There are about 21062 clinical studies being (or have been) conducted in Italy. 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.
Despite the SARS-CoV-2 virus being present worldwide, and although it is now clear that children are affected by the disease with milder symptoms than adults, many immunological questions, which are very relevant for Public Health reasons and for the organization of services, remain unsolved. The role of serology for the diagnosis of COVID-19, particularly in the pediatric age, is still very uncertain. Preliminary evidence suggests that not all children with SARS-Cov-2 infection develop antibody levels that can be detected by currently employed methods. This makes it crucial to identify other methodologies that are able to evaluate the true prevalence of prior SARS-CoV-2 infection in the pediatric population. Many other aspects of the immunological mechanisms of response to SARS-CoV-2 are also uncertain, such as the role of cellular immunity, and generally the role of immunity (cellular and antibody) in protecting against the disease in the medium and long term. Finally, questions remain open regarding cross-immunity with other previously circulating coronaviruses and their impact on the pediatric population in terms of protection against COVID-19 infection, disease development, or reinfection. This study aims to help clarify the role of serology and other immune response tests in the diagnosis of COVID-19 in the pediatric population. Specifically, it aims to assess: the prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 seroconversion cases among the pediatric population accessing the National Health System (NHS), at different moments in time and in different regions of Italy; whether cellular immunity tests can help to identify children who have had SARS-CoV-2 infection, particularly children with low antibody levels, and thus to better estimate the prevalence of prior SARS-CoV-2 infection; the prevalence of cross-reactivity with other coronaviruses; whether immunity (antibody and cellular) is protective in the medium/long term; and if there are healthy carriers, i.e. individuals who have had prior SARS-CoV-2 infection, who are asymptomatic but may harbor SARS-CoV-2 in the pharynx, with the risk of transmitting it.
In patients suffering from anorexia nervosa associated with severe major depression, serotonin reuptake inhibitor drugs have shown little efficacy in significantly reducing depressive symptoms. A possible explanation for this poor efficacy could be that people with anorexia nervosa have a deficiency in amino acids such as tryptophan, which is necessary for the production of the neurotransmitter serotonin. Therefore, tryptophan supplementation has been suggested as a means of increasing the pharmacological response to serotonin reuptake inhibitor drugs in patients with anorexia nervosa. Furthermore, malnutrition present in patients suffering from anorexia nervosa is in some cases associated with problems of intestinal absorption of nutrients, with possible implications on the pharmacokinetics of the drugs administered, including selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). The present observational study aims to evaluate the correlations between the clinical response to Citalopram therapy (in different o.s. and i.v. formulations) and some nutritional, neurotransmitter and inflammatory biomarkers, in order to identify potential predictive markers of response to therapy for severe major depression in patients with anorexia nervosa. The following parameters will be evaluated in patients enrolled in all 3 observation times described above: - Plasma concentration of Citalopram - Serum concentration of Serotonin - Plasma concentration of dopamine - Serum concentration of Tryptophan - Serum concentration of BDNF - Hamilton scale 17 items and other clinical scales (EDI-3, SCL-90, BUT).
Excessive daytime sleepiness which still remains after an effective treatment with nocturnal ventilotherapy or with other specific treatments (positional therapy, oro-mandibular devices) in patients with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome has a prevalence of 55% of treated cases, representing a notable theme of clinical and research interest. In recent years there have been several studies on the use of wakefulness-promoting drugs generally prescribed in patients with narcolepsy, in this disorder with promising results. Right in consideration of the forthcoming approval of these drugs, it is important to find biomarkers able to predict which patients will develop daytime sleepiness resistant to ventilatory treatment. Several studies have highlighted the association between obstructive sleep apnea syndrome and the increase of cerebral amyloid beta deposits, concluding that apnoic disorder can be considered a risk factor for the development of cognitive impairment and Alzheimer';s disease. In this scenario, it would be useful to identify biological markers able to underline which clinical phenotypes of sleep apnea syndrome are more associated with residual excessive daytime sleepiness and/or cognitive impairment. In recent years several kits for the assay of biomarkers of neurodegeneration have been developed not only in CSF, but also in human serum. Among them, the most important are light chain neurofilaments (NFL), amyloid isoforms 40 and 42 (Ab40 and Ab42). Other biomarkers found in neurodegenerative diseases associated with excessive daytime sleepiness are orexin A (OXA) and histamine (HA). In this view, the aim of this study is to evaluate the role of biomarkers of neurodegeneration in characterizing disease severity and response to treatment of obstructive sleep apnea syndrome with residual excessive daytime sleepiness.
The primary endpoint of the study is to identify a neurophysiological biomarker (absence of synaptic depotentiation at primary motor cortex , measured as change in the amplitude of motor evoked potentials recorded at the dorsal first interosseus muscle after administration of neurophysiological cTBS depotentiation protocol) as predictor of the development of Levodopa-induced dyskinesia in patients with Parkinson's disease.
