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https://verygoodnewsisrael.blogspot.com/

ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS

Starving leukemia cells to protect the brain. Israeli and Scottish scientists have found that the brain can be protected from metastatic leukemia by blocking the production of the fatty acid stearoyl-CoA desaturase (SCD). The discovery is particularly important for the treatment of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) in children.

https://www.technion.ac.il/en/2020/10/leukemia-and-the-brain/ 

https://www.nature.com/articles/s43018-020-00115-2

Prospective treatment for liver failure. There are some 2,000 cases (80% fatal) of Acute Liver Failure (ALF) in the US each year. Scientists at Israel’s Weizmann Institute have managed to control the severity of ALF in the lab by blocking signals from the gut microbiome to the MYC protein in the liver.

https://wis-wander.weizmann.ac.il/life-sciences/surprising-players-acute-liver-failure-point-potential-treatment

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-020-1102-2

Early stroke detection. The Scan&Sound app developed by students at Israel’s Technion Institute uses AI to analyze subtle changes in a potential stroke victim’s voice and facial expressions. Scan&Sound won 2nd place at John Hopkins University MedHacks in the category “Personalized Medicine Using Data-Driven Healthcare.”

https://www.israel21c.org/hackers-build-prize-winning-early-stroke-detection-app/  https://medhacks.io/

Track the eyes to reduce stress. Israel’s Umoove (reported here previously) has partnered British behavioral change consultant Matt Hudson to reduce stress and anxiety. The app MindReset uses the mobile camera and Umoove’s mobile eye tracking technology to observe the user’s nonverbal responses to stress.

https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/289974  http://www.umoove.me/press.html

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.umoove.mindreset

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XyE1q0B8Ov8

Radiotherapy institute for Jerusalem. Construction is underway on a new innovative radiotherapy institute at Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem. It will serve as a national center for cancer treatment, with advanced treatment methods and technologies.  https://www.jpost.com/health-science/new-innovative-radiotherapy-institute-approved-for-shaare-zedek-646876

https://www.szmc.org.il/eng/article/news,217/ https://shaarezedek.org.uk/cutting-edge-cancer-treatment/

Better clinical trials. The race to produce a Covid-19 vaccine has spurred researchers at Israel’s Ben Gurion University to partner with Israeli startup Panacea to speed up the human test phases. They have developed an AI tool to help select participants and markers, improve the analysis of results and presentation of findings.

https://www.calcalistech.com/ctech/articles/0,7340,L-3865794,00.html

A new way to diagnose infections. Israel’s MeMed (reported here previously) has received clearance in Israel, Europe and Switzerland for its MeMed BV and MeMed Key infection analyzers. They measure 3 biomarker proteins and use AI algorithms to determine if an infection is viral or bacterial and whether to use antibiotics.

https://www.calcalistech.com/ctech/articles/0,7340,L-3865516,00.html

Femtech telemedicine at Sheba. A follow-up to the article reported here previously about the new Women’s Health Innovation Center at Israel’s Sheba Medical Center. The pioneering femtech (female technology) center, was originally set up to promote patient and doctor safety during COVID-19.

https://nocamels.com/2020/10/women-health-innovation-center-sheba-femtech/

https://www.jns.org/opinion/the-plight-of-palestinian-refugees/

If I was a Palestinian, I would be immersed in gloom. As I look around the Middle East, where my staunchest allies were once located, I now see nothing but betrayal. First, the United Arab Emirates, then Bahrain and now Sudan have reached agreements with the despicable Jewish State of Israel. In the foreseeable future, Saudi Arabia will likely join them. My people have been abandoned, and any possibility that even a sliver of Israel and its illegal settlements on Palestinian land will become a Palestinian state has all but vanished. Our scattered 5 million refugees and their descendants, cared for by UNRWA, will remain forever homeless.

Although I am not a Palestinian, I sympathize with the Palestinian lament of homelessness even if it is self-imposed. But as a historian, I must rely upon facts, not fantasies. Palestinians may fervently believe that they are being robbed of “their” land, but history—from antiquity to modernity—suggests otherwise.

