Right now, 16% of all US retail hiring processes involve pre-screening job applicants with an online personality test created by Unicru, which was acquired recently by Massachusetts-based Kronos, Inc.

Kronos processed 10 million tests in 2008 alone, assessing things like self-control, adaptability and friendliness in an effort to weed out applicants poorly suited to retail work before the interview phase.

The test requires applicants to agree or disagree with 130 statements like, “you have to give up on some things that you start,” and “any trouble you have is your own fault.”

Many companies believe the test is effective. For example Kristopher Arnes, a Best Buy executive told the Wall Street Journal that Kronos’ automated screening process saves 250,000 to 300,000 hours in HR costs per year.

Whole Foods Market dropped the test however, finding that sunny personalities don’t necessarily translate into knowing how much cumin and allspice to throw into the couscous. 

Meanwhile, a whole subculture of cheating has bloomed around the test. Applicants often share answers and test-taking strategies, use answer sheets found online or even have a friend, presumably one with a pleasant disposition, take the test for them.

But Kronos isn’t worried about that, or if they are they aren’t saying. For one thing they claim, there’s been no drop-off in their tool’s performance when it comes to employee turnover, sales performance and what have you.

And Kronos executives don’t give much credence to those online answer sheets. “The way in which the answers relate to the job requirements is…not obvious,” test developer David Scarborough told the Journal.

They better hope not.

Using simple, cockpit-style checklists in operating rooms cuts mortality and complications by 40%, according to a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

The 19-item cheat sheets had tick-boxes for pre-operative activities including confirming the patient’s name and allergy history, and confirming equipment had been sterilized and prophylactic antibiotics had been administered.

Post-operative checks included specimen labeling and tool and equipment retrieving.

The one-year study of non-cardiac surgery involved 7,600 patients in urban and rural hospitals in 8 countries with locations including London, Seattle, Manila, New Delhi and Ifakara, Tanzania.

Hospitals using the checklists observed declines in serious complications from 11% to 7%. The highest reductions were noted in rural and underfunded hospitals.

“You take something as complex as surgery, and you think there isn’t a lot that can be done to make it better,” Atul Gawande told the Washington Post. The Brigham and Women’s hospital physician added, “a checklist seems like a no-brainer, but the size of the benefit is dramatic.”

The authors speculate that if all US operating rooms implemented the checklists, the US health system would save $15-25 billion per year by not having to treat avoidable complications.

Recent studies have shown that the average surgical complication in the US costs $12,000 to treat, and nearly half are preventable.

Worldwide, over 234 million surgical procedures are performed annually, and somewhere between 3 and 17% result in a major complication.

“We’re not great at doing the simple things all the time,” concluded Gawande. “If you miss a few percent here and a few percent there, it adds up.”

“I don’t get through a week where (the checklist) has not caught something,” he marvelled.

If Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick has his way, the state’s major restaurant chains will soon be required to post calorie counts for all offerings, either on the menu or at the counter.

And public schools will have to measure the height and weight of all children in grades 1, 4, 7 and 10, determine which students are overweight using a BMI calculation, and report the results to parents or guardians.

Patrick’s anti-obesity proposals must first be approved by the Public Health Council and that is expected to happen shortly.

“Our approach here is comprehensive – like with smoking cessation and HIV-prevention, a single message is not enough,” state public health commissioner John Auerbach told the Boston Globe.

Massachusetts is one of the nation’s most health conscious states but even here the percentage of overweight or obese adults increased from 43% to 59% between 1990 and 2007. Meanwhile, a third of the state’s middle school and high school students are overweight, 3 times more than 20 years ago.

Massachusetts officials estimate that about 2,000 restaurants would be subject to the new rules, which apply only to chains having 15 or more stores in the state.

Massachusetts-based Dunkin’ Donuts said it embraced a “responsibility to provide health-related public information,” but whined that “for multistate operators…the complex, localized regulatory approach to menu labeling is costly and disruptive.”

New York City has required that fast-food chains post calorie counts on menu boards since April and the information surprised even Gotham’s health commissioner. 

“It was sticker shock,” Thomas Frieden told the Globe. “Who knew a bran muffin could have 450 calories?”

Asian stock markets dropped faster than those in the G7 countries during 2008. Taiwan’s exports plummeted 42% during the year and South Korea’s fell by 17%. Even China’s dipped a bit.

