Israel Active

Israel has just opened the Ezer Mizion Stem Cell Harvesting Center - the first Israeli medical center specially designed to collect stem cells for bone marrow transplants. It will enable the public to donate stem cells in a dedicated environment, without having to spend up to 7 hours in hospital.

ERAN is Israel’s only crisis intervention hotline, with 1,200 vetted and highly-trained volunteers, plus 25 full and part-time staff.  They handled nearly 200,000 calls in 2018 and prevented some 800 likely suicides. ERAN has also trained 25 ex-pat Israelis in Canada to help cover overnight shifts.

Israeli-founded startup Zone7 (InPlay Ltd) has developed software that analyzes data from wearables and video, tracks medical condition and performance and forecasts injuries. It is used by soccer clubs in the UK, Israel, and Spain. Zone7 has just raised $2.5 million including from top sportsmen.

A 7-year international study led by Tel Aviv Sourasky (Ichilov) Medical Center’s Professor Eli Sprecher, has revealed that a defect in the protein gene PAD13 is responsible for hair loss due to Central Centrifugal Cicatricial Alopecia [CCCA]. The condition affects 5% of African-American women.

I reported previously on Israel’s DreaMed Diabetes monitors. DreaMed has just partnered with French company BioCorp to create an Artificially Intelligent system that integrates BioCorp’s Mallya smart cap for pen injectors with DreaMed’s Advisor Pro insulin analysis system.

Israel’s Technion has partnered with Israeli startup Cordio Medical to develop a smartphone app to identify the first signs of heart failure. The app detects changes in a person’s voice due to lung fluid - an early warning of congestive heart failure. Clinical trials are in progress.

A patient, with Buerger’s disease was at pre-amputation stage due to non-healing foot ulcers. Regulatory approval was given for compassionate treatment using Pluristem’s PLX-PAD cells. A year after treatment, the wound is fully closed, and the patient has resumed normal activities.

I reported briefly previously that Israel’s KidneyCure was developing cell therapy for treating chronic kidney disease (CKD). Here are some more details of this innovative technology that turns damaged cells into healthy cells.

I reported previously on Israel’s Eximo and its lasers for treating peripheral artery disease (PAD). The Center for Cardiovascular Excellence in Orlando, Florida is the first to use Eximo’s B-Laser Atherectomy System commercially to successfully treat a patient.

Tel Aviv’s Sourasky (Ichilov) Hospital and Israel’s largest health companies Clalit and Maccabi will use the algorithms of Israel’s Zebra Medical Vision to analyze scanned images from X-rays, CT scans and MRIs.