Noticias

Beatriz Rapún Araiz, a predoctoral researcher in Navarrabiomed’s Microbial Pathogenesis Unit - IdiSNA, will read her dissertation for the Universidad Pública de Navarra (UPNA) on Tuesday, October 27, 2020. The defense will take place at 11 a.m. in the Navarrabiomed assembly hall. Due to current COVID-19 regulations, attendance is limited, but a videoconference of the reading will be available.

The dissertation, “Characterization of the two-component sensorial network of Staphylococcus aureus”, was prepared at Navarrabiomed under the direction of Iñigo Lasa Uzcudun, the Director of the center and head of the Microbial Pathogenesis Unit.

Bacteria’s ability to adapt to new environmental conditions is controlled by two-component systems (TCSs). Although highly detailed knowledge about how each TCS works and the function it performs has been acquired in recent years, our knowledge is still limited regarding global aspects of the network, such as the overlap between the signaling pathways of each TCS and its specific purpose.
In her dissertation, Rapún uses a unique genetic tool developed in the laboratory to reconstruct the complete TCS regulon (collection of genes or operons controlled by the same regulatory protein) in a living cell. She also studied how the presence or absence of the TCS affects bacteria biology and speciation (the process of formation of new species) of the genus Staphylococcus. Finally, the dissertation discusses and assesses new therapeutic strategies against the TCSs of Staphylococcus aureus.

This dissertation led to the publication of three scientific articles in the journals mSystems, published by the American Society for Microbiology, Current Opinion in Microbiology and Scientific Reports.

The results were also made public at four conferences, two of which were organized by the Molecular Microbiology group of the Spanish Society of Microbiology and held in Seville (2016) and Zaragoza (2018). In 2017, the research study was also presented in Valencia as part of the international conference organized by the Federation of European Microbiological Societies (FEMS), and in 2019, it was presented in a course of the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) in Spetses (Greece).

To carry out the research study, Rapún received a training grant as a UPNA research staff member to complete her doctoral dissertation.
 

• The projects are funded with €108,104 from the Regional Government of Navarre’s Ministry of Universities, Innovation and Digital Transformation within the framework of the inDemand Navarre initiative

On September 28, 2020, Agurtzane Martínez Ortigosa, the Director General of Innovation of the Government of Navarre, approved the results of the first call for “inDemand Navarre: Demand-Driven Innovation in Health” grants, in which ICT companies were selected to offer their digital services to address the challenges posed by teams at the Navarre Health Service – Osasunbidea (SNS-O).

The four companies selected (iAR, Consultoría Informática Adhoc, TedCas and Desarrollos ANASINF) have relevant experience in the development of industrial and business solutions, which they will now apply to the health industry. They were awarded a total grant amount of €108,104 to start up four innovative tools designed to cover priority healthcare needs.

Innovative Joint Development Process

The solutions will be implemented in an eight-month joint development process in which the health professionals who detected the specific need will work in cooperation with high-tech firms. This innovative approach within the framework of the inDemand Navarre model is promoted by the Navarre Ministry of Universities, Innovation and Digital Transformation and the Navarre Ministry of Economic and Business Development through the European Center for Business Innovation of Navarre (CEIN) and the Navarre Development Company (Sodena). The Navarrabiomed Innovation Support Unit and the Navarre Ministry of Health also help coordinate the inDemand model among all the institutional agents of Navarre.

Potential users of each application will become involved in the process in coming months. The ultimate goal is to obtain functional prototypes that can be validated in real contexts and then included in the SNS-O to benefit patients.

Kick-Off Meetings

In the first half of October, the companies had the first kick-off meetings with the participating teams of healthcare professionals in order to define the technical specifications of the solutions in greater detail, which necessarily involved the transfer of specialized knowledge from the professionals to the companies.

Industrial Augmented Reality (iAR) will develop the ConectaSOS solution with Fermina Beramendi, a doctor in the Outpatient Emergency Service, who participates in representation of professionals from advanced life support ambulances (ALS ambulances), SOS Navarra and Emergency Services at the Hospital Complex of Navarre (CHN). This initiative, led by Jon Navarlaz, Managing Director of iAR, was awarded €25,364 to create a new communication system that will improve response times and agent coordination in patient management and transport in emergency situations.

