FDA to detain import of firm's pomegranate seeds

WASHINGTON — The Food and Drug Administration plans to detain shipments of pomegranate seeds from a Turkish company when they are offered for import into the U.S. because of a multistate outbreak of hepatitis A illnesses associated with a frozen-food blend containing pomegranate seed mix. Products linked to the illnesses have already been recalled.

The FDA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have determined that the most likely vehicle for the hepatitis A virus appears to be a common shipment of pomegranate seeds from the Turkish company, Goknur Foodstuffs Import Export Trading, the FDA said in a statement Saturday.

The food company Townsend Farms of Fairview, Ore., used those pomegranate seeds to make the Townsend Farms and Harris Teeter Organic Antioxidant Blends that were recalled in June, the FDA said. Those seeds were also used by Scenic Fruit Co. of Gresham, Ore., to make their recently recalled Woodstock Frozen Organic Pomegranate Kernels, according to the federal agency.

As of Thursday, 127 people in eight states — Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wisconsin — were reported to have been exposed to Townsend Farms Organic Antioxidant Blend, the FDA said. Those reported ill in Wisconsin were exposed to the product in California.

The illnesses date back to mid-March, the CDC has reported. In early June, Townsend Farms recalled its frozen Organic Antioxidant Blend, packaged under the Townsend Farms label at Costco and under the Harris Teeter brand at those stores.

The outbreak strain of hepatitis A virus, belonging to genotype 1B, was found in clinical specimens of 56 people in seven states, according to a CDC report. That strain is rarely seen in the Americas but circulates in North Africa and the Middle East.

"This outbreak highlights the food safety challenge posed by today's global food system," said Michael R. Taylor, deputy commissioner for foods and veterinary medicine.

"The presence in a single product of multiple ingredients from multiple countries compounds the difficulty of finding the cause of an illness outbreak. The Hepatitis A outbreak shows how we have improved our ability to investigate and respond to outbreaks, but also why we are working to build a food safety system that more effectively prevents them," Taylor said.

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New rule targets drug shortages

Federal regulators, trying to head off drug shortages, are poised to release a proposed rule that would require manufacturers to notify them if they stop or delay production of critical drugs.

The rule would require manufacturers to give the Food and Drug Administration six months' notice before discontinuing or interrupting the production of drugs that are life-sustaining, or that treat or prevent debilitating diseases.

"Early notification of supply disruptions or other potential problems that could lead to a shortage will enable the FDA to work with manufacturers and stakeholders to prevent a shortage or mitigate its impact," said FDA spokesman Christopher C. Kelly.

The FDA will consider public comments before finalizing the rule by Jan. 9.

Last year, there were 117 drug shortages, Kelly said, and the FDA was able to prevent another 282, up from 195 in 2011.

Shortages can be agonizing for patients whose lives hang in the balance.

"For many patients, these drugs are life-saving, so the impact (of a shortage) can be tremendous," said Dr. Jack Erban, clinical director of the Tufts Medical Center Cancer Center and professor of medicine at Tufts University School of Medicine. "We don't have the luxury of delaying. It's already extremely stressful to go through chemotherapy. Any deviation is a major source of anxiety and distress for the patient. Occasionally, drugs have to be substituted, sometimes with ones that are not as effective or that have more side effects."

About two years ago, there was a nationwide shortage of Doxil, which is used to treat ovarian, breast and endometrial cancer.

"It affected a lot of women," said Dr. Michael Birrer, director of gynecologic medical oncology at Massachusetts General Hospital and professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. "We switched to prescribing a parent compound, which is more toxic and not as effective."

Birrer doesn't believe the proposed FDA rule goes far enough.

"Why do we have only one company producing a drug?" he said. "Either we need to stimulate the market by providing a bigger profit margin on generic drugs, or the federal government gets into the drug-making business, which I don't think is smart."

Marjorie Moeling, a spokeswoman for Bedford Laboratories, which makes generic injectable drugs, said, "I can tell you that we understand the urgent need for critical medicines and, in partnership with the FDA, are committed to addressing drug shortage and ensuring our products are safe, effective and reach the people who need them."

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A taste of the real world

Faced with a difficult job market and employers demanding more than a traditional skill set, entrepreneurial programs at colleges and universities have more value than ever, students, professors and officials say.

Dozens of student-founded companies take part in business incubators, accelerators and challenges organized by schools, including Harvard University, Emerson College and Babson College.

"I know I would not be this far without the program," said Emerson College senior Jon Allen, winner of this year's E3 Expo at Emerson. Allen is getting ready to launch his line of natural Shirley Temples.

