The Israeli research team was chosen by the European Center, which belongs to the European Union, to lead the research.

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West Nile Virus, spread by mosquitoes that bite infected birds and can affect man, killed 10 Israelis and infected over 120 others several years ago, but has not caused fatalities here since. It is now considered to be endemic in Africa, Asia, Australia, parts of the Middle East, Europe and in the US, which in 2012 went through one of its worst outbreaks.

Higher temperatures around the world have a major influence on the spread of the disease in Europe and other neighboring areas, according to University of Haifa researcher Dr. Shulamit Paz, who headed the team that just published its study in PLoS One. She said the evidence on how warmer weather influences the spread of West Nile virus is becoming more clear all the time.

The infection can cause irreversible brain damage through encephalitis or meningitis in humans, and the elderly and people with weak immune systems are most susceptible.

The Haifa team said that humidity, in addition to warm weather, was involved in increasing mosquito populations in Europe, neighboring countries and Israel, along with the rest of the Middle East. “We used statistical tools and found that as a result of heat waves, a dramatic increase in the number of cases resulted from increased activity of the virus and a growth of the mosquito population,” Paz wrote.

The researcher is now conducting a continuing study on the subject for the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control and the French research center, CIRAD, with the aim of looking for additional influences on the spread of the disease.
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When examining mice, researchers saw that elevated stress damages the immune system’s mechanism that battles inflammation. When the mice were placed under chronic stress, there was damage caused to the release of adequate levels of glucocorticoids (a steroid hormone).

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As a result, glucocorticoids cannot effectively fulfill their usual function, which is to inhibit the cells that encourage inflammation. This increased the number of cells that encouraged pathogenic inflammation compared to those that inhibit it.

It is important to note, that the mechanisms appeared more significantly in females than in males and may explain, in part, the higher rates of autoimmune disease in women than in men.

The Short-term solution is harmful long-term

Altogether, the results of the current study suggest that while a high level of glucocorticoids generally protect against the worsening of autoimmune diseases, for those under chronic stress, such treatment could lead to a worsening of their symptoms. Therefore, even though steroids is one of the treatments for chronic inflammation, use of such a treatment, particularly in patients suffering from chronic stress, should be carefully weighed and considered.

The researchers are also investigating the effects of glucocorticoids in aging and age-related neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s, and report that there is a likely connection between the effects of glucocorticoids on the immune system and aging.

The study, Recently published in the European Journal of Immunology, was conducted by Doctor Idan Harpaz and Professor Alon Monsonego, in conjunction with Professor Hagit Cohen. Monsonego and Harpaz are from the Shraga Segal Department of Microbiology and Immunology in the Faculty of Health Sciences. Monsonego is also a member of the National Institute for Biotechnology in the Desert. Cohen is the head of the Anxiety and Stress Research Unit, Division of Psychiatry at the Faculty of Health Sciences.

Photo by ian boyd

“We want to work with the Israeli startup community in a more organized and orderly fashion,” explains Amit Menipaz, eBay’s Senior Director, Global Product Management, Selling & Catalogs and former head of the Israeli branch. He prefers calling the incubator an “innovation center,” the same name given to similar centers operated by the company in New York and other places around the world.

Menipaz returned to Israel for the company’s annual Structured Data conference, which is held in Israel this time, and will host company representatives from around the world.

Looking for companies with passion

eBay’s office in Netanya, Israel

The Israeli incubator will be set up by the end of the year, and the company is now looking for the first wave of startups to join. However, Menipaz admits that he is still unsure what type of companies he is looking for. “In general terms, I can say that we want startups that deal with machine-learning and data-sorting algorithms – from text to video. Those involved in big data analytics, data visualization, social models for retail and others. Each eBay center has its own focus, and we’re still figuring out what Israel’s will be. We will invite people to work with us, to leverage the technology they’re developing.

“Other than that, we’re still thinking what exactly we can and want to supply, in the form of software solutions, tools and financial assistance. We would love to help the companies run pilots here, test their technology or conduct market research.

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“We will supply selected companies with access to our vast databases and step-by-step consulting. We will assist the startups in commercializing their product and realize not only which problem they want to solve, but the value of their technology.”

