This week I ran into a dear colleague on the street, a friend from our university days. One day, the doctor gave her a diagnosis serious enough to send her running to the notary, but luckily they were able to find a treatment (research is making great strides, and we live in a country that makes it readily available), and what was supposed to be just three months has now stretched to over three years.

A research team from the Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (Idibell), with participation from Bellvitge Hospital, has identified a new rare disease previously unknown worldwide. The condition has so far been confirmed in only 13 people from eight unrelated families, one of whom is a patient at Bellvitge Hospital.

As there were no large circulation newspapers in England at that time, Joseph Addison and Richard Steele founded a broadsheet in 1711 with the name The Spectator, which had a short life: during the first stage, between 1711 and 1712, everything was written by Steele; sometimes also by Addison and someone else, leaving aside a section of "letters to the editor" that maintained a permanent dialogue between the opinions of the founder and those of the readers, as it still happens. Later, in 1714, Addison took charge alone, and there was still a string of installments. Donald Bond made a complete, very useful edition in 1965: very recent. (Literature has a different tempo from the time of history.)

Justin Timberlake suffers from Lyme disease. He made it public with a post on Instagram where he details that, lately, he has been battling health issues, specifically with this disease: "If you have suffered from this disease or know someone who has, then you know that living with it can be very debilitating, both mentally and physically. When I received the diagnosis, I was shocked," explains the artist. This is a situation he experienced backstage during his latest world tour.

"Mar was very small, 16 months old, and had only been walking for a month when she was diagnosed. In her case, it started with knee inflammation that prevented her from walking. In three weeks, we had the diagnosis: juvenile idiopathic arthritis, a chronic, lifelong disease," explains Helena Soler, Mar's mother, who now... In her case, the diagnosis came quickly: the pediatrician referred them to the Sant Joan de Déu Hospital and after some tests, in less than a month, they had the diagnosis. But, on average, children with this type of disease take two years to be diagnosed after the first symptoms appear, according to data from the Platform of Patient Organizations.