Orthodontic surgery without a single incision

Abigail Klein Leichman

Israeli researchers combine a nanotechnology and a biological enzyme to create an enzymatic blade that could replace surgical scalpels.

For his doctoral research at the Technion in Haifa, Assaf Zinger developed a nanotechnology that replaces scalpels with natural tissue remodeling tools. Photo: courtesy

Israeli researchers have developed a nanotechnology that replaces the surgical scalpel with an “enzymatic blade.” The novel technology is based on enzymes – biological molecules the body uses to repair itself — as well as nanoparticles for achieving a targeted therapeutic profile.

In an article published recently in ACS Nano, the researchers describe how the application of this technology in an oral surgical procedure avoids the pain associated with orthodontic surgeries and significantly reduces tissue recovery time.

“Surgical blades are common medical tools. However, blades cannot distinguish between healthy and diseased tissue, thereby creating unnecessary damage, lengthening recovery, and increasing pain. We propose that surgical procedures can rely on natural tissue remodeling tools — enzymes, which are the same tools our body uses to repair itself,” the scientists wrote.

In the United States alone, approximately 5 million people undergo orthodontic treatment each year. To speed up treatment, which typically lasts about two years, many undergo invasive surgery in which collagen fibers that connect the tooth to the underlying bone tissue are cut.

The technology developed by doctoral candidate Assaf Zinger at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa softens the collagen fibers via the targeted release of collagenase – an enzyme that specifically breaks down collagen.

The collagenase is packaged into liposomes, or nano vesicles, using techniques developed in Assistant Prof. Avi Schroeder’s Laboratory of Targeted Drug Delivery and Personalized Medicine at the Technion. After being placed at the surgical site, a calcium ointment is applied to activate the collagenase. The enzyme begins to leak gradually from the liposome and soften the collagen fibers.

A series of tests was done to determine the collagenase concentration optimal for the procedure and to accelerate tissue repair thereafter.

Techion Assistant Professor Avi Schroeder. Photo by Doron Golan

Shortens orthodontic treatment time

In a preclinical trial, the researchers compared the efficacy of the controlled-release system (in combination with orthodontic braces) to that of standard orthodontic treatment and concluded that the system reduces the time required for straightening teeth and improving therapeutic outcome.

This would translate to an orthodontic treatment that lasts several months, instead of the usual two years. The researchers estimate that their enzymatic blade could be used in humans within a couple of years.

Although it was tested in oral applications, theoretically the new technology can be used in a variety of surgical procedures and is potentially revolutionary.

“Over thousands of years, the surgical knife has been upgraded. However, the general paradigm has not changed. Here, in the current study, we present a considerable paradigm shift: replacing the metal blade with a biological process,” write the researchers.

“Through the combination of nanotechnology and proteolytic enzymes, localized surgical procedures can now be less invasive.”

Also taking part in this research collaboration were physicians from Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center’s Department of Pathology and the Rambam Medical Center Department of Oral Maxillofacial Surgery, as well as the director of the Moriah Animal Companion Center in Haifa.

The research was supported by grants from the European Council and European Union, German-Israeli Foundation for Scientific Research and Development, various Israeli foundations and Alon and Taub Fellowships.

Rare and Ancient Jewish Coins Found on Temple Mount

JNS and United with Israel Staff

The Land of Israel constantly reveals hidden treasures, testifying to its rich history and the Jewish people’s longstanding ties to the land. This time, archaeologists discovered on the Temple Mount coins minted by the Jewish people.

Millennia-old and exceptionally rare coins from among the first-ever minted by Jews were discovered on the Temple Mount, evidence of the Jewish people’s deep ties to the hallowed site.

The coins bear the letters “YHD,” or Yehud,” the Aramaic name for the biblical kingdom of Judea, and are dated to the end of the fourth century BCE.

According to one of the co-directors of the project, Zachi Dvira, only five other coins of this kind have been found in the 150 years of archaeological digging in ancient Jerusalem sites.

Dvira noted that Jewish pilgrims would bring offerings of first fruits of the season to the Temple around the time of the Shavuot holiday and would often convert their value to silver in the days of the Second Temple.

He also noted that the Temple was a center of commerce and public administration, making it a prime site for finding coins.

“These were the first coins ever minted by Jews,” Dvira said in an interview with Israel’s Ynet news. “They express the people’s return to their land after the Babylonian exile, and their ability to hold and maintain diplomatic ties with the ruling empire—then Persia—similar to our relations with the United States today.”

He noted that the New Israeli Shekel also bears the letters “YHD,” exactly as they appear on the newly unearthed coins.

Muslim Attempts to Erase Traces of Jewish History

The five small coins, three in pristine condition and two showing signs of wear, were discovered as part of the Temple Mount Sifting Project, an archaeological initiative started in order to sift thousands of tons of dirt illegally excavated and dumped in the Kidron Valley by the Islamic Waqf in 1999.

The Waqf excavations significantly compromised the archaeological integrity of the Temple Mount and sparked outrage in Israel, leading many to suggest that the Waqf was intentionally attempting to eradicate evidence of two Jewish Temples that stood on the Mount for more than 800 years.

The sifting project, which has operated since 2004 in the Emek Tzurim National Park, aims to salvage religious and historical artifacts from the rubble, as well as to educate the public about the veracity of Jewish history on the Mount.

Though state funding for the project halted in 2017, the Temple Mount Sifting Project is now aiming to bring mobile sifting units of Temple Mount dirt to Israeli schools and communities, enabling children to learn about Jewish history in Jerusalem and to participate in the sifting themselves.

More than half a million artifacts have been pulled from the rubble so far by 200,000-plus participants, including 6,000 ancient coins.