Do we take these to be signs the Great Economic Crisis will end the Asian emerging markets boom once and for all?

Probably not, according to the Economist. In fact many Asian economies are likely to recover faster than ours.

Economists who predict long term trouble for emerging Asian economies argue that the boom was  fueled by three things—exports to American consumers, easy access to cheap capital and high commodity prices—and all 3 have collapsed. 

But claims that Asian economies rely on consumption in G7 countries are exaggerated. The Asian export surge since 2000 is almost totally explained by exports to the developing world. Exports to G7 countries has barely budged from 20% of the pan-Asian GDP since 2000.

And Asian companies are net importers of commodities, so they stand to benefit from the collapse in their prices.

Meanwhile Gerard Lyons, the senior economist at Standard Chartered, emphasizes that many emerging Asian economies do not face the structural problems confronting America’s economy.

He mentions in particular our overwhelming domestic debt, which might forestall growth for years and blunt the impact of fiscal stimulus programs like the one the Big O is about to unveil.

This is especially true of China. Many expect that nation’s GDP will drop to 7% in 2009, down from 12% in 2007 and its lowest growth in 20 years.

Thousands of factories have already closed in China, and the government rolled-out a major fiscal stimulus package just last month.

But China has debts amounting to only 18% of GDP, so its government can throw several more stimulus packages together if necessary. And these programs would help build domestic demand, thereby sheltering its economy once and for all from our capricious ways.

One piece of fallout from the Pfizer-Wyeth hook up announced a few hours ago is that the latter will not be acquiring Crucell after all.

According to the an online story from the Wall Street Journal, “Crucell NV said Wyeth pulled out of friendly takeover talks with the Dutch vaccine maker.

Crucell admitted the discussions earlier this month, and people familiar with the matter at the time valued Crucell at$1.3 billion.”

A Pizaazz post, written before the Pfizer-Wyeth tie-up was made official and up for about an hour this morning, had speculated the Wyeth-Crucell deal might go ahead regardless of the larger circumstances, but that does not appear to be the case.  

We’ve pulled the original post and apologize for speculation that proved to be incorrect.

In a letter to the Big O’s transition team and Congressional leaders, 9 FDA scientists pleaded that their agency needs to scrub clean a culture in which officials coerce scientists to fudge data and approve devices with no proven benefit.

The scientists assert the agency is “fundamentally broken… there is an atmosphere…in which the honest employee fears the dishonest employee,” in a letter received a few days before the inauguration and reported in the Wall Street Journal.

The scientists are concerned in particular with the FDA’s approval process for medical devices, which they describe as “corrupted and distorted by current FDA managers, thereby placing the American people at risk.”

For example say the scientists, the FDA approved computer-aided mammography detection devices in the absence of evidence that they worked. Since then, FDA scientists have advised repeatedly that the agency should take another look at the evidence, to no avail.

The letter is a follow-up to one sent in October to the House Energy and Commerce Committee in which the scientists reported they had already voiced concerns to Andrew von Eschenbach, the Commissioner during the Bush presidency, and his deputy Bill McConagha.

In November, Committee leaders wrote a letter to von Eschenbach saying they had “received…evidence of…wrongdoing” in his agency, and suggested that certain managers be removed.

But since then the scientists say, no one has been held accountable and some offending managers have actually been promoted.

In response to the accusations, FDA spokesperson Judy Leon says the agency has worked “very closely” with the Big O’s team, and that it is “actively engaged in a process to explore the staff members’ concerns and take appropriate action.”

Remember when the CEOs of GM, Ford and Chrysler flew corporate jets to Washington to beg for a bailout?

After receiving a righteous whuppin’ by politicians, bloggers and YouTubers, the group returned for a second go a month later in cars.

The fiasco was a killer for business-jet industry which had hoped the CEOs would defend the craft as time-savers.

They “didn’t have the guts to defend their actions,” Michael Boyd told the Economist.

No seriously, the aviation consultant does know the jets are a smidge unpopular these days. 

“Right up there with Saddam Hussein,” was the way Boyd put it.

In fact, many companies appear to have decided to rid themselves of their jets altogether. The US automakers, Time Warner, AT&T and Citigroup have put their jets up for sale and other companies cancelled orders for new ones. 

As a result, UBS reports a 62% increase year-over-year in the number of second-hand corporate jets on the market—that’s the highest number since the statistic was introduced.

