There are about 2333 clinical studies being (or have been) conducted in Ireland. 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.
Improvements to treatment strategies for patients upper gastrointestinal cancers have produced an increasing population of people who remain free from disease recurrence in the long term. Weight loss and nutritional problems are common among patients who attain long-term remission and cure after surgery for upper gastrointestinal cancers. However, the mechanisms underlying these problems are not well understood. In this study the investigators aim to determine whether reduced food intake after upper gastrointestinal surgery is caused by early satiety related to exaggerated post-prandial gut hormone responses. This is a randomized, double-blind, placebo controlled, crossover study of the effect of 100μg octreotide SC on ad libitum food intake in patients free from complications or recurrence at least one year post-oesophagectomy, gastrectomy or pancreaticoduodenectomy. A comparator group of age, weight and gender matched subjects will be studied concurrently, and caloric intake and subjective symptom scores after administration of octreotide versus placebo among surgical and comparator subjects will be assessed.
A major focus of research in oncology is to identify patients who, following induction therapy, have a complete pathologic response, presenting opportunities for novel trials, including extended therapy or non-operative approaches, in addition to identifying cohorts who are resistant to the neoadjuvant therapy. The current gold standard for determining response to CRT is pathological evaluation following surgical resection, in particular the Mandard Tumour Regression Grade (TRG) or some modification thereof. At this time, however, there is no preclinical early response or post-treatment biomarker, nor endoscopic or radiologic assessment that predicts pathologic response prior to surgical resection.The aim of this study is to determine the accuracy of CT-PET for prediction of histopathologic response and/or oncologic outcome for patients with esophageal cancer.
This multi-center prospective observational study is designed to track birth outcomes and perinatal correlates to the Panorama prenatal screening test in the general population among ten thousand women who present clinically and elect Panorama microdeletion and aneuploidy screening as part of their routine care. The primary objective is to evaluate the performance of Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP)-based Non Invasive Prenatal Testing (NIPT) for 22q11.2 microdeletion (DiGeorge syndrome) in this large cohort of pregnant women. This will be done by performing a review of perinatal medical records and obtaining biospecimens after birth to perform genetic diagnostic testing for 22q11.2 deletion. Results from the follow-up specimens will be compared to those obtained by the Panorama screening test to determine test performance. Specific test performance parameters will include: PPV, specificity, and sensitivity.
Improvements to treatment strategies for patients with cancers of the upper gastrointestinal tract have produced a large population of people who remain free from cancer recurrence in the long term following treatment. Surgery is the cornerstone of treatment for patients with these cancers, but while surgical removal of the tumour may offer the best chance of cure, these are major operations associated with specific long term complications. Weight loss and poor nutrition are common problems among patients who attain long-term cancer remission and cure after surgery. The mechanisms underlying these problems are not well understood and therefore treatment options are limited. Our research has demonstrated increased levels of chemical messengers (gut hormones) released from the gastrointestinal tract after meals in patients who have previously undergone this type of surgery. These chemical messengers play a role in controlling appetite and interest in food, and increased levels after surgery may reduce interest in eating. Understanding the role of gut hormones in the control of appetite may allow us to use certain medications to block gut hormones and hence increase appetite, allowing patients to eat more and regain weight, preventing nutritional problems after surgery. In this study, the investigators aim to determine whether exaggerated gut hormone secretion causes reduced appetite and interest in food after surgery. The information gained from this study may help us to develop treatments for patients with weight loss and nutritional problems after surgery.
Ankylosing spondylitis is a chronic inflammatory condition that mostly affects the spine. This results in back pain and stiffness, and causes difficulty with daily activities. Physical activity and exercise are key components of the management of ankylosing spondylitis, however many adults with ankylosing spondylitis do not meet physical activity recommendations. This study aims to investigate the effects of a twelve week intervention designed to increase physical activity and exercise in adults with ankylosing spondylitis.
