100 housebuilder Taylor Wimpey reported a 24% drop in first-half pre-tax profit on Tuesday as it put aside £130m for homebuyers that were affected by a leasehold scandal.

In the half-year period to 2 July, pre-tax profit fell to £205m from £268.8m in the first half of last year as the group recorded a £130m provision as an exceptional item to provide redress to customers who were sold leasehold properties where the ground rent doubles every 10 years.

Revenue rose 18.5% to £1.7bn and the company completed a total of 6,580 homes, excluding joint ventures, up 9.3% on the year before.

Total average selling prices rose 6.3% to £253,000, excluding joint ventures, but were lower than in the second half of last year.

However build costs were seen increasing, up 3-4% over the last year, mainly driven by labour costs, and are expected to continue on this trend for the remainder of the year.

Taylor Wimpey said its target to return £1.3bn in dividends over 2016-18 will be achieved, as it announced a special dividend of £340m, or around 10.4p per share, to be paid in July 2018.

Chief executive Pete Redfern said: "Trading through the first half of 2017 has been very positive, supported by favourable UK housing market fundamentals and good customer confidence. In the central London market in particular, we are pleased to see improved customer confidence following a period of uncertainty.

“Although the wider political backdrop could have an impact on confidence levels and market dynamics, we have seen no material change in trading since the General Election, and our first half performance has been strong.

"Our business is built to maximise performance in all market conditions, benefiting from a robust balance sheet and high-quality landbank. With a strong forward order book and a disciplined strategy to manage the business through the cycle, we remain on track to meet both our full year objectives and medium term strategic goals.”

TWY shares rose 1% to 192.3p on Tuesday by just after midday.

Analyst Laith Khalaf at Hargreaves Lansdown said the cost of tackling the punitive leasehold issue, covering houses sold between 2007 and 2011, loomed large over this set of results, however the trading environment still looks very positive.

"Taylor Wimpey is selling more houses at higher prices, and quite simply that is driving profits and returns to shareholders. To that end the housebuilder has announced a further special dividend coming next year in a show of continued confidence.

Khalaf said that confidence looks justified for the foreseeable future, with Help to Buy still providing significant support for the housing market, and low interest rates are helping to keep mortgages affordable amid high demand for houses - though there are "a few warning signs" for the sector of increasing building costs, house price growth slowing, a weaker economic environment and wavering consumer confidence.

"However these concerns add up to tailwinds abating, rather than disappearing altogether," he said.

Broker Shore Capital said the numbers look a lot better than they might have expected but it was felt likely that there would be a rebalancing of the first and second halves last year moved from a fairly stable 39-40% of full year profit before tax down to 35%.

Although not really explicit in the outlook statement, ShoreCap Robin Hardy said he read it as indicating that "there should be no extrapolation of the growth rate in H1" and that investors should continue to look at previous guidance for the full year, of unit sales up 4-5% rather than the 9.3% seen in the second half.

"We understand that full year EBIT margin guidance will still be for a shade above 21%, versus 20.8% last year."

ShoreCap's recommendation remained hold. "We still believe that there is insufficient recognition of the risks to margins across the volume housing sector as external market headwinds stiffen (no price growth, rising costs, falling mortgage approvals and now rising higher LTV mortgage rates) plus we still see a risk of negative impact from changes in core housing policy that is more likely to favour our providers of housing. We also still a risk of further charges being needed for leasehold issues."

Output: Taylor Wimpey, the FTSE 100 housebuilder, has seen a fall of 24% in H1 pre-tax profit. This comes as it put £130m ($171m) towards homebuyers affected by the leasehold scandal. Pre-tax profits dropped from £268.8m to £205m in the first half of 2016. Builds have become 3-4% more expensive in the past year as a result of labour costs, and are expected to rise further.


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Doctors Say Heart Attacks Decreasing in San Diego
 Doctors said at a local health summit Monday that although heart attack is the lead cause of death in San Diego County and in the nation, the number of heart attacks in the county are dropping significantly.

Experts believe it is due to a collaborative effort of healthcare providers throughout San Diego such as Scripps, Kaiser, and community health clinics. Physicians have agreed to aggressively treat patients, keeping them on a strict medication routine and recommending diet and exercise as well.

Dr. Anthony DeMaria is a cardiologist with the Judith and Jack White Cardiology program at University of California, San Diego, and the chair of the Be There San Diego Health Collaborative, which initiated the program.

