Israel Active

On Dec 3rd (International Disabilities Day) Beit Issie Shapiro – Israel’s leading organization for developing therapies for disabled children – launched its Technology Consulting Center, to share its expertise in the field of disabilities and technology.  Also, an amazing video.

(Thanks to Israel21c) Israeli physician Dr. Rami Cohen has developed a proprietary platform for healthcare workers to easily create personalized instructional videos for patients. uses clips and graphics to generate videos in the time it takes to produce a prescription.

Israel’s NeuroDerm has announced positive results for its Phase II trials of ND0612H, intended for severe Parkinson’s disease patients. The results indicate that ND0612H may provide an effective alternative therapy to current treatments requiring surgery.

Scientists at Israel’s Weizmann Institute have demonstrated that brains of mammals (including humans) contain a 3D compass.  Microelectrode recordings revealed that certain neurons activate only when the head is at a particular 3D angle.  It explains conditions such as vertigo and disorientation.

Professor Itai Yanai of Israel’s Technion developed the CEL-Seq cell analysis method in 2012, identifying the on-off status of each of the 20,000 genes in a cell.  It has just been used to determine embryonic development sequences and could help in understanding how cancer develops.

Scientists at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv University have developed a wireless, light-sensitive, flexible implantable film that mimics the function of the photosensitive cells in the retina. It could potentially form part of a device to replace a damaged retina.

Researchers at Israel’s Ben Gurion University’s Brain Imaging Research Center have developed a method that can detect damage to the brain much earlier than previously thought.  Detection, soon after a trauma, means that the damage might still be reversible.

Israel’s Teva has launched a generic version of Exforge HCT – a popular treatment of high blood pressure.  Teva’s generic products save money for patients and health services.

In Israel in 2013, men had an average life expectancy of 80.3 years while women had 83.9 – an increase of nearly five months for men and three months for women in comparison to 2012.

Israel’s AposTherapy has developed a treatment for knee and back pain using unique individually calibrated shoes.  AposTherapy currently treats 50,000 patients and has just raised $15 million to help expand its business in the US market.