Strategies for attracting angel investors

10.5912/jcb18 ◽  
1969 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
John W. Holaday ◽  
Steven L. Meltzer ◽  
James T. McCormick

In the early stages of corporate growth, biotechnology entrepreneurs can attract funding from a particular category of investor: the 'angel' investor. This paper describes different types of angel investors and discusses the role angel investors play in providing funding, advice and contacts to early-stage biotechnology companies. Further, some of the qualities angel investors seek in the companies in which they invest are reviewed, and techniques that biotechnology entrepreneurs can employ to increase the likelihood of obtaining funding from angel investors are discussed.

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 182-200
Author(s):  
Julio José Prado ◽  
Ignacio Rojas

According to the WHO, approximately 50 million people worldwide have dementia and there are nearly 10 million new cases every year. Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form of dementia and may contribute to 60–70% of cases. It has been proved that early diagnosis is key to promoting early and optimal management. However, the early stage of dementia is often overlooked and patients are typically diagnosed when the disease progresses to a more advanced stage. The objective of this contribution is to predict Alzheimer’s early stages, not only dementia itself. To carry out this objective, different types of SVM and CNN machine learning classifiers will be used, as well as two different feature selection algorithms: PCA and mRMR. The different experiments and their performance are compared when classifying patients from MRI images. The newness of the experiments conducted in this research includes the wide range of stages that we aim to predict, the processing of all the available information simultaneously and the Segmentation routine implemented in SPM12 for preprocessing. We will make use of multiple slices and consider different parts of the brain to give a more accurate response. Overall, excellent results have been obtained, reaching a maximum F1 score of 0.9979 from the SVM and PCA classifier.


Author(s):  
Dang Thanh Dat ◽  
Nguyen Thi Kim Anh

Angel investment is important for startups when they are in between the seed-stage and the early-stage because they need funds to grow rapidly. Angel investors, in addition to providing capital, normally function as strategic partners who provide capacity building, management knowledge and mentorship for startups. Angel investors accordingly benefit startups in many different ways, including the provision of funds. Vietnam is ranked third in Southeast Asia in terms of the number of active startups, most of which are in an early stage and therefore in need of funds from angel investors. The paper examines the concept of angel investment and the determinants that impact angel investors’ decisions. The paper then recommends implications so as to help build a mechanism to develop domestic angel investment activities and attract foreign angel investment into Vietnam.


2008 ◽  
Vol 139 (2_suppl) ◽  
pp. P34-P35 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael S Morris

Objective 1) Better recognize pathophysiology of postoperative tonsillectomy hemorrhage. 2) Be able to better differentiate the different types of post-tonsillectomy hemorrhage based upon understanding the vascular physiology and adjust management accordingly. Methods Post-tonsillectomy complications in children and adults were reviewed. 7 cases of hemorrhage, including 5 deaths, were carefully reviewed. Patients ranged between 2–40 years of age. This represents the largest series of post-tonsillectomy deaths reported to date. All postoperative deaths were due to bleeding and cardiopulmonary arrest. Post-mortem analysis was undertaken on those patients. CT angiography was reviewed in one surviving patient and the utility of this type of scanning is discussed. Results Post-tonsillectomy bleeding is one of the most worrisome otolaryngology concerns. Patients with bleeding on postoperative days 2–3 reported episodic bleeding stopping spontaneously. In these patients, the episode of unobserved bleeding signaled a vascular spasm with a likehood of recurrence. When the bleeding recurred it was massive and occured in a uncontrolled setting, leading to a poor outcome. Vascular trauma and spasm is likely. Conclusions Postoperative tonsillectomy bleeding is better managed by differentiating those patients with early stage bleeding on postoperative days 2–3. Direct examination of the operative field is imperative. Ancillary testing including CT angiograpy is helpful in the evaluation.


Author(s):  
Siamack Sabrkhany ◽  
Marijke J. E. Kuijpers ◽  
Mirjam G. A. oude Egbrink ◽  
Arjan W. Griffioen

AbstractPlatelets have an important role in tumor angiogenesis, growth, and metastasis. The reciprocal interaction between cancer and platelets results in changes of several platelet characteristics. It is becoming clear that analysis of these platelet features could offer a new strategy in the search for biomarkers of cancer. Here, we review the human studies in which platelet characteristics (e.g., count, volume, protein, and mRNA content) are investigated in early-stage cancer. The main focus of this paper is to evaluate which platelet features are suitable for the development of a blood test that could detect cancer in its early stages.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Reham A. Aboelwafa ◽  
Walid Ismail Ellakany ◽  
Marwa A. Gamaleldin ◽  
Marwa A. Saad

Abstract Background Hepatocellular carcinoma and hepatitis C are strongly associated. The current work aimed to study the expression levels of microRNA-331-3p and microRNA-23b-3p as propable biomarkers for detecting liver cancer (HCC) at its early stages in patients with HCV-related liver cirrhosis. The current prospective study included two hundred participants, divided into three groups: group I, 100 patients with HCV-related liver cirrhosis; group II, 50 HCC patients at early stages; and group III, 50 apparentlyhealthy controls. All patients had routine laboratory workup and ultrasound hepatic assessment. Values of microRNA-331-3p and microRNA-23b-3p were measured by real-time quantitative PCR. Results Levels of miR-331-3p were significantly higher in HCC patients than in cirrhotic patients and controls (p < 0.001), while levels of miR-23b-3p were significantly lower in HCC patients compared to cirrhotics and controls (p < 0.001). ROC curve revealed that miR-23b-3p had 80% sensitivity and 74% specificity, miR-331-3p had 66% sensitivity and 61% specificity, and AFP had 64% sensitivity and 61% specificity of 61% in discrimination between HCC patients from controls. Conclusion Serum miR-23b-3p is a more effective predictor than miR-331-3p and AFP for the development of hepatocellular carcinoma in hepatitis C (HCV)-related cirrhotic patients.


