Israel Active

Microsoft’s Israeli Research & Development Center in Herzliya is the venue for the company’s first ever health analytics conference on Jun 22.  Subjects include Internet data, wearables, big data and IBM Watson.  

The Adelis Award for groundbreaking research by a young scientist has been presented to Dr. Yuval Nir of Tel Aviv University for his work in the field of sleep.  The $100,000 award aims to encourage excellence among young Israeli scientists performing brain research in Israel.

The day after the dreadful terrorist attack at Tel Aviv’s Sarona Market, I was privileged to be invited to the dedication of an ambulance to Magen David Adom in Netanya.  It was the tenth MDA ambulance to be donated thanks to the efforts of the Cockfosters and N. Southgate community of North London.

Friends of Israeli Professor Yoram Palti encouraged him to invent Novocure’s electrode treatment for aggressive brain tumors.  Now eight years after its first trials, two of Novocure’s original patients are still alive.  One of the trials was stopped as it was too successful.

Twenty-six leading healthcare professionals from 20 countries gathered in Haifa to participate in Rambam Medical Center’s Trauma Medicine Course.  The course included lectures, workshops and simulations, using Rambam’s vast experience of treating victims of war, terror and accidents.

Israel’s AV Medical Technologies completed a 30-patient evaluation of its Chameleon angioplasty balloon catheter, demonstrating clear advantages over standard balloon designs.  AV Medical plans to launch Chameleon in the USA soon. 

Israeli startup 2breathe Technologies has developed a sensor and smartphone app that helps users fall asleep and tracks their sleeping patterns. It plays musical tones in sync with an individual’s breathing pattern. The tones are gradually lengthened, and so users breathe slower and relax.

Israeli surgeons at Beilinson Hospital took out the kidney of a woman who had died of a stroke and transplanted it into her brother.  The kidney had been transplanted into the woman in an operation nine years previously.  It was the world’s fifth such operation and the first between relatives.

Israel’s Livia has developed a wearable device that provides instant relief from cramps, and lasts up to 15 hours on a single charge.  The device uses electrical pulses to block pain receptors.  Female journalists given a free Livia device have described it as “a life-changing technology”.

Israel’s Frutarom has developed Portusana®, an extract of the herb purslane.  Israeli scientists have confirmed its positive effects on blood sugar levels in adults with Type 2 Diabetes.