Consultoría Informática Adhoc will start up MiCentro in collaboration with the SNS-O’s Support Service for Clinical Management and Healthcare Continuity in Primary Care Management. The project is coordinated by Sergio Chivite, the Service’s technical expert, and was awarded the amount of €22,740. David Santamaría from Consultoría Informática Adhoc will coordinate the proposal of creating a new SMS communication channel to improve management of doctor’s appointments, and the proposal of having healthcare centers send relevant information to their patients and users.

The company addressing the QuiroHelp challenge is TedCas Medical Systems, which was awarded €30,000 to implement the project. Jesús Miguel Pérez, the Director of TedCas, is leading the project and working with professionals from the CHN’s Service of General Surgery Ward B for the development of a chatbot service to improve the response times of scrub nurses in CHN operating rooms. Nurse Diana Marcilla is coordinating the healthcare team involved.

Finally, Desarrollos ANASINF was awarded €30,000 to develop the app UMD360, whose aim is to send gynecological cancer patients all the integrated and coordinated information and services designed by the Gynecological Cancer Multidisciplinary Unit. Ainhoa Castellano, the Director of Desarrollos ANASINF, is leading this innovative solution by working in coordination with Juan Carlos Muruzábal, Head of the CHN Obstetrics and Gynecology Service.

The inDemand Initiative

The European inDemand project is an initiative that receives funding from the Horizon 2020 program. Three pilot regions are participating: Murcia Region (Spain), Oulu Region (Finland) and Paris Region (France). The aim of the project is to check if the support model for demand-driven innovation in digital health is sustainable and applicable to other European regions called mirror regions and jointly known as the inDemand community. Navarre is participating as a mirror region and benefiting from the project’s methodology and success stories, but does not receive EU funding.
 

• Four Catalan institutions are also participating in this project to develop molecules with coronavirus-neutralizing properties

The Supera COVID-19 Fund launched by Banco Santander through Santander Universities, in collaboration with Crue Spanish Universities and the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), has granted €160,000 in funding to a research project on COVID-19 designed by a consortium made up of Navarrabiomed researchers and four Catalan institutions coordinated by the Universidad Pública de Navarra (UPNA). This project seeks to develop molecules with SARS-CoV-2-neutralizing properties for the treatment of patients requiring hospitalization and clinical supervision due to the infection’s severity.

These molecules are based on peptides specific to the ACE2 receptor that can reduce or halt the ability of SARS-CoV-2 to cause infection. “These molecules reproduce the human receptor region the virus attaches to,” explained project leader Jacinto López Sagaseta, from the Protein Crystallography Unit at the Navarrabiomed Biomedical Research Center. “We are trying to create molecules from this region that have a greater capacity to bind to the viral particle, which would hinder the virus’s ability to attach to the natural receptor and thus slow down infection.” According to López, these molecules may “help chemists design drugs that can mitigate the process and speed of infection and thereby facilitate patients’ clinical recovery”.

In order to implement the 12-month project, a consortium was set up of researchers from different disciplines, including chemical synthesis, protein engineering, structural analysis and cell biology, as well as specialists in the conditions of biosafety level three (BSL3, for laboratories, on a scale of one to four), to test the potential of these molecules. Specifically, besides Navarrabiomed and the UPNA, four Barcelona research institutions are also participating in the project: IRB Barcelona (Institute for Research in Biomedicine), IQAC-CSIC (Institute for Advanced Chemistry of Catalonia), CIBER-BBN (Bioengineering, Biomaterials and Nanomedicine Subject Area of the CIBER Biomedical Research Center), and IRTA (Institute of Agrifood Research and Technology). Besides Jacinto López Sagaseta, other Navarrabiomed researchers taking part in this research project include Gilda Dichiara Rodríguez, Elena Erausquin Arrondo and Ane Ochoa Echevarría, who are members of the Protein Crystallography Unit.
The consortium members hope that “the availability of molecules with a strong inhibitory effect will significantly mitigate the socioeconomic impact of the pandemic due to the persistence of current and/or future SARS-CoV-2 outbreaks, as well as outbreaks of other potentially harmful coronaviruses with similar entry routes,” said López.

