It is led by the center’s supervisor of Internal Medicine and Palliative Care, Eduardo Sánchez. The project “Effectiveness of an m-Health Intervention, Based on Rehabilitation and a Personalized Nutrition Plan, for the recovery and improvement of dysphagia in patients diagnosed with stroke,” at the Punta de Europa University Hospital in Algeciras, has been selected in the latest call for research and innovation grants at Projects for primary care, regional hospitals, and high-resolution hospital centers within the Andalusian Public Health System. Led by the center’s Nursing Supervisor for Internal Medicine and Palliative Care, Eduardo Sánchez Sánchez, the project will receive public funding totaling 19,926.51 euros. Only 10 Projects were selected for funding in this call. Eduardo Sánchez leads a research Team within the Campo de Gibraltar Oeste Health Management Area that includes two research technicians, thanks to funding received for other Projects that are currently underway. For the project selected under this latest funding round, the team also includes other professionals from the Health District (hospital, primary care, and social-health care), who are joined by researchers from the University of Cádiz and other health districts. Additionally, the project has the support of the Foundation for Biomedical Management of Cádiz (FCADIZ) and the Institute for Biomedical Research and Innovation of Cádiz (INiBICA). The objective of the study is to evaluate the effectiveness of an “mHealth” (mobile-assisted health) intervention—as a complement to standard clinical practice—for the improvement and recovery from dysphagia in patients who have suffered a stroke. To this end, the project is divided into two parts, the first of which consists of creating an “mHealth” app with content on rehabilitation, nutritional management, compensatory measures, and exercises. The app will be developed under the supervision of the Innovation Unit of the Foundation for Biomedical Management at Cádiz and the SSPA Technology Transfer Office (OTT-SSPA). In the second part, a randomized clinical trial will be conducted on patients with impaired swallowing following a stroke to evaluate the effectiveness of the developed app. This will not only help researchers understand the app’s functionality but also identify potential improvements to be implemented in future updates. As Eduardo Sándhez explains, this project is based on the need for early intervention, and continuing this intervention at home reduces the negative consequences of dysphagia, such as malnutrition, dehydration, respiratory infections, and pneumonia. Currently, most people own a smartphone or tablet and use mobile apps in their daily lives to communicate, search for information, and more. In this regard, mobile technology can be a useful tool to support healthcare professionals, facilitating the provision of information and monitoring of patients with dysphagia following a stroke, and empowering patients and their families to manage their health. If the project is successful, the “m-Health” app can be extended to all patients with dysphagia or impaired swallowing caused by other conditions, such as the elderly or those with Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s disease. The dynamic nature of the “m-Health” app is a feature that allows for modifications tailored to each group of patients with dysphagia without compromising the app’s core content. This enables updates based on new evidence as it becomes available. Furthermore, it will improve these patients’ health literacy and, consequently, their ability to self-manage their own health. 🔗 More information: Regional Government of Andalusia

The products resulting from the QUIRUCOMP project, funded by the Andalusian Technology Corporation (CTA), were handed over at a ceremony held on November 11 in the auditorium of the Hospital Universitario Puerta del Mar, with the aim of validating them in a clinical setting. The EM12 research group, “Biomedical Innovation in Osteoarticular Surgery,” at the Institute for Biomedical Research and Innovation of the Province of Cádiz (INiBICA), led by Dr. Pablo Andrés Cano, along with researcher Dr. Javier Botana Pedemonte from the University of Cádiz (UCA), have strengthened their collaboration with the specialized aerospace company at the Bahía de Cádiz Titania, Ensayos y Projects Industriales S.L. (TITANIA) in the development of various next-generation surgical instruments. Specifically, over the past two years, work has focused on the development of advanced surgical retractors, patient positioning tables for the operating room, and tools equipped with fiducial markers (reference points used, for example, in X-ray radiation procedures). All products have been manufactured using advanced materials such as carbon fiber—a widely used and revolutionary material in the aerospace industry that offers greater strength and lower weight compared to the metallic materials typically used in operating rooms (primarily stainless steel). Furthermore, in the specific case of orthopedic and trauma surgery operating rooms, where X-ray equipment is used, the use of composite materials