Well, zut, alors! We had ourselves a real, live CALMARE patient cured/radically improved of her CRPS by the TENS unit "equivalent" (that's the sum of its claims to the FDA). I thought we were finally going to have legitimate documentation of pre- and post- limb involved conditions.
Such a person replied to our riveting post based on outrage that Dr. Michael Breen, ob/gyn of Texas, would begin a marketing pitch for Competitive Technologies, Inc CALMARE/Scrambler units by linking CRPS with suicide. That's irresponsible by anyone.... despicable by a health care professional. Anyway, the 39ish year old woman he labelled suicidal responded to the post, then suddenly snatched her tentative testimonials back an hour or so ago.
Gracie decided to call our investigations hate-mongering and removed all her comments. Harrumph.
But God bless Blogger, because nothing is ever lost in Blogger World, no comment ever really removed!
This is our convivial comment exchange, reconstructed:
I am Gracie. My Facebook name is Gracie Gean. My maiden name is Gracie Bagosy. I have had wonderful success with Calmare Therapy! Have a question? Contact me! I will be happy to talk to you.
me: Have any evidence beyond a personal testimonial? Do you have pictures that pre-date your treatment to compare with a videotaped account of former suffering?
I'm thoroughly familiar with CALMARE and the claims made, and can assure you that you either did not have CRPS and were misdiagnosed, or that you had such a mild case that attaching you to several TENS units on burst mode would have been equally curative.
There are, of course, other possibilities, but I hesitate to mention them.
Thank you for your internet diagnosis. I am certain that it must be more accurate than every diagnosis made by my team of specialists over the last several years! Yes, I do have pictures of myself before and during treatment.
me: i will show you mine, if you will show me yours: http://youtu.be/i2qrry7ltT0
Mine are on Facebook. I do not publish on YouTube like you do. I did, however, watch yours. It looks terribly painful. I will be happy to connect with you privately and help you network with others and get support.
me: That's kind of you to offer. I'm in my eleventh year of living with CRPS. I was under the impression that you were helping to promote CALMARE, and that you'd, therefore, have material ready for people who need to learn what CRPS looks and feels like. May I feature your "before treatment" documentation here on the blog, and compare it with "after treatment" documentation? That would be helpful for people who need to learn about the syndrome. I have, as you did, a highly specialized team of doctors in a major metro area, so I'm well plugged in. But appreciate the offer. Now let's show/prove what CALMARE did for you!
me: Where can the public access them to verify your claims?
My story and pictures can be found on the CALMARE sites. I won't post them on these sites that only spew hate. In these pictures, you will see my face, my family, my friends...as well as my RSD limb.
me: I don't spew hate. I make available real information, and fight against the emotional and financial manipulation of unethical medical professionals.
Please provide for us a link to a video that will show your pre and post CRPS limb. I would love to see the improvement.
Let us hope, friends, that Gracie realizes she could make a huge step in legitimizing CALMARE by providing pre-treatment documentation side-by-side with post-treatment results.
I won't give up on Gracie, not yet. Someone in all this CTTC / CALMARE-Scrambler Therapy mess needs to show us some evidence that goes beyond oral testimonials and emotional claims. Nerve conduction studies, triphasic bone scans, skin temp testing, fMRIs, pictures, SOMETHING!
C'mon back, Gracie!
ADDENDUM: I've checked the aforementioned Facebook page, but not being a friend (all my hatefulness, you know!), could not see all her photos. Those I did see showed NED. I checked her interview with marketing savant wannabe "joeygiggles," and there were some irregularities noted versus previous interviews. But I'm not hateful enough to suggest that someone should be consistent or even consistently truthful. She's joined up with a number of "high-profile" "RSD" / CRPS enterprises, as spokesperson, moderator, etcetera, all the better, I am guessing to spread the CALMARE story.
Gracie, today CTTC is down 24% at 0.1430. Investors are savvy. They, like the Weathermen, know which way the wind blows.
© 2013 L. Ryan
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query calmare. Sort by date Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query calmare. Sort by date Show all posts
Thursday, July 25, 2013
Sunday, May 12, 2013
CALMARE / CTTC: Help Stop This Scam!
Though one hopes these things will reach a natural conclusion, completely market-driven, in this case -- certainly not driven by any sense of moral imperative, or a desire to cleanse both personal and corporate souls of the damning damage being done to desperate people suffering the horrendous pain of CRPS, among other neuropathic conditions -- until they do, we have ourselves, Dear Readers, the opportunity for a series of posts on this moral malignancy of Competitive Technologies and CALMARE.
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It says a lot that the first thing I want to write about after a brief "vacation," is CALMARE. No, I am not promoting it, quite the opposite. Just as Dr. Jose OCHOA is a dingleberry on the ass of the medical profession in terms of CRPS quackery, CALMARE vendors (mostly non-neurologists, often former ob/gyn specialtists, for some reason!) are aslo turds.I'm very, very tired. Very depressed. In a dingleberry-bouquet of pain. But the anger I felt upon opening my emails to find a "response" to a comment I had made on YouTube about a CALMARE snake oil bullcrap video comes close to matching the anger I feel upon reading any of Ochoa's "forensic" work in the courts, denying worker's compensation to thousands of CRPS sufferers, whose CRPS was engendered by an accident at work. Orthopedic trauma is frequently a root cause and Ochoa lined his pockets with people's pain.
There's nothing new to say about CALMARE that I haven't said in my previous posts. It's a scam. It's NOT FDA approved as a treatment for CRPS. It has applied for various statuses but has been granted none of them.
It has the same uses that any Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulator (TENS) unit has. It can be comforting while in use. In a sort of "burst" mode, it's effects might last a few hours in a very limited area of the body. It does virtually nothing to the central nervous system, and CRPS is, in short, a central nervous system disease -- although in the beginning it has considerable action in the peripheral nerves.
I have asked Dr. Michael Cooney why he won't show pictures or videos of his CRPS cures before treatment. All we are offered are tenuous, tearful, emotional "testimonials" (snake oil salesmen's best media) of the cured patients. Most never had, I would wager, true CRPS. Most couldn't explain the basics of the disorder, I'd bet my life on it.
Here's the intro to Turd Number Two, Dr. Michael Cooney:
Dr. Cooney is one of only 10 certified providers of Calmare Pain Therapy Treatment in the U.S. He introduced this treatment for his patients with treatment and medication resistant severe chronic neuropathy and now helps patients from around the country. Dr. Cooney administers every treatment session personally.
Dr. Cooney is a CHIROPRACTOR. No offense to chiropractors. My brother Grader Boob, in his more athletic days, relied on a chiropractor to keep those bike wheels whirring on the pavement for those 400 mile jaunts. I know people who believe in regular "adjustments." I know that my doctors have said "don't you dare ever go to a chiropractor." Not for CRPS. First, manipulation of any sort is going to be too painful to tolerate; second, a chiropractor doesn't have the specialized training or experience to deal with CRPS; and third, applying CALMARE as a solution to CRPS is DINGLEBERRY-ASS thinking and just taking money out of folks' pockets. I would imagine that -- unless used as an adjunctive, alternative, or complementary treatment undertaken with the advice of a neurologist or board certified pain management specialist -- CALMARE might waste valuable time between onset and the close of the window of opportunity for treatment that really may cure the disorder -- the initial 3-9 months or so.
Worse... there are people being featured who clearly were not correctly diagnosed to begin with, or who are obtaining a short term placebo effect. After they've forked over the dough, they're going to be left worse than they were before, if they truly have CRPS.
I wanna see the BEFORE videos. I want to hear the "science" -- excuse me for a moment, I just snorted hot coffee up my nose -- behind CALMARE. Oh, wait, I've covered that already. More on that after the testimonial entertainment below.
Shame on you, Dr. Cooney.
Here is the video that I find so incredibly offensive. Please go to YouTube as well to read the illuminating conversations I am having with these... people.
As I said, I keep asking for "before" documentation -- photography (doctors love to photograph CRPS patients -- we're all innately lovely), video (to show spasticity, gait disturbances, guarding behaviors, etc.), child-like fingerpaintings, anything! Maybe something along the lines of this, a now out-of-date video of my feet/legs,
hands/arms:
Twas on Friday, May 6, 2011, that this dingleberry machine was first brought to my attention by one of its pushers, who goes around YouTube and to CRPS support group boards pedaling their dingleberry dumbassedness. It prompted the following write-up here, and I had hopes it would fade away, or rot off, whatever form of decomposition most suited it:
At the moment, the only physician in the entire United States who has suckled at the tit of the inventor of the Calmare Magic Poof-the-Pain-Away Crap Technology is one Dr. D'Amato, of Rhode Island (or so I hear, over here in Tête de Hergé, where there is no illness, of course, nor traffic accidents).
Yeah, there *is* a guy opening up 14 pain clinics using the Calmare Magic Poof-the-Pain-Away Crap Technology (Spero Pain Relief Therapy clinics). Guess what? He's an OB/Gyn. Just who I want doing pain management for a central nervous system degenerative disorder.
CTT is the parent company in the USA...and it's now a penny stock. Or almost -- it closed today at 1.70. Because some rubber-stamping idiot approved Calmare Magic Poof-the-Pain-Away Crap Technology as a vendor to the VA, all the devious, deviants, and the hoodwinked are going on and on about how if it's good enough for our Wounded Warriors at the "flagship" Walter Reed (I'm thinking they don't read the Washington Post), then, by gum, it's good enough for you CRPSers!
