World Brain Week is celebrated from 11 to 15 March 2019. Scientists, including different professionals from Sao Paulo, who research aspects of Neurobiology will travel to schools in Barcelona to make talks that will allow students to know first hand the lines of research that are followed to deepen the knowledge of the brain and to better understand diseases such as schizophrenia, depression and Alzheimer’s, among others.

The talks, organised by the Municipal Institute of Education of Barcelona, are aimed at groups of students between the ages of 12 and 20 and last 1 hour. Activities are free and places are limited.
Setmana mundial del cervell 2019[1]

A study of Servei d’Hematologia de Sant Pau and the Complutense University of Madrid (UNC) reveals that the rhG-CSF factor has one innate immunological effect for a cancer-fighting disease. L’estudi “Antitumor effect of sustained neutrophilia induced by rhG-CSF in a murine model of pancreas” Ha sortit publicat to the prestigious journal Scientific Reports of the group Nature.

Dr. Juan Carlos Souto, Deputy Head of the Haemostasis and Thrombosis Unit of the Hematology Service of Sant Pau, coordinator of the Thrombosis and Hemostàsia Group of the Research Institution of Sant Pau and member of the Josep Carreras Institution. , Antonio Brú, the title of the Faculty of Mathematics of the UCM, the researcher responsible for the research.

Sant Pau has published an experimental part of the investigation and the mathematical modeling of the tipus of necrosi tumoral observat i l’estadica s’ha realitzat to the UCM. The “search seeks to demonstrate the antitumor role of innate immunity, enough men but finishes for international research” (focused on acquired or specialized immunity). If the hypothesis is confirmed, the strategies of tractament dels tumor sòlids are likely to be much cheaper than the current ones, more effective and less ambitious, “says Dr. Souto.

On the website, the immunological terraces have focused on the international scientific community with a proposal of effective therapies for combat. If most of the statistics focus on adaptive immunity, innate immunity will accumulate successes for the treatment and therapeutic practice against cancer.This is a report of tumor growth that indicates the existence of a study of PLOS ONE pel mateix grup d’investigació.of an “immune threshold” that separates pro-and anti-tumor peritumoral statesInflammation “which is the theoretical marker of the cancer tract and the owners of innate immunity”, which is the first time that the “immune system” has been designed in a circumstance that marks the difference between ease of use and privacy .

To the photograph the dra. María Virtudes Céspedes, PhD. Researcher Miguel Servet i IP of the Grup d’Oncologia Ginecològica i Peritoneal of the Institute of Research of Sant Pau i col·laborator in the research and Dr. Souto.

PLoS ONE 2018 Bru immunological threshold[1]

Sci Rep 2019 Brú G_CSF in murine model of pancreatic cancer[1]

Dr. Silvana Novelli Canales, assistant to the Hematology Service of the Hospital and researcher of the Hematology and Transplant Group of the Research Institute, has obtained one of the two FEHH-Fundación CRIS 2018-2019 grants awarded to the State through the Spanish Hematology and Hematotherapy Foundation. The aim of these grants is to ensure that scholarship holders obtain cutting-edge knowledge in the haematological and haemotherapeutic areas to be applied on our return.

The FEHH-Fundación CRIS 2018-2019 grant will allow Dr. Novelli to carry out a postdoctoral stay in the lymphomagènesi laboratory of the Centre Hospitalier Lyon Sud – Inserm (France), under the tutelage of Drs. E. Bachy and G. Salles, to develop the translational research project, ATAC-seq as a reliable and fast method for peripheral T-cell lymphoproliferation.

Read more: https://criscancer.org/es/diamieloma2018/

The IIB Sant Pau has participated in an article published in the journal <em>Nature Genetics</em> to which 20 countries have contributed. This unprecedented project has analysed more genetic data (94,000 individuals) than any other study to date on Alzheimer’s disease and has led to the discovery of 5 new genes associated with the disease.

