Sponsors focus on forecasting; Takeda signs with Quintiles, Covance;

> Drug sponsors say they will make strong investments in planning and forecasting capabilities in 2011--an effort to improve performance and reduce the gap between planned and actual costs, according to Tufts. Story

> Takeda Pharmaceuticals has entered partnerships with contract researchers Covance and Quintiles. Story

> The Mayo Clinic has opened a center for social media that will train health organizations through conferences and workshops to use Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook. Article

> DARPA is funding--to the tune of $6 million over three years--human clinical trials of a brain-computer interface shown effective in a monkey's mental guidance of a robotic arm. Story 

> Because their development requires trust among partner, composite applications--multi-part, multi-owner, multi-technology and mostly mobile--are driving interest in ID security and digital signatures. Article

> In a data breach at West Virginia's CAMC Health Education Research Institute, the names, addresses, social security numbers and birth dates of 3,655 patients were put on a publicly available website. Story

> The New York City Health and Hospital Corp. reports that the personal information of nearly 1.7 million hospital patients, staff, vendors, and contractors was stolen from a van. Article

> Elsevier plans to unveil "the next generation of clinical decision support, featuring Smart Content" at this week's HIMSS event. Elsevier release

> Clinical Research Academy of America has taken the wraps off a smartphone app that lets students access study materials and complete assignments. CRAA release