The Italian inventor was less circumspect, if you can believe it. He claimed that Calmare Magic Poof-the-Pain-Away Crap Technology could reverse aging.
Now you're talking!
Meet, my friends, Giuseppe Marineo, and his explanatory woo and gobbledy-gook from the Italian arm of operations, Delta R&D:
Delta R&D is a bioengineering research centre with a unique history. It was born out of individual research work begun in 1983 by Giuseppe Marineo, a researcher and bioengineer, who advanced theories to reformulate the concept of disease (and the corresponding treatment) from a biophysical rather than biochemical point of view. The idea was to restructure the known features of both according to the principles of thermodynamics by means of an analysis and the detailed specification of the relations between entropy, disease, repair processes and ageing.This new approach to the interpretation of the traditional aspects of medical science makes it possible to go from a highly heuristic system to an extremely conceptual and rationalized system, which can create models of disease and treatment so sophisticated as to render the experimental results highly predictable. If the latter are in line with the predictions they automatically validate the development model.
Furthermore, the very name of the theoretical system developed entails a natural transition from reductionist methods to systems theory which, in the present research, takes the form of a powerful working tool capable of providing adequate support for the development of therapies of practical utility.
In practice Marineo introduced into medical science the research and development criteria typical of engineering, in which the thoroughness of the preliminary theoretical work fully determines the expectations of the experimental verification of the method used. In 1987 the basic research was already sufficiently well structured to be supported by a technology capable of translating the theoretical system into a truly useful therapy.
The first experimental verifications fully confirmed the validity of the theoretical models developed and opened up concrete future prospects for the safe and non-invasive treatment of pathologies for which conventional methods had proved ineffective.
In 1998 the Italian scientific community, which had been constantly informed of all research developments, deemed the product of 15 years research to be scientifically valid, the theoretical principles and experimental data to have been clearly demonstrated and the bioethical principles regarding the respect and protection of the patient to have been respected.
In other words, the research carried out by a private individual was accepted and supported by the public authorities. It was consequently possible to begin official university and hospital studies, at the conclusion of which the first international publications were produced.
In order to support these changes, in May 1998 Delta R&D was set up, thus marking the beginning of the mature stage of this individual research endeavour. Although the original philosophy was retained, a logistical structure was now available to satisfy the new phases of development and to maintain and expand relations with the international scientific community.
In Italy the Delta R&D company became a research centre incorporated into a public structure thanks to the prestigious acknowledgement of the Tor Vergata University of Rome in the form of an agreement in which Delta R&D is recognized as part of the scientific structure of the university while retaining its autonomy and individuality.
Outside Italy, Delta R&D, the theoretical and research work on the Delta-S Entropy Variation Systems and “Scrambler Therapy” pain therapy resulted in Giuseppe Marineo receiving scientific awards for the originality of the basic research, in addition to numerous other acknowledgements by the international scientific community inherent in the acceptance of the proposed published works.
I dunno, maybe that's not your favorite type of woo and gobbledy-gook. How about this? From the lips of Dr. Robert Chalmers, former OB/Gyn:
Q-How do you do Calmare , Exactly?The treatment is actually quite simple. It involved the machine, wires and surface electrodes that deliver the electrical waveforms. The surface electrodes are the same used in heart monitoring such as an EKG. The patients sits or lies comfortable during each 45 minute treatment session. The electrodes are placed OUTSIDE the area of pain so they will not increase the pain in patients with allodynia from CRPSQ-How does it work?The mechanism is completely unique. The primary issue with CPRS is the so called physiologic "wind-up" in the brain. This is a complicated change in the nervous system and can be traced at least in part to changes in NMDA receptors in the brain. We need to get to the brain to help with this disease. The use of electricity for the management of pain is not unique to the Calmare system and I am sure many RSD sufferers have tried traditional TENS therapy. However, the Calmare system is not anything like a TENS unit. Injury or other noxious stimulus in the body creates pain chemicals. These chemicals in turn get converted into electrical impulses by your nerves which get transmitted to the brain and get INTERPRETED by the brain. When we use the Calmare system we "control" the electrical impulses that the brain is recieving. By manipulating the input into the brain we "convince" the brain that the area of the body where pain was present is now normal. We know that the brain can be taught, in medicine we refer to thoses changes as Neuroplasticity and there is quite a bit of interesting reading on that topic on the internet if you have the time. I was the worlds biggest cynic prior to actually treating patients with the machine. I thought it was TENS or Placebo but nearly every patient I have treated has already tried TENS therapy and they can tell you this is nothing like TENS.It works!
Mystery solved. "It works!" He hits all the right buzz words: allodynia, neuroplasticity, NMDA receptors, physiologic wind-up... Oh, gag me with a spoon. Does any of it make sense? Not a bit.
They are even trying to sell this stuff to cancer patients. I found a reply to this snake oily approach from a kindred spirit, reprinted below.
rrtzmd PERMALINKMay 26, 2010 9:06 am
…oh, lordy!…what walks like a scam and goes “scam, scam, scam”?…you get three guesses and one hint — its initials are “CTT”…their idiotic “Calmare device” is NOTHING more than a TENS device…and just like a TENS device, the extent to which it works depends ONLY on whether the doctor can con the patient into believing that it actually IS doing something — which, other than making a muscle twitch now and then — it doesn’t…you can even see it in CTT’s description:
“The method incorporates electromedical equipment for electronic nerve stimulation, and uses the nerve fiber as a passive means to convey a message of normality to the central nervous system (CNS) by a procedure defined as scrambling or tricking of information, which then enables the CNS to modify the reflex adaptive responses – referred to as TEMPR – Transcutaneous Electrical Modulation Pain Reprocessor.”
…have you ever heard such a line of malarkey in your life?…how on earth can a nerve transmit a message by a “passive means”?…that sentence is nothing more than gobbledygook meant to sound impressive…an even better example of obfuscation:
“The assumed pre-coding capacity is a more logical explanation than stochastic fluctuation (which in this case must be re-interpreted as a consistent modification of the information content per stimulus/time) the different discharge time characteristic used by the receptor for the same stimulus if this occurs in sufficiently short time intervals. In this perspective, to return to our model, the comparator?? Is the arbitrary module that sorts the information, compares it with a short-term memory and if it recognizes a stimulus similar to the preceding one, modifies the gain data and the information property which it passes on to the amplifier/attenuator (synapsis), a vital element that controls the passage/non passage of the “decoded” information stripped of spurious signals, associating it with the correct degree of intensity. Again with reference to the model, the noise and stochastic variations are separated since, in my analysis, at least some of these fluctuations actually consist of sub-information capable of modifying the learning capacity and sensitivity to the stimulus if repeated over short time intervals. If the data are reinterpreted in this sense, frequency modulated discharge sequences immediately took on a different significance when combined with the “pseudo-noise” modulation accompanying them and which became an essential element of the “primary” information. At this stage I considered that I had all the elements required to materially construct a pain scrambler (technically an information mixer), that is, a system capable of “masking” the pain signal.”
…that came from Marineo’s website:
http://www.deltard.com/eng/leggi.php?id=1476&
…don’t strain too hard trying to understand that since it’s little more than confabulation…but do read at least the other pages about how he can cure cirrhosis, remove scars and reverse aging using his “entropy variation system Delta S”:
http://www.deltard.com/eng/leggi.php?id=1440&
…and if THAT doesn’t convince you the guy is a goofball, then consider his “technowind” :
http://www.deltard.com/eng/tecnowind.php…a “limited edition” and “autographed” FAN!…I mean, where did CTT find this character?…come’on!…wake up and smell the scam!…do your readers a favor and don’t pump idiotic quack devices…
Friday, August 16, 2013
CTTC and CALMARE / Scrambler Therapy: The Devil's Details
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| Money Drain |
i don't have it in me to elaborate -- and lord knows, i should not have to, if you've been following my one-person campaign against CTTC, the patent monger and soul-sucking corporate face of CALMARE / "Scrambler Therapy" -- snake oil salesman to people desperate for relief of their CRPS pain (and countless other types of neuropathic pain).
but, while finally deciding to peer over my pirate's eye bandage to see if my stocks had bottomed out since last friday (they're not doing well, darn it all), i did my usual check on under-the-counter-over-the-barrel penny stock CTTC, and found it at its usual sky-rocketing 0.16 with no shares having exchanged hands as of 3 pm. still, knowing that there are "entrepreneurs" out there dicking around with it, day-trading on minuscule changes - a cent here, a cent there - that amount to twenty and thirty percent gains, it makes me nauseous that it's still trading at all.
out of habit, i looked to see if there was any "news" driving this cruel company's latest blandness, and lo! there was a bit of something.
they say the devil is in the details. there is one glaring detail that caught part of one of my errant eyes!
CTTC filed another Form 10-Q on august 13th and in the meandering nonsense most would overlook in their brief historical rundown of their desiccated cardiac function, it is worth noting that the "inventor" of CALMARE therapy, Giussepe Marineo, is no longer referred to as an engineer, a doctor, a holder of a doctorate, or even as a professor - as in times past. "in times past" meaning times as recent as a month ago.