The journal <em>Nature Genetics</em> has published the study “Meta-analysis of genetic association with diagnosed Alzheimer’s disease identifi novel risk loci and implicated Abeta, Tau, immunity and lipid processing”, a meta-analysis that has led to the discovery of 5 new genetic variants that influence the risk of suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. This unprecedented project has analyzed more genetic data than any other study of Alzheimer’s disease to date.

The study reveals that the metabolism of the Tau protein, beta amyloid, inflammatory processes and lipid metabolism, would be involved in the pathology. However, it evidences the link that exists between genetically pure forms (typically manifested at early ages and added within the same family) and the forms known as sporadic, which are the most frequent and are characterized by presenting at later ages (after 60 or 65 years).

This finding suggests that some therapies being analyzed for early onset cases may also be useful for late-onset cases. The meta-analysis, which combines and re-evaluates the data collected by four consortia that make up the International Alzheimer’s Genomics Project (Igapó), appears in the journal Nature Genetics, one of the most prestigious journals in the world.

These findings make an important contribution to understanding the causal basis of Alzheimer’s disease and will open up new avenues of treatment for the disease in the future. “In the case of these genetic studies, the ultimate aim is to compare the genomes of patients and controls in order to find those genetic variants that are over-represented in people diagnosed with the disease. To do this, it is necessary to study the genetic material of a large number of subjects, and compare the genome of patients to that of healthy controls. Thanks to the large size of the sample analysed in this study, it has been possible to add new genes to a list that helps us understand the biological and mechanical bases of Alzheimer’s disease”, explains Dr. Jordi Clarimón, researcher at the IIB Sant Pau and national coordinator of the DEGESCO consortium.

The DEGESCO consortium (Dementia Genetics Spanish Consortium)
DEGESCO (Dementia Genetic Spanish Consortium) is a national scientific-technical consortium with 22 research centres from all over Spain, and has the institutional coverage of CIBERNED. DEGESCO was born in 2013 with the general objective of promoting and strengthening the performance of genetic studies in order to understand the genetic architecture of neurodegenerative dementias in the Spanish population, through the implementation of projects and actions coordinated among its members.

It is made up of the following entities: Severo Ochoa Molecular Biology Centre (CBM / CSIC-UAM) (Madrid), Biomedical Research Centre on Neurodegenerative Diseases (CIBERNED), ACE Foundation (Barcelona), CIEN Foundation, Alzheimer Centre – Reina Sofía Foundation (Madrid), Hospital Clínic – IDIBAPS (Barcelona), Hospital La Paz (Madrid), Hospital Marqués de Valdecilla (Santander), Hospital Sant Pau – IIB Sant Pau (Barcelona), Hospital Universitario Central de Asturias (Oviedo), Instituto Biodonostia (San Sebastián), Instituto Biomedicina de Valencia – CSIC (Valencia), Navarrabiomed (Pamplona), Pasqual Maragall Foundation (Barcelona), CITA-Alzheimer Foundation (San Sebastián), Mutua de Terrassa Hospital (Terrassa), Santa María Lleida / IRBLleida University Hospital (Lleida), Ramón y Cajal University Hospital (Madrid), Son Espases University Hospital (Palma de Mallorca), Instituto Andaluz de Neurociencia (IANEC) (Málaga), Instituto o de biomédica na de Sevilla (IBIS) (Sevilla), Hospital 12 de Octubre (Madrid), Centro de Investigación Lascaray UPV / EHU (Vitoria), Hospital de la Princesa (Madrid), Hospital Clínico Universitario Virgen de la Arrixaca (Murcia).

Minority diseases are those that affect less than 5 people per 10,000 inhabitants and the latest today, 28 February, marks its international day promoted by the European Organisation for Rare Diseases (EURORDIS).

The Molecular Physiology Group of the Synapses of the Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau (IIB Sant Pau), led by the researcher Alex Bayés, is one of the four research groups in the world that studies the Syngap1 gene, the origin of a minority disease that causes intellectual disability and epilepsy in all those affected, as well as autistic symptoms and motor difficulties in more than half of the cases.

Researcher Gemma Gou, from the same group as the IIB Sant Pau, has been developing her thesis on the effects of the mutation in the Syngap1 gene, responsible for the aforementioned symptoms, for six years.

