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Israeli Researchers: We Can Detect Breast Cancer With Simple Blood Test

Israeli Researchers: We Can Detect Breast Cancer With Simple Blood Test
Uzi Blumer

TEL AVIV — An Israeli company says it has developed an easy and accurate new method for detecting breast cancer.

The technique, developed by the company Eventus Diagnostics, involves a simple blood test measuring how the body's immune system reacts to the presence of a cancer tumor. Eventus Diagnostics, located near Jerusalem in Moshav Ora and employing 15 people, plans to market the test under the name "Octava Pink."

When a blood sample containing cancer antibodies comes in contact with a specific protein, a reaction occurs a few hours later that can be observed in a microscope scan. This indication can lead the doctor to look for a tumor using more traditional breast cancer diagnosis techniques, such as a mammogram, ultrasound or an MRI, which, on their own, can sometimes be inconclusive.

Dr. Galit Yahalom, vice president of company's research and development department, points out that the new test is not a substitute for today's existing examinations, but rather a complementary tool. The test is suitable in cases where there is a risk that the imaging test results are a false negative or when the test results came back unclear.

In the case of young women, for example, relatively dense breast tissue makes it difficult to locate tumors with a mammogram. Alerted by the blood test, doctors might therefore choose to look for the tumor via other means. According to recent health statistics, breast cancer affects one in seven women in the Western world.

Yahalom and her team developed the test based on research involving 1,000 women. He claims it has a detection rate of 97% among healthy women and 70% among women with breast cancer. The test has been approved for marketing in Israel and in the European Union. Eventus Diagnostics is currently seeking approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

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Society

Mendoza's "Recycled" Winery, Argentine Eco Architecture With A Splash

Architects in Mendoza, western Argentina, have used hundreds of tons of recycled building material, shipping containers and discarded decorations to create an otherwise high-tech winery.

Photo of Maalwines' winery Las Compuertas, Mendoza, Argentina

Maalwines' trash recycled winery Las Compuertas, Mendoza, Argentina

Graciela Baduel

MENDOZA — Winemaking and wine tourism installations are usually built with a tasteful nod at the landscape around them. In the case of the MAAL winery in western Argentina, its environment-friendly design includes use of 300 tons of discarded construction and decoration materials found in and around the district of Mendoza.

Local architects Mora Hughes wanted to make the project a badge of their "commitment to nature," but with all the "charm of a Mendoza winery." MAAL winery is in Las Compuertas, on the outskirts of the city of Mendoza and at the heart of a celebrated winemaking region.

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