Sales of our Calmare device continue to be the major source of revenue for the Company. The Company initially acquired the exclusive, worldwide rights to the Scrambler Therapy� technology in 2007. The Company's 2007 agreement with Giuseppe Marineo ("Marineo"), the inventor of Scrambler Therapy technology, and Delta Research and Development ("Delta"), authorized CTTC to manufacture and sell worldwide the device developed from the patented Scrambler Therapy technology;that's a pretty huge fall from grace. no more prefixes or suffixes for poor marineo. and many, many
questions as to previous claims and accolades about the man.
as for their raw financial news, it does cheer me. i managed a smile on my bandaged face -- and just to drive home more about the misery of CRPS, as that's my job in life (ar ar ar!), my skin peels off with the tape holding the bandages down, and i've now several raw craters on my CRPS-afflicted face. yes, i know, and i say it along with you -- who the hell knew it could impact the face? and such a lovely face it once was, too.
really.
kind of cute, even.
anyway -- feast your eyes on this financial wizardry:
We incurred a net loss of $677,000 or $0.04 per basic and diluted share for the three months ended June 30, 2013, compared to a net loss of $942,000 or $0.06 per basic and diluted share for the three months ended June 30, 2012. As explained in detail below, the net loss reflects an increase of $28,000 in gross revenue, an increase of $73,000 in gross profit from product sales and a decrease in other expenses of $238,000.
oh, what the heck. i am so weird that i enjoy meetings; i watch school board meetings of my former school district employer; i keep robert's rules of order at bedside for a rip-roaring good read when bored. get ready to laugh/cry at the remaining financial assessments:
Revenue and Gross Profit from Salesjust slipping in under the radar is this coy little come-hither: "At June 30, 2013, we had outstanding debt in the form of promissory notes totaling $2,630,000." it's at this point that the 10-Q confronts the failure of its first bail out attempt: the "Factoring Agreement with Versant Funding, LLC," according to which "Versant agreed to advance 75% of the face value to the Company, and to submit a percentage of the remainder to the Company upon collection on the account."
Revenue from product sales: In the three months ended June 30, 2013, we recorded $136,000 in revenue from the sale and shipment of 2 Calmare� pain therapy medical devices, with a cost of product sales of $46,000. In the three months ended June 30, 2012, we recorded $63,000 in revenue from the sale and shipment of one Calmare� pain therapy medical devices; with a cost of product sales of $45,000.
Other Revenue
Retained royalties for the three months ended June 30, 2013 were $4,000, which was $48,000 or 92% less than the $52,000 of retained royalties reported in the three months ended June 30, 2012. The 2012 amount included the receipt of a $40,000 royalty payment received for 2011 which was greater than our original estimates.
Other income for the three months ended June 30, 2013, was $10,000, including payments for training and the sale of supplies such as electrodes and cables for use with our Calmare� devices ($2,000) and rental income ($8,000) from customers who were renting Calmare� pain therapy medical devices from us. In the three months ended June 30, 2012, other income was $8,000, including payments for the sale of supplies such as electrodes and cables for use with our Calmare� devices ($5,000) and rental income ($3,000) from customers who were renting Calmare� pain therapy medical devices from us.
Expenses
Total expenses were $781,000 in the three months ended June 30, 2013, compared to $1,019,000 in the three months ended June 30, 2012, a decrease of $238,000 or 23%.
Selling expenses were $36,000 in three months ended June 30, 2013, compared to $94,000 in the three months ended June 30, 2012. The decrease of $58,000 reflects an increase of $16,000 in commission expenses due to the sale of an additional Calmare� device in 2013, which was offset by a decrease of $9,000 in domestic patent legal expenses as well as a decrease of $14,000 in foreign patent legal expenses related to the joint venture with XION Corporation to develop the melanocortin technologies combined with a decrease of $51,000 in patent and translation fees related to working with the inventor of the Calmare� device resulting from the transfer of the contractual obligation to pay patent costs back to the inventor.
Personnel and consulting expenses were $279,000 in the three months ended June 30, 2013, as compared to $502,000 in the three months ended June 30, 2012, a decrease of $223,000 or 44%. Personnel related expenses were $218,000 in the three months ended June 30, 2013, as compared to $146,000 in the three months ended June 30, 2012, an increase of $72,000 primarily due to the addition of a new CEO in November 2012, as well as the expense during the three months ended June 30, 2013 ($17,000) related to the granting of 1,000,000 options to our CEO during the three months ended March 31, 2013. No options were granted to employees in 2012. The increased personnel related expenses were offset by reductions in consulting fees ($295,000), primarily due to the termination of services related to obtaining private insurance and Medicare reimbursement approval for our Calmare medical device ($178,000) as well as the termination of the contract for the Managing Director for International Business Development ($77,000); in addition, the management services fees for our former contracted CEO ($30,000) were discontinued when the employee CEO was hired in November 2012.
General and administrative expenses were $413,000 in the three months ended June 30, 2013, a decrease of $11,000 from $424,000 in the three months ended June 30, 2012
The change reflects increases in travel expenses ($26,000) due primarily to the increased travel of the new CEO during the quarter, offset by reductions due to the departure of one nurse trainer in the three months ended June 30, 2012; increases in directors fees and expenses, including liability insurance ($8,000); increased investor and public relations expenses ($3,000); increased investment banking expenses ($3,000); increased corporate legal expenses ($3,000); increased audit and tax services fees ($6,000) both related to the timing of activities; increased marketing expenses ($7,000) and increases in postage and delivery supply expenses ($5,000). These increases were offset by reductions in legal fees associated with litigation ($38,000); rent and associated expenses due to closing the North Carolina office during 2012 ($7,000); proxy and annual meeting expenses, due to reductions in the contracted services ($8,000); financing charges ($7,000); miscellaneous expenses, banking fees, miscellaneous taxes and other fees ($4,000); depreciation expense ($1,000); and a decrease in bad debt expense due to expenses related to a former employee which were incurred in the three months ended June 30, 2012 and did not recur in 2013 ($7,000).
Interest expense was $44,000 in the three months ended June 30, 2013, compared to $13,000 in the three months ended June 30, 2012, an increase of $31,000 due to an increase in the use of debt financing.
Unrealized loss on derivative instrument of $9,000 in three months ended June 30, 2013 as compared to the $14,000 gain recorded in the three months ended June 30, 2012, reflects the difference in the portion of the Class C Preferred stock which is based on changes in the price of the Company's common shares at the end of each period (see Note 12 for details).
if you were wondering what the "news" was for this 10-Q SEC filing, i guess this is it. Versant having seen them as crap, they've now turned to this arrangement: "During the fourth quarter of 2012, the Company ended its Factoring Agreement with Versant and entered into a new Factoring Agreement with LSQ Funding. The Factoring Agreement with LSQ Funding provides for an 85% advance of factored accounts, lower fees, a faster payout of both advances and balances due, and the possibility of over-advances."
there is even a jovial mention of judicious use of the company's NOLs. an NOL is something from RomneyWorld, but certainly not reflective of any corporate sense of entitlement, oh, no!
'Net Operating Loss - NOL'remember that corporations are people, too. CTTC finds itself, corporately, in something akin to the position of many red, white, and blue-hearted americans: "At June 30, 2013, the Company's balance sheet showed cash of $24,000."
A period in which a company's allowable tax deductions are greater than its taxable income, resulting in a negative taxable income. This generally occurs when a company has incurred more expenses than revenues during the period.
The net operating loss for the company can generally be used to recover past tax payments or reduce future tax payments. The reasoning behind this is that because corporations are required to pay taxes when they earn money, they also deserve some form of tax relief when they lose money.
at the tail end of this sad document, probably submitted on pieced-together panels of toilet tissue to save the big bucks, CTTC pretty much announces that it probably won't make it into 2014 -- unless the miraculous therapy catches hold in some new demographic as yet to be snoockered.
to those who continue to want giussepe marineo and CALMARE to be a valid technology, let me simply leave you with the final stage directions in this sad Everyman Medieval Play that has been performed in various chiropractors' offices and, for a still unfathomable reason, embraced by obstetricians and gynecologists... for these are the closing words of the SEC filing from tuesday:
In January 2011, the Company entered into a two-year lease effective February 1, 2011 for additional office space for the sales and training staff in Charlotte, NC. Obligations under this lease averaged $27,000 per year for the two-year term. The Company closed that office in July 2012 and closed out the lease, agreeing to forfeit the security deposit and pay the landlord a fee of $15,000 of which $9,000 remains unpaid at June 30, 2013.please, lord, let this bilking of people in horrid pain finally cease. i picture CTTC now as a host of half-packed cardboard boxes on a utilitarian indoor-outdoor carpet with torn threads and an occasional dividing line of duct tape... in a room with flickering fluorescent lights and a dead cockroach or two in the corners. the landlord glances in about once a week, sighs, and counts the days until he can file suit.
© 2013 L. Ryan
Friday, May 6, 2011
Prof is Pissed and Buddy the Kitten Finally Goes UP!
I am, as they say in the Southern Realms of the United States of America, fit to be tied.
First, I'm febrile, oh so febrile, as febrile as febrile can be.... ♪ ♫
Second, there is a person on YouTube who keeps leaving me kind messages. The person claims to be a Mom whose son was cured of CRPS by a contraption and bless her, she thinks I should get cured by a contraption, too.
