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After being shot in both legs by a Hamas sniper in Gaza, Israeli reservist and New York native Aaron Bours is among the many soldiers pioneering the use of cutting-edge rehabilitative technologies that have been a result of Israel’s war with Hamas . Bours, now 34, moved from Long Island to Israel as a teenager to join the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and ended up staying in the country. He describes his first entry into Gaza — weeks after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel — as stepping into a Tolkien-esque apocalyptic landscape. “It’s like Mordor or the Upside Down of ‘Stranger Things,’ ” he told The Post. Just two weeks into his service, Bours was shot while trying to rescue his commanding officer, who was killed at the scene. He barely survived, crawling to safety while dragging his smashed leg. From the initial fear of amputation to transitioning to a wheelchair and then crutches and now to a cane, Bours credits Israel’s medical professionals and technology for his recovery and saving his legs. In fact, Israel’s war in Gaza has spurred a wave of healthcare innovations that are reshaping both mental and physical recovery for soldiers and civilians. From surgical robots that remove bullets and shrapnel to 3D-printed prosthetics tailored for rapid deployment, to a battlefield burn treatment developed from pineapples, these technologies are redefining modern medicine and saving lives. The need is dire: Since the war began,12,000 soldiers have entered the Defense Ministry’s Rehabilitation department, with 40% sustaining limb trauma and a third facing psychological injuries such as anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and psychosis. At the forefront of Israel’s rehabilitation push is Sheba Medical Center in the Tel Aviv suburb of Ramat Gan, the Middle East’s largest hospital. Here, rehabilitation efforts ranging from augmented and virtual reality to AI-driven PTSD treatments are being both researched and deployed as injuries from Gaza — and more recently, Lebanon — continue to mount. Video-game therapy At Sheba’s new Immersive Rehabilitation Room, Bours, who lost over three inches of bone in his right leg, has been busy mimicking a monkey catching bananas. The space, like a video game reimagined for therapy, projects real-life scenarios onto walls and floors embedded with sensors. “I broke a sweat like I hadn’t done in many months. It’s fun, so the results are that much better,” Bours said of the primate-inspired workout. Therapists design these patient-customized scenarios to prepare them for civilian life — anything from navigating a simulated mall to meditating on a virtual beach. “What we aim to do is practice daily activities, and this technology allows us to bring the outside world into the therapy room,” said Maya Ehrlich, a Sheba rehabilitation psychologist and coordinator. She explained that, while much of the video rehab technology existed prior to the war, its use has been expanded for wartime rehabilitation. For soldiers who’ve required amputation, phantom pain often occurs when the brain repeatedly sends signals to move a limb that no longer exists, interpreting the lack of response as pain. The MyMove system by Israeli startup 6Degrees alleviates that pain by “tricking” the brain into believing the missing limb is moving. Patients wear lightweight bands and a VR headset, engaging in games where a virtual version of their limb performs actions. This reactivates the brain’s motor and sensory circuits to reduce pain and a reliance on medications. Clinical trials show 88% of users report significant pain relief. Advanced 3- D printing Another key wartime development is in the realm of three-dimensional printing, which now enables the rapid production of customized prosthetics and implants. Although the technology existed previously, it has been integrated into hospitals to create prosthetics in hours rather than weeks. At Sheba Medical Center’s 3D Center, a precisely designed skull model was manufactured to help surgeons reconstruct the facial structure of IDF officer Omri Rosenblit, who was severely injured in Khan Yunis when a building collapsed on him. The technology also helped restore his vision. In another case, a 3D-printed personalized implant (PSI) by Synergy 3DMed helped reconstruct the shattered skull of a military dog injured during a Gaza operation. Surgeons fitted the piece of the missing skull seamlessly — much like completing a puzzle — resulting in the dog’s full recovery. Robo ts and AI Surgical robotic technology also isn’t entirely new but has been updated in a groundbreaking way at Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem after the Oct. 7 attacks. A robotic guidance system by Israeli company Medtronic was used to remove a bullet lodged in a soldier’s sacrum — the bone at the base of the spine — avoiding paralysis, nerve damage, and lead poisoning. The minimally invasive procedure took just 90 minutes, which is a fraction of the time required for traditional surgery. Artificial Intelligence powers Aidoc, a medical imaging system transforming real-time emergency care by quickly identifying and prioritizing critical trauma cases. It played a key role in saving a 23-year-old Nova massacre survivor who was shot in the eye, with the bullet lodged in her brain. Aidoc mapped the bullet’s path in seconds and sent a push notification to an endovascular surgeon, enabling him to prioritize her treatment and save her