What tips can you offer to those who wish to join the incubator?

“First, be fanatic about what you do. You need to be enthusiastic and driven in regards to everything in your field. That’s the only advantage a small company could have over the giants.  Second, know the market, and know your competitors. If I can name a company that solves the same problem you do, and you can’t explain your edge, it’ll end badly.

“Third, do your homework about eBay so we can conduct a productive discourse about us working together. I don’t think that they will know everything, but it’s amazing to see how many people come to us excited about their product, without giving a moment of thought on how this product can assist me, my company. A startup entrepreneur should also know their weaknesses, and where he needs helps.

“The most important thing is that the founder knows how to prove their point and stick by it. You can be an expert in your field, but if you can’t prove anything you’re saying, then you can’t show that there are clients or companies that will act differently because of your product, so I won’t buy it. I can agree with the entrepreneurs and intuitively feel that they’re right, but they need to make the effort and show it to me.”
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Via Calcalist
Photo by eBay Israel’s Facebook page

Researchers were examining the left atrial appendage, a part of the heart whose role is relatively unknown and is sometimes removed in heart-surgery, when they noticed something astonishing.

When a different part of the heart was placed in the left atrial appendage, tissue began growing on it, indicating that cells of the appendage function not unlike embryonic stem cells.

“Suddenly, tissue was seen growing inside the stent,” Professor Ronen Beeri, the director of the Cardiovascular Research Center at Hadassah and one of the study’s partners, reported in the study, according to Haaretz. “The tissue had a structural resemblance to tissue that was known to grow inside the atrial appendage,” he said.

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When analyzing the genetic component of the cells, it was concluded that these cells are very likely to possess the ability to become any type of tissue found in the heart, like embryonic stem cells.

A broken heart can heal itself

After documenting this phenomenon in sheep, researchers moved on to mice, to further examine the regeneration. They found that the atrial appendage actually contains stem cells for heart regeneration.

Up until now, cardiologist worked under the assumption that the heart cannot heal itself. This study challenges this notion. The study opens a whole different approach for heart regeneration.

Professor Beeri says that the most common form of heart damage is the result of cardiac-arrest, birth defects and valve problems. If applied to humans, this discovery could lead to a new form of bandaging.

The research, recently published in medical journal PLOS ONE, was conducted by Beeri along with Dr. Jussi Leinonen, Dr. Avishag Korkus-Emanuelov and Dr. Sara Hoss of Hadassah University Hospital.

Photo by Gabriela Camerotti

The planet, later reaffirmed by a Harvard research team, will be called Kepler-76b, after a NASA spacecraft which supplied much of the data used for the discovery. Kepler is an observation craft, launched in 2009, with the mission of finding earth-like planets.

“This is the first time this aspect of Einstein’s theory of relativity was used in discovering a planet,” Israeli radio Galatz quoted Mazeh, who is also a member of NASA’s Kepler program. “We’ve been looking for this illusive effect for over two years, and now we’ve indeed found a planet with it.”

Kepler-76b is in the Cygnus (swan) constellation, located 2,000 light-years away from Earth. Its mass is double that of Jupiter and it has an extremely close orbit to its sun, with a day and a half cycle. The planet is so close to its sun that it doesn’t rotate and is “locked” in one position, so that only one hemisphere is exposed to the sun. That side has a surface temperature of 2,000 degrees centigrade.

The team had been searching for planets by measuring the light of tens of thousands of distant suns to find reoccurring changes caused by invisible orbiting planets. As the planets move around their sun, they cause slight changes in movement and light emitted by the sun. So even if the planet is too far away to be seen, the way its movement affects its sun gives an indication of its existence.

Photo: Tel Aviv University

Beyond Verbal, a startup based out of Israel, claims that it has developed a way to take computer-based voice recognition one step further, by creating software that is able to detect not just the words, but the emotional nuances of a voice to decipher how a person speaking is feeling. Recently, it announced its first round of funding, $2.8 million led by the newly-launched Genesis Angels, to roll out its patented technology commercially.

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As part of the investment, Kenges Rakishev, investor and co-founder of Genesis Angels, is joining the board.

