El Hospital Quirónsalud Marbella acoge una jornada de donación de sangre

          

• El próximo miércoles, 27 de julio, la unidad Móvil del Centro de Transfusión, Tejidos y Células de Málaga se traslada al hospital Quirónsalud Marbella para desarrollar una jornada de donación de sangre entre sus empleados y vecinos de la zona

El Hospital Quirónsalud Marbella acogerá el próximo miércoles 27 de julio una jornada de donación de sangre. La unidad móvil del Centro de Transfusión, Tejidos y Células de Málaga se instalará a la entrada del edificio principal para desarrollar una jornada de donación de sangre. El horario de la campaña será de 10:00h a 14:00h.

La convocatoria está dirigida al personal del Hospital Quirónsalud Marbella así como de los cinco Centros Médicos periféricos de consultas externas situados a escasos metros del edificio central. Además de los trabajadores sanitarios, todos los vecinos y visitantes que quieran participar en la jornada de donación podrán hacerlo. Simplemente deberán presentarse en la puerta principal del centro sanitario en el horario establecido.

Los requisitos básicos para donar son: tener entre 18 y 65 años, gozar de buena salud en general, pesar más de 50 kg y, en el caso de las mujeres, no estar embarazadas. No se debe acudir en ayunas y se debe de respetar un periodo de descanso de 2 meses entre cada donación (los hombres pueden donar sangre 4 veces al año y las mujeres 3 veces al año).

 

Las reservas de sangre son básicas para el funcionamiento de los hospitales, tanto para transfusiones a pacientes que lo necesiten, como para intervenciones quirúrgicas u otro tipo de procesos asistenciales. El Centro de Transfusión Sanguínea de Málaga es el encargado de abastecer a todos los hospitales malagueños de sangre en función de sus necesidades.

 

He superado la Covid-19, ¿Puedo donar sangre?

 

No existe evidencia científica que confirme la transmisión del virus a través de la transfusión de sangre. Las restricciones en este aspecto están dirigidas a proteger al personal médico que asiste las donaciones y a los propios donantes. Es por ello, que un médico evaluará previamente la idoneidad del donante. Por lo general, se aconseja que hayan trascurrido 28 días desde el cese total de todos los síntomas vinculados a la enfermedad.

 

  

Eiger Receives European Approval for Zokinvy® (lonafarnib) for Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria Syndrome and Processing-Deficient Progeroid Laminopathies

  Eiger BioPharmaceuticals Inc. (Nasdaq: EIGR), a commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of innovative therapies to treat and cure hepatitis delta virus and other serious diseases announced today the European Commission (EC) has granted marketing authorization for Zokinvy® (lonafarnib), a first-in-class breakthrough therapy for children and young adults with Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome (HGPS) and processing-deficient progeroid laminopathies (PL).

Collectively known as progeria, HGPS and PL are devastating ultra-rare, and fatal pediatric diseases that cause dramatically accelerated aging and premature death. The main cause of death is heart attack or stroke due to severe hardening of the arteries. Without Zokinvy treatment, children with HGPS die at an average age of 14.5 years.3,4

“Until now, no medication has been approved in Europe for people living with this debilitating condition. For the first time we have a therapeutic option with Zokinvy which has been proven to meaningfully extend the average life span of children with HGPS by nearly one third,” said Professor Thorsten Marquardt, Paediatric and Adolescent Medicine, University of Münster, Germany. “With less than 5% of rare diseases having an approved treatment, the authorization of Zokinvy represents both a significant medical milestone and increased hope for the progeria community.”

The EC authorization follows the positive opinion granted by European Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) in May 2022 which was based on the positive results of two pivotal clinical trials demonstrating that Zokinvy, an oral disease-modifying agent which targets the cause of progeria, lowered the risk of death in children by 72%, and extended life by an average of 4.3 years in children and young adults with HGPS.2

“The European Commission’s approval of Zokinvy, Eiger’s first approval in Europe, is the culmination of years of dedication and commitment by the Eiger team and the Progeria Research Foundation, our partners in this pioneering endeavor,” said David Cory, President and CEO, Eiger. “Eiger’s mission is to bring innovative medicines to underserved patients around the world. We are proud of this approval which further demonstrates our ability to partner with investigators and regulators to achieve that mission.”

