Israel Active

I reported previously of Israeli use of hyperbaric (high pressure) oxygen (HBOT) to treat many medical conditions from chronic pain to strokes. Now Tel Aviv University researchers have discovered that it can also treat symptoms experienced by people with Alzheimer’s disease.

Israel’s Teva has been granted fast-track status for fremanezumab, an anti-calcitonin gene-related peptide (anti-CGRP) monoclonal antibody developed for the preventive treatment of migraine. It also applies to the prevention of cluster headaches, which are similar to migraines in symptoms.

The Britain Israel Research and Academic Exchange (BIRAX) program is investing £1.5 million in four stem cell projects to tackle diabetes, heart disease, leukemia and Alzheimer’s disease. The Israeli organizations are Weizmann Institute, Hebrew University and the Technion.

Israel’s Team Prismatix - combining scientists at Israel’s Technion Institute and Bnai Zion Medical Center - has won a Discovery Award for its research into rapid diagnostics for antibiotic resistance. The awards are part of the UK Nesta Foundation’s Longitude Prize challenge program.

Orthopedic surgeons at Haifa’s Rambam Medical Center have performed hip and knee replacements using MP1 - a material developed in Israel for NASA’s space program. MP1 was originally developed by Aliza Buchman for the Israel start-up M.M.A Tech.

Israel’s Internal Security Minister Gilad Erdan, inaugurated the national dispatch and command center for United Hatzalah at the organization’s national headquarters in Jerusalem. The center will ensure that EMS volunteer responders are sent to the emergencies that are closest to their location.

I reported previously how Israel saves lives with early diagnosis of autism in toddlers. Now an Israeli, Raffi Rembrand, father of an autistic son, has invented the SensPD which detects a newborn suffering from sensory overload – a key factor in autism.

Sarah - a new Emergency Medical Technician with United Hatzalah - saved her own life when she managed to convince medics at her local hospital that she was suffering from a pulmonary embolism. When cynical hospital staff finally agreed to do a CT-scan, they found a clot in her lung.

Joel Atkin, a student of United Hatzalah’s NREMT training program helped resuscitate an older man who had collapsed near where Atkin was playing his daily tennis game. Noticing the commotion, he supervised CPR, provided ventilation and used a defibrillator to get a pulse.

I reported previously on Israeli companies developing cancer treatments targeting individuals rather than specific areas of the body. Now, Israeli biotech Ayala is partnering with Bristol-Myers Squibb to develop treatments for cancer patients known to have a gene mutation.