The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) has chosen Prof. Alexander Levitzki of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem as the winner of its 2013 Award for Outstanding Achievement in Chemistry in Cancer Research.

The AACR is currently holding its annual meeting through Wednesday in Washington, D.C. Levitzki, professor of biological chemistry at the Alexander Silberman Institute of Life Sciences at the HebrewUniversity, will deliver his award lecture there on Tuesday afternoon on “Eradicating Tumors by Targeting Nonviral Vectors Carrying PolyIC.”

The AACR said that Levitzki was chosen for the honor in recognition of his contributions to signal transduction therapy and his work on the development of tyrosine kinase inhibitors as effective agents against cancer.

Levitzki’s concept of targeted cancer therapy using protein tyrosine kinase inhibitors is extensively used by the pharmaceutical industry worldwide to develop anticancer drugs.

His method of large-scale screening of synthetic compounds tested against a large spectrum of protein kinases for specificity, followed by systematic testing in cell lines and animal studies, became the standard procedure in most of the laboratories working in that field.

Levitzki has received numerous awards throughout his career, including the Israel Prize in Biochemistry, the Wolf Prize for Medicine, the Hamilton-Fairley Award from the European Society of Medical Oncology, the Rothschild Prize in Biology and two Prostate Cancer Foundation Research Awards. Last year he received the Nauta Award in Pharmacochemistry, which is the highest award from the European Federation for Medicinal Chemistry.

Syrian rebels have claimed that they wounded Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah’s top deputy in the bombing of a Syrian army convoy, but Hizbullah immediately denied it.

A Lebanese newspaper reported that rebels said Naim Qassem was with senior army officers loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad when the explosion hit the convoy on the Damascus-Beirut highway.

Nasrallah is scheduled to make a speech Wednesday night to squelch a report by the Turkish Anatolia News Agency that he flew to Tehran for medical treatment, Lebanese sources said he suffers from cancer.

“Such news is totally incorrect, and Nasrallah did not leave the country,” Hizbullah sources said.

In a departure from their usual irreverence and not so kosher antics,  Heeb Magazine, the infamous humor magazine for unaffiliated Jews,  has appealed to the wider Jewish community to support former Heeb publisher Joshua Neuman’s short indie film, Johnny Physical Lives. The film is about his younger brother Jonathan, and his fight with leukemia.

Neuman explains the goal of his film as follows:

 ”In the U.S. alone, more than 70,000 young adults are diagnosed with cancer each year. While overall survival rates have improved during the past 25 years, for those between the ages of 15 and 29, survival rates have worsened. In addition, young adults with cancer face their own distinct set of emotional challenges, finding themselves utterly dependent at a time in their lives when they’re supposed to be asserting their independence. I want to shine a light on this demographic (young adults with cancer) while creating a tribute to my late brother’s courage and creativity.”

This project is in the running for a consultation with the Tribeca Film Institute, and if they win, it will add weight to Neuman’s goals for the project.

If you’re interested, you can vote for Johnny Physical Lives on the IndieWire site. Voting ends on Friday, December 8th.

Golda Meir, Israel’s only female prime minister to date, wasn’t just known for being a sagacious rhetorician, a stalwart Zionist or a gritty pioneer – she was also lovingly considered Israel’s grandmother during her term from 1969 to 1974.

Though analysts and private citizens may be critical of her decisions and policies as prime minister, the National Archives, has now enabled Israelis and lovers of Israel to consider for themselves whether her chicken soup is worthy.

Golda passed away on December 8, 1978 (the 8th of Kislev) from lymphatic cancer.

Igud Horabbonim At
Maimonides Medical Center

Rabbi Yaakov Spivak

The monthly Rosh Chodesh Conference of the Rabbinical Alliance of America (Igud Horabbonim) was held at the Eighth Avenue cancer healing headquarters of Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn on Thursday, November 15.

The conference, billed as a “Cancer Awareness Symposium,” was addressed by the preeminent ontologists of MMC. In addition, Rabbi Yaakov Spivak, Rav and Rosh Kollel Ashyl Avraham of Monsey, New York, discussed halachas pertaining to hurricanes and times of danger.

