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While better trade relationships and consumer brand recognition may be the outcomes of the John O. Butler Co.’s recent marketing campaign, the dental care company insists that much more stands to be gained from the campaign’s educational and scientific message than higher sales.

Recent clinical trial results show the link between advanced periodontitis and systemic health. So far only a few Web sites, a smattering of dental health journals and a handful of consumer publications have reached consumers with this information.

But last month Butler acted to change all that with a promotional campaign targeting more than 50 million consumers, sharing with them the latest scientific research through video news releases and satellite and radio spots. Consumers are now learning that people with advanced periodontal disease have a one-and-a-half to two-times greater likelihood of having heart disease and stroke than those whose gums are healthy.

There is also evidence that patients with diabetes have a greater likelihood of getting periodontal disease and that diabetics with periodontal disease are more likely to experience adverse complications. The reason: Many diabetes medications cause dry mouth and thus create the perfect environment for anaerobic bacteria.

Charles Dushman, Butler’s marketing director, believes that delivering this information to the public can achieve a seismic shift in the way people care for their teeth and gums.

“This is probably the most important issue to come out of the field of dental health in many years,” Dushman said.

He could be right. If the message penetrates consumers’ consciousness, oral health care could extend beyond brushing and flossing to more customized care. It could increase the involvement of dentists in daily oral care regimens as well as the use of dental accessories.

It could also represent an opportunity for retailers.

Depending on how strongly chains get behind the scientific research, Dushman said, “they can be seen as providing an added value to customers by providing them with information specific to their health needs. For example, if a pharmacist dispenses a diabetic drug, he can also talk to the patient about the linkage between periodontal disease and diabetes.”

Novation, Irving, Texas, the supply company of VHA Inc. and the University HealthSystem Consortium, has contracted with Kendall Healthcare for pneumatic compression devices and accessories. The agreement, reached through a competitive bid process, runs until Dec. 31, 2001.

The agreement covers:

- Pneumatic compression devices;

- PCD sleeves;

- Foot pumps;

- Anti-embolism stockings.

The contract is expected to generate in excess of $100 million in sales for Kendall and $13 million in savings for VHA and UHC members. The agreement provides discounts for committed purchasing, firm pricing throughout the term of the agreement, standardization and utilization resources, and continuing education resources and product training.

The agreement also extends to organizations that purchase supplies through HealthCare Purchasing Partners International LLC, a group purchasing company that markets Novation contracts to organizations that do not belong to VHA or UHC.

The Kendall Co., based in Mansfield, Mass., is a division of Tyco International LLC. The company has annual sales of $3.2 billion.

Isolyser Company, Inc., Norcross, Ga., has agreed to divest itself of one subsidiary while at the same time forming an alliance with a consulting organization to facilitate the commercialization of Isolyser technologies.

MedSurg Industries, Inc., an Isolyser subsidiary, will be sold to Allegiance Healthcare Corp., a subsidiary of Cardinal Health, Inc. Allegiance will also receive a worldwide, exclusive license to convert, use and sell products made with Isolyser’s proprietary degradable materials known as OREX[umlaut] and Enviroguard[ordinal indicator, feminine] for worldwide distribution.

Allegiance will develop health care products using the OREX degradable technology for marketing and distribution by Allegiance. MedSurg currently assembles and distributes sterile and non-sterile procedure trays and packs for hospitals and other health care institutions.

Isolyser will team with Delta Environmental Consultants, Inc., St. Paul, Minn., to gain access to Delta’s environmental expertise and provide products to Delta’s customers.

Isolyser’s OREX degradables, hot water soluble polymers, are used in medical applications for woven and nonwoven fabrics, The Delta alliance is said to provide the company with global environmental engineering and wastewater capability that will aid in the development of the company’s industrial business base.

As mass retailers realize the power of teen spending, categories such as hair accessories have become more prominent store shelves and on cosmetics counter displays. Specialty stores typically have lured teens into stores by stocking trendy hair clips and claws, and in the past few years mass has jumped in. By creating teen-specific areas that merchandise hair accessories, mass retailers such as Target are making teens feel like they are being catered to.

