Roche has extended tender offer for Illumina

Article first published as Roche’s Extension of Tender Offer and its Response by Illumina on Technorati.

Roche, Swiss Pharmaceutical Company, has announced the extension of tender offer to acquire all of the outstanding shares of Illumina Inc., a company working for life sciences tools and systems, at $44.50 per share, to 6:00 p.m., New York.

Roche started the tender offer on January 27, 2012. The offer was $44.50 per share in cash or an aggregate of about $5.7 billion on a fully diluted basis.

The company has reported that at the end of February 24, 2012, almost 102,165 shares had been tendered including 44,152 shares to be delivered within the next three working days of NASDAQ.

Illumina responded to the extension of the Roche’s tender offer as,
City time, on March 23, 2012, while all the terms and conditions are same. Previously, the offer was ending at 12:00 midnight, New York City time, at the end of the day on February 24, 2012.

The extension by Roche was expected. An extremely low number of shares have been tendered, consistent with our view – and that of our stockholders – that Roche’s offer does not reflect Illumina’s unique leadership position, business performance and future prospects.

We remain focused on continuing to develop breakthrough products that expand existing markets and create new ones. The potential of our industry is enormous, with major new markets emerging in medical diagnostics, reproductive health and cancer management.

Roche invested about 8 billion Swiss francs in R&D in 2011 and over 80,000 people were working for Roche in the world in 2011. Company shows interest in Illumina to expand the business of diagnostics.

Intel's processor in Orange's smartphone

Article first published as Intel Powered Smartphone Unveiled by Orange on Technorati.

The world was looking for other companies to work in partnership with Intel Corporation to produce smartphones and Orange, a brand of France Télécom, took the lead.

Orange has revealed Intel Atom chip, codenamed Medfield, processed smartphone, codenamed as Santa Clara, at Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2012. The phone will be available at “affordable” prices in the mid of this year. However, the company would change the name by “three to four months” when the phone will be launched.

"When we started working with them (Intel) it was a bit of a bet, there was no such product on the market, but we were willing to make that bet because we had a relationship with them and we also wanted to bring innovation — it's not about bringing the same thing as just anybody else," Patrick Remy, vice president of devices at Orange, said.

The device has a 4-inch display having Intel Atom Z2460 processor with HSPA+ connectivity. The smartphone also supports Wi-Fi, GPS and Bluetooth. It has an 8-MP camera with the facilitation of taking 10 pictures in less than second and capturing HD videos. The phone has less weight than iPhone 4S and weighs 117 gm or 4.1 ounces with dimensions of 123 mm x 63 mm x 9.99 mm. The phone operates on Android 2.3 version i.e. Gingerbread and has the ability to be upgraded to Android 4.0 version i.e. Ice Cream Sandwich.

"With Intel we have the price positioning that will allow us to address more than 60% of our customer base," said Yves Maitre, Orange's senior vice president of mobile multimedia and devices. "It really is in the middle range in terms of price, but is a high-end phone in terms of features, quality and speed."

"We firmly believe that all our customers should benefit from the smartphone revolution, and we remain committed to delivering innovative content and services across a wide range of devices to help customers stay connected and get more from their phone," Yves Maitre, senior vice president of mobile multimedia and devices at Orange, said in a statement.

Drought was the cause of Mayan destruction

Mayan civilization is renowned for their knowledge of math, language and astronomy. They were eliminated by 1000 C.E.

This research has been done by researchers from Yucatan Center for Scientific Research in Mexico and the University of Southampton in Britain.

The study was led by Professors Martín Medina-Elizalde of the Yucatan Center for Scientific Research in Mexico and Eelco Rohling of the University of Southampton in the UK. Professor Rohling says: “Our results show rather modest rainfall reductions between times when the Classic Maya civilization flourished and its collapse – between AD 800-950. These reductions amount to only 25 to 40 per cent in annual rainfall. But they were large enough for evaporation to become dominant over rainfall, and open water availability was rapidly reduced. The data suggest that the main cause was a decrease in summer storm activity.”

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Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 is in two models

Article first published as Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 series have two models on Technorati.

(Image: 10.1 inch model of Samsung Galaxy Tab 2)

Samsung has introduced the Galaxy Tab 2 series for this year with two options for the customers i.e. 7 inch version and 10.1 inch version. These tablet PCs will be available from March. Sale will be started from U.K. and then in the world.

The Galaxy Tab 2 series are available for exhibition at Samsung stand (Hall 8), Mobile World Congress (MWC).

Samsung has reported that this series of tablets are 3G and WiFi versions, in which 7 inch model is easy to handle while in travelling and 10 inch model is suitable for home and family use.

Both the tablets in the series have 1Ghz dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM, Bluetooth 3.0 connectivity, front camera (VGA), rear camera (3MP) and 21Mbps HSPA+ connectivity, if you choose 3G model instead of WiFi.