€8.5 million fund

The €8.5 million Supera COVID-19 Fund has been earmarked for projects of different organizations that are based on the fund’s three-pronged strategic approach against COVID-19: research on the virus and its prevention, research on its social impact, and strengthening universities’ technological capacity and reducing the digital divide. A total of 700 grant applications were submitted, of which 35 were selected and received funding to the tune of €5 million to carry out applied research against the virus. Nearly €1 million was also distributed to twelve projects on the social impact of the virus. Finally, €2.5 million will be allocated to supply young university students in unfavorable socioeconomic situations throughout Spain with nearly 5,000 computers and 15,000 Internet connectivity solutions and webcams.

• The materials include a video with indications so that health professionals can prescribe the most suitable exercises for their patients

The Universidad Pública de Navarra and Primary Care Management of the Navarre Health Service - Osasunbidea have prepared a series of videos to promote physical exercise among the elderly. The videos were directed by Mikel Izquierdo Redín, a UPNA professor and the Head of the Navarrabiomed unit on physical exercise and quality of life, and include the recommendations of the Vivifrail Program, an international benchmark in the prevention of frailty and falls among the elderly.

These videos were produced within the framework of the Navarre Ministry of Health’s Active Aging Program, which takes the same approach as the European Union’s strategy to promote health and quality of life. Work is being done in primary care to promote health and healthy aging among the elderly, which is why Primary Care Management and the UPNA decided to collaborate on this initiative, whose basic aim is to promote physical exercise among the elderly and help health professionals prescribe personalized, adapted physical exercise for members of this age group.

One of the videos targets health professionals in the Navarre Health Service and explains how to perform a functional assessment, a required step before a suitable prescription of personalized exercise can be made.

The project’s other audiovisual materials are grouped in four exercise programs or wheels with different exercise intensity levels so the level can be increased or decreased depending on the person’s situation. Each exercise wheel has a corresponding video to provide a clear explanation on how to do an exercise program in real time. Because of the simplicity of the videos, elderly persons are able to do the exercises while watching the video and incorporate them into their daily routines. The videos can also be used in different places: in the home and also in residences, hospitals and vocational centers.

The Vivifrail Project

The Vivifrail Project, selected in 2017 by a panel of European Commission experts as a model of good practices, designed a training program that combines strength, balance and gait among people over age 70, given that a lack of physical activity is the chief risk of frailty. “Preventing disability in the elderly by taking action against frailty is possible because frailty can be detected and treated,” said Izquierdo.

The Vivifrail Project was initially European in scope, when five European countries (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) worked together for two years (2014-2016), with Izquierdo as coordinator, within the framework of the European Union’s strategy to promote health and quality of life.

In order to spread the word about the training program, the researchers published free materials for professionals in the fields of health, sports and physical activity: an educational guide, an app for smartphones and tablets, and an e-book. All of them are available on the project’s website. The project is now being implemented in five Latin American countries, thanks to Horizon 2020, the EU Framework Program for Research and Innovation. The project was also included in the recently published WHO Guidelines on Integrated Care for Older People. The Vivifrail Program is mentioned in the Guidelines’ section on improving mobility in the elderly.

• An international study involving the participation of CHN and Navarrabiomed has shown that these patients present abnormalities that affect the interferon pathway, a crucial system for defending against the virus.

The international collaborative study COVID Human Genetic Effort (COVIDHGE), in which the Hospital Complex of Navarre (CHN) and the Navarrabiomed Clinical Trials Platform took part, has shown that genetic and immunologic factors that affect the severity of the disease are found in approximately 15% of severe cases of COVID-19. These cases are directly linked to the malfunctioning of the protein type I interferon pathway.