such as carbon fiber makes it possible to optimize both patient positioning on the operating tables and to endow the instruments themselves with advanced properties such as radiotransparency. This allows procedures to be performed more safely and quickly, as there is no need to remove the instruments during X-rays or fluoroscopy. All of this has been made possible thanks to the joint participation of the EM12 group and TITANIA in the QUIRUCOMP project, funded by the Andalusian Technology Corporation (CTA). This project, whose ultimate goal is to bring highly customized biomedical devices to market that incorporate new functionalities derived from the use of composite materials, has led to the development of fully functional prototypes. These were handed over during a ceremony held on November 11 in the auditorium of the Hospital Universitario Puerta del Mar, following the signing of the corresponding agreement between Miguel Ángel Rodríguez Chacón, Director of TITANIA, and Julio Manuel Ríos de la Rosa, Manager of INiBICA. At this ceremony, attended by representatives from all the institutions involved, emphasis was placed on the role of biomedical innovation in the Bahía de Cádiz , the opportunities that the diversification of the aerospace and metallurgical sectors into the healthcare sector can open up—positioning the region nationally and internationally—as well as the importance of public-private collaboration, with this initiative serving as an example of knowledge and technology transfer between the university, the public healthcare system, and the private sector. The donated products will be used to conduct a series of independent clinical trials, sponsored by INiBICA itself in the province of Cádiz, with the aim of testing their use in real-world clinical settings, following the necessary applications to the provincial Ethics Committee and in accordance with current legislation, in order to expedite their introduction into clinical practice for the benefit of patients, thereby fulfilling the mission of this translational institute. 🔗 Read about the QUIRUCOMP project 🔗 More information: Titania Aero’s website

The award-winning studies, led by Juan Jesús Fernández and selected from among nearly 200 submissions, address gestational diabetes, fetal growth, and the sentinel lymph node. The Andalusian Society of Gynecology and Obstetrics (SAGO), at the 23rd edition of its conference, has awarded the University Hospital of Puerto Real three of the six prizes it bestows. The studies, selected from nearly 200 submissions, are led by Juan Jesús Fernández, head of the Obstetrics and Gynecology Department at the Puertorreal-based hospital and director of the Research, Development, and Innovation Group in Maternal-Fetal Medicine and Gynecologic Oncology at the Institute for Biomedical Research and Innovation of the Province of Cádiz (INiBICA). Specifically, this unit received the first prize for Best Oral Presentation for “Predictive Model for the Risk of Gestational Diabetes: A Multicenter Study,” with Cristina Pedreño, María del Rocío Moreno, José Manuel Jiménez, and Juan Jesús Fernández as the Authors . The study is led by this department, but eleven hospitals—including those in Andalusia as well as La Paz Hospital in Madrid—participated. It presents a model that calculates a woman’s risk of developing gestational diabetes during pregnancy. This model distinguishes between early-onset gestational diabetes (diagnosed before 24 weeks of gestation) and late-onset gestational diabetes (which develops after week 24). The second prize for Best Paper Presentation is titled “Customized and Optimized Fetal Growth Percentile Curves”; in this study, the researchers improved the growth curve used by the department to determine whether a fetus is growing appropriately. Weight monitoring is one of the fundamental factors to assess during pregnancy follow-up: growth abnormalities—whether due to insufficient growth (growth restriction) or excessive growth (overgrowth)—constitute a warning sign. Accurate classification of fetuses improves perinatal outcomes. The “ Authors ” are Rocío Fuentes, María Castillo Lara, and Juan Jesús Fernández. For the study’s design, they included data from more than 8,000 women whose pregnancies and deliveries were managed at the University Hospital Puerto Real. First Prize for Best Poster Awarded to a Pioneering Center in Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy The first prize for Best Poster was awarded to Sara Bianca Aragón, Laura de Pablo, Ángel Vilar, and Juan Jesús Fernández for “Predictive Model of Sentinel Lymph Node Positivity in Patients with Breast Cancer,” which allows for the calculation of the probability that a patient undergoing surgery for breast cancer will have positive axillary lymph nodes. The Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University Hospital “ Puerto Real ” performs more than 200 breast cancer surgeries per year; patients are evaluated by a multidisciplinary “ Team ” comprising radiologists, pathologists, gynecologists, and oncologists. In most cases (about 80%), patients benefit from breast-conserving treatment. This center was a pioneer in the province in implementing the sentinel lymph node detection technique in the early 2000s; as a result, nearly 1,500 women have already benefited from this technique, which in most cases avoids the need for a complete lymphadenectomy (axillary lymph node dissection). The award-winning tool allows for highly accurate prediction of which women will test positive on biopsy; this enables better planning of surgical schedules, since when the probability is very low, the biopsy is performed at a later time (rather than intraoperatively). 🔗 More information: Diario de Cádiz