Rite Aid merchandises clip strips of hair accessories throughout hair care aisles, and creates endcaps displaying in-and-out product that meets the need of trends. Duane Reade and Value Drugs are meeting teen needs by focusing on what’s hot right now: iridescent clips, multicolored claws clips, woven pony tail holders and beaded headbands. Grocery chains also are capitalizing on the combination of the impulse-driven category and their high-frequency consumers.

Retailers’ strategies seem to be working, as hair accessories sales have increased in the food, drug and mass channels. For the 52-week period ended July 18, sales of hair accessories climbed approximately 6 percent to $741.9 million, according Information Resources Inc.

While all three mass channels have seen growth, food took the lead in sales increases for the 52-week period. The channel recorded a 7.6 percent increase compared to the drug channel’s growth of 3.6 percent and mass merchandisers’ growth of 6.8 percent. One reason for growth, said a grocery retailer, is that space allocated to hair accessories has grown over the past few years.

Food channel increases its sophistication

Helen of Troy has made an effort to penetrate the grocery channel this year. Cecelia Canale, vice president of marketing for Helen of Troy, said business with food retailers is really just beginning. “As the food combo becomes more sophisticated, the one-stop shopping experience is becoming easier for the shopper. [Hair accessories] is almost an untouched area. We really are just beginning business with them,” said Canale. Food retailers beginning to make the plunge into hair accessories include Grand Union, SuperValu, Cub Foods, Furr’s and Brookshire, according to Canale.

For more comfortable but still provocative neckwear, check out Infectious Awareables, the brainchild of a former dentist seeking to promote awareness of infectious diseases. The company’s ties, scarves, and underwear let you parade around in silk or cotton patterns derived from photomicrographs of HIV, Ebola virus, dental placque, herpes, or several other of your favorite pathogens. Tags on many of the items describe the featured microbe, and some of the proceeds are donated to education and research groups. The merchandise on display at the company’s Web site, www.iawareables.com, looks fairly tasteful, but we wonder about the appeal of gonorrhea-festooned boxer shorts.

Among the stocks featured in the October 13 edition of Schaeffer’s Market Blog are Progressive (NYSE:PGR), Polaris Industries (NYSE:PII), Cardinal Health (NYSE:CAH), Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX), and Xerox (NYSE:XRX). Schaeffer’s Market Blog is just one of the many free market commentaries written everyday at www.SchaeffersResearch.com - the home of Bernie Schaeffer and Schaeffer’s Investment Research. The Market Blog is written throughout every trading day by Schaeffer’s financial analysts and traders. They are quick insights to the day’s most notable market activity from an options perspective.
Progressive (NYSE:PGR) was upgraded this morning by AG Edwards from “hold” to “buy.” This upgrade comes on the heels of PGR’s earnings that came in at $1.54 per share versus Wall Street estimate of $1.59 per share. The company’s third-quarter net fell 21 percent due to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

The stock is bounding off its 20-day moving average upon this upgrade to new all-time highs.

10:29 AM Polaris Industries Cuts Outlook for 2005

According to Yahoo! Finance, Polaris Industries (NYSE:PII) engages in the design, engineering, manufacturing, and marketing of motorized products for recreation and utility use, including all terrain vehicles (ATV), snowmobiles, and motorcycles together with related replacement parts, garments, and accessories. This morning before the market open, PII reported third-quarter results that were in line with analyst estimates but guided its outlook for 2005 lower as a result of disappointing ATV shipments.

Technically speaking, the shares have been trending lower since April. PII is now trading below all major moving averages, a negative sign from a technical perspective. This morning’s negative news has sent shares of PII another 3.5 percent lower to $44.40.

Each year the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) orchestrates an impressive gathering of healthcare professionals and medical industry vendors. This year the annual conference takes place October 23-26 in the music capital of the world–Nashville, Tennessee. Leaders in the practice management community will conduct seminars and hold classes for the expected 5,000 attendees, who will also have a chance to explore the new products in the market. Vendors will be singing praises for new EMR/EHR/EFRs, upgraded practice management software, enhanced PACS/DICOMs, integrated network solutions and more.

To peak readers’ interests, HMT offers this showcase of some of the vendors who will be demonstrating products at the Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center.

