For Israel Enough is not Sufficient

On the Jewish festival of Passover, we sing the song “Dayenu”, which means “Enough”.  The song expresses our thanks for each stage of the Exodus from Egypt and we highlight that each event on the journey would have itself been sufficient.  Medical achievements of the modern State of Israel, however, clearly shows that today’s Israelis are not content with doing merely “enough” as these examples from the last 3 months illustrate.

In the medical arena, Israeli scientists have broken all bounds in their search for cures for deadly diseases.  Not only have three Israeli research teams discovered what keeps cancer cells growing, but they have just found a chemical that causes them to self-destruct.  Another cancer treatment from Israel’s VBL Therapeutics in Phase 3 testing prevents solid tumors from obtaining sufficient blood supply – causing them to die.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/4HeISdYw7d8?rel=0 

Just in case any of these amazing discoveries don’t succeed, scientists at Israel’s Weizmann Institute have used a twin-attack using inhibiting molecules EGFR and PYK2 against previously incurable triple-negative breast cancer, to significantly reduce the size of tumors.  Meanwhile, the amazing MRI-focused ultrasound treatment from Israel’s Insightec that has been curing tremors and removing uterine fibroids has now been given the CE mark to go beyond its current boundaries and additionally treat prostate cancer non-invasively. And Technion’s Israeli-Arab Professor Hossam Haick is taking his Na-Nose breath test further by using it to detect cancer even in apparently “healthy” people.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/1dhOaArOYdM?rel=0

Cancer treatment in Israeli hospitals is not limited just to Israeli citizens.  At Sheba hospital in Tel Hashomer,

40% of Dr. Yoram Neumann’s oncology patients are Palestinian-Arab children from the Territories and Gaza.  Indeed, Palestinian Arab children occupy 50% of the unit’s beds.  Meanwhile, Israeli and Palestinian Arab researchers have been working together to discover risk factors for B Cell Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma in both communities.

It seems so appropriate that the Israeli biotech Biondvax has developed the Universal Flu Vaccine M-001.  Israeli scientists felt that it was not sufficient to target individual strains of influenza, but to look for a comprehensive solution. A 20% subsidy from the Israeli Government, plus a $2.8 million private investment should hopefully be sufficient for Biondvax to build a factory producing tens of millions of doses of M-001 annually, including for Phase 3 trials. 

Here are some more, recent Israeli medical innovations that are “over and above” what most would consider normal thinking. First, instead of treating resistant MRSA infections with limited antibiotics, researchers at Israel’s Technion Institute have neutralized the deadly bacteria by attacking the unique amyloid fibrils it uses to attack the immune system. Next, patients will soon no longer suffer damage to brain tissue and spinal cord during neurosurgery thanks to the ArtiFascia biodegradable nanofiber protective patch developed by Israeli biotech Nurami Medical. Nurami, by the way, was founded by Israeli Jewish and Arab graduates.

Then, when sufferers of blood loss trauma were found to be dying of hypothermia, Israeli startup QinFlow’s developed its Warrior portable system which warms the bloods and fluids used in transfusions faster than any alternative system.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdelVHvOqBE

Who but Israelis would have gone this far?  One of Insightec’s tremor patients was petrified of being enclosed in the MRI treatment machine, so staff at Haifa’s Rambam Medical Center first gave him hypnosis therapy, and now he’s cured of the tremor and the psychosis!  Or how about the PMD200 device, developed by Israel’s Medasense Biometrics and recently granted European approval, that can monitor pain in unconscious patients so that surgeons can still effectively assess and manage their pain?  And the HyperQ device from Israel’s Biological Signal Processing (BSP) that discovers heart problems that normal ECG tests cannot. Even anti-Israel Venezuela has purchased them!

https://www.youtube.com/embed/ybAhnD8snUY?rel=0

I have sufficient space only to mention Israeli startup TPCera which uses the excretion from parasitic worms to treat auto-immune diseases.  Or the smart human airbags developed by Israel’s Hip-Hope to protect the elderly from life-threatening falls.  And only an Israeli company such as Medaware would have had the “chutzpa” to develop a system to tell doctors that they had written out a prescription that could endanger their patient’s life.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/NzWTFbUdSbc?rel=0 

Israeli doctors recently saved an Arab baby born with her intestines outside her abdomen.  After birth, surgeons at Jerusalem’s Hadassah hospital put her organs back in place and closed the wound with the Israeli TopClosure Tension Relief System. 

Finally, Israeli surgeons at Jerusalem’s Hadassah hospital, can now detect and correct abnormalities in the fetus from eight weeks after conception.  Irregular heartbeats, anemia, twins sharing placentas, congenital hernias, repairing spinal cord. Israeli doctors are saving life before it has even begun! 

Israel - always trying to do more.

