RUTHFULLY YOURS

www.verygoodnewsisrael.blogspot.com

Dozens of Israeli innovations, products and programs were launched in the two weeks since the last newsletter. But the important launches included Tel Aviv University’s satellite to measure cosmic radiation; new medical devices; the TAU Artificial Intelligence training center; the project to build a gas pipeline to Egypt; plus, many hi-tech and financial-tech products and programs.  Meanwhile, the blossoming of Israeli trees and blooming of red anemones in the south coincided with the re-launch of Israeli museums, malls, hotels and more, as millions of Israelis celebrated receiving their newly launched fully-vaccinated certificates.

ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS
 
Astonishing vaccination results. (TY WIN) Over 50% of all Israeli citizens have now received at least one Covid-19 vaccination, with 3 million (nearly one-third) having had both. The Pfizer vaccine is shown to be 95.8% effective in preventing new Covid-19 infections and nearly 99% effective in preventing serious illness.
https://www.israelhayom.com/2021/02/21/pfizers-covid-vaccine-99-effective-at-preventing-serious-illness-death/
 
Breakthrough in fighting resistant myeloma. Researchers at Israel’s Weizmann Institute have overcome the resistance of the most aggressive forms of multiple myeloma. In a trial of 41 patients at 15 Israeli hospitals they discovered that Cyclosporin A neutralizes the disease’s resistance to cancer-killing proteasome inhibitors.
https://wis-wander.weizmann.ac.il/life-sciences/uncovering-anti-myeloma-resistance-files
 
Blood cancer treatment trial succeeds. (TY Nevet) Israel’s Gamida Cell (reported here previously) published the results of its Phase 3 trial of omidubicel (previously NiCord) in blood-based cancer patients. The treatment resulted in faster blood count recovery, fewer bacterial and viral infections, and fewer days in the hospital.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/hope-grows-for-blood-cancer-patients-as-cell-therapy-firms-key-trial-succeeds/
 
Innovations in Life Sciences. On 2nd Mar, the JNF is hosting a webinar featuring Israeli and US innovations in the Life Sciences. It includes the Chief Scientific & Medical Officer Prof. Dror Mevorach of Israel’s Enlivex Therapeutics – developer of COVID-19 “cure” Allocetra.  Registration required; donations are welcome.
https://www.jnf.org/events-landing-pages/us-israeli-innovations-in-the-life-sciences-part-2
 
A healthier alternative to antibiotics. Tel Aviv University researchers have developed a biological antibiotic derived from human monoclonal antibodies, as an alternative to traditional chemical antibiotics. The antibodies were taken from a recovered tuberculosis patient and were shown to kill TB bacteria – still a major global issue.
https://english.tau.ac.il/news/antibiotics-alternative-2021
 
Just one drop of blood. (TY UWI) Ben Gurion University researchers have invented a miniaturized micro-electrode sensor that accurately checks clozapine levels in a tiny sample of blood obtained by a simple finger prick. Clozapine treats schizophrenia but the sensor is the basis for monitoring many other chemical levels.
https://www.prnewswire.com/il/news-releases/ben-gurion-university-researchers-develop-novel-method-for-personalizing-dose-of-schizophrenia-drug-clozapine-301228713.html
 
Unique medical approval for a wristwatch. Israel’s CardiacSense has received the European CE Mark for its medical-grade wristwatch that continually measures heart rate and arrhythmias. It is the first time an official regulator has approved such a device. CardiacSense has distribution agreements worth some $100 million.
https://www.cardiacsense.com/news/cardiacsense-medical-grade-watch-receives-ce-mark-for-continuous-detection-of-atrial-fibrillation/  https://www.calcalistech.com/ctech/articles/0,7340,L-3892750,00.html
 
Calm in a pandemic. Israeli-founded Dendro Technolgies and its Calmigo handheld device (reported here previously) are helping to make life less stressful for those struggling to cope in a coronavirus world.  The US Veterans Administration is giving Calmigo free to veterans and the IRS have even approved it as tax deductible.
https://www.israel21c.org/a-new-handheld-device-aims-to-calm-panic-attacks-fast/
https://www.jpost.com/opinion/hillels-tech-corner-calmigo-anxietys-kryptonite-651770
 
Off the hook. Surgeons at the Baruch Padeh Medical Center near Tiberias saved the eye of a fisherman who accidentally speared himself with his own fishhook. The delicate operation included cutting the hook, releasing the eye tissue and repairing the eyeball. The doctors were optimistic of restoring full visual function to the eye.
https://worldisraelnews.com/fishermans-eye-saved-after-being-speared-by-his-own-hook/
 

https://www.jns.org/opinion/a-pregnant-pause-to-consider-vaccine-denial/

(February 23, 2021 / JNS) A tragedy that befell a Jerusalem family this week and resonated throughout the country should serve as a cautionary tale. A pregnant mother of four was admitted last Tuesday to the COVID-19 intensive-care unit of Hadassah Medical Center-Ein Kerem with respiratory problems.

