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ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS
 
Positive coronavirus treatment news. Six critically ill Israeli coronavirus patients with organ failure are still alive after 1-week’s Pluristem’s PLX cell-therapy in three separate Israeli medical centers. Four show improved respiratory parameters – three of those could soon be weaned off ventilators with two showing clinical recovery.  

Latest – The first critically ill US coronavirus patient has received Pluristem’s treatment (in New Jersey).

https://www.jpost.com/health-science/israeli-covid-19-treatment-shows-100-percent-survival-rate-preliminary-data-624058 
 
Italy approves Israeli coronavirus treatment. (TY JNS) Italy has approved Opaganib from Israel’s Redhill Biopharma to treat some 160 severe COVID-19 patients with severe respiratory problems at three hospitals in northern Italy. Phase2 tests on 131 US patients were positive and two critically ill Israeli patients are improving.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/2-israeli-covid-19-patients-improve-in-experimental-drug-trial/
 
Passive vaccine saves 29-year-old coronavirus patient. (TY Hazel) A 29-year-old coronavirus patient in Ashdod has improved from serious to serious but stable condition, after receiving multiple doses of plasma from a donor who recovered from coronavirus. Another patient who received plasma has also improved.
https://www.jpost.com/HEALTH-SCIENCE/29-year-old-among-first-to-be-treated-with-MDA-passive-vaccine-624353  https://www.jpost.com/HEALTH-SCIENCE/Israels-MDA-to-treat-coronavirus-patients-with-new-passive-vaccine-623172
 
Targeting coronavirus proteins. Scientists at Israel’s Weizmann Institute are working with a UK laboratory and others to develop an anti-viral treatment that targets Protease – a protein essential for coronavirus activity.  Meanwhile, Hebrew University of Jerusalem scientists are testing many chemicals against similar proteins.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/science-will-conquer-this-inside-the-race-for-a-coronavirus-treatment/
https://www.thejc.com/news/uk-news/accelerated-oxford-weizmann-project-aims-to-identify-anti-covid-19-drug-in-weeks-1.498547  
 
Decoys to trap coronavirus. Technion scientists are using their NanoGhost technology(reported here) to send NanoGhost stem cells into the lungs. The coronavirus cells then bind with the NanoGhost decoy cells rather than the cells in the lung, thus reducing the ability of the virus to propagate.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=koxdcMVnDA4
 
Radar for the lungs. Israel’s Sensible Medical has developed a radar-based system that continuously monitors a patient’s lung fluid levels to prevent deterioration. It has already in operation in four Italian hospitals and a US hospital has bought 20 units. Israel is also about to adopt it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8v1GKdeKa0
https://www.calcalistech.com/ctech/articles/0,7340,L-3804703,00.html  https://sensible-medical.com/
 
New coronavirus test is 10 times faster. Scientists at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have developed and implemented a new test for coronavirus infections that is much faster, cheaper and hasn’t the resource issues of current tests. It extracts RNA from swabs as now, but with a magnetic bead-based cleanup process called SPRI.
https://www.jwire.com.au/hebrew-university-researchers-develop-a-covid-19-diagnostic-test-10x-faster/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DuWu9uGrmrk
 
Recovered. The many critically ill Israeli coronavirus patients being cured include a couple from Ashkelon aged 90 and 87 who can now celebrate their 70th wedding anniversary. Also, Eli Beer, CEO of Israel’s United Hatzalah has awoken from a coma.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-couple-aged-90-87-recover-from-covid-19-in-ashkelon/
https://worldisraelnews.com/united-hatzalah-of-israel-founder-awakens-from-coronavirus-coma/
 

https://www.jpost.com/opinion/right-from-wrong-israels-no-exit-strategy-624890

Hebrew memes circulating on social media poked fun at the current form of warfare, which involves not charging at the enemy with tanks and rifles, but rather binging on Netflix and junk food.
The battle between the Israeli Health Ministry and Finance Ministry over the lifting of coronavirus-spurred lockdowns is heated. Early on in the crisis, when schools, malls and office buildings closed last month, government officials projected that life would resume some semblance of normalcy in the immediate aftermath of Passover.
 
It was a mid-April date on which parents pinned hopes and to which everyone looked forward. But to no avail. The kids are still home, stores remain shut and freedom of movement feels like a thing of the distant past.
 
To counter bouts of anxiety, loneliness and cabin fever – amid a rise in COVID-19 deaths and a drop in employment – we Israelis initially turned to humor. Hebrew memes circulating on social media poked fun at the current form of warfare, which involves not charging at the enemy with tanks and rifles, but rather binging on Netflix and junk food.
 