Michael Ordman writes a free weekly newsletter containing positive news stories about Israel.

www.verygoodnewsisrael.blogspot.com and a searchable archive www.IsraelActive.com

For a free subscription, email a request to michael.goodnewsisrael@gmail.com

Israel Goes Nuclear

In contrast to Iran’s destructive ambitions and manipulative nuclear activities, Israelis are working from the microscopic to the atomic level, in order to develop vital medical treatments and life-enhancing technology.

Israeli scientists are working with international organizations to eradicate cancer at the cellular level.  One Israeli scientist at the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT has identified which of the 20,000 genes are essential to particular cancer cells, and are therefore weak spots to target with treatments.  And an International team, including researchers from Tel Aviv University and Israel’s Interuniversity Institute for Marine Sciences (IUI), has discovered that fluorescent pigments in Eilat’s rainbow coral are ideal for use as biomedical markers for tracking cancer cells.

Knowledge of the minute interactions in the brain will lead to the next medical breakthrough.  So it is timely that Canada has just announced a multi-million program to fund joint Canadian-Israeli neuroscience research projects.  Staying inside the brain, Israeli biotech Pharma Two B has announced positive results in its trials of P2B001 for the treatment of early stage Parkinson’s disease. 

Hardly a week goes by without an Israeli breakthrough with tiny stem cells.  Weizmann Institute scientists have used embryonic stem cells in clinical tests to repair damaged lung tissue and help alleviate chronic respiratory disease.  And Israelis such as Tel Aviv University Professor Udi Qimron are at the forefront of exciting antibiotic research using bacterial viruses (phages).  Professor Qimron has published how phages transfer "edited" DNA into resistant bacteria to kill off resistant strains and make others more sensitive to antibiotics.  And if you are worried that your dog has an infection, the PCRun molecular detection test kits from Israel’s Biogal Galed Labs will diagnose it in 75 minutes instead of previously several days.

Researchers from Tel Aviv University and Israeli medical centers have developed a groundbreaking method for sealing the incisions in the eye following cornea transplant surgery.  They used tiny silver halide optical fibers to deliver an infrared laser beam at the precise temperature needed to bond the tissue.  And scientists at Israel’s Technion have injected the heart with light-stimulated genes and used pulses of light to regulate the heart, just like a mechanical pacemaker.  But the most fascinating microscopic device could be the implanted microchip being developed jointly by Israel’s Teva and US firm Microchips Biotech that will deliver Teva-made treatments direct to patients.  The technology avoids having to measure out meds or to even to remember to take them - perfect for the elderly and forgetful.

We now launch into the world of water, where Israeli micro-biological technology has the potential to save half of the planet from drought.  Israeli startup Ayyeka has developed a unique water chemical pollutant monitoring kit that is being piloted in Israel.  And H2energy Now is the first Israeli startup to be invited to the European Union-sponsored Alpine High-tech Venture Forum.  H2energy’s technology uses radio waves to break the hydrogen-oxygen bond in salt water.  The hydrogen produced is a source of clean energy.  And it is definitely worth watching this video featuring Israel’s Netafim and its drip irrigation system that is globally transforming unproductive land into flourishing agricultural centers.

In addition to Israel’s work with the H2O of life, Israeli agri-tech companies are addressing the core issues involved in feeding a hungry world.  Dr. Zvi Peleg, of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem screened over 100,000 sesame seed variants to develop a new elite variety with enhanced yield and seed quality. But maybe I should leap over the news that Israeli startup Steak Tzar Tzar is solving the world’s critical shortage of sources of protein compounds - using grasshoppers!

Israel’s Adama has just received Israeli approval to market NIMITZ, a low-toxic, eco-safe chemical to control nematodes, one of the most destructive and problematic pests in agriculture.  Meanwhile, toxic pesticides in the rice fields have devastated Japan’s bee population.  Which is why Israel’s Bio Bee, at Kibbutz Sde Eliyahu, is exporting bumblebees in spacious hives, each with an impregnated queen bee and 50 worker bees.

Israel’s Phytech has developed its Plantbeat sensors to measure how healthy a plant is and what to do to improve it.  Phytech is to sell its PlantBeat alert system to farmers in North and South America.  And if you want to know the fundamental constituents of any food item, you will be pleased to hear that, after 4 years of development, the new SCIO scanners from Israel’s Consumer Physics are now being shipped to customers.

Finally, there is likely to be the usual “nuclear reaction” by the Palestinian Authority leadership as they try to deny more evidence of historical Jewish existence in the Jewish State, following the discovery by the Shimshoni family of a perfectly-preserved 2,000-year-old Jewish ritual bath (mikvah) directly under the living room floor of their Jerusalem home.

Explosive stuff, no? 