life. Kemtai is an online workout tool that transforms physical therapy by turning any device with a camera into a personal trainer. The AI-driven platform tracks key body points via smartphone or laptop cameras, offering real-time feedback on exercise form and technique. The technology helps medical providers monitor injured soldiers’ progress and adjust treatment plans remotely. Another innovation is EyeCon, currently being tested at Rambam Medical Center in the northern city of Haifa, the primary hospital treating soldiers and civilians injured in Hezbollah attacks from Lebanon. Comprising a headband, earphone, and camera, EyeCon is helping bring soldiers out of comas by enabling them to communicate through eye gestures like blinking. The system uses EEG electrodes to monitor brain waves and eye muscle activity, translating these signals into prompts that allow patients with limited consciousness to express their needs and ultimately help pull them back into consciousness. Battlefield innovations Magen David Adom (MDA), Israel’s national emergency medical service, has introduced whole blood transfusions on the battlefield, making the IDF the first military to implement this life-saving practice. By delivering comprehensive blood components — red and white blood cells, platelets, and plasma — at the point of injury, survival rates for soldiers suffering massive bleeding and trauma have reached an unprecedented 93%. According to Professor Eilat Shinar, MDA’s director of blood services, the practice could save lives globally, from victims of gun violence to car accident casualties. Also on the battlefield, the IDF has begun using chip-bearing dog tags to improve care for wounded soldiers. Medics input treatment details and vital signs through tablets, and the data stays with the patient, ensuring seamless handovers between medics, evacuation teams, and hospital staff. Revolutionary PTSD treatment With over a third of soldiers in rehabilitation battling PTSD, the psychological toll of war is expected to cost Israel’s economy upwards of $53 billion in the next five years. To address this, the Defense Ministry has launched grants to support AI-driven mental health solutions. One such innovation is LIV, a GenAI-powered platform at Sheba that eases the strain on overburdened mental health professionals. Patients interact directly with LIV, sharing their feelings and experiences as the system guides them with questions and prompts. Using tools rooted in classic psychology, LIV helps patients explore their emotions while simultaneously gathering clinical data. By the time patients meet with a psychiatrist, LIV’s detailed summaries allow doctors to focus on decision-making rather than lengthy intake sessions. Researchers at the Samueli Initiative for Responsible AI in Medicine and the Psychological Trauma Research Lab at Tel Aviv University have developed a self-guided version of the Immediate Stabilization Procedure (ISP) — a therapist-led, early intervention for trauma — into another self-guided app. The platform, based on EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing), is designed to prevent PTSD from developing after a traumatic event. Microsoft Israel R&D volunteered a team of engineers to bring this system to life. Pineapple miracles Anat Iosub Amir, director of healthcare investment at Israeli venture capital fund OurCrowd, said that many of these new technologies emerging from the war have applications far beyond the battlefield. “The war was the spark, but these technologies can grow into much bigger markets,” she said. “The unique technology developed for phantom pain in amputees, for example, could easily be adapted for broader pain management, physical therapy needs, or even gaming.” The new Israeli technologies are also primed for use well beyond Israel’s borders. Last year, for instance, the US Department of Defense invested $15 million in the Yavne-based firm MediWound to develop a new version of its treatment, NexoBrid, which has been heavily deployed in Gaza. Based on enzymes extracted from the stems of pineapple plants, NexoBrid removes dead skin cells from severe burns and was recently approved by the FDA for use in children. The company has just completed a new manufacturing facility and plans to increase production levels by six-fold in the coming year; its stock has also almost doubled. After five months as an inpatient at Sheba, Bours is now home with his wife, whom he married just weeks before Oct. 7, but still returns for intensive therapy three times a week. Despite his journey, Bours refuses to give in to self-pity. “We’re a survivalist nation,” he said. “We have to be because otherwise we’d die.”NoneHaid has 24 as Cent. Conn. St. beats Quinnipiac 84-80