“The approval of Zokinvy is extremely welcome news for families and the entire progeria community,” added Marjet Stamsnijder, President, Progeria Family Circle. “I am delighted we now have a treatment approved for use in Europe that has the ability to transform the lives of children and young adults with progeria.”

The European Commission’s centralized marketing authorization is valid in all 27 EU member states as well as Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway. Regulatory review is ongoing by the UK’s Medicine and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) as part of the European Commission Decision Reliance Procedure. Eiger expects to make Zokinvy available following successful completion of reimbursement discussions country-by-country.

PlantaCorp offers solutions for stress and insomnia

  

 Do you wake up in the middle of the night and can't find your way back to sleep? Almost 30 percent of adults worldwide suffer from sleep disorders. In most cases, stress prevents us from getting a good night's rest. Too little sleep makes us susceptible to all kinds of diseases and robs us of energy. Many people therefore turn to conventional medications, which in turn leads to other problems in the long run. PlantaCorp provides a solution to sleep problems with a wide range of supplements.

To understand how the active ingredients in PlantaCorp's products work in the human body to promote more restful sleep, a little digression into biology will help. All people have an individual sleep-wake rhythm. Every evening, processes begin in the human body that initiate sleep, for example, certain hormones are released and the body temperature drops. Exactly the same game takes place in the morning before waking up, only in reverse- the body temperature rises and other hormones flow through the body and get us going. If people pay attention to the body's own signals, they usually sleep without problems.

External factors such as time changes or stress, whether professional or personal, can upset this natural sleep-wake rhythm in the long run. PlantaCorp's specially formulated liposomal supplements have been proven to help you get back into a natural rhythm.

Because PlantaCorp's supplements are in liposomal form, they work many times better than traditional tablets. The liposomal formulation helps the human body better absorb the active ingredients contained in the supplements.

Active ingredients that promote healthy sleep

Do not forget to consult your family doctor before you consume one of the following sleep aids:

• Melatonin: This hormone initiates the sleep phase in the human body. If melatonin is not released in time or in sufficient quantities, this inevitably leads to sleep disorders.
• Magnesium: A deficiency of magnesium leads to various problems, including restless sleep. Scientific studies show that the mineral relaxes the muscles and prepares the body for sleep. At the same time, magnesium supports the release of melatonin.
• Vitamin B complex: The vitamins from the B complex, especially B2, B3, B5, B6 and B12, support the body's own sleep and wake hormones release and ensure a more restful sleep.
• Valerian root: The calming effect of valerian has been known for a long time especially in Asian countries such as China, India and Japan. Valerian calms brain activity and supports the body's own melatonin release. Another advantage of the active ingredient: after waking up, the body is immediately full of energy and you have a peppy start to the day.

PlantaCorp offers custom manufacturing and white label solutions for liquid liposomal sleep aids. They can be contacted at the address below.

Meet The Entrepreneur Who Has Overcome Her Mental Health Issues And Launched Her New Business Portal

 

                           