Interferon is a protein produced by the immune system. Its function is to signal other immune cells about the presence of viruses. Abnormality in this molecule is due to genetic or immunologic factors that prevent the body’s cells from defending themselves against the coronavirus, which may leave the patient in a severe clinical condition.
Thanks to this global collaborative effort, which includes CHN patients, it has been possible to use genome analysis to identify innate errors in type I interferon-mediated immunity in the genome of 23 out of 659 patients with severe pneumonia caused by COVID-19 who presented no prior severe disease (3.5%), compared to a control group of 534 individuals with asymptomatic or benign infection. In these 23 patients, researchers found 6 genetic defects known to be associated with risk of severe viral infection, although none of these people had been ill until the arrival of SARS-CoV-2. Four genetic defects were also found that were unknown to date and that are behind the severe symptoms suffered by these people when exposed to the new coronavirus.

Moreover, the consortium found that 101 of 987 patients aged between 25 and 87 years with a severe form of COVID-19 (10.2%) presented antibodies to their own interferon from the onset of the infection or even before, compared to just 4 out of 1227 people in the general population (0.33%) and none of the 63 patients studied with mild COVID-19. In vitro studies have shown that these antibodies neutralize the blocking action of type I interferon against SARS-CoV-2.

We know that there is considerable variability among infected individuals, ranging from asymptomatic infection to fatal pneumonia due to COVID-19. It is known that men tend to be at a greater risk of severe complications than women and that the probability of severe illness increases notably in the elderly and in patients with pre-existing conditions, such as high blood pressure, cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, diabetes and obesity. In this collaborative study, the COVIDHGE consortium has found that the presence of these anti-interferon antibodies is much more common in men than in women with a severe form of COVID-19 (12.5% vs. 2.6%), and that the probability increases with age. This helps researchers understand part of this variability between individuals with severe SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Genomic Medicine Applied to COVID-19

The results recently published in two articles in the journal Science partially solve the mystery of why some young, healthy people suffer severe COVID-19 by linking incidence to genetic and immunologic factors. These factors can result in admission to the ICU and even death. In fact, in the group of patients with anti-interferon antibodies, mortality was 36.6% (37 out of 101 patients).

The research involved the participation of Dr. Sergio Aguilera, a pediatrician and neuropediatrician at the CHN Pediatrics Department, who is the coordinator of this study at CHN and Navarrabiomed in collaboration with Dr. Aurora Pujol, a geneticist with IDIBELL (Barcelona) who networks with COVIDHGE. The Rockefeller University in New York and Necker Hospital in Paris led this consortium, which includes more than 50 genome-sequencing centers, research groups, and hundreds of hospitals around the world.

The work provides evidence of the susceptibility of some people to suffering a severe SARS-CoV-2 infection, even though previously healthy and without having suffered any other previous relevant infections. “These findings will make it possible to more accurately select candidates for the different clinical trials in progress to assess the utility of treatment with interferon or blockers of these antibodies, aimed at counteracting the consequences of these genetic and immunologic factors involved in some severe forms of COVID-19”, said Dr. Aguilera.

More than 250 patients were recruited from several hospitals in Spain, including the following: CHN in Navarre, Hospital Infanta Leonor and Clínica Universidad de Navarra in Madrid, Hospital Universitario de Burgos in Burgos, and Hospital del Mar and Hospital Universitario de Bellvitge in Barcelona. The National Center for Genome Analysis took part in sequencing the patients’ genomes.
 

• The grants will go to 59 companies in the agri-food sector and to ten strategic R&D projects in line with Navarre’s Smart Specialization Strategies (S3)

The Government of Navarre’s Ministry of Economic and Business Development recently released the results of two calls for grant applications for the amount of €23 million. Specifically, it approved €13 million in grants to strategic R&D projects in line with the S3 and another €10 million to investments in agri-food industries in Navarre, as announced by Minister Manu Ayerdi at a press conference today.