"Hospitalizations for heart attacks dropped 20% from 2011-2016 in San Diego County, saving $95 million in hospital healthcare expenditures," said Dr. DeMaria.

DeMaria said many doctors in San Diego have teamed up with health coaches that help to keep patients on track.

"They send them reminders by calling or texting them and ask the patients what is keeping them from getting their medication," explained Dr. Demaria. "Perhaps they don't have transportation to the doctor's office. We set them up with social services that can help them with that barrier."

Risks factors for heart attack include high blood pressure, smoking cigarettes and high blood cholesterol, added Dr. DeMaria.

Output: Doctors said at a local health summit Monday that although heart attack is the lead cause of death in San Diego County and in the nation, the number of heart attacks in the county is dropping significantly.


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Comprehensive, holistic care will keep Medicaid patients healthier
 It is the story of summer 2017 and a nation’s differences are laid bare as Congress struggles to formulate an acceptable law to replace the Affordable Care Act. Are the proposed replacements “mean,” or do they not go far enough? How do leaders reconcile the practical drive to slash the nation’s public health care spending with the repugnant (and politically unattractive) prospect of leaving at least 22 million fewer Americans without health insurance coverage?

How do legislators come to terms with proposed Medicaid cuts that would jeopardize health care for more than 70 million people—among them children, the elderly, people with disabilities and pregnant women—by 2026?

There is no doubt that health care expenditures in the United States need to be curbed; compared with other industrialized nations, we spend the most per capita but deliver inferior care. Medicaid as we know it has been prone to waste and fraud. However, simply cutting the federal health care budget will only worsen the situation for those at the lower rungs of society. These are the men, women and children our government is dutybound to provide for, and to do it well.

Simply cutting the federal health care budget will only worsen the situation for those at the lower rungs of society.

True reform—a goal apparently lost in the partisan bickering—would be to get smarter about exactly how health care dollars are spent, so that costs can decrease even as the quality of care improves.

A revolutionary experiment underway in a handful of states is aiming to do just that. California, Kansas, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oregon and Texas have authorized versions of the Delivery System Reform Incentive Payment program. At its heart is the value-based payment formula, which stipulates that health care providers are compensated based on their patients’ longer-term health outcomes rather than the volume of services provided (that is, transactions such as office visits and tests).

The D.S.R.I.P. model—executed in New York State by 25 performing provider systems (also known as P.P.S.’s)—incentivizes health care providers to keep a close eye on their patients’ progress, monitor adherence to medical directives, assess mental health factors and empower patients to self-manage chronic conditions. The objective is to prevent 25 percent of unnecessary hospitalizations, which, at the end of the program’s five-year mandate, is projected to save New York taxpayers $12 billion.

Imagine such a strategy implemented in all 50 states; the Affordable Care Act’s goal to cut Medicaid spending could be achieved even as the quality of care improves. This is truly the best of both worlds, satisfying both patient advocates and budget hawks.

The objective is to prevent 25 percent of unnecessary hospitalizations, which is projected to save New York taxpayers $12 billion.

The visionary behind D.S.R.I.P. is Jason Helgerson, the Medicaid director of New York’s Department of Health, who passionately argues that we must take into account the social determinants of health as well as a patient’s medical condition. On this score, the United States lags behind other developed nations that recognize the significance of these factors in providing health care to the poorest citizens.

Social determinants include patients’ housing situations as well as their economic, employment and educational status. In many cases, they are also affected by the criminal justice system. These nonclinical issues directly impact physical as well as mental health, and they should be taken into consideration as part comprehensive health care designed to produce lasting results.

Case in point: A recent briefing for P.P.S.’s by the New York State Department of Health on housing issues reported that indigent households often choose to pay rent over buying food; this is a practical decision but one with serious health implications, particularly for young children. Rent and housing instability is shown to put mothers at a 200 percent higher risk of depression. There is also the impact of mold, lead paint and pest infestations. As a recent study by New York University’s Furman Center showed, an increase in “poverty concentration—the extent to which poor New Yorkers are living in neighborhoods with other poor New Yorkers” compounds the impact of a troubled housing situation as a social determinant of health.

In the vision of Helgerson—who likens the D.S.R.I.P. model to a start-up driven by venture capital—the neighborhood-based primary care physician becomes a true community leader who engages local leaders and activists in the areas of housing, employment and education to form community action teams. Their mandate is to make comprehensive resources—both medical and nonmedical—readily available to the poorest Medicaid patients in order to ensure their long-term flourishing.