Allen, like many who go through accelerator programs, started with an idea for a business and spent the next two semesters fine-tuning and perfecting it. While improving the business plan, the budding entrepreneurs get exposure to professionals who are able to offer advice about key business skills, such as marketing, presenting to investors and legal issues.

For many involved in these programs, the skills learned are just as important as any potential money students can win.

"It's this concept of getting direct and relatively easy access to resources they need," said Andrew Corbett, faculty director of John E. & Alice L. Butler Venture Accelerator program at Babson College.

"Even people that don't win end up doing great things," said Paul Bottino, founder and executive director of Harvard's I3 challenge.

James DiSabatino, owner of the Roxy's Grilled Cheese food truck in Boston, went through the E3 program when he was an Emerson student, but with a different business idea. Through the program, he figured out that his idea — an environmentally focused shuttle company — was not viable.

"That was the learning experience I needed," he said. "It helped me make those really essential mistakes first."

Sara Gragnolati of Boston was in Babson's accelerator program while pursuing her MBA and launched her soon-to-expand gluten-free food company Cocomama thanks to the program. She said the best part of the program was being surrounded by others who were also trying to start a business.

"When you're looking at and evaluating other business, it also teaches you about your own" she said. "You know people are giving you feedback because they want to help you."

Many students and professors recognize that a new kind of skill set is necessary post-graduation, regardless of the kind of job.

"The reality of working has changed," said Karl Baehr, director of the E3 program. "If you're going to prepare a student for a career today, they have to learn how to think entrepreneurially about their career."

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Back Bay brownstone makes break from past

When you think of a 19th century brownstone located in Boston's Back Bay neighborhood, the last thing that comes to mind is a contemporary-style home.

But Boston firm Ruhl Walker Architects did just that for a triplex penthouse, where combined upper-floor units were designed and rebuilt into 3,100 square feet of living space. The condo has three bedrooms and three and a half bathrooms as well as one deeded parking space.

What makes the property special is a palette of whites and grays, complemented by the white oak plank floors with a gray stain and custom Tabu Caleidolegno wood cabinetry.

The condo is now on the market for just over $3 million.

The first level is completely open and airy, with the living area on one side of the 9-foot entry and dining area and kitchen on the other side. The ceiling height is close to 12 feet that is further enhanced by the internal atrium that soars to the top floor where a large skylight brightens the entire space even on a cloudy day.

The dining area features a three-story panel of silver quartzite cladding by Island Stone behind a long, custom-designed white lacquered banquette with uplighting.

The kitchen has the same color scheme. A long center island is wrapped in white Carrara marble. Appliances include a Miele dishwasher and a U-Line wine cooler, as well as a professional Wolf six-burner gas range.

The living room faces north, and its two large windows look out to the Esplanade and the Charles River. Dominating one wall is a nearly 12-foot-wide mantelpiece of Blue Savoy marble with an Absolute black granite surround for a raised fireplace. Above it is a 6-inch recess that holds a 60-inch flat screen TV. On the other side of the range counters are glossy white cabinets with a large Sub-Zero refrigerator, paneled to match the cabinetry. Hidden behind a paneled wall of Tabu Caleidolegno is a sleek powder room with a contemporary one-piece, custom-designed Corian sink with a waterfall faucet and a dual-flush toilet.

Within the internal atrium, you will find a cable and steel staircase that rises to the top floor against ledge stone that includes tiny step lights. On this level you will find two more rooms and another bath. There's a home office featuring a desk fabricated from Tabu Caleidolegno and black oxide steel with French doors behind the desk leading onto a copper-clad balcony.

Finally, stairs lead to the roof deck, which has a copper head house that holds the six-panel skylight. The tiered deck is equipped with an outdoor stainless- steel Viking gas grill and water and electric service. Two long built-in slat benches are fixed on the deck, and in the middle of this outdoor space is a small fire pit.

Charlie Abrahams is a licensed real estate agent in Boston who works with buyers and sellers and can be reached at: Bostonrealestate@charlieabrahams.com

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Puma tears up pact with Aaron Hernandez

Puma became the latest company to announce it was ending its endorsement deal with former New England Patriots tight end and accused killer Aaron Hernandez, offering only a terse statement yesterday.

"Puma has ended the relationship with athlete Aaron Hernandez in light of the current situation," spokeswoman Katie Sheptyck said via email. The athletic gear brand wouldn't comment on the timing of its decision.

Hernandez was charged Wednesday with the murder of Odin Lloyd, a semi-pro football player from Dorchester.

