There are about 9403 clinical studies being (or have been) conducted in Switzerland. The country of the clinical trial is determined by the location of where the clinical research is being studied. Most studies are often held in multiple locations & countries.
In this study patients with hyponatremia, defined as a serum sodium < 126 mmol/L on admission to the hospital will be tested for muscular power by use of a hand grip dynamometer, for cognitive function by use of the Montreal-Cognitive-Assessment and gait stability by use of the Tinetti test. The tests will be performed on admission as well es after correction of hyponatremia.
Increased activity in the hippocampus (i.e., hyperactivity) during a fMRI memory task was found in patients with Mild Cognitive Impairment due to Alzheimer's disease (MCI). Those with increased hippocampal activity exhibited elevated clinical progression. Reducing hippocampal hyperactivity with pharmacological treatment reduced hyperactivity and improved memory performance. The investigators of this study will test whether real-time fMRI neurofeedback will also downregulate hippocampal activity and thereby improve memory performance.
This study focuses on the difficulties of maintaining optimal psychological health and quality of life for caregivers in adult psychiatry while they play an important role in helping patients with severe psychiatric disorders. It evaluates the addition of a 5 session psychological program, named Ensemble. Half of the participants will receive their usual support and Ensemble in combination, while the other half will receive usual support only.
Background and rationale: Venous leg ulcers (VLU) are slow healing wounds with a recurrence rate of 70% and a 60% risk of becoming chronic. The estimated VLU prevalence in the general population is 3%. Current therapeutic approaches are multifaceted and focus on reducing wound size and improving wound healing as well as preventing ulcer recurrence. They require a pluridisciplinary team of health care professionals from the domains of nursing, medicine, physiotherapy and nutrition. Approximately 70% of VLU patients have a knowledge deficit in regards to therapeutic measures and have difficulties with adherence to treatment protocols. However, there are no published studies describing and evaluating the impact of pluridisciplinary educational interventions on adherence to the treatment plan and wound size reduction in VLU patients. Overall objectives: The objectives of the projected study are to evaluate the effectiveness of nurse-led intervention for high-risk patients with VLU in terms of patient knowledge/therapy adherence and to measure the impact of this intervention on wound size reduction and its evolution over time. Methodology of the planned study: An international multicenter randomized controlled trial with 248 participants in three Swiss French (n= 124) and two Australian (n=124) wound clinics is proposed. The sample size assumptions are based on a two-sided alpha level of 0.05, power of 0.8, and a medium effect size. Univariate and bivariate analysis will be conducted according to the data level and distribution. Expected results and impact: The findings of this study will generate new knowledge and the results will contribute to VLU clinical practice guidelines to enhance patient adherence to therapy. Our results will not only help improving patients' quality of life, but also contribute to reducing health expenditure.
A methodical evaluation of novel sound changing principles in CE-labelled Sonova brand hearing instruments (e.g. Phonak hearing instruments) is intended to be conducted on hearing impaired participants. These sound changing principles are enabled by respective hearing instrument technologies and hearing instrument algorithms. The aim of the study is to investigate and asses strength and weaknesses of these novel sound changing principles in terms of hearing performance to determine their application in hearing instruments (Phase of development). Both, objective laboratory measurements as well as subjective evaluations in real life environment will be carried out. This will be a controlled, single blinded and randomised active comparator clinical evaluation which will be conducted mono centric at Sonova AG Headquarter based in Stäfa
The glycation extent of human hemoglobin is under control of the Maillard reaction, a chemical interaction between an amino acide and a reducing sugar. About 5% ( 31.1 mmol/mol) of hemoglobin molecules secluded in a red blood cell are glycated; excessive values > 6.5% point to prediabetes or overt diabetes mellitus. To ascertain the diagnosis doctors prescribe oral glucose tolerance upon which glucose concentrations in blood increase - how much HbA1c reacts under these circumstances is ill known.
Single ventricle defects make up the severe end of the congenital heart disease spectrum. The Fontan operation leads to a complete redirection of systemic venous blood outside of the heart and directly into the lungs. Patients with single ventricles suffer from multiple complications. Their survival has improved over the past decades, but is still severely compromised compared to the general population. Their evaluation includes echocardiography and functional status by history and/or exercise testing. In longer intervals or if echocardiography does not allow visualization of all cardiovascular structures, cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) is employed. Many patients also undergo more invasive cardiac catheterization. In single ventricle patients, cardiac imaging has to address the questions of the patency of the Fontan pathways, i.e. all systemic veins, the Fontan conduit, and the pulmonary arteries, and of the function of the single ventricle (including myocardial function and valve function). By using conventional imaging methods in Fontan patients, Ghelani et al. identified a CMR-based ventricular end-diastolic volume of > 125 ml/m2 and an echocardiographic global circumferential strain (GCS) value of higher than -17% to be strong predictors for a combined adverse outcome of death or heart transplantation. While interobserver reproducibility of single ventricle ejection fraction is similarly high by echocardiography, CMR is better in reliably measuring ventricular mass and diastolic volume and can provide additional information by MR feature tracking (strain), T1 mapping, and 4D flow measurements. Several substances that can be measured in the peripheral blood are being increasingly investigated as biomarkers of heart failure. In conclusion, several advanced CMR sequences and new biomarkers have a potential role in the assessment and risk stratification of single ventricle patients. Every single published study has elucidated a particular use and aspect of these parameters, but broader correlations and prognostic values are still unclear. The investigators hypothesize that myocardial strain (by feature tracking), myocardial fibrosis (by T1 mapping), and intracardiac flow disturbances (by 4D flow) along with biomarkers are diagnostic for single ventricle dysfunction and correlate with known prognostic factors. This is a single center, prospective, observational cohort study. There will be no randomisation or blinding. Study setting: outpatients, cardiology clinic and radiology department, academic hospital. Every patient will be examined twice with a one-year interval (MR will only be repeated if clinically indicated).
Surgical site infections (SSI) after spine surgery may occur in up to 12% of cases and can lead to increased morbidity, and healthcare costs In this randomized controlled trial the investigators aim to prospectively investigate the efficacy and safety of suprafascial intrawound vancomycin powder in reducing the rate of SSIs after instrumented spinal fusion surgery. Secondary aims of the study are the incidence of vancomycin-related complications, vancomycin-resistant bacterial infections in the treatment arm as well as the rate of revision surgeries due to SSIs.
The aim of this international, prospective, multicenter case series (patient registry) is to gather the first evidence on the use of the MAXFRAME™ system in normal clinical settings during deformity correction of both, the upper and lower limb, and gain information on indications, the handling of the device from the patients' and surgeons' perspective, as well as number of re-planning needed. It is planned to prospectively follow up to 100 patients treated with the MAXFRAME™ system. Information on patients entered into the registry will be collected from before the surgery until the removal of the device.
In this retrospective study, approximately 60 patients treated with 6mm short implants (Straumann, SLA (sandblasted, large-grit, acid-etched surface), SLActive (sandblasted, large-grit, acid-etched, hydrophilic surface), 4.1 or 4.8 mm in diameter) will be followed for 4.5-18.2 years. Clinical and radiographic parameters will be assessed in a follow-up examination.