Basque Research

I have no clue what took me so long.

I just added the link to the page called Basque Research to my list of Basque Websites.

They are constantly publishing the results of a number of research projects, here you have a couple of examples.

An obstacle to cancer cells

The circulation of cancer cells through the blood vessels is often the cause of metastasis. These cancer cells contaminate normal cells and the pathology spreads throughout the body. Metastasis is the main risk in cancers. In order to prevent this process from occurring, a team from the Chemistry Faculty at the Donostia-San Sebastián campus of the University of the Basque Country (UPV-EHU) analysed the connections between cancer and normal cells.

Concretely, the UPV-EHU analysed the proteins that are involved in these connections. From amongst these proteins, they chose the ones that have a single active centre. If this centre is blocked, the cancer cell will not be able to adhere itself to a healthy cell and, thus, this path of spreading the disease is blocked.

The first thing to do is to analyse the structure of the proteins chosen. This task is undertaken using computers, given that the proteins are gigantic molecules. Once the structure is analysed and with the data for the active centre of the connection, the design of a new, small molecule to block this centre is initiated.

Ideal antibiotic for hospital-acquired infections

A study undertaken in 38 Intensive Care Units (ICUs) throughout Spain, one of which was the Galdakano Hospital in Bizkaia, analysed what the most used antibiotics were and identified the elements that have to be taken into account when making a choice of treatment for hospital-acquired infections caused by grampositive microorganisms. It was seen from the study that, with these infections, therapeutic failure following standard therapy with vancomicyn or teicoplanin is greater than that registered with linezolid.

Nearly half the infections occurring in the ICUs are produced by these microorganisms, the most frequent infections being pneumonias associated with mechanical ventilation and bacteremias related to vascular catheters.

More than 800 patients were involved in the study. The results of the research was presented at the XVI Meeting of the Infectious Diseases Workgroup of the Spanish Society for Intensive, Critical and Heart Unit Medicine (SEMICYUC) which was held recently in the city of Zaragoza.

The antibiotics analysed were the new pharmaceutical linezolid and the standard therapy with vancomicyn and teicoplanin. The first of these medicines belongs to a new family of antibiotics, the oxazolidinones, that represent the main alternative to these kinds of resistant bacteria. The studies have shown that, in those cases of pneumonia acquired in hospitals through methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (SARM), linezolid, the first molecule of the new family, and as a first-line treatment instead of the standard therapy with vancomicyn, improves the cure rates and even the survival rates in that sub-group of patient that need mechanical ventilation.

My apologies, better late than never.

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