And all those good wishes and sweet suggestions are about to piss me off in a royally major way.
That's what you get for ending all your messages to me with a cheerful "God bless" and for being all conciliatory and stuff.
This person is pushing the bleeping Calmare Magic Poof-the-Pain-Away Crap Technology... and you probably haven't heard of it, but then you probably don't hang out on message boards dealing with CRPS. It's utter nonsense and is being put out there by the devious, the deviant, and the people that the devious and the deviant have hoodwinked.
By the way, no one should hang out on message boards dealing with CRPS. It's not a healthy habit. I mean, you get a bunch of people who are not getting better (why else would they be there?), who are, by self-definition, People of Pain, and who are likely socially isolated due to disability, the aforementioned pain, and pain's stalwart companion, depression. It just sounds like so much... FUN!
So that's a rule, then. No hanging out in such spots. But a regular check on good threads, that's permitted. I would be lost without the helpful suggestions I encounter on those boards -- where to find the softest clothes, what doctor is doing what treatment, news of clinical trials, morbid jokes.
Mostly, though, I check in -- at least 3 times a week -- to take a look in a mirror, mentally as much as physically. Has anyone else considered taking a chainsaw to their legs? After we lop off one arm, who can we rely on to get rid of the other one? Important things.
I also check in to see if what is happening to me should send me screaming into the frozen hinterlands or if it is just part of the normal abnormality of this weird, weird disease. Like the fact that my leg is leaking... Or that I have 2 blue toes, 1 red, and 2 tartan plaids. It is somewhat reassuring to see pictures of other people's fingernails -- Hey, their nails are falling off and cruddy looking, too!
I promise you, however, that it will be a cold day in Hell before I author any version of the phrase "Being here makes me feel less alone..." I suppose I should explain myself, but I'm not going to. Because I know what I mean. And whose blog is it, anyway? Harrumph, squared.
Back to this irritant of a Calmare thingy.
At the moment, the only physician in the entire United States who has suckled at the tit of the inventor of the Calmare Magic Poof-the-Pain-Away Crap Technology is one Dr. D'Amato, of Rhode Island (or so I hear, over here in Tête de Hergé, where there is no illness, of course, nor traffic accidents).
Yeah, there *is* a guy opening up 14 pain clinics using the Calmare Magic Poof-the-Pain-Away Crap Technology (Spero Pain Relief Therapy clinics). Guess what? He's an OB/Gyn. Just who I want doing pain management for a central nervous system degenerative disorder. More from him in a moment.
Cut me some slack today, would'ya?
Give me some latitude.
I don't feel well and I can't get a'holt o'that there magic poof machine (and it ain't covered by insurance, neither.)
Ahem. Okay. The ibuprofen is kicking in. I love ibuprofen. I should own stock...
Speaking of stock: CTT is the parent company in the USA...and it's now a penny stock. Or almost -- it closed today at 1.70. Because some rubber-stamping idiot approved Calmare Magic Poof-the-Pain-Away Crap Technology as a vendor to the VA, all the devious, deviants, and the hoodwinked are going on and on about how if it's good enough for our Wounded Warriors at the "flagship" Walter Reed (I'm thinking they don't read the Washington Post), then, by gum, it's good enough for you CRPSers!
The Italian inventor was less circumspect, if you can believe it. He claimed that Calmare Magic Poof-the-Pain-Away Crap Technology could reverse aging.
Now you're talking!
Meet, my friends, Giuseppe Marineo, and his explanatory woo and gobbledy-gook from the Italian arm of operations, Delta R&D:
I dunno, maybe that's not your favorite type of woo and gobbledy-gook. How about this? From the lips of Dr. Robert Chalmers, former OB/Gyn:
Mystery solved. "It works!" He hits all the right buzz words: allodynia, neuroplasticity, NMDA receptors, physiologic wind-up... Oh, gag me with a spoon. Does any of it make sense? Not a bit.
You want real breaking news? Hmm? Do you think you can handle some real news? Well, do ya?
Oops. Sorry... It just feels like A Few Good Men kind of an afternoon. Did I mention that I am febrile?
That I'm febrile, oh so febrile, as febrile as febrile can be? ♪ ♫
Oh, I did. Okay. Well, I bet you don't know that I sprang a leak! Yep, drip, drip, drip goes my leg, leg, leg... Oh, I mentioned that.
How about this? I feel cranky. That's gotta be news, because I am NEVER cranky!
WHAT IS THE CURE FOR CRANKY?
BUDDY THE KITTEN, of course.
It turns out that the kitten was not being a contemplative, not waxing philosophical. He wasn't meditating on the idea of UP after all. The Kitten wants the cord to the ceiling fan! That's what he's been gazing at in adoration for the last few weeks. What cracks me up is that he had the other two cats doing it, as well as a human or two.
First, I'm febrile, oh so febrile, as febrile as febrile can be.... ♪ ♫
Second, there is a person on YouTube who keeps leaving me kind messages. The person claims to be a Mom whose son was cured of CRPS by a contraption and bless her, she thinks I should get cured by a contraption, too.
And all those good wishes and sweet suggestions are about to piss me off in a royally major way.
That's what you get for ending all your messages to me with a cheerful "God bless" and for being all conciliatory and stuff.
This person is pushing the bleeping Calmare Magic Poof-the-Pain-Away Crap Technology... and you probably haven't heard of it, but then you probably don't hang out on message boards dealing with CRPS. It's utter nonsense and is being put out there by the devious, the deviant, and the people that the devious and the deviant have hoodwinked.
By the way, no one should hang out on message boards dealing with CRPS. It's not a healthy habit. I mean, you get a bunch of people who are not getting better (why else would they be there?), who are, by self-definition, People of Pain, and who are likely socially isolated due to disability, the aforementioned pain, and pain's stalwart companion, depression. It just sounds like so much... FUN!
So that's a rule, then. No hanging out in such spots. But a regular check on good threads, that's permitted. I would be lost without the helpful suggestions I encounter on those boards -- where to find the softest clothes, what doctor is doing what treatment, news of clinical trials, morbid jokes.
Mostly, though, I check in -- at least 3 times a week -- to take a look in a mirror, mentally as much as physically. Has anyone else considered taking a chainsaw to their legs? After we lop off one arm, who can we rely on to get rid of the other one? Important things.
I also check in to see if what is happening to me should send me screaming into the frozen hinterlands or if it is just part of the normal abnormality of this weird, weird disease. Like the fact that my leg is leaking... Or that I have 2 blue toes, 1 red, and 2 tartan plaids. It is somewhat reassuring to see pictures of other people's fingernails -- Hey, their nails are falling off and cruddy looking, too!
I promise you, however, that it will be a cold day in Hell before I author any version of the phrase "Being here makes me feel less alone..." I suppose I should explain myself, but I'm not going to. Because I know what I mean. And whose blog is it, anyway? Harrumph, squared.
Back to this irritant of a Calmare thingy.
At the moment, the only physician in the entire United States who has suckled at the tit of the inventor of the Calmare Magic Poof-the-Pain-Away Crap Technology is one Dr. D'Amato, of Rhode Island (or so I hear, over here in Tête de Hergé, where there is no illness, of course, nor traffic accidents).
Yeah, there *is* a guy opening up 14 pain clinics using the Calmare Magic Poof-the-Pain-Away Crap Technology (Spero Pain Relief Therapy clinics). Guess what? He's an OB/Gyn. Just who I want doing pain management for a central nervous system degenerative disorder. More from him in a moment.
Cut me some slack today, would'ya?
Give me some latitude.
I don't feel well and I can't get a'holt o'that there magic poof machine (and it ain't covered by insurance, neither.)
Ahem. Okay. The ibuprofen is kicking in. I love ibuprofen. I should own stock...
Speaking of stock: CTT is the parent company in the USA...and it's now a penny stock. Or almost -- it closed today at 1.70. Because some rubber-stamping idiot approved Calmare Magic Poof-the-Pain-Away Crap Technology as a vendor to the VA, all the devious, deviants, and the hoodwinked are going on and on about how if it's good enough for our Wounded Warriors at the "flagship" Walter Reed (I'm thinking they don't read the Washington Post), then, by gum, it's good enough for you CRPSers!
The Italian inventor was less circumspect, if you can believe it. He claimed that Calmare Magic Poof-the-Pain-Away Crap Technology could reverse aging.
Now you're talking!
Meet, my friends, Giuseppe Marineo, and his explanatory woo and gobbledy-gook from the Italian arm of operations, Delta R&D:
Delta R&D is a bioengineering research centre with a unique history. It was born out of individual research work begun in 1983 by Giuseppe Marineo, a researcher and bioengineer, who advanced theories to reformulate the concept of disease (and the corresponding treatment) from a biophysical rather than biochemical point of view. The idea was to restructure the known features of both according to the principles of thermodynamics by means of an analysis and the detailed specification of the relations between entropy, disease, repair processes and ageing.
This new approach to the interpretation of the traditional aspects of medical science makes it possible to go from a highly heuristic system to an extremely conceptual and rationalized system, which can create models of disease and treatment so sophisticated as to render the experimental results highly predictable. If the latter are in line with the predictions they automatically validate the development model.