By Saturday night, despite the best efforts of doctors in various fields, as well as a team of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) experts, Osnat Ben Shitrit went into multi-system failure. Her 30-week fetus, also infected with coronavirus, was delivered by emergency caesarian section but didn’t survive.

Ben Shitrit’s bitter end struck a national nerve. The thought of an Israeli “everywoman”—with little children and another on the way—having her life come to such a halt is a terrifying proposition.

It’s particularly scary right now, with at least 50 pregnant women currently hospitalized with COVID-19, some in serious condition.

One reason for this phenomenon is that the median age of those afflicted with the virus has dramatically decreased since the start of the pandemic. Another is the fact that some two months ago, thanks to a statement by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention about the uncertain safety of vaccines for pregnant women, Israeli authorities initially recommended against it.

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2021/02/understanding-geo-political-dynamics-jerusalem-dr-shmuel-katz-and-chaim-silberstein/

What does it mean for Israel that the United States has a new leader? Should we expect a repeat of previous policies, or will the President Biden and the new White House administration forge its own path?

Assuming the latter, these principles guide the U.S.-Israel relationship:

Broad popular American support for Israel
President Biden’s personal sympathy toward Israel
Shared Judeo-Christian values
America’s own strategic interests
The desire to strengthen America’s most trusted Mideast ally
The mutual desire to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons
The positive momentum generated by the Abraham Accords

Regarding Jerusalem, specifically, it is critical to reinforce the importance of united Jerusalem under Israeli control. The new administration will be under intense pressure, both from within and without, to take steps liable to compromise the future of united Jerusalem under Israeli sovereignty.

We must refrain from freezing construction in Jewish neighborhoods in the eastern part of Jerusalem, where nearly half of Jerusalem’s 570,000 Jews live. Under the Obama administration, most construction in those neighborhoods was frozen for six years, though it did not bring the parties any closer to peaceful resolution.

One positive stabilizing sign is reflected in the Biden administration’s commitment not to roll back the reality of the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem and the recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

The administration also expresses commitment to a “two-state solution” regarding Palestinians, while recognizing that the parties are not quickly returning to the negotiating table. U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken added his wish that neither party “takes steps that make the already difficult process even more challenging.”

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/17091/bds-support

BDS tells its supporters that it is “an inclusive, anti-racist human rights movement that is opposed on principle to all forms of discrimination, including anti-semitism and Islamophobia”. That is a lie.

BDS has also succeeded in making life worse for Palestinian Arabs, the very people they falsely claim to help. This includes backing and strengthening the leadership of the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Hamas….

Vast international funds provided to assist them have been systematically embezzled by their leaders for their own enrichment…. This month, the UK’s Jewish News revealed that $145 million of British taxpayers’ money has been spent on incitement in Palestinian schools since 2016 alone.

Young and impressionable men and women, whose main attention is on studying for their degrees, have been duped by Barghouti’s BDS rabble-rousers into thinking they were demonstrating in support of a two-state solution to be achieved by peaceful means.

Using words chillingly resonant of the Third Reich, Mahmoud Abbas said during a speech in Egypt: “In a final resolution, we would not see the presence of a single Israeli — civilian or soldier — on our lands”. He meant Jews. Israeli Arabs would be welcomed.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said that he and President Biden are “resolutely opposed” to BDS because it “unfairly and inappropriately singles out Israel and creates a double standard”. The US administration should take up the plans… to target organisations that engage with or otherwise support BDS, such as Amnesty International, Oxfam and Human Rights Watch, and cut off government funding. British and European governments should follow suit….

Yet again we approach the depths of the annual Jew Hate Week around the world. Its organizers know better than to call it what it is. They brand their hatefest “Israel Apartheid Week”, but their true meaning and purpose is blindingly obvious. Since its early festerings in Toronto in 2005, Jew Hate Week has inflicted itself on the world, polluting universities from America to Australia and from South Africa to Northern Ireland.