2019 ◽  
Vol 13 ◽  
pp. 04020
Author(s):  
Giovan Battista Mattii ◽  
Eleonora Cataldo ◽  
Linda Salvi ◽  
Sofia Sbraci ◽  
Francesca Paoli ◽  
...  

In the early stages of planting, the shelter can provide for young vines protection against damage of various kinds. Despite their widespread use, few surveys have been devoted to the study of innovative shelter types and the possible influence of these protections on the physiology and development of plants. In the present experiment, which took place in 2017 in a Tuscan winery, the effects of vine protections by the company OSO (Prato) on single leaf gas exchanges and on the shoot growth in the first year of planting were studied. Three types of shelters with a circular section (completely perforated, partially perforated and closed) have been compared with the traditional full-wall shelters with square section. During the growing season, sprout growth measures, leaf area, leaf gas exchanges and water potential were carried out on the young vines. At the end of the season, shoots were sampled to measure the dry matter accumulated during the season. Among the shelters taken into consideration, it emerges that the completely perforated type guarantees the best development, with differences that are almost always significant for most of the measured parameters with traditional shelters. On the contrary, the closed typology has led to a reduction in growth, in gas exchanges and in water potential. In conclusion, the type completely perforated could constitute a valid alternative to the traditional one because, besides being a useful means for the protection of the vine, it could benefit the development of the root system in the early stages of growth.


1997 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 161-167 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Kojima ◽  
F. Konishi ◽  
T. Tsukamoto ◽  
K. Yamashita ◽  
K. Kanazawa

2016 ◽  
Vol 62 (11) ◽  
pp. 1482-1491 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nora Brychta ◽  
Thomas Krahn ◽  
Oliver von Ahsen

Abstract BACKGROUND Since surgical removal remains the only cure for pancreatic cancer, early detection is of utmost importance. Circulating biomarkers have potential as diagnostic tool for pancreatic cancer, which typically causes clinical symptoms only in advanced stage. Because of their high prevalence in pancreatic cancer, KRAS proto-oncogene, GTPase [KRAS (previous name: Kirsten rat sarcoma viral oncogene homolog)] mutations may be used to identify tumor-derived circulating plasma DNA. Here we tested the diagnostic sensitivity of chip based digital PCR for the detection of KRAS mutations in circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) in early stage pancreatic cancer. METHODS We analyzed matched plasma (2 mL) and tumor samples from 50 patients with pancreatic cancer. Early stages (I and II) were predominant (41/50) in this cohort. DNA was extracted from tumor and plasma samples and tested for the common codon 12 mutations G12D, G12V, and G12C by chip-based digital PCR. RESULTS We identified KRAS mutations in 72% of the tumors. 44% of the tumors were positive for G12D, 20% for G12V, and 10% for G12C. One tumor was positive for G12D and G12V. Analysis of the mutations in matched plasma samples revealed detection rates of 36% for G12D, 50% for G12V, and 0% for G12C. The detection appeared to be correlated with total number of tumor cells in the primary tumor. No KRAS mutations were detected in 20 samples of healthy control plasma. CONCLUSIONS Our results support further evaluation of tumor specific mutations as early diagnostic biomarkers using plasma samples as liquid biopsy.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-15
Author(s):  
Cristina Simonet ◽  
Miquel A. Galmes ◽  
Christian Lambert ◽  
Richard N. Rees ◽  
Tahrina Haque ◽  
...  

Background: Bradykinesia is the defining motor feature of Parkinson’s disease (PD). There are limitations to its assessment using standard clinical rating scales, especially in the early stages of PD when a floor effect may be observed. Objective: To develop a quantitative method to track repetitive tapping movements and to compare people in the early stages of PD, healthy controls, and individuals with idiopathic anosmia. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study of 99 participants (early-stage PD = 26, controls = 64, idiopathic anosmia = 9). For each participant, repetitive finger tapping was recorded over 20 seconds using a smartphone at 240 frames per second. From each video, amplitude between fingers, frequency (number of taps per second), and velocity (distance travelled per second) was extracted. Clinical assessment was based on the motor section of the MDS-UPDRS. Results: People in the early stage of PD performed the task with slower velocity (p <  0.001) and with greater frequency slope than controls (p = 0.003). The combination of reduced velocity and greater frequency slope obtained the best accuracy to separate early-stage PD from controls based on metric thresholds alone (AUC = 0.88). Individuals with anosmia exhibited slower velocity (p = 0.001) and smaller amplitude (p <  0.001) compared with controls. Conclusion: We present a simple, proof-of-concept method to detect early motor dysfunction in PD. Mean tap velocity appeared to be the best parameter to differentiate patients with PD from controls. Patients with anosmia also showed detectable differences in motor performance compared with controls which may suggest that some are in the prodromal phase of PD.


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