The results of a study published in the *International Journal of Molecular Sciences* suggest a potential new compound for treating hemophilia A in patients for whom Factor VIII infusions cannot be used. The main complication in hemophilia A therapy is that many patients develop autoantibodies against the injected Factor VIII, which ultimately renders the treatment ineffective. Therefore, it is urgent to study the mechanisms of coagulation that will allow us to find new therapies for these patients. In this regard, researchers from the University of Cádiz (UCA) and Puerta del Mar Hospital (HUPM), affiliated with the Cádiz Institute for Biomedical Research and Innovation (INiBICA), in collaboration with researchers from Virgen del Rocío Hospital (HUVR) in Seville, have recently reported that certain phosphate polymers (polyphosphates) could form the basis for the design of new therapies to treat hemophilia A. In previous studies, the researchers had found that a blood factor known as von Willebrand factor (vWF) can be modulated by phosphate polymers (polyphosphates) that occur naturally in the body. In this study, it was determined that the modulation of FvW by polyphosphates occurs only in the absence of another blood factor, known as Factor VIII. Factor VIII is precisely the factor that is lacking in patients with hemophilia A. The Authors conducted experiments using plasma from healthy individuals, from patients with hemophilia A of varying severity, and from patients with different types of von Willebrand disease. They also studied molecular interactions in vitro, where they found that polyphosphate and FVIII compete to bind to FvW. These findings were published this week in the *International Journal of Molecular Sciences*. Based on the results obtained, the Authors suggest that polyphosphate—which is a natural coagulant—could be used in the design of new therapies to treat hemophilia A as a substitute for FVIII when the latter cannot be used, such as in patients who have developed autoantibodies. This work was carried out by the “Phosphate Metabolism” research group at UCA/HUPM/INiBICA, in close collaboration with faculty members from the Department of Biomedicine, Biotechnology, and Public Health (UCA) and the Department of Hematology at HUVR. The researchers involved were Marcela Montilla (HUPM, now a professor at the Cooperativa University of Colombia), Isabel Atienza-Navarro (HUPM/UCA), Francisco José García-Cozar (UCA), Carmen Castro (UCA), and Francisco Javier Rodríguez-Martorell (HUVR), led by Professor Félix A. Ruiz (Nutrition Division, UCA). Bibliographic Reference: Montilla, M.; Atienza-Navarro, I.; García-Cozar, F.J.; Castro, C.; Rodríguez-Martorell, F.J.; Ruiz, F.A. Polyphosphate Activates von Willebrand Factor Interaction with Glycoprotein Ib in the Absence of Factor VIII In Vitro. Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2022, 23, 14118. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms232214118. 🔗 More information: Polyphosphate Activates von Willebrand Factor Interaction with Glycoprotein Ib in the Absence of Factor VIII In Vitro

The results of a study published in the journal *Nutrients* suggest a possible link between the levels of certain phosphate polymers in the blood and the risk of metabolic diseases such as insulin resistance and diabetes. Obesity has historically been associated with an increased risk of developing metabolic diseases such as type 2 diabetes mellitus and insulin resistance. However, many obese individuals do not develop these metabolic disorders or exhibit only a few of them, making them less prone to complications. It is therefore of great interest to identify the factors that change when metabolic disease begins, in order to better diagnose and treat it. In this regard, researchers from the University of Cádiz (UCA) and Puerta del Mar Hospital (HUPM), affiliated with the Institute for Biomedical Research and Innovation at Cádiz (INiBICA), have recently reported that phosphate polymers (polyphosphates) accumulate in the blood of obese children with insulin resistance and in adult patients with type 2 diabetes. These findings were published this week in the journal *Nutrients*. Polyphosphates are natural polymers found in many tissues, but their levels in the blood were previously unknown. This research group developed a method to measure them accurately a few years ago. Using this technology, the researchers have provided the first evidence of elevated polyphosphate levels in the blood associated with insulin resistance and diabetes. In a previous study, this same