Changing the color of your eyes "don’t go asking for trouble”

Lasering the iris to destroy the brown pigment to turn it blue is “probably risky,” Dr. Robert Cykiert, associate professor of ophthalmology at NYU Langone Medical Center, told ABCNews.com.

“When you burn the brown pigment away with a laser, the debris that is created in the front of the eye — think of it as ashes resulting from burning anything — is likely to clog up the microscopic channels in the front of the eye, known as trabecular meshwork,” said Cykiert. “[It] is very likely to cause a high pressure in the eye, known as glaucoma.”

In some patients, this high pressure might  be temporary, he said, but in others, it could be permanent. Glaucoma is a disease that can cause serious permanent loss of vision.
Cykiert  also said that burning large amounts of brown pigment is likely to cause inflammation and potential damage to the cornea. The procedure could also bring on cataracts, depending on the severity of the inflammation.

Dr. Ivan Schwab, a professor of ophthalmology at the University of California at Davis School of Medicine and clinical correspondent at the American Academy of Ophthalmology, also has his doubts.

“These risks take time to develop, so they may not develop in the first year or two. It could take five or 10 years,” said Schwab. “If a large number of people were to undergo this procedure of lasering the iris, and it caused these problems down the road, we’d have a major public health problem on our hands.”

Life Science Start Ups to Boom! with JOBS ACT

When the time is right, the JOBS Act makes it easier for a new class of "emerging growth companies" to go public.  

Young, high-growth firms are allowed up to five years to comply with certain Sarbanes-Oxley Act disclosures.

The Life Science Sector will boom! with the help of Job Act.

Sarbanes-Oxley compliance is much more onerous for smaller companies than it is for larger entities such as General Electric, Johnson & Johnson or IBM. 

The JOBS Act helps smaller companies conserve resources. It also provides an "IPO On-Ramp" during which time emerging growth companies can protect sensitive information and competitive trade secrets.

To protect investors, the JOBS Act includes an amendment that mandates companies to provide basic financial information to investors before seeking crowdfunding. It also requires third-party intermediaries, in the form of websites managing crowdfunding shares, to register with the SEC. 

The amendment also sets limits on the amount of money an individual can invest to prevent investors from taking too much risk. Individuals with an annual income or net worth of less than $100,000, for example, would be limited to investing 5% of their income in crowdfunding.

In addition, Obama called on the Treasury Department, Small Business Association and Justice Department to monitor the new legislation closely and report regularly on their findings.

Certainly, the JOBS Act is a win for entrepreneurs in America. But it is only a first step. The bill will help innovators reduce burdensome regulation and gain faster access to capital to grow their startup businesses. Immigrants founded or co-founded almost half of the 50 top venture-backed companies in the United States, and on average these companies created 150 jobs.

Another way is to make open-technology licensing a condition for universities to receive federal research dollars. Currently, the Bayh-Dole Act of 1980 requires faculty innovators to work through their own university technology licensing offices. This creates significant delays.

To catalyze our innovation economy, we need to increase collaboration between startups and larger corporations. One such example is the NYSE Big StartUp initiative that partners large companies with small businesses to provide corporate assistance with accounting support, legal services, marketing infrastructure and financial training. Small companies often lack resources to take their business to scale. Corporate America can help catapult fledgling entrepreneurs to the next level.

America's competitive position in the world will increasingly depend on our entrepreneurs. The JOBS Act provides momentum.

JOBS ACT WILL IGNITE THE MED DEVICE INDUSTRY BOOM

Private investor are jumping in to invest in Medical Device industry as it heats up for a health care boom in Asia by 2015.  

The increasing incidence of chronic diseases such as Obesity,  diabetes, cardiovascular disease, chronic wounds, immobility, pulmonary and vascular diseases is enhancing the need for patient care in hospitals, homes and other care facilities, thereby contributing to the demand for medical devices and diagnostics that are capable of enhancing the overall quality of life. The US leads the high-technology medical devices market, but faces fierce competition from emerging economies. Despite being way behind the US in terms of expertise or innovation, these countries compete on basis of production of low cost medical devices. 

Demand for medical devices in developing countries, especially China and India, is expected to grow at a faster rate than developed countries owing to factors such as rising disposable incomes, increase in patient population, growing waist lines, obesity on the rise and both India and China face an epidemic of diabetes and obesity. 

 Australia UK , US, Canada and Mexico are already declared an Obesity epidemic.The obesity device market will be the biggest in the healthcare sector.Asia is seeing increasing healthcare awareness, improvements in healthcare infrastructure and increase in healthcare spending . In majority of the Asian, Latin America and the Middle East countries, government efforts are focused on improving healthcare services and infrastructure facilities, which is expected to fuel the demand for medical equipment in the next 3 years. 

