There are about 300 clinical studies being (or have been) conducted in Nepal. 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.
The study is a double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled trial that will be conducted primarily in healthcare settings and other facilities directly involved in COVID-19 case management. We will recruit healthcare workers and other persons at risk of contracting COVID-19, who can be followed reliably for 5 months. The initial aim was to recruit 40,000 participants and we predict an average of 400-800 participants per site in 50-100 sites. The participant will be randomised to receive either chloroquine or placebo (1:1 randomisation), or to hydroxychloroquine or placebo (1:1 randomisation). A loading dose of 10mg base/kg (four 155mg tablets for a 60kg subject), followed by 155 mg daily (250mg chloroquine phosphate salt/ 200mg hydroxychloroquine sulphate) will be taken for 3 months. If the participant is diagnosed with COVID-19, they will take continue to take the study medication until: - 90 days after enrolment (i.e., completion of kit) - hospitalised due to COVID-19 disease (i.e., not for quarantine purposes) in which case they will stop, or - advised to stop by their healthcare professional for other reasons Episodes of symptomatic respiratory illness, including symptomatic COVID-19, and clinical outcomes will be recorded in the Case Record Form during the follow-up period. This study is funded by Wellcome Trust Grant reference 221307/Z/20/Z.
Trial of Non-Invasive Positive Pressure Ventilation Management of High Altitude Pulmonary Edema
A growing number of trials have demonstrated treatment effectiveness for mental illness by non-specialist providers, such as primary care providers, in low-resource settings. A barrier to scaling up these evidence-based practices is the limited uptake from trainings into service provision and lack of fidelity to evidence-based practices among non-specialists. This arises, in part, from stigma among non-specialists against people with mental illness. Therefore, interventions are needed to address attitudes among non- specialists. To address this gap, REducing Stigma among HeAlthcare Providers to improvE Mental Health services (RESHAPE), is an intervention for non-specialists in which social contact with persons with mental illness is added to training and supervision programs. A cluster randomized control trial will address primary objectives including changes in stigma (Social Distance Scale) and improved quality of mental health services, operationalized as accuracy of identifying patients with mental illness in primary care. The control condition is existing mental health training and supervision for non-specialists delivered through the Nepal Ministry of Health's adaptation of the World Health Organization mental health Gap Action Programme. The intervention condition will incorporate social contact with people with mental illness into existing training and supervision. Participants in the cluster randomized control trial will be the direct beneficiaries of training and supervision (primary care providers) and indirect beneficiaries (their patients). Primary care workers' outcomes include stigma (Social Distance Scale), knowledge (mental health Gap Action Programme knowledge scale), implicit attitudes (Implicit Association Test), clinical self-efficacy (mental health Gap Action Programme knowledge scale), and clinical competence (Enhancing Assessment of Common Therapeutic factors) to be assessed pre-training, post-training, and at 3- and 6-month follow-up. Accuracy of diagnoses will be determined through the Structured Clinical Interview for the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual version 5, which will be assessed at 3 months after patient enrollment. Patient outcomes include functioning, quality of life, psychiatric symptoms, medication side effects, barriers to care, and cost of care assessed at enrollment and 3 and 6 months. This study will inform decisions regarding inclusion of persons living with mental illness in training primary care providers.
Background: Diabetes mellitus is one of the major intractable public health problems in developing countries including Nepal. The dietary approach is of paramount significance in the management of type 2 diabetes. The nutrition education and counseling (NEC) may be good strategies for the management of diabetes provided by dietitians. There is still a lack of evidence on a dietitian-led dietary approach to the management of T2DM patients in the Nepalese context. The aims of this study is to examine the effectiveness of dietitian-led dietary approach to management of diabetes on reduction of HbA1c level, nutrition education score and macronutrient intake among T2DM patients in a tertiary care hospital in Kathmandu, Nepal. Methods: The Dietary Approach to the Management of Diabetes (DIAM-D) trial is a hospital-based, open-label, two-armed, randomized control trial. A total of 156 participants with T2DM having HbA1c >6.5% will be enrolled in the study. Participants will be consecutively enrolled and assigned to receive nutrition education and counseling (NEC) and diet plan in the intervention group (n=78) and usual routine care in the control group (n=78) randomly. The NEC will be provided to participants on group session and the diet plan will be face-to-face individual basis at the time of enrollment and follow-ups will be done every month. Baseline data will be collected using a structured questionnaire for an interview and the biochemical tests will be measured. Baseline data will be collected at the time of enrollment, midline in three months and end-line data collection in 6 months. The primary outcome of the study will be a difference in mean change (from baseline, midline to 6 months) in the HbA1c level between the two study arms from baseline to end line. The secondary outcomes measure will be changed in biochemical and clinical parameters between the two arms at baseline midline to six months. Data will be entered using Epidata Software and transferred to the STATA/MP version 14.1 for further analysis. Data will be analyzed using an intention-to-treat basis. Independent sampele t-test and difference in the difference (DID) models will be used to estimates changes between the intervention and usual care arms.