Germany's Puma, whose North American headquarters is in Westford, announced a two-year deal with Hernandez in April and said he would be a face of its men's training category. At the time, it said the relationship would focus on the "unexpected and highlight his life off of the field."

Investigators had been probing ties between Hernandez and Lloyd's murder since June 17. Sports nutrition company CytoSport ended its deal with Hernandez three days later. But Puma was mum until yesterday, when it issued an email just after 3:30 p.m. Sheptyck said the decision only had been made within a half-hour of her email.

"There are some crisis management specialists who will say come right out, be extremely proactive," Suffolk University sports marketing professor Catherine McCabe said. "Others will say, wait and make sure you have a really good strategy ... You can't wait too long … regardless of your approach."

Hernandez was to be featured in Puma's "Nature of Performance" campaign.

It's difficult to gauge the deal's worth, said Jim Andrews of Chicago sponsorship consulting firm IEG.

"My best guess ... would probably be something in the low six figures," he said.

Andrews wasn't surprised Puma didn't announce sooner it was cutting ties with Hernandez. "What usually happens with big companies is they want to make sure legally they're doing everything the right way," he said. "They probably knew they wanted to terminate the agreement as early as last week when this whole thing blew up in the media."

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NASA launches sun-watching satellite from Calif.

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. — NASA launched a satellite late Thursday on a mission to explore a little-studied region of the sun and to better forecast space weather that can disrupt communications systems on Earth.

Unlike a traditional liftoff, the Iris satellite rode into Earth orbit on a Pegasus rocket dropped from an airplane that took off around sunset from the Vandenberg Air Force Base on California's central coast. About 100 miles off the coast and at an altitude of 39,000 feet, the airplane released the rocket, which ignited its engine for the 13-minute climb to space.

Mission controllers clapped after receiving word that Iris separated from the rocket as planned, ready to begin its two-year mission.

"We're thrilled," NASA launch director Tim Dunn said in a NASA TV interview.

The launch went smoothly, but there were some tense moments when communications signals were temporarily lost. Ground controllers were able to track Iris by relying on other satellites orbiting Earth. It also took longer-than-expected for Iris to unfurl its solar panels.

In a statement, NASA said it received confirmation that the satellite deployed its solar panels and was generating power.

Previous sun-observing spacecraft have yielded a wealth of information about our nearest star and beamed back brilliant pictures of solar flares.

The 7-foot-long Iris, weighing 400 pounds, carries an ultraviolet telescope that can take high-resolution images every few seconds.

Unlike NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory, which observes the entire sun, Iris will focus on a little-explored region that lies between the surface and the corona, the glowing white ring that's visible during eclipses.

The goal is to learn more about how this mysterious region drives solar wind — a stream of charged particles spewing from the sun — and to better predict space weather that can disrupt communications signals on Earth.

"This is a very difficult region to understand and observe. We haven't had the technical capabilities before now to really zoom in" and peer at it up close, NASA program scientist Jeffrey Newmark said before the launch.

The mission is cheap by NASA standards, costing $182 million, and is managed by the space agency's Goddard Space Flight Center.

Engineers will spend a month making sure Iris is in perfect health before powering on the telescope to begin observations.

The launch was delayed by a day so that technicians at the Air Force base could restore power to launch range equipment after a weekend outage cut electricity to a swath of the central coast.

The Pegasus, from Orbital Sciences Corp. of Dulles, Va., is a winged rocket designed for launching small satellites. First flown in 1990, Pegasus rockets have also been used to accelerate vehicles in hypersonic flight programs.

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President Obama climate plan could generate jobs

President Obama's plan to tackle pollution and global warming could mean tougher standards for power plants in Massachusetts but it also could be a boon to local clean-energy businesses, officials said.

Noting power plants produce nearly 40 percent of the nation's carbon dioxide emissions, the heat-trapping gas blamed for global warming, Obama directed the head of the Environmental Protection Agency yesterday to propose rules limiting emissions for existing power plants by June 1, 2014, and finalize them by June 1, 2015.

Obama's plan also would boost renewable energy production on federal land, increase efficiency standards and prepare communities to deal with higher temperatures — a series of steps that don't require congressional approval.

"As a president, as a father and as an American, I'm here to say we need to act," Obama said. "I refuse to condemn your generation and future generations to a planet that's beyond fixing."

While Republican critics in Congress lambasted the president's plan as a job-killer that would threaten the economic recovery, Gov. Deval Patrick applauded Obama's "bold leadership" on climate change, saying the president "recognizes our generational responsibility to act now and proposes a proven way to do so."

