Israel Active

Dr Alasdair Conn, Chief of Emergency Services at Massachusetts General Hospital stated that two years ago they asked the Israelis to set up a disaster team that could respond to a mass-casualty event. This prepared them for dealing with the Boston Marathon bombing.

Weizmann Institute’s Professor Michal Schwartz and her team have discovered that immune cells at the edge of the brain travel an extraordinary route to repair brain trauma. In the elderly, the cells no longer do their function, which could open up new treatments for dementia.

Sounds familiar? Professor Rifaat Safadi’s team from Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem has identified that the normal function of Neuroliglin 4 in the immune system is to fight cirrhosis of the liver. But in patients with Hepatitis or alcoholics, the cell changes and attacks the liver.

Researchers from Tel Aviv University have found that the sugar substitute mannitol protects the brain against the effects of Parkinson’s disease. Laboratory trials are to be completed before human clinical trials can commence.

On her way to give a lecture at Kaplan Medical Center Dr. Hanni Olivestone found a woman in labor in a public bathroom. She took the woman in a wheelchair to the delivery room but as they entered the elevator, the baby’s head emerged.

The American Association for Cancer Research has awarded Professor Alexander Levitzki of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem its 2013 Award for Outstanding Achievement in Chemistry in Cancer Research. It recognizes Prof Levitzki’s work on signal transduction therapy and the development of tyrosine kinase inhibitors as effective agents against cancer.

A modern medical center for bone marrow transplantation with the know-how of Hadassah Hospital of Jerusalem will be opened in Varna by the end of the current year. Also, a University of Haifa program will allow 3rd-year Israeli students to finish their diplomas in Bulgaria.

The USA’s annual TedMed conference is normally an American-only event, where doctors can relax and discuss matters that really concern them. This year, Israel will be the first country outside of the US to be officially represented. And on the final day, a satellite TedMed event will be held in Israel.

(Thanks to NoCamels) Israeli herbs have generated special chemical compounds to deal with the extremes of the climate. Israel’s Nufar Natural Products is developing these plants to treat problematic wounds, assist in treating fungal and other skin infections and fight parasites.

Researchers at Jerusalem’s Hadassah Medical Center have found mutations in the LRRC6 gene cause primary ciliary dyskinesia (PCD). Symptoms are repeated lung infections, sinusitis, frequent ear infections and fertility problems. Early diagnosis may reduce the damage. And in half these cases, the heart grows on the right of the chest instead of the left. The liver, stomach and spleen are also transposed.