As part of our effort to provide thought leadership in the venture capital industry, and to keep you up-to-date on relevant investment trends, we at PitchBook are excited to release our 2013 VC Healthcare Report. Driven by data from the unparalleled PitchBook Platform, this report analyzes venture investment trends in the healthcare space, dating as far back as 2004 and as recently as May 2013. Featuring Q&A interviews with industry professionals, as well as unique visual presentations of the data, this report offers a quick and easy way to explore recent and historical healthcare-related VC investments.

Europe needs to find new ways of tackling obesity as traditional prevention measures clearly appear to be failing, according to EU policymakers and health experts. In just a few decades, obesity is expected to weigh heavily on Europe's healthcare systems and become the cause of many other illnesses.

Obesity is today a global phenomenon that affects all countries and all layers of society regardless of age, sex and income, with some health experts now referring to the pandemic as "globesity".

Irish startup Galvanic has just launched a Kickstarter to crowdsource funding a wireless stress biosensor it’s calling PIP. PIP — which stands for ‘personal input pod’ — is a Bluetooth biosensor that monitors its user’s stress levels by measuring their galvanic skin response (GSR) as they hold the PIP pinched between thumb and forefinger. GSR means skin conductance — so basically how sweaty you’re getting and therefore how nervous you’re feeling.

Most patients who enter the gym of the San Mateo Medical Center in California are there to work with physical therapists. But a few who had knee replacements are being coached by a digital avatar instead.

The avatar, Molly, interviews them in Spanish or English about the levels of pain they feel as a video guides them through exercises, while the 3-D cameras of a Kinect device measure their movements. Because it’s a pilot project, Paul Carlisle, the director of rehabilitation services, looks on. But the ultimate goal is for the routine to be done from a patient’s home.