19/11/2018 - Press release
Having certain specific variants of the PATJ gene predisposes to worse recovery from ischemic stroke. 7 out of 10 patients with these variants suffer severe sequelae three months after having a stroke, in other words, they are in a situation of dependence, compared to less than half of patients who do not present these variants. This is data from an international, multicentre study coordinated by researchers at the Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute (IMIM) and doctors from the Hospital del Mar, published in the journal Circulation Research. This is the most important research carried out so far in the field of genetics and stroke prognosis, and the first published: it uses data from more than 2,000 patients and involves 12 centres from around the world. The study was carried out thanks to the help of the 2010 edition of La Marató de TV3.
Més informació "Gene vital for post-stroke recovery identified for the first time"
11/07/2017 - Press release
Researchers at the Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute (IMIM) have shown for the first time that immunoglobulin M, secreted by the human intestine, plays a key role in maintaining the diversity of intestinal flora by including and maintaining microorganisms that are beneficial to our health. These results have been published in the prestigious scientific journal Immunity. "We have discovered that, in addition to immunoglobulin A, (IgA), immunoglobulin M (IgM), secreted by the human intestine, interacts with the intestinal microbiota and actively participates in maintaining its diversity. In addition, we have demonstrated that this immunoglobulin is part of an immunological memory system through which our organism is able to recognise and adapt to its microbial environment", explain Giuliana Magri and Laura Comerma, researchers from the B Cell Biology research group at the IMIM and first authors of the article.
Més informació "Key immunological mechanism for regulating intestinal flora discovered"
04/05/2017 - Events
Researchers at the Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute (IMIM) and the University of Barcelona have uncovered a mutation that makes bone vulnerable to bisphosphonates, drugs used to combat osteoporosis. Instead of strengthening bone and preventing fractures, these medicines induce a critical problem that makes the femur more prone to breaks. This discovery, enormously significant clinically, was published today in the New England Journal of Medicine, the most important biomedical journal in terms of potential impact. Osteoporosis causes fractures that affect up to 40% of people over the age of 50. Bisphosphonates are efficient and cheap, making them the first line of treatment for this condition. Nevertheless, they have been associated with atypical fracturing of the femur. "Despite the rarity of this complication and the fact that many more fractures are prevented than induced, fear of this complication has led to the prescription of these drugs being criticised, especially for long-term treatment", explains study leader Dr. Adolf Díez, emeritus head of internal medicine at Hospital del Mar and a researcher in the musculoskeletal research group at the IMIM.
28/07/2016 - Press release
Cardiologists at the Hospital del Mar and researchers from the Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute (IMIM) have developed a new tool that enables them to estimate atrial fibrillation risk using electrocardiogram indicators, basic clinical data, and parameters obtained through Holter monitors (small electronic devices that record and store a patient's electrocardiogram for 24 hours). The results of the project have just been published in the International Journal of Cardiology. Atrial fibrillation is a disease characterised by uncoordinated and disorganised atrial beats that produce a rapid and irregular heart rate. It is estimated that it affects between 1.5 and 2% of people in the developed world and the percentage increases with age.
20/07/2016 - Press release
Lung cancer is the most deadly cancer in the world, causing more than one and a half million deaths a year. The most common subtype of lung cancer is adenocarcinoma. The presence of other underlying conditions, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), which is also responsible for a high mortality rate in industrialised regions, increases the risk of developing it. Despite recent progress in therapeutic strategies for combatting this disease, the majority of patients who are diagnosed do not survive for more than five years. It is a cancer that can develop silently for many months and, in some cases, the symptoms can be confused with other diseases, such as the already-mentioned COPD. This is why it is usually diagnosed in very advanced stages. To all these impediments, it is necessary to add the difficulty of finding an appropriate treatment for each patient, since there is a high level of resistance to currently-used drugs.
Més informació "A combination of therapies improves lung cancer treatment"
16/06/2016 - Press release
An international study led by the Neurology Service at Hospital del Mar and the Neurovascular research group at the Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute (IMIM) has quantified the risk and developed predictors for ischemic stroke in patients with carotid artery stenosis. The results of the study, published in the journal Neurology, have confirmed that there is a high risk of recurrence in the first 14 days after the stroke, which is the recommended time for carotid revascularisation surgery. But since very urgent surgery entails a considerable surgical risk, it is necessary to determine the most appropriate time for undertaking this operation in the fourteen days following the stroke. The study provides a starting point and randomised trials are recommended to determine the benefits and safety of emergency revascularisation as opposed to subacute carotid revascularisation within 14 days after the onset of symptoms.
Més informació "When is the best time to have carotid stenosis surgery after a stroke?"
25/05/2016 - Events
Two translational research studies by the University of Barcelona have described new immunologic mechanisms in psoriasis, a chronic cutaneous inflammatory disease which affects around the 2% of the population. The studies, published in the high impact scientific magazines Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology and Journal of Investigative Dermatology , have analysed the molecular processes involved in the IL-17 cytokine –a protein family of the immune system- with samples of patients with psoriasis. These results are important to understand the origins of psoriasis and develop more specific pharmaceutical treatments, since the IL-17 blocking is a new therapeutic strategy which is very effective when controlling this illness. The studies have been led by Lluís Francesc Santamaria, Director of the group of Translationary Immunology of the University of Barcelona based at the Barcelona Science Park, together with researchers of the Hospital del Mar and the Municipal Institute for Medical Research, among others.
Més informació "New evidence on molecular mechanisms involved in psoriasis outset"
31/03/2016 - Press release
The Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute and the Vall d'Hebron Research Institute, in collaboration with the MútuaTerrassa Foundation, were the only Spanish research centres to participate in the largest study to date into genome association with ischaemic stroke, and which involved around 38,000 patients and 400,000 control subjects. The study, published recently in Lancet Neurology by two international consortia, has led to the identification of a gene implicated in atherothrombotic ischaemic stroke. The team of Dr. Jordi Jiménez-Conde, head of the Genetics Area within the Neurovascular Research Group at the IMIM and a neurologist at the Hospital del Mar, took part in the discovery phase of the study. This first part involved the analysis of nearly 900 samples from stroke patients and 1200 controls from the Hospital del Mar, this being the second-ranked centre internationally according number of cases.
08/02/2016 - Press release
Researchers from the Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute (IMIM) have found an epigenetic mechanism implicated in the regulation of blood sugar. The study, published in the journal Molecular Human Genetics, reveals that the methylation of the TXNIP gene is associated with diabetes mellitus type 2 and, in particular, average blood glucose levels. These results, replicated in two patient cohorts, could help to both identify patients at risk of developing diabetes and control treatment response, as well as generating possible future therapies for this disease, one of the major cardiovascular risk factors in the population. The work was coordinated by Carolina Soriano, from the Neurovascular research group at the IMIM, and Jordi Jiménez Conde, from the same group and a neurologist at the Hospital del Mar, in collaboration with the IMIM's Cardiovascular Epidemiology and Genetics group.
22/12/2015 - Press release
A study by the Cardiology Service's Heart Failure Unit at the Hospital del Mar and IMIM (Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute) has demonstrated that patients with chronic heart failure (HF) who are telephonically monitored have better results with regard to relapse and rehospitalisation than patients that receive conventional on-site follow-up. For six months the researchers used an electronic platform to analyse the evolution of a group of telephonically monitored patients, who used videoconferencing to communicate with the healthcare team. According to the study published in the Journal of Telemedicine and Telecare, the group being monitored using telemedicine also involved a 3,546 euro reduction in average cost per patient compared to the control group, over the six months of follow-up.
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