Comprehensive, holistic care is the solution to keeping Medicaid patients healthier, taking control of chronic illnesses and avoiding expensive emergency room visits and hospitalizations. Such comprehensive care is commensurate with respect for the human dignity of each and every human being. Our nation’s political leaders should commission research into the social determinants of health and refocus their attention on health care reform that provides states with incentives to being truly smart and innovative in how public health care funding is spent. Billions of dollars can be saved while millions of lives are lastingly improved.

Output: It is the story of summer 2017 and a nation’s differences are laid bare as Congress struggles to formulate an acceptable law to replace the Affordable Care Act. Are the proposed replacements “mean,” or do they not go far enough?


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Even Without Congress, Trump Can Still Cut Medicaid Enrollment
 About Innovations Stories that are breaking new ground in the health care system. Have a story suggestion? Let us know.

After the Senate fell short in its effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act, the Trump administration is poised to use its regulatory powers to accomplish what lawmakers could not: shrink Medicaid.

President Donald Trump’s top health officials could engineer lower enrollment in the state-federal health insurance program by approving applications from several GOP-controlled states eager to control fast-rising Medicaid budgets.

Indiana, Arkansas, Kentucky, Arizona and Wisconsin are seeking the administration’s permission to require adult enrollees to work, submit to drug testing and demand that some of their poorest recipients pay monthly premiums or get barred from the program.

Maine plans to apply Tuesday. Other states would likely follow if the first ones get the go-ahead.

Josh Archambault, senior fellow for the conservative Foundation for Government Accountability, said that absent congressional action on a health bill “the administration may be even more proactive in engaging with states on waivers outside of those that are already planning to do so.”

Use Our Content This KHN story can be republished for free ( details ).

The hope, he added, is that fewer individuals will be on the program as states figure out ways “to transition able-bodied enrollees into new jobs, or higher-paying jobs.” States need to shore up the program to be able to keep meeting demands for the “truly needy” such as children and the disabled, he added.

To Medicaid’s staunchest supporters and most vocal critics alike, the waiver requests are a way to rein in the $500 billion program that has undergone unprecedented growth in the past four years and now covers 75 million people.

Waivers have often been granted in the past to broaden coverage and test new ways to deliver Medicaid care, such as through private managed-care organizations. In California, for example, officials have used waivers to provide additional care not typically covered by Medicaid.

The state got a waiver to use federal money to cover the uninsured even before the Affordable Care Act took effect. Another California waiver helped pay for programs to keep HIV/AIDS patients out of hospitals or nursing homes. Still another revamped addiction treatment.

But critics of the new requests, which could be approved within weeks, say the new applications would instead hurt those who are most in need.

The National Health Law Program “is assessing the legality of work requirements and drug testing and all avenues for challenging them, including litigation,” said Jane Perkins, the group’s legal director.

The administration has already said it favors work requirements and in March invited states to suggest new ideas.

Before taking the top job at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Seema Verma was the architect of a Kentucky waiver request submitted last year.

Not all states are expected to seek waivers, because Medicaid enjoys wide political support in many places, particularly in the Northeast and West.

Medicaid, the nation’s largest health insurance program, has seen enrollment soar by 17 million since 2014, when Obamacare gave states more federal funding to expand coverage for adults. It’s typically states’ second-largest expense after education.

This year, Senate and House bills tried to cap federal funding to states for the first time. Since the program began in 1965, federal Medicaid funding to states has been open-ended.

Health experts say allowing the waiver requests goes beyond the executive branch’s authority to change the program without approval from Congress.

“The point of these waivers is not for states to remake the program whole-cloth on a large-scale basis,” said Sara Rosenbaum, a health policy expert at George Washington University who chairs a Medicaid group that advises Congress.

Rosenbaum noted states received waivers for different purposes under the Obama administration.

In Iowa, state officials won the authority to limit non-emergency transportation. Indiana received approval to charge premiums and lock out enrollees with incomes above the federal poverty level if they fell behind on paying premiums.

“Now there is concern these more extreme measures would hurt enrollees’ access to care,” Rosenbaum said.

Three states seeking waivers today are home to key GOP players in the Senate health debate: Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (Kentucky), Sen. John McCain (Arizona) and Vice President Mike Pence (Indiana).

