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Saturday, January 5, 2013

How prostate cancer therapies compare by cost and effectiveness

Jan. 4, 2013 ? The most comprehensive retrospective study ever conducted comparing how the major types of prostate cancer treatments stack up to each other in terms of saving lives and cost effectiveness is reported this week by a team of researchers at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF).

Appearing in the British Journal of Urology International, the work analyzed 232 papers published in the last decade that report results from clinical studies following patients with low-, intermediate- and high-risk forms of prostate cancer who were treated with one or more of the standard treatments -- radiation therapy, surgery, hormone therapies and brachytherapy.

The analysis shows that for people with low-risk prostate cancer, the various forms of treatment vary only slightly in terms of survival -- the odds of which are quite good for men with this type of cancer, with a 5-year cancer-specific survival rate of nearly 100 percent. But the cost of radiation therapy is significantly more expensive than surgery for low-risk prostate cancer, they found.

For intermediate- and high-risk cancers, both survival and cost generally favored surgery over other forms of treatment -- although combination external-beam radiation and brachytherapy together were comparable in terms of quality of life-adjusted survival for high-risk prostate cancer.

"Our findings support a greater role for surgery for high-risk disease than we have generally seen it used in most practice settings," said urologist Matthew Cooperberg, MD, MPH who led the research. Cooperberg is an assistant professor of urology and epidemiology and biostatistics in the UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center.

The UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center is one of the country's leading research and clinical care centers, and it is the only comprehensive cancer center in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Many Treatment Options, but Few Cost Analyses

Localized prostate cancer accounts for about 81 percent of the quarter-million cases of prostate cancers that occur in the United States every year, according to the National Cancer Institute. It is defined by tumors that have not metastasized and spread outside the prostate gland to other parts of the body.

There are multiple types of treatment for this form of the disease, including various types of surgery (open, laparoscopic or robot-assisted); radiation therapy (dose-escalated three-dimensional conformal radiation therapy, intensity-modulated radiation therapy and brachytherapy); hormone therapies; and combinations of each of these. Many men with low-risk prostate cancer do not need any of these treatments, and can be safely observed, at least initially.

Treatment plans for localized prostate cancer often vary dramatically from one treatment center to another. As Cooperberg put it, one person may have surgery, while someone across town with a very similar tumor may have radiation therapy, and a third may undergo active surveillance. All treatment regimens may do equally well.

"There is very little solid evidence that one [approach] is better than another," said Cooperberg. The motivation for the new study, however, was that there are also few data examining the differences in terms of cost-effectiveness -- the price to the health care system for every year of life gained, with adjustment for complications and side effects of treatments.

The new study was the most comprehensive cost analysis ever, and it compared the costs and outcomes associated with the various types of treatment for all forms of the disease, which ranged from $19,901 for robot-assisted prostatectomy to treat low-risk disease, to $50,276 for combined radiation therapy for high-risk disease.

The study did not consider two other approaches for dealing with prostate cancer: active surveillance, where patients with low-risk cancer are followed closely with blood tests and biopsies and avoid any initial treatment; and proton therapy, which is much more expensive and has already been shown in multiple studies not to be cost-effective, said Cooperberg.

The article, "Primary treatments for clinically localised prostate cancer: a comprehensive lifetime cost-utility analysis" is authored by Matthew R. Cooperberg, Naren R. Ramakrishna, Steven B. Duff, Kathleen E. Hughes, Sara Sadownik, Joseph A. Smith and Ashutosh K. Tewari. It was published online on Dec. 28, 2012 by the British Journal of Urology International.

In addition to UCSF, authors on the study are affiliated with Veritas Health Economics Consulting, Inc. in Carlsbad, CA; MD Anderson Cancer Center in Orlando, FL; Avalere Health LLC, in Washington, DC; Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN; and Cornell University in New York.

In addition to UCSF and Kaiser Permanente, authors on this study are affiliated with the University of Washington in Seattle, the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor Veterans Affairs Health Care System in Michigan and the California Department of Public Health.

The work was supported by the National Cancer Institute, a component of the National Institutes of Health through grant #5RC1CA146596, and by the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality through grant #1U01CA88160.

