Isabel Oakeshott, a journalist for the British newspaper The Telegraph, was lost in daydreams while riding a scooter on the Tel Aviv promenade. It's unclear whether the handsome young people playing volleyball on the beach or the spectacular sunset distracted her attention, but she suddenly found herself on the sidewalk with a severe blow to her chin and head.

After kind passersby helped her up, the journalist returned to her hotel room, where concerns arose that she might be suffering from a concussion. She independently made her way to Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv and received treatment with such speed and efficiency that it surprised her enough to inspire a column about her experience.

Under the headline "What my stupid accident in Tel Aviv reveals about truly world class healthcare," Oakeshott describes her experience in the Sylvan Adams Emergency Department at Ichilov Hospital. "There were no 12-hour queues like those in Britain's National Health Service. Within half an hour, I was standing before a nice doctor who spoke excellent English, stitched my chin, and took blood tests – the prognosis was that I was perfectly fine," Oakeshott wrote.

"I wanted to come to Israel to learn about war... and I did all that, but the accident also drew my attention to the enormous differences between Israel's healthcare system and Britain's," Oakeshott added. She continued by explaining the history and structure of medical services in Israel, outlining the health maintenance organizations and the public and government hospitals.

"The Sylvan Adams Emergency Department uses all kinds of time-saving and life-saving devices and artificial intelligence wizardry to treat patients well and quickly. Robots move around providing directions, and in their free time, staff members amuse themselves by testing the artificial intelligence system to see if it understands slang or distinguishes between female and male voices," she noted in her piece.

It appears the journalist encountered one of the best aspects of public medicine in Israel, and readers living in Israel would know there are places where service falls far short of the standard she described. Nevertheless, it's important occasionally to consider the perspective of foreigners from other Western countries and recognize that Israelis also have much to be thankful for in their healthcare system.

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A revolutionary blood test capable of detecting some of the most common and lethal cancers before symptoms develop is set to receive government funding in the United Kingdom, according to reporting by The Mirror. Health Secretary Wes Streeting, himself a cancer survivor, believes this "universal" blood screening could transform cancer treatment within the National Health Service (NHS) in the next five years.

The test, developed by scientists at Southampton University, utilizes clinical information from 20,000 cancer patients and is reported to be 99% accurate in detecting cancer at any stage, even before symptoms manifest. Early trials indicate it can identify 50 different types of cancer before producing a false positive result.

Professor Paul Skipp of Southampton University told The Mirror: "A test like this could save many lives, catching cancers much earlier. We hope to have an NHS test in five to seven years." Streeting, who lost a kidney during his cancer treatment, emphasized the importance of early detection: "Having survived, it is my mission as Health Secretary that it is caught earlier and more are saved."

The miONCO test, which costs £120 ($157), screens for lung, breast, prostate, pancreatic, colorectal, ovarian, liver, brain, esophageal, bladder, bone and soft tissue sarcoma, and gastric cancers. It requires only a few drops of blood and could potentially eliminate months-long waits for tests and scans.

The UK government plans to invest £2.5 million ($3.3 million) through the National Institute for Health and Care Research to refine the test, making it faster and more cost-effective. Researchers have established a startup company, Xgenera, to facilitate the test's rollout, citing its "potential to save millions of lives" globally.

The next development phase will involve perfecting the artificial intelligence used to analyze test samples and biomarkers by inputting 8,000 blood samples from individuals of diverse ethnic backgrounds.

Currently, the NHS only offers screening tests for breast, bowel, cervical, and lung cancers, which often involve invasive procedures or scans and have high false-positive rates. Prof Skipp noted: "The UK spends £800 million ($1 billion) a year screening for these four cancers, and an additional £91 million ($119 million) is spent on false positive follow-ups."

The government's investment in this technology aligns with its broader strategy to leverage Britain's scientific expertise to improve cancer care within the NHS. Streeting and Science Secretary Peter Kyle are backing efforts to combine cutting-edge research with the NHS's potential to benefit patients nationwide.

Streeting added: "The investment we are launching on Sunday will help partner our universities, health service, and pharmaceutical giants to produce new cutting-edge treatments – catching cancer earlier at the same time as boosting the UK's economic growth."

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Doctors of the Sheba Tel-HaShomer Medical Center made history Wednesday by performing for the first time in Israel a surgery that delivers gene therapy directly to the brain.

