Israel has a very strong biotechnology industry and medical devices are a major area of development. Itamar Medical, located in Caesarea, uses Peripheral Arterial Tone (PAT) to create two innovative devices that are winning awards worldwide.

President and CEO of Itamar Medical, Dov Rubin explains that PAT "is the monitoring of the pulses in your fingertips or in the extremities. They turn out to be a very important indicator, almost a non-invasive window into the body."

With the new WatchPAT from Itamar Medical, which measures PAT and other indicators - such as oxygen level, body position and snoring - sleep apnea can now be monitored and diagnosed in a wireless situation, from the comfort of one's home.

The device is strapped on your wrist like a watch and attached to one of your fingers. The information it records is downloaded to a PC by a doctor, and the software instantly analyzes and produces a comprehensive report.

WatchPAT has made inroads with doctors in the US. In northern California Kaiser Permanente is using it in place of sleep labs, and just last year used it to perform 22,000 tests.

Similar fingertip-monitoring technology is being used by the company in a 15-minute clinical test that has been proven to predict the development of heart disease.