The cost effectiveness analysis in the paper was performed by Avalere Health LLC and Veritas Health Economics Consulting, Inc., which were both commissioned by Intuitive Surgical of Sunnyvale, CA. The authors report that the study sponsor had no role in the collection, analysis, or interpretation of the data; in writing or approving the manuscript; or in the decision to submit for publication.

UCSF is a leading university dedicated to promoting health worldwide through advanced biomedical research, graduate-level education in the life sciences and health professions, and excellence in patient care.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of California, San Francisco (UCSF).

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

Journal Reference:

Matthew R. Cooperberg, Naren R. Ramakrishna, Steven B. Duff, Kathleen E. Hughes, Sara Sadownik, Joseph A. Smith, Ashutosh K. Tewari. Primary treatments for clinically localised prostate cancer: a comprehensive lifetime cost-utility analysis. BJU International, 2013; DOI: 10.1111/j.1464-410X.2012.11597.x

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_health/~3/7-QHpszE6m8/130104143449.htm

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Google chairman heading to North Korea

FILE - In this Sept. 28, 2012 file photo, Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt arrives for a seminar at Yonsei University in Seoul, South Korea. Schmidt is preparing to travel to one of the last frontiers of cyberspace: North Korea. He will be traveling to North Korea on a private trip led by former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson that could take place as early as this month, sources told The Associated Press on Wednesday, Jan. 2, 2012. The sources, two people familiar with the group's plans, asked not to be named because the visit had not been made public. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man, File)

FILE - In this April 10, 2007 file photo, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, third left, and Anthony Principi, former U.S. veterans affairs secretary, third right, and top White House adviser on Korea, Victor Cha, second right, pose for a photo with Kim Yong Dae, vice-president of the Presidium of the DPRK Supreme People's Assembly, center, in Pyongyang, North Korea. Google's executive chairman Eric Schmidt will be traveling to North Korea on a private trip led by former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson that could take place as early as this month, sources told The Associated Press on Wednesday, Jan. 2, 2013. The sources, two people familiar with the group's plans, asked not to be named because the visit had not been made public. (AP Photo/Foster Klug, File)

FILE - In this Sept. 20, 2012 file photo, a North Korean woman sits in a computer room near portraits of the country's late leaders, Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il, at the Kim Chaek University of Technology in Pyongyang, North Korea. Google's executive chairman Eric Schmidt is preparing to travel to one of the last frontiers of cyberspace: North Korea. Schmidt will be traveling to North Korea on a private trip led by former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson that could take place as early as this month, sources told The Associated Press on Wednesday, Jan. 2, 2012. The sources, two people familiar with the group's plans, asked not to be named because the visit had not been made public. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu, File)

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) ? When he lands in North Korea, even Google's executive chairman will likely have to relinquish his smartphone, leaving him disconnected from the global information network he helped build.

Eric Schmidt is a staunch advocate of global Internet access and the power of Internet connectivity in lifting people out of poverty and political oppression. This month, he plans to travel to the country with the world's most restrictive Internet policies, where locals need government permission to interact with foreigners ? in person, by phone or by email ? and only a tiny portion of the elite class is connected to the Internet.

The visit may be a sign of Pyongyang's growing desire to engage with the outside world. North Korea's young leader, Kim Jong Un, talks about using science and technology to jumpstart the country's moribund economy, even if it means turning to experts from enemy nations for help.

In recent years, "North Korea has made a lot of investment in science and technology, not just for military purpose but also for the industry and practical reasons," said Lim Eul-chul, a professor at South Korea's Kyungnam University.

But the U.S. government Thursday voiced its opposition to the trip, saying the timing was "unhelpful." Last month, North Korea launched a long-range rocket in defiance of U.N. Security Council resolutions.

Google's intentions in North Korea are not clear. Two people familiar with the plans told The Associated Press that the trip was a "private, humanitarian mission." They asked not to be named, saying the delegation has not made the trip public. Schmidt will be traveling with former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, a seasoned envoy, and Kun "Tony" Namkung, a Korea expert with long ties to North Korea.

"Perhaps the most intriguing part of this trip is simply the idea of it," Victor Cha, an Asia expert who traveled to North Korea with Richardson in 2007, wrote in a blog post for the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank in Washington.

