There are about 2498 clinical studies being (or have been) conducted in Portugal. 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.
Acute heart failure (AHF) is defined as rapid onset or rapid worsening of typical signs and symptoms of heart failure (HF) according to the 2016 European Society of Cardiology Guidelines. AHF is the first cause of hospitalization in people over 65 in Western countries, accounting for more than 1 million hospitalizations per year in the USA. This disease has many repercussions not only in terms of mortality and morbidity, but also in terms of resources and infrastructures necessary for these patients' treatment, which constitutes a high economic burden for the national health care system. Even with growing knowledge and means, nowadays, the prognosis of AHF is still poor and there are no proven therapies that lead to long-term benefits in terms of reduced mortality. A better management of the acute phase of decompensation, including the definition of effective diagnostic-therapeutic workup and the use of innovative drugs, could improve the course of the disease, with positive effects on the patient (gain in survival and reduction of admissions), but also on the community (containment of the overall health costs). In recent years, numerous scores have been outlined in various AHF settings, considering only a small number of parameters. Several prognostic models have been developed suggesting how difficult it is to evaluate the AHF patients' prognosis. All this effort towards the development of so numerous prognostic models is justified by the fact that, despite the evolution of treatments, the risk of re-hospitalization and of both intrahospital mortality and after discharge remains high. Several studies have investigated potential prognostic factors that could help evaluating the risk of cardiovascular events, but now there is no accurate and complete prognostic score, particularly for AHF patients. Therefore, to date there are no accurate scores or determinants of short- and medium-term prognosis that allow to improve the management of these patients. This will be an observational, prospective, multicentric, international, non-commercial (non-profit) study. The primary endpoint will be to evaluate the best parameters, among clinical, laboratory and echocardiographic variables assessed within 24 hours from the hospital admission and before discharge, that are able to predict rehospitalization for HF and cardiovascular death at 3 and 6 months, in patients admitted to the cardiology department for acute exacerbation of chronic HF or de novo AHF.
This is a prospective, single-center, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, single-ascending dose (SAD) phase 1 study to evaluate the safety and tolerability of single-ascending doses of BAR 502 in healthy male and female subjects.
Autoinflammatory diseases (AID) are clinical entities characterized by recurrent inflammatory attacks in absence of infection, neoplasm or deregulation of the adaptive immune system. Among them, hereditary periodic syndromes, also known as monogenic AID, represent the prototype of this disease group, caused by mutations in genes involved in the regulation of innate immunity, inflammation and cell death. Based on recent experimental acquisitions in the field of monogenic AID, several immunologic disorders have been reclassified as polygenic/multifactorial AID, sharing pathogenetic and clinical features with hereditary periodic fevers. This has paved the way to new treatment targets for patients suffering from rare diseases of unknown origin, including Behçet's disease, Still disease, Schnitzler's disease, PFAPA (periodic fever, aphthous stomatitis, pharyngitis and cervical adenitis) syndrome, chronic recurrent multifocal osteomyelitis (CRMO), non-infectious uveitis and scleritis. Gathering information on such rare conditions is made difficult by the small number of patients, along with the difficulty of obtaining an accurate diagnosis in non-specialized clinical settings. In this context, the AIDA project promotes international collaboration among clinical centres to develop a permanent registry aimed at collecting demographic, genetic, clinical and therapeutic data of patients affected by monogenic and polygenic AID, in order to expand the current knowledge of these rare conditions.
The current proposal aims to assess if Speed of Processing (SoP) Training combined with alpha tACS (α-tACS) is able to increase brain speed of processing as assessed by the Useful Field of View (UFOV) when comparing to SoP training and sham α-tACS. Moreover, a second aim is to assess if those changes in speed of processing transfer to other cognitive domains, such as memory, language and executive functioning. Furthermore, the mechanisms underlying these interventions will be tested, namely to assess brain connectivity and coherence as assessed by EEG. To that purpose, the aim of the current proposal is to conduct a double-blind, parallel randomized trial assessing the effects of combining SoP with alpha endogenous tACS (either active or sham) in people with Mild Cognitive impairment (MCI).
The nursing profession is highly affected by exhausting positions, namely prolonged standing and walking, which are the second work-related factor hindering foot health. In fact, the most common work-related disorders among nurses and nursing students are those related to lower limbs, particularly the foot and ankle. Such disorders, if not adequately prevented, contribute to the decrease in quality of life and high student drop-out rates. To effectively develop preventive interventions among students, namely self-care actions, it's important to assess with detail the relationship and influence that clinical settings have on foot health. According to some authors, the biomechanics of many foot disorders are still poorly understood, and more studies are needed. In this sense, the aim of this study is to understand the influence of prolonged standing and walking positions on nursing students' foot health. Moreover, what's the relationship between the podiatric profile (regional force and pressure exerted on the foot) and related signs and symptoms.