If states add premiums, as well as work and drug-testing requirements, the result would be fewer people enrolling and staying in Medicaid, said David Machledt, senior policy analyst for the National Health Law Program.

“How does that serve the purpose of the Medicaid program, and what are the limits of CMS waiver authority?” he asked.

Wisconsin, where Republican Gov. Scott Walker wants his state to become the first to require some Medicaid enrollees to undergo drug testing, is a prime waiver candidate.

State officials stress the effort is not to deter drug users from the program but to help provide treatment for drug users.

Wisconsin is also one of five states seeking a waiver to add a work requirement. People could meet the mandate through volunteering, job training or caring for an elderly relative.

In addition, Wisconsin wants to limit enrollees’ Medicaid benefits to 48 consecutive months, unless the beneficiary is working.

Enrollees with incomes from 50 percent to 100 percent of the federal poverty level, or between $6,030 and$12,060, would have to pay an $8 monthly premium.

All of these rules would apply to about 12 percent of people currently enrolled in Medicaid — adults who are not disabled and don’t have dependent children.

Wisconsin Medicaid Director Michael Heifetz said the main goal of the proposed changes is not to shrink the size of Medicaid but to get people into the workforce.

“The proposal is not designed to have folks leave the program, except for positive reasons,” he said.

If the waiver is approved, the state anticipates annual savings of nearly $50 million and a drop in enrollment of 5,102 over five years.

Wisconsin now spends $7 billion on Medicaid and has 1.2 million recipients.

Asked why childless adults — not parents — are the focus of the waivers, Heifetz said Wisconsin wanted to test the provisions on a smaller population first and focus on adults who should be able to find work.

But the Wisconsin effort has sparked broad outrage from hospitals, doctors and advocates for people with disabilities.

The Wisconsin Council of Churches said the state would be punishing the poor with its waivers — and undermining the vitality of communities.

“We are concerned the proposed changes to the program will be detrimental for the health of our most vulnerable neighbors … and undermine the social fabric and vitality of our state,” said Peter Bakken, public policy coordinator for the group in Sun Prairie, a suburb of Madison.

Senior California Editor Barbara Feder Ostrov contributed to this report.

This story was produced by Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent program of the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Output: After the Senate fell short in its effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act, the Trump administration is poised to use its regulatory powers to accomplish what lawmakers could not: shrink Medicaid.


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New Senate bill seeks to reduce restrictions on telemedicine use
 While the Senate’s efforts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act imploded last week, that hasn’t stopped lawmakers from introducing bills that would make tweaks to the healthcare system in smaller ways. One such bill, sponsored by Reps. Doris Matsui, (D-California), and Bill Johnson, (R-Ohio), would expand the use of telemedicine to reduce costs.

The bill, the Evidence-Based Telehealth Expansion Act of 2017, was introduced late last week and would give the Health and Human Services secretary the authority to waive Medicare restrictions on the kinds of telemedicine it covers -- as long as the actuary at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services concludes it would indeed save money.

Restrictions that would be lifted include any geographic limitations, as well as limitations on the use of store-and-forward technologies. Store-and-forward technologies are where patient healthcare data and digital images -- such as radiologic images -- are captured, packaged as a case file, and transferred via telecommunication services to a clinician who then responds with a diagnosis and any relevant therapeutic recommendations.

Additionally, the bill seeks to lift limitations on the types of healthcare providers who can offer these sorts of telemedicine services, with the caveat that they be a Medicare-enrolled provider. The bill would also remove limitations on on specific codes designated as telehealth services.

The waivers would come with certain restrictions. In addition to the CMS actuary rubber-stamping the waivers’ net reduction in spending, the HHS secretary would have to determine that the waivers reduce spending without reducing the quality of care; improve care quality without increasing spending; and wouldn’t deny or limit the coverage or provision of benefits for any given individual.

According to Politico, neither Republicans or Democrats see much chance in big telemedicine changes being attached to larger bills, such as the CHIP reauthorization act slated for later this year, but they remain open to opportunities.

Output: While the Senate’s efforts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act imploded last week, that hasn’t stopped lawmakers from introducing bills that would make tweaks to the healthcare system in smaller ways


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Touring senior centers, interacting with residents positively impacts health students
 A new study has found that a community-based service learning experience involving greater interaction with older adults had a positive impact on career development for medical residents (physicians who have graduated from medical school and are starting work at a healthcare facility under supervision). Researchers who designed the program published their findings in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

Eighty third-year Internal Medicine residents at the University of Pennsylvania participated in the study; 71 residents completed follow-up surveys. As part of the program, medical residents engaged in several different activities at residential facilities serving older adults:

Participants toured the building or center, including apartments, and learned about the facility's purpose, operations, and diverse community of older men and women.