Mental health issues do not discriminate. They don’t care about age, gender or socio-economic status. High achievers are high candidates for mental health issues, and sufferers can be struggling beneath the surface, their problems hidden by their career accomplishments. A 2018 study of 700,000 adults by researchers from the Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, with colleagues from the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, showed that those who scored top grades at school were four times more likely to develop bipolar disorder than those with average grades.   Amy-Renee Hovorka is a high achiever challenged by schizoaffective disorder A with bipolar, a kind of schizophrenia and adult ADHD. She is also the founder and CEO of procurement agency, Procurement Marketplace, with a history of successful businesses behind her and, to the observer, an aspirational life.   Hovorka functions because she has worked hard to learn how to deal with her illness. She also still takes antipsychotic and antidepressant medication as well as a mild ADHD medication. And Procurement Marketplace exists in no small part because she wants to change how people see mental illness.     “Physical disabilities have role models and survival stories, why aren’t there any mental disability survival stories? It is mainly because of the stigma. Mental health challenges are seen as a weakness but I feel it is time to change that. This start-up is a big deal for me because it means that I trust myself again, that I believe in myself again and willing to back myself,” she states.   Amy-Renee Hovorka’s career is the history of an icon of successful women in business. She has managed a portfolio of inventions towards commercialisation in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for economic growth, been the founding member of King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, raised over AUD $1.5 million in seed and prototype development funding for innovation projects managed without equity commitments, restructured and renegotiated a AUD $1 Billion supply chain contract, developed strategic sourcing plan to deliver  AUD$100 million savings over three years and led strategic sourcing pilot program for the NSW Government delivering AUD $12.4 million savings. As CEO and Founder of Innovation-Firebug, she developed a methodology and platform to value, advance and commercialise innovation that is globally scalable. She has a degree in Manufacturing Management, an MBA, and is a certified member of the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply (CIPS).       Her career history conceals a long struggle with her inner life. She had a prolonged psychotic episode for a year and a half that ended in a psych ward in March 2018, “because I locked myself out of my apartment which I hadn’t left for over a year,” she notes.   “Biological depression became my normal and I struggled to do anything and everything. The psych ward doctors told my family I would never work again although that information wasn’t shared with me. It really is remarkable the physical manifestations that a mental health problem takes on. It is like your body is trying to tell you there is something wrong but doesn’t have the language to communicate so it does it through pain and fear. Inexplicable and undefinable anxiety is exhausting and frustrating. You have all your sensors go off that something is wrong but you can’t rationally pinpoint the cause so you can’t talk yourself out of it,” she adds.   Hovorka ended up on the disability support pension but the desire to work still burned within her. She contacted the disability employment agency, NOVA. “Eventually they found me a job working with Zimmer Biomet. NOVA and Zimmer changed my life,” she recalls. She began to believe it was possible to conquer mental health issues and began learning to trust herself again. The support of her parents and godmother were invaluable, she says, but then she fell in love. “Being loved and feeling safe and knowing someone has your back allows you to grow, expand and take risks,” she states.   The idea for Procurement Marketplace had been percolating since Hovorka’s days at Innovation-Firebug. She finally had the wherewithal to act on it. With her long history in procurement, she saw an opportunity across the board of companies - small to medium companies that don’t have a procurement function but want a better approach to the industry and large companies that have a procurement department but want to supplement their capabilities with some procurement product support. It is in the process of raising $1m so that it can “hit the market hard,” she states.   “My 'why' is I am innovation personified, I dream big, think big and see the world operating differently, more structured, fair and more beautiful,” she says. “We will do this by acting globally, across all industries and sectors with an Interactive Categorisation Engine. We’ve created a platform for procurement services at the moment but it can do so much more. We are the Amazon for procurement products.”   She adds, “Procurement Marketplace is a huge achievement on my mental health journey. I have been able to shift anxiety into creativity, mental expansion and the ability to trust what I think and create again and take risks. I believe I can do that again.”

  

 

Apaxen appoints Graham K. Dixon as Chairman and prepares for clinical testing of its lead inflammasome inhibitor

 

Apaxen SA, a privately-held biotechnology company, developing novel next generation NLRP3 inflammasome inhibitor drugs for treatment of chronic inflammatory and auto-immune diseases, announced today that it has appointed Graham K. Dixon, PhD as Chairman of its Board of Directors and that it is preparing for clinical testing of its lead product MFC-1040.

The appointment of Dr Graham Dixon as Chairman is an important step in the transformation of Apaxen from a pre-clinical to a clinical stage company. During his successful carreer in C-suite management positions at companies such as Galapagos, Addex Therapeutics and Mithra Pharmaceutical, he was instrumental to the regulatory approval of three pharmaceutical products, twelve proof of concept studies and ten clinical stage licensing deals. He is an experienced non-executive director and board chairman as well as an advisor to several venture capital organisations and their portfolio companies.

In addition, Apaxen expects to complete IND enabling pre-clinical testing of its lead NLRP3 inflammasome inhibitor MFC-1040  by end of 2022 and aims to raise series B round financing by early 2023 to fund the clinical development plans of the company.