Kim Jong Un "clearly has a penchant for the modern accoutrements of life. If Google is the first small step in piercing the information bubble in Pyongyang, it could be a very interesting development."

But this trip will probably be less about opening up North Korea's Internet than about discussing information technology, Lim said. North Korea may be more interested in Google services such as email and mapping, as well as software development, than in giving its people Internet access, he said.

U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said that she did not know what Google might be planning in North Korea, but like all U.S. companies it would be subject to restrictions under U.S. law.

Kim Jong Un, who took power a year ago, has stressed the need to build North Korea's economy.

In the early 1970s, communist North Korea had the stronger economy of the two Koreas. But North Korea's economy stagnated in the wake of the collapse of the Soviet Union as the regime resisted the shift toward capitalism in the world around it.

By 2011, North Korea's national income per capita languished at about $1,200 while South Korea's was $23,467, according to the Bank of Korea in Seoul.

And as the Internet began connecting the world ? a movement South Korea embraced ? North Korea reinforced its moat of security. Travelers arriving in Pyongyang are ordered to leave their cellphones at the airport and all devices are checked for satellite communications. Foreigners and locals are required to seek permission before interacting ? in person, by phone or by email.

However, leader Kim Jong Un declared Monday that North Korea is in the midst of a modern-day "industrial revolution." He is pushing science and technology as a path to economic development for the impoverished country, aiming for computers in every school and digitized machinery in every factory. More than 1.5 million people in North Korea now use cellphones with 3G technology.

But giving citizens open access to the Internet has not been part of the North's strategy. While some North Koreans can access a domestic Intranet service, only a select few have clearance to freely surf the World Wide Web.

Schmidt speaks frequently about the importance of providing people around the world with Internet access and technology.

As Google's chief executive for a decade until 2011, Schmidt oversaw Google's ascent from a small California startup focused on helping computer users search the Internet to a global technology giant. Google now has offices in more than 40 countries, including all three of North Korea's neighbors: Russia, South Korea and China, another country criticized for systematic Internet censorship.

After being accused of complying with China's strict Internet regulations, Google pulled its search business from the world's largest Internet market in 2010 by redirecting traffic from mainland China to Hong Kong.

In April, Schmidt and Jared Cohen, a former U.S. State Department policy and planning adviser who heads Google's New York-based think tank, will publish a book about the Internet's role in shaping society called "The New Digital Age."

Son Jae-kwon, a visiting scholar at Stanford, compared Schmidt to Chung Ju-yung, the late founder of the South Korean conglomerate Hyundai who strode across the DMZ dividing the two Koreas with a pack of cattle in 1998.

But this time, it's computer technology, not cows.

"Internet is the cattle of the 21st century," Son said. "It is what North Korea needs most."

The Richardson-Schmidt trip comes at a delicate time politically. In December, North Korea defiantly shot a satellite into space on the back of a three-stage rocket, a launch Pyongyang has hailed as a major step in its quest for peaceful exploration of space.

Washington and others, however, decry it as a covert test of long-range ballistic missile technology designed to send a nuclear-tipped warhead as far as California. The U.N. Security Council quickly condemned the launch, and is deliberating whether to further punish Pyongyang for violating bans on developing its nuclear and missile programs.

The visit also follows North Korea's announcement that an American citizen has been jailed in Pyongyang on suspicion of committing "hostile" acts against the state. Richardson will try to address his detainment, the sources said.

State Department spokeswoman Nuland said Schmidt and Richardson would be traveling as private citizens and carrying no messages from Washington.

"We don't think the timing of the visit is helpful and they are well aware of our views," she told a news briefing.

Washington and Pyongyang do not have diplomatic relations. North Korea and the U.S. fought on opposite sides of the three-year Korean War before signing a truce in 1953.

However, North Korea has indicated interest in repairing relations with Washington.

In 2011, a group of North Korean economists and diplomats visited Google headquarters in Mountain View, California.

And North Korean-affiliated agencies already use at least one Google product to get state propaganda out to the world: YouTube.