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NoneSANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) — Brock Purdy threw one short pass in the open portion of practice for the San Francisco 49ers as he remains slowed by an injury to his throwing shoulder that has already forced him to miss a game. Read this article for free: Already have an account? To continue reading, please subscribe: * SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) — Brock Purdy threw one short pass in the open portion of practice for the San Francisco 49ers as he remains slowed by an injury to his throwing shoulder that has already forced him to miss a game. Read unlimited articles for free today: Already have an account? SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) — Brock Purdy threw one short pass in the open portion of practice for the San Francisco 49ers as he remains slowed by an injury to his throwing shoulder that has already forced him to miss a game. Purdy spent the bulk of the session of Wednesday’s practice open to reporters as either a spectator or executing handoffs outside of one short pass to Jordan Mason. Purdy hurt his shoulder during a loss to Seattle on Nov. 17. He tried to throw at practice last Thursday but had soreness in his right shoulder and shut it down. He missed a loss to Green Bay but was able to do some light throwing on Monday. His status for this week remains in doubt as the Niners (5-6) prepare to visit Buffalo on Sunday night. Purdy isn’t the only key player for San Francisco dealing with injuries. Left tackle Trent Williams and defensive end Nick Bosa remain sidelined at practice Wednesday after missing last week’s game. Williams was using a scooter to get around the locker room as he deals with a left ankle injury. Bosa has been out with injuries to his left hip and oblique. Bosa said the week off helped him make progress and that he hopes to be able to take part in individual drills later in the week. Bosa wouldn’t rule out being able to play on Sunday. “It’s feeling a lot better,” Bosa said. “Still need to get better before I’m ready to go. This week will be big and I’ll know a lot more in the next couple of days.” Running back Christian McCaffrey has been able to play, but isn’t back to the form that helped him win AP Offensive Player of the Year in 2023 after missing the first eight games this season with Achilles tendinitis. McCaffrey has 149 yards rushing in three games back with his 3.5 yards per carry down significantly from last season’s mark of 5.4. But he is confident he will be able to get back to his usual level of play. “When you lose and maybe you don’t jump out on the stat sheet, your failures are highlighted,” he said. “I’m happy I’m out here playing football and I just know with time it will come.” Winnipeg Jets Game Days On Winnipeg Jets game days, hockey writers Mike McIntyre and Ken Wiebe send news, notes and quotes from the morning skate, as well as injury updates and lineup decisions. Arrives a few hours prior to puck drop. Coach Kyle Shanahan said he has liked what he has seen from McCaffrey, adding that there hasn’t been much room to run in recent weeks. But Shanahan said it takes time to get back to speed after McCaffrey had almost no practice time for nine months. “Guys who miss offseasons and miss training camp, usually it takes them a little bit of time at the beginning of the year to get back into how they were the year before, let alone missing half the season also on top of that,” Shanahan said. “I think Christian’s doing a hell of a job. But to just think him coming back in Week 8 with not being able to do anything for the last nine months or whatever it is, and to think he’s just going to be in MVP form is a very unrealistic expectation.” NOTES: LB Dre Greenlaw took part in his first practice since tearing his Achilles tendon in the Super Bowl. Greenlaw will likely need a couple of weeks of practice before being able to play. ... LB Fred Warner said he has been dealing with a fracture in his ankle since Week 4 and is doing his best to manage the pain as he plays through it. ... CB Deommodore Lenoir didn’t practice after banging knees on Sunday. His status for this week remains in question. ... DT Jordan Elliott (concussion), OL Aaron Banks (concussion) and LB Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles (knee) also didn’t practice. ___ AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL Advertisement Advertisement

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump promised on Tuesday to “vigorously pursue” capital punishment after President Joe Biden commuted the sentences of most people on federal death row partly to stop Trump from pushing forward their executions. Trump criticized Biden’s decision on Monday to change the sentences of 37 of the 40 condemned people to life in prison without parole, arguing that it was senseless and insulted the families of their victims. Biden said converting their punishments to life imprisonment was consistent with the moratorium imposed on federal executions in cases other than terrorism and hate-motivated mass murder. “Joe Biden just commuted the Death Sentence on 37 of the worst killers in our Country,” he wrote on his social media site. “When you hear the acts of each, you won’t believe that he did this. Makes no sense. Relatives and friends are further devastated. They can’t believe this is happening!” Presidents historically have no involvement in dictating or recommending the punishments that federal prosecutors seek for defendants in criminal cases, though Trump has long sought more direct control over the Justice Department's operations. The president-elect wrote that he would direct the department to pursue the death penalty “as soon as I am inaugurated,” but was vague on what specific actions he may take and said they would be in cases of “violent rapists, murderers, and monsters.” He highlighted the cases of two men who were on federal death row for slaying a woman and a girl, had admitted to killing more and had their sentences commuted by Biden. On the campaign trail, Trump often called for expanding the federal death penalty — including for those who kill police officers, those convicted of drug and human trafficking, and migrants who kill U.S. citizens. “Trump has been fairly