Israel Active

Researchers at Tel Aviv University gave electric stimulation to the brains of rats and found that high-frequency “bursts” produced the same destructive plaques found in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients.

Israel’s BiolineRX has announced positive results for the Phase IIa clinical trial of BL-7040, an oral treatment for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease affect as many as 1.4 million individuals in the US alone.

Israeli start-up Oxitone has developed a blood-oxygen monitor that can be worn on the wrist by those “at risk” to warn of any sudden deterioration in their condition. Oxitone has been selected for GE Healthcare’s Start-Up Health Academy Entrepreneurship Program – one of only two companies outside of the US to be chosen for their 3-year program that turns fledgling businesses into prime companies.

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.