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THE MEDITERRANEAN DIET IS ONLY A PART OF IT: WINE AND WATER are also companion consumables along with the omegas and olive oil. Resveratrol is an ingredient in red wine and may be a contributor, unless it is the relaxing and social effects of wine consumption. http://lnkd.in/7cby-R View in LinkedIn

THE FIRST FULL FACE TRANSPLANT WAS CONDUCTED IN SPAIN IN MARCH 2010 by a team of thirty doctors. This feat has been repeated since then. The challenge of keeping a complex musculature, innervation, and glandular system intact is a daunting prospect. The source tissues have been either the patient's own damaged faces packed on ice, or transplanted from brain dead donors. The technical splendor of this work is awesome. http://abcnews.go.com/m/story?id=19082675 View in LinkedIn

"TO SEE A WORLD IN A GRAIN OF SAND" (William Blake). Proteus Digital Health has a GRAS sensor the size of a grain of sand (without a battery) that is part of an oral drug, to transmit key data back to a patch worn by the patient. This cunning micro-device is part of a new wave of pharmaceutical enhancements that are related to ultimately increase efficacy through compliance and provide valuable efficacy data. http://lnkd.in/Jv6XCV View in LinkedIn

CLINICAL TRIAL TRANSPARENCY UNDER A STAY ORDER. Medimmune and Abbott have sued to stop the popular transparency initiative by EMA apparently claiming confidential information. We will see whether the court is persuaded on this one. http://www.raps.org/focus-online/news/news-article-view/article/3309 View in LinkedIn

THE CRISIS IS GOOD. While lamentable and true human suffering is occurring, there is another side to The Crisis. Without fatal external pain, societies keep the status quo. Japan was hit by the Perfect Storm of the Tsunami and The Crisis..Japan has had years of economic flat-lining. In April 2013 they took a remarkable step of doubling their money supply. A few years earlier they created a public-private VC fund (INCJ) of 22 Bn USD, one of the largest in history to reinvigorate moribund industries. Without adversity, the world's third largest economy would have remained paralyzed. View in LinkedIn

COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPES FREQUENTLY SHOW DUPLICATION. In times of capital stringency, redundancy is the first luxury to be squeezed out. Smart CEOs who are aware of having duplicative projects will seek a collaboration with the competition rather than face extinction. For this reason, I expect to see more M&A activity in healthcare innovators, because three dogs chasing the same rabbit means two will go hungry. Those CEOs that are not looking at this issue may just end up in the dog house. http://hsutube.com/collab-dev-fin/ View in LinkedIn

MANY ENTREPRENEURS AND VCs ARE REALLY MAD WITH THE FDA, claiming that they are too slow, set the bar too high, and keep changing the rules causing uncertainty that investors run a mile from. Basically, the agency has a gigantic task on an insufficient budget. California has two field inspectors essentially covering Reno to Hawaii. Foreign field inspectors are rarer than hen's teeth. If the agency is to be functional, then it must get sufficient funding. One less Stealth bomber perhaps? http://lnkd.in/BFhWv4 View in LinkedIn

THE CATALAN KNOWLEDGE REVOLUTION STARTED IN 2000 when notable visionary public figures resolved to start investing heavily in research, growing to 1.0 Bn € per year and tapering off at 800 M € in the last few years. This resulted in attracting world class researchers to Catalunya and raising its rankings in publications to remarkable heights. The other initiative was to facilitate translational medicine and generate innovative companies. It worked, and today there are hundreds of SMEs in Catalunya as a result. This rich landscape needs international partners to put the cherry in the cake. View in LinkedIn

THE MEDAEVAL BARBERS BLED THE PATIENTS. Will we soon look at dentists in a similarly way, as a static profession that relied on mechanical scraping and pulling and a bit of nuts and bolts? This valued profession has experienced essential paralysis since the first electric dental drill was invented in 1914. Where are the enzymatic anti-plaque agents, the gingiva implants for periodontitis, the tooth buds for missing teeth, the depot release antibiotics, the topical anesthesia, to name a few? It is time that this venerable profession joined the 21st century before they join the Barber's Bucket. View in LinkedIn

BARCELONA BIOENTREPRENEURS HAVE OPTIMISM AND ENTHUSIASM. We had a gathering for 50 yesterday in Barcelona where the famous British mentor and media figure Oliver Rothschild addressed them by videotape followed by Kazu Umeda who heads up life sciences in INCJ in Tokyo (22 Bn fund). The entrepreneurs here have a freshness and vision that has not been jaded. They have had relatively easy money from the government and are preparing now for international partnering. The Tipping Point is not far off to light this flammable material and get it going. View in LinkedIn