Page 28 - Jewish News_February 2020

28A February 2020 ISRAEL & THE JEWISH WORLD

24 things that made us happy in 2019 ISRAEL21c...continued from previous page

porting infrastructure to provide water,
Forget the awful news that dominates most media; 2019 was a fabulous year for many reasons. food or energy.
We look back on some of the best. He decided to create his own.
In 2017, he and Jonathan Haran
By Nicky Blackburn, ISRAEL21c, December 25, 2019 founded The Sustainable Group. Their
ne of the joys of working for the treatment to some degree. What’s one of his legs, and no veins suitable game. Next up the company is looking flagship project is Village in a Box, a
ISRAEL21c is that our focus particularly noteworthy is that prior for transplant. at lymphoma, uterine cancer and brain holistic residential renewable energy-
Ois on the positive. While the forms of therapy had failed in 61% of Prof. Ron Carmeli, chief of vas- cancer. based infrastructure system to provide
media generally dwells on all the awful the patients. cular surgery at Hadassah, came up A test for stage 1 lung cancer off-grid communities with environ-
things taking place around the world, There’s still a long road ahead, but with a crazy solution – he removed a Israeli company Savicell Diagnostics mentally friendly affordable housing
we seek out heartwarming stories, the this is most encouraging news. vein from Yavetz’s son, Snir, and trans- has developed a simple but revolution-and clean sustainable solutions for wa-
stories of people trying to make a dif- VR in surgery planted it. ary blood test that can detect stage 1 ter, food, energy and waste treatment.
ference and to improve our planet. Two-year-old Ari Ellman of San Fran- The transplant, the first vein trans- lung cancer. A proof-of-concept Village in a
It’s a focus I never take for granted. cisco probably wouldn’t be alive today plant from a living person ever under- Why is this important? Of all can-Box, with 200 homes, is now under de-
When every day you report on people if it weren’t for revolutionary technol- taken, was a success. cers, lung cancer is the most deadly be-velopment in the Negev desert town of
using their creativity to come up with ogy developed in Israel. In November, Israeli surgeons also cause it’s so difficult to diagnose early Mitzpeh Ramon.
innovations or solutions that will im- Ari had a massive tumor on his carried out the world’s first implanta- on. Symptoms don’t begin until the tu- “I fell in love with the idea because
pact people’s well-being, or help the brain, and experts at several U.S. hos- tion of an artificial meniscus in two Is- mor is already quite large, and by then it represents a big hope for humanity,”
environment, or enrich our technologi- pitals didn’t think it could be removed. raeli patients. it’s often too late. Haran told us. “Our aim is to build a
cal world, you receive a daily dose of But in a historic surgery at Lucile One operation was performed at Diagnosed at stage 1, however, the better future without hurting the envi-
optimism and hopefulness. Packard Children’s Hospital of Stan- Shamir Medical Center, and the other survival rate is 80 percent. ronment.”
That’s what we all need. In today’s ford University this year, surgeons at Ramat Aviv Medical Center. The Savicell test, which is not yet An electric plane
fast news cycle, it’s hard not to be managed to remove the tumor in an en- The NUsurface Meniscus implant commercially available, measures the At the Paris Air Show in June, Israeli
overwhelmed by the negative and it’s donasal procedure that lasted 18 hours. was developed at the Netanya R&D metabolic signatures of immune cells company Eviation Aircraft unveiled its
easy to forget the goodness that lies at The surgeons were able to do it be- center of U.S.-based Active Implants. circulating in the blood. It can diag-electric plane, a revolutionary emis-
the heart of most people. cause they rehearsed the risky surgery Hope for multiple myeloma patients nose lung cancer in hours, rather than sion-free plane that could usher in a
As 2019 comes to a close, a year repeatedly using the Surgical Theater Israeli-Massachusetts company Karyo- days or weeks. Development and clini-
that has not been easy for many people virtual reality system, developed by pharm Therapeutics was this year cal studies continue.
around the world, we decided to look two former Israel Air Force officers. awarded FDA approval for XPOVIO, Innovative thinking
back at the stories that made us the The VR system is like a flight sim- the first drug aimed at helping the Village in a Box
happiest this year and to share them ulator. Using a VR headset, surgeons body’s natural tumor-suppressing pro- When Israeli green-construction expert
with you. can fly through a 3D digital reconstruc- teins do their job. Victor Haym Hajaj was recruited in
Some of them moved us, some tion of patient scans to help them plan XPOVIO (generic name Selinex- 2012 to help build housing for 1 mil-
impressed us and some just made us the procedure and print a 3D model to or) has been approved for multiple my- lion refugees of the civil war in Con-
smile. All of them gave us hope. practice the surgery. eloma patients who have relapsed
Breakthroughs in health Surgical Theater is now in 15 lead- and were resistant to at least four
Eliminating tumors ing U.S. hospitals, and is also being prior therapies.
Health breakthroughs are always excit- used for cardiac and spinal surgery Multiple myeloma, the second
ing. In January, we covered the com- preparation. most common type of blood cancer new era of quieter, cleaner and more
pany Alpha TAU Medical, which has Groundbreaking operations after non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, cost-effective flying.
developed a breakthrough alpha radia- In April, a surgeon at Hadassah Uni- can be slowed by medication, but Called Alice, the streamlined plane
tion technology that can eliminate can- versity Medical Center in Jerusalem ultimately it always returns and seats nine passengers and is planned
cerous tumors in 70% of cases. carried out an unprecedented live vein progresses. When a patient has to cruise at a speed of 260 knots for a
In November, the results from the transplant to save 60-year-old Israeli gone through all of the available Village in a Box houses are monolithic domes range of up to 650 miles.
company’s first clinical trial were in Avi Yavetz from having his leg ampu- options, there’s nothing left to try. that are fast, affordable and earthquake-proof The plane, designed to reduce op-
– and nearly 80% of 28 patients with tated. That’s where XPOVIO comes in. go, he had no problem building fast, erating costs stemming from fuel and
squamous cell carcinoma received a Yavetz, who suffers from periph- Because of its dire prognosis, mul- affordable, earthquake-proof houses, oil, is undergoing flight tests and could
complete response rate in managing eral vascular disease (PVD), had an tiple myeloma was the starting point but soon discovered there was no sup-be available for commercial use as soon
their tumors. All patients responded to obstruction in the veins and arteries in for XPOVIO, but it’s far from the end continued on next page as 2022. Its first customer reportedly is

Of all the exotic places

you’ve dreamt of visiting,

an out-of-town cancer

center probably isn’t

one of them.

A diagnosis of cancer is bad enough.
Spending hours on a plane to get care
makes it worse. No one should have to
leave home for cancer treatment—and

soon you won’t have to. Comprehensive
cancer care is coming to Sarasota.
So you can stop fighting your way

through strange airports, and start
fighting your cancer here at home.

Please support our Leading with Care campaign.
Through your generosity, we can help Sarasota
Memorial transform cancer care in our community.

Hope comes home. Give today.
941.917.1286 | smhf.org/hope

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