Kiger's Notebook

Mayo Clinic works on new monitoring device

Mayo Clinic is testing a remote health monitor device, or “guardian angel,” it developed with a Swiss company that could snag a piece of a multimillion-dollar market.

STMicroelectronics, which has engineers in Rochester working with doctors, is collaborating with Mayo on a device that monitors a patient’s heart rate, blood pressure, activity levels and breathing. The goal is to create a device that goes home with patients and tracks their conditions.

One clinical study of the device has already been conducted here, and a second study targeting hospitalized heart patients began Thursday, said Kathy Anderson, a Mayo Clinic spokeswoman. The goal is to enroll 10 patients, Anderson said.

Mayo Clinic and ST do not have a financial relationship connected to the project.

“This is what we consider a co-development or collaboration agreement,” Anderson says. “There is no technology license. We hope to take this technology to patients, and ST has been the one to help us create the prototype device.”

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“If there is joint intellectual property between Mayo and ST, there will be a co-patent or license,” says Anderson.

Having even half of such a device could prove profitable. Estimates of the telemedicine or health monitoring market by industry experts range between $3.6 billion to $11 billion.

Berg Insight estimated in a recent report that home monitoring could be an option for 300 million people in Europe and the U.S. The report also estimated that the market could grow by 10 percent a year.

Pill Hill Apartments sell for $775,000

Here a morsel from the Olmsted Property Information and GIS database:

On Oct. 9, 2009, the 1928, two story apartment house at 730 Fifth St. S.W. in Rochester sold for $775,000.

A company by the name of Pill Hill Apartments LLC sold it to Pill Hill LLC.

Pill Hill Apartments LLC bought in 2005 for $650,000.

I may have more detail on this later.

Labor shift - Union moves into new Rochester offices

The labor group that represents 1,200 workers at Mayo Clinic’s Saint Marys Hospital recently took on new digs in southwest Rochester.

In late October, Service Employee International Union Healthcare Minnesota moved out of the space on North Broadway that it has long shared with another labor group, Unite-Here Local 21.

Unite-Here previously represented the healthcare workers in Rochester. When those workers voted to work with SEIU, it created a space crunch for the union, says Ashley Christenson of the St. Paul-based organization.

“We wanted more space and a new location that would better accommodate our needs,” she says.

The group found that location on Second Street Southwest in the Corporate Gardens complex, next to Kwik Trip. Six to seven people work in the office.

The deal was brokered by Darci Fenske of Paramark Real Estate

Mayo Clinic's retiring CEO to partner w/ Smoldt

Here's an interesting tidbit from health reporter Jeff Hansel on what Mayo Clinic's top leader will do after he retire.
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When Mayo Clinic’s departing national president and CEO Dr. Denis Cortese retires Nov. 20, he’ll leave Rochester — but he’ll rekindle an old partnership.

Mayo spokesman Karl Oestreich said Cortese will work in concert with former Mayo national chief administrative officer Bob Smoldt.

Together, they’ll lead the new Healthcare Delivery and Policy Program at Arizona State University.

The program “will focus on health care delivery changes that result in higher value health care, as well as the role of public policy in delivery system reform,” Oestreich said.

He noted that Cortese will stay involved in health-care reform and continue to support the mission of the Mayo Clinic Health Policy Center’s efforts.

Smoldt led the center in 2007 while he transitioned out of his role as Mayo chief administrative officer. But he and Cortese will reprise their roles, this time at Arizona State.

More on Passionate Nails

Tasha Khuth is passionate about nails after working for many years in salons.

After a little time away, she opened a new salon in Rochester Tuesday, and its name reveals her feelings about her career.

With help from her daughter, Salina Long, Khuth chose the name of Passionate Nails for her new business at 1126 Seventh St. N.W. in the Northgate Plaza.

“It is something I love to do,” she says.Her salon offers the full range of nail services. However, she says there are a few specialties that set it apart.

“We specialize in sparkle toes, glitter tips and luxury hot rock spa pedicures and manicures,” Khuth says.She has three on staff in the 1,200-square-foot salon.

IBM Power Systems/i Series/ AS400 users unite

Here's an interesting grass roots group that started in Japan.

iManifest is all about keeping the descendants of the Rochester-built AS/400 server alive and vibrant.