Furthermore, the very name of the theoretical system developed entails a natural transition from reductionist methods to systems theory which, in the present research, takes the form of a powerful working tool capable of providing adequate support for the development of therapies of practical utility.
In practice Marineo introduced into medical science the research and development criteria typical of engineering, in which the thoroughness of the preliminary theoretical work fully determines the expectations of the experimental verification of the method used. In 1987 the basic research was already sufficiently well structured to be supported by a technology capable of translating the theoretical system into a truly useful therapy.
The first experimental verifications fully confirmed the validity of the theoretical models developed and opened up concrete future prospects for the safe and non-invasive treatment of pathologies for which conventional methods had proved ineffective.
In 1998 the Italian scientific community, which had been constantly informed of all research developments, deemed the product of 15 years research to be scientifically valid, the theoretical principles and experimental data to have been clearly demonstrated and the bioethical principles regarding the respect and protection of the patient to have been respected.
In other words, the research carried out by a private individual was accepted and supported by the public authorities. It was consequently possible to begin official university and hospital studies, at the conclusion of which the first international publications were produced.
In order to support these changes, in May 1998 Delta R&D was set up, thus marking the beginning of the mature stage of this individual research endeavour. Although the original philosophy was retained, a logistical structure was now available to satisfy the new phases of development and to maintain and expand relations with the international scientific community.
In Italy the Delta R&D company became a research centre incorporated into a public structure thanks to the prestigious acknowledgement of the Tor Vergata University of Rome in the form of an agreement in which Delta R&D is recognized as part of the scientific structure of the university while retaining its autonomy and individuality.
Outside Italy, Delta R&D, the theoretical and research work on the Delta-S Entropy Variation Systems and “Scrambler Therapy” pain therapy resulted in Giuseppe Marineo receiving scientific awards for the originality of the basic research, in addition to numerous other acknowledgements by the international scientific community inherent in the acceptance of the proposed published works.
I dunno, maybe that's not your favorite type of woo and gobbledy-gook. How about this? From the lips of Dr. Robert Chalmers, former OB/Gyn:
Q-How do you do Calmare , Exactly?
The treatment is actually quite simple. It involved the machine, wires and surface electrodes that deliver the electrical waveforms. The surface electrodes are the same used in heart monitoring such as an EKG. The patients sits or lies comfortable during each 45 minute treatment session. The electrodes are placed OUTSIDE the area of pain so they will not increase the pain in patients with allodynia from CRPS
Q-How does it work?
The mechanism is completely unique. The primary issue with CPRS is the so called physiologic "wind-up" in the brain. This is a complicated change in the nervous system and can be traced at least in part to changes in NMDA receptors in the brain. We need to get to the brain to help with this disease. The use of electricity for the management of pain is not unique to the Calmare system and I am sure many RSD sufferers have tried traditional TENS therapy. However, the Calmare system is not anything like a TENS unit. Injury or other noxious stimulus in the body creates pain chemicals. These chemicals in turn get converted into electrical impulses by your nerves which get transmitted to the brain and get INTERPRETED by the brain. When we use the Calmare system we "control" the electrical impulses that the brain is recieving. By manipulating the input into the brain we "convince" the brain that the area of the body where pain was present is now normal. We know that the brain can be taught, in medicine we refer to thoses changes as Neuroplasticity and there is quite a bit of interesting reading on that topic on the internet if you have the time. I was the worlds biggest cynic prior to actually treating patients with the machine. I thought it was TENS or Placebo but nearly every patient I have treated has already tried TENS therapy and they can tell you this is nothing like TENS.It works!
Mystery solved. "It works!" He hits all the right buzz words: allodynia, neuroplasticity, NMDA receptors, physiologic wind-up... Oh, gag me with a spoon. Does any of it make sense? Not a bit.
You want real breaking news? Hmm? Do you think you can handle some real news? Well, do ya?
Jessep: You want answers?
Kaffee (Tom Cruise): I think I'm entitled to them.
Jessep: You want answers?
Kaffee: I want the truth!
Jessep: You can't handle the truth! Son, we live in a world that has walls. And those walls have to be guarded by men with guns. Who's gonna do it? You? You, Lt. Weinberg? I have a greater responsibility than you can possibly fathom. You weep for Santiago and you curse the Marines. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what I know: that Santiago's death, while tragic, probably saved lives. And my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, saves lives...You don't want the truth. Because deep down, in places you don't talk about at parties, you want me on that wall. You need me on that wall.
We use words like honor, code, loyalty...we use these words as the backbone to a life spent defending something. You use 'em as a punchline. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom I provide, then questions the manner in which I provide it! I'd rather you just said thank you and went on your way. Otherwise, I suggest you pick up a weapon and stand a post. Either way, I don't give a damn what you think you're entitled to!
Kaffee: Did you order the code red?
Jessep: (quietly) I did the job you sent me to do.
Kaffee: Did you order the code red?
Jessep: You're goddamn right I did!!
Oops. Sorry... It just feels like A Few Good Men kind of an afternoon. Did I mention that I am febrile?
That I'm febrile, oh so febrile, as febrile as febrile can be? ♪ ♫
Oh, I did. Okay. Well, I bet you don't know that I sprang a leak! Yep, drip, drip, drip goes my leg, leg, leg... Oh, I mentioned that.
How about this? I feel cranky. That's gotta be news, because I am NEVER cranky!
WHAT IS THE CURE FOR CRANKY?
BUDDY THE KITTEN, of course.
It turns out that the kitten was not being a contemplative, not waxing philosophical. He wasn't meditating on the idea of UP after all. The Kitten wants the cord to the ceiling fan! That's what he's been gazing at in adoration for the last few weeks. What cracks me up is that he had the other two cats doing it, as well as a human or two.
Friday, May 2, 2014
The Genius Behind CALMARE and CTTC: Meet Giuseppe "The Vulture" Marineo
I've not mentioned CALMARE in quite some time. First, I had one of its ardent supporters ask me to please "leave me alone," and the whine rang through the writing such that I felt guilty for the poor man. Then, my disgust having reached such an acidic state, it was either fork over another $100 for stomach medication or ignore the scam, ignore the scammers, including poor Joey and his "leave me alone" [sniff, sniff].
Actually, what came first was an extraordinarily prayerful woman badgering me on YouTube -- so well known for the quality of its commentary -- when I did not praise her Lord and sign up for Calmare treatments immediately. They cured one of her offspring, you see. She repeated a bunch of FDA rubbish, then some VA rubbish, then plain rubbish. Then she got personal. Anyway.
I conducted myself with my usual bendy, bendy politeness, and watched as she moved on to praise her Lord in the comment section of other people suffering with CRPS. It was almost as if she were paid to do it, or something. Anyway.
CTTC is the corporate entity that markets CALMARE / Scrambler Therapy as a cure for various neuropathies, including CRPS, post-herpetic neuralgias, and the nerve pain that can be engendered by chemotherapies. It's crucial that the public understand that CTTC does nothing but coopt the patents for various products. CTTC sells its soul to sell, it does not have any real investment in the product, and in this case, the patients -- just in the public perception of the product, and how cheaply they can buy up patents.
In their fertilization of the advertising world with CALMARE and CALMARE-related pellets of untruth, CTTC peppers social media, patient support groups, and advertisements dressed up as pain management newsletters or health-related articles decorated as actual research. Videos have been widely distributed, starring cured patients who tearfully recall their prior suffering state, while never documenting that state in the recordings. The Testimonial approach to CALMARE / Scrambler Therapy duplicates the get-rich-quick late night infomercial -- in methodology as in message (tremendous, too good to believe results with no effort beyond prying loose a credit card from a tight wallet).
I have many favorite lines among the testimonialists. Right now it's I-am-so-thankful-for-Calmare because (prepare to weep):
"I have an allergic reaction to all medications. I cannot even have chemotherapy with stage 4 cancer."
I am not without a tender heart, as I ponder all the people I have known whose bodies relished the poisons of their chemotherapies and who never had any distressing reaction to the harsh chemicals coursing through their systems, at all.
The Straight Dope message board, my source for straight dope messages, once briefly contemplated how these remarkable testimonials come to life:
User ARCHETYPE, a naive sort, starts the conversation:
ARCHTYPE receives many thoughtful responses, but I think the essence of them all is best encapsulated by user T-BONHAM:
Most recently, I came upon a much-marketed CTTC/CALMARE/Scrambler Therapy saleswoman who has done her bit with a series of videos, and for the cream and cherry on top, she has a blog. What's fascinating is that her blog, with scant entries over the years, never mentions her intense suffering from a "pain condition," until CALMARE enters the textual scene. And, then, she does not mention CRPS! It's as if she and her corporate backers are afraid of being too specific. She gives a semi-accurate description of CRPS but doesn't want to worry her readers or cause friends and family to fret by saying exactly what horrid "pain condition" is beleaguering those poor legs of hers... Good thing that her bogus treatments worked wonders, though she adds that indelible soupçon of believability by mentioning that she may have to have "booster" treatments.
Her name was Amanda, Amanda Something. For some sick reason, whenever I look up her name, Phil Ochs' song "Miranda" * jumps my brain, and I find myself humming along with my sober researching.
In the beginning, much was made of the inventor and original patent holder, Giuseppe Marineo. He was called, falsely, "doctor" and "professor." As he became more of an embarrassment, he received more in the way of money and CTTC got more in the way of "ownership" of the miracle device, so the marketing geniuses could begin to fashion the background into which he might fade.
