Israel Active

Israeli startup LittleOne.Care is developing a wearable artificial intelligence device that monitors a baby’s sounds and movements, alerting the parents to emergencies and developmental problems. It can detect abuse at daycare, if baby is forgotten in a car, or if the device is removed.

The surgical headsets from Israel’s Beyeonics (see previously) began life as headsets for pilots. Beyeonics is a spinoff from Israeli defense contractor Elbit. Its product now has FDA approval for ophthalmic surgeons and there are plans to adapt it for spinal surgery.

71-year-old Natan at Jerusalem’s Shaare Zedek Medical Center is the first person in Israel to have his severe arterial calcification cleared using a tiny crown coated with a diamond chip spinning at 100,000 rpm. Natan’s cancer treatment prevented conventional catheterization and angioplasty.

We know that Israelis are always having brainwaves, but now researchers at Tel Aviv University have studied them in detail. They found that alpha-beta waves (10 to 30 Hz) are not emitted during sleep or unconscious states. This can help detect if coma patients are aware of external sounds.

Researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have adapted a technique called quantitative Magnetic Resonance Imaging (qMRI) to reveal biological changes in the cellar tissue of the striatum an organ in the brain which is known to deteriorate during the progress of Parkinson's disease.

A study of some 40,000 elderly Israelis shows that the fourth COVID-19 vaccination reduced coronavirus death rates among the most vulnerable Israelis by 72%. It also slashed infection rates in that population by 60% and hospitalizations by 34%.

Israel has successfully rolled out its polio vaccine to children between the ages of six weeks and 18 months – the age most at risk of contracting the disease. The vaccination rate was only 81% in March, when the first case of the virus in 34 years was detected. The rate is now 99%.

Researchers from Haifa’s Bnai Zion Medical Center and Israel’s Technion Institute have developed semaphorin 3A - a molecule that maintains the balance of the immune system. It can help treat autoimmune or inflammatory diseases like lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, asthma, MS, and IBD.

Scientists at Israel’s Technion Institute have engineered nano-sized hybrid biological components at room temperature. These fast-growing proteins, enzymes, and other biological compounds can be used to develop new, safer medicines and improved fuels that do not exist in nature.

A mystery illness caused 41-year-old Nir’s muscles to deteriorate and eventually Nir collapsed, paralyzed. At Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital, Nir was quickly diagnosed with an autoimmune disease called Guillain-Barre syndrome. A transfusion and plasma replacement restored Nir’s life.