Wonder how we could get such a group started for newspapers? Hhhmmm.... Anyway....

A group is being formed in the U.S. and Rochester-based Dr. Frank Soltis, the father of the AS/400, joined the cause last week.

The goals of the group are:

• • To revitalize the IBM i market and increase the customer base.
• To assure IBM i customers, resellers and ISVs selling IBM i solutions that IBM i will not only survive but continue to prosper.
• To inform the wider IT community of the unique value proposition of the IBM i server.

Here's a little from the announcement of Soltis' joining the cause:

When asked about his new board seat Dr. Soltis replied, “I have been a supporter of iManifest since its beginnings in Japan.

I believe in the objectives that they are working toward. So when the iManifest team in the U.S. invited me to join the board it was a good fit.

I look forward to continuing to work with the iManifest groups worldwide.”  

Fed Reserve banker on investing in early childhood development

Here's some from the piece I wrote following up the talk by Art Rolnick of the Federal reserve bank at a Rochester luncheon Tuesday.

I may have more – additional detail that I did not have space for in print - from this to put up soon.

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What is the best investment businesses and communities can make for the future with the greatest return?

That’s the question that Art Rolnick, a senior vice president and director of research at the Federal Reserve Bank set out to answer before a crowd of about 150 local leaders at a luncheon Tuesday sponsored by the Rochester Area Foundation’s First Steps early children development program.

Bidding or luring companies from other states or nearby cities to bring their jobs and money to your community is absolutely the wrong way to approach economic development, he said. That doesn’t create anything.“The right way to do it is to invest in human capital,” Rolnick said.

And that investment needs to start early, when people are young, from the womb to five years old.

An investment in quality early childhood education from the womb to five years old averages out an annual inflation-adjusted return of 16 percent, he said, pointing out that the only people promising returns like that lately have been involved with Ponzi scams.

“Most of that (16 percent) return is a public return,” Rolnick said.

Rolnick began looking at that issue “through an economic lens.”

What they saw was compelling. Studies show children in at-risk families who receive quality early childhood education to prepare for kindergarten are 50 percent less likely to commit a crime than their peers who did not receive that preparation. It also shows positive effects for the children’s health and for spurring their parents to better themselves with education.

While those benefits are documented through multiple studies, 50 percent of Minnesota children fail a kindergarten readiness assessment.

Rolnick’s analysis determined for an investment in children and families preparing for kindergarten to be effective it needs to accomplish these things:

• Start with at-risk families.
• Engage parents.
• Offer high quality services.

• Start early.

• Make it measurable.

• Be able to bring it to scale.

Seven patents issued for Roch., Minn. inventors today

Random fact - When the weekly announcement of the awarding of patents was made today by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, seven of the patents were issued to inventors in Rochester, Minn.

That's out of the 44 U.S. patents that came out today.

Six of those seven went to people that work for IBM Rochester. The seventh was issued to someone that works for Pharmexa Inc.

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Here's the list of patents:

1. Allocating entitled processor cycles for preempted virtual processors

2  Maintain owning application information of data for a data storage system
3  Deferring refreshes during calibrations in memory systems
4  Efficient memory usage in systems including volatile and high-density memories
5  Selectively removing entities from a user interface displaying network entities
6  Alarm system for hearing impaired individuals having hearing assistive implanted devices
7  Inducing cellular immune responses to hepatitis B virus using peptide compositions

New international/ hahal market + S.E. Roch.

Chatted with a pair of local entrepreneurs who are working on opening a new international market that will also offer halal prepared meats.

It will focus on offering products aimed at people originally from countries on the Indian Ocean.

Beside international food and other products, it will also offer U.S. items.

The plan is to open up the store in southeast Rochester in January.

I'll have more details in my column Thursday.

Kitchen Collection store coming to Roch.

Kitchen Collection, an Ohio-based, value-focused cooking supplies retailer, has a store simmering in Rochester.

I believe it will open the doors and start ladling out ladles this weekend in the Apache Mall.

The chain has more than 200 stores in the U.S. and it plans on doubling its number of Minnesota stores by opening three this November, including one in the Apache Mall, according to its Web site.

I should have more detail on this soon.