An investment of €72 million in SMEs and micro-SMEs and an anticipated 256 new jobs

The Ministry of Economic and Business Development organized a specific call for applications in the agri-food industry and awarded grants to expenditures made before 1 December 2020, rather than to specific future projects. For these grants, applications were accepted to acquire machinery, build new facilities and remodel existing premises.

A total of 59 companies benefited from €10 million in financial aid. The lion’s share of the recipients (74%) were SMEs and micro-SMEs. The grants can be broken down as follows: 37 went to SMEs (eight of which were cooperatives) and seven to micro-SMEs, compared to 15 to large companies.

A further breakdown by subsector shows that €4.6 million was awarded to a total of 19 companies working with fruits and vegetables; €2.4 million went to 12 cereal companies; and €1.5 million was earmarked for 16 companies in the meat industry. Five companies in the dairy industry were awarded €448,388, and three olive oil production firms received €532,469.

Taken together, the winning projects were awarded a total of €72.8 million and are expected to create 256 new jobs.

By geographic area, most of the grants went to companies located in the middle and southern areas of Navarre. Many of the recipient firms (21) operate in the Ribera and Ribera del Ebro area. The County of Pamplona is home to another nine firms while seven companies are located in the Ribera Arga-Aragón area. The Navarra Atlántica, Tierra Estella and Zona Media areas boast six grant recipients each. Two companies are located in Baztan and another two have their head offices in the Pyrenees area. Furthermore, of the 59 successful applicants, 11 are located in towns with a population of less than 1,000 inhabitants. The eligible investment amounted to €12,812,857 (17.59%) and grants were awarded for €1,784,366.01, thus covering 17.68% of the total eligible investment.

€13 million for strategic R&D projects

Strategic R&D projects were awarded grants for a total of about €13 million, based on the Ministry’s goal of promoting the implementation of initiatives with a high impact on Navarre’s priority industries, as stipulated in the S3 Smart Specialization Strategies. In this case, the government gave high priority to projects undertaken jointly by companies and research organizations in order to address the different challenges Navarre must face. Forty-one companies and 24 technology and research centers will collaborate on ten scheduled projects.

For example, grants were awarded to three projects on genomics and advanced medicine. The largest of the three is the NagenPedriatrics project, which is promoted by Nasertic, the Miguel Servet Foundation and the company Avalon Tecnologías. The project aims to carry out advanced genome sequencing in pediatrics. This initiative received a grant for €1.99 million. The LINTERNA Project (Leadership and Innovation in Cancer Immunotherapy in Navarre) will receive €1.76 million and will be developed by the ADItech Foundation, Medibiofarma, the Miguel Servet Foundation, the Foundation for Applied Medical Research and the Universidad de Navarra. Finally, AGATA (Alliance in Advanced Genomics for the Development of Personalized Treatments) was awarded a grant for €1.52 million. The AGATA Project is promoted by the Miguel Servet Foundation, the Universidad de Navarra, Nasertic, Recombina and the Foundation for Applied Medical Research.

Food and artificial intelligence

In the area of personalized nutrition, an €841,529 grant was awarded to the Nutri+ Project: making progress on nutrition for people with special needs. The consortium that promotes this initiative is made up of the Miguel Servet Foundation, the National Center for Food Technology and Safety (CNTA), the Universidad de Navarra, Adacen, Tutti Pasta, Industrias Alimentarias de Navarra, Precocinados Frisa, Cocuus System Ibérica, the ADItech Foundation and SAR Residencial y Asistencial.

In artificial intelligence and robotics, the Government of Navarre aims to use these grants to promote three new initiatives. It awarded €813.349 to the ReInforce Project. This AI platform for predicting cancer toxicity and recurrence is backed by the Fundación I+D+i Automoción y Mecatrónica, the Universidad de Navarra and the companies Datbowmovalsys, Cistec, Eversens and Aldakin. A grant of €704,419 was awarded to the project Artificial Intelligence for Chipless RFID, promoted by the Universidad Pública de Navarra (UPNA), the Fundación I+D+i Automoción y Mecatrónica, and the companies Ulzama Digital, Ulzama Packaging, Embeblue, Innavatic and Gráficas Ulzama. The initiative AIFood was awarded a grant for €804.408 to start up a quality control and food safety monitoring and decision-making platform. In this case, the project was presented by a consortium made up of the UPNA, Association of Industry of Navarre (AIN), CNTA, and the companies Florette, Urzante, Helphone, Das Nano and IAR.