Third Millennium Healthcare Systems Inc. is introducing the electronic Financial Record’” (eFR) for revenue management at MGMA. The eFR is a compilation of all pertinent information related to the financial history of a patient account from its inception through its resolution. i.suite eFR incorporates a powerful workflow engine to significantly improve the efficiency and effectiveness of users working with multiple disparate systems. The eFR is stored in a common repository that accepts electronic data, scanned documents and transactional records. Every piece of” financial information related to a patient account is attached to the same file, so once the account is opened, users can access any of the related data and documents in one place, i.suite eFR accepts data feeds in native formats from existing software systems. Robust reporting options, front- and back-end document imaging, event-driven automated workflow and global tracking combine to show real-time claims status and optimize the revenue cycle.

BOTHELL, Wash. — SonoSite, Inc. (Nasdaq:SONO), the world leader in hand-carried ultrasound, today announced it has signed a new three-year, group purchasing agreement with Premier Purchasing Partners, LP for hand-carried ultrasound equipment, accessories and service. Premier Inc. is a strategic healthcare alliance entirely owned by more than 200 of the nation’s leading not-for-profit hospital and healthcare systems. These organizations operate or are affiliated with nearly 1,400 hospital facilities and 37,000 other care sites.

“SonoSite has had a long-standing relationship with Premier and we are pleased to again be selected as a provider of hand-carried ultrasound systems across the broad spectrum of clinical applications,” said Kevin M. Goodwin, SonoSite President and CEO. “Our aim is to help clinicians in the Premier system deliver the highest quality care by designing ultrasound systems that can provide immediate answers and procedural guidance at the point of patient care.”

With the broadest product line in the hand-carried ultrasound market, SonoSite is well positioned to serve the diverse needs of Premier’s members and affiliates. Versatile and durable, SonoSite’s hand-carried systems reduce the time, risk and expense of transporting patients to an imaging center by providing high-quality imaging at the bedside or wherever the patient is located. SonoSite systems are designed to withstand the rigors of highly mobile use, can be battery operated for hours, and boot up in seconds for immediate scanning.

SonoSite’s newest product, the MicroMaxx(TM) system, which incorporates SonoSite’s third generation of hand-carried ultrasound technology, began shipping in June 2005 and represents a revolutionary crossover point between hand-carried and cart-based systems. Weighing approximately eight pounds and with the size and appearance of a notebook computer, the MicroMaxx system delivers high-resolution image quality at a fraction of the cost of larger, heavier cart-based systems. It is so durable that a 5-year warranty on the system and most of its transducers comes standard, dramatically lowering ownership costs in an industry that typically charges 7-10% of a product’s purchase price in annual service contracts.

Search for “bean” on the Internet and you’ll find links to L.L. Bean’s mail-order catalog, Beanie Baby accessories, the home page for the British comedian Mr. Bean, and a source for gourmet coffee beans.

Clearly, beans (the food) don’t stir up much excitement in most people’s lives.

Yet bean-lovers can dine on beans from a different cuisine every day of the week. Mexican bean burritos, French white beans Provencal, Indian dal (lentils), Italian pasta e fagioli (pasta-and-bean soup), Cuban black beans and rice, Middle Eastern hummus (chickpeas), or Egyptian foole (fava beans). That doesn’t even include the American favorites: black-eyed peas, baked beans, chili, or navy bean or lentil soup.

And talk about nutrients. Most beans are chock full of fiber, phytochemicals, folate, potassium, protein, magnesium, vitamin B-6, zinc, copper, and iron (see box). It’s enough to make a nutritionist’s heart flutter.

Unfortunately, most people worry that beans might make other body parts flutter. But the picture isn’t as bleak as you might think.

To be blunt, beans don’t always cause gas. Here are some tips to avoid those souvenirs of the beans you had for lunch:

* Cook thoroughly. Uncooked starch from beans can make a lovely dinner for the (harmless) bacteria that live in your gut … and that exude gas after their meal. If you cook your beans from scratch, don’t eat them al dente. Canned beans are probably safer, because they are thoroughly cooked.

* Rinse thoroughly. Beans contain indigestible sugars–indigestible by people, that is. The bacteria that live in our intestines gobble them up like candy. In exchange, the bacteria give off gases that may make you do likewise. Some of the sugar migrates from the beans to the liquid in which they’ve been soaked, cooked, or canned. So tossing the liquid and rinsing your canned beans helps (and cuts the salt to boot).