Beyond Verbal offers its technology as a API-style cloud-based licensed service that can be integrated into bigger projects: the sky’s the limit for what these services might be, but you can imagine emotion detection used in all kinds of scenarios, from customer services to games, dating services (maybe to help people figure out if someone is really interested in them) and, yes, personal assistants like Siri.

Interestingly, while we tend to think of voice recognition as a customer-focused service, one potential application can actually be to help customer services representatives improve their own performance. “We can even tell if an agent is losing his temper. We can tell if you are losing your ‘sales perfect’ intonation,” said CEO Yuval Mor in an interview. Indeed, the premise of Beyond Verbal’s service is that a lot of the voice recognition services on the market today only give part of the story:“It’s not just what people say but how they say it,” he says.

Beyond Verbal also provides analytics and diagnostics that help customers track different emotions picked up through their applications. Beyond Verbal has yet to announce any customers, although the first is likely to come in the next few weeks, according to CEO Yuval Mor.
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Photo by Chris Sgaraglino

Reports have surfaced in the beginning of this year, alleging Waze was approached by Apple with a $750 million offer, but Waze declined since the figure was too low.

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The report says Facebook will not intervene in the way Waze runs its operation. The collaboration between the social network and the Israeli startup started last October, when Waze came out with a feature that enables users to see which of their Facebook friends are nearby.

If the deal goes through, it will be one of the largest acquisitions made by Facebook, on par with its acquisition of Instagram in September 2012, which also had a $1 billion price tag.

This wouldn’t be the first time Facebook acquires an Israeli startup. In 2011, Facebook bought Snaptu for $70 million and Face.com in 2012 for $60 million. Both startups were subsequently relocated outside of Israel. However, it is unclear if Waze would keep its Israeli offices.

Waze was founded in 2007 by Israeli entrepreneurs Ehud Shabtai, Amir Shinar and Uri Levine. It is considered the world’s largest social GPS and has some 45 million active users worldwide.

Photo by Janitors

A recent study from Tel Aviv University may now prove to be a significant breakthrough in diagnosing the condition. By collecting tissue from the nose through a simple biopsy, researchers have actually been able to diagnose the condition in a “more sure-fire” way than ever before, according to lead researcher Dr. Noam Shomron.

This finding, which was reported in the journal Neurobiology of Disease, could not only lead to a more accurate diagnosis, it may also lead to the crucial, early detection of the disease, giving rise to vastly improved treatment overall.

Samples of olfactory neurons from patients diagnosed with schizophrenia

Until now, biomarkers for schizophrenia had only been found in the neuron cells of the brain, which can’t be collected before death. By that point it’s obviously too late to do the patient any good, says Shomron. Instead, psychiatrists depend on psychological evaluations for diagnosis, including interviews with the patient and reports by family and friends.

For a solution to this diagnostic dilemma, the researchers turned to the olfactory system, which includes neurons located on the upper part of the inner nose. Researchers at Johns Hopkins University collected samples of olfactory neurons from patients diagnosed with schizophrenia and a control group of non-affected individuals, then sent them to Shomron’s TAU lab.

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Shomron and his fellow researchers applied a high-throughput technology to these samples, studying the microRNA of the olfactory neurons. Within these molecules, which help to regulate our genetic code, they were able to identify a microRNA which is highly elevated in people with schizophrenia, compared to individuals who do not have the disease.

“We were able to narrow down the microRNA to a differentially expressed set, and from there down to a specific microRNA which is elevated in individuals with the disease compared to healthy individuals,” Shomron explains. Further research revealed that this particular microRNA controls genes associated with the generation of neurons.

Early detection – early treatment

In practice, material for biopsy could be collected through a quick and easy outpatient procedure, using a local anesthetic, says Shomron. And with microRNA profiling results ready in a matter of hours, this method could evolve into a relatively simple and accurate test to diagnose a very complicated illness.

Dr. Shomron concedes there is still much more to investigate, including whether this alteration in microRNA expression begins before schizophrenic symptoms start to exhibit themselves, or only after the disease fully develops, he says. If this change comes near the beginning of the timeline, it could be invaluable for early diagnostics. This would mean early intervention, better treatment, and possibly even the postponement of symptoms, he says.