"In Massachusetts, through similar means, we have achieved significant emissions reductions, alongside significant job growth in a new sector," Patrick said in a statement.

Massachusetts' greenhouse gas emissions are down 11 percent from 1990 levels, said Mary-Leah Assad, a spokeswoman for the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs. And from 2011 to 2012, the state saw an 11.2 percent growth in "clean" jobs, with more expected this year, said Catherine Williams, a spokeswoman for the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center.

"Supporting clean energy businesses through proactive policies that cut carbon emissions and support clean energy projects creates local jobs," Williams said. "That's a staggering number, especially in the context of a down economy, proving government support of clean energy projects pays off."

But the Bay State shouldn't stop there, environmentalists said. The Sierra Club of Massachusetts called on natural gas utilities to repair their aging infrastructure, which it said leaks as much as 10 billion cubic feet of methane into the atmosphere every year.

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Microsoft to unveil latest Windows adjustments

SAN FRANCISCO — Microsoft is giving people a peek into Windows 8.1, a free update that promises to address some of the gripes people have with the latest version of the company's flagship operating system.

Although the preview version of Windows 8.1 is meant for Microsoft's partners and other technology developers, anyone will be able to download it for free starting Wednesday, exactly eight months since desktops, laptops and tablets with Windows 8 went on sale. The version of the Windows 8.1 update meant for the general public will come out later in the year, though a specific date hasn't been announced.

Many of the new features have been shown off already. A three-day Build conference, which starts Wednesday in San Francisco, will give Microsoft developers a chance to learn more about the new system and try it out. It also will give the company a chance to explain some of the reasoning behind the update and sell developers on Microsoft's ambitions to regain relevance lost to Apple's iPad and various devices running Google's Android software.

There's also speculation that Microsoft could show off a new, smaller version of its Surface tablet computers. One of the new features in Windows 8.1 is the ability to work well on smaller-screen devices.

Windows 8, which was released Oct. 26, was meant to be Microsoft's answer to changing customer behaviors and the rise of tablet computers. The operating system emphasizes touch controls over the mouse and the keyboard, which had been the main way people have interacted with their personal computers since the 1980s.

But some people have been put off by the radical makeover.

Although Microsoft has said it has sold more than 100 million Windows 8 licenses so far, some analysts have blamed the lackluster response to the operating system for a steep drop in PC sales in the first three months of the year, the worst drop since tracking by outside research firms began in 1994.

Among the complaints: the lack of a Start button on the lower left corner of the screen. In previous versions of Windows, that button gave people quick access to programs, settings and other tasks. Microsoft replaced that with a tablet-style, full-screen start page, but that covered up whatever programs people were working on, and it had only favorite programs. Extra steps were needed to access less-used programs. Settings, a search box and other functions were hidden away in a menu that had to be pulled out from the right. How to do that changed depending on whether a mouse or touch was used.

And while Microsoft has encouraged people to use the new tablet-style layout, many programs — including Microsoft's latest Office software package — are designed for the older, desktop mode. People were forced into the tablet layout when they start up the machine and had to manually switch the desktop mode each time.

Windows 8.1 will allow people to start in the desktop mode automatically. In that mode, it is restoring a button that resembles the old Start button. Although the Start button will now take people back to the new tablet-style start screen, rather than the old Start menu, the re-introduction of the familiar button may make it easier for longtime Windows users to get accustomed to the changes.

Other new features of Windows 8.1 include more options to use multiple apps. People will get more options to determine how much of the screen each app takes while showing up to four different programs, rather than just two. The update will also offer more integrated search results, showing users previews of websites, apps and documents that are on the device, all at once.

Although Microsoft is addressing much of the criticisms with Windows, it is positioning the update as more than just a fix-up job. From its perspective, the tuneup underscores Microsoft's evolution into a more nimble company capable of moving quickly to respond to customer feedback while also rolling out more innovations for a myriad of Windows devices — smartphones, tablets or PCs.

It's crucial that Microsoft sets things right with Windows 8.1 because the outlook for the PC market keeps getting gloomier. IDC now expects PC shipments to fall by nearly 8 percent this year, worse than its previous forecast of a 1 percent dip. IDC also anticipates tablets will outsell laptop computers for the first time this year.

The growing popularity of tablets is now being driven largely by less expensive devices with display screens measuring 7 inches to 8 inches diagonally. Microsoft built Windows 8 primarily to run on tablets with 10-inch to 12-inch screens, an oversight that Microsoft is also trying to fix with Windows 8.1.