MMC’s Recent Achievements

In 2007, The New York Times reported that an analysis of nearly 5,000 hospitals by the Department of Health and Human Services ranked Maimonides Medical Center among hospitals with the lowest mortality rates.

In 2010 Maimonides received the HealthGrades Distinguished Hospital Award for Clinical Excellence, ranking it among the top five percent of hospitals in the nation for overall quality outcomes.

Maimonides is also listed among the top five hospitals in New York State for cardiology services, coronary interventional procedures, stroke treatment, and gastrointestinal medical services.

Maimonides has been widely credited for its Cancer Center; its Infants & Children’s Hospital, which handles more births than any other hospital in the state of New York; its ACE unit, which focuses on elderly patients, their families, and their home environments; its Jaffe Stroke Center, which earned the HealthGrades Stroke Care Excellence Award for 2008, 2009 and 2010; and its Cardiac Institute, which was presented with the HealthGrades Cardiac Care Excellence Award in 2009 and 2010 and the HealthGrades Coronary Intervention Excellence Award in 2008, 2009 and 2010.

Cancer Awareness Symposium

Dr. Jay Cooper

Addressing the Igud’s member rabbis at the conference were Dr. Jay S. Cooper, MD, Cancer Center director and chairman of radiation oncology; Dr. Alan. B. Astrow, MD, hematology and medical oncology director; D. Loren J. Harris, thoracic surgery chief; and Dr. Patrick Borgen, MD, Brooklyn Breast Cancer Program director. Respectively, they discussed: “Why is a Cancer Center Important?”; “Principles of Doctor-Patient Communication in Cancer Treatment”; High Risk Lung Cancer Screening”; and the “Role of Technology in Curing Breast Cancer.”

Dr. Patrick Borgen

The session was organized by Douglas Jablon, MMC’s tireless vice president of patient relations and volunteer services, and coordinated by Dina Alabanese, MMC’s talented administrative manager/event planner. As Igud director, this writer served as chairman.

Advances in Cancer Detection and Treatment

The doctors reviewed and described major advances in cancer detection. Maimonides possesses one of only three 360-degree mammography image machines, which capture images from every degree, as opposed to others that capture images of only one or two positions. (Interestingly, Israeli scientists developed the first truly computerized no-radiation diagnostic instrument for breast cancer.) Even the tiniest irregularities are quickly identified and appropriate treatment effectively applied.

The concept of screening target populations was discussed. Those who would most benefit from lung cancer detection have a history of smoking a pack of cigarettes a day for thirty years or two packs a day for fifteen. Those regularly exposed to secondary smoke are also candidates. Regular checks and early detection would identify irregularities and allow for optimum treatment.

Susceptibility of Eastern European Jews

Dr. Alan Astrow

The susceptibility Eastern European (Ashkenazi) Jews to Tay-Sachs disease was established in the late 1800s. The Dor Yeshorim organization organized genetic testing for Ashkenazi Jews and the disease has been practically eliminated among the target population.

The higher rate of breast cancer among Eastern European Jews and their descendants is of major concern to the medical community. Testing is available to detect mutation of the BRCR 1 and BRCR 2 genes, which may cause breast cancer.

As with lung cancer, early detection and treatment saves lives and neutralizes health challenges. Those who should be carefully monitored are daughters, 40 years of age and older, of a mother who had ovarian or breast cancer. Maimonides, with its advanced mammography screening and imaging, does a tremendous job serving those in the community who need monitoring.

Stigmas and Shidduchim

Dr. Loren Harris

Marriageable girls outnumber marriageable boys in the frum community, a situation that leaves thousands of girls without potential matches. Many parents worry that a family history of cancer or other diseases will result in their daughters being stigmatized, thus diminishing their shidduch potential. Maimonides Cancer Center provides heightened doctor-patient communication with complete confidentiality.

Halachas of Hurricanes and Dangerous Times

Caesarea Golf Club will host the 3rd Annual Ezer Mizion Golf Classic tournament on Wednesday, November 21. The popular event, which is due to attract serious golfers and philanthropists from the United States, Canada and Israel, will raise funds for Ezer Mizion’s Bone Marrow Donor Registry, the global Jewish bone marrow donor registry.

