New Hope For MS Sufferers

Multiple sclerosis is a disease in which the fatty myelin sheaths around the axons of the brain and spinal cord are damaged, leading to demyelination and scarring as well as a broad spectrum of signs and symptoms. Disease onset usually occurs in young adults, and it is more common in females. It has a prevalence that ranges between 2 and 150 per 100,000. MS was first described in 1868 by Jean-Martin Charcot.

MS affects the ability of nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord to communicate with each other. Nerve cells communicate by sending electrical signals called action potentials down long fibers called axons, which are wrapped in an insulating substance called myelin. In MS, the body's own immune system attacks and damages the myelin. When myelin is lost, the axons can no longer effectively conduct signals. The name multiple sclerosis refers to scars (scleroses—better known as plaques or lesions) in the white matter of the brain and spinal cord, which is mainly composed of myelin. Although much is known about the mechanisms involved in the disease process, the cause remains unknown. Theories include genetics or infections. Different environmental risk factors have also been found.

And now new hope for sufferers with an Israeli team headed by Prof. Anat Achiron (photo on the left) of Tel Aviv University and vice-dean of research at Sheba Medical Center, has discovered a new way of detecting MS years earlier than the standard testing methods.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an equal opportunity destroyer. It attacks the central nervous system and eventually renders most patients disabled. Among its high-profile victims are celebrated cellist Jacqueline du Pre, whose career was ended by MS, and Joan Didion, a famous American writer.

The National MS Society estimates that there are currently about 400,000 cases in the U.S. and more than 2 million people suffer from the disease over the world. Although there is currently no cure, a breakthrough finding from a Tel Aviv University scientist and physician may lead to earlier diagnosis, more effective intervention, and perhaps even a cure for the autoimmune disease.

Prof. Anat Achiron of Tel Aviv University and vice-dean of research at Sheba Medical Center has uncovered a new way of detecting MS in the blood through her research at Sheba. The findings, just published in the journal Neurobiology of Disease, are expected to pave the way for a diagnosis of MS before symptoms can appear, allowing for earlier treatment.

“We are not yet able to treat people with MS to prevent the onset of the disease but knowledge is power,” Prof. Achiron says. “Every time we meet a new patient exhibiting symptoms of MS, we must ask ourselves how long this has been going on. We can diagnose MS by brain MRI, but we’ve never been able to know how ‘fresh’ the disease is,” she says.

If doctors can predict the onset of MS early enough, intervention therapies using immunomodulatory drugs such as Copaxone or beta-interferon drugs that stave off MS symptoms might be used.

“We theorized that if we looked at the gene expression signature of blood cells in healthy people, we could look for possible biological markers that characterize those who subsequently developed MS,” says Prof. Achiron.

Examining blood samples of twenty 19-year-old Israelis who were inducted into the army as healthy soldiers, and the nine of them who later developed MS, Prof. Achiron and her team at Sheba were able to use a “high throughput analysis” using more than 12,000 gene transcripts expressions. The screening compared similarities and differences in the blood of those who developed MS and those who did not, eventually establishing biological markers.

“Those who will develop MS will show a different blood signature from those who will not,” says Prof. Achiron. “When we compared the gene expression signatures, we saw a similar pattern of the same working biological processes.”

These early genetic markers may now be used to test for multiple sclerosis up to nine years before healthy young adults start developing symptoms. And because MS is thought to have a genetic component and a tendency to be found in siblings, Prof. Achiron says the biomarkers can be used as a tool for brothers and sisters of patients.

Finish reading here.

While not a cure, or even the prospect for a cure in the near future, it is the start towards one.  And with early diagnosis there is hope that early treatment regimens will help alleviate some of the suffering associated with MS.  And just perhaps the long awaited breakthrough in solving the puzzle of MS will arise from this study.  May it happen soon!

The Blind See Again!

With help from Nano Retina. an Israeli company based in Herzliya.

An Israeli company is featured in the Wall Street Journal for restoring the sight of patients who have lost vision due to disease.

