Can San Marino be an international basis for early diagnosis?
Does the Titan represent the right context to understand if there are early signs, identifiable in an economic and non-invasive way, to verify if a person will be from Alzheimer’s disease within three years of the exams and thus apply a system for the benefit of health? In response, since 2016, academic studies from the University of the Republic of San Marino and doctors from the Institute for Social Security with the involvement of the English universities of Reading, Exeter and Birmingham, coordinated by the San Marino researcher Francesco Tamagnini. Through an analysis of about 40 patients followed by the Department of Neurology of the State Hospital, in the last six years the group has carried out a research that is now inaugurating its second phase with an international conference scheduled for Friday 27 May in the “Il Monte “Of the State Hospital. The initiative, scheduled from 9 am and entitled “Bridging the mind – clinical and preclinical approaches to the study of neurodegeneration and dementia”, is organized by the University of San Marino in collaboration with the ISS and with the patronage of the Secretariat of State for health. Presented in the morning in the Aula Magna ‘Fausta Morganti’ of the Ancient Monastery of Santa Chiara, the conference aims to verify the possibility of expanding the project by involving more patients and working to make the study evolve ‘from laboratories to clinics’. This would be oriented towards the progressive creation of a real screening activity, through which citizens could count on a non-invasive and economic system represented by the electroencephalogram. It is through this tool, in fact, that useful elements would be highlighted to understand if potential early symptoms such as short memory time wasters or slight changes in behavior could be the first signs of Alzheimer’s disease. “This project was born several years ago when from a census of San Marino scholars active abroad the figure of Tamagnini emerged, engaged in England, with whom we have set up a research that we are carrying out with great results and satisfactions”, he explained the Rector of the University, Corrado Petrocelli. “We have chosen to support this study, also economically, because it can have positive repercussions on the territory and involves a topic of great significance, for the health of people and beyond”. An observation immediately collected by the Director General of the Institute for Social Security, Francesco Bevere: “The citizens of San Marino – he said – have the right to receive all quality care and possibly in the area. This study is important because it leads in this direction and demonstrates the possibility, for the Institute for Social Security and for San Marino as a country, to be a protagonist in research and in the clinic. It is necessary to continue improving and lengthening life, but also to live the years gained to the fullest “. In his speech, Tamagnini started precisely from the description of the San Marino context: “The fact that the Titan has a small population, with a very high life expectancy and a lot of follow-up at the socio-sanitary level, has allowed us something quite obvious as the creation of a database around which to set up a project of great impact. Succeeding in some quick signals – can help people, families and communities, as well as facilitate the country in the country at a medical and social level, any intervention measures “. In this sense, the head of the Neurology department of the ISS, Susanna Guttmann, indicated the dimensions of the phenomenon on the Titan: “The conference to be held on Friday is the development of a path born as a small and at the same time great challenge that led to unite and collaborate research and the medical clinic. Today we know that the incidence of neurodegenerative diseases is also high in San Marino. The register we have created at the ISS Neurology Unit already numbers over 400 people. This is why the early identification of cognitive disorders is essential. This is exactly what we are achieving through this research project ”. “This conference is a unique opportunity to network and learn more about a pathology that the republic, having a health system and a society has a very high life expectancy as a distinctive and boasting sign, cannot fail to address” , said Christian Ferrari representing the Secretariat of State for Health. “I thank the speakers for the enthusiasm with which they are carrying out these researches, as well as the University and the ISS for having undertaken this path of collaboration and enrichment together. Networking is a winning way of working. This is the precious teaching that comes from the conference and from the work of Guttmann and Tamagnini ”.
cs UNIRSM