James Brock

Vance Street Capital recently closed an oversubscribed $775 million Fund IV. The Pacific Palisades-based private equity firm focused on manufacturing now has more than $2 billion in total capital commitments.

Entertainment studio Iconic Arts is working from new offices in Santa Monica and Tokyo after closing $3.1 million in pre-seed financing. The financing brings its pre-seed valuation to $20 million.

Starshot Capital is launching its first fund, targeting companies working on decarbonization goals. The venture capital firm's Starshot Fund I totals $35 million and will back early-stage companies addressing climate change. Brentwood-based Starshot said it's specifically focused on “high-impact and high-growth” companies in sectors such as industrial, manufacturing, food and agriculture, materials and chemicals.

The California Hospital Association has filed a lawsuit against Anthem Blue Cross claiming the insurer is in violation of state laws about timely transfer of patients awaiting discharge from an acute-care hospital to a sub-acute facility. When a hospital patient's condition improves and no longer requires acute care but the patient cannot be safely discharged to home, he or she goes to a skilled nursing facility.

F ore Enterprise is emerging from stealth with a previously unannounced cache of seed funding. The Brentwood-based data analytics company uses artificial intelligence to predict employee-turnover risks and attrition costs to help employers improve staff retention and reduce costs associated with turnover.

Restaurants A Vineyard and a Region To Put On Your Radar BY James Brock Save Article

If you're looking for gifts for a father (or really anyone) who is passionate about wine, we've got you covered. Let's start big with a big wine from Napa

BackgroundHand surgeons have been charged with the use of diverse modalities to enhance the consenting process following the Montgomery ruling. Artificial Intelligence language models have been suggested as patient education tools that may aid consent.MethodsWe compared the quality and readability of the Every Informed Decision Online (EIDO) patient information leaflet for carpal tunnel release with the artificial intelligence language model Chat Generative Pretrained Transformer (GPT).ResultsThe quality of information by ChatGPT was significantly higher using the DISCERN score, 71/80 for ChatGPT compared to 62/80 for EIDO (p=0.014). DISCERN interrater observer reliability was high (0.65) using the kappa statistic. Flesch-Kincaid readability scoring was 12.3 for ChatGPT and 7.5 for EIDO, suggesting a more complex reading age for the ChatGPT information.ConclusionThe artificial intelligence language model ChatGPT produces high-quality information at the expense of readability when compared to EIDO information leaflets for carpal tunnel release consent.

Restaurants Tasting Notes, Grape Insights and Observations BY James Brock Save Article

My current wine tasting schedule includes several bottles of rosé, a Napa red blend and a fig brandy from a family distillery in Sonoma County. It's an