“The market is dead,” states the UBS report in one particularly gloomy passage. Elsewhere, the report describes current affairs as “possibly the worst market since 1970.”

Surprisingly, not everyone agrees. The Economist cites a JPMorgan analysis of asking prices for used jets—they actually rose 3.4% in November.

To Jonathan Breeze, Jet Republic’s CEO, that means some firms don’t really want to sell their jets at all. They put their jets on the block for an unreasonably high price, assuring there will be no buyers. This way they appear to be in touch with the times while the top dogs gallivant around as usual.

American Well, a Boston-based start-up that facilitates Internet-based physician “house calls” went live on Jan 15 with its first customer, the Hawaii Medical Service Association.

The archipelago’s sole Blue-Cross Blue-Shield licensee in turn plans to assure the service is available to every state resident, including those who are uninsured.

The service should appeal to those who don’t want to wait to see a physician or waste time commuting to the doctor’s office. It seems particularly well suited for patients needing medication refills or a look-see following surgery, and for elderly folks who are comfortable with computers.

Hawaii seems an ideal first venue for American Well’s online doctor service because island geography frequently complicates access to providers, and because the state lacks providers in remote areas.

During the encounter physicians can, ideally, access patients’ medical histories. For example, a patient using Microsoft’s HealthVault personal medical record can permit the physician to access the information.

Some worry what will happen because physicians can’t detect or assess physical findings using the new medium, but Robert Sussman has been trying it for awhile and has some perspective.

“It’s a tool to help doctors do better, the way a stethoscope is a tool,” he told the New York Times. “You still have to use your common sense.”

And at times it can facilitate triage decisions better than a phone conversation. Physicians for example, can see whether a febrile infant is lethargic and hence needs to be seen or is alert and thus may not have to come in.

Diabetes and strokes precipitate age-related cognitive decline by impacting the hippocampus, a part of the brain involved in memory formation.

But the 2 conditions affect different parts of the hippocampus and do so via different mechanisms, according to a study in Annals of Neurology.

Scott Small and colleagues at Columbia University Medical Center used magnetic resonance imaging to document strokes and create functional maps of the hippocampus in 240 community-based elderly individuals including 60 with diabetes and 74 with brain infarcts.

They found that diabetes impacted hippocampal function via swings in blood glucose levels, while strokes impacted a different subregion via transient reductions in blood flow.

In the case of diabetes, adverse effects on the brain were correlated with mild to moderate blood sugar excursions, a conclusion that may have implications for so-called “normal, age-related” cognitive decline, because glucose regulation starts to deteriorate by the fourth decade of life.

“If we conclude this is underlying normal age-related cognitive decline, then it affects all of us,” Small told the New York Times.

And since physical exercise improves glucose regulation, “We have a behavioral recommendation — physical exercise,” he added.

Bruce S. McEwen, a neuroendocrinologist at Rockefeller University was impressed. “When we think about diabetes, we think about heart disease and all the consequences for the rest of the body, but we usually don’t think about the brain,” he said.

“We need to think about their…cognitive skills, and whether they will be able to keep up with the demands of education and a fast-paced society.”

Earlier studies had demonstrated that physical activity reduces the risk and diabetes increases the risk of age-related cognitive decline.

The FDA has announced plans to study whether TV ads for prescription drugs display side-effect information in a fair and balanced manner.

The plan is to concoct a series of sham TV advertisements for a fictitious blood pressure drug and play them for 2,000 adults. The ads will differ in the images displayed during the time the announcer recites side-effect information.

The ads will display scenes ranging from highly consistent with the information being presented to highly inconsistent—maybe something like a buff couple relaxing in bathtubs positioned for sunset-watching on a beach.

After being shown the sham ads, study participants will be quizzed about what was said regarding the risks and benefits of the drug.

The FDA requires that DTC ads strike a “fair balance” in presenting risks and benefits and worries that visual images can distract viewers to a point where they’re unable to retain information about risk.

“Do images of people frolicking on a beach counteract the risk information being presented?” Allan Coukell, policy director at the Prescription Project asked MedPageToday.

Rhetorically, we can only assume.

“The concern is that every ad ends with the litany of risks–you sort of discount it,” Coukell continued.

The FDA study also plans to assess whether the addition of text describing the risks, in addition to the announcer’s scripted remarks, might impact recall.