Finally, in the area of emerging disruptive ideas, a grant for €1.74 million was awarded to the Innolfact project, which aims to implement precision nasal medicine and develop nasal treatments with immunomodulators, especially in cases of aging and people with neurodegenerative diseases. The ADItech Foundation, the Miguel Servet Foundation and the Foundation for Applied Medical Research are backing this proposal, along with the Universidad de Navarra and Ojer Pharma Laboratories.
The Emotional Films project and study on applications in teaching, psychology and other fields, with the participation of the ADItech Foundation, was awarded a grant for €1,588,970.

The goal of the 3D3B-AVATAR project is to generate a 3D model of the human blood-brain barrier that reproduces characteristics in terms of structure, function and fluid dynamics in a patient with Alzheimer’s disease. The project was awarded a grant of €1,299,279 and will enjoy the participation of the UPNA, the Fundación I+D+i Automoción y Mecatrónica, the Foundation for Applied Medical Research, the Miguel Servet Foundation, and the companies Hirudi Sistemas 3D, Iruña Tecnologías de Automatización and One Voxel.
 

• Led by Dr. Maite Mendioroz Iriarte and Dr. Ivonne Jericó Pascual, the research project was awarded €482,847 in funding

The annual call for health research projects organized by “la Caixa” Foundation and the Francisco Luzón Foundation singled out a project that focuses on the development of a non-invasive test to detect amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, and other neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer-type dementia (ATD). The project is led by Maite Mendioroz Iriarte, the principal researcher in Navarrabiomed’s Neuroepigenetics Unit, and Ivonne Jericó Pascual, a neurologist and researcher in the Neurology Service of the Hospital Complex of Navarre (CHN). The initiative has been awarded a grant of €482,847.

Early detection of ALS and other neurodegenerative diseases is a daunting task, given the impossibility of accessing the central nervous system in living patients, as explained by “la Caixa” Foundation. However, a non-invasive test known as a liquid biopsy is now available as a source of biomarkers in neurodegenerative diseases.

The aim of this project is to identify epigenetic markers in fragments of DNA in blood plasma from neurons affected by neurodegeneration and thus facilitate diagnosis of ALS and ATD. A blood test can reveal information about what is happening in the central nervous system of living patients.

Collaboration with the Universidad de Navarra

A second project selected by “la Caixa” Foundation is led by Felipe Prósper, a researcher at the Universidad de Navarra. Also collaborating on the project is David Gómez-Cabrero, principal researcher in the Translational Bioinformatics Unit at Navarrabiomed, as part of a research consortium that includes the Foundation and Center for Applied Medical Research (FIMA/CIMA), and the University of Cambridge (United Kingdom). In this case, the team will work on analyzing the production of blood to better understand the most aggressive forms of leukemia. One of the goals is to identify new treatments that target the cause of the disease. The project has been awarded €999,410 in funding.

These initiatives were chosen in the third call for health research projects from “la Caixa” Foundation, which awarded €18 million to a total of 25 projects. Since the program began in 2017, the Foundation has granted nearly €50 million to 75 research projects. “la Caixa” Foundation will open the fourth call for new project applications on 20 October 2020.
 

La Unidad de Gestión de Navarrabiomed ha publicado hoy martes, 15 de septiembre la relación definitiva de personas admitidas y excluidas del Programa de ayudas Navarrabiomed 2020 para cada una de las convocatorias: ayuda predoctoral y ayuda postdoctoral. Puede consultar y descargar a continuación la documentación correspondiente. 