Growing fat is not the only reason that our patience has begun to wear thin, however.
 
ALONGSIDE A general societal willingness to adopt inconvenient habits to contain the ultra-contagious virus that strikes “grandmas and grandpas” with a vengeance, there is a gnawing sense that health authorities are going a bit too far in their doomsday scenarios.

Defending their demand for increasingly stringent measures to “flatten the coronavirus curve,” these authorities often appear oblivious to the ills of a demolished economy and mass demoralization.
 
The perilous side effects are already evident. Indeed, in a matter of weeks, more than a quarter of the workforce suddenly found itself with no income, business owners became poverty-stricken overnight, domestic violence spiked drastically and the ERAN organization hotline for emotional first aid has been ringing off the hook.
 

https://www.algemeiner.com/2020/04/14/locked-down-tel-avivians-dance-on-balconies-to-celebrate-citys-birthday/

Tel Aviv celebrated its 111th birthday on Tuesday, amid the ongoing coronavirus crisis that has ground the city to a halt.

“To mark the festive occasion our truck set off to roam the city blasting the city’s unofficial anthem (Tel Aviv Ya Habibi Tel Aviv!) as residents waved from their balconies,” the Tel Aviv municipality tweeted.

Tel Aviv is celebrating it’s 111th birthday today!

To mark the festive occasion our truck set off to roam the city blasting the city’s unofficial anthem (Tel Aviv Ya Habibi Tel Aviv!) as residents waved from their balconies

https://www.jpost.com/HEALTH-SCIENCE/Israeli-researchers-at-Hebrew-U-develop-fa

Israeli researchers at Hebrew U develop faster, cheaper COVID-19 test By IDAN ZONSHINE  

The new test would supply results 4-10 times faster than the current method, and is made almost entirely from materials which are easily available for purchase within the country.

Researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem announced on Sunday that they have developed a new method of testing for COVID-19 which is not only 4-10 times faster than the tests most commonly used today, but also significantly cheaper, while supplying the same level of accuracy.

Moreover, most of the materials required to perform the new test are already available in Israel, easing significantly both the country’s dire shortage of testing materials and its heavy economic dependence on foreign commercial markets.

https://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/IDFs-Shayetet-13-develops-solutions-to-compress-oxygen-to-fight-corona-624432

IDF’s Shayetet 13 develops solutions to compress oxygen to fight corona by Anna Ahronheim

The elite unit, which trains experienced divers and as a result has a great deal of experience in under-water breathing technologies and oxygen tanks, developed a unique method.

The Shayetet 13 naval commando unit is helping in the IDF’s fight against the coronavirus by developing advanced solutions to compress oxygen. 

The famed elite unit, which trains divers and as a result has a great deal of experience in underwater breathing technologies and oxygen tanks, developed a unique method and is playing a key role in the fight against the deadly disease. 

https://unitedwithisrael.org/israeli-high-school-develops-robot-to-help-protect-doctors-from-coronavirus/

Mentored by engineers from the Technion, Israel’s leading technology university, a high school robotics team in Haifa produced a robot to deliver equipment, medicine and food and help protect hospital medical staff from COVID-19.

The robotics club at a Haifa high school has teamed up with engineers at the world-class Technion-Israeli Institute of Technology and developed a robot that will help medical workers keep their distance from coronavirus-infected patients.

Dubbed the “COROBOT,” the remote control service trolley allows medicine and food to be delivered to patients without another person present, driving right up to the patient’s bed and complete with a computer tablet to allow two-way communication.

The robot was tested last week, showing officials at Haifa’s Rambam Medical Center how it can be also be used to carry equipment to the coronavirus isolation ward to the protective rooms. Like with a remote control car, an operator uses a radio control device to steer the robot.

https://www.calcalistech.com/ctech/articles/0,7340,L-3804900,00.html

The Directorate of Defense Research and Development (Mafat) has greenlighted a sticker developed at Israeli research university Technion Israel Institute of Technology that attaches to surgical masks, adding an additional layer of protection against coronavirus (Covid-19), Technion announced Monday.

Called Maya, the 3D-printed sticker is made up of nanometric fibers coated with disinfectants and is meant to enhance the containment of nanoparticles and effectively neutralize viruses as they touch the mask, according to the statement.

Israel’s Ministry of Health has given initial approval for the use of the sticker by medical personnel and in the coming days, a pilot will begin at the Galilee Medical Center in Nahariya in northern Israel, to examine the sticker’s effectiveness and see if it reduces the incidence of infection among medical teams.

The technology behind the sticker was developed by Technion professor Eyal Zussman in conjunction with the Galilee Medical Center.