Ever since the Jewish nation was shattered in the second century C.E. after Bar Kokhba’s failed rebellion against Roman conquerors, Jews yearned to return to their ancient homeland, especially Jerusalem, where King David had ruled and the Holy Temple was built. (“If I forget thee, O Jerusalem,” was embedded in Psalm 137.) There were no Palestinians then. Indeed, the oldest surviving indication of an Arab (not Palestinian) national identity is an inscription in 328 C.E. referring to the “King of all the Arabs.” Islam appeared three centuries later, during Muhammad’s lifetime. By then, Jews were a well-established, if widely scattered, people with an embedded attachment to their promised land.

Late in the 19th century, after nearly two millennia in exile, Jews began their return to the Land of Israel. Nearly 30 years before Theodor Herzl called for the revival of Jewish statehood, Hovevei Zion (“Lovers of Zion”) had built more than a dozen new communities in Palestine. During World War I, the Balfour Declaration called for a “national home for the Jewish people in Palestine.” There was no mention of Palestinians. Even when Colonial Secretary Winston Churchill reneged on that promise, gifting three-quarters of Palestine east of the Jordan River to Abdullah ibn Hussein for his own kingdom of Transjordan, there still was no recognized, or self-identified, “Palestinian” people.

https://www.jpost.com/opinion/coronavirus-election-fever-and-matti-caspis-exit-stage-left-opinion-647431

The combination of coronavirus malaise and election fever has disgruntled American and Israeli notables threatening to emigrate if their leaders are not replaced.

The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic coincided with the start of serious campaigning in the United States, with President Donald Trump working to secure a second term in office and the Democrats attempting to field a candidate who could topple him.

During the past several months – prior to and since August, when the Democratic National Convention nominated Joe Biden to run against the incumbent – celebrities have been voicing their intention to make a grand exit out of the country in the event of a Trump victory.

American actress/activist Jane Fonda has been more optimistic of late about staying put. Her position is that the virus was “God’s gift to the Left,” and she may be right. The US economy was booming before COVID-19 struck and lockdowns were imposed to keep it at bay. The rise in morbidity and death rates, coupled with the drop in employment, became the manna from heaven that Trump-haters had been seeking.

The same perversity applies to Israel, where the movement to oust Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been throwing caution and saliva droplets to the wind and gathering in droves – masks and bandanas beneath their chins – to demand that he resign or be sent to jail, whichever comes first. What they don’t want is another set of democratic elections that could keep him at the helm.

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/16699/arab-normalization-with-israel

Israel is a stabilizing influence in an unstable region of the world. It is a democracy, a military and technological innovator, an economically advanced country. It can assist its new allies in each of these areas, as it has already begun to do even in the short time since normalization began.

This may be their last opportunity to achieve a reasonable two state solution. Israel’s Arab neighbors have demonstrated that the Palestinian cause is not as high on their agenda as it appeared to be in the past. These nations understand that the situation the Palestinians now find themselves in have been the result of self-inflicted wounds — most importantly an unwillingness to take yes for an answer when the Israelis have offered them statehood.

Even now, the Palestinian leadership refuses to sit down and negotiate with Israel. They must understand that they will not get a state as the result of the boycott movement, protests on university campuses or meaningless resolutions of the United Nations. Recent developments make it clear that statehood for the Palestinians will come only through negotiations with Israel.

Now that the Sudan has joined the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain in normalizing relations with Israel, the future seems bright for even more Arab countries to make peace with their former enemy. The big prize, of course, would be Saudi Arabia, and already we are hearing rumors from its leaders pointing in that direction. Even Lebanon, which currently houses Hezbollah, has dropped hints about possible peace overtures.

The possibility does exist that before long, most of the Sunni Arab states will recognize that their interests lie in a peace process with Israel. They will see the economic, technological, diplomatic and military advantages in having Israel as an ally instead of an enemy.