These abundant archaeological discoveries attest to the Jewish people’s rich history in the region, proving that the May 2017 UNESCO resolution denying the Jewish connection to Jerusalem is historically false.

In October 2016, the international body said the Jewish people have no ties to the Temple Mount.

Incidentally, archaeologists and historians have yet to discover a single artifact from the “Palestinian Era.”

Despite Palestinian threats, Friday protests end relatively peacefully

Yoav Zitun

Only several dozen incendiary kites and balloons dispatched from Gaza Strip in what was likely the calmest Friday since Gazans’ launched their weekend fence protests in late March; on Friday evening, an IAF aircraft attacks an unmanned Hamas observation post from where balloons were flown into Israel earlier.

An Israel Air Force aircraft on Friday evening attacked an unmanned Hamas observation post in the northern Gaza Strip from which explosive and incendiary balloons had been dispatched earlier. There were no reports of Palestinian casualties.

Despite the strike and warning shots fired by the IDF earlier after am incendiary balloon landed near an Israeli border community, the IDF continued its containment policy and avoided attacking balloon or kite operators.

Eid al-Fitr prayer near Israel border (Photo: Reuters)

This was likely the calmest Friday since Gazans’ launched their weekend fence protests in late March. Several dozen Palestinians staged protests along the border throughout the day without any unusual events or casualties on either side of the border.

Palestinians launched several dozen incendiary kites and balloons towards the Gaza vicinity, causing 11 fires, which were all put out

Israel’s southern residents and IDF soldiers expected a renewal of violence on Friday afternoon on the Gaza border, with threats emanating from the Hamas-ruled enclave to send 5,000 incendiary kites and balloons into Israel.

Motorcycle hit by IDF warning shots

read more: Despite Palestinian threats, Friday protests end relatively peacefully

Israel Uses Drone Racers To Down Incendiary Kites And Drones To Dispense Tear Gas Over Gaza

   U.S. Defense Update

Deal with Gaza now, leave Iran for later

Shimon Shiffer

Op-ed: PM Netanyahu went to Europe to discuss two things: Iran and Iran. Meanwhile, our southern fields are burning, the infiltration attempts and rocket fire are continuing, and the Gaza vicinity residents have the right to demand a practical solution to the impossible reality they are living in.

A moment before leaving for Europe on Monday to discuss ways to continue the pressure on Iran with the leaders of Germany, France and Britain, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu instructed his office to collect a “price tag” from the Palestinian Authority for the damage caused by the fires in the Gaza vicinity.

So far, Israel’s attempts to impose economic sanctions on the Palestinian Authority by forfeiting, boycotting or freezing the tax funds it collects for the Palestinians have ended with the funds being transferred to the PA several months later at the most.

Fire causaed by Gaza-sent incendiary kite

In 2015, for example, Netanyahu approved the transfer of PA funds that had been frozen in previous months following a recommendation from Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon, the IDF and the Shin Bet. Netanyahu explained that his decision was based on humanitarian considerations and an overall view of Israel’s interests. In short, empty words, then and now. Words aimed at satisfying the political base.

Meanwhile, our southern fields are burning. Thousands of dunams of forests and fields have been consumed so far by 600 flaming kites launched from the strip into the Gaza vicinity community. The attempts to infiltrate Israel are continuing too, and so is the mortar and rocket fire.

And that’s not all: The Naksa Day protests, marking the Arab armies’ defeat in 1967, are expected to take place near the border on Friday, and there’s no way of knowing how many Palestinian will participate in them and how they will end. It seems Hamas and the other organizations in the strip are unimpressed by Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman’s threats to “settle the score.”

Netanyahu with French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday (Photo: Reuters)

We must admit that after years of rounds of fighting and bragging from the prime minister and his ministers, the reality on the ground is terribly simple: We keep suffering blows, and they keep dealing us blows. Each side with its own measures. We activate the Air Force, and they send flaming kites across the border.

On this background, the tens of thousands of Israelis living in the south have the right to demand a solution or a response from the government to the impossible reality they are living in—not threats to kill Hamas leaders or statements about toppling the Hamas rule, but practical proposals that would give both sides some hope.

At the moment, there is no plan or horizon that could indicate a point of exit from this brutal reality. Former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon used to offer his colleagues and decision makers, both on personal issues and on national topics, the advice of Chazon Ish, Rabbi Avraham Yeshaya Karelitz, one of the greatest halachic decisors of the previous century. According to Chazon Ish, if you have to solve two problems at the same time, first solve the urgent problem which requires immediate attention, and only then deal with the less pressing problem.

If only Netanyahu had implemented this advice, and instead of travelling to Europe, had stayed in Israel and rolled up his sleeves to try to deal with the roots of the problem the Gaza Strip is inflicting on every Israeli. Talking about bringing down Hamas and about targeted assassinations of Gaza’s leaders (“his blood is on his own head”) isn’t serious. The biggest absurdity in the government speakers’ recent messages is that the system is giving priority to the northern arena over finding a solution to the threats from the south.

Fire caused by a flaming kite in the Eshkol Regional Council (Photo: Yoav Zitun)

This is where we should say to the prime minister and the cabinet: Stop dealing with Iran. Leave something for the Americans and world leaders. The rage of millions of Palestinians in the strip isn’t because of Iran, and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict requires some sort of arrangement.

But Netanyahu announced that he would talk about three issues in Europe: Iran, Iran and Iran. He seems to have borrowed this sentence from a real-estate agency’s commercial, which declares that an apartment’s value is measured according to three parameters: Location, location and location. That may be good for commercials, but it isn’t very practical when you look at the burning fields in the Gaza vicinity.