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.
Fundoscopy, optical coherence tomography (OCT) and OCT-angiography (OCTA) are established examinations and bear minimal risks. The recognition of retinal microvascular signs will enhance the pathophysiological understanding of the vasculopathy in patients with intracerebral haemorrhage (ICH) and aneurysmatic subarachnoid hemorrhage (aSAH) and might serve as prognostic and diagnostic indicators.
An increased interest of animal-assisted interventions (AAI) can be observed within clinical practice, even though it is still not entirely clear how the presence of an animal contributes to the outcome of a treatment. One theory maintains that the mere presence of an animal influences the therapeutic alliance between therapist and client. However, results from a recent study suggest that a relationship between patient and health-provider alone is not sufficient to influence treatment outcomes, but that a therapeutic rationale is needed and that verbal instructions and suggestions are highly important in shaping participants' treatment expectations. To investigate this theory, this study will combine AAI with a placebo intervention, as placebo interventions offer the basic form of intervention working through relationship and expectancy. The effects of the presence of a dog will be assessed with a standardized experimental heat pain paradigm (TSA-II) in a randomized controlled trial in healthy participants (N=128). After a baseline measurements of heat pain threshold and tolerance, participants will be randomly assigned to one of the following four conditions: a) placebo intervention , no dog present, b) placebo intervention, dog present, c) no placebo intervention, no dog present and d) no placebo intervention, dog present. The dog will be introduced after randomization. Expectancy will be induced by telling participants that the contact to an animal increases the oxytocin level, which has an non inflammatory effect. The placebo intervention will be a deceptive cream which is said to helps against pain. Afterwards, posttreatment measurements will be conducted and participants fill in questionnaires about their perceptions of the experimenter.
The prevalence of diabetes and hyperglycaemia in surgical patients is rising and associated with grater complication rates, length of stay and mortality rates. Suboptimal glucose management in the perioperative setting remains a major barrier to optimal surgical care. While there are guidelines to manage perioperative diabetes care, implementation is challenging and inconsistent, in part due to a stretched workforce, involvement of several disciplines and clinical teams and shortcomings in clinical training and knowledge. Closed-loop glucose control represents an emerging diabetes treatment modality that autonomously adjusts insulin delivery according to continuously measured glucose levels. The use of fully automated closed-loop insulin delivery may represent an easy-to-adopt approach for safe and effective perioperative diabetes management.
In the next three decades, the world's population over 60 years old is expected to more than double its size. Even in the absence of an obvious pathology (i.e., healthy aging), advancing age is typically associated with a progressive decline in cognitive performance. Although pathophysiological changes in age-related neurodegenerative disorders have received much attention over the past years, far less is known about the neural processes affecting cognition in healthy ageing. One of these postulated processes is neural dedifferentiation (i.e., a decrease in neural selectivity, by which neural representations of processed information become less univocally distinguishable), possibly accompanied by the recruitment of additional cortical areas in the healthy aging brain. To date, these processes have been extensively studied on the neural level, yet their functional significance for cognitive behaviour remains largely unclear. This project will investigate neural dedifferentiation and its relationship to cognitive performance in the healthy aging brain. To this end, the investigators will use a combination of state-of-the-art technologies including simultaneous transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and high-density electroencephalography (hd-EEG) as well as diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). Perspectives include a better understanding of the relationship between neurophysiological mechanisms and cognitive performance in the healthy aging brain.
The consensus therapeutic strategy implies that COVID patients with acute lung injury due to coronavirus are routinely placed in prone position in an attempt to improve oxygenation by increasing ventilation homogeneity. The purpose of the study is to quantify with the electrical impedance tomography (EIT) the changes in the ventilation and aeration in the dorsal regions of the lung when the patient is placed in prone position.
This study aims to evaluate characteristics of patients with previous hypersensitivity reaction grades I-IV to intravenous ferric carboxymaltose (Ferinject) or to iron sucrose (Venofer) including age, atopy status, previous allergic reactions, previous medical history, current medications and co-morbidities. Furthermore, symptoms on reaction such as severity grade of reaction will be evaluated.
The aim is to develop a wearable-based ICU (intensive care unit) prediction algorithm for inpatients contracted with SARS-CoV-2. Inpatients with suspicion of COVID-19 or with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection will be included. The participants will be equipped with a smartwatch, which gathers physiological data throughout hospitalisation.
Persons with Multiple Sclerosis (PwMS) often suffer from impaired mobility and reduced aerobic capacity. Moreover, 65% of PwMS recognize fatigue as their most disabling symptom that quickly impacts patients' health-related quality of life (QoL). Systematic reviews that evaluate therapeutic options for MS-neurorehabilitation show good evidence for exercise and energy management/conservation programs to improve fatigue or its impact on daily life. Guidelines recommend a multidisciplinary approach but to date only unimodal interventions are investigated. This study aims to investigate the influence of the combination of two different therapeutic concepts: inpatient energy management education (IEME) + High-intensity interval training (HIIT). This intervention is compared with a control group that undergoes progressive muscle relaxation (PMR) + low-intensity training (ST). IEME or PMR is performed on two days (tue-thur) and HIIT or ST on three days (mo-wed-fr) / week. The primary outcome is the effect on the quality of life after three weeks rehabilitation and after returning home (at 4 and 6 months follow-up) in PwMS.
The purpose of this trial is to study the effect of initial temporary sevoflurane sedation on mortality and persistent organ dysfunction (POD) in survivors at day 28 after ICU admission in the population of patients suffering from COVID-19 ARDS.
Subclinical hypothyroidism (SCH) is common among the elderly population and has been associated with neuromuscular impairment. Muscular symptoms such as weakness, myalgia and cramps are more often reported by SCH patients compared to euthyroid controls. Sarcopenia is the age-related loss of muscular mass and function and its assessment includes three dimensions (muscle quantity, muscle strength and physical performance). To date, evidence is lacking about the effect of thyroid hormone replacement on skeletal muscle impairment in SCH patients. The aim of the study is therefore to evaluate the impact of levothyroxine therapy on sarcopenia measures in SCH. This is a nested substudy within two large international multicenter randomized controlled trial of elderly participants with SCH (TRUST Study, clinicaltrials.gov ID NCT 01660126; and IEMO Study, Netherland Trial Register ID NTR3851). Those two trials shared a very similar study design. The cohorts will therefore be analyzed as a single study population.