ISRAEL HEALING WITH HUMOR

Dr. Amnon Raviv, a medical clown, uses humor for patients with serious illnesses and states, “is a survival order – a weapon to fight disease.” For the past 15 years, Raviv has worked as a medical clown at The Rabin Medical Center-Beilinson Campus.

Known for earning the first doctorate in the world for medical clowning, Raviv was in South Africa during August sharing his expertise and assisting the newly established NGO Dr. Heartbeat with medical-clown training.

“Many studies indicate that medical clowning reduces anxiety and pain in patients – children and adults – and thus allows for better coping with the disease and its consequences. We know that laughter causes the secretion of hormones called endorphins that strengthen the immune system. The special empathetic connection that the medical clown creates with the patients reinforces and strengthens them,” Raviv explained.

Adi Shachar, founder of Dr. Heartbeat, intends to pioneer the professional skill of medical clowning in South Africa. “The professional skill will be targeted at unemployed youth and aligned with the credentials of the Youth Empowerment Service [YES] Campaign,” recently launched by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa.

South Africa “faces a lot of challenges, with an enormous amount of trauma, stress and anxiety in many places…The medical clown has the ability to put smiles on the faces of very sick people and help their families make sense of the trauma they are experiencing,” and this should be encouraged.

On his visit to South Africa, Raviv told the Post that medical clowning should be present in every department and in every hospital around the world.

“I feel privileged to present medical clowning to the academic and medical establishment in South Africa and lay the foundation for cooperation. [I feel privileged] to train new medical clowns to work throughout the country and bring joy and humor to thousands of patients, children and adults across the country – and perhaps bring the message of medical clowning to the entire African continent,” he said.

SOURCE: https://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Culture/Healing-with-humor-Israeli-medical-clown-spreads-laughter-in-S-Africa-564686

Researchers have found a way to deplete breast cancer cells of energy and thus halt their growth. The findings may one day help to alleviate treatment-resistant breast cancer.

According to the American Cancer Society (ACS), 2 in 3 cancers are hormone-driven, meaning breast cancer cells possess proteins that act as hormone receptors and feed off of estrogen and progesterone.

These hormones help the breast cancer to spread, so hormone therapy aims to prevent cancer from spreading or recurring by blocking the hormone receptors.

New research — carried out by scientists from the Karolinska Institutet and Science for Life Laboratory in Solna, Sweden — offers new hope, as the team discovered a way to starve hormone-fueled breast cancer cells of energy. This may lead to better drugs in the future.

The researchers found a protein that helps breast cancer cells to get the energy they need to proliferate. They also found a compound that inhibits this protein. They discovered that NUDT5 is used by breast cancer cells to create energy in their nucleus. The nuclear energy thus created is used to drive cancer-causing gene expression.

This compound is called TH5427, and laboratory experiments revealed that it successfully acts as an NUDT5 inhibitor, stopping the spread of breast cancer cells.

The authors summarize their findings, saying, “Utilizing these state-of-the-art techniques led us to discover TH5427, a potent and cell-active NUDT5 inhibitor that can be used to further understand the role of NUDT5 in biological systems.”

Ultimately, Prof. Helleday and his colleagues hope to be moving toward human clinical trials.

The researchers hope that their findings will help to treat not only breast cancer, but hopefully other forms of cancer, as well.

The 2018 Cheryl Diamond NYC 5K Schlep: Breast and Ovarian Cancer Run / Walk will take place on Sunday, June 3, 2018 in Battery Park, NYC, starting at 9:00 am.

Each year, American Friends of Rabin Medical Center holds theCheryl Diamond NYC 5K Schlep: Breast and Ovarian Cancer Run / Walk, a certified 5K that brings together hundreds of participants from the New York tri-state area, and across the USA and overseas, ranging in age from 6 – 90 years old, bound together in solidarity to raise the hopes of those battling breast and ovarian cancer as well as awareness and funds to help further research and treatment.

The NYC 5K Schlep Run / Walk benefits a BRCA Multidisciplinary Clinic to serve women at high risk of breast and ovarian cancer and funds research to find cures for breast and ovarian cancers. The NYC 5K SCHLEP Run / Walk also supports studies in connection to BRCA mutation carriers.

 

JOIN US IN THE FIGHT AGAINST BREAST & OVARIAN CANCER

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER, FORM A TEAM OR DONATE TODAY

Source: http://bit.ly/2rwrGUl. Article from Medical News Today.

Humanitarian aid organizations IsraAID and iAID send teams to help clear debris, clean ruined homes and offer psychological support to Harvey survivors.

Two teams of Israeli aid experts are on their way to Texas to provide vital relief and psychosocial support to the thousands of people who have lost everything in the catastrophic Tropical Storm Harvey.

The storm, which first hit Texas on Sunday and continues to plague the beleaguered state with pounding rain, has left nine dead, and tens of thousands of people homeless as flood waters have poured through city streets in Houston, the fourth-largest city in the United States. The storm is thought to have affected 6.8 million people in 18 countries, a quarter of the Texas population.

Humanitarian aid organization IsraAID aims to provide a two-stage response to the disaster, focusing on helping remove debris and clean homes in the wake of the catastrophic flooding, and offering psychosocial trauma support to shocked residents.

“In crises with large-scale destruction, national and international aid efforts typically focus on practical, physical support, with limited resources allocated to the mental and emotional rehabilitation of affected populations,” said Yotam Polizer, co-CEO of IsraAID.

iAID, an international aid organization based in Israel, is also sending a team of 9-10 Israeli relief professionals to offer support to the national guard and other non-governmental American aid groups, to help families and communities affected by the storm.

IsraAID, which is working closely with Jewish communities, the local government in Texas, and the Israeli Consul General, plans to deploy 5-7 experts from both Israel and the US, to offer psychological support to vulnerable population groups evacuated to shelters in Austin and Dallas.

They will create and facilitate child-friendly spaces within the shelters to help support homeless children, and offer psychological and emotional support and tools for both individuals and for community resilience-building.

The organization will also send a relief team to help local communities remove debris, clean out destroyed homes and help residents sift through the wreckage of former homes to salvage belongings.

IsraAID announced it will prioritize those who do not have insurance or the financial means to clear the debris, and those who are unable to clean up their homes for other reasons.

IsraAID has also sent disaster relief to the US following floods in Louisiana, the Carolinas, Denver and Detroit, hurricanes in Oklahoma, New York and New Orleans, and wildfires in Washington.