Michael Ordman writes a free weekly newsletter containing positive news stories about Israel.

www.verygoodnewsisrael.blogspot.com

For a free subscription, email a request to michael.goodnewsisrael@gmail.com

Israel Confronts Crisis

If you analyze the news for the most serious problems affecting the planet, they would include disease, hunger, drought, natural disasters and terrorism.  Israel’s superb work to combat these menaces deserves far more publicity.  Here are some recent examples.

The risk of contracting cancer is now estimated at 1 in 2, which puts the deadly disease firmly into the crisis category.  Weizmann scientists have just developed a triple-effect treatment to kill lung cancer cells and prevent them from returning.  The Hebrew University of Jerusalem has designed a tiny antenna that can be inserted into the stomach to detect and treat early-stage gastric tumors too small to be treated by current methods.  Meanwhile, Israel’s VBL Therapeutics reported interim results from its Phase 2 trials of its VB-111 advanced ovarian cancer treatment that reduced tumor size by at least 50% and also extended the survival of patients with aggressive brain cancer (glioblastoma).  And finally, let’s hear it for Israel Prize laureate Dr. Haim (Howard) Cedar of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem whose work to detect wrongly reproduced instructions in the DNA may one day not merely cure, but actually prevent cancer from forming.

The media warns us that the next medical crisis will occur when bacteria becomes resistant to antibiotics and that there is insufficient research into alternatives.  But almost every week Israeli biotechs announce advances in this area.  Such as the P-1000 optical device from Pocared Diagnostics that performs bacteria tests in minutes and even identifies which antibiotics the bacteria is resistant to.  Or the pulsed light research at Tel Aviv University that kills the listeria bacteria in infected milk products.  In fact using pulsed light once a day may mean that milk no longer requires refrigeration.  Finally, Redhill Biopharma, which has just completed a Phase III successful trial of RHB-105 for H. pylori infections, the major cause of stomach cancer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0r2jGrjz19o 

According to the World Bank, there is a crisis in food security, with one-third of global child deaths due to malnutrition.  Thankfully, Israel’s agricultural expertise is combatting this crisis.  The new government of India has deployed Israeli technology to feed its growing population in almost every state, the latest being Goa.  Visit the Israeli Pavilion at the Milano Expo to see Israel’s Hinoman, which is cultivating Mankhai, a sustainable vegetable containing more protein than meat or fish.  It is also high in vitamins, low in carbohydrate, fat, sugar and salt and is GMO, gluten and pesticide free.

There is an even bigger global crisis with drought.  So Israel has just signed an agreement to share its best practices on water with the World Bank.  The water crisis affects even developed countries and Israeli water technology experts are busy working in the Californian cities of Sacramento, Los Angeles and Beverly Hills.  

Ironically, too much water is one cause of the many crises from recent natural disasters.  Massive floods in Texas killed dozens and impacted thousands.  So the Israeli organization IsraAID sent a team of volunteers to help remove debris from damaged houses.  And in Tbilisi, the east European capital of Georgia, a team of Israeli veterinarians helped rescue wild animals that escaped during severe floods.  Meanwhile, IsraAID also launched its "A Roof for All" program to provide safe and sturdy transitional shelter for thousands of displaced families who lost their homes as a result of the last two devastating earthquakes in Nepal.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MmaJciQmZE

Israel is a key player in solving the world’s energy crisis.  Despite its recent discovery of huge deposits of natural gas, Israel is firmly at the forefront of renewable energy developments.  Israel’s latest billion-dollar company, SolarEdge has just released a new solar energy storage system and expanded its commercial products.  And with Israel’s Ecoppia cleaning system, 5 million solar panels are now keeping free of the dust and sand that reduces efficiency by up to 40 percent.  Meanwhile, those companies still having to clean-up after oil-spill crises will be encouraged that Hebrew University of Jerusalem scientists have developed a reagent that converts the oil into carbon dioxide and water.  And a new fast-deployed oil-spill containment boom from Israeli startup HARBO will provide a major improvement on disaster response times.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2Z1BaTQ3Zk

Israel’s work to combat the world terrorism crisis would take up too much room than I have available here.  Suffice it to say, however, that eleven Israeli companies exhibited products at the recent Paris Air Show.  One new Israeli device will prevent an on-board crisis should a pilot lose consciousness.  The Cannary flight helmet smart system from Tel Aviv’s Lifebeam has sensors that measure the pilot’s vital signs and will take control of the plane in order to prevent disasters. 

Finally, some 150 of the Jewish world’s leading change-makers from 32 countries gathered in Jerusalem for the 2015 ROI Summit.  They will no doubt learn to combat many crises as they seek to build a thriving Jewish future and a better world.

Michael Ordman writes a free weekly newsletter containing positive news stories about Israel.

www.verygoodnewsisrael.blogspot.com

For a free subscription, email a request to michael.goodnewsisrael@gmail.com