health

continued from page 88

It
on the
the
It may
may be
be beautiful on
outside
what's on
on the
the
outside but
but it's
its what’s
inside
counts
inside
that that
really
counts.

others about health literacy, and
I’ve learned how taking care of a
patient in a more holistic manner
assists the individual beyond just
the disease. I’ve also been able to
do significant volunteering to give
back to the broader Detroit com-
munity.”
Leedor particularly enjoys the
character of the city and has had
a chance to study on many Friday
nights at the Detroit Institute of
Arts because she lives across the
street. She has also won two con-
secutive awards at the Henry Ford
Innovation Institute and is an avid
pickler.
Passionate about Jewish life in
the city, Leedor recognizes Neil
Cantor, director of Jewish Student
Life at Hillel of Metro Detroit, and
the Pinson family at Chabad in
Midtown for being supportive and
helpful. Lieberman is now applying
for an internal medicine residency
and hopes to pursue a career in car-
diology or gastroenterology.

WSU medical student Lenny Radomski
and his father, Dr. Sidney Radomski

LENNY RADOMSKI
Another fourth-year medical stu-
dent at WSU is Lenny Radomski,
who grew up in Toronto. Lenny
served as a past president of the
WSU Jewish Medical Society. He
says the city has gone through a
drastic change from when he first
moved here. He’s enjoyed watching
Tigers’ games, exploring the restau-
rant scene and studying at Great
Lakes Coffee, a popular coffee shop
down the block from Orchestra
Hall. He’s appreciated the chance
to be here to observe how Midtown
is going through many positive
changes. Radomski is now pursuing
an orthopedic surgery residency. •

Israelis See
AIDS Drug
As New Hope

Times of Israel

regentstreetwestbloomfield.com
www.meridiansenior.com

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Ask about our dedicated Memory Care Unit

90

January 26 • 2017

jn

HIV and AIDS patients may find new
hope in a drug developed at Hebrew
University in Jerusalem that is current-
ly being tested at the Kaplan Medical
Center in Rehovot.
The drug was inserted into test
tubes containing the blood of 10 AIDS
patients currently being treated at the
hospital and was found to decrease
the HIV virus count in the blood
samples by as much as 97 percent in
just eight days.
The active ingredient in the drug
is a peptide, or smaller version of
a protein, developed by Abraham
Loyter and Assaf Friedler at Hebrew
University. The peptide causes several
copies of the virus’ DNA to enter the
infected cell, instead of just one copy,
causing the cell to self-destruct.
HIV is currently treated with a cock-
tail of drugs that slow the progression
of the infection in the body but never
rid the patient of the virus entirely.

These drugs have allowed doctors
to treat AIDS as a chronic illness as
opposed to a fatal one.
Loyter explained the new approach
is superior to previous efforts. “With
our approach,” Loyter said, “we are
destroying the cells, so there is no
chance the virus will awaken one day
because there are no cells; there will
be no cells that contain the virus.”
Loyter explained that “the drug
enhances certain processes in the
body during the spreading of the virus
and that enhancement kills certain
cells.”
In a separate but related develop-
ment, the Israel Health Ministry
announced last month it would begin
distributing prophylactic drugs for the
first time to populations at higher risk
of contracting HIV. The drugs, when
taken regularly, have been found to be
effective in preventing the spread of
HIV during contact. •