
A UZ study shows that confinement increases stress in women and intensifies the gender gap
9 June, 2020Ramón Aceres Foundation _ XX National Competition for the award of Research Grants in Life and Material Sciences Help
11 June, 2020The studies had already been positively evaluated by the Carlos III Health Institute, dependent on the Ministry of Health, which prioritized its aid to obtain more short-term results.
The initiatives address various topics, from analyzing the impact of confinement on chronic patients to knowing the presence of antibodies in health professionals or identifying the most promising existing drugs to combat the coronavirus.
Five projects from the Aragon Health Research Institute related to the fight against COVID-19 will be financed by the Government of Aragon, which will allocate almost 500.000 euros to promote these scientific studies already positively evaluated at the time by the Carlos III Health Institute, dependent on Ministry of Science and Innovation.
Two of these projects seek to understand the impact of the coronavirus directly on patients with previous pathologies, or indirectly, by analyzing the effects of prolonged confinement on chronic diseases. Thus, on the one hand, the researcher's study Fernando Gomollon proposes a prospective registry of all infections in the population with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) through case detection, systematic study in the follow-up of all patients of COVID-19 serology and prospective analysis of the elimination in feces of viral particles. With a budget of 105.500 euros, the objective is to study the risks associated with the various treatments, with a view to obtaining objective information on prevention in the future and knowing the possible bidirectional influence between COVID-19 and IBD.
On the other hand, the team led by Barbara Olivan will analyze the evolution of chronic diseases (diabetes, hypertension, chronic heart disease, etc.) in patients not infected by COVID-19, by comparing the data collected from Primary Care medical records with data prior to confinement, post-confinement and after six months of follow-up. As a specific objective, it is proposed to analyze the use and cost of health resources in PC (pharmacological treatment, visits to the family doctor, referrals to specialists and days of hospitalization) over six months. This work will receive a 9.000 euro subsidy.
Identifying the most promising antiviral and immune system modulating drugs that already exist to combat the coronavirus is the purpose of another research project, which will receive 167.061 euros. For this, the researcher's group Pedro M. Baptista will use a lung tissue model with living cells.
Another project led by Isabel Aguilar y María José Rabanaque aims to analyze the use of health services in patients with COVID-19 and its impact on health based on their socio-economic and health profile, in order to propose health management strategies that minimize possible variations. The project will be developed in three phases: characterization of COVID-19 cases in Aragon and possible health inequalities; analysis of access and use of health services for these patients; and study of the impact on health of the use of services and the costs of care. In this case, the investment will be 27.500 euros.
The fifth project, with a budget of 189.500 euros, will study the presence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies among health professionals as a strategy to optimize the distribution of human resources and identify donors of convalescent serum for COVID-19 prophylaxis . José Ramón Paño directs this project with a duration of six months and which will end in October, although it plans to present preliminary results periodically during its development.