consistent in wanting to sort of say that he thinks the death penalty is an important tool and he wants to use it,” said Douglas Berman, an expert on sentencing at Ohio State University’s law school. “But whether practically any of that can happen, either under existing law or other laws, is a heavy lift.” Berman said Trump’s statement at this point seems to be just a response to Biden’s commutation. “I’m inclined to think it’s still in sort of more the rhetoric phase. Just, ‘don’t worry. The new sheriff is coming. I like the death penalty,’” he said. Most Americans have historically supported the death penalty for people convicted of murder, according to decades of annual polling by Gallup, but support has declined over the past few decades. About half of Americans were in favor in an October poll, while roughly 7 in 10 Americans backed capital punishment for murderers in 2007. Before Biden's commutation, there were 40 federal death row inmates compared with more than 2,000 who have been sentenced to death by states. “The reality is all of these crimes are typically handled by the states,” Berman said. A question is whether the Trump administration would try to take over some state murder cases, such as those related to drug trafficking or smuggling. He could also attempt to take cases from states that have abolished the death penalty. Berman said Trump's statement, along with some recent actions by states, may present an effort to get the Supreme Court to reconsider a precedent that considers the death penalty disproportionate punishment for rape. “That would literally take decades to unfold. It’s not something that is going to happen overnight,” Berman said. Before one of Trump's rallies on Aug. 20, his prepared remarks released to the media said he would announce he would ask for the death penalty for child rapists and child traffickers. But Trump never delivered the line. One of the men Trump highlighted on Tuesday was ex-Marine Jorge Avila Torrez, who was sentenced to death for killing a sailor in Virginia and later pleaded guilty to the fatal stabbing of an 8-year-old and a 9-year-old girl in a suburban Chicago park several years before. The other man, Thomas Steven Sanders, was sentenced to death for the kidnapping and slaying of a 12-year-old girl in Louisiana, days after shooting the girl's mother in a wildlife park in Arizona. Court records show he admitted to both killings. Some families of victims expressed anger with Biden's decision, but the president had faced pressure from advocacy groups urging him to make it more difficult for Trump to increase the use of capital punishment for federal inmates. The ACLU and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops were some of the groups that applauded the decision. Biden left three federal inmates to face execution. They are Dylann Roof, who carried out the 2015 racist slayings of nine Black members of Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina; 2013 Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev ; and Robert Bowers, who fatally shot 11 congregants at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life Synagogue in 2018 , the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S history. _______ Associated Press writers Jill Colvin, Michelle L. Price and Eric Tucker contributed to this report.The Republican-controlled US House of Representatives has passed legislation that will avert a midnight government shutdown, defying President-elect Donald Trump's demand to also greenlight trillions of dollars in new debt. or signup to continue reading The House voted 366-34 on Friday to approve the bill, the day after rejecting Trump's debt ceiling demand. The Democratic-controlled Senate will also need to pass the bill to advance it to President Joe Biden, who the White House said would sign it into law to ensure the government will be funded beyond midnight, when current funding expires. The legislation would extend government funding until March 14, provide $US100 billion ($A160 billion) for disaster-hit states and $US10 billion ($A16 billion) for farmers. However, it would not raise the debt ceiling - a difficult task that Trump has pushed Congress to do before he takes office on January 20. A government shutdown would disrupt everything from law enforcement to national parks and suspend paycheques for millions of federal workers. A travel industry trade group warned that a shutdown could cost airlines, hotels and other companies $US1 billion ($A1.6 billion) per week and lead to widespread disruptions during the busy Christmas season. Authorities warned that travellers could face long lines at airports. The package resembled a bipartisan plan that was abandoned earlier this week after an online fusillade from Trump and his billionaire adviser Elon Musk, who said it contained too many unrelated provisions. Most of those elements were struck from the bill - including a provision limiting investments in China that Democrats said would conflict with Musk's interests there. "He clearly does not want to answer questions about how much he plans to expand his businesses in China and how many American technologies he plans to sell," Democratic Representative Rosa DeLauro said on the House floor. Musk, the world's richest person, has been tasked by Trump to head a budget-cutting task force but holds no official position in Washington. The bill also left out Trump's demand to the nation's debt ceiling, which was resoundingly rejected by the House - including 38 Republicans - on