Ezer Mizion, a non-profit organization that provides a wide variety of professional services and programs to the ill, handicapped and elderly in Israel, is best known for their numerous activities on behalf of cancer patients around the world. The organization’s Bone Marrow Donor Registry, the fourth largest international registry, has facilitated hundreds of life-saving stem cell transplants.

“For many individuals suffering from cancer or other life-threatening diseases, a stem cell transplant offers the only chance for survival. As such, it is essential that we promote international awareness of our registry and raise the funds necessary to keep this lifeline strong,” said Rabbi Chananya Chollak, Founder and International Chairman of Ezer Mizion.

“We established this annual Thanksgiving weekend tradition at the Caesarea Golf Club to give North American supporters of Ezer Mizion an opportunity to escape the winter weather and join their Anglo-Israeli counterparts on the golf course to express their solidarity and promote this serious cause in a relaxed atmosphere.”

Several special guests will participate in this year’s tournament, including Eliezer Shkedi, CEO of EL AL Israel Airlines, and Ran Saar, CEO of Maccabi Health Services.

“Ezer Mizion’s efforts to support those in need are legendary, and the number of individuals saved via their bone marrow registry is simply staggering. It is our greatest honor to be partnering with them in this effort to rally international support for this vital cause,” said Andy Santos, Caesarea Golf Club’s head golf pro and spokesman.

Since its establishment in 1998, Ezer Mizion’s Bone Marrow Donor Registry has grown to include close to 650,000 potential stem cell donors. The registry, which is affiliated with the National Bone Marrow Donor Program and is a member of Bone Marrow Donors Worldwide, has handled thousands of search requests from transplant centers in 48 countries and has made nearly 5,000 complete donor-patient matches.

Following the tournament, participants will enjoy a gala dinner and awards ceremony at the Dan Hotel Caesarea.

Author: M. Wiseman
Publisher: Israel Bookshop Publications

One Shot, authored by M. Wiseman, is an emotional drama that focuses on issues faced by some teens nowadays.

In Suburbia, U.S.A., lived three extraordinary young men, Baruch, Nadav and Rafi. Nadav and Rafi have been friends forever, and Baruch joins the crew in his later teens. Pain is the bond that brings the threesome together. Baruch and Nadav have emotional pain and Rafi suffers from a physical pain; he discovered that he had advanced-stage cancer. The cancer was serious – too serious for the doctors, so they eventually stopped treating him.

Nadav’s older brother, Ari, who was very gifted, decided that his parents were too paradoxical for him; they told Ari to follow the Torah, but didn’t fully do so themselves. In a fit of rage he left home. Nadav pondered his brother’s words and found himself full of questions. From then on Nadav became the bad boy to his teachers and had a hard time learning Torah. That was why he became attached to the charismatic Rafi, who had the ability to help him in times of crisis.

Baruch had a different challenge. His parents wanted him to learn in a kollel in Lakewood after learning in Israel and getting married, but Baruch couldn’t do that. The worst part was, he wished he could. Baruch also attached himself to Rafi, seeking inspiration.

Baruch, Nadav, Rafi – they were all afflicted with different types of pain. Did they all overcome it?

One Shot is a very inspiring book with serious themes including death and fulfilling one’s potential. The prologue and epilogue, stressing that the Torah was given to everyone, were extremely meaningful and true. M. Wiseman’s writing style, playing the part of author and narrator, is also very good. Sometimes she even has a conversation with the reader. One Shot is definitely an emotional and worthwhile read, and I would recommend it for all teenagers.

Israeli med-tech company InSightec Image Guided Treatment has announced that it has been approved for US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) premarketing of its ExAblate targeted focused ultrasound treatment for the removal of bone tumors.

According to Globes online business magazine, the initial approval is for patients who cannot or will not undergo radiation therapy.

According to InSightec, 30% of bone cancer patients cannot undergo radiation treatment.

InSightec is controlled by Elbit Medical Technologies.