Israel Active

The Mobile Health Israel Conference in Tel Aviv brought together health professionals, entrepreneurs, data experts, and others involved in the movement toward digitizing health records, distance medicine, and other innovations in health care that are part of the digital revolution.

A team of 20 Israeli doctors and medical staff from Save a Child's Heart (SACH) has just flown to Tanzania to provide free heart surgeries. With them was Tanzanian Dr Godwin Godfrey who returned home following five years of training in Israel. Elsewhere, a team of 11 cardiac surgeons and nurses from Israel’s Sheba Medical Center performed 10 complex heart operations over 4 days in Nigeria.

(Thanks to NoCamels.com) Tel Aviv-based startup Seraphim Sense is behind the Angel monitor, a biofeedback wristband that senses motion, acceleration, skin temperature, blood oxygen saturation and heart rate. The health band is synced to your smartphone and computer to display results.

In a reversal to the norm, an Israeli non-profit organization presented a US company with a large sum to help it develop its innovations. BrainGate’s million-dollar prize from Israel’s BrainTech will advance its brain sensors that allow paralyzed patients to move a robotic arm.

Israel’s emergency service Magen David Adom unveiled a multi-million dollar command vehicle designed to direct rescue operations on the most difficult terrain and during cellular network failure. It has over two-dozen computers and TVs and can accommodate 23 staff.

A comprehensive write-up of the 61st International Congress of Aviation and Space Medicine (ICASM) in Jerusalem. 250 overseas delegates from 36 countries plus Israelis discussed everything from pregnant women pilots to space travel to psychological problems of controlling UAVs.

Tel Aviv University researchers have developed a website and smartphone app that will allow you to submit your individual Genetic DNA sequence map for analysis. Prior to pregnancy, check for risks of birth defects; or select medical treatments that will be most effective without side effects.

Israel’s Insuline has developed InsuPad - a device that warms the body after diabetics inject themselves - even after meals. The pad helps less insulin absorb much quicker and reduces hypoglycemic incidents. J&J Lifescan has just signed an agreement to market InsuPad in Germany.

Israel’s Leviticus Cardio is developing a wireless device that delivers energy to operate Left Ventricle Assist Devices (LVADs). LVADs keep heart failure patients alive for up to seven years until they can have a heart transplant. Ex US vice-President Dick Cheney was a LVAD user.

Researchers at Sheba Medical Center and Weizmann Institute together with Duke University have identified genes ASNS and TECPR2 responsible for two serious neurological disorders in children. The discovery will identify carriers and prevent such severe genetic diseases from being passed down.