Daily Rounds: Caritas Chief's 'Breathtaking Ambition'; Michelle Obama Takes On Restaurants; Magician Takes On Homeopathy

How Caritas Christi CEO Ralph de la Torre's Wall Street gamble will rock main street health care - The Boston Globe "His stunning 0-to-60 ascent, from a political non-factor to a guy hosting the president at his house, is not at all out of character for de la Torre, a man of ample ability and breathtaking ambition. During his career, the 44-year-old heart surgeon-turned-hospital executive has shown himself to be a brilliant maestro, time and again using his relentlessness, charm, vision, and opportunism to turn an array of opponents into a symphony of supporters." (boston.com)

Michelle Obama Focusing on Restaurant Nutrition - NYTimes.com "A team of advisers to Mrs. Obama has been holding private talks over the past year with the National Restaurant Association, a trade group, in a bid to get restaurants to adopt her goals of smaller portions and children’s meals that include healthy offerings like carrots, apple slices and milk instead of French fries and soda, according to White House and industry officials." (nytimes.com)

Magician James Randi, skeptics launch attack on makers of homeopathic "drugs" - latimes.com "Magician James Randi, who has devoted the latter part of his career to exposing fraud, scams and charlatans, and a network of skeptics known as the 10:23 Campaign launched a major campaign Saturday against the manufacturers of so-called homeopathic drugs, charging that the companies that sell the drugs are packaging worthless products that are cheating customers out of their money." (Los Angeles Times) Universal flu vaccine tested on humans - Health - Infectious diseases - msnbc.com "A universal flu vaccine has been successfully tested on humans with the disease for the first time, it was reported Monday.The U.K.'s Guardian newspaper said that unlike existing vaccines, this one, which was tested by scientists at Britain's Oxford University, does not need to be changed every year to match the latest strain of the virus." (MSNBC)

More get waivers of health insurance - The Boston Globe "Massachusetts regulators granted more exemptions last year to residents who said they could not afford the health insurance required by the state, waiving the tax penalty for more than half of those who appealed, according to state data." (boston.com)