As various gynecologists and chiropractors, stethoscopes slung rakishly about their necks, receptionists shadowing them in short white coats, took over the public face of CALMARE / Scrambler Therapy -- along with some of the strangest testimonial-givers on the planet -- the "scientist" behind the earth-shattering souped-up TENS unit was cast into oblivion.
No one bothered to answer questions relating to his claims and intentions.
How did this machine come to be a treatment specific for intractable neuropathic pain when it began as Giuseppe Marineo's personal brand of woo, wrapped in a fake curriculum vitae, protected and obscured by Delta R&D, his "bioengineering research centre with a unique history." Marineo's goal was apparently the creation of a device in the tradition of the Fountain of Youth, a modulated electric buzz that would retard aging at the cellular level.
Woo, woo. A quick woo primer:
Woo generally contains most of the following characteristics:
Put on your waders, and unpack this introduction to how Marineo went from a one-man show to an incorporated one-man show with a tenuous connection to a research university.
I dare you to unpack this into meaningful language reflective of actual science, or even good business.
Or this, from a website now removed, written by the great Marineo, himself:
Here's another, still extant (if badly translated by Google -- I apologize for my lack of skill in Italian) version of the the birth of the great regenerative process, the Scrambler Therapy. Marineo simply MUST have a genetic link with the superb Ponce de Leon. This comes in an English version... already cited. It was fascinating to pick my way through the Italian, which bears little to no relation to its bastard English cousin.
Damn the limitation that keeps Giuseppe from winning in every category. It makes a mockery of the man's work.
Or you can slog on, maybe picking up a copy of the story of his AIDS cure, available on eBay at the moment: Dall' Altra Parte (The Other Side) for a mere 9 Euros. There are other stories, besides his own tale, of his electromagnetic cure, notable at the time as it was being "tested" on poet Dario Belleza, and resulted in a charge of practicing medicine without a license and vaguely familiar charges of "totally inconclusive data."
Denying he had AIDS, commonplace enough for the times, Belleza told interviewers:
"The treatment was reserved for a group of five people," concludes Dario Bellezza "because the machine was not powerful enough. No one was tied to the bed, as it was written, it only used electrodes and patches to apply them."
The electromagnetic machine, which worked through patched electrodes... WAIT! That sounds VAGUELY familiar! Could it have been, GASP, just an earlier version of the scrambling pain-hexer, the miraculous Calmare, now being snake-oil-marketed by Calmare?
It was further described in the press as witchcraft and charlatanism.
Granted, what Marineo and the dead poet brought up in a war fought in the courts as well as the press, that people have the right to "diversity" of treatment, and to treatment considered "alternative," is a valid argument.
It's just painful to watch a vulture move from one corpse to the next, one hopeless illness to another, reaping, reaping, hopping away, with strips of flailed skin flapping from its beak, feeding itself... and divesting its prey of all humanity.
Is that over the top?
Is it, really?
© 2013 L. Ryan
Actually, what came first was an extraordinarily prayerful woman badgering me on YouTube -- so well known for the quality of its commentary -- when I did not praise her Lord and sign up for Calmare treatments immediately. They cured one of her offspring, you see. She repeated a bunch of FDA rubbish, then some VA rubbish, then plain rubbish. Then she got personal. Anyway.
I conducted myself with my usual bendy, bendy politeness, and watched as she moved on to praise her Lord in the comment section of other people suffering with CRPS. It was almost as if she were paid to do it, or something. Anyway.
CTTC is the corporate entity that markets CALMARE / Scrambler Therapy as a cure for various neuropathies, including CRPS, post-herpetic neuralgias, and the nerve pain that can be engendered by chemotherapies. It's crucial that the public understand that CTTC does nothing but coopt the patents for various products. CTTC sells its soul to sell, it does not have any real investment in the product, and in this case, the patients -- just in the public perception of the product, and how cheaply they can buy up patents.
In their fertilization of the advertising world with CALMARE and CALMARE-related pellets of untruth, CTTC peppers social media, patient support groups, and advertisements dressed up as pain management newsletters or health-related articles decorated as actual research. Videos have been widely distributed, starring cured patients who tearfully recall their prior suffering state, while never documenting that state in the recordings. The Testimonial approach to CALMARE / Scrambler Therapy duplicates the get-rich-quick late night infomercial -- in methodology as in message (tremendous, too good to believe results with no effort beyond prying loose a credit card from a tight wallet).
I have many favorite lines among the testimonialists. Right now it's I-am-so-thankful-for-Calmare because (prepare to weep):
"I have an allergic reaction to all medications. I cannot even have chemotherapy with stage 4 cancer."
I am not without a tender heart, as I ponder all the people I have known whose bodies relished the poisons of their chemotherapies and who never had any distressing reaction to the harsh chemicals coursing through their systems, at all.
The Straight Dope message board, my source for straight dope messages, once briefly contemplated how these remarkable testimonials come to life:
User ARCHETYPE, a naive sort, starts the conversation:
Infomercial testimonials
How do they get people to so convincingly testify in those infomercials?
Some (especially the latest ab gadget or those get-rich-quick products) are scams and the thing that gets me most is how they get these people to so convincingly testify. Some infomercials even state that their testifiers are not compensated.
It boggles me in three levels:
1) You KNOW the product can never work as advertised.
Home-based businesses. After researching some of the home-based business on the net and discovering how their scams actually work and reading unfortunate purchasers' stories you know it is not as simple as "making $12,000 for a few hours of work in my spare time in my underwear."
The latest ab gadget. Losing weight involves diet and much more significant exercise, cardio, etc. than just crunching the damn machine 5 minutes a day.
2) This applies more to products that are brand new in the market (I can't think of any specific ones at this moment!). But how do they find the people who have used a certain product it for X amount of months or years when you know that this is the first time it is being advertised?
Now, I'm aware of such things as test markets but how do they market to those test markets? And how do they find people who had success with their products when it clearly cannot work and convince these people to testify for their product?
3) What's in it for these testifiers? Is it a lot of money? Aren't they afraid their friends and family might see their testimony?
So how do they get these testimonies? Are they all lying and/or are paid actors despite the disclaimers that they are not?
ARCHTYPE receives many thoughtful responses, but I think the essence of them all is best encapsulated by user T-BONHAM:
They lie. LIE.Think of the marketing of CALMARE / Scrambler Therapy as some sort of magic act. Most such performances rely on distraction, sleight of hand, a spot light drawing the eye from the unlit area of ruse.
After all, if you are ripping people off by selling them a product that does not work, why would you hesitate to lie about testimonials?
Most recently, I came upon a much-marketed CTTC/CALMARE/Scrambler Therapy saleswoman who has done her bit with a series of videos, and for the cream and cherry on top, she has a blog. What's fascinating is that her blog, with scant entries over the years, never mentions her intense suffering from a "pain condition," until CALMARE enters the textual scene. And, then, she does not mention CRPS! It's as if she and her corporate backers are afraid of being too specific. She gives a semi-accurate description of CRPS but doesn't want to worry her readers or cause friends and family to fret by saying exactly what horrid "pain condition" is beleaguering those poor legs of hers... Good thing that her bogus treatments worked wonders, though she adds that indelible soupçon of believability by mentioning that she may have to have "booster" treatments.
Her name was Amanda, Amanda Something. For some sick reason, whenever I look up her name, Phil Ochs' song "Miranda" * jumps my brain, and I find myself humming along with my sober researching.
In the beginning, much was made of the inventor and original patent holder, Giuseppe Marineo. He was called, falsely, "doctor" and "professor." As he became more of an embarrassment, he received more in the way of money and CTTC got more in the way of "ownership" of the miracle device, so the marketing geniuses could begin to fashion the background into which he might fade.
As various gynecologists and chiropractors, stethoscopes slung rakishly about their necks, receptionists shadowing them in short white coats, took over the public face of CALMARE / Scrambler Therapy -- along with some of the strangest testimonial-givers on the planet -- the "scientist" behind the earth-shattering souped-up TENS unit was cast into oblivion.
No one bothered to answer questions relating to his claims and intentions.
How did this machine come to be a treatment specific for intractable neuropathic pain when it began as Giuseppe Marineo's personal brand of woo, wrapped in a fake curriculum vitae, protected and obscured by Delta R&D, his "bioengineering research centre with a unique history." Marineo's goal was apparently the creation of a device in the tradition of the Fountain of Youth, a modulated electric buzz that would retard aging at the cellular level.
Woo, woo. A quick woo primer:
Woo generally contains most of the following characteristics:
- A simple idea that purports to be the one answer to many problems (often including diseases)
- A "scientific-sounding" reason for how it works, but little to no actual science behind it; for example, quote mines of studies that if bent enough could be described in such a way to support it, outright misapplication of studies, or words that sound scientific but make no sense in the context they are used in
- It involves the supernatural and paranormal (not necessarily)
- A claim of persecution, usually perpetrated by the government or the pharmaceutical, medical, or scientific community
- An invocation of a scientific authority
- Prefers to use abundant testimonials over actual scientific research
- A claim that scientists are blind to the discovery, despite attempts to alert them
- A disdain for objective, randomized experimental controls, especially double-blind testing (which are kind of what makes epidemiology actually, y'know, work)
- And, usually, an offer to share the knowledge for a price.
