RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://www.nationalreview.com/2021/02/will-the-boycott-israel-clique-coopt-the-scientific-community/

The hard sciences once seemed immune to the politics that dominate the humanities in academia, but no longer.

Last year, after chemistry professor Mindy Levine was invited to guest-edit a special issue of the journal Molecules, a group dedicated to the academic boycott of Israel briefly persuaded the journal to rescind the offer unless she consented to removing “Israel” from her published address: “Ariel University, Ariel, Israel.” When she refused, the special issue was canceled, and Levine was scrubbed from the journal’s website.

The protesting group, called the Ariel University Non-Recognition Campaign, wanted Levine’s address listed as “Ariel University, illegal Israeli settlement of Ariel, Occupied Palestinian Territory.” The journal eventually reinstated Levine as guest editor and issued a “Statement of Political Neutrality with Regards to Affiliation of Scientists at Ariel University,” but her case illustrated briefly, and perhaps is a harbinger of, something many thought couldn’t happen — science bending to the will of political ideology.

The hard sciences once seemed immune to the politics that dominate the humanities and social sciences, but no longer. A growing assemblage of scientists has singled out Israel as the one nation on earth that must be excluded from all normal contact with other nations, and the movement is not merely a phenomenon of the fringe blogs: Molecules is a peer-reviewed journal published in partnership with the Swiss Chemical Society in Basel, Switzerland.

https://verygoodnewsisrael.blogspot.com/

And the Oscar goes to Israel: Today one of Michel Ordman’s felicitous listings states that Tel Aviv University Professor Meir Feder and Israeli startup Amimon have won a Scientific and Engineering award by the American Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences. Their wireless video technology plus Amimon’s chipset have made a substantial impact on the global film industry. Congratulations Israel for this and all the amazing technology and research that find their way to every corner of the world. Even Dubai, once among nations hostile to Israel now announced that trade with Dubai tops $270 million. Amazing! rsk

ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS

Vaccines for everyone over 16. (TY WIN) Israel is the first country to offer vaccines to any citizen over the age of 16. It aims to vaccinate 90% of the over-50s within two weeks. Nearly two million Israelis (20% of the population) have now received two doses of the Pfizer vaccine with just 0.066% re-infections.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-expands-vaccination-drive-to-anyone-over-the-age-of-16-starting-thursday/

Good Phase 2 results of Covid-19 treatment. (TY Nevet) Allocetra from Israel’s Enlivex Therapeutics (reported here previously) has cured the majority of the 37 seriously and critically ill Covid-19 patients in its Phase 1b and 2 trials. 33 patients were discharged from hospital an average of under 6 days after treatment.

https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2021/02/03/2168999/0/en/Enlivex-Reports-Positive-Top-Line-Results-from-Phase-II-Clinical-Trial-Evaluating-Allocetra-in-Severe-and-Critical-COVID-19-Patients-and-Provides-a-Program-Update.html

Preventing Covid-19 outbreaks in schools. (TY Hazel) Israel’s Thermoguard has developed special data-gathering thermometers that flag small-but-significant peaks in body temperature. It has been testing them in kindergartens to alert staff to take early action to prevent mass classroom outbreaks from unvaccinated children.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/with-kids-unvaccinated-israeli-tech-aims-to-detect-and-prevent-school-outbreaks/  

Remote tech for cardio care. (TY Stuart Pl) Israel’s Sheba Medical Center’s partnership with Israel’s Datos Health (reported here previously) is transforming the delivery of cardiac rehabilitation programs. Datos has also partnered Israel’s Vaica Medical to add patient management facilities into its remote cardiac telemedicine app.

https://cardiacrhythmnews.com/remote-technology-in-cardiac-care-is-here-to-stay/   https://www.vaica.com/

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/datos-health-partners-vaica-medical-130000525.html