Held on campuses at around this time each year, Jew Hate Week is the racist Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement’s flagship event for subverting university students to their malevolent cause. Palestinian-led, at the forefront of BDS are Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace in the US, and Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) and War on Want in the UK. Democrat Squad members Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib are among its main cheerleaders in America. In Britain, disgraced former Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn is a staunch supporter as are many of his party including members of parliament.

https://verygoodnewsisrael.blogspot.com/ 

On the evening of February 25th, the festival of Purim begins to celebrate the saving of the Jewish people from Haman, the Persian tyrant who planned a genocide of Jews as recounted in the book of Esther. While joyful and celebrated with costumes and delicious food, there is also a religious obligation to “give gifts to the poor.” The holiday evokes the present Persian (now Iran) designs for Israel, and the immense contributions of Israel to the welfare and life and better expectations for the poor in every corner of the planet. One of the heroes of Purim was the leader of the Jewish people named Mordechai. My father’s name was Mardoqueo the Spanish equivalent. Thank you, Michael Ordman, for this weekly compendium…. rsk

ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS

“This can change the fate of humanity”. Israel’s PM heralded the latest Israeli Covid-19 therapy, EXO-CD24, developed at Tel Aviv’s Sourasky (Ichilov) Medical Center. When given to 30 moderate to severe Covid-19 patients, 29 were discharged 3-5 days after having the treatment and one recovered a little later.

https://www.ynetnews.com/health_science/article/rJoYyaYeO

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_8x2VOV3hA   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HA56LCCeuMc

https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/296479

Fall in number of serious Covid-19 patients. The number of patients suffering from serious cases of Covid-19 has dropped below 1000, as more people over the age of 60 received their second doses of the Pfizer vaccine.

https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/serious-coronavirus-cases-have-dropped-below-1000-658451

https://www.timesofisrael.com/serious-covid-patients-lowest-in-a-month-as-vaccine-effect-appears-to-show/

Recovered patients volunteer at hospitals. Israel’s Ichilov and Sheba hospitals are employing volunteers who have recovered from the Covid-19 infection to help look after seriously ill coronavirus patients. They are tested for antibodies and then work in shifts on the Covid-19 wards, providing reassurance and practical support.

http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2021-01/28/c_139704742.htm

Treatment for deadly bacteria approved. (TY Atid-EDI) Following successful Phase 3 trials, the US FDA has approved Reltecimod from Israel’s Atox Bio (reported here previously) for the treatment of NSTI (Necrotizing  Soft  Tissue Infections), commonly referred to as flesh-eating bacteria. (fast-tracked in 2012!)

https://www.atoxbio.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Atox-Bio-Reltecimod-NDA-Filing-PR-Dec-10-2020-FINAL.pdf

A mission to end food allergies. Israel’s Ukko is working to re-design gluten proteins so that they do not trigger an immune response in people with celiac and other gluten sensitivities. In addition, Ukko is developing an edible medicine that can promote immune tolerance for people with peanut allergy.

https://nocamels.com/2021/01/israeli-biotech-ukko-40m-food-allergies/   https://www.ukko.us/

https://www.forbes.com/sites/johncumbers/2021/01/27/synthetic-biology-partners-with-ai-to-delete-food-allergies/

The secret to reversing brain damage. (TY INN) Hebrew University of Jerusalem researchers and Seattle scientists have demonstrated the restoration of communication between damaged nerve cells. They implanted artificial connections (synapses) in the nervous systems of tiny translucent C. elegans worms.

https://www.cell.com/cell-systems/fulltext/S2405-4712(20)30504-4

http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2021-02/03/c_139719129.htm

The human touch in healthcare. Patients often lapse their health improvement programs. Israel’s Well-Beat (reported here previously) recently completed a pilot at Sheba’s Cardiac Rehabilitation Center where it proved to triple adherence to recommended care. Well-Beat recently received its 3rd Israel Innovation Authority grant.

https://www.geektime.com/this-israeli-startup-deploys-behavioral-ai-to-add-a-human-touch-to-healthcare/

https://www.well-beat.com/  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCFp-j0ZF1M

European prize for pediatric endocrinology. Professor Moshe Phillip of Israel’s Schneider Children’s hospital was awarded the Andrea Prader Lifetime Achievement Prize by the European Society of Pediatric Endocrinology (ESPE) for his outstanding contribution towards pediatric endocrinology.

https://www.schneider.org.il/?CategoryID=1011&ArticleID=4534

Safe testing for healthy babies. Israel’s AIVF has devised a method to test embryos in vitro in a noninvasive manner to detect possible genetic abnormalities. Its scanning device and an AI algorithm avoids the current riskier PGT (Preimplantation Genetic Testing) biopsies which remove cells from the embryo.

https://www.calcalistech.com/ctech/articles/0,7340,L-3892195,00.html   https://aivf.co/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJyRZFjMj18

An end in sight to medical biopsies. Hebrew University scientists have developed a blood test that they say could replace nearly all cancer screenings within a decade. It detects cancer cells and identifies the exact location of the tumor in the body. New Israeli startup Senseera will now perform clinical trials.

https://www.jpost.com/health-science/biopsies-can-be-replaced-with-simple-blood-tests-hebrew-u-research-finds-657971  https://www.nature.com/articles/s41587-020-00775-6