Put on your waders, and unpack this introduction to how Marineo went from a one-man show to an incorporated one-man show with a tenuous connection to a research university.
[Delta R & D] was born out of individual research work begun in 1983 by Giuseppe Marineo, a researcher and bioengineer, who advanced theories to reformulate the concept of disease (and the corresponding treatment) from a biophysical rather than biochemical point of view. The idea was to restructure the known features of both according to the principles of thermodynamics by means of an analysis and the detailed specification of the relations between entropy, disease, repair processes and ageing.
This new approach to the interpretation of the traditional aspects of medical science makes it possible to go from a highly heuristic system to an extremely conceptual and rationalized system, which can create models of disease and treatment so sophisticated as to render the experimental results highly predictable. If the latter are in line with the predictions they automatically validate the development model.
Furthermore, the very name of the theoretical system developed entails a natural transition from reductionist methods to systems theory which, in the present research, takes the form of a powerful working tool capable of providing adequate support for the development of therapies of practical utility.
In practice Marineo introduced into medical science the research and development criteria typical of engineering, in which the thoroughness of the preliminary theoretical work fully determines the expectations of the experimental verification of the method used. In 1987 the basic research was already sufficiently well structured to be supported by a technology capable of translating the theoretical system into a truly useful therapy.
The first experimental verifications fully confirmed the validity of the theoretical models developed and opened up concrete future prospects for the safe and non-invasive treatment of pathologies for which conventional methods had proved ineffective.
In 1998 the Italian scientific community, which had been constantly informed of all research developments, deemed the product of 15 years research to be scientifically valid, the theoretical principles and experimental data to have been clearly demonstrated and the bioethical principles regarding the respect and protection of the patient to have been respected.
In other words, the research carried out by a private individual was accepted and supported by the public authorities. It was consequently possible to begin official university and hospital studies, at the conclusion of which the first international publications were produced.
In order to support these changes, in May 1998 Delta R&D was set up, thus marking the beginning of the mature stage of this individual research endeavour. Although the original philosophy was retained, a logistical structure was now available to satisfy the new phases of development and to maintain and expand relations with the international scientific community.
I dare you to unpack this into meaningful language reflective of actual science, or even good business.
Or this, from a website now removed, written by the great Marineo, himself:
The assumed pre-coding capacity is a more logical explanation than stochastic fluctuation (which in this case must be re-interpreted as a consistent modification of the information content per stimulus/time) the different discharge time characteristic used by the receptor for the same stimulus if this occurs in sufficiently short time intervals. In this perspective, to return to our model, the comparator?? Is the arbitrary module that sorts the information, compares it with a short-term memory and if it recognizes a stimulus similar to the preceding one, modifies the gain data and the information property which it passes on to the amplifier/attenuator (synapsis), a vital element that controls the passage/non passage of the “decoded” information stripped of spurious signals, associating it with the correct degree of intensity. Again with reference to the model, the noise and stochastic variations are separated since, in my analysis, at least some of these fluctuations actually consist of sub-information capable of modifying the learning capacity and sensitivity to the stimulus if repeated over short time intervals. If the data are reinterpreted in this sense, frequency modulated discharge sequences immediately took on a different significance when combined with the “pseudo-noise” modulation accompanying them and which became an essential element of the “primary” information. At this stage I considered that I had all the elements required to materially construct a pain scrambler (technically an information mixer), that is, a system capable of “masking” the pain signal.
Here's another, still extant (if badly translated by Google -- I apologize for my lack of skill in Italian) version of the the birth of the great regenerative process, the Scrambler Therapy. Marineo simply MUST have a genetic link with the superb Ponce de Leon. This comes in an English version... already cited. It was fascinating to pick my way through the Italian, which bears little to no relation to its bastard English cousin.
In the mid 80s I completed the development of a theoretical model that interpreted on the basis of biophysical dynamics of chronic-degenerative disease processes, and more generally of an aging workforce. On the basis of this theoretical model I have subsequently developed a technology (Systems Entropy Variation Delta-S) in accordance with these principles that was potentially able to reactivate regenerative processes of tissues and organs without the use of stem cells.About had enough? Take a break from this thick, smarmy scientific writing and read something uplifting.
In 2003, this research has received European approval for use in ambulatory and hospital liver cirrhosis. The results of phase II studies have been published in the Annals of the Academy of Sciences in New York and in other publications indexed. Despite this initial success, for reasons related to the lack of industrial sponsors, I found myself in substantial economic impossibility of progression in phase III clinical trials.
This research dissemination in the scientific community was so overcome by what I later developed the chronic pain, now known as the Scrambler Therapy ®. Contrary to what many believe, the "Scrambler Therapy ®" was born almost accidentally and indirectly from my studies on regeneration, although initially considered (sbagliandomi) only support the latter.
In particular in the field of regeneration in the late 80s I developed two lines of experimentation leading to verify if the theoretical assumptions that I had assumed were actually used in the clinic even humans. The first line of research related to cirrhosis of the liver, where the chances of success were predictably higher for most hepatic regenerative capacity of the organ.
The second line of research instead on the regeneration of nerve fibers, almost a complete utopia in those days, even if Rita Levi Montalcini had just got the Nobel (December 1986) for the discovery of 'NGF, the growth factor of nerve fibers . Inevitably occupandomi nerve injury I got in touch with what is, by definition, considered the worst form of chronic pain that is known in medicine, neuropathic, which essentially prevented the possibility to study the possibilities of regenerative nerve damage. Initially I sought the help of specialists in pain, but when I spoke of neuropathic pain were more discouraged me.
For a long time I turned to all sorts of pain specialist, seeking solutions also in acupuncture and hypnosis clinic, but the pain seemed to resist any attempt at treatment. I was about to resign myself to this situation by deciding to continue my research only on cirrhosis of the liver, where although always of limited series, I had already obtained preliminary results very encouraging, and free of the problems related to chronic pain that I met in nerve damage.
Just a few days as I was maturing this decision, an 'association of ill asked me to attend one of their meetings. I accepted, and put it back in the face of so much suffering and hopes of these people, I decided that if there was still no effective treatment for these types of pain, this does not necessarily meant that it was impossible to do so.
My knowledge of neurophysiology were already quite wide and deep, I was not so difficult to integrate with the specialized knowledge of the pathophysiology of chronic pain. Just as approfondivo this knowledge met the Gate Control theory, that is the dominant model and commonly accepted understanding of the mechanisms of pain perception. With some surprise I immediately realized that this theory was applicable only in acute pain. Conversely, I could not find at all its logical application in chronic pain, although conventionally accepted in the scientific community.
I understood that my assessment was practically heresy given the importance of this theory, the weight of scientific authors, endorsements obtained from its inception, and subsequent to the full consecration obtained after the seminal article published in Science in 1965. Then Thinking that he had missed something, I continued to deepen my studies, but most did this, the more my belief dell'inapplicabilità of this theory to chronic pain (especially neuropathic) prevailed.
I can say that it is exactly at this moment that comes Scrambler Therapy ®, because by identifying what I thought an error, I also found the way to a possible solution, which is now a clinical reality no longer experimental
Calmare for Nobel Prize: Calmare Inventor Giuseppe Marineo is recieving some groundswell of support for a Nobel Prize this year, in the Physics, Chemistry, and Medical categories (he can only win one category) due to his invention of the Calmare medical device which cures pain without the side effects of narcotics.
Damn the limitation that keeps Giuseppe from winning in every category. It makes a mockery of the man's work.
Or you can slog on, maybe picking up a copy of the story of his AIDS cure, available on eBay at the moment: Dall' Altra Parte (The Other Side) for a mere 9 Euros. There are other stories, besides his own tale, of his electromagnetic cure, notable at the time as it was being "tested" on poet Dario Belleza, and resulted in a charge of practicing medicine without a license and vaguely familiar charges of "totally inconclusive data."
Denying he had AIDS, commonplace enough for the times, Belleza told interviewers:
"The treatment was reserved for a group of five people," concludes Dario Bellezza "because the machine was not powerful enough. No one was tied to the bed, as it was written, it only used electrodes and patches to apply them."
The electromagnetic machine, which worked through patched electrodes... WAIT! That sounds VAGUELY familiar! Could it have been, GASP, just an earlier version of the scrambling pain-hexer, the miraculous Calmare, now being snake-oil-marketed by Calmare?
It was further described in the press as witchcraft and charlatanism.
Granted, what Marineo and the dead poet brought up in a war fought in the courts as well as the press, that people have the right to "diversity" of treatment, and to treatment considered "alternative," is a valid argument.
It's just painful to watch a vulture move from one corpse to the next, one hopeless illness to another, reaping, reaping, hopping away, with strips of flailed skin flapping from its beak, feeding itself... and divesting its prey of all humanity.
Is that over the top?
Is it, really?
* Miranda lyrics, so that you, too, may hum along:
Do you have a problem,
Would you like someone to solve them,
Would you like someone to share in your misery?
Now, I don't know the answer, but I know a flamenco dancer
Who will dance for you if you will dance for me
[Chorus:]
Her name's Miranda
She's a Rudolph Valentino fan
And she doesn't claim to understand
She bakes brownies for the boys in the band.