It is estimated that mutations in the Syngap1 gene could be the cause of up to 1% of all cases of intellectual disability in the world.

The function of the Syngap1 gene is to generate a homonymous protein that is indispensable for producing communication between neurons. The gene is common in humans and mice, therefore experimentation with the latter is essential to better understand the mechanisms of functioning of this protein.

Gemma Gou’s thesis is based on the knowledge that the mutation of the Syngap1 gene alters the normal development of the human brain producing interferences that will later make learning impossible (intellectual disability) and, in many cases, will trigger autistic symptoms, such as lack of verbal communication or repetitive and sterotypical behaviour.

The vast majority of people affected by this cognitive disorder also have epilepsy, which in about half of cases is resistant to the most common drug treatments. Other symptoms of Syngap1 deficiency include muscle hypotonia, delays in intellectual and motor development, or disturbances in sleep and behavior.

It is estimated that this mutation would have a prevalence of 1 case per 80,000 births. This means that in Catalonia alone there could be up to 100 cases and in more than 500 in the whole State, but, at the moment, only 9 cases have been identified in Spain, two of them in Catalonia.

European Organisation for Rare Diseases (Eurordis)

In this link you will find a report published in El Mundo about this genetic mutation.

Dr. Jaume Kulisevsky, director of the Sant Pau Biomedical Research Institute (IIB Sant Pau) and director of the Movement Disorders Unit of the Neurology Service of the Sant Pau Hospital, coordinates the only European and multicentre study on Parkinson’s disease with dementia that is currently entering phase II.

This clinical study, in which 20 hospitals from all over Spain will participate, is being carried out with the approval of the Spanish Agency for Medicines and Health Products (AEMPS), to test the effectiveness of the drug ANAVEX®2-73 in this disease.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator

Today, February 11, the International Day of Women and the Girl in Science is celebrated. This initiative promotes the realization of activities that, visibilizing the work of scientists, commemorate that day, promote scientific vocations in girls and help to close the gender gap in science. This third edition hosts more than 2,200 activities from today until February 15.

In 2015, the General Assembly of the United Nations proclaimed on February 11 the International Day of Women and the Girl in Science. The goal is to achieve full and equal access and participation in science for women and girls, as well as achieve gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls. This platform was created by a group of women scientists and teachers, who propose to carry out activities that “help to visibilize the work of scientists, to create female roles in the fields of science and engineering and to promote practices that favor the gender equality in the scientific field “.

In this third edition there are actions programmed in educational centers, libraries, cultural centers, etc. You will find the activities https://11defebrero.org/

Researchers at the University of Barcelona, the Bellvitge Institute for Biomedical Research, the Santa Creu i Sant Pau Hospital Institute for Biomedical Research, the Autonomous University of Barcelona and McGill University (Montreal) have published a study that shows for the first time a causal relationship between the dopamine system and music.

A new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (PNAS) reveals a causal relationship between dopamine and reward responses in humans when listening to music. The study was carried out by researchers from the Cognition and Brain Plasticity Research Group at the University of Barcelona and the Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (UB-IDIBELL), as well as the former Human Neuropsychopharmacology Research Group and the PK / PD Modeling and Simulation groups coordinated by Dr. Marta Valle del Dra. Marta Valle from the Institut d’Investigació Biomèdica de l’Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau, the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and the Montreal Neurological Institute of McGill University.

The researchers pharmacologically manipulated the transmission of dopamine in twenty-two participants while listening to music, and have shown for the first time the causal relationship between dopamine and the motivation and satisfaction of listening to music. While the precursor of dopamine, levodopa, increased hedonic experience and motivational responses, such as wanting to buy a song, risperidone reduced them. These results open up a new view of the neurobiology and neurochemistry of reward responses associated with music, and contribute to the open debate about understanding the human brain.

Humans regularly participate in comforting activities such as listening to music, singing or playing. Understanding how the brain translates a sequence of sounds such as music into a satisfying experience is challenging.

