Just a mere 24 hours after Medtronic (Minneapolis) reported its intent to acquire Sapiens Steering Brain Stimulation (Eindhoven, the Netherlands) for $200 million, the med-tech giant is dipping its toe back into the mergers and acquisitions waters again. This time the med-tech giant is picking up NGC Medical (Novedrate, Italy), a privately held company, in a transaction valued at $350 million.

Venture capital funding for the Life Sciences sector, which includes biotechnology and medical devices, reached $2.5 billion in 195 deals for 2Q14, according to a new report, "Biotech soars to record high," that includes data from the MoneyTree Report from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC; New York) and the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA), based on data provided by Thomson Reuters (New York). While this quarter was the highest Life Sciences investment since 2Q07, it was also the strongest second quarter since 1995, which is the earliest data recorded by the MoneyTree.

Twenty years from now, exoskeletons probably won't be as advanced as the one depicted in the 2007 movie Iron Man, where actor Robert Downey Jr.'s character Tony Stark dons a suit of armor to fight crime. Ultimately, that's a fictional account of just what the technology can do and not based in reality at all. What is reality, however, is a growing interest in these devices being used to help patients with spinal cord injuries walk.

Seeing a paralyzed patient regaining the ability to walk can be both powerful and emotional. For some physicians and clinicians it's an everyday occurrence. But no matter how many times it happens, onlookers are often awestruck with the sight.

Prior to 2009, exoskeletons and therapies for paralyzed patients were probably the last things on Stephanie Souza's mind. That changed suddenly and the California resident's life was turned upside down, when she discovered she was suffering from transverse myelitis, a neurological condition consisting of an inflammatory process of the spinal cord.