Early Sunday morning
When the sermon lines are forming
And Saturday night is the memories that it gave.
She's busy in the pantry, far away from Elmer Gantry
Who is busy baking souls that he may save.
Everybody's soul but Miranda (Chorus)
The dice of death are calling
While the truck of time is falling
By the thumb stuck out on the highway of the years.
The tollgate at the turnpike is ignored by those who hitch-hike
And the Howard Johnson food is made of fear
But not Miranda
(Chorus)
The sun burnt skin is peeling
On the doctors who are healing
And the license plates are laughing on the car.
The pain is so exciting
And everyone's inviting
You to look upon their operation scars.
But not Miranda
(Chorus)
The condiments are clashing
While commercial planes are crashing
And the music of the evening is so sweet
Now fully in agreement
Oh, their feet have found the cement
And they all believe the signs are on the street
Her name's Miranda
(Chorus)
In the bar we're gin and scotching
While the FBI is watching
They are tape recording every other word
The bartender is bleeding
Pardon me, I just was leaving
as another clever voice repeats absurd
But not Miranda
(Chorus)
(repeat first verse)
© 2013 L. Ryan
Monday, October 7, 2013
The Shell Game for Shills: CTTC Has a New CEO
 |
| The Shell Game |
Good morning, Dear Readers.
Without the least bit of a gloat and nary a reminder of the soul-sucking, money-stealing, totally bogus health claims made by CALMARE/Scrambler Therapy adherents, the "technology" that has kept CTTC (Competitive Technologies, Inc.) in the top spot of my list of CRPS Scams, I come before you with a heavy heart to announce that the robust company stock is for sale today at a steamy rate of .0553 -- that's per share, not the discounted price for the whole snake oil business, you chuckleheads!
As you know, I keep one ear to the ground -- not by choice, of course; it's more adherence to gravity -- and the word is that tomorrow is BOGO Day for CTTC.
On a more serious note, Competitive Technologies, "patent" capitalists, has come up with another filing to submit to the SEC. I knew they'd get the hang of notifying the SEC of every smarmy, desperate move one day, after all that time of being unable to throw together something as simple as an earnings report equipped with super-glued pasties spinning the rip-off of people in severe and constant pain. Just as they circle the drain, they master the art of big business!
It has to do with some staffing issues. Here's the press release version of it:
FAIRFIELD, CT--(Marketwired - Oct 4, 2013) - The Board of Directors of Competitive Technologies, Inc., (OTCQX: CTTC) (CTI), today announced the appointment of Conrad F. Mir as President and chief executive officer, with full responsibility for running the corporation, and as a member of the Board of Directors. Mr. Mir will also serve as interim chief financial officer while the Board of Directors commences a search process to identify a suitable candidate to fill the role on a permanent basis.
"With Mr. Mir's expertise in the micro-cap biotechnology space, along with his experience turning around distressed biotech companies, CTI has the right leadership in place to execute its corporate reengineering plan and enhance long-term shareholder value," said Peter Brennan, chairman of the Board of Directors of CTI.
Mr. Mir has been mandated to implement a corporate reengineering plan (Plan), which he designed and presented to the Board of Directors. The Plan reengineers CTI's core business, cuts expenses, develops the wound care and bone technologies, and furthers our flagship Calmare© platform.
The Board of Directors also announced the acceptance of Carl O'Connell's resignation as CEO. Mr. O'Connell has chosen to pursue other business opportunities, but will remain on the Board of Directors to provide continuity and ensure the Plan's success. He has agreed to serve as a special advisor to CTI in various medical technology capacities, including the ongoing development of Calmare.
"Carl has a wealth of knowledge in the medical device field and will continue to be an instrumental part of the CTI team through his direction and guidance in the board room," added Mr. Brennan.
In addition, CTI will not extend its consulting agreement with Johnnie Johnson, chief financial officer and consultant to CTI. The company is indebted to his hard work and wishes him success in future endeavors.
About Mr. Mir
Mr. Mir has over twenty years of investment banking, financial structuring, and corporate reengineering experience. He has served in various executive management roles and on the Board of Directors of several companies in the biotechnology industry. Most recently, Mr. Mir was CFO of Pressure BioSciences, Inc., a sample preparation company advancing its proprietary pressure cycling technology. Before that, he was chairman and CEO of Genetic Immunity, Inc., a plasmid, DNA company in the HIV space, and was the executive director of Advaxis, Inc., a vaccine company. Over the last five years, he was responsible for raising more than $40 million in growth capital and broadening corporate reach to new investors and current shareholders.
Conrad has worked for several investment banks including Sanford C. Bernstein, First Liberty Investment Group, and Nomura Securities International. He holds a BS/BA in Economics and English with special concentrations in Mathematics and Physics from New York University. He is a classically trained pianist and teacher, and a student of the martial arts. He is married with two children, alumni council chairman of Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity - Tau Alpha chapter (NYU), and a member of NIRI.
About the Company[I eliminated the "Forward-Looking Statements" pro forma paragraph because of the dangers it imposed on readers -- a possible choking hazard, a means to the inadvertent snort of hot coffee into sinus cavities, etc.]
Competitive Technologies Inc., (CTI) is a biotechnology company developing and commercializing innovative products and technologies. CTI is the licensed distributor of the non-invasive Calmare® pain therapy medical device, which incorporates the biophysical "Scrambler Therapy"® technology developed to treat neuropathic and cancer-derived pain by Professor Giuseppe Marineo.
The Calmare device is currently being manufactured for sale by GEOMC Co., Ltd. of Seoul, South Korea.
Scrambler Therapy®: www.scramblertherapy.org/english.htm
Calmare®: www.calmarett.com
CTI: www.competitivetech.net
Contact:Competitive Technologies, Inc.
Conrad Mir
President and CEOEmail Contact
973.798.8882
JV Public RelationsFeeling duly diligent, I looked into the health of the boat from which Conrad Mir debarked. Pressure BioSciences, Inc and its 12 employees can boast a net profit margin for this year's second quarter of -297.99% , quite the decline from the -278.64% deficit for all of 2012. They did post an improvement in operating margin, tightening that figure to a satisfying -239.84%. Remember that old adage: "If your business sustains a negative operating margin for too long, you might need additional funding"!
Janet Vasquez
Managing DirectorEmail Contact
212.645.5498
Oh, and if you are a neophyte investor, like me, you might want to heed Investipedia's advice about profit margins:
Now, I have to say that Pressure BioSciences, Inc has much more interesting language in its "Forward Looking Statements" section than does poor Competitive Technologies, Inc. For instance:
- This ratio is not useful for companies losing money, since they have no profit.
- A low profit margin can indicate pricing strategy and/or the impact competition has on margins.
Further, given the uncertainty in the capital markets and the current status of the Company’s product development and commercialization activities, there can be no assurance that the Company will secure the additional capital necessary to fund its operations beyond September 2013 on acceptable terms, if at all.
Not to sully the fine name of Yankee's pitcher Mariano Rivera, I am wondering if we might not hang the moniker of "The Closer" on Mr. Mir. Given that his tenure with Pressure BioSciences began in December 2012 and ended with such a huge leap up the rungs of corporate laddership in September 2013, we might even extend that nickname to another favored by that awesome relief pitcher: "The Sandman."
Oops! And "oops" is never a good omen! I incorrectly calculated the time Mr. Mir spent leading Pressure Biosciences. He managed to serve as CEO of another biotech endeavor, Genetic Immunity, Inc, in his free time before landing at CTTC. Genetic Immunity, Inc is a subsidiary of Power of the Dream Ventures, Inc. [O Lord, take me now!] Power of the Dream Ventures, Inc is trading today at a whopping four cents.
Power of the Dream Ventures, Inc., (PDV), incorporated on August 17, 2006, is a holding company focused on technology acquisition and development enabling the delivery of concepts and ready to market products to the international market place. The Company develops, acquire, license or co-develop technologies that originates exclusively in Hungary... As of December 31, 2011, the Company had only realized limited revenues from its discontinued TothTelescope project and had not realized any revenues from other inventions.The keenest review I could find for the TothTelescope was on a forum for telescope enthusiasts. Rick said:
"I would be *HIGHLY* (I can't emphasize "HIGHLY" enough) suspect of this scope... The comments I have seen on Astromart and Yahoo BinocularAstronomy about this product echo this....someone even thought the website was meant to be a joke. I'm afraid it is meant to be a scam."
A joke.
A scam.
My, but the world is round, and the bean shuffled seamlessly from one shell to another, confounding even the most keen-eyed players of the game.
At least, in Mr. Mir's past, the sham toys don't seem to be aimed at desperate people living lives of declining quality, full of intense and unrelenting pain. The pain to which he has limited himself -- until now -- appears to have been the familiar marketplace woe of separating a person from his or her money.
In keeping with my consistent attitude of respect for CTTC and their pseudoscientific, testimonial approach to business, tempered with the ardent compassion of a mature Marquis de Sade, I bid adieu to Carl O'Connell. He's been the subject of much awe, proving worried parents of college students wrong by audaciously turning a degree in psychology into the fodder needed for growing companies in the related fields of "Neurosurgery, Ophthalmology, Orthopedics-Spine, ENT and Dentistry." You've got to figure Carl will land on his feet.
© 2013 L. Ryan
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