___

Associated Press writer Matthew Pennington in Washington contributed to this report. Follow AP's bureau chief for Seoul and Pyongyang at twitter.com/newsjean and AP Seoul's technology writer at twitter.com/ykleeAP

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/495d344a0d10421e9baa8ee77029cfbd/Article_2013-01-03-NKorea-Google/id-d0fad9e3400446cf9f01c47aa3622d7d

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Key Vote Alert - "NO" on Sandy Flood Insurance Expansion (HR 41)

KEY VOTE ALERT
"NO" on Sandy Flood Insurance Expansion (HR 41)

The Club for Growth urges all members of the U.S. House to vote "NO" on the bill to expand the National Flood Insurance Program's borrowing authority by $9.7 billion. Consideration of the plan on the House floor is expected to occur today. This vote will be included in the Club for Growth's 2013 congressional scorecard.

Congress should not allow the federal government to be involved in the flood insurance industry in the first place, let alone expand the national flood insurance program's authority.

As we have said in a previous key vote alert, the proper way to address disaster relief is to release the funds in installments to make sure the resources are spent wisely. They should also strip out all immaterial line items, and fully offset all expenditures with spending cuts elsewhere. Serious reform would also include a way for the states to take over the responsibility for future disaster relief funding so that accountability is more localized.

Our Congressional Scorecard for the 113th Congress provides a comprehensive rating of how well or how poorly each member of Congress supports pro-growth, free-market policies and will be distributed to our members and to the public.

Permalink: http://www.clubforgrowth.org/perm/?postID=16040

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Source: http://www.clubforgrowth.org/perm/?postID=16040

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Lunch meat maker Hormel orders up Skippy sandwich

This combination of Associated Press file photos shows a can of Spam in Philadelphia on Aug. 16, 2010, left, and a 16.3 ounce jar of Skippy peanut butter in Somerville, Mass. on Aug. 26, 2008. Hormel Foods, the company primarily known for Spam and other cured, smoked and deli meats said Thursday, Jan. 3, 2013, that it's buying Skippy, the country's No. 2 peanut butter brand, in its biggest-ever acquisition. (AP Photo/File)

NEW YORK (AP) ? Hormel Foods apparently has a hankering for a peanut butter and bacon sandwich. The company primarily known for Spam and other cured, smoked and deli meats said Thursday that it's buying Skippy, the country's No. 2 peanut butter brand, in its biggest-ever acquisition.

Skippy, which was introduced in 1932 and is a staple in American pantries, is intended to increase Hormel's presence in the center of the supermarket where nonperishable foods are sold. It also gives the Austin, Minn.-based company a stronger footing in international markets. Skippy is sold in about 30 countries and is the leading peanut butter brand in China, where Hormel has been trying to build up its Spam business for the past several years.

Hormel, which also makes canned chili, sausages and pepperoni, currently gets the vast majority of its sales in the U.S., with only about 4 percent of revenue coming from abroad. Now the company is hoping that Skippy, which it's buying from Unilever for $700 million, will help it expand at home and overseas.

In a conference call with analysts, CEO Jeffrey Ettinger noted that peanuts and peanut oil are popular in China. And although peanut butter is not yet a household staple there, he said it is growing rapidly.

Back at home, Ettinger said peanut butter is already regarded as a convenient and affordable source of protein and that Hormel would apply its innovation skills and "take Skippy out of the jar" for use in other products such as packaged snack foods.

For example, he noted that the company recently introduced pepperoni sticks as part of a push to grow its snacks business. With Spam, the company is testing shelf-stable, microwavable meals, such as jambalaya made with Spam. It's also considering a variety of macaroni and cheese made with Spam.

"That concept of taking (Skippy) out of the jar echoes a similar concept we're trying with taking Spam out of the can," Ettinger said in an interview.

For now, there are 11 varieties of Skippy in the U.S., including low-fat and natural varieties. Hormel noted that Skippy is the leading brand in the faster-growing subcategory of natural peanut butter. Overall, Skippy has about 17 percent of the U.S. peanut butter market, according to Euromonitor International. Jif, owned by J.M. Smucker Co., is the largest brand with about 37 percent of the market.

Although Skippy is "a good fit" with its other packaged foods, Ettinger said Hormel still needs to figure out how to handle its merchandising of Skippy in stores, such as whether to display it next to other items.

