Hugs have been scientifically proven to have a calming effect on people, especially those with PTSD, autism or under high stress. Now a new Israeli innovation, BioHug, is offering comfort and stress relief for those who need hugs most. “We’re all familiar with stress, which is associated with lots of health problems,” BioHug CEO Andrew Schiffmiller explained. “For some populations it can be associated with much more severe symptoms – someone with autism under stress may injure …More

NoCamels Team, NoCamels - Israel Innovation News The adverse effects of stress on the body has just gotten more scientific proof, if any was needed. Ben Gurion University researchers have shown that chronic stress increases the susceptibility to an autoimmune disease similar to multiple sclerosis, which is characterized by damage to the nervous system in the brain. When examining mice, researchers saw that elevated stress damages the immune system’s mechanism that battles inflammation. When the mice were …More

Dead at the age of 56 after years of fighting breast cancer, Angelina Jolie’s mother never had the chance to meet five of Jolie’s six children. In an attempt to avoid a similar fate, in February the Oscar-winning actress underwent a preventive double mastectomy. “I have always told [my children] not to worry, but the truth is I carry a ‘faulty’ gene, BRCA1, which sharply increases my risk of developing breast cancer and ovarian cancer,” the actress, 37, wrote in Tuesday’s …More

A type of mushroom found in the forests of Israel may hold promise as a treatment against one of the deadliest forms of cancer. Cyathus striatus, the scientific name for the wild mushroom, has proven effective in treating pancreatic cancer in early animal trials conducted at Haifa University. While medicinal mushrooms may seem a novelty in modern western medicine, mushrooms have become a standard line of defense against cancer in Japanese medicine as well as some natural and tradition medicine treatment …More

Over 100 years ago, Lillian Wald invented public health nursing. Wald was born in 1867, of German-Jewish parents in Cincinnatti, Ohio; her father was an optician. She completed her high school education at Miss Cruttenden's English-French Boarding and Day School for Young Ladies and applied to Vassar College, only to be rejected, since the school believed she was too young (she was 16 at the time). She became interested in nursing upon seeing her sick sister being taken care of by a private nurse, and chose to …More

NoCamels Team, NoCamels - Israel Innovation News Sometimes accidents lead to the greatest discoveries. In a recent study conducted at Israeli medical center Hadassah, researchers stumbled on a key mechanism in the heart’s regenerative capabilities. 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 …More

Anouk Lorie, NoCamels - Israel Innovation News Diagnosing mental illnesses, such as schizophrenia, has long been difficult and controversial. Since physical evidence of the condition can only be gathered from the brain post-mortem, mental health professionals have had to rely on a battery of psychological evaluations and “symptoms” to diagnose their patients. A recent study from Tel Aviv University may now prove to be a significant breakthrough in diagnosing the condition. By collecting tissue from …More

An Israeli medical team successfully separated a pair of conjoined twins Wednesday, the first surgery of its kind in the Jewish state. The incredibly rare operation took four hours to complete, after which one of the twins was said to be in critical condition. The second twin never fully developed in utero and had no chance of survival. The unnamed mother gave birth to the twins last week in Nazareth. The procedure was conducted at the Rambam Medical Center in Haifa. A team of doctors worked to remove from the …More

NoCamels Team, NoCamels - Israel Innovation News A recent comprehensive study conducted by Israeli and Canadian researchers has shown just how much doctors can lead by example. The study showed that if doctors undergo a certain medical procedure, which they then also recommend to their patients, patients are more likely to go through with it themselves. Researchers isolated eight such procedures in the study. The empiric part of the study was done in Israeli Health Maintenance Organization “Clalit.” …More

In the 13th century, Brussels sprouts were first grown in what is now known as Brussels, Belgium. They are a cultivar, a group that includes cabbage, collard greens, kale and broccoli. Luckily for the US, Brussels sprouts are harvested year round. They are also believed to protect against colon cancer. Another interesting fact that most people don’t really know is that they grow on stalks. Check it out! It’s strange how many people don’t absolutely love these mini cabbages. It’s a …More

A new Israeli invention allows nursing mothers to measure how much breast milk their babies drink during feedings and how much milk is left in the breast. The device, MilkSense, is the first product to be developed by the Israeli startup Bradley and Luka. MilkSense uses electromagnetic signals to measure the amount of milk in the breast before and after a feeding. The Israeli chain store Dr. Baby will begin selling the device as early as next month, with plans to market it around the globe. …More

Maya Yarowsky, NoCamels - Israel Innovation News Millions of people worldwide tune in to watch TED lectures on a variety of subjects. The conferences are normally held in the US. Now the first country to be given the prestigious honor of holding a TEDMED (a TED event on the subject of health and medicine) outside the US was Israel. The conference was held two weeks ago, occurring simultaneously with the annual conference in Washington DC. The TED, or Technology, Entertainment and Design conferences that are …More