• Según los resultados del primer Observatorio de Actividad Física, financiado por Gobierno de Navarra con la participación de la UPNA, Navarrabiomed y el Departamento de Educación

El Observatorio de Actividad Física de niños y niñas de entre 3 y 6 años, puesto en marcha en Navarra en 2019, ha dado a conocer los primeros resultados de su estudio. Según los investigadores, si bien el 95% de los escolares disfruta “muchísimo” con las clases de motricidad realizadas en las escuelas, “uno de los datos relevantes es que tan solo el 45% de los niños y niñas realiza entre dos y tres horas de actividad física los sábados y los domingos, y un 15% cumple las recomendaciones para los menores de 5 años de realizar 180 minutos diarios de actividad física”.

Asimismo, “el 96% de los niños y niñas cumple con las recomendaciones que limitan a un máximo de 2 horas el tiempo de exposición a pantallas digitales y el 82% están poco o nada de tiempo sentados durante su tiempo libre, con lo que minimizan el riesgo de sedentarismo”, señalan los autores del estudio. 

El Observatorio de Actividad Física en menores de 3 a 6 años de la Comunidad Foral de Navarra es un proyecto de investigación financiado por el Departamento de Educación del Gobierno de Navarra y en el que participan investigadores del grupo Ejercicio Físico, Salud y Calidad de vida (E-FIT) de la Universidad Pública de Navarra (UPNA) y del Centro de Investigación Biomédica Navarrabiomed. El proyecto esa dirigido por Alicia Alonso (UPNA), Mikel Izquierdo y Robinson Ramírez-Vélez (UPNA-Navarrabiomed) y Antonio García-Hermoso (Navarrabiomed). 

Repercusiones del confinamiento

Los datos recogidos durante la fase de confinamiento, debido a la COVID-19, muestran que el 91% de los escolares evaluados realizó cierto nivel de actividad física. “A pesar de que tan solo el 11% la ha realizado durante más de 60 minutos al día, es importante señalar que el 65% de los participantes ha realizado alguna actividad entre 4 y 7 días por semana”. Un 3% de las familias indicaron que, durante el confinamiento, sus hijos no realizaron ningún tipo de actividad física. 

Por otro lado, como efecto de la situación vivida, un 8% de los niños y niñas manifestaba miedo a salir a jugar y pasear en la calle al inicio de la fase 1, tras 45 días de confinamiento en las casas. Entre la actividad física realizada durante este tiempo, destacan los juegos y deportes adaptados en los hogares, terrazas y jardines; bailes y coreografías infantiles, como por ejemplo “Zumba Kids”, fundamentalmente motivados por el profesorado de educación física y psicomotricidad, lo que sugiere “la importancia de estos profesionales en el fomento de hábitos saludables y calidad de vida de la población desde edades tempranas”. 

300 menores y 500 padres y madres

El objetivo del observatorio es favorecer el incremento en la práctica de actividad física del alumnado escolar, para que reduzca el tiempo de uso de dispositivos con pantallas y descanse lo suficiente para su edad, ya que está demostrado que la adquisición de hábitos saludables en la infancia es crucial para la prevención de enfermedades cardiovasculares en un futuro. 

En el curso escolar 2019/2020 han participado más de 300 niños y niñas y más de 500 padres y madres de los colegios Santa María La Real (Maristas), CP San Juan de la Cadena y La Compasión Escolapios. Para el próximo curso, colegios como el CP El Lago de Mendillorri se incorporarán en la fase 2 del Observatorio. 

El proyecto se ha completado con una formación específica y docente en el CIP F.P. Lumbier, donde 80 alumnos/as de los ciclos formativos de grado superior de la Familia de Actividades Físico - Deportivas se han formado como evaluadores. 

Las familias pueden consultar resultados de salud en la plataforma digital puesta en funcionamiento en el mes de julio y que ofrece información sobre la condición física y los hábitos saludables de los escolares. La plataforma identifica para cada franja de edad los valores recomendados de composición corporal (peso y estatura), resistencia cardiovascular, fuerza muscular de los brazos y piernas, así como de velocidad y agilidad, “aspectos fundamentales de la condición física saludable y necesarios para disminuir los riesgos cardiovasculares en el futuro”, apuntan los investigadores. 

