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.
Amino acids (AAs) are crucial for protein synthesis, in influencing nutritional status, as sources of vital elements (e.g., nucleotides, neurotransmitters) and as signal molecules for the modulation of gene expression and epigenetic mechanisms. Data on the role of amino acids in underweight patients with anorexia nervosa (AN) are unknown. This study aims to evaluate whether a blend of essential amino acids (EAA) could influence the change in lean body mass (LBM) in patients with AN during weight restoration, treated with intensive inpatient enhanced cognitive behavior therapy (CBT-E). A total of 92 patients will be randomized to EAA supplementation or placebo supplementation upon admission to inpatient treatment. LBM, but also body weight, specific and general psychopathology, impairment assessment will be assessed at baseline and after 13 weeks of treatment.
Prompt identification of allograft failure (AF) is highly desirable to address patients to liver retransplantation, in order to maximize results and preserve patients safety. Recently, sophisticated kinetic models became available, offering the possibility to predict 90-day AF with unprecedented accuracy, by computing data from the first 10 days after liver transplant (LT). The growing utilization of extended criteria and cardiac death donors stimulates the transplant community to further refine such predictive models and validate them on a larger scale population of patients across the nations. This study aims to develop new algorithms for the timely prediction of AF at 90 and 365 days using a prospective international cohort from high-volume centers, to validate them on a large retrospective cohort, to identify the best time for retransplantation, to stratify the risk of AF according to the graft type (i.e. DBD, ECD, DCD, LD), to weigh the effect of risk-mitigation strategies, and to assess the correlation with post-LT morbidity and mortality.
Weaning from invasive mechanical ventilation (MV) constitutes a fundamental procedure in intensive care, covering up to 50% of time spent on ventilation (1). Endotracheal tube (ETT) removal might be an important but delicate step in intensive care setting. Failure and subsequent need for re-intubation can occur in up to 20% of cases leading to a significant increase in mortality rates (24%), longer hospital stay and prolonged need for ventilation. Comorbidities such as obesity, COPD and cardiac related diseases might further increase this risk reaching up to 60% of failure in extubation. In this scenario, accurate predictors of weaning failure are far welcomed. The recurrence of respiratory failure after extubation might considerably raise rates of failure, probably due to increased work of breathing in patients after ETT removal. Most recent guidelines on the use of non-invasive ventilation (NIV) suggest using NIV after ETT removal in subjects with high risk of failure. NIV could contribute to reduce work of breathing hence preventing the onset of respiratory failure after extubation. Therefore, measuring inspiratory effort and its variation in weaned patients might help in identifying patients with significant risk of failing extubation. Esophageal pressure swings (DeltaPES) can be measured through a nasogastric tube with a pressure transducer located in the inferior part of the esophagus. DeltaPES is an extremely precise and accurate method to quantify inspiratory effort, however its use in daily clinical practice is limited due to the invasive nature of the maneuver, elevated costs and need for considerable clinical training of operators. Physiological studies have shown a correlation between nasal pressure measured at nostril entrance and esophageal pressure (which in turn is a measure of respiratory effort . Therefore, measuring nasal pressure could represent a method to quantify inspiratory effort non-invasively, proving to be useful in daily clinical practice.
Treatment of periodontitis requires removal of dental biofilm both through professional mechanical plaque removal and domiciliar oral hygiene procedures. This study aims to compare biometric and psychological results after professional treatment of periodontitis carried out by piezoelectric or magnetostrictive ultrasonic devices.
In pediatric patients Peripherally Inserted Central Catheters (PICC) insertion requires pharmacological sedation provided by an anesthesiologist, which poses a certain degree of risks. In enrolled subjects, PICC insertion is tried without drug sedation, using an immersive virtual reality experience as a distraction technique. If the subjects is not able to keep still or if pain levels are too high, the virtual reality attempt is stopped and standard drug sedation is provided by a pediatric anesthesiologist. Aim of study is to evaluate the feasibility of the PICC insertion procedure using the virtual reality distraction technique. The investigators hypothesize that this could avoid the need for drug sedation, reducing sedation-related risks and costs and reduce anxiety and pain related to the procedure.
Tracheostomy is a very common surgical procedure performed in critically ill patients on invasive mechanical ventilation, and usually performed in difficult-to-wean patients and whn prolonged mechanical ventilation is required. Weaning from the tracheostomy cannula (i.e. decannulation) represents one of the crucial steps in the post-acute respiratory management of these patients. Tracheostomy literature mainly focuses on the timing and technique of this procedure, but there is a lack of studies about decannulation and, currently, our knowledge is primarily based on expert opinion. The COVID-19 pandemic, due to the rapid increase in the number of patients exposed to prolonged mechanical ventilation, has stressed the need for objective parameters and shared standardized protocols to perform weaning from tracheostomy.
