Unidad de Enfermedades Neuromusculares del Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau
On the occasion of the Rare Diseases Day the 28th of February, informative and scientific activities are carried out in different cities. The topic chosen for this edition is “Approaching Patient Support Services”, where the accent is placed on the best access of patients to support services.
The VIII course will be held on May 8-9-10 at the Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau.
The Carlos III Health Institute awards the “Rio Hortega” contracts every year. These contracts are for health professionals who have completed the period of specialized health training and allow the consolidation of clinical research staff in health institutions. Dr. Rodrigo Álvarez Velasco has received one of these contracts with a duration of two years to develop his activity as a clinician and researcher in the Neuromuscular Diseases Unit of the Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau. This period will allow him to specialize in the management of patients with neuromuscular diseases as well as participate in different clinical and basic research projects in the Neuromuscular laboratory.
The Carlos III Health Institute has also awarded Dr. Xavier Suárez-Calvet a Sara Borrell post-doctoral research contract. This 3-year contract will allow him to continue the research of the group that focuses on the knowledge of the mechanisms involved in muscle degeneration and the development of new therapeutic strategies in muscular dystrophies.
The Alfonso Martín Escudero Foundation has awarded Dr. Elena Cortés a research scholarship in universities or centers abroad. This scholarship will allow her to extend her stay in Dr Santamaria’s laboratory at the University of Calgary (Canada) during 2019. Dr. Cortés began her stay in Calgary in June 2018 and is studying an innovative therapy for the treatment of Myasthenia Gravis in the pre-clinical mouse model of the disease.
The second meeting of the European Reference Network for Neuro-muscular Diseases EURO-NMD will be held in Prague in the coming days. The Neuromuscular Diseases Unit of the Hospital de Sant Pau has representation in different work groups of different pathologies as well as in cross-sectional groups.
As every year, the Spanish Society of Neurology (SEN) holds its annual meeting on November 20 to 24, this year hold in Seville.
The Neuromuscular Diseases Unit of the Sant Pau Hospital presents three studies related to hereditary and autoimmune neuropathies. The presentations will be carried out by the pre-doctoral students Dra. Lorena Martín-Aguilar and Dra. Elba Pascual-Goñi. Both will present works directed by Dr. Luis Querol specialist of the unit in these pathologies.
The association of patients with neuromuscular diseases ASEM Catalunya on the occasion of the National Day of Neuromuscular Diseases (November 15) celebrates the VIII Gala Premis Fem Pinya.
The 15th International Congress of Neuromuscular Diseases (ICNMD 2018) will be held in Vienna the next 6 to 10 July. This congress is organized by the Neuromuscular Pathology Research Group of the World Federation of Neurology. Since 2014, this congress is held every two years. The objective is to present a broad spectrum of neuromuscular diseases and advances in research, diagnosis and treatment.
Dra. Teresa Sevilla and Dr. Rafael Sivera of the Hospital de la Fe, are conducting a study to collect all patients from Spain with CMT caused by mutations in the MORC2 gene and make a genotype-phenotype description.
As every year the course of neuromuscular diseases carried out in the Hospital de Sant Pau, has brought together neurologists from all over Spain interested in neuromuscular pathology. Like the previous year, students from South America and Portugal attended the course.
During three intense days, classes of the large groups of neuromuscular pathology have been given; these classes are carried out by national experts in each subject. The workshops were held in the afternoon, deepening in more technical aspects and fundamental diagnostic tests in these pathologies.
The Neuromuscular diseases Unit of Hospital Sant Pau publishes an article in the Brain Journal.
The doctors Xavier Suárez-Calvet, Eduard Gallardo and Isabel Illa of the Sant Pau Neuromuscular Unit, signed the paper entitled “JAK inhibitor improves type I interferon induced damage: proof of concept in dermatomyositis” published in the prestigious Brain Journal. This international collaboration study establishes the bases for the treatment with Ruxolitinib of patients with dermatomyositis resistant to conventional therapies. Ruxolitinib is an inhibitor of JAK1 / 2 which is a key molecule in the type I interferon signaling.