Participants attended brief presentations about local community resources available to older adults.

Participants delivered a 45-60 minute presentations on healthcare topics for older adults at the facility. Presentations covered cancer screenings and preventive healthcare for heart disease and strokes, as well as diabetes, arthritis, hypertension, dementia, and depression.

The researchers set specific goals for the medical residents, including:

Increasing their awareness of community resources that support older adults.

Broadening their knowledge of clinical topics in geriatrics.

Improving their communication skills when working with older men and women.

Following their experience, the medical residents filled out a survey. Based on the results, most residents said that the tour was informative, and that they valued the facts they learned about the facility and what it offered. Most of the residents said that the experience increased their ability to communicate effectively with older adults, boosted their knowledge of resources and community living, and expanded their knowledge of health topics important to older people.

Most residents also strongly agreed that the experience contributed to their capacity to care for older adults.

The residents said that the service learning program helped them appreciate older adults' concerns, and increased awareness of the health literacy barriers that many older adults face. What's more, the residents said that the program introduced them to the environment and social context that impacts older adult care.

When asked about the most interesting part of their experience, many residents noted they appreciated the opportunity to interact with older adults outside a hospital setting. They reported benefitting from learning how to communicate health information to older men and women, and learning how older adults understand common conditions and concerns.

Medical residents suggested that these community-based service learning programs could be conducted earlier in healthcare professional training, perhaps during internships before someone graduates from school. Program participants also suggested that service learning could be offered more frequently, and that perhaps several different levels of older adult care could be included.

More information: Rachel K. Miller et al, Effect of a Community-Based Service Learning Experience in Geriatrics on Internal Medicine Residents and Community Participants, Journal of the American Geriatrics Society (2017). DOI: 10.1111/jgs.14968 Journal information: Journal of the American Geriatrics Society

Output: A new study has found that a community-based service learning experience involving greater interaction with older adults had a positive impact on career development for medical residents (physicians who have graduated from medical school and are starting work at a healthcare facility under supervision). Researchers who designed the program published their findings in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.


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Researchers develop technology to make aged cells younger
 Human chromosomes (grey) capped by telomeres (white). Credit: PD-NASA; PD-USGOV-NASA

Aging. We all face it. Nobody's immune and we've long tried to reverse it, stop it or just even slow it down. While advances have been made, true age-reversal at a cellular level remains difficult to achieve. By taking a different approach, however, researchers at Houston Methodist made a surprising discovery leading to the development of technology with the ability to rejuvenate human cells. And that couldn't be more important for the small population of children who are aging too quickly - children with progeria.

John P. Cooke, M.D., Ph.D., department chair of cardiovascular sciences at Houston Methodist Research Institute, and his colleagues, describe their findings in a Research Letter titled "Telomerase mRNA Reverses Senescence in Progeria Cells," appearing online July 31 and in print Aug. 8 in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, a leading medical journal in the field of cardiovascular disease.

Cooke studied cells from children with progeria, a rare condition marked by rapid aging that usually robs them of the chance to live beyond their early teens. They focused on progeria, because the condition tells them a lot about aging in general that's ultimately relevant to all of us.

"These kids are dying of heart attack and stroke at 13, 14, 15 years old," Cooke said. Although current therapies are useful, they only add a year or two, on average, to the child's life. We wanted to do something that would improve the children's quality of life and potentially allow them to live longer, so we set about studying their cells and seeing if we could improve the cell function."

Cooke and his team focused on something called telomeres, which are the timekeepers of cells and very important for the function of our chromosomes. They are found at the tip of each chromosome, like the tip of a shoelace, holding the chromosome together. As we get older, the telomere gets shorter, ticking off the time we have left.

He and his colleagues saw the telomeres were shorter in children with progeria and thought if they could restore the telomere length, then perhaps they could improve the cell function and its ability to divide and respond to stress.

"We all have telomere erosion over time, and many of the things that happen to these children at an accelerated pace occur in all of us," Cooke said. "What we've shown is that when we reverse the process of the telomere shortening in the cells from these children and lengthen them, it can reverse a lot of the problems associated with aging."

