Israel Active

(Thanks to EEJH) Rabbi Elimelech Firer never received a formal medical education. He founded "Ezra Lemarpeh" to provide patients with anything Israel’s National Health Service cannot. He reviews 200 – 250 medical cases a day; CT scans, MRIs, pathology reports. He is now raising funds for a new Medical Rehabilitation Center in Sderot.

Researchers at Tel Aviv University and Sheba Medical Center have enhanced the immune system using proteins from melanoma (a severe form of skin cancer). T-cells in the immune system are stimulated to produce cytokines, which can fight other cancers in the body.

(Thanks to Atid-EDI) Early trials of NiCord (umbilical cord stem cells) from Israel’s Gamida Cell have proved successful in maintaining the health of patients with high-risk hematological malignancies. The treatment was safe and reduced the time to recovery period.

Israel is fourth among Western countries in the prevalence of colorectal cancer and 15th in the death rate from the tumor. However, the number of cases has declined in the last two decades - by 17 percent in men and 13 percent in women - largely due to early diagnosis and treatment.

Israel’s Enopace Biomedical is developing an endovascular micro-stimulator, which reduces the strain on the heart by expanding the arteries to accept incoming blood. It is implanted by catheter in a 30-minute procedure while the patient is awake and is an alternative to a heart transplant.

Israel’s Mazor Robotics has obtained approval from Australia's Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) for the import and sale of the company's Renaissance navigation robot for spinal surgery.

(Thanks to NoCamels.com) Half of all hearing losses are due to genetic mutations. Tel Aviv University Professor Karen Avraham found that mutations in the LINC cells of the inner ear of an Iraqi family with a history of deafness could lead to new treatments.

Bloomberg TV’s Countdown program featured Israel’s advances in Neurotech - Brain Science. The reporter also tried out IDC’s Brain Machine Interface.

Researchers in Optogenetics at Israel’s Technion are working on a substitute for damaged retinas. A light-sensitive protein can turn the ganglion cells in the eye into photoreceptors. Visual images projected onto these cells stimulate neurons and recreate the image in the brain. Watch this space!

Professor Hagai Berman of Hebrew University will receive he Rappaport Prize for Excellence in Biomedical Research as overdue recognition for his work on Deep Brain Stimulation. Over 100,000 Parkinson’s sufferers have been treated with DBS, one of the most effective treatments for the ailment.