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/24211

In Jabotinsky’s case, the controversy over his re-interment, decades later, is also a matter of significance—and offers important lessons for our own era.

The anniversary of the passing of a Jewish leader is often an occasion to reflect on the deceased’s life and legacy, and the death of the Zionist leader Ze’ev Jabotinsky in August 1940 is no different. 

But in Jabotinsky’s case, the controversy over his re-interment, decades later, is also a matter of significance—and offers important lessons for our own era.

Jabotinsky was one of the most dynamic and influential Zionist orators of the 20th century. Speeches were vital for inspiring the masses—especially the downtrodden masses of interwar Eastern Europe. He exhorted the Jews of Russia and Poland to take pride in their heritage, to recognize that violent anti-Semitism was on the horizon, and to prepare to settle in the Land of Israel.

But Jabotinsky was much more than just a speechmaker; he also was a man of action. He was the founder, in 1917, of the Jewish Legion, the first Jewish military force in nearly two thousand years. He created the Haganah, in 1920, to protect the Jews of Palestine against Arab pogromists, and spent years in a British prison for the “crime” of organizing Jewish self-defense. He was the spiritual father of the Irgun Zvai Leumi, the underground Jewish militia that fought for Jewish independence.

Two of Jabotinsky’s most devoted followers, Jewish underground leaders Menachem Begin and Yitzhak Shamir, would later serve as prime minister of the State Of Israel that their leader did not live to see.

Who could have foreseen President Donald Trump’s impressive policy triumphs in the Middle East? Three- and still counting -Arab nations making peace and establishing airline travel between their nations and Israel. However, the turpitude of the Israel bashers in the media, academia, and even in the United States Congress continues. My friend Michael Ordman does a yeoman job in rebutting the lies in weekly reports on Israel’s outsize contributions to science, the arts, technology, agriculture, medicine and a better life in every corner of the world…..rsk

www.verygoodnewsisrael.blogspot.com 

 
 
ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS
 
Update on Israeli Covid-19 vaccine. The Covid-19 vaccine being developed by the Israel Institute for Biological Research (IIBR) is beginning Phase 1 human trials. Head of IIBR, Professor Shapira confirmed this at the recent Christian Media zoom Summit attended by this newsletter editor, who asked a question at 1:38:47.
https://worldisraelnews.com/israeli-corona-vaccine-brilife-to-start-human-testing-in-october/
https://youtu.be/EUx5EL1CANQ?t=4976    https://youtu.be/EUx5EL1CANQ?t=5927
 
Israeli Covid-19 antibody serum for Israeli Health ministry. Israel’s Kamada (reported here previously) has signed a deal to supply Israel’s Health ministry with its plasma-based hyperimmune immunoglobulin (IgG) product. The product treats COVID-19 patients with pneumonia and is currently in Phase 1 & 2 trials in Israel.
https://nocamels.com/2020/10/kamada-deal-supply-israel-health-ministry-covid-19-antibody/
 
Hospital uses drones to save lives. (TY TPS) Ziv Medical Center in Tzfat (Safed) will be the first Israeli hospital to use drones. They will transport medical equipment, medicines, and blood and Corona tests, to and from the hospital. Initially, they will carry 5kg loads up to 10km, saving time and bypassing road blockages.
https://unitedwithisrael.org/first-israeli-hospital-deploys-drones-to-save-lives/
 
Preventing worldwide blindness. Israel’s AEYE Health (reported here previously) is pushing hard to get its retinal disease AI diagnostic eye scanner approved by the end of 2020. The Covid-19 pandemic has seriously cut the number of patients visiting eye specialists. The eye scanner can be used easily by GPs or clinic staff.
https://www.israel21c.org/diagnosing-retinal-disease-with-artificial-intelligence/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Cx5XmwLJPw
 