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The procedure, which involved injecting the gene directly into the brain of the patient – 4-year-old Adiroop Kumar from India – lasted seven hours, and with the cost of 10 million shekels ($2.7 million) per vial was the single most expensive single surgery ever performed in Israel.

The groundbreaking treatment was conducted as part of a global study on the Upstaza gene therapy medicine, with 30 more children participating in Taiwan, Japan, China, Germany, England, France, and the United States.

In Israel, the surgery was conducted by Dr. Zion Zibly, director of the Department of Neurosurgery at the Sheba Medical Center and Dr. Lior Ungar, a senior neurosurgeon in the department. Dr. Bruria Gidoni-Ben-Zeev, head of the Pediatric Neurology Department at the Edmond and Lily Safra Children's Hospital, oversaw all the treatments, and the follow-up and medical care.

Adiroop had arrived with his mother from India specially for the procedure, which is conducted as part of the study, free of charge. A few years earlier, he was diagnosed with AADC deficiency, an incredibly rare genetic disease that is caused by changes in the gene that produces the AADC enzyme needed to produce certain substances vital for the normal functioning of the brain and nerves, such as dopamine and serotonin. The condition makes it nearly impossible for a child to lift his or her head, let alone walk and talk.

Until now, there has been no cure for AADC deficiency, which most often leads to death by the age of 10. In Israel, 10 children have been diagnosed with the disease in recent years, with four fatal cases. Around two new cases are diagnosed in Israel yearly.

Upstaza is a first-of-its-kind treatment that involves introducing a healthy gene into the patient's brain, into the area that misses the necessary gene. It has already been authorized in Europe, with Israel and the United States to follow.

"We work with hundreds of patients, and each and every one of them has a unique story. The same is true in this case, which fills us with the hope that we will be able to save many more lives in Israel and around the world. We believe that this scientific breakthrough will also serve us in other areas, and will allow us to bring relief to many patients,' Zibly said.

Adiroop's mother told Israel Hayom, "Adiroop is our second child, and in a genetic test we did at the age of six months, he was diagnosed with the disease. The doctors warned us that his life expectancy might be short. Therefore, every morning and all the time I check his breathing to make sure he is alive. I really hope that there is a chance that he will survive this terrible disease.

"We hope that in Israel we will start a new life and path for our son. We also feel in Israel and in the hospital the humanity and the kindness, we no longer feel like strangers. We love the people, the culture, the tradition, the language and the food. Indeed it is the Holy Land."

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In a medical first, doctors transplanted a pig heart into a patient in a last-ditch effort to save his life and a Maryland hospital said Monday that he's doing well three days after the highly experimental surgery.

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While it's too soon to know if the operation really will work, it marks a step in the decades-long quest to one day use animal organs for life-saving transplants. Doctors at the University of Maryland Medical Center said the transplant showed that a heart from a genetically modified animal can function in the human body without immediate rejection.

The patient, David Bennett, a 57-year-old Maryland handyman, knew there was no guarantee the experiment would work but he was dying, ineligible for a human heart transplant and had no other option, his son told The Associated Press.

"It was either die or do this transplant. I want to live. I know it's a shot in the dark, but it's my last choice," Bennett said a day before the surgery, according to a statement provided by the University of Maryland School of Medicine.

On Monday, Bennett was breathing on his own while still connected to a heart-lung machine to help his new heart. The next few weeks will be critical as Bennett recovers from the surgery and doctors carefully monitor how his heart is faring.

There's a huge shortage of human organs donated for transplant, driving scientists to try to figure out how to use animal organs instead. Last year, there were just over 3,800 heart transplants in the US, a record number, according to the United Network for Organ Sharing, which oversees the nation's transplant system.

"If this works, there will be an endless supply of these organs for patients who are suffering," said Dr. Muhammad Mohiuddin, scientific director of the Maryland university's animal-to-human transplant program.

But prior attempts at such transplants – or xenotransplantation – have failed, largely because patients' bodies rapidly rejected the animal organ. Notably, in 1984, Baby Fae, a dying infant, lived 21 days with a baboon heart.

The difference this time: The Maryland surgeons used a heart from a pig that had undergone gene-editing to remove a sugar in its cells that's responsible for that hyper-fast organ rejection. Several biotech companies are developing pig organs for human transplant; the one used for Friday's operation came from Revivicor, a subsidiary of United Therapeutics.