research group had observed that these phosphate polymers decrease in healthy individuals, even if they are obese. Since it is now known that they increase only in the presence of metabolic diseases, the results suggest that polyphosphates could serve as biomarkers for the onset of these diseases. This study was conducted by the “Phosphate Metabolism” research group at UCA/INiBICA in close collaboration with the Departments of “Pediatric Endocrinology” and “Endocrinology and Nutrition” at the HUPM. The researchers involved were Marcela Montilla (HUPM, now a professor at the U. Cooperativa de Colombia), Andrea Liberato (UCA), Pablo Ruiz-Ocaña (HUPM), Ana Sáez-Benito (HUPM), Manuel Aguilar (HUPM/UCA), and Alfonso Lechuga (HUPM/UCA), led by Professor Félix A. Ruiz (Department of Nutrition, UCA). Bibliographic Reference: Montilla, M.; Liberato, A.; Ruiz-Ocaña, P.; Sáez-Benito, A.; Aguilar-Diosdado, M.; Lechuga-Sancho, A.M.; Ruiz, F.A. (2022) Proinflammatory Polyphosphate Increases in Plasma of Obese Children with Insulin Resistance and Adults with Severe Type 2 Diabetes. Nutrients, 14, 4601. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu14214601. 🔗 More information: Proinflammatory Polyphosphate Increases in Plasma of Obese Children with Insulin Resistance and Adults with Severe Type 2 Diabetes

The Andalusia–Roche Alliance for Precision Medicine in Neurology is a public-private initiative whose scientific work will be led by Pedro Serrano, chief of the Neurology Unit at the Málaga Regional Hospital, with the support of co-principal investigators María Dolores Jiménez, chief of the Neurology Unit at the Virgen del Rocío Hospital in Seville; and Miguel Moya, head of the Neurology Unit at the Puerta del Mar Hospital in Cádiz. The latter is a member of the CO4 research group. Projects , and initiatives carried out within the framework of this alliance will be coordinated through NeuroReca, the Andalusian Network for Clinical and Translational Research in Neurology, thereby optimizing the synergies that already exist within the Andalusian Public Health System. It is worth noting that the CO12 research group is participating in one of these Projects, recently funded through the 2022 Call for Grants to Fund Research, Development, and Innovation (R&D&I) in Biomedicine and Health Sciences in Andalusia, under the “ Projects ” category for public-private partnership research and innovation in 2022. 🔗 More information: Andalusian Regional Government

The regional delegate for Health and Consumer Affairs, Eva Pajares, visited today the information booth set up by the Spanish Association Against Cancer at the “ Cádiz ” as part of World Cancer Research Day. She joined the association’s provincial managing director, María Jiménez, and other officials in marking the occasion. Pajares highlighted the “commitment” of the Institute for Biomedical Research and Innovation of the Province of Cádiz (INiBICA), as it currently has several research lines aimed at developing advances in the fight against this disease. INiBICA has a specific program in Onco-Hematology that leverages the synergy between university and clinical research staff. This program has launched new biomedical Lines of research on cancer, with two Projects recently receiving national and regional funding. The first consists of a non-pharmacological clinical trial involving an emotional intervention to increase work capacity and return-to-work rates among breast cancer survivors by alleviating anxiety, depression, and cognitive decline. This project is led by José Manuel Baena, a physician at the Puerta del Mar University Hospital and a member of INiBICA, and by Rocío Guil of the University of Cádiz (UCA). The second project aims to improve the early diagnosis of ovarian cancer through a validation trial of diagnostic algorithms using biomarkers in blood and urine, led by professionals from the University Hospital of Puerto Real and leaders of the INiBICA group: Diego Santotoribio and Juan Jesús Fernández. Within the Epidemiology and Public Health program, a highlight is the recent participation of researchers from the MOVE-IT group at INiBICA and the UCA, led by David Jiménez, in the European OACCUs project (an acronym for “Get Outdoors Against Cancer”), which aims to promote a healthy lifestyle among young cancer patients (ages 15 to 39) through outdoor physical activity, psychoeducation, a healthy diet, and healthy environments. Finally, the Emerging and Innovative Therapies program features innovative research lines such as that of the group led by Carmen Castro, a researcher at the institute and the UCA, which is focused on the search for new drugs to treat highly aggressive brain tumors such as human glioblastoma, for which there is currently no successful treatment to halt the growth of this type of tumor. The Institute for Biomedical Research and Innovation of Cádiz(INiBICA) is a joint institute of the Andalusian Health Service and the University of Cádiz that is committed to promoting healthcare research and innovation in the province to address societal needs, such as improving the diagnosis and treatment of cancer. 🔗 More information: Europa Press