Researchers are looking for a better way to treat men at high-risk of biochemical recurrence (BCR) of prostate cancer. BCR means that in men who had prostate cancer and were treated by either surgery and/ or radiation therapy, the blood level of a specific protein called PSA rises. PSA is a marker of prostate cancer cells activity. The PSA increase means that the cancer has come back even though conventional imaging such as computed tomography (CT) scans, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and bone scans does not show any lesion of prostate cancer. Recently a more sensitive imaging method called prostate-specific membrane antigen [PSMA] positron emission tomography [PET]) /computed tomography [CT]) scan may identify prostate cancer lesions not detectable by conventional imaging. Men with BCR have a higher risk of their cancer spreading to other parts of the body, particularly when PSA levels raised to a certain limit within a short period of time after local therapies. Once the cancer spreads to other parts of the body, it can become even harder to treat. In men with prostate cancer, male sex hormones (also called androgens) like testosterone can help the cancer grow and spread. To reduce androgens levels in these patients, there are treatments that block androgens production in the body called androgen deprivation therapy (ADT). ADT is often used to stop prostate cancer. Another way to stop prostate cancer growth and spread is to block the action of androgen receptors on prostate cancer cells called androgen receptor inhibitors (ARIs). The new generation ARIs including darolutamide can block the action of androgens receptors and are available for the treatment of prostate cancer in addition to ADT. It is already known that men with prostate cancer benefit from these treatments. The main objective of this study is to learn if the combination of darolutamide and ADT prolongs the time that the participants live without their cancer getting worse, or to death due to any cause, compared to placebo (which is a treatment that looks like a medicine but does not have any medicine in it) and ADT given for a pre-specified duration of 24 months. To do this, the study team will measure the time from the date of treatment allocation to the finding of new cancer spread in the participants by using PSMA PET/CT, or death due to any cause. The PSMA PET/CT scans is performed using a radioactive substance called a "tracer" that specifically binds to the prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) which is a protein often found in large amounts on prostate cancer cells. To avoid bias in treatment, the study participants will be randomly (by chance) allocated to one of two treatment groups. Based on the allocated treatment group, the participants will either take darolutamide plus ADT or placebo plus ADT twice daily as tablets by mouth. The study will consist of a test (screening) phase, a treatment phase and a follow-up phase. The treatment duration is pre-specified to be 24 months unless the cancer gets worse, the participants have medical problems, or they leave the study for any reason. In addition, image guided radiotherapy (IGRT) or surgery is allowed and your doctor will explain the benefits and risks of this type of therapy. During the study, the study team will: - take blood and urine samples. - measure PSA and testosterone levels in the blood samples - do physical examinations - check the participants' overall health - examine heart health using electrocardiogram (ECG) - check vital signs - check cancer status using PSMA PET/CT scans, CT, MRI and bone scans - take tumor samples (if required) - ask the participants if they have medical problems About 30 days after the participants have taken their last treatment, the study doctors and their team will check the participants' health and if their cancer worsened. The study team will continue to check this and regularly ask the participants questions about medical problems and subsequent therapies until they leave the study for any reason or until they leave the study for any reason or until the end of the study, whatever comes first.
The purpose of this study is to evaluate the efficacy, safety, tolerability and pharmacokinetics of NMD670 in the treatment of ambulatory adults with spinal muscular atrophy type 3
This project is aimed at advancing neuropsychological diagnostics, enriching and modernizing the panorama of both clinical and forensic psychometric testing. The rapid socio-demographic changes, the developments of neuropsychological semiotics and nosography, as well as the growing applicative specialization of neuropsychological assessment make it necessary to introduce further tools to satisfy the diagnostic requests in clinical contexts and more recently in the forensic field (i.e., tests to be administered remotely; bedside screeners; domain-specific in-depth tests; tools for assessing testamentary capacity). Specifically, the present study aims to: a) develop, calibrate and evaluate the psychometric properties of I and II level clinical and/or forensic neuropsychological tests evaluating instrumental and non-instrumental functions in a sample of neurologically healthy individuals representative of the Italian population ; b) evaluate the cross-sectional and longitudinal clinical usability of the aforementioned tests in clinical samples (patients with neurological and neuropsychiatric pathologies of different etiology).
Fetal inflammatory response syndrome (FIRS) is a major cause of non-hypoxic fetal intrapartum injury. One of the most common determinants of FIRS during labor is the exposure to an ongoing intra-amniotic infectious agent as in the event of a chorioamnionitis. Interleuchine-6 (IL-6) is considered a reliable hallmark of FIRS. No specific fetal heart rate pattern for the diagnosis of FIRS have been described so far at intrapartum Cardiotocography (CTG). The aim the present study is to investigate the correlation between intrapartum CTG findings and IL-6 levels on the arterial cord.
Aphasia is an acquired deficit following acute damage to the central nervous system that involves the difficulty or impossibility of understanding and formulating language. A typical disorder of non-fluent forms of aphasia is anomia. Anomia refers to the difficulty in finding words, in particular when trying to name objects and actions. According to the Embodied Cognition approach (EC), language is tightly connected to the motor system. In this view, language rehabilitation programs should stimulate language through the activation of the motor system. In this approach, since anomic deficits are often due to a weak link between the meaning of the word and its lemma, the Hebbs' principles of coincident and correlated learning can be exploited, i.e., by intensifying the synchronous activation of lexicon and semantics and connecting them with the motor counterpart. In this study, the investigators present an innovative training, based on the EC framework, in which they will make use of new technologies for anomia rehabilitation in post-stroke patients. Specifically, the researchers will use immersive 360° videos representing everyday actions displayed from the first-person point of view, experienced through a head-mounted display. The training will be administered 3 times a week for 4 weeks. The control group will watch standard videos representing the same actions recorded from the third-person perspective. Naming abilities will be tested before and after the training together with other cognitive and psychological measures. The investigators expect that the group who will undergo the 360° video-based training will show greater improvement of performance compared to the control group.
Study outcomes and endpoints: - Primary outcome: to assess clinical characteristics of infants with confirmed COVID-19 infection at birth and to evaluate long-term respiratory consequences of neonatal COVID-19 infection. - Secondary outcome: to evaluate the prevalence and natural history of lung function impairment among infants with confirmed COVID-19 compared to infants with no history of COVID-19. To this end, infants will undergo pulmonary function testing (PFT) with the Exhalyzer D device (Eco Medics, Switzerland).