Swings in peanut butter prices have made growth volatile in recent years, but Skippy sales on average have increased about 4 percent annually on a normalized basis, according to a spokesman for Unilever. The American Peanut Council estimates that Americans eat an average of nearly 4 pounds of peanut butter a year.

Hormel expects annual Skippy sales of about $370 million, with almost $100 million of that from outside the U.S. Ettinger expects Skippy sales to grow in the low single digits domestically and in the high single digits overseas.

The deal includes Skippy manufacturing plants in Little Rock, Ark., and Weifang, China. Hormel Foods Corp. said that it expects the deal to modestly add to its fiscal 2013 results and add 13 cents to 17 cents per share to fiscal 2014 earnings.

The transaction, which still needs regulatory approval, is expected to close in two parts. The domestic closing is expected by the second quarter and the China business is expected to close by the end of the year.

As Hormel continues to grow, Ettinger said future acquisitions could be larger than they have been in recent years. "It's an $8 billion company now. You have to move the needle," he said.

Unilever, based in the Netherlands and the U.K., is one of the largest consumer products companies in the world. It makes Vaseline, Dove soaps and Lipton tea. The company had indicated last year it was considering selling Skippy as part of a strategic review.

Hormel shares rose $1.19, or 3.7 percent, to close at $33.20 Thursday.

____

Follow Candice Choi at www.twitter.com/candicechoi

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2013-01-03-Hormel-Skippy/id-6bc2bc13dcaa495784e051b2708e4ee6

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Friday, January 4, 2013

Exclusive: McConnell defends 'imperfect' fiscal cliff deal

Editor's note: This op/ed is by Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.

The first day of a new Congress always represents a fresh start. This year, it also presents a perfect opportunity to tackle the single-greatest challenge facing our nation: reining in the out-of-control federal spending that threatens to permanently alter our economy and dim the prospects and opportunities of future generations of Americans.

Earlier this week, I helped negotiate an imperfect solution aimed at avoiding the so-called ?fiscal cliff.? If I had my way taxes would not have gone up on anyone, but the unavoidable fact was this if we had sat back and done nothing taxes would have gone up dramatically on every single American, and I simply couldn?t allow that to happen.

By acting, we?ve shielded more than 99% of taxpayers from a massive tax hike that President Obama was all-too willing to impose. American families and small businesses that would have seen painfully smaller paychecks and profits this month have been spared. Retirement accounts for seniors won?t be whittled down by a dramatic increase in taxes on investment income. And many who?ve spent a lifetime paying taxes on income and savings won?t be slammed with a dramatically higher tax on estates.

Was it a great deal? No. As I said, taxes shouldn?t be going up at all. Just as importantly, the transcendent issue of our time, the spiraling debt, remains completely unaddressed. Yet now that the President has gotten his long-sought tax hike on the ?rich,? we can finally turn squarely toward the real problem, which is spending.

Predictably, the President is already claiming that his tax hike on the ?rich? isn?t enough. I have news for him: the moment that he and virtually every elected Democrat in Washington signed off on the terms of the current arrangement, it was the last word on taxes. That debate is over. Now the conversation turns to cutting spending on the government programs that are the real source of the nation?s fiscal imbalance. And the upcoming debate on the debt limit is the perfect time to have that discussion.

We simply cannot increase the nation?s borrowing limit without committing to long overdue reforms to spending programs that are the very cause of our debt.

The only way to achieve the balance the President claims to want is by cutting spending. As he himself has admitted, no amount of tax hikes or revenue could possibly keep up with the amount of money Washington is projected to spend in the coming years. At some point, high taxes become such a drag on the economy that the revenue stalls.

While most Washington Democrats may want to deny it, the truth is, the only thing we can do to solve the nation?s fiscal problem is to tackle government spending head on ? and particularly, spending on health care programs, which appear to take off like a fighter jet on every chart available that details current trends in federal spending.

The President may not want to have a fight about government spending over the next few months, but it?s the fight he is going to have, because it?s a debate the country needs. For the sake of our future, the President must show up to this debate early and convince his party to do something that neither he nor they have been willing to do until now. Over the next two months they need to deliver the same kind of bipartisan resolution to the spending problem we have now achieved on revenue ? before the 11th hour.