"I think you can characterize it as a watershed event," Dr. David Klassen, UNOS' chief medical officer, said of the Maryland transplant.

Still, Klassen cautioned that it's only a first tentative step into exploring whether this time around, xenotransplantation might finally work.

The Food and Drug Administration, which oversees such experiments, allowed the surgery under what's called a "compassionate use" emergency authorization, available when a patient with a life-threatening condition has no other options.

It will be crucial to share the data gathered from this transplant before extending it to more patients, said Karen Maschke, a research scholar at the Hastings Center, who is helping develop ethics and policy recommendations for the first clinical trials under a grant from the National Institutes of Health.

"Rushing into animal-to-human transplants without this information would not be advisable," Maschke said.

Over the years, scientists have turned from primates to pigs, tinkering with their genes.

Just last September, researchers in New York performed an experiment suggesting these kinds of pigs might offer promise for animal-to-human transplants. Doctors temporarily attached a pig's kidney to a deceased human body and watched it begin to work.

The Maryland transplant takes their experiment to the next level, said Dr. Robert Montgomery, who led that work at NYU Langone Health.

"This is a truly remarkable breakthrough," he said in a statement. "As a heart transplant recipient, myself with a genetic heart disorder, I am thrilled by this news and the hope it gives to my family and other patients who will eventually be saved by this breakthrough."

The surgery last Friday took seven hours at the Baltimore hospital. Dr. Bartley Griffith, who performed the surgery, said the patient's condition – heart failure and an irregular heartbeat – made him ineligible for a human heart transplant or a heart pump.

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Griffith had transplanted pig hearts into about 50 baboons over five years, before offering the option to Bennett.

"We're learning a lot every day with this gentleman," Griffith said. "And so far, we're happy with our decision to move forward. And he is as well: Big smile on his face today."

Pig heart valves also have been used successfully for decades in humans, and Bennett's son said his father had received one about a decade ago.

As for the heart transplant, "He realizes the magnitude of what was done and he really realizes the importance of it," David Bennett Jr. said. "He could not live, or he could last a day, or he could last a couple of days. I mean, we're in the unknown at this point."

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Preterm birth (PTB) is known to be the leading cause of both perinatal morbidity and mortality.

In a new study, researchers Dvora Kluwgant, Tamar Wainstock, Eyal Sheiner, and Gali Pariente from Beersheba's Ben-Gurion University of the Negev have looked into distinct risk factors associated with preterm birth.

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After collecting an immense amount of data using information gathered on more 334,000 deliveries, they concluded that there is a very "strong association between early PTB and placental abruption."

But according to Sheiner, beyond the known populations at risk such as women with multiple gestations (i.e. successful pregnancies), women with a history of PTB, the study also shows that lack of prenatal care, recurrent pregnancy loss (abortions) and placental problems present statistically significant risk factors for preterm birth.

This could be a significant step forward if it opens up further areas of research on the topic.

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The Soroka University Medical Center in Beersheba and Israel Aerospace Industries have set up a joint innovation center to convert defense technologies into new medical technologies.

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IAI's subsidiary, Elta, said it will work with the center to create a technological greenhouse for growing new ideas for medical equipment. The forum links hospital doctors with IAI engineers for the joint examination of technologies that can act as breakthrough new solutions. A joint steering committee will choose the final projects for further development.

The idea has its roots in the height of the pandemic, when the IAI and the Defense Ministry set up a production line for mechanical ventilators, Israel Lupa, executive vice president at Elta, said.

IAI-Elta developed multiple technologies to assist the medical system at the time, he said, including a cockpit control system that allows for data on ventilated COVID-19 patients to be presented in a centralized manner and provide comprehensive information on a patient's condition. IAI's artificial intelligence capabilities were used to issue alerts on deterioration in the conditions of patients, enabling medical staff to allot their attention and resources to patients in a timely manner.

"This started during the pandemic. As a company, we decided to help hospitals where we could, to reduce the stress on the medical system," Lupa recalled. "We found ourselves involved with many hospitals, from north to south, trying to help each one in line with their requirements."

"In this context, one of the hospitals we worked with was the Soroka [University Medical] Center," said Lupa. "At first, we helped it run isolation wards using a software bot that can engage in dialogue with the isolated person … This helped alleviate the load on the system. Many at that time were hospitalized in isolation, and they had many questions for medical staff. Together with Microsoft, we deployed a relatively simple app to take the pressure off personnel. It offered automatic answers to those questions."