(Image: 10.1 inch model of Samsung Galaxy Tab 2)

The differences in the tablets are in the screen resolution and battery. The screen resolution is 1280x800 and 1024x600 in 10.1 inch screen model and 7 inch screen model respectively. Battery is 4,000 mAh and 7000 mAh in 7 and 10.1 inch screen model respectively.

The tablets are running on IceCream Sandwich and will be presented in two models i.e. 16 GB and 32 GB. However, the memory can be expanded to 32GB with microSD Card.

(Image Credit: Samsung)

New CEO after Warren Buffett

Article first published as Warren Buffett’s annual letter to the company reported the new CEO on Technorati.

Warren Buffett has released the annual letter to the company, Berkshire Hathaway Inc. based in Omaha, Nebraska, on Saturday in which he said about the successor but has not disclosed the name yet. Buffett said that he has no plans to leave the company soon.

Warren Buffett is an 81 years old billionaire, who is running the company for almost half a century.

"Your Board is equally enthusiastic about my successor as CEO, an individual to whom they have had a great deal of exposure and whose managerial and human qualities they admire," he said, adding there were two backup candidates as well.

Ajit Jain could be the next CEO as reported by the experts. Ajit Jain is currently operating the reinsurance business of the Berkshire. Warren Buffett and his partner Charlie Munger praise his work. "Charlie would gladly trade me for a second Ajit. Alas, there is none," Buffett said.

Buffett also reported that recently hired investment managers, Todd Combs and Ted Weschler, would be able to operate the large investment portfolio after Buffett.

"Each will be handling a few billion dollars in 2012, but they have the brains, judgment and character to manage our entire portfolio when Charlie and I are no longer running Berkshire," Buffett said.

"My task is clear, and I'm on the prowl," he said.

On the other hand, the company has reported that its net income fell 30% in the fourth quarter as the paper value of its derivatives decreased. However, many of the subsidiaries performed well. Net income for the fourth quarter is $3.05 billion, or $1,846 per Class A share. This is a decrease from $4.4 billion net income, or $2,656 per share, a year ago.

Heart attack is more bad for women

Article first published as Heart Attack Can Be More Fatal in Women on Technorati.

Researchers from U.S. have found that although men, under the age of 65, have three times more chances to get heart attacks than women but heart attacks are more fatal in women.

Researchers worked on the National Registry of Myocardial Infarction of more than 1 million patients from 1994-2006. They have found that “silent” heart attacks gave fewer chances to women to call a doctor in-time leading to mortality. They reported that middle-aged women, who suffered from heart attacks, have 60% more chances to die as compared to the males.

Researchers have found that 4.2% of 292,000 men died in hospital whereas 6.8% of 108,000 women died.  They have also found that 3.7% of women, who experienced chest pain, died in hospital while 2.4% of men, who felt chest pain, died in hospital. On the other hand, 16.1% of women, who didn’t experience chest pain, died in hospital while 12.5% of men, who didn’t felt chest pain, died in hospital.

Researchers have reported, "Younger women presenting without chest pain had greater hospital mortality than younger men without chest pain."

Cathy Ross, Senior Cardiac Nurse at the British Heart Foundation, said: “Contrary to popular belief, a heart attack doesn’t necessarily mean dramatic and excruciating chest pains.

“Symptoms vary; for some the pain is severe and yet others may feel nothing more than a mild discomfort or heaviness. The most important thing to remember is if you think you’re having a heart attack, call 999."

And the second most important thing is to go for a regular medical checkup as “Prevention is better than cure”. Remember, you have to care for yourself not only for you but for your family too.

This study has been published online in The Journal of the American Medical Association.

Antipsychotic drugs could be dangerous to dementia patients

Article first published as Some Antipsychotic Drugs are More Fatal for Patients with Dementia on Technorati.

Researchers including Krista Huybrechts, PhD, of Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, and colleagues have found that some antipsychotic drugs have more chances of death for the patients of dementia.

Researchers worked on more than 75000 patients of age 65 and older, who have just started any of the six antipsychotic drugs (haloperidol, aripiprazole, olanzapine, quetiapine, risperidone, ziprasidone), who were eligible for Medicaid and who were living in nursing homes in 2001-05, as approximately one-third of elderly people in nursing homes are treated with antipsychotics

Researchers compared the five drugs with risperidone, which is commonly used. They have found that the risk of death from haloperidol in dementia patients is very high and the drug’s usage "cannot be justified because of the excess harm." They have reported that quetiapine is safest among the six medications.

U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warned about the usage of antipsychotic drugs in dementia patients because of chances of death but this study is first of its kind to tell about the comparative efficacy of the drugs.

Researchers have not considered other antipsychotics as they form less than 1% of prescriptions.

This study has been published online in the British Medical Journal.