When it comes to spending, the time has come to rise above the special interest groups that dominate the liberal wing of the Democratic Party in Washington and act, without drama or delay. The President likes to say that most Americans support tax hikes on the rich. What he conveniently leaves out is that even more Americans support cuts. That?s the debate the American people really want. It?s a debate Republicans are ready to have. And it?s the debate that starts today, whether the President wants it or not.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/mcconnell--fiscal-cliff-deal-not-great--but-it-shields-americans-from-tax-hike-010532341.html

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Will Improving Real-Estate Market Spark an Insurance Ad War ...

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Google's executive chairman plans North Korea trip: AP

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Google Inc's executive chairman, Eric Schmidt, one of the highest-profile leaders of the U.S. technology industry, will travel to North Korea on a private trip this year, the Associated Press reported on Wednesday.

AP cited two people familiar with his plans as saying the ex-Google CEO will join a private group led by former United Nations Ambassador and New Mexico governor Bill Richardson, a frequent visitor to North Korea who has in the past helped negotiate the release of Americans held by the reclusive state.

News of the visit, which AP said might take place as soon as this month, comes after Pyongyang detained Korean American tourist Kenneth Bae last month, accusing him of unspecified crimes against the state.

It was unclear whom Schmidt would meet or what his agenda might be.

Google did not directly respond to a question about whether Schmidt was going to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, although a spokeswoman's response suggested a visit would not be on company business.

"We do not comment on personal travel," spokeswoman Samantha Smith said when asked about the AP report.

A representative for Richardson said he was currently out of the country with his family and declined to comment further.

The visit would make Schmidt one of the most prominent American businessmen ever to visit the impoverished country.

Schmidt, who handed the CEO reins at Google to co-founder Larry Page in 2011, has raised his public profile lately, hitting the speech and television circuits and commenting frequently on global Internet issues.

He has also co-authored a book that is scheduled for release in April. "The New Digital Age", written with former U.S. state department official Jared Cohen, will address how the Internet and technology can drive social, political and economic change.

Schmidt is also Google's main political and government relations representative, and has been a prominent supporter of U.S. President Barack Obama.

SENSITIVE TIME

North Korea raised tensions in the region last month by launching a long-range rocket it said was aimed at putting a satellite in orbit, drawing international condemnation.

Pyongyang, which considers the North and South one country and regularly vilifies the United States, is banned from testing missile or nuclear technology under United Nations sanctions imposed after its 2006 and 2009 nuclear weapons tests.

"Perhaps the most intriguing part of this trip is simply the idea of it. The restricted control of information lies at the heart of the DPRK state and yet it is about to host one of the West's greatest facilitators of borderless information flows," said Victor Cha, a senior adviser and Korea expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"Richardson has had a history of trying to jump-start dialogue at low points in the U.S.-DPRK nuclear talks. He is a well-known quantity to North Koreans and does have credibility with them," Cha wrote.

This week, the North's leader Kim Jong-un called for an end to confrontation with South Korea, with which the country is technically still at war. His New Year's address was the first in 19 years by a leader of North Korea, which has no diplomatic ties with the United States.

But analysts say the comments from the 29-year-old -- who came to power after his father died about a year ago -- did not necessarily signal a substantial policy shift, as Pyongyang has extended olive branches to its far wealthier neighbor in the past.

Internet access is largely restricted, even in Pyongyang, the capital, to all but the most influential officials. Media content is also rigidly policed, although 3G cellphone use is said to be expanding rapidly.

Google famously espouses a "do no evil" philosophy and campaigns for Internet freedom. It pulled its search service from China in 2010, relocating it to Hong Kong because it said it could not conform with Beijing's censorship requirements.

Last year, the company flew in North Korean defectors from Seoul for a panel discussion at a summit it hosted focused on global illicit networks.

"If Google is the first small step in piercing the information bubble in Pyongyang, it could be a very interesting development," Cha wrote on the center's website on Wednesday.

(Reporting By Edwin Chan; Editing by Tim Dobbyn, Andre Grenon and Paul Tait)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/googles-executive-chairman-plans-north-korea-trip-ap-020406007.html

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