Microsoft has said the company was working with other manufacturers to make smaller tablets, but it has yet to confirm reports that it is making its own. A smaller Surface with an 8-inch screen would be significantly smaller than its current, 10.6-inch models and would put the Surface in closer competition with Apple's iPad Mini, Google's Nexus 7 and Amazon's Kindle Fire HD.

Such a device would coincide with Intel Corp.'s recent release of a new chip line called Haswell. The company says Haswell chips offer a 50 percent improvement in battery life over the previous generation when playing back high-definition video.

In an indication that Microsoft Corp. is clearing out inventory of a Surface tablet running the lightweight Windows RT operating system, the company is effectively cutting the price of that by including a keyboard cover for free. The cover sells for $120 or $130 on its own.

Microsoft also said this month that it would give buyers of the RT version of Surface the Outlook email and calendar program at no extra charge — joining other Office freebies Excel, Word and Power Point — and sweetening the offer for the device that is priced starting at $499. That will come as part of the Windows 8.1 update.

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Suit between SF dailies claims predatory ad rates

SAN FRANCISCO — The San Francisco Examiner filed a lawsuit Tuesday alleging that the city's dominant daily newspaper the San Francisco Chronicle has slashed advertising prices to stifle competition.

The suit claims Chronicle owner the Hearst Corp. and officials at the paper took advantage of its greater corporate resources to "selectively and secretly" target Examiner advertisers with "below-cost and discriminatory offers designed to injure the Examiner."

The two newspapers shared business operations and revenues from 1965 until 2000, when then-Examiner-owner Hearst acquired the Chronicle and sold the Examiner to a local family.

The suit alleges the Chronicle charged significantly higher rates for ad space as expected after selling the Examiner, but reversed course when the new Examiner owners, San Francisco Newspaper Company LLC, took over in 2011.

Attorneys said the Chronicle began using the tactic when the new group, which unlike its immediate predecessors had significant experience operating major newspapers, took over the Examiner and brought the threat of heightened competition.

"It started happening just as new ownership came in," Examiner attorney Ralph C. Allredge said in a telephone interview.

The suit claims that the Chronicle charged less than $1,000 for space that its public rate lists said cost between $59,000 and $92,000 per page.

The Examiner alleges the intention behind the lowered rates was clearly to harm the competition.

"In many cases," the lawsuit says, "these discounts were specifically conditioned on the advertiser agreeing to purchase advertising services exclusively from Hearst and requiring it to stop doing business with the Examiner."

The suit seeks damages it says will be determined at trial, and an injunction keeping the Chronicle from charging below cost for advertising and from keeping prices secret.

At issue is the same state law behind a suit involving San Francisco's alternative weeklies, where a jury in 2008 found the SF Weekly engaged in predatory price-cutting on advertisements in order to thwart competition from the rival Bay Guardian. The Guardian was awarded $21 million in damages but later settled for a smaller undisclosed amount.

Allredge was also the lead attorney for the Guardian in that lawsuit, and both weeklies now belong to the same owners as the Examiner.

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Top area innovators on tap at Tedx-Boston event

The fifth annual TedxBoston gets underway today at the Seaport World Trade Center, where innovators in technology and other fields will showcase their game-changing ideas.

"The mission of Ted is to deliver talks that are full of ideas worth spreading," said Jimmy Guterman, one of the event's curators. "We are lucky enough to be in a community that is full of innovators."

Among this year's speakers are:

• Daniel Clarke and Joshua Trautwein, co-founders of Fresh Truck, who took a retrofitted school bus and are turning it into a mobile market for Boston residents who don't live near a grocery store. Beginning next month, Fresh Truck will bring healthy foods such as fruits, vegetables, whole grains and granola to people at prices 20 percent lower than those of an average grocery store.

"Food access is a big issue," Clarke said, "and it's causing a lot of health disparity, particularly in urban areas."

• Nikita Bier, founder and CEO of Outline.com, which builds public policy simulators to see what the financial impact of those policies are at the ZIP code level. Using his app, Bier will do a demonstration showing the impact of cutting the income tax and education spending in Massachusetts.

"The big problem is, when assessing public policy, people tend to base their decisions more on emotion or rhetoric than empirical evidence," Bier said.

• Helen Greiner, CEO of CyPhy Works, whose flying robots are in the development stage to work with the military. Her robots also could be used for everything from farming to bridge inspections but are restricted by the Federal Aviation Administration for commercial applications.

"These are applications where you could save time and lives," Greiner said.

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