Israel Active

Scientists at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Ben Gurion University have discovered that high levels of a micro-RNA called miR-211 reduces the brain’s susceptibility to epileptic seizures. Therapeutics that increase miR-211 production can lead to new treatments for epileptics.

Israel’s Health Basket of treatments for Health funds includes protein and polymerase inhibitors that are effective in curing patients from Hepatitis C. The treatment costs $100,000 per patient, but that cost is reducing. Experts say that the treatment will wipe out the disease within a decade.

I regularly include articles to show how important Israel regards sign language for communicating with the deaf and the hearing-impaired.  Now United Hatzalah has organized Israel’s first-ever course to teach sign language skills to volunteer United Hatzalah medics.

The family of Sacha Baron Cohen (alias Ali G) has donated two medicycles, costing £15,000 each, to Israeli emergency service Magen David Adom. Daniella Baron Cohen dedicated them to her late husband Gerald (Sacha’s father). On the back of one of the vehicles is Ali G’s famous slogan “Respect!”.

Professor Zelig Eshhar of Israel’s Weizmann Institute and Professor Alexander Levitzki of Jerusalem’s Hebrew University shared the EMET Life Sciences award for their cancer research. Eshhar’s award was for his adaptive immunotherapy treatment; Levitski for his protein kinases inhibitors.

Parkinson’s sufferer Yocheved Mintz was part of a group visit to Israel’s Rambam Medical Center in Haifa. One of Rambam’s doctors mentioned the hospital’s cutting-edge work on curing Parkinson’s patients of their tremors. Yocheved asked for the treatment, and now she is cured.

I reported previously () about the invasively implantable MobiusHD device from Israel’s Vascular Dynamics which reduces high blood pressure. MobiusHD is undergoing trials, has CE approval and is on the FDA’s Expedited Access Pathway program. It has also just received $10.4 million of funds.

I reported previously on the non-invasive urine test of Israel’s Nucleix for monitoring bladder cancer treatment. Following a multi-center, 400-patients clinical trial, Nucleix has received the CE Mark allowing it to market Bladder EpiCheck in the E.U.

Dr. Michal Lotem is head of the Center for Melanoma and Cancer Immunotherapy at Hadassah Medical Center. Instead of going after the cancer, they target the immune system, boosting it to respond more aggressively to the disease.

Israel’s CorAlert is developing a non-invasive monitor that can diagnose heart failure in real-time. Sensors on the arm and chest, a pressure cuff and a proprietary algorithm estimate Left Ventricular End-Diastolic Pressure (LVEDP), an indicator of heart failure.  CorAlert’s CEO Amir Marmor explains on ILTV.