Talks between the Israel Medical Association and the Treasury fell short of yielding results last Wednesday, causing fears the doctors’ strike that began last week could continue into the new week. Doctors began a warning strike last Tuesday, treating only emergency cases.
They are demanding higher wages and better working conditions, including an end to back-to-back shifts which leave hospital doctors on duty for more than 20 hours straight.
The ministry said it will publish “guidelines for hospitals and health funds, and set the limits of the strike to help the public.”
The Israel Medical Association responded, “It should be remembered that all instructions about the strike will be issued by the union’s strike committee.”
Globes reported:
“The gaps between the sides are still wide. The Ministry of Finance is prepared to grant doctors a 1% pay hike per year as part of a 5-8 year labor contract. It is also offering a special supplement of NIS 600-1,200 for specialists, doctors in the periphery, and doctors in professions where there is a shortage. The Israel Medical Association is demanding a 50% increase in doctors’ hourly wage, plus changes in employment terms which will amount to an estimated additional 50% pay hike.”
The Ethics Committee of the Medical Histadrut (Federation) will now be permitted to sell the psycho-stimulant drug that treats attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) Ritalin (Methylphenidate) without a doctor’s prescription. 
The Assuta Medical Center in Tel Aviv opened last year wearing an impressive reputation. But lately, that reputation has been blemished.
A group of Jordanian pharmaceutical companies fear that operations of the Israeli company 
Around 70 doctors held a demonstration outside the Knesset in protest against the government’s decision. The doctors warned that moving the ward to a new location, as demanded by the haredim, “may end up costing us lives”.
Committee members toured the site Wednesday morning with 
We’re still on the ball, guys! Israeli scientist Ada Yonath has won the Nobel Prize in chemistry. She works at the 
This man, Dr. Alon Monsonego of Ben Gurion University, could be the face put on a real, workable Alzheimer’s vaccine. Alzheimer’s being one of the scariest, most devastating mental diseases imaginable where you pretty much die before you die since your mind is practically erased, this is very encouraging news. That, and cases have increased by 33% since 2005, with over 36 million people expected to be diagnosed with the disease this coming year.
How does it work? It tests for chemicals that are produced in cancer cells. They are ethylbenzene, decane, heptanol, and trimethylbenzne. 
It has often been assumed that after a heart attack, where by definition a piece of the heart dies for lack of blood and oxygen, the damage is irreparably permanent. However, Israel has done it again, this time by proving that, indeed, it is not. 
Adi has developed a tablet-based treatment for Type 1 diabetes, which tests show restores insulin production in animals. The drug is based on something called a Ras protein inhibitor. The Ras protein is found in 30% of all cancerous tumors, and completely disrupts a cell’s normal function. The inhibitor allows cells to continue with business as usual by taking the protein out of the equation. The drug was initially designed for patients with pancreatic cancer but Mor modified it to function for diabetics. 
In a country where it’s a nearly ubiquitous custom to kiss a 
Meanwhile, six out of seven doctors interviewed on the subject declined to comment about Mezuzahs in particular, for fear of getting in trouble with the Rabbis. No comment. There was only one doctor brave enough to tell the truth. Kissing Mezuzahs (sans Rabbi Amar’s air-kissing technique) increases the spread of Swine Flu, is dangerous, and people should refrain from doing it. His name is Ilan Youngster, and he based his warning on research he presented a year and a half ago sampling 70 Mezuzahs, which all turned out to contain many dangerous bacteria. 
Their solution: Fly around the country while tooting trumpets and shofars, in order to envelope the Holyland in a virus-tight hermetically sealed spiritual shield. No, we are not joking. But we are laughing, and inside, crying softly over the deterioration of Judaism into an irrelevant voodoo joke.
Got a pot belly or “beer gut” as we Westerners often refer to them? If so, you could be likely to have all kinds of health problems, including being susceptible to a number of serious (and even fatal) diseases.
How’s the for potentially life-changing news: Radiation sickness may now be a thing of the past. Thanks to Jewish-American scientists working together with researchers and investors from Israel, researchers now believe they have isolated a certain intestinal protein that can be administered as an injection to protect people against acute radiation poisoning from 24 hours before exposure up until 72 hours afterward.
Autism is defined as a moderate to severe mental developmental disorder which prevents children from being able to make normal personal contact with others, develop normal language skills, and engage in interpersonal communication. There are a wide range of autistic conditions, which cause it to be known as a “spectrum disorder” since it can range from almost normal behavior to something at the opposite end of this range, or spectrum. As of mid 2007, around 3,000 people in Israel were diagnosed with this affliction, affecting around 1 in every 250 births. In countries such as the USA, however, the percentage of children born with autism is even higher at 1 in 150 births. Male children are 4 times more likely to be born autistic; and those conceived by men aged 40-49 are 5.5 times more likely to be autistic (children from men 50-60 are 9.4 times more likely to be autistic!).
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