Israel Active

I had to blink hard when I read this. The 3rd wife of the US President’s grandfather has just undergone emergency eye treatment at the “Shalom” La Paz Medical Center in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea. Israel’s Tel Hashomer hospital runs the state-of-the-art medical center and the local staff includes around 100 Israeli doctors. Just see some of the photos in the third link.

A study by Israeli neurologist Dr. Rivka Inzelberg has identified that patients taking dopamine-stimulating medication (to control symptoms of Parkinson’s disease) have contracted artistic or literary creative skills. Reducing the medication suppresses these new skills.

Hebrew University researchers have discovered that the protein Calphotin regulates the amount of Calcium contained in the body’s cells. Loss of Calphotin (e.g. due to aging) causes Calcium levels to rise and accelerates cell death. In the brain this leads to diseases such as Alzheimer’s.

The US Food and Drugs Administration has approved the MarginProbe breast cancer test from Israel’s Dune Medical. Surgeons performing lumpectomy operations use MarginProbe to ensure that the whole tumor has been removed, thus avoiding the need for further operations.

The Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Max Planck Society of Germany are to build a 3 million euro Brain Research Center on the Hebrew U’s Givat Ram site in the nation’s capital. It is hoped that the research will lead to improved treatment for destructive neurological diseases.

(From Israel21c) Two Hebrew University veterinary scientists have developed the first vaccine effective against canine monocytic ehrlichiosis (CME), a sometimes fatal tick-borne disease in dogs.

Doctors at Kaplan Medical Center in Rehovot transplanted a cornea into the eye of Nissim Nahum who was wounded in Lebanon 26 years ago.

Israeli President Shimon Peres praised all Israeli organ donors, Israeli Jews and Arabs, young and old. Even 89-year-old Peres has a donor card. 18-year-old Harel received a new liver at age 13 and has just enlisted in the IDF.

The Israeli National Health Council has approved the additional medications and technologies to be added in 2013 to the current NIS 7 billion Health Basket. The new treatments will benefit at least 300,000 Israelis – focusing on preventative medications and prenatal tests.

For the first time in 10 years, Canadian Tony Lightfoot’s uncontrollable tremors stopped. It followed four hours of non-invasive treatment on his brain, using focused ultrasound from Israel’s InSightec. Tony is the fifth patient at Toronto’s Western Hospital to have the life-changing Israeli treatment.