There are about 3753 clinical studies being (or have been) conducted in Hong Kong. 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.
Modified en bloc resection is a hybrid technique involving piecemeal resection of the exophytic part of the bladder tumour, followed by en bloc resection of the tumour base. In this study, we shall investigate the efficacy of modified en bloc resection for patients with bladder tumours of ≥3cm in size.
Uterine natural killer (uNK) cells have been implicated to play a role in female reproductive performance. Serval studies showed an increased uNK cell density in the endometrium of women with reproductive failure. In this study, we wish to investigate the density and clustering of four different immune cells.
Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a chronic idiopathic inflammatory condition of the intestine, which results in diarrhea, rectal bleeding, urgency, weight loss and abdominal pain. The natural course of IBD is characterized by activity outbreaks and periods of remission. In most cases, relapses in Crohn's disease (CD) and in ulcerative colitis (UC) are unpredictable and despite effective medical treatment, a degree of subclinical inflammation may persist in the bowel wall, contributing to a significant risk of relapse. In IBD, altered fecal microbiota signatures have been consistently reported which included a reduction in biodiversity with lower proportions of Firmicutes and increases in Proteobacteria and Bacteroidetes phylum members. It is however unclear whether changes in microbial profile including diversity and composition can predict disease relapse in IBD. We hypothesize that fecal microbial signatures in conjunction with fecal calprotectin may play a role in predicting relapse in IBD patients.
Background: Silver diamine fluoride (SDF) solution is effective in arresting early childhood caries (ECC). Previous studies suggested that it might exert a preventive effect in managing ECC. However, no well-designed clinical trial has been performed to study this topic. The aim of this randomised clinical trial is to assess whether 38% SDF is superior to 5% sodium fluoride (NaF) varnish in preventing new carious lesions in primary anterior teeth. Methods/Design: This is a Phase II single-centre randomized, double-blind, active-controlled, parallel-group pragmatic trial. The hypothesis tested is that 38% SDF is more effective than 5% NaF in preventing new caries development in primary anterior teeth. Approximately 2,100 three-year-old kindergarten children who are generally healthy and with parental consent will be recruited. This sample size is sufficient for an appropriate statistical analysis of superiority trial with power at 80%, allowing for a 15% drop-out rate. Stratified randomization will be adopted for the intervention allocation. The intervention is either 38% SDF or 5% NaF (as positive control) therapy on primary upper anterior teeth. Dental examination followed by fluoride therapy will be conducted every six months until 30 months in kindergartens by a single examiner. The examiner, children and children's parents will be blinded to the treatment allocation. Questionnaire survey will be conducted to study the children's oral health-related behaviours and their socioeconomic backgrounds. Discussion: The effectiveness of 38% SDF in preventing ECC remains uncertain. If the results are as anticipated, it will help change the standard of care that using 5% NaF for ECC prevention. In addition, the results will be widely available and increase adoption of SDF in other countries to reduce the global burden of ECC.
This is an observational study to identify genetic risks for neonatal diseases, necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) using genome-wide association study (GWAS) and enterotype investigation. We hypothesize that specific genetic factors and microbiome could predispose preterm neonates for the development of NEC.
This study aims to conduct a randomized control trial to validate the treatment effect of e-based cognitive behavioral therapy for Insomnia (eCBT-I) on insomnia disorder, and explore whether eCBT-I could prevent depression and suicide in youths with insomnia and subclinical depression. In addition, to further explore the mechanisms underlying the association between insomnia treatments and psychiatric disorders, this study will evaluate whether changes in candidate factors including insomnia symptoms, poor sleep hygiene, sleep-related unhelpful thoughts and maladaptive behaviors, circadian rhythm disruption and chronic sleep deprivation will mediate the effect of eCBT-I on prevention of depression and suicide.