If a person has a family history of schizophrenia, this test could reveal whether they too suffer from the disease, Shomron adds. And while such advanced warning does not mean a cure is on the horizon, it will help both patient and doctor identify and prepare for the challenges ahead.

The research was conducted by Shomron and Prof. Ruth Navon of Tel Aviv University’s Sackler Faculty of Medicine, together with PhD student Eyal Mor from Dr. Shomron’s lab and Prof. Akira Sawa of Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland

Photo: Tel Aviv University

MobiStine, a Palestinian company that develops medical applications,  based out of Ramallah  and partnered with Israeli company Exshake, has come out with one of the first interactive applications in the Arabic language; an application for new parents who lack important information when pregnancy and having a baby.

So far, the app has over one million downloads from Arabic-speaking countries worldwide.

“The biggest problem,” Husni Abu Samarah, MobiStine’s founder tells to NoCamels, “is how difficult it is for Arabic speakers to find information on the web.” Ten percent of the world’s Muslim population are new parents, he explains. “Because of the lack of information available to the Arabic-speaking public, we have a lot of inexperienced new parents.”

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MobiStine’s new application, available on all mobile platforms partnered with gynecologists and obstetrics to ensure the legitimacy of the health information. “We offer parents all the information needed to guide them through a healthy pregnancy, from the first nine months, until the baby is about three years old,” Abu Samarah says.

Keeping expecting parents informed

The Mobistine app

“New parents are attached to their smart phones and keep it close to them,” Abu Samara adds. “This is why we’ve come up with our innovative new Human Sense Depiction feature. Due to inexperience and lack of common knowledge on the subject of pregnancy, many Arabic women aren’t aware of some of the risks involved in becoming new parents. For example, they may not know that sleeping on your stomach when you’re well into your pregnancy can cause danger to the baby.”

“This feature senses the movement of the body, analyzes this movement as risky for the baby, and alerts the mother to change her position,” Abu Samarah explains.

The app also incorporates a social forum for Arabic-speaking parents to connect with one another and GPS capabilities to guide users to the nearest hospitals, pediatricians, or baby stores.

A niche marker

According to the Abu Samarah, 50 percent of his one million users are returning users. In such a large “niche” market, Abu Samarah is expecting sales to increase drastically. “It’s not in competition with the other hundreds of pregnancy applications in English,” he tells NoCamels. “Even if the English applications could be translated, culturally there are many differences when it comes to raising a child.”

This has just been demonstrated by Prof. Michael Aviram and colleagues from Haifa’s Rambam Medical Center and Technion- Israel Institute of Technology.

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The research was published in the prestigious Journal of Agriculture Food Chemistry.

Aviram and his team, including Dr. Hamutal Borochov-Neori of Southern Arava Research and Development, have been studying the health benefits of dates for some time.

The most effective varieties are the yellow Barhi, Deri, Medjool and Halawi. The other date varieties are Amari, Deglet, Noor, Hadrawi and Hayani.

There are about 20 date varieties growing in various parts of the world, including North Africa and Arizona in the US, but the Israeli varieties growing in the Jordan Valley and the Arava (and in Jericho in the Palestinian Authority) are the best, said Aviram.

Aviram told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday that it doesn’t matter if dates are eaten fresh or dried, but consuming silan – date syrup – can offer little improvement to healthy cardiovascular systems.

As silan is a sweet concentrate that does not contain fibers, it is far from the real thing.

A study the researchers published in the same journal four years ago showed that eating three dates a day does not raise blood sugar levels in healthy people, but it does reduce blood triglycerides and even “improves the quality” of blood cholesterol by reducing its oxidation. These effects reduce the risk of heart disease, stroke and other vascular diseases, they said.

A 5,000 year-old remedy

Aviram said, however, that since dates contain a lot of sugar, they are not recommended for diabetics, and that they will not reduce blood sugar levels in this group.

He said that eating a small amount of pomegranate may slightly reduce blood sugar in diabetics but is not recommended as a regular regimen.
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Via The Jerusalem Post
Photo by Itinerant Tightwad