Herzliya-based Nano Retina has developed a two-part system to replace the function of a retina which has been damaged by macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, and other diseases. Called Bio-Retina, the device consists of an implant and set of glasses which coordinate to restore lost sight. The operation to install the electrode-laden implant takes a mere half hour under local anesthetic.

The bionic implant does the work of the eye's photoreceptors, which normally turn light into electrical signals sent to the brain. The Bio-Retina transforms the light into the electrical signals, which then travel to the brain.

The Bio-Retina is activated by a tiny infrared laser inserted in the glasses, which can also serve as corrective lenses. For now, Bio-Retina works in gray-scale, but is expected to be developed for color vision. It is currently estimated at $60,000.

Nano Retina may begin tests on U.S. patients in 2013, thanks to a grant by U.S.-Israel industrial cooperation group Bi-National R&D Foundation, according to the Journal.

We are living in exciting times.  The lame walk with the help of Rewalk, the blind see with the help of Bio-Retina, the promise of cloning body parts to replace worn or damaged parts, Gene Therapy in the healing of broken bones, non-evasive tests for Cancer, new treatments for bedsores, insomnia, and Type 1 Diabetes.  All from the companies, universities, and hospitals of the 100th smallest nation on the planet:  Israel.  The nation in which Europe and the Muslim world scream on a daily basis is stealing Palestinian organs, and is committing genocide.

This from the people who preach using Camel's Urine to cure every disease known to humanity.

Peas Porrage Hot

Peas!  Just say the word and watch the revoltion  on the faces of children.  Even many adults hate this simple legume. Yes we can say that many people hate peas.  But that is about to change.

Professor Nathan Nelson of Tel Aviv University has discovered a crystal that could revolutionize solar energy in a common vegetable. In his search for “green” energy, Nelson discovered a complex membrane structure located in the pea plant that could teach humans how to produce energy with far greater efficiency.

The structure, called the Photosystem I (PSI) complex, is used by the plant to turn sunlight into fuel with a 100 percent yield. The complex's minute crystals could be used as microscopic batteries, Prof. Nelson suggests, or could form the core of solar cells.

"My research aims to come close to achieving the energy production that plants can obtain when converting sun to sugars in their green leaves,” he explains.

Current solar energy technology remains impractical in many climates, and is generally unable to meet energy demand. “If we could come even close to how plants are manufacturing their sugar energy, we'd have a breakthrough,” Nelson says.

Nelson's team has already met with some success in attempting to harness the power of the pea plant in the creation of electricity. By placing the plant's PSI crystals on a gold-plated surface, the scientists were able to generate 10 volts of power. This initial success will not solve the energy crisis, Nelson says, but could already be put to use in meeting small-scale solar power needs.

I know what you are thinking, 10 volts is not much of a big deal.  But think of it this way, image that it is not crystals on that gold plate, but peas.  Peas that are generating 10 volts of energy.  Now it seems very different, doesn't it.

What a unique concept! Using nature's own mechanism to produce energy to produce solar panels!

Another useful scientific discovery by the tiny nation of Israel!

Heart Cells From Skin Cells!

Imagine some time in the future, a doctor needs a transplant for a patient. Instead of waiting for some one to donate an organ, etc... All the team has to do is gather up some skin cells, change them into the cells of the organ needed, then grow the part.

This is the promise of the new advance in Genetics from Israel:

Israeli scientists have discovered a way to create beating heart cells using human skin cells reprogrammed to become stem cells. The findings could lead to advances in disease research, and could in theory be used to repair damaged or diseased tissues.

Published in the latest issue of Circulation, the findings by Professor Lior Gepstein of the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology could make it possible to clinically repair damaged human hearts.

Such an application is at least 10 to 20 years away, says Gepstein, but the process can already be utilized for in-depth study of genetic diseases and the development of personalized drugs for irregular heartbeats and other inherited disorders.