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is increasingly an important tool for diagnosis and management of cardiac diseases in children. One of the uses of MRI is tissue characterisation, in which the signal characteristics of the cardiac muscle (myocardium) can be determined with special techniques, known as parametric mapping. There is increasing evidence that parametric mapping may be able to identify regions of scarring in the myocardium, or detection of oedema/inflammation in the setting. This in turn can help predict disease course and add value to the management of patients. There is also evidence that other structures that are visualised in parametric mapping aside from the heart (e.g. liver and spleen) can also help improve diagnostic accuracy and guide management. Currently the majority of studies describing the use of parametric mapping is focused on adults, with limited data on its use in children. The parametric mapping values can also differ amongst different machines, so calibration with normal subjects are also required.
In the past few decades, Information and Communications Technology (ICT) have rapidly developed as effective, and probably the most cost-effective tools to connect most aspects of family lives. Alongside the growth in popularity of ICTs and its role in promoting family well-being, there is also an increasing appreciation that ICTs such as internet-enabled devices and web-based applications can offer many advantages compared to traditional face-to-face approaches when delivering behaviour change programmes. To gain more understanding of the potential new avenues of using ICT in programme implementation, The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust has initiated the Jockey Club SMART Family-Link Project in collaboration with The University of Hong Kong (HKU) and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). This project aimed at helping 26 NGO-operated Integrated Family Service Centres and Integrated Service Centres (Centres), making effective use of information and communications technology (ICT) and data analytics, to enhance the quality and efficiency of their family service. The present study aims to supplement the existing services and interventions delivered by the FRU, FSU and FCU, a series of brief ICT-based family interventions that promote family communication, cohesion, support and well-being and improve the efficiency and effectiveness of ICT-based interventions.
Currently, there are approximately 300,000 hip fractures per year in the US with a mortality rate of 20% within 1 year. In Hong Kong, around 6,000 hip fractures occur yearly with costs approximately 52 million USD, and these numbers are projected to double by 2050. The treatment of osteoporotic fractures is a major challenge as bone healing is delayed due to the impaired healing properties with respect to bone formation, angiogenesis and mineralization. Failure to unite results in pain, weakness, reduced mobility and fixation failure, and these complications are most common in elderly patients. Enhancement of osteoporotic fracture healing even after surgical fixation is therefore critical as a major goal in modern fracture management. Low-magnitude high-frequency vibration (LMHFV) is a biophysical intervention that provides non-invasive, systemic mechanical stimulation and we are the first group to study its effect on fracture healing. Our previous animal studies have shown LMHFV to enhance healing from the early inflammation stage to the late phases of remodeling in osteoporotic diaphyseal fracture healing. Using our newly developed clinically relevant metaphyseal fracture model, we further proved the efficacy of LMHFV. Our results show LMHFV significantly enhanced fracture healing in both osteoporotic and normal rats radiologically by X-ray and micro-CT, histologically and biomechanically. Justified with our preclinical studies, we hypothesize LMHFV can accelerate the time to fracture healing and enhance functional recovery. In this study, we propose to study the efficacy of LMHFV in trochanteric hip fracture healing by conducting a randomized double-blinded placebo-controlled clinical trial. Elderly patients aged 65 years or older of either gender, after surgical fixation, will be treated with LMHFV at 35Hz, 0.3g, 20 minutes/day, 5 days/week for 6 months. Results will be evaluated by clinical assessments, radiologically with X-rays, Computed Tomography (CT) and dynamic perfusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) for blood circulation evaluation, Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA), functional outcomes, and mortality. Positive findings from the study would have huge impact and change clinical practice.
The present study aims to develop a new predictive index to predict future depression of adolescents by using factors including individual, interpersonal and environmental. The index can be used to predict likelihood of students who are non-probable depression cases convert into probable depression cases. In addition, the investigators also test the factors of depression remission. It can hence be used in school setting to identify high-risk students, and provide them with secondary interventions that are designed by considering modifiable significant variables identified in this unique, large-scale, longitudinal study.