Israel Active

Jewish and Arab doctors and nurses at Ziv Hospital in Northern Israel are a further example of co-existence as they dance together to cheer up patients in the dialysis ward.

Scientists at Israel’s Weizmann Institute have discovered that senescent (damaged) cells promote inflammation, common in age-related diseases. Absence of the LMNA gene (that kills senescent cells) causes premature aging. Treatment to destroy these cells (e.g. boosting immunity), slows aging.

In a UK survey of 8,000 heart-attack resuscitations, only 2.8% of patients were still alive 30 days later due to low blood flow to the arteries and brain. The HemaShock device from Israel’s Oneg Hakarmel takes blood from the limbs to maintain essential organs.

I’ve reported on the success of Israel’s Insightec in treating patients suffering from Parkinson’s Disease (PD) and essential tremor. Insightec has just received FDA approval for the life-changing Exablate Neuro treatment to be used on US PD patients.

I reported previously on Israel’s CathWorks and its FFRangio real-time AI 3D imaging of the coronary tree to help surgeons perform heart catheterizations. The US FDA has just given approval for the unique visualization system, which already has European CE certification.

I’ve reported previously on Israel’s Sweetch and its app to help pre-diabetics maintain a healthy lifestyle. This article describes how Sweetch is so personal, it can even detect the weather and suggest indoor activities on cold wintry days. See the Get.Up app .

Asthma and COPD sufferers will pleased to hear that Israel’s NE Field diagnostics has a simple pulmonary (lung function) test for use at home. Breathe normally into the A-Spire device and a smartphone app checks the results, saving vast numbers of unnecessary hospital visits.

When Ayelet Avraham saw a deaf person having problems buying a cell phone, she and another student at the Holon Institute of Technology developed DAS (Deaf Access Solution). DAS uses Google’s Speech Recognizer to translate speech into text and send it to the phone of the relevant nearby person.

A gastric bypass or sleeve gastrectomy are two radical procedures to reduce stomach volume and curb obesity. But now Israel’s Nitinotes is developing Endozip - a 30-minute gastrointestinal automated suturing system, inserted through the mouth with minimal anesthesia.  

Parallel international research involving Haifa and Bar-Ilan University scientists have discovered the key role of enzyme ADAR1 in the immune system and how it can become a new pathway for eradicating viruses and cancers.