A Google map of brain RNA. Scientists from Bar Ilan University, Harvard and MIT have produced a detailed map of the genes inside the main memory center of a mouse brain. The researchers say the same technology will work in humans and could help treat diseases of the brain like Alzheimer’s, and others including cancer.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-led-team-creates-a-google-map-of-brain-rna-may-help-alzheimers-fight/

https://science.sciencemag.org/cgi/doi/10.1126/science.aax2656

How stress moves through the body. Amazing new research in which scientists at Israel’s Weizmann Institute have studied how the body responds to stress on a cell-by-cell basis. They have mapped the “stress axis” and the production of the hormone cortisol. The research opens up avenues to new treatments for chronic stress.

https://wis-wander.weizmann.ac.il/life-sciences/stress-every-cell-mapping-stress-axis-detail

Migraine treatment device gets US approval. Israel’s Theranica (reported here previously) has received US FDA clearance to market its Nerivio therapeutic device for the acute treatment of episodic or chronic migraine in people 12 years and older. Theranica’s migraine patch was approved by the FDA in 2019.

https://nocamels.com/2021/01/israeli-device-gets-fda-approval-for-migraine-treatment-in-adolescents/

Acne treatment gets FDA approval. Israel’s Sol-Gel (reported here previously) has had its Twyneo acne treatment US FDA-approved following successful Phase 3 testing. https://ir.sol-gel.com/news-releases/news-release-details/sol-gel-technologies-announces-fda-acceptance-filing-new-drug-0

Stronger and safer than morphine. (TY Atid-EDI) Israel’s Therapix Biosciences (reported here previously) is working with the University of Calgary to evaluate the pain relief effect of its THX-160 analgesic. In pre-clinical studies, THX-160 was in some instances even more effective than high-dose morphine.

http://therapix.investorroom.com/2020-12-02-Therapix-Biosciences-to-Collaborate-with-The-University-of-Calgary-to-Further-Examine-its-Proprietary-Drug-Candidate-THX-160-for-Pain   https://therapixbio.com/

The seasons of our hormones. Anonymous big data in the systems of Israel’s four medical companies (HMOs) is providing researchers with the information they need to solve medical problems. In the latest example, scientists from Israel’s Weizmann Institute used data from Clalit to document the seasonal pattern of hormones.

https://wis-wander.weizmann.ac.il/life-sciences/seasons-our-hormones

https://www.pnas.org/content/118/7/e2003926118

Cancer treatment from camels and sharks. Israel’s Ben Gurion University Professor Niv Papo discovered that tiny antibodies called nanobodies, found only in camels and sharks, can penetrate hard cancerous tissue to release chemotherapy treatments. BGU has bought a camel and have now begun trials on prostate cancer.

https://worldisraelnews.com/camels-and-sharks-may-help-kill-cancer-cells-israeli-scientist-says-in-startling-discovery/   https://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/acs.jmedchem.0c00418

https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2021/02/israel-us-iran-joe-biden-benjamin-netanyahu-anthony-blinken.html

The fact that US President Joe Biden is taking his time in calling Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and the fact that he did not refer to Israel or to the Iranian threat in his first foreign policy speech, deeply worries Jerusalem.

As of this morning, Feb. 5, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu continues to bite his nails as he waits by the phone for a long-anticipated call from the White House. Just as Netanyahu took his time congratulating US President-elect Joe Biden on his election victory over President Donald Trump in November, so now-President Biden is taking his time getting back to him. This would never have happened with Trump. Phoning Netanyahu was at the top of his to-do list when he took office in 2017. Four years later, Netanyahu has been relegated to the sidelines. The cushioned, pampered Trump protege finds himself being punished, sent to stand in the corner.

“This may not be deliberate,” an Israeli diplomatic source told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity. “The Americans are not really focused right now on Netanyahu and his business; they have other things to deal with. Maybe Biden just doesn’t feel like handing Netanyahu an electoral advantage on the eve of Israel’s elections. After all, Biden is fully aware of who he is dealing with and knows how Netanyahu’s office will spin the first phone call between them.”