Tal y como explican, “la primera infancia es un período crítico para el desarrollo físico, social y cognitivo y para establecer patrones de comportamiento saludables, que pueden persistir en la infancia y en la edad adulta”. En este sentido, cabe destacar que, recientemente, la Organización Mundial de la Salud (OMS) ha publicado las recomendaciones de actividad física, conducta sedentaria (tiempo de pantalla) y sueño en población preescolar menor a 5 años. Concretamente, en niños y niñas de 3 a 5 años, se recomienda realizar al menos 180 minutos de actividad física, de los cuales 60 minutos deben ser de intensidad moderada a vigorosa.

• Investigadores del Cima Universidad de Navarra, del Complejo Hospitalario de Navarra y de Navarrabiomed presentan a la calprotectina como un marcador de la evolución de la enfermedad

La enfermedad arterial periférica (EAP) es una patología que tiene una alta prevalencia en nuestro entorno. Está asociada a un alto riesgo de sufrir distintos eventos cardiovasculares, como infarto de miocardio, ictus o isquemia (falta de riego sanguíneo) en las extremidades inferiores, lo que implica una mala calidad de vida del enfermo y un coste socioeconómico elevado para el sistema sanitario. Además, en cuadros graves puede desencadenar la muerte del paciente.

Investigadores del Cima Universidad de Navarra, del Complejo Hospitalario de Navarra y de Navarrabiomed han identificado una proteína que predice el riesgo de amputación en las extremidades de estos pacientes. Su detección temprana ayudará a implantar tratamientos que frenen la evolución de la enfermedad.

El trabajo, realizado en el marco del Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria de Navarra (IdiSNA), se ha centrado en el análisis sanguíneo de 100 personas sanas y de 310 pacientes con cuadros de menor y mayor gravedad de EAP. “En concreto, hemos estudiado el contenido de las vesículas extracelulares de la sangre, unas esferas lipídicas que liberan todas las células de nuestro organismo. Estas vesículas aumentan en estados patológicos y portan ácidos nucleicos y proteínas de las células de origen”, explica la Dra. Carmen Roncal, investigadora del Programa de Enfermedades Cardiovasculares del Cima, miembro del CIBERCV y codirectora del trabajo.

Tecnología “ómica”

Gracias al desarrollo de las tecnologías “ómicas”, los investigadores del Cima desarrollaron un procedimiento para analizar los ácidos nucleicos presentes en las vesículas extracelulares. “Aplicamos técnicas de secuenciación de última generación (NGS, por sus siglas en inglés), que nos permitieron estudiar el ácido ribonucleico (ARN) mensajero contenido en las vesículas extracelulares. Se trata del material genético que codifica las secuencias de las proteínas que van a liberarse en el organismo”.

Tras aplicar un análisis bioinformático, realizado por el grupo del Dr. David Gómez-Cabrero en la Unidad de Bioinformática Traslacional de Navarrabiomed, los investigadores identificaron 15 genes expresados de manera diferencial en las vesículas extracelulares. “Al correlacionar con el cuadro clínico de los pacientes confirmamos que los enfermos con isquemia crítica presentan niveles elevados de calprotectina. Además, esta molécula se asocia con una mayor probabilidad de sufrir amputación, lo que a su vez aumenta el riesgo de mortalidad”, apunta la investigadora del Cima. Los resultados se han publicado en la revista científica Journal of Extracellular Vesicles.

Los investigadores sugieren que las vesículas extracelulares son una fuente para encontrar nuevos biomarcadores en la enfermedad arterial periférica. “A nivel experimental su contenido proporciona mucha información sobre las células de origen y sobre cómo se relacionan con otras células. El desarrollo tecnológico facilitará que este análisis pueda implantarse de manera rutinaria en la actividad clínica en el futuro”, concluye la Dra. Roncal.

Referencia bibliográfica:

• J Extracell Vesicles . 2020 Feb 19;9(1):1729646.