To do this, the researchers used a technology called RNA therapeutics. They were able to get the cells to produce a protein, called telomerase, that can extend and lengthen the telomere. They did this by delivering RNA to the cells that encodes this protein. Essentially, they gave the cells the information they needed to extend the telomere via an RNA delivery system and let the cells do the rest.

Having that protein expressed in a cell for just a few days was enough to have a substantial physiologically relevant and meaningful effect on the lifespan and function of the cells. Cooke said it was a surprise to have such an effect with one exposure to the RNA telomerase.

"What was most unexpected about our work was the dramatic effect the telomere-extending technology had on the cells," Cooke said. "We were not expecting to see such a dramatic effect on the ability of the cells to proliferate. They could function and divide more normally, and we gave them extra lifespan, as well as better function."

The research team also compared their approach at the cellular level to the current therapies available, and Cooke said it was night and day.

"We looked at many cellular markers of aging and weren't expecting to see such a dramatic effect on them. Our approach had a much greater effect on all the markers of cellular aging," Cooke said. "We markedly improved the ability of cells to multiply and reversed the production of inflammatory proteins. Those markers of cell aging we looked at were all reversed with the treatment in our study."

Cooke wants to see this approach turned into something useful and says they're going to do it quicker than expected within a few years.

"As a physician, many of the diseases I see are due to aging. It's a major risk factor for heart and vascular diseases," Cooke said. "About a third of the people in this country succumb to strokes and heart attacks. If we can fix that, we'll fix a lot of diseases."

Cooke's work is different from what others are doing in the progeria field, because most everyone else is focusing on the genetic mutation of progeria and the abnormal protein that results from that mutation. Cooke's team chose to focus instead on developing a method to extend the telomere in these children.

"When you see these kids, they're like every other kid. They want to play, they want to dream. They want to grow up and be something great," Cooke said. "But they can't do that. They don't have the chance. That, alone, is reason enough to pursue this approach."

While Cooke says aging is not irreversible, it is something their work can have a beneficial effect on.

"We can at least stall or slow down accelerated aging, and that's what we're working toward," he said. "Our next steps are to start moving this therapy toward clinical use. We plan to do so by improving existing cell therapies. I want to develop a therapy for these children. It's an unmet need."

Output: Aging. We all face it. Nobody's immune and we've long tried to reverse it, stop it or just even slow it down. While advances have been made, true age-reversal at a cellular level remains difficult to achieve. By taking a different approach, however, researchers at Houston Methodist made a surprising discovery leading to the development of technology with the ability to rejuvenate human cells.


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IoT server flaw exposes prison cells, pacemakers and pipelines
 (Image: file photo)

Lucas Lundgren sat at his desk as he watched prison cell doors hundreds of miles away from him opening and closing.

He could see the various commands floating across his screen in unencrypted plain text. "I could even issue commands like, 'all cell blocks open'," he said in a phone call last week. Without being there, he couldn't know for sure if his actions would've had real-world consequences.

"I'd probably only know by reading about it in the newspaper the next day," said Lundgren, a senior security consultant at IOActive, ahead of his Black Hat talk in Las Vegas last week.

It's because those cell doors are controlled by a little-known but popular open-source messaging protocol known as MQTT, which lets low powered, internet-connected (IoT) sensors and smart devices communicate with a central server using little bandwidth -- letting prison guards remotely control the locks on a cell door. The protocol is used everywhere -- by hobbyists at home, but also in industrial systems like gauges and equipment sensors, electronic billboards, and even medical devices.

But all too often, the servers that listen to devices and send commands aren't protected with a username or password, allowing anyone with an internet connection to look into one of the 87,000 unprotected servers, according to Lundgren's port scans.

"It's a scary situation," he said. "Not only can we read the data -- that's bad enough -- but we can also write to the data."

Lundgren has seen heart monitors and insulin pumps that are constantly updating data over the protocol so that a doctor can read it remotely on a web page and make alterations, he said. "If I wanted to be malicious, I could probably change the insulin or something, and see what happens," he said.

Throughout his scans, he found servers from all over the world, running everything from home automation and alarm systems, to nuclear power plants, a particle accelerator -- and even an oil pipeline.

"I can see the pressure flow back and forth," said Lundgren. He wasn't sure of the pipeline's location, but said he could see usernames and passwords to its entire industrial control system.

"If you can push more oil through, you could injure people," he said.

Lundgren also found a server operating in a German train station. He could see when trains run, which track they're on, and when they arrive.