Background: Based on international evidence, current management of people with T1DM on intensive insulin therapy (IIT) use algorithms based on the meal carbohydrate content (MCC) to calculate the prandial insulin dose. Typically, these calculations do not take into account the protein or fat content of the meal. There is a lack of clinical advice for optimal management of high protein/fat meals due to a paucity of evidence regarding the impact of protein/fat on glycaemic control. Objective: To determine the mean glucose excursion from fasting (measured by continuous glucose monitoring, CGMS) at each 30 minute interval over the 8 hour postprandial period for each test condition. Protein effects will be looked at in a separate parallel study in Australia. Hypothesis: The fat content of a meal will cause a dose-response change in the postprandial glucose concentration in children with T1DM. Research Design and Methods: Randomised cross-over study involving thirty patients. Inclusion criteria: T1DM >1 year, aged 8-18 years, with HbA1c <8% and BMI <91st centile, on intensive insulin therapy. Participants will be given a test meal on 6 consecutive nights in random order; 4 test meals varying in fat content, and one 20g carbohydrate test meal with zero fat given as control meal. A CGMS will be used to assess glucose responses at 5 minute intervals for 8 hours after test meal consumption. The relationship between the fat loads in the test meals and the mean change in postprandial glucose concentration will be analysed and described. Conclusions: This study will determine whether fat causes dose dependent response in glucose concentrations leading to refining the guidelines and possible adjustment of insulin doses for the fat content of a meal.
This clinical trial tests the feasibility, effectiveness and patient satisfaction with cognitive remediation therapy for patients diagnosed with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder within a forensic hospital. It is hypothesised that patients receiving cognitive remediation therapy will have an improvement in cognitive performance, real world functioning, symptoms, violence risk and benefit more from additional psychosocial treatment programmes over time relative to patients receiving treatment as usual. Furthermore it is hypothesised that it will be feasible to carry out such a study and that patients will report high rates of satisfaction with cognitive remediation therapy. Finally it is hypothesised that differences on the effectiveness measures will be maintained at 6 month follow up after the end of treatment.
Chemotherapy may cause distressing symptoms which can impact on patients' quality of life. Chemotherapy is frequently given on an outpatient basis therefore patients are often required to manage the symptoms they experience at home without direct supervision from healthcare professionals. This study aims to evaluate the impact of a mobile phone based, remote monitoring, symptom management system (ASyMS) on the delivery of care to people with nonmetastatic breast, colorectal or haematological cancer during chemotherapy and for one year following treatment. The study aims to compare a number of outcomes of patients using the ASyMS intervention with outcomes of patients who receive normal care at their hospital. For up to 6 cycles of chemotherapy treatment, once a day and any other time they feel unwell, patients allocated to the mobile phone group will enter information on the phone regarding any symptoms they are experiencing, take their temperature and enter this on the phone. The information is sent via secure connection to a computer, which assesses the information and sends an alert to their health care professional in the hospital, who will call the patient at home if the patient has reported problematic symptoms. Patients in the normal care group will receive care as normal at their hospital. Both groups of patients will be asked to complete a series of questionnaires before they start treatment, after each chemotherapy cycle (for a maximum of 6 cycles) and at 3 monthly intervals for up to one year thereafter (a subset of patients will also be asked to complete midcycle symptom assessments). The study will also evaluate the cost benefit of ASyMS, assess changes in clinical practice as a result of ASyMS and develop a predictive risk model (statistical model) for use in future care of patients receiving chemotherapy for these cancers. This multicentre study is taking place across a number of European countries.
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the most common cause of death in Ireland, accounting for 33% of all deaths. Hypertension or elevated blood pressure, is also a significant health problem, however, it is one of the major controllable risk factors associated with CVD. While increased consumption of fruit and vegetables is associated with reduced risk of CVD, evidence is accumulating that consumption of berry fruits in particular, may promote cardiovascular health. Blackberries have a favourable nutritional profile, in that they are rich in dietary fibre, vitamins C, K and folate but low in dietary fat and kilocalories. In addition, blackberries are a rich source of antioxidants, and contain numerous phytochemicals including polyphenols. The aim of this study is to investigate the potential beneficial effects of blackberry consumption on cardiovascular health, in particular, effects on blood pressure.
Over 18,000 Irish people are affected by the inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis. These illnesses often arise at a young age and can be associated with significant physical disability. In addition, there is considerable psychosocial disability associated with IBD. Previous studies have suggested that simple psychological interventions may be valuable in improving quality of life and may even improve disease activity. However, there has been no comprehensive trial to determine the precise effect of psychological interventions on quality of life (QOL), stress or disease activity. Our aim is to conduct a randomised controlled trial of a simple psychological intervention to determine it's effect on QOL and stress