Israel Active

Israel’s 2012 Young Nanotechnology Researcher is Professor Ze’ev Zalevsky of Bar-Ilan University. His invention - the “Opto-Phone” – can read an individual’s medical information (heartbeat, blood pressure, and blood glucose levels) remotely. A laser beam, an advanced camera and sensitive software, use nano-photonics to detect movement on the surface of the body.

Israel’s Teva Pharmaceuticals is to sell, in the US and UK, Quetiapine Fumarate tablets – the company’s version of AstraZeneca’s Seroquel schizophrenia treatment.

(Thanks to Israel21c) More details about Thrombotech’s THR-18 and how it soon could be making a significant impact on saving the lives of stroke victims. With personal wishes for a speedy recovery to the father of one our good friends.

The US Food and Drug Administration has recruited Israel’s OptiCul Diagnostics for a special project to detect the presence of bacteria on medical devices. OptiCul has developed a fast kit for the detection of bacteria without the use of reagents.

Prof. Ohad Birk, head of Soroka’s genetic institute appeared in Qatar on the Doha Debates TV program that was dedicated to the subject of consanguinity – inbreeding by first cousins that causes genetic disorders in the Arab population.

Israeli doctors at Wolfson Medical Centre were able to save the life of 14-year old Elisa Manuel Antonio from Angola after they took out from her chest a 14 cm tumour that pressed her heart and threatened her life. Only a few similar cases are known in the whole world.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Israeli Pharmaceutical Teva’s QNASL nasal aerosol for the treatment of nasal allergy rhinitis. Allergic rhinitis is the most common allergic disease in the US, affecting 10-30% of adults and adolescents.

The US Food and Drug Administration has made it more difficult for many bio-techs to prove safety and efficacy of their products. But Israeli start-ups are flexible and can make the necessary adjustments much more efficiently, giving them the edge on the competition.

Shimon Ganot was born in 1918, fought in the pre-state Palmach and was an IDF infantry officer in four wars. So his heart attack and subsequent operation to replace diseased arteries was probably no problem to him. (A bit tricky for the surgeons at Rehovot’s Kaplan Medical Centre, though.)

Israeli biotech Pluristem announced that its PLacental eXpanded (PLX) cells improve several parameters in acute heart attacks in animals. Cardiac muscle function improved in mice receiving PLX cells, compared with a control group. Over 600,000 people suffered heart attacks in the USA last year.