Relief for swollen legs
The Robotic stocking from Israel’s ElastiMed (see previously) for treating lymphatic and venous leg diseases is being tested in a clinical study at Sheba Medical Center. It already shows a 5-fold improvement in leg volume reduction, compared to the hospital’s standard compression bandages.
US approval for steerable microcatheter
The Bendit21 microcatheter from Israel’s Bendit Technologies (see previously) has just received US FDA approval. The device has already been used to save two lives in the US and is described as a game-changer in endovascular medicine.
Stethoscope detects sounds that no human can hear
Israel’s Sanolla (see previously) has received US FDA approval for its VoqX, the first and only stethoscope that can listen to infrasound - acoustic sound waves (3 to 40 Hz) that aren’t detectable by the human ear but provide important diagnostic information.
Getting under the skin of an autoimmune disease
Researchers from Weizmann, Hadassah and Rambam medical centers have discovered a significant drop in a specific type of fibroblast (cell scaffold) occurs with the onset of scleroderma - a rare autoimmune disease. The research can shed light on the origin of other diseases.
AI finds source of mystery heart problem
Israeli Meidan Schwartzman faced life-altering surgery to trace a mystery heart arrhythmia. Then he read about Dr. Itzik Biton, a senior cardiologist at Hadassah's Heart Institute who subsequently used Artificial Intelligence to locate and fix the problem in the sinus area of Meidan’s heart.
Severed ear reconstructed
Doctors at Jerusalem’s Shaare Zedek Medical Center saved the severed ear of a carpenter who suffered a serious work accident. To prevent rejection, they used tissue from his scalp and leg to create an artificial cartilage mold of the severed part of the ear and grafted it onto the remaining part.
Smart sensors to ensure vaccine safety
Tel Aviv University researchers used smart sensors from Israel’s BioBeat to measure physiological reactions of 160 subjects to the second dose of the Pfizer vaccine. They showed that side effects increased over a 48-hour period, often contradicting reports of the patients themselves.
Protection against Covid-19
Experts from Tel Aviv University have shown that common dietary supplements can help protect us against the Covid virus as well as several common winter illnesses. They include Zinc and Copper, combined with flavonoids – polyphenolic compounds found in vegetables such as pumpkins & peas.
A good place
The latest Coronavirus wave is over as far as Israel is concerned. Experts say the reasons include immunity from the previous Omicron wave, plus behavioral factors such as protecting the elderly. If there are no significant variants on the horizon, Israel is in a good place (and is a good place to visit!)
Cancer therapy “double-whammy”
Researchers at Tel Aviv University have developed a 2-in-1 anti-cancer nanoparticle. It is the world’ first RNA-based treatment to combine chemotherapy to destroy cancer cells and immunotherapy to stimulate the immune system to identify and attack the remaining cancer cells.