"I don't know what the impact could be if I changed it," he said. "The best case scenario is that the devices just update the boards," said Lundgren -- though, he couldn't be sure if the data aggregated down to the actual tracks.

In the worst-case scenario, an attacker could've manipulated where trains go on each track, potentially causing a crash.

Tesla vehicle leaking its real-time location. (Image: supplied)

Among his finds were sex toys, blood pressure machines, air humidity sensors, and earthquake alert systems, he said.

In one of the slides at his Black Hat talk, he described how a user-modified Tesla vehicle was leaking its real-time geolocation and other vital statistics.

But Lundgren will be the first to launch a defense for the protocol -- laying blame at the hands of its users.

"To blame MQTT isn't fair -- the protocol isn't the problem," he said. "You should always use encryption, and a username and a password on the server," he said. "The majority don't bother." Several significant data breaches and exposures have resulted from leaving servers unprotected, including database servers that've been held to ransom, and Amazon cloud storage units that have been raided, among others.

He said that companies like Amazon, IBM, and Microsoft -- some of the big names with cloud-based MQTT solutions, which he recommends -- force you to set up the servers properly.

"Security is in your hands," he said.

Output: A flaw in an internet of things (IoT) server protocol could expose prison cells, pipelines, earthquake alert systems and pacemakers to infiltration by external forces. The open-source messaging protocol, called MQTT, enables low-power IoT sensors and smart devices to communicate with central servers. MQTT is used extensively by a range of sectors, but exposes unprotected servers to external influences. The flaw was discovered by Lucas Lundgren, senior security consultant at cybersecurity firm IOActive, who encouraged companies to encrypt and password-protect their servers.


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Credit Suisse quant team to break links with traditional markets
 A new systematic trading group will offer Credit Suisse Asset Management clients access to trading strategies that will seek to achieve risk-adjusted returns with relatively low correlation to traditional markets.

The group will be managed by Mika Toikka, formerly the global head of risk and strategy for proprietary trading in Credit Suisse's investment bank.

The firm said that the new group will build on Credit Suisse Asset Management's existing quantitative products, initially managing US$500 million of assets, including Credit Suisse seed capital and assets from some of Credit Suisse's existing quantitative platforms. The group is expected to consist of approximately 20 traders, research analysts and front office personnel offering a set of strategies across multiple asset classes.

“We have started to bring together a team of traders from within [Credit Suisse] Asset Management with a group of hedge fund managers and former proprietary traders to build on Asset Management's quantitative product line to offer our clients access to systematic trading strategies,” said Toikka.

Morgan Stanley announced earlier this year that it was planning to carve out its in-house quantitative trading unit in 2012, in preparation for dealing with the US Volcker Rule, which banned principal trading activity for US bank holding companies.

In September, J.P. Morgan also confirmed plans to transfer its prop trading teams within its equity, emerging markets and structured credit businesses to a new alternative investment management group for clients of J.P. Asset Management.

Output: Credit Suisse Asset Management will launch a systematic trading group to provide trading strategies that achieve risk-adjusted returns with a low correlation to traditional markets. The group will be made up of 20 traders, research analysts and front office personnel, and will at first manage $500m of assets, the firm said. Mika Toikka, the former head of risk and strategy for proprietary trading at Credit Suisse's investment bank, will manage the group. The group will build on quantitative products already used by Credit Suisse Asset Management, the firm added.


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Mobike to launch dockless bike service in west London
 Competition over putting bums on the seats of rental bikes is hotting up in London, with Mobike today announcing an expansion of its dockless service into the capital in September. The company will start by parking 750 bikes around the London Borough of Ealing, primarily in Acton, and will add more as demand grows. This follows the launch of oBike in London, which operates an identical dockless bike rental scheme, just a few weeks ago.

If you're catching up, dockless rental schemes don't require you to pick up and drop off bikes at specific stations. You locate your nearest dormant bike via a mobile app, unlock it with your phone and then lock it back up anywhere it's legal to park a bike when you've completed your journey. This decentralised strategy has proven extremely popular in Asia, particularly in China, and several companies successful in that region have expanded into the UK this year.

There have been teething problems -- Mobike's initial launch in Manchester in June has been tainted by some petty vandalism, for example. What's interesting about Mobike's announcement is the emphasis the company's put on being the first council-backed scheme to come to London, suggesting oBike has, to some extent, taken a less formal approach.