Transforming our cells through reprogramming
The team's work is based on the research of Japanese scientists followed by other groups, who generated "induced pluripotent stem cells" (iPSCs) from adult mouse and human skin cells. The iPSCs can be turned into almost any type of body cell - something that experts previously thought possible only with embryonic stem cells - and could, in theory, be used to repair damaged or diseased tissues.

Taking a patient's own cells and turning them into iPSCs for use in tissue repair and regeneration would also eliminate the risk of rejection by the body.

Gepstein and his team from Technion's Rappaport Faculty of Medicine and Rambam Medical Center used reprogrammed iPSCs derived from healthy human subjects' skin cells with the characteristics of pluripotent embryonic stem cells. They were then able to convert them into heart cells with all the necessary properties such as expression of heart-related genes, spontaneous electrical activity, mechanical contraction, and response to various hormones such as adrenaline.

According to Gepstein, the rejuvenation of human cells and their transformation into iPSCs can be accomplished with almost any human cell.

Read the full story here.

Remember the yelling by those on the left that people are dying because scientists cannot use embryonic stem cells? And now the Obama Administration allows the federal funding of stem cell research using embryonic stem cells.

Strange isn't it that Israeli doctors and scientists are using and researching with adult cells and adult stem cells, with very promising results. Could it be that those on the left were wrong? That any stem cell, and in the future any cell, could be used?

Now there is hope. But not in the short term. For research that involves human genetics MUST be done slowly and carefully, least a mistake or accident be unleashed upon the species. But hopefully, with G-d's help, one day many people will be cured using their own cells and genes.

Now That's Thinking With Your Dipstick Jimmy!

A dipstick is a device used to measure the amount of a liquid in a container or to dipped into a liquid to perform a chemical test on that liquid.

The device is usually inexpensive and quite accurate.

Now imagine a dipstick for the planet. Would give a new meaning to 2 quarts low.

But thanks to Tel Aviv University’s Department of Geography Professor Eyal Ben-Dor, the Earth now has a dipstick.

Tel Aviv University’s Department of Geography has invented a “soil dipstick” that takes the temperature of Planet Earth and forecasts the health of forests and farms, according to department Prof. Eyal Ben-Dor. “Through a small hole in the surface of the earth, we can assess what lies beneath it" by using the Optical Soil Dipstick, he explained.

Prof. Ben-Dor said the diagnostic device measures the health of the soil. The new instrument, already in use in California, can tell geographers which parts of the world are best for farming and can also be used to catch polluters of the environment.

Current soil testing procedures require bulldozers and cost millions of dollars, but an Israeli-designed dipstick will cost only about $10,000 for each application. The dipstick currently is in a prototype stage and might be available for commercial use within a year.

The thin catheter-like device gives real-time, immediately accurate and reliable information on pollution and the all-round health of the soil. Analyzing chemical and physical properties, the dipstick outputs its data to a hand-held device or computer.

Prof. Ben-Dor said the device can help farmers pursue “precision agriculture” by allowing them to know if their crops are getting the right blend of minerals. The dipstick also can be remotely and wirelessly networked to airplanes and satellites.

"Soil mapping is a national undertaking," Prof. Ben-Dor observes. "It takes years and millions of dollars' worth of manual labor and laboratory analysis, not to mention exhausting headaches with government authorities and ministries. For a fraction of that energy and money, and with a staff that has minimal training, the Optical Soil Dipstick could do the same job, and could continue doing it on a yearly, monthly, and possibly even a daily basis. The headaches would be gone, and we would finally get an accurate picture of the earth's crust in these environmentally critical years."

Can you picture the commercials now. Instead of an annoying Scotsman hitting you with a dipstick, you get an annoying New Age Gaia hitting you with the dipstick (although a few men I know would enjoy that.). Or some guy placing the dipstick in the ground, then screaming out: "She's 2 quarts low, Bob!". They could be endless.

But the benefits will be great for humanity.

And it is another invention to benefit humanity from the nation the world hates: Israel.