In this study, researchers asked whether dopamine, a neurotransmitter with an important role in regulating pleasurable experiences and motivating people to act in one way or another, has a direct role in the positive experience music provokes. To answer this question, they pharmacologically manipulated the availability of dopamine to the neuronal receptors of the participants. In three different sessions, one week apart, the experts orally administered a dopamine precursor (levodopa, which increases dopamine availability), its antagonist (risperidone, which reduces dopamine signaling), and a placebo (lactose, as a control). Researchers anticipate that, if dopamine has a causal role in the satisfaction of music, levodopa and risperidone should have opposite effects in terms of musical satisfaction and motivation.

Laura Ferreri, researcher at UB-IDIBELL and first author of the article, explains that “the study clarifies the role of the human dopamine system in terms of abstract rewards. In addition, “these results challenge those of previous studies that have been done on animal models, in which dopaminergic manipulations showed a clear role for dopamine in motivation and learning, but in which its role in regulating hedonic responses with primary prizes such as food remained controversial”. The researcher concludes that these results “indicate that dopaminergic transmission in humans may have different roles from those proposed in affective processing, specifically with respect to abstract cognitive activities, such as listening to music”.

Electrodermal response

The authors indirectly measured changes in the sensation of pleasure and reward by checking the electrodermal activity of the participants, a technique for evaluating emotional changes (in this case, the hedonic impact of music). In each session, participants listened to their favorite songs to more than ten other songs (the authors and groups chosen were Alejandro Sanz, Amaia Montero, Antonio Orozco, Auryn, Birdy, Katy Perry, Maldita Nerea, Melendi, One Direction and Taylor Swift). The purpose was for them to evaluate the experiences subjectively (real-time evaluation and general evaluation of each song). Motivational responses were also measured by asking participants how much they would pay for each song. In order to control the implication of reward processes in a situation without music, the researchers also carried out a task that evaluated monetary reward, in which participants could earn or lose money.

Overall, the results showed that pharmacological interventions modulated the reward responses provoked by music. Risperidone, unlike levodopa, reduced participants’ chills, considered a physical manifestation of the peak of satisfaction when listening to music. As shown with changes in electrodermal activity, participants’ scores on emotional responses were higher with levodopa and lower with risperidone, scores that were also compared with placebo. These results coincide with those obtained when money was used as a reward, since, in response to a higher prize, enthusiasm was increased with levodopa and reduced with risperidone. Finally, participants were more open to spending money on levodopa than on risperidone: they were more motivated to listen to more music when dopamine transmission was improved than when it was blocked.

Antoni Rodríguez Fornells, ICREA researcher and head of the UB-IDIBELL group, explains that this study “shows for the first time the causal role of dopamine in musical satisfaction and motivation: enjoying music, taking pleasure, wanting to listen to a song again, and wanted to buy it …, all this depends on the dopamine we release.

Article reference:
Ferreri, L.; Mas-Herrero, E.; Zatorre, R.; Ripollés, P.; Gómez-Andrés, A.; Alicart, E.; Olivé, G.; Marco-Pallarés, J.; Antonijoan, R. M.; Valle, M.; Riba, J., i Rodríguez-Fornells, A. «Dopamine modulates the reward experiences elicited by music», Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, 2019.

A study signed by Dr. Carolina Moreno, researcher at the IIB Sant Pau of the Oncological Hematology and Transplant Group, and consultant at the Hospital’s Hematology Service, has recently been published in the scientific journal The Lancet Oncology. The work compares the standard treatment of Chronic Lymphatic Leukaemia in patients over 65 years of age (chemoimmunotherapy) with a treatment that incorporates Bruton tyrosine kinase inhibitors (ibutrinib) and demonstrates a clear benefit in terms of duration of response, as well as a reduction of the risk of disease progression by 80%. In patients who suffer a genetic alteration that predisposes to a poor response to standard treatment, the risk reduction is 85%.