Next came the cockpit coronavirus management system, which enabled medical staff to monitor patients from outside their treatment rooms. This meant the doctors and nurses did not have to put on full protective gear and sterilize themselves so many times each day.

"The next stage was adding AI to identify patients' situations and to sound alerts when patients required attention," Lupa said.

During those difficult months, IAI forged a close connection with doctors at the hospital, and both sides realized the incredible potential for cooperation, according to Lupa.

"We have many technologies that have the potential for medical applications. But we don't really understand the medical field, and this is where the connection with hospitals and doctors comes in," he said.

Hospital department managers and IAI personnel both identified ways for IAI's AI, big data analysis, signals technology, and sensor processing to work in the medical world.

According to Lupa, "an ultrasound is no different from sonars and radars. Therefore, our technology is highly suitable for analyzing these signals. There's also a need to provide the equipment with cyber defense. We said, 'Let's see how we can address their needs with our technology.'"

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Now, as the collaboration advances, technical and medical teams meet regularly, with IAI staff learning about the various hospital departments, as well as their capabilities and needs. Once a need is identified, a viability analysis is conducted that can result in a product, Lupa said. With the hospitals' help, the product concept is then sent to start-up companies for development.

Initial meetings have led to many potential ideas, Lupa said, noting one initial brainstorming session led to 20 different product ideas the IAI plans to filter down to two or three "big ideas."

Reprinted with permission from JNS.org.

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The Health Ministry has authorized Stage 2 and Stage 3 clinical trials of a coronavirus drug developed by Professor Nadir Arber of the Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center.

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A group of 152 coronavirus patients in moderate and serious conditions will be treated with the medication. Their results will be compared to participants who receive a placebo.

Given the dramatic decrease in morbidity in Israel, Sourasky Medical Center has asked to collaborate with other hospitals across the country to ensure there are enough participants to perform the clinical trials.

At the same time, large-scale trials funded by Athens will be held in Greece following the authorization of the European Medicines Agency. In addition, the Georgian government announced it would fund clinical trials. There have also been talks to hold clinical trials in India and Brazil, two countries with high coronavirus morbidity rates.

Developed in Arber's lab, the Israeli medication is called EXO-CD24. Upon inhaling the medication, it works to calm the cytokine storm – the severe and sometimes life-threatening immune response seen in severe coronavirus patients.

In February, the Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center reported the medication was found to be 96% effective in 30 patients. To date, the medication has been administered to 35 patients, all of whom recovered from the coronavirus within days and were released from the hospital. Six of those patients were administered a higher dose of EXO-CD24.

"I believe the trial will end within a few months, and we'll know if we have a medication for the coronavirus in another year," Arber said.

He noted that "a year and a half into the pandemic, there is no medicinal treatment that has proven effective against the disease. I am happy about the Health Ministry's authorization, and since there aren't many patients in Israel, I hope to collaborate with other centers across the country."

Some in the scientific and medical community criticized the publication of the results of the initial clinical trials under the headline "Israeli coronavirus medicine" at the time.

Now, according to Arber, "We must examine the efficacy of the medication against the placebo. On one hand, we must maintain modesty and humility. As doctors, we need to be conservative. On the other hand, it's crazy to think that the Torah will go forth from Zion and medicine from Jerusalem."

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To mark Holocaust Remembrance Day, which this year begins on the eve of April 7, International March of the Living, together with the Maimonides Institute for Ethics and the Holocaust, the Miller Center at Rutgers University, the USC Shoah Foundation and Teva Pharmaceuticals, will be holding hold an online symposium on "Medicine and Morality: Lessons from the Holocaust and COVID-19."

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The program, scheduled to air at 7 p.m. EST, will include testimony from survivors who were both persecuted by Nazi doctors as well as saved by medical professionals during the Holocaust. It will also feature world renowned medical professionals and researchers who will discuss medical resistance during the Holocaust, the legacy of Nazi medicine and what the Holocaust can teach us about the ethics of care.

During the symposium, Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and Chief Medical Advisor to the US president, will receive the "Moral Courage in Medicine" award for his work in combatting COVID-19, his long history of leading the battle against infectious diseases, and his dedication to the health and wellbeing of humankind.

