Category: Science and Health

With Passover customs, matzah has rightfully gained the most dubious reputation.  Abdominal pain, gas, constipation and diarrhea are only some of the problems that matzah may cause, especially if you follow the laws of the holiday and eat lots of matzah, plus cook dishes like matzo brei.  Why does this happen? How can symptoms be […]

A panel of global health experts will meet on Thursday to decide if COVID-19 is still an emergency under the World Health Organization’s rules, a status that helps maintain international focus on the pandemic. The WHO first gave COVID its highest level of alert on Jan. 30, 2020, and the panel has continued to apply […]

The complex security situation and the attacks happening right now are really affecting us, after a long period of tension and worry in the country.  In complex times, many of us experience difficult feelings like fear, sadness and anger. It’s important that we’re tuned in to our feelings, but also that we know how to […]

Many of you have probably never heard of Cruetzfeldt-Jakob disease, but it is important to be aware of this severe and fatal degenerative neurological condition. Although Cruetzfeldt-Jakob disease is rare worldwide, it is notably more common in Israel, particularly among those with Libyan ancestry. Dr. Nurit Omar, director of the Huntington’s and Creutzfeldt-Jakob’s Disease Clinic […]

The percentage of people with asthma is higher in cities with significantly higher levels of air pollution, according to the Maccabi KSM Research and Innovation Center. Maccabi is Israel’s second-largest health fund, serving 2.7 million people, about 25% of the population. The World Health Organization classifies asthma as a non-communicable disease that affects children and […]

Shocked by the tragic death of a healthy 16-year-old Rehovot youth, Midan Keller, from vaping and the admission of another vaping teen this week– and distressed by the growing use and easy availability of electronic cigarettes to minors – the Health Ministry has finally decided to take action. Although it has not yet prohibited vaping […]

A sudden increase in brain activity at the moment of cardiac arrest may be what causes people to see a bright white light while experiencing near-death experiences, according to a new study published on Monday. The study, which was published in the peer-reviewed Proceedings of the National Academy of Science journal, examined the brain activity […]

Israel has prided itself for many years on being a very child-oriented country – but in fact, its treatment of children in hospitals and clinics is in many cases very inadequate, and planning for the years and decades ahead is abysmal. The State Comptroller, in his 195-page chapter on the Health Ministry, gives it failing […]

While artificial intelligence won’t entirely replace physicians anytime soon, new research finds that it may already be outperforming doctors when it comes to answering patient questions with compassion.  The study, published Friday in the peer-reviewed journal JAMA Internal Medicine, provides an early look into the role that AI could assist within medicine.  Study author John […]

The eyes are more than a window to the soul; they’re also a reflection of a person’s cognitive health.  “The eye is the window into the brain,” ophthalmologist Dr. Christine Greer, Director of Medical Education at the Institute of Neurodegenerative Diseases in Boca Raton, Florida told CNN. “You can see directly into the nervous system […]