Long COVID: A study by UNamur and CHU UCL Namur unravels the biological mechanism behind the pain experienced by patients
A multidisciplinary research team from the University of Namur (UNamur) and the UCL Namur University Hospital (Godinne campus) has just published a study in the journal Acta Neuropathologica that sheds light on some of the mysteries surrounding the origin of the pain experienced by patients with long COVID. Their findings suggest that these painful symptoms may be mediated by an autoimmune response. In other words: patients produce antibodies that attack their own neurons—those responsible for pain perception and deep body sensation, located along the spine. These highly promising results represent a major scientific breakthrough that opens new avenues for better understanding the disease and, ultimately, developing a treatment targeting the painful symptoms of long COVID.
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Breaking the silence: an escape game to detect domestic violence
On Monday February 19, students in Block 3 of Medicine at UNamur and Midwifery in the Paramedical Department at Hénallux took part in the second edition of a project to raise awareness of domestic violence. Conceived by the two institutions, the project takes the form of an escape game entitled "Oseras-tu poser la question" ("Dare to ask the question"). Used as part of the practical work on "Professional communication in healthcare" in the Medical Psychology course taught by Martin Desseilles, professor at the Faculty of Medicine at UNamur, this escape game aims to train future healthcare professionals to detect signs of domestic violence in patients during consultations and to act accordingly.
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Public defense of doctoral thesis - Julien FAVRESSE
COVID-19 is an infectious disease caused by SARS-CoV-2. COVID-19 was quickly declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) on March 11, 2020.At the start of the pandemic, healthcare professionals were faced with the marketing of numerous kits designed to measure binding antibodies. The role of neutralizing antibodies as the best correlate of protection against SARS-CoV-2 infection was quickly highlighted. A neutralization assay with the use of pseudovirus was therefore developed by our team and compared with several binding assays.There have been considerable efforts to produce and clinically validate new vaccines against COVID-19. The CRO-VAX HCP study was designed to assess the humoral response in a population of healthcare professionals who had received two doses of COVID-19 BNT162b2 vaccine.Given the decline in vaccine efficacy over time and the emergence of variants likely to evade immunity, a third dose was quickly recommended by the authorities to boost immunity. This was administered to 155 volunteers in the CRO-VAX HCP study.Still facing a decline in vaccine efficacy over time and the emergence of new variants, a second adapted booster was proposed. In September 2022, 54 participants in the CRO-VAX HCP study received this second booster. The humoral response was assessed and neutralizing antibodies against several variants were measured. In addition, we also measured the cellular response using an interferon-gamma release assay. Compared with the humoral response, which declines considerably over time, the cellular response remained fairly stable. This could therefore explain why individuals with low antibody titers can still be protected against a severe form of the disease .
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Ysaline Lenoir
Camille Valenza
Individual support
The CIAP offers a free methodological consulting service. This support takes the form of individual face-to-face interviews or via Teams. This service is open to all students at the University of Namur, whatever their orientation and year of study.
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Observatoire Universitaire en Médecine Rurale roundtable discussion
Three themes will be addressed by various experts:The objectification of rurality and shortagewith the participation of AVIQ and IWEPSLevers for changewith examples from doctors in the field, the participation of Communes and the SSMGMedical on-call care in rural areasthe example of Luxembourg, Sivry-Rance and Namur
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Vaccination Day
Find below all the information about Vaccination Day, organized by the Department of Pharmacy.
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Job Fair in Health Sciences
On October 25, 2024, the University of Namur is organizing the 2nd edition of its Job Fair in the field of health sciences. The event will bring together companies in the BioPharma sector in Belgium and Wallonia with our bachelor, master and PhD students in biomedical sciences and pharmacy.
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Student mental health: a challenge taken up by the university
Mental health is a central issue in today's society. According to AXA's international Mind Health report (2024), nearly half of Belgians (49%) report psychological difficulties, and 1 in 5 encounter serious problems in coping with them.
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Becoming a training supervisor for an assistant in general medicine
How to become a training supervisor for a general practice assistant?
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Vaccination Day - Non-UNamur participants
Find below all the information about Vaccination Day, organized by the Department of Pharmacy.
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