US clears PE diagnostic. Israel Aidoc’s triaging and notification algorithms for flagging and reporting incidental pulmonary embolism (see here) have just been approved by the US FDA.  The solution is an ‘always-on’ safety net for unexpected cases. It is Aidoc’s sixth FDA-approved tool for triage and notification:
https://www.calcalistech.com/ctech/articles/0,7340,L-3863760,00.html
 
Another Covid-19 breath test. Israel’s NextGen Biomed is developing a breathalyzer test (see another here)
 to identify Covid-19 infections. The biological markers were identified in an April study by Israel’s Scentech Medical. The two companies are now being merged and a validation trial is scheduled to commence shortly.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-company-announces-identification-of-covid-19-indicators-in-breath-test
https://www.scentech-medical.com/  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rGian6PWqQ
 
Autonomous vehicle imaging can detect Covid-19. Israel’s Adasky (reported here previously) develops and manufactures high-resolution thermal vision AI sensors for the advanced vehicle industry. Its Viper-R system can detect Covid-19 instantly, by scanning multiple individuals 10 meters away for elevated body temperatures.
https://www.calcalistech.com/ctech/articles/0,7340,L-3864150,00.html
 
Molecular test for Covid-19 or cancer. Nanotechnologists at Israel’s Technion Institute have eliminated the time-consuming amplification process in coronavirus and secondary cancer tests. 100 molecules of the sample are passed one by one through a nanopore – a tiny hole and assessed for the presence of a specific bio-marker.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/slowest-part-of-covid-tests-eliminated-with-israeli-single-molecule-method/
 
Replacing antibiotics in the dairy industry. Israeli biotech Mileutis has developed Imilac – designed to treat mastitis in cows by boosting their immune systems. Imilac is near the marketing stage and can replace the wide use of antibiotics for which resistance is growing and being passed to humans via milk products.
https://www.calcalistech.com/ctech/articles/0,7340,L-3862670,00.html   http://mileutis.com/
 

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/16634/palestinians-what-needs-to-be-done

The question is: Will Iran step in to influence the Palestinian Authority? Will Iran manage to convince the Palestinian Authority to become part of an axis that includes Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, and all the Iranian‑backed militias in Iraq? Where is Mahmoud Abbas taking the Palestinian Authority? No one knows. Most people I speak to they say he doesn’t really have a strategy to deal with the with the Middle East conflict. His only strategy, they say, is just to remain in power forever.

The Palestinians…. are further isolating themselves by alienating the entire Arab world by going against countries such as Egypt, Jordan and all these Gulf states that once used to give them a lot of money…. Those who were inciting against Israel all those years are now inciting against the Arab world. Those who were demonizing Israel are now trying to demonize their own Arab and Muslim brothers…. The gap between the Palestinians and the Arab world is growing.

One of the reasons why mainstream media does not want to report about many stories over here, is that these stories do not have an anti‑Israel angle.

This whole conflict, whether we like it or not, is not about a settlement, a checkpoint, a wall, and a fence or a settlement. This conflict is really about Israel’s very existence….

They [Palestinian leaders] do not want Arabs and Muslims to be exposed to the wonderful things that are happening in Israel. They do not want them to see that Israel has been a story of success. They do not want these wonderful things to be seen in the Arab and Muslim world because then the Arabs and Muslims might go to their leaders and say, “Excuse me. We want something like what these Jews have. Why can’t we have democracy? Why can’t we have a functioning parliament?”

The question we need to ask ourselves is not who is going to succeed Mahmoud Abbas. The question is will anyone who succeeds Mahmoud Abbas, will he be different? Will he be able to bring about any changes? I’m sorry to tell you that the answer is no…. We are talking about the same ideology, the same mentality, and the same people running the show.

Do not expect many changes in the post‑Abbas era. What needs to change is the mindset. What needs to stop is the incitement, the daily delegitimization of Israel. It is very bad, and it is very widespread. If you do not change that, then you will not see any changes. In addition, the Palestinians need to change their education system. They need to start preparing their people for peace with Israel.