The projects awarded with the 2022 Research Challenge deal with abortion, hip transplants and diabetes

Last week, the 2022 Research Challenge prizes were awarded in Lleida. This call is open to professionals who are in the initial phase of their career as researchers and want to promote projects with an impact on health. It is a call promoted by the ICS and the Territorial Management of Innovation, Research and Teaching. IDIAPJGol has offered methodological support to the participants.

Tobbgest, a project, based on gamification, for pregnant smokers to quit the habit

A new project led by Cristina Rey, a research technician at the USR Camp in Tarragona of the IDIAP Jordi Gol i Gurina, and Jordi Duch, a researcher at the Universitat Rovira i Virgili, aims to end tobacco addiction in pregnant people through of an application for mobile devices designed ad hoc. Since March 1, the project has entered the recruitment phase of pregnant people who want to participate in the project, up to a total of 400 pregnant women who will be followed for 12 months. The Sexual and Reproductive Health Care Centers (ASSIR) of Camp de Tarragona and Central Catalonia are in charge of finding the participating people.

First successful meeting with the External Scientific Committee

Last April 19 and 20 we celebrated the first External Scientific Committee with the participation of up to eight professionals from all over Spain and Europe who contributed their views on various aspects that affect IDIAP, such as the challenges of strategic plan.

Latest articles published by IDIAPJGol

Check here the latest articles published by the IDIAPJGol research team.

We are looking for volunteers affected by persistent covid for the E-SPERANZA project

The E-SPERANZA project, promoted by the Southern Metropolitan Research Support Unit together with the IDIAP Jordi Gol Drug Studies Unit, needs to recruit more participants who continue to have respiratory problems over 'one month after being infected with covid-19 and, as a requirement to participate in the study, they must have been infected during the last year. Finding these people is key to being able to achieve the project's goals.

 

The study began in September 2021 to investigate the causes of this coronavirus and find the medicine that can alleviate its effects. It is estimated that up to 10% of patients are persistent. Symptoms can be present for more than six months, and there is currently no treatment. Dyspnea, or breathing difficulty, is one of the most frequent and disabling manifestations of persistent COVID-19.

So, E-SPERANZA consists of two parts. The first is the randomized double-blind clinical trial, a method in which neither the doctor nor the patient knows whether they are taking the drug or the placebo. In this way, the effectiveness of the Montelukast drug in the mild symptoms of patients with persistent COVID-19 is evaluated. The study is in the recruitment phase of people with the disease with more than 4 weeks of evolution and mild or moderate respiratory difficulty.

Montelukast is a medication that is already marketed for asthma. This clinical trial wants to check if the drug is beneficial in reducing the inflammation produced by SARS-CoV-2 infection. The aim is to demonstrate that, compared to placebo, this treatment is effective in improving the quality of life associated with respiratory symptoms in patients with persistent COVID-19.

The second part of the study aims to learn more deeply about the clinical and biological characteristics of people with persistent COVID-19. To do this, blood and stool samples from a subgroup of people participating in the clinical trial will be analyzed and thus the effect of the disease on the immune system, the intestinal flora and how it relates to the severity of persistent COVID-19. This part is carried out in collaboration with the Pneumology, Microbiology and Immunology Services of the Bellvitge University Hospital and the Pneumology Service of the Viladecans Hospital.

Interested persons can contact the Southern Metropolitan Research Support Unit until June 15 at 938 575 545.

 

The Real World Lab renews its license as ULab of EIT Health

The Real World Lab is one of the 20 Living Labs that is part of the ULab, these user validation laboratories that are part of the program initiated by the European Institute of Technology (EIT Health). This laboratory created by IDIAP Jordi Gol has renewed its license after being one of the 28 ULabs last year.