Bart Wuurman, CEO of Apaxen, stated:

“We are very pleased to welcome Graham as Chairman of Apaxen’s Board of Directors with his experience and extensive track record of leading biotechnology companies through strategic periods of growth. He will be a great asset for the company entering its phase of clinical development and we look forward to working with him.“

Graham Dixon, newly appointed Chairman of Apaxen, comments:

“I am very excited to join the Apaxen team. With its novel approach to inhibiting NLRP3 inflammasomes the Company is moving into the next stage of growth and we will be looking for new high quality investors to support the company financially. I look forward to guiding Apaxen during this exciting time in the Company’s development and supporting the team to achieve our mission of helping patients with severe inflammatory and autoimmune diseases.”

 

Quirónsalud Marbella investiga una App para evaluar y seguir las intervenciones de cambio de tono vocal

                                  

•    Posibilitar al paciente el acceso a una correcta evaluación que refuerce los resultados clínicos deseados tras las operaciones de cambio de tono de las cuerdas vocales (feminización y masculinización). Ese es el objetivo del estudio de investigación en el que está inmerso el Servicio de Otorrinolaringología del Hospital Quirónsalud Marbella. Un proyecto científico cuya finalidad es evaluar la utilidad de una aplicación móvil como herramienta de evaluación y seguimiento de la intervención quirúrgica en la que el periodo  pre y post operatorio es considerado de muy alta relevancia e influyente para el logro del timbre de voz esperado.  “El Objetivo principal de este trabajo es la validación de un programa de ejercicios a disposición de las pacientes en un terminal móvil que nos permite el análisis biomecánico como herramienta de valoración en el proceso de una intervención de cambio de tono vocal”, detalla el otorrino Felipe Benjumea Flores.

El especialista asegura que los datos obtenidos servirán para confeccionar una rutina de ejercicios que se integrarán en la práctica clínica, ya sea en consulta presencial o en el ámbito de la cita telemática. El estudio se inició el pasado mes de abril y se estima que se prolongue durante los próximos meses, hasta finales de año. En cuanto a la selección de pacientes, se trata de mujeres transgénero que han sido intervenidas en el propio hospital. “Iniciamos el reclutamiento en la propia consulta de Otorrinolaringología donde se identifican a las pacientes con disforia de género por voz grave (rechazan su tono de voz por considerarlo desacorde al estereotipo de mujer). Son pacientes que se someten a la intervención de feminización de voz y logopedia posterior. Una vez realizada la operación, iniciamos el trabajo de campo con la evaluación de los parámetros físicos y auditivos que nos permite esta aplicación digital”, explica.

Proyecto de investigación único

Este estudio del potencial uso del dispositivo móvil como coadyuvante tras la operación de cambio de voz es único en su género, no existe en la actualidad otra investigación similar en activo. Ello se debe, principalmente, a que el Hospital Quirónsalud Marbella se ha posicionado en el país como centro de referencia en intervenciones de feminización de voz. De hecho, el servicio de Otorrinolaringología, co-dirigido por los doctores Juan Carlos Casado y Carlos O'Connor, fue el primero en España en realizar esta cirugía denominada glotoplastia en el año 2013.

“Durante estos años hemos perfeccionado nuestra técnica, se han mejorado notablemente los resultados y somos mucho más ágiles en el quirófano. Incluso hemos patentado instrumental quirúrgico específico para acceder con mayor seguridad y realizar las suturas con precisión en las cuerdas vocales”, subraya el doctor Casado.

Juan Carlos Casado es el único especialista de España integrante de la Asociación Internacional de Cirujanos de la Voz Trans (International Association of TransVoice Surgeons), creada este año en Alemania, lugar de nacimiento de la gotoplastia de Wendler. Esta plataforma, fundada por solo 12 especialistas procedentes de distintos países, nace con el objetivo de mejorar la calidad de la atención a la voz y las técnicas quirúrgicas para las mujeres transexuales. Además, impulsará la formación profesional y la investigación sobre la cirugía de cambio de tono vocal. La glotoplastia es una modificación de una laringe anatómicamente masculina en una laringe anatómicamente femenina. Para ello se acorta y quita masa a las cuerdas vocales para conseguir la reducción de la vibración al salir el aire y, en consecuencia, rebajar el tono de la voz. Esta operación no es invasiva ni deja cicatrices externas.