* Take it slowly. If you haven’t touched a bean since that bowl of chili you regretted eating in 1975, don’t slurp down a generous bowl of navy bean soup for lunch and a couple of bean burritos for dinner. Start small and inch upwards over a few weeks, so your gut has time to adjust.

If all else fails, try Beano. It’s liquid alpha-galactosidase, the enzyme that digests gas-causing sugars. According to its manufacturer, a few drops on the first bite of food is all you need.

Toenails are hot and happening. Rhinestone applications are picking up speed, and pre-glued artificial nails are waking up the sluggish nail care category, according to several industry executives.

Though the business has been relatively quiet at retail for the past few years, the category is showing potential for growth as innovative new products and hip fashion trends with a focus on nails are beginning to drive the business forward again.

It certainly was time to breathe new life into the category. According to Information Resources Inc., total nail care sales slipped 3.1 percent in drugstores during the 52 week-period ended May 20.

According to Grace Tallon, vice president of marketing at Kiss Products, three top designers–Fendi, Chanel and Chloe–recently have emerged with ads that show long, decorated nails. “That’s helping the category dramatically,” she explained.

Indeed, the nail category is beginning to pick up momentum, agreed Michael Eckert, vice president of retail sales at Worldwide Cosmetics. “Yes, nail has been a little bit of a downer,” but a rediscovered taste for nail accessorizing is shifting the dynamic in the category.

But aside from old trends resurfacing to create new growth in nail care, the category needs true innovation to survive, said. Nina White, senior vice president of marketing for L’Oreal Cosmetics. “We’ve seen that whether women choose long-wear or quick-dry formulas, they ultimately judge their nail polish on the quality of its wear properties,” she said.

“Sally Hansen has a huge hit with its Chrome Nail Color,” said Tallon. “That could potentially have a positive impact on the entire category,” she said.

According to William McMenemy, executive vice president of marketing at Del Laboratories, even Sally Hansen is surprised at the success of Chrome Nail Makeup. “It’s selling way beyond our expectations,” he admitted.

The Sally Hansen brand has been on somewhat of a roll these days. In the first quarter, retail sales for the brand were up 16 percent, Del Laboratories, chairman, president and chief executive officer Dan Wassong told company shareholders at the company’s May 24 annual meeting. “Most of this retail sales growth came from the nail enamel, nail treatment and implement categories with growth rates of 11:9 percent, 12.3 percent and 23.5 percent respectively,” Wassong explained. “Sally Hansen now has a 16 percent share of the nail enamel category and a commanding 49.5 percent of nail treatment.”

Although most people don’t worry about their blood pressure until their golden years–and certainly the lion’s share of home blood pressure monitors are sold to consumers over age 65–the demographic of the person buying into blood pressure monitors may be trending two decades younger. For instance, two conditions often linked with high blood pressure but afflict people before they reach retirement age are diabetes and obesity.

“It makes intuitive sense that if you need to be watching your blood pressure because of obesity and diabetes that the user will skew just a little younger,” noted Mike Docherty, vice president and general manager of health products for Sunbeam.

“We’re starting to see more and more purchases of [monitors] by people in their 40s and 50s,” observed John Winegardner, category manager of blood pressure and wellness at Omron. “I wouldn’t say it’s a major shift, but we are starting to see a wider range of ages purchasing blood pressure monitors.”

Certainly, it’s been noted that baby boomers are more avid researchers of health conditions, and consequently they are better informed about high blood pressure concerns. According to the American Heart Association, visits to physicians for high blood pressure increased 60 percent in the past 20 years, whereas visits for all medical causes increased approximately 7 percent. The Al-IA asserts that most high blood pressure diagnoses in men develop between the ages of 35 and 55.

And clear some of that is reflected in category sales. Blood pressure kits and related items rose almost 37 percent, according to ACNielsen, with sales reaching $91 million during the 52 weeks ended Sept. 7.

Of course, those close to the business insist that category sales are largely driven by the senior population. There were 34.7 million seniors in 1999 according to the Census Bureau (the latest year for which statistics are available), and there are projected to be 39.4 million people over age 65 by 2010; 69.4 million by 2030. “The 65-plus [age] category is still 80 percent of the purchasers,” observed Scott Carlson, director of sales and marketing at ForeCare.