It's important to play nice with local councils and Transport for London, because these bike rental schemes will inevitably feel the long arm of regulation before too long. Ofo was the first of the Asian bike rental giants to come to the UK earlier this year. It had to seriously scale back its Cambridge trial after the council raised concerns the bikes might clutter the city's pavements, and the company hasn't expanded elsewhere since.

So, Obike turned up in Hammersmith. And the bikes have already been served a highway obstruction notice. pic.twitter.com/jtJEFRPRsa — Michael Passingham (@MrPassingham) July 14, 2017

As soon as oBikes began rolling into the capital, some were hit with highway obstruction notices after being deemed a potential pedestrian hazard. In some Chinese cities saturated by tens of thousands of bikes, a lack of places to park them up has manifested in mangled piles of wheels at popular disembarkation spots.

Gaining the approval of one council doesn't solve all of Mobike's potential problems. Bikes can travel to other boroughs, and users have to be trusted to park them legally. With over 11,000 'Boris bikes' already taking up space in the capital, city-wide regulation is bound to end up dictating how many dockless players London is willing to entertain.

Output: Mobike will launch its dockless bike service in Acton, west London in September, the company has announced. Users will be able to locate and unlock one of Mobike's 750 bikes via a mobile app before locking it up anywhere when they have completed their journey. Although Obike launched a similar service in Hammersmith in July, Mobike is the first council-backed scheme to arrive in London, the company said. Mobike's launch in Manchester in June was marred by vandalism and thefts of the bikes.


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Markel to buy loan collateral car insurer State National
 Markel Corp. will acquire Texas-based State National Companies Inc. for $919 million, a deal that the Virginia-based insurer and reinsurer said will help diversify its underwriting and revenue streams.

Both companies’ board of directors voted unanimously to approve the deal, which calls for Markel to pay $21 per share to acquire all outstanding shares of State National common stock. Plans call for closing the acquisition in the 2017 fourth quarter, assuming State National shareholders and state regulators approve the deal.

State National is a specialty property/casualty insurance services provider focused on collateral protection insurance that insures personal automobiles and other vehicles held as collateral for loans made by credit unions. Its Program Services segment provides access to the U.S. property/casualty insurance market in exchange for ceding fees.

According to its website, State National is the largest and longest-standing pure-play U.S. insurance fronting business with approximately $1.4 billion in gross written premium (2016) and more than 60 programs. It employs about 400 people.

Markel is already well on its way to gaining State National shareholders’ approval. About 37 percent of the company’s common stock is already committed to vote in favor of the transaction, thanks to a voting agreement with the Ledbetter family (State National’s founders) and CF SNC Investors LP., Markel and State National noted in their joint deal announcement.

Richard Whitt, Markel’s co-chief executive officer, said that the acquisition is a good fit for both companies.

“State National will help us leverage our InsurTech and digital distribution initiatives, diversifying our underwriting and fee-based portfolios and revenue streams, and add to Markel’s third party capital capabilities,” Whitt said in prepared remarks. “Combining Markel’s financial strength with State National’s unique business model and proven record of success, we are confident that all stakeholders will be will served moving forward.”

Terry Ledbetter, State National’s chairman and CEO, said that his company’s board of directors decided selling the company to Markel was the ideal option “after careful and thorough analysis of a range of opportunities.”

Ledbetter, also in prepared remarks, said that the sale “appropriately recognizes the value of State National’s business model, recent growth and future market opportunities as a leading specialty provider of property and casualty insurance services operating in two niche markets throughout the United States,”

Ledbetter added that the deal “provides our shareholders with an immediate and attractive cash premium for their investment in State National.” He said that Markel also “understands the uniqueness of our business model, and will be a tremendous asset as we, together, build upon our leadership position and specialty insurance service offerings, and continue to implement our strategic plan to deliver enhanced value for our clients.”

Markel, based in Virginia, is a holding company for insurance, reinsurance and global investment operations.

Source: State National/Markel

Related:

Topics Mergers & Acquisitions USA Property Casualty

Output: Virginia-based holding company Markel is set to acquire specialty property/casualty insurance services provider State National Companies for $919m in a deal unanimously approved of by both boards. Set to close by the end of the year, the purchase is aimed at helping Markel diversify its underwriting and revenue streams. State National specialises in collateral protection insurance that covers cars and other vehicles held as collateral for loans made by credit unions. The deal requires regulatory and shareholder approval before going ahead.