India and china face a problem of metabolic disease. Which is a mix of hypertension, heart disease and diabetes and now Obesity. The smokers in the region have increased the incidence of tobacco related problems.

Coronary stent or an angioplasty is one medical device that is done every 20 seconds in Asia. 

There is a increased demand in consumables in the medical device sector. Implantables like the lap band will grow in Asia.

Technologies in orthopedics and spine are in great demand. Larger companies cannot compete with small and nimble manufacturers.

Spine surgery is reverting to posterior open repairs due to slower adoption of minimally invasive surgery. The outcomes show little difference between the traditional posterior fixation and minimally invasive surgery. It will take a decade for new technologies to be adopted.

Increase number of private investors are jumping into the space because the institutional investors have not raised new money to invest in early stage technologies.

 Private investors did not have this opportunity until recently.

Private and angel investors understand its a high risk high gain opportunity, accredited investors can take advantage and invest in companies in the seed stage and series A. After Series A  the institutional investors and venture capitalist jump in. Many of the private investors have potential to gain if the company exits in 4-5 years, which can be by virtue of M&A or IPO.

Life Science Event for CEOs in Newport Beach, Ca : May 24, 2012

SEVEN (Scientific Entrepreneur & Venture Capital Network) Orange County is hosting a Life Science Executive Mixer.- Join on Linkedin.SEVEN
 
The event is a black tie cocktail event starting at 5:30 PM to 9:00PM.
Date: 24 May 2012
Location: Irvine/Newport Beach
Sponsors: Pl contact : Raj at: accessclinicaltrials@gmail.com
There is opportunity to sponsor the event. pl call: 714-658-3039


This event will bring the medical device, pharma, biotech and health care IT entrepreneurs, executives and the investor community together to boost the booming life science industry in Orange County and So Cal.
About 200 Life Science executives, investors and start up entrepreneurs are expected to attend.

SEVEN is screening Medical Device, Biotech, Healthcare IT start up companies that would like to have a table top display/presentation (limited to 20 tabletops only) for an exclusive CEO/Investor Black Tie Event for Life Science companies, pl note few spots are left.  Pl Email to qualify for the event. (Start up with innovative technology, good team, good story)

Pl send your company profile and executive summary to: Raj Nihalani
E: accessclinicaltrials@gmail.com
For Registration/attendance pl contact:  accessclinicaltrials@gmail.com
There is opportunity to sponsor the event. pl call: 714-658-3039

What Type of Innovator Are You? Forbes Study Identifies 5 Innovation Personalities

Recently, Forbes Magazine published the results of their recent study in Europe taking a look at  personalities of innovative entrepreneurs in business. After surveying over 1200 European executives, the magazine distilled the results into 5 personality types of innovators.

image credit: Forbes.com

Caveat emptor, the Forbes' study consisted specifically of European executives and so may not account for cultural differences that may impact innovation within a company setting in a different region of the world. That being said, it gives a valuable look at the balance and distinct personalities needed to make innovation work.

Though profiles of leading entrepreneurs, notable social innovators (i.e. lists such as Forbes' Impact 30 list identifying top social innovators) and rockstar founders often profile a single lead individual, the Forbes Insight study suggests that it is actually the push and pull, yin and yang, and creative process of multiple different personalities that lead to institutional innovation.

Below are the personality types Forbes identified. Do you identify with one or think there may be an unaccounted for category?

Forbes Identifies 5 Types of Innovators

• Movers & Shakers-- bold and sometimes brash, these innovators were described by Forbes as the visionaries with a noted ability to influence others. Along with their showmen qualities seem to be just enough impatience arrogance to boot. Executives identified in this category make up 22% of those surveyed. 
• Hangers-On-- attention to process and comfort in structure seem to be describers of this category. Forbes describes a concentration of this type of innovator in roles such as CFO/Treasurer. Executives identified as this type make up  23% of the total surveyed. 
• Experimenters-- Perseverance and perfectionism mark this curious innovator. This category is described as less concerned with failure but more concerned with pushing through a new idea or initiative. Coming in at 16% of all executives surveyed, this type seems to be consistent with many of our traditional notion of entrepreneurial innovators.
• Controllers-- with characteristics that seem compatible with Hangers-On, Controller innovators are described as markedly risk-averse, and tending find their forte in managing the vision rather than creating it. Innovators of this type made up 15% of all surveyed. 
• Star Pupils-- this category is the undeniable talent. Essential to start-ups and full-blown enterprises these individuals are likely sought-out for their superstar skills and A+ report cards. And judging by the fact that they make up the largest slice, they may be rewarded grandly for the skills they bring to the table. Star Pupils made up  24% of innovator executives surveyed.