The present study aims to assess the effects of non invasive electrical stimulation of the vagus nerve via transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation (tVNS) on cognitive functions, inhibitory and tic control in patients with tic disorders. Taking into account the role that GABA plays in inhibitory control, the presence of alteration of GABA neurotransmission in Tic disorders and the possibility to increase GABA release with tVNS, the investigators hypothesized that tVNS might improve behavioral control in Tic disorders. Moreover, as suggested by previous studies investigating the effects of tVNS in other patient populations, the investigators expected that tVNS will be safe and well tolerated. Such results would encourage the use of tVNS in Tic disorders.
This study is a multicenter, retrospective, observational study in patients with acquired thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (aTTP) treated with plasma exchange (PEX) in association with caplacizumab, and immunosuppression between Q4-2019 and 28 February2021. The retrospective study will measure: Age, sex, BMI, blood pressure at diagnosis, Platelet count at diagnosis and at the follow up visits, Hb level at diagnosis at the follow up visits, White blood cell count at diagnosis at the follow up visits, Creatinine at diagnosis at the follow up visits, schistocytes count at diagnosis at the follow up visits, LDH at diagnosis at the follow up visits, Coombs' assay at diagnosis, alanine-leucine-amino-transferase (ALT) at diagnosis at the follow up visits, total bilirubin at diagnosis at the follow up visits, Troponin above ULN at any point, ADAMTS13 activity (where measured) at diagnosis at the follow up visits, Anti-ADAMTS13 antibodies (where measured) at diagnosis at the follow up visits. The primary objective in this study is the description and quantification of clinical response in terms of platelet count recovery in patients with aTTP treated t with caplacizumab , in addition to PEX and immunosuppression in the real-world setting. The secondary objectives include: number of exacerbations, defined as recurrent thrombocytopenia within 30 days after the end of therapy; rate of relapse, defined as a TTP event occurring more than 30 days after the end of daily plasma exchange; refractoriness; defined by the lack of a doubling of platelet count after 4 days of treatment and a lactate dehydrogenase level that remained above the upper limit of the normal range, TTP-related mortality and evaluation of adverse events.
This is a prospective non interventional study including patients with Relapsing-Remitting Multiple Sclerosis (RRMS) or with Neuromyelitis Optica Spectrum Disorders (NMOSD) and healthy subjects, who are enrolled within the routinely programmed clinical examinations at the IRCCS Neuromed (Pozzilli, Italy), IRCCS Polyclinic Hospital San Martino (Genoa, Italy) and Sant'Andrea Hospital - University of Rome La Sapienza (Rome, Italy). Specifically, the study investigates how ozanimod may contrast neurodegenerative mechanisms triggered by both arms of the adaptive immune response (T and B cells) and by their suboptimal regulation in MS. Overall, the project aims at assessing by in vitro experiments (there will be no patients on treatment with ozanimod and the drug will be only used in vitro): AIM1: ozanimod ability to modulate the synaptotoxic effect of T-cells derived from patients with MS relapse in a MS-chimeric ex-vivo model and to identify possible mediators (IRCCS Neuromed-Pozzilli, in collaboration with Synaptic Immunopathology Laboratory Dep. Systems Medicine, Tor Vergata University of Rome); AIM2: ozanimod ability to reduce the cytokine-mediated breakdown of the BBB and the migration of the here studied immune cells through ex vivo models of BBB (IRCCS Polyclinic Hospital San Martino); AIM3: ozanimod ability to affect the migration properties of Epstein Barr virus (EBV) infected B cells in MS (Sant'Andrea Hospital); AIM4: ozanimod ability to modulate the number and/or function of regulatory T cells (Treg), a lymphocyte population playing a key role in the control of pathogenic adaptive immune responses (Treg Cell Laboratory, Università degli Studi di Napoli "Federico II", Naples, Italy, receiving blood samples from Neuromed Hospital and Sant'Andrea Hospital; not recruiting unit). The work of the four labs is conceptually and operationally integrated: the labs at IRCCS Neuromed-Pozzilli/Tor Vergata University (Aim1) and at Polyclinic Hospital San Martino (Aim2) will investigate the effects of ozanimod on well-known mechanisms of damage in MS, inflammatory synaptopathy and BBB damage and immune cell migration. The lab at Sant'Andrea Hospital (Aim3), will verify whether B cells infected by different EBV genotypes are involved in BBB migration, and how ozanimod may interfere with this mechanism. The Treg Cell Laboratory (Aim4) will investigate whether ozanimod can also act "upstream" of these mechanisms by regulating the adaptive immune response.
A new rehabilitative approach, called AOT, based on the discovery of mirror neuron system (MNS), has been used with promising results on the Upper Limb (UL) function in some studies in children with Cerebral Palsy (CP). The purpose of the present trial is to provide evidence by an RCT, preceded by a pilot study, that customized and home based AOT training is an effective rehabilitation tool in children with diplegic CP (DCP) and that its effects are greater than standard care. Both Hands Assessment (BoHA) is chosen as primary outcome measure and a sample size of 27 per group is required. The rehabilitation lasting 8 weeks will be provided at home by an ICT platform able to deliver, manage, monitor and measure a personalized AOT.