Thursday. The federal government spent roughly $US6.2 trillion ($A9.9 trillion) in 2023 and has more than $US36 trillion ($A58 trillion) in debt, and Congress will need to act to authorise further borrowing by the middle of 2025. Sources said the White House has alerted government agencies to prepare for an imminent shutdown. The federal government last shut down for 35 days during Trump's first White House term over a dispute about border security. Previous fights over the debt ceiling have spooked financial markets, as a US government default would send credit shocks around the world. The limit has been suspended under an agreement that technically expires on January 1, though lawmakers likely would not have had to tackle the issue before the spring. Advertisement Sign up for our newsletter to stay up to date. We care about the protection of your data. Read our . Advertisement

I remember where I was when I first heard the term. It was early 1998 and I was in a McDonald's drive-thru. My friend was explaining to me why he and his family had decided to move to rural Arkansas next year. "Y2K," I said. "What's that?" ADVERTISEMENT Y2K. The "millenium bug" arriving in the year 2000. The new millennium. Some of you might well remember this time. For those under about age 30, let me catch you up. Many of the computers used in government and business in the late 20th century, including ones that powered the early internet, supposedly had something of a ticking time bomb inside of them. "It's very hard to tell how bad the situation will be. I'm sure things will break. It's very hard to dispel a nightmare scenario," Nathan Myhrvold, Microsoft's chief technology officer, was cited as saying in a January 1999 Forum column. "The dark-side scenario of airplanes falling out of the sky and bank computers crashing is possible. But it's fundamentally very, very hard to know whether the impact will be big or little." The problem was the two-digit-year date field (think "93" as in "1/1/93"). Theoretically, the arrival of the new millennium — the year 2000 — would reset all these computer clocks to "00" as in "1/1/00," wrecking anything that counted on dates to function properly. Theoretically, anyway. The list of public fears was a long one, illustrating how central computer technology had become in our lives, and mirroring larger uncertainty about the new millennium. And while company officials and local, state and federal officials sought to reassure the public, ongoing reporting indicated nobody was quite sure nothing would fail. So the fears remained up until the last minute. ADVERTISEMENT "Up against the deadline for fixing an unprecedented technological blunder, the world exhibited some jitters Thursday over the prospect of failures in the computers on which we depend," wrote the Associated Press, as printed by The Forum on New Year's Eve, 1999. "There was testing galore and a few confessions of Y2K-unreadiness." Some religious figures took the moment to insist the coming apocalypse was God's judgment on a wayward culture. "(God) may be preparing to confound our language, to jam our communications, scatter our efforts and judge us for our sin and rebellion against his lordship," evangelical Christian leader Jerry Falwell said in August 1998. "We are hearing from many sources that Jan. 1, 2000, will be a fateful day in the history of the world." As if to embody the looming fears, WWE wrestler Chris Jericho gave himself the moniker Y2J (for Jericho), playing off the Y2K term. His entrance to arenas was marked by a countdown video that, when it got to zero, included shutting off the venue lights, leaving people in noisy darkness before Jericho was revealed. As the year 2000 approached, the fears began to grow into something of a hysteria for some people, sparking drastic decisions, like my friend's family's decision to move to the woods. Others took money out of the bank. Some stocked up on supplies and guns and ammunition to survive the coming failure of civilization. The growing fears were in odd juxtaposition to the more joyful expressions by some about the year 2000. Big millennium parties were planned. Monopoly put out a millennium edition with fancy holographic cards. The boy band Backstreet Boys released their "Millennium" album, still iconic among my generation (OK, fine — I'm listening to it right now). Many people dismissed the fears and planned to go about their lives, expecting the furor was overblown. ADVERTISEMENT I moved from North Dakota to South Dakota in 1999, and as the new millennium approached, I was about 55% convinced Y2K was going to cause big problems. I remember counting down the last days of the 1900s and thinking everything was possibly about to change. It didn't, of course. While there were some hiccups among some computer systems, much of the billions of dollars in preparation worked. A concerted global effort to stave off disaster was effective. The apocalypse never arrived, civilization continued. In fact, my daughter was born later that year — one of many "millennium" babies who are now 24 years old. So what happened to my friend who moved to Arkansas? I don't know. I'd like to think he and his family went on to live their best life in a cabin in the Ozarks, ready for the end of the world that never arrived. Have a moment or person in history that you think is especially interesting? Contact me at jfugleberg@forumcomm.com and tell me why you think it would be a great subject for this column.

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