The event will also include a moving performance of "Schindler's List" by Grammy Award winner and United Nations Goodwill Ambassador of Music, Miri Ben-Ari, herself the descendant of Holocaust survivors.

Participating organizations include the World Medical Association, the Department of Education of the UNESCO Chair of Bioethics, the Israeli Medical Association, the Canadian Medical Association, the Indian Medical Association, the South African Medical Association and many others.

Vice-Chairman of the International March of the Living, Professor David Machlis, and Founding Director of the Maimonides Institute for Ethics and the Holocaust, Dr. Stacy Gallin, noted that this year in particular, it was appropriate to honor the activities and heroism of the medical community during the Holocaust by inviting practicing medical professionals to participate in all March of the Living events.

"We believe that hundreds of medical staff and medical students will tune in to watch a program that will be both informative and poignant," Machlis said.

Anyone interested in watching the symposium can register here.

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The ADSCC was founded in 2019 to provide a solution to local and regional demand for special medical treatments. The center owns and operates advanced equipment and hosts an international renowned team of physicians who work on projects in the fields that include immunology, stem cells, molecular biology, immunotherapy, and urology.

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The two organizations will cooperate on developing drugs to treat serious diseases, including coronavirus.

The signing took place on video chat.

Pluristem President and CEO Yaky Yanay said, "We are extremely proud to partner with our colleagues at the ADSCC by sharing knowledge and expertise that we believe will advance healthcare within and across our borders. We see life science and regenerative medicine as a bridge for building peace, prosperity, and well-being in our region and for the entire world. I believe it is our obligation and privilege as business and scientific leaders to lead the way forward to strengthen collaborations, and promote innovation and education. We are honored to be on the front line of this historical moment."

"Pluristem is a major player in the cell therapy field with years of experience, a unique platform and a robust clinical pipeline. We are excited to join forces and to promote the research and development of cell therapies for the best of the patients and the human society as a whole," said Dr. Yendry Ventura, a manager at the ADSCC.

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Israel-based Teva's Chief Executive Kare Schultz said Austedo would be priced somewhat lower in China, the world's second-largest drug market, than in the United States, which has already approved the drug.

However, it will not yet be eligible for coverage under China's national insurance scheme, which means it will only be affordable initially to a limited proportion of patients.

Austedo was included in China's fast-tracked approval channel as a rare disease treatment of "significant clinical advantage", completing the process in four months. China is the second country after the United States to approve Austedo.

Teva said the drug been approved in China to alleviate uncontrollable movements known as chorea in patients with Huntington's disease, a rare and fatal neurodegenerative disorder that often appears in middle age, and for tardive dyskinesia, a movement disorder that is usually the result of treatment with certain psychiatric medications.

Teva's Tel Aviv listed shares were up 3.8% at 1217 GMT following its announcement and up 4.2% in pre-market trading in New York.

Austedo, which is expected to generate U.S. sales of $650 million this year, costs around $60,000 annually per patient in the United States before insurance coverage, Schultz said.

Austedo needs to be significantly cheaper than $60,000 a year to be affordable to most patients in China, where major commercial insurance programs are yet to cover Huntington's disease, said Cao Xi, who runs "Hyacinth Care", a Shanghai-based non-profit organization dedicated to the disease.

"We would go in with a strategy of being in the specialized clinics first, so there would not be broad access in the beginning," Schultz told Reuters before the Chinese approval.

Annual treatment costs for Chinese patients were around 12,000 yuan ($1,687) on average in 2018, a survey by Hyacinth Care which involved about 360 participants who suffer from Huntington's disease, or carry a mutant gene related to the illness, found.

"If (the drug is) too expensive, we hope there could be some national medical insurance-related policies to help patients afford the drug," said Cao, who has a relative with Huntington's disease.

China has pledged to include more rare disease drugs in its central government-backed nationwide insurance scheme, which most patients, especially less affluent ones, rely on to pay drug bills.

"You start with a private launch... and then it's many years typically before you get into the national process," Schultz said. "You're talking about a launch which is basically not government-aid to begin with."

Teva said the Austedo approval was the second approval in China for one of its specialty medicine, adding that it will commercialize the medicine in China independently.

Austedo was approved in the United States to treat chorea associated with Huntington's disease and tardive dyskinesia in 2017. Revenues from sales of the drug in North America surged 64% to $122 million in the first quarter.

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