The standard treatment for patients over the age of 65 suffering from Chronic Lymphatic Leukaemia (CLL), the most prevalent in Western countries, is so far chemotherapy with Chlorambucil in combination with a monoclonal anti-CD20 antibody obinotuzumab. In recent years there have been great advances in this disease with the introduction of new biological treatments targeting specific targets such as the Bruton tyrosine kinase inhibitor (Ibrutinib). The Illuminate study compares standard treatment with chemoimmunotherapy versus combination of ibrutinib with obinotuzumab in patients with CLL over 65 or with previously untreated comorbidities.

With conventional treatment the average duration of response is 19 months, while with this new combination, after 31 months, most patients maintain the response.

The drug combination proposed in the study is pending approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and is expected to be approved and available in the United States in the first half of 2019. In Europe, it is expected to be on the market by the end of this year.

Dr. Moreno, a researcher at the IIB Sant Pau and a consultant with the Hospital’s Haematology Service, presented the results of the study at the latest congress of the American Society of Haematology (ASH) held in San Diego and is the first signatory to the study recently published in The Lancet Oncology. Her presentation was the most viewed online of all those presented at this conference.

Sant Pau is the center that has recruited more patients in the study in which also participate more than 25 centers around the world.

Estudy: Lancet Oncol. 2018 Nov 30. pii: S1470-2045(18)30788-5. doi: 10.1016/S1470-2045(18)30788-5. [Epub ahead of print]

Signants: Moreno C, Greil R, Demirkan F, Tedeschi A, Anz B, Larratt L, Simkovic M, Samoilova O, Novak J, Ben-Yehuda D, Strugov V, Gill D, Gribben JG, Hsu E, Lih CJ, Zhou C, Clow F, James DF, Styles L, Flinn IW.

Ibrutinib plus obinutuzumab versus chlorambucil plus obinutuzumab in first-line treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (iLLUMINATE): a multicentre, randomised, open-label, phase 3 trial.

The study published in the journal Circulation and led by Dr. Maria Sabater Lleal, researcher Miquel Servet and recently incorporated into the group of the Genomics Unit of Complex Diseases of the IIB Sant Pau, is a meta-analysis of global data of the genome carried out with the CHARGE consortium (Cohorts for Heart and Aging Research in Genomic Epidemiology) with more than 46,000 individuals analyzed.

“Genome-wide association trans-ethnic meta-analyses identifi novela associations Regulating coagulation Factor VIII and von Willebrand Factor plasma levels” is the title of the work done largely at the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm by Dr. Sabater and supervised by Professor Nicholas L. Smith of the University of Washington.

The work identifies new genes regulating the levels of factor VIII and factor von Willebrand in plasma, and demonstrates a causal effect of these coagulation proteins in thrombotic pathology, specifically in coronary diseases, ischemic stroke and venous thrombosis.

The study published in The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, in which the Chronic Respiratory Diseases Group of the Sant Pau Research Institute and the Pneumology Service of the Hospital, the Jiménez Díaz Foundation and the Autonomous University of Madrid participate, has demonstrated how anxiety and depression pose an independent risk in the control of asthma. In the work in which 180 pulmonologists and allergists participated, it was proposed to find out the association of the diagnosis of asthma with symptoms of depression and anxiety and their degree of control.

These associations were made at the beginning of the diagnosis and six months, after a treatment only for asthma and carried out by a specialist. We included 3,182 asthmatic patients who were evaluated by specialists in pneumology or allergology, to measure their level of asthma control, level of anxiety and depression.

Subsequently, the specialist decided to treat the patients, who were re-evaluated three and six months after the first consultation. Thus, the work showed that in the first consultation 24 percent of the patients were diagnosed with anxiety, and 12 percent with depression, so the anxiety figures were higher than those of the general Spanish population (9 percent), although the depression figures were similar.

After six months, the researchers were able to observe that both anxiety and depression improved, while evidencing an improvement in lung function and asthma control.

The Lilly Foundation announces the 18th edition of the Lilly Foundation Awards for Preclinical and Clinical Biomedical Research, aimed at researchers who have contributed to the development of Biomedicine and Health Sciences in the State. The deadline for submission of candidatures is 15 February 2019.

Here you will find the terms and conditions of the call: CARTEL-BASES DE LA CONVOCATORIA