Intellectual Property and Health Technologies Balancing Innovation and the Public's Health Joanna T. Brougher, Esq., MPH At first glance, ownership of intellectual property seems straightforward: the control over an invention or idea. But with the recent explosion of new scientific discoveries poised to transform public health and healthcare systems, costly and lengthy patent disputes threaten both to undermine the attempts to develop new medical technologies and to keep potentially life-saving treatments from patients who need them. Intellectual Property and Health Technologies grounds readers in patent law and explores how scientific research and enterprise are evolving in response. Geared specifically to the medical disciplines, it differentiates among forms of legal protection for inventors such as copyrights and patents, explains their limits, and argues for balance between competing forces of exclusivity and availability. Chapters delve into the major legal controversies concerning medical and biotechnologies in terms of pricing, markets, and especially the tension between innovation and access, including: The patent-eligibility of genes The patent-eligibility of medical process patents The rights and roles of universities and inventors The balancing of access, innovation, and profit in drug development The tension between biologics, small-molecule drugs, and their generic counterparts International patent law and access to medicine in the developing world As these issues continue to shape and define the debate, Intellectual Property and Health Technologies enables professionals and graduate students in public health, health policy, healthcare administration, and medicine to understand patent law and how it affects the development of medical technology and the delivery of medicine.

Livid's past is a complete mystery. She was found at night in the warm sands of the great desert. Only a newborn, she was thought to be dreadfully ill because of her total lack of color. Her skin was as pale as snow, and even her blood was dark-gray in color. She now lives the solitary life of a shepherdess on the edge of the very desert where she was found some nineteen years earlier. In this environment, Livid has learned to take care of herself, and she fears nothing... Nothing, that is, except water! Living in the driest place on the world of Riven, she knows very little of this strange fluid, but seas of water haunt her dreams, and thus she fears it with debilitating terror. Meanwhile, far to the west, a bard named Curesoon has been seeking to find his family. Thus engaged, he steps into the shadows of the black bog Miremurk, and unknowingly embarks upon an adventure that will draw in many, including even the gray-maiden named Livid.

The author is a hermit! A lifetime underachiever: A person who learned that you make it in life by hard work, smarts and chance. Who understands that there are no accidents or luck in life; there are only mistakes, opportunities and preparation. The author does not believe in marriage or relationships because he doesn't want to share 50/ 50 with no one. He only believes in intercourse and the feelings for the moment. It doesn't matter how a woman looks. That's because the author is more interested in the act and the person than the physical features. The author doesn't want his picture in the book because he rather be recognized for his works not his face. And he wants you to know in the end where to find happiness. It's not in a mate. They could leave you one day. It's in your babies.

Flowing with Seasons is a collection of short poems. They sing of the mysterious journey of our life through the natural cycles of spring, summer, autumn, and winter in plain, simple words.

Colombo is in the throes of an explosion. Its face changes continuously, its vices are legion, its future as yet obscure and its paths speak of sunlight as well as of shadow.-' Carl Muller begins his quasi-fictional portrait of this beautiful, war-torn city by describing the great battles fought over it by European colonizers-. In AD 1505, a Portuguese fleet blown off-course took shelter in Galle, overthrew the local kings, fortified Colombo and decided to stay. The Dutch came along, ousted the Portuguese, made Colombo their capital and ruled till the British arrived and sent them packing. Muller intersperses the tales of the past into descriptions of the battles that are being fought in Colombo today"political battles in which vested interests play a major role as well as battles fought on the individual level in the struggle to survive: young women and children turning to prostitution to earn an extra buck, people begging in the streets to make ends meet, unemployed young men turning to crime in frustration, students demonstrating against atrocities, lovers pining for nightfall in order to push away loneliness if only for a few moments... Written in Muller's lucid style, Colombo: A Novel is a chronicle of a city's trials and triumphs.