Study design: This was a single center, parallel arm, randomized, controlled trial done at Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital,Institute Of Medicine from May 2017 to April 2018. The allocation ratio was 1:1. Inclusion criteria: All patients undergoing Transurethral Resection of Bladder Tumor for suspected bladder tumors. Exclusion criteria were: Consent withdrawal, bladder tumour other than in the lateral wall, unfit for spinal anesthesia and need of general anesthesia or obturator nerve block. Methodology: All patients suspected to have bladder cancer were subjected to imaging or cystoscopy and with confirmation of the diagnosis; they were randomized into two arms of TURBT. Spinal anesthesia was used in all cases. To overcome the potential confounding effect on our primary end point, obturator jerk, nerve block was not used. Cystoscopy was done first and the findings were noted before proceeding to TURBT. Tumors were resected in block from periphery to center with the stalk resected last. An additional sample of deep muscle was obtained from the tumor base and sent for histopathological examination in different containers. All study variables were recorded in Per forma during the operation and in post operative period. Hemoglobin and sodium level was determined in immediate post operative period. Postoperative irrigation was done with normal saline in both the resection groups and continued till the urine was clear. The catheter was removed after 48 hours in uncomplicated cases and patients were discharged. Patients were followed up in OPD at 2 weeks with the
There has been a wide variety of use of anaesthetic agents along with adjuncts during subarachnoid block. The quest for attaining adequate analgesia and anaesthesia has always been shadowed by the concurrent deleterious effect of the anaesthetic agent. Ropivacaine as an anesthetic agent has proven to meet the desired goals of anaesthesia while minimizing the potential side effects. The addition of different adjuncts has shown to enhance the analgesic property, prolong the duration of sensory blockade and decrease the dose related adverse effects of the local anaesthetics. Fentanyl in this regards has also shown some promising effects. Thus we compare the use of ropivcaine as a single agent versus ropivacaine along with an adjunct (Fentanyl) to attain the desired anesthetic effect while minimizing the associated side effects.
Adequate control and management of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) during pregnancy is critical to mitigate its short- and long-term health consequences in women and their children and may serve as a key strategy to curb the escalating type 2 diabetes epidemic in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Taking a user-centered design approach, here the study investigators propose to develop a culturally-appropriate smartphone application (app) to support self-management of GDM, and additionally, test its usability and preliminary efficacy, among patients in a peri-urban hospital setting in Nepal. App-based lifestyle interventions for GDM management are not common, especially in LMICs where its prevalence is rapidly increasing, and as such, study findings will have important public health relevance for a broader population.
Osmotherapy with mannitol has been a common practice in patients with raised ICP. Monitoring its effect on ICP can be performed invasively and non-invasively. Due to a validated correlation between invasive ICP monitoring and ONSD measurement, it can be a tool to monitor acute and long term effects of osmotherapy non-invasively on ICP. This study examines the acute changes in sonographically measured ONSD brought about by the administration of mannitol. This can correlate with the changes in ICP in such patients and can be utilized as a tool for decision making/ point-of-care utility.
The burden of non-communicable disease is on the rise in low- and middle- income countries.Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of morbidity, mortality, and disability in South Asian regions. Diabetes mellitus is among the top five risk factors for cardiovascular deaths in the world. Despite the evidence supporting the use of lifestyle interventions to prevent diabetes and improve glucose tolerance, their translation in real world has been challenging. Work-site-based health programs have shown positive impacts on employee health, and have shown significant improvements in blood glucose levels and HbA1C. The research will be conducted in 1) Hulas wire Industry and 2) Pragati Textile Industry Private limited. Investigator will conduct before-and-after intervention among pre-diabetic employees.In addition screening will be done to identify the eligible participants.Those who are pregnant,under diabetic and hypertensive medication will be excluded from the study. All of the interested adult employees (≥18 years) will be invited for the first screening. All individuals with HbA1C from 5.7% to 6.4 % will be invited to participate in the study. At baseline, investigators will administer a standardized questionnaire to record the characteristics of the participants.Blood samples will be collected and analyzed for HbA1c, fasting glucose, and lipid profile. Investigators will have a wait period before implementing any intervention.After completion of control period,half of the participants will be randomized to receive behavioral interventions. Behavior intervention will comprise of combination of intensive education session, group counseling, goal setting and monitoring.Trained nurses will deliver the sessions once every week for two months and then once every month.All the participants will receive canteen intervention after behavioral intervention which will comprise of promotion of healthy foods in the canteen of the study site i.e Improve physical facility ,increase access to healthy food, Information, Education and communication, changes in food price and training of canteen staffs Investigators will conduct follow up at 6 months, 12 months, and 18 months and if funds are available at 24 months. During each follow up, the proportion of unhealthy diet consumption data will be abstracted. In addition, blood samples will be collected and analyzed for HbA1c, fasting glucose, and lipid profile .This period will serve as control group.
The introduction of the World Health Organization Surgical Safety Checklist (WHO SSC) is a priority to promote surgical safety. However, little is known regarding awareness and knowledge of the WHO SSC in developing countries. This study aimed to obtain region-specific information for the introduction of the checklist in a core medical institution in Nepal. The present research was a cross-sectional study using data from a survey conducted at the Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital (TUTH) in Kathmandu, Nepal. A questionnaire was distributed to 150 healthcare professionals working in the operating theatre. Responses to the questionnaire were analysed descriptively and regression analyses identified factors associated with awareness of the checklist.