  

Alianza entre Fundació Puigvert y la empresa IOMED para investigar enfermedades uro-nefro-andrológicas

  

 

 

La Fundació Puigvert impulsará su investigación      con la herramienta de inteligencia artificial desarrollada por IOMED Medical Solutions, que permitirá automatizar el acceso a datos clínicos por parte de los investigadores     del hospital con el fin de desarrollar más estudios en menos tiempo, con gran volumen de datos y con menor coste. “Tenemos ya los dos primeros proyectos candidatos, uno en urooncología y otro en enfermedad renal hereditaria, utilizando la tecnología de IOMED. Estamos en la fase de implementación y las expectativas son altas como herramienta de potenciación de la investigación en nuestro centro”, explica la doctora Sílvia Mateu, coordinadora de investigación de la Fundació Puigvert. “Esta herramienta permitirá nuestra participación en proyectos multicéntricos de big data y de inteligencia artificial que darán lugar a ampliar el conocimiento no sólo en patologías muy prevalentes como es el caso de los diferentes tumores urogenitales o enfermedad renal crónica, sino también en el campo de enfermedades minoritarias raras donde el disponer de gran número de casos a partir de la colaboración de muchos centros en coordinación es primordial”, comenta la doctora Mateu. “Compartir datos a gran escala aporta mucha información sobre la experiencia real de los pacientes tratados o seguidos en las patologías estudiadas, información que de otra manera sería imposible de conocer. Los resultados de los estudios big data y la IA son imprescindibles para mejorar y optimizar el manejo y tratamiento futuro de los pacientes. Tienen el potencial de lograr una medicina más eficaz y personalizada”, añade. Javier de Oca, CEO y cofundador de IOMED apunta sobre la alianza: “Facilitará a los profesionales sanitarios e investigadores acceder a los datos almacenados en una décima parte del tiempo que se emplearía en una extracción de datos manual”.                Anonimización de los datos La herramienta ha sido cedida por IOMED Medical Solutions a la Fundació Puigvert de forma gratuita. Se encarga de transformar los datos de las historias clínicas que se escriben en texto libre (notas clínicas, cursos clínicos, informes médicos de pruebas diagnósticas, informes de alta, informes de intervenciones quirúrgicas, etc.) en datos codificados utilizando vocabularios clínicos estándar (SNOMED, CIE-9, CIE-10, LOINC, etc). Esta transformación se realiza mediante algoritmos de inteligencia artificial y procesamiento del lenguaje natural que estructuran toda la información escrita. Los datos se anonimizan y quedan almacenados en los servidores del hospital, que será el que mantendrá en todo momento su gobernanza y custodia. Red europea de investigación clínica federada IOMED forma parte del proyecto EDHEN, que busca la creación de una red federada de datos médicos a nivel europeo para mejorar la investigación sanitaria. Dentro de esta iniciativa europea, IOMED ha procesado los datos de más de 18 millones de pacientes.  “La estructuración de datos es la base primordial para proyectos de big data y de inteligencia artificial para abordar el estudio de patologías uro-nefro-andrológicas en el entorno real (real world data). La transformación de datos en estándares OMOP facilitará la realización de proyectos internos de investigación y, sobre todo, nos permitirá participar de forma más estandarizada, fácil y ágil en proyectos a gran escala promovidos tanto por empresas privadas como por grupos colaborativos de      investigación independiente. Podremos optar a participar en proyectos de gran envergadura a nivel europeo donde esta tecnología es de uso preferente”, indica la coordinadora de investigación de la Fundació Puigvert. Por su parte, Javier de Oca, CEO y cofundador de IOMED, destaca la importancia de este acuerdo. “Este convenio permitirá a la Fundació Puigvert estar a la vanguardia de la investigación clínica global”.