Researchers are looking for a better way to treat children who have chronic kidney disease (CKD), which is long-term kidney disease, and proteinuria, a condition in which a person´s kidneys leak protein into the urine. The kidneys filter waste and fluid from the blood to form urine. In children with CKD, the kidney´s filters do not work as well as they should. This can lead to accumulation of waste and fluid in the body and proteinuria. CKD can lead to other medical problems, such as high blood pressure, also known as hypertension. Vice versa, hypertension and proteinuria can also contribute to worsening of CKD. Therefore, the treatment of CKD aims to control blood pressure and proteinuria. There are treatments available for doctors to prescribe to children with CKD and hypertension and/or proteinuria. These include "angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors" (ACEI) and "angiotensin receptor blockers" (ARB). Both ACEI and ARB can improve kidney function by helping the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS) to work normally. The RAAS is a system that works with the kidneys to control blood pressure and the balance of fluid and electrolytes in the blood. In people with CKD, the RAAS is often too active, which can stop the kidneys from working properly and cause hypertension and proteinuria. However, ACEI or ARB treatment alone does not work for all patients with CKD as they only target the angiotensin part of the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system. The study treatment, finerenone, is expected to help control RAAS overactivation together with an ACEI or ARB. So, the researchers in this study want to learn more about whether finerenone given in addition to either an ACEI or ARB can help their kidney function. The main purpose of this study is to learn more about whether finerenone added to either ACEI or ARB can help reduce the amount of protein in the participants' urine more than a placebo. A placebo looks like a treatment but does not have any medicine in it. Participants will also continue to receive their other medications. To see how the treatment work, the doctors will take samples of the participants' urine to measure their protein levels before and during taking treatment and after their last treatment. In addition, blood samples will be taken to monitor kidney function, electrolytes and the amount of finerenone in the blood as well as for other tests. This study will include children with CKD and proteinuria aged from 6 months up to less than 18 years. The participants will take: - either finerenone or the placebo, in addition to - either ACEI or ARB, whichever they take as part of their normal treatment Two visits are required up to 104 days, to check whether a child can take part in the treatment phase of the study. If participants qualify for the treatment phase, they will then undergo treatment for about 180 days. During this time, they will visit the study site at least 7 times. During these visits, the participants will: - have their blood pressure, heart rate, temperature, height and weight measured - have blood and urine samples taken - have physical examinations - have their heart examined by an electrocardiogram and echocardiography (a sonogram of the heart) - answer questions about their medication and whether they have any adverse events , or have their parents or guardians answer - answer questions about how they are feeling, or have their parents or guardians answer - answer question about how they like the study medication, or have their parents or guardians answer The doctors will keep track of any adverse events. An adverse event is any medical problem that a participant has during a study. Doctors keep track of all adverse events that happen in studies, even if they do not think the adverse events might be related to the study treatments. The doctors will check the participants' health about 30 days after the participants take their last treatment.
Malignant peritoneal mesothelioma is a rare neoplasm. The most common type, the epithelioid type, has been further divided into histological patterns of tubulo-papillary, acinar, adenomatoid, micropapillary, or solid. Its prognosis is improved by the use of a locoregional treatment combining extensive cytoreductive surgery (CRS) and hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC), which increases survival up to 50 months. Histology is one of the most important prognostic variable that, forms the basis for treatment decisions. However, the prognostic of the epithelioid type varies greatly due to its tumor heterogeneity. It is therefore necessary to find prognostic factors of malignant epithelioid peritoneal mesothelioma in order to better define the therapeutic strategy. Among histological factors, solid growth, tumor necrosis, nuclear atypia, and mitotic count were found to be independent prognostic factors in epithelioid malignant pleural mesothelioma. However, in epithelioid malignant peritoneal mesothelioma (EMPM), these factors were studied in small and heterogeneous series in terms of histological growth and definitions used for histological factors. The present large study was conducted to investigate the prognostic impact of several histologic factors in EMPM. Their prognosis impacts were assessed using overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) in EMPM.
Although data suggest that non-pharmacologic therapies such as Reminiscence Therapy (RT) and Cognitive Stimulation (CS) can potentially maintain or reverse this trend, cognitive impairment can be a precursor to neurodegenerative processes. This study aimed to assess how an RT and a CS program affected cognition, depressive symptomatology, and quality of life (QoL) in older persons with cognitive decline who attended community support institutions in central Portugal. For seven weeks, a quasi-experimental study with two arms (RT and CS program) was conducted. The intervention was completed by 76 of the 109 older persons who were first screened (50 in the RT program, 26 in the CS program). In both groups, a pre- and post-intervention analysis revealed statistically significant differences in cognition, particularly in older adults' delayed recall ability.
Arterial hypertension (HT) was the leading global contributor for premature deaths in 2015. Its treatment includes medication and lifestyle changes, namely diet and regular exercise, which has shown to have an inverse relationship with arterial HT. Recreational soccer (RS) has proven to be a non-pharmacological treatment for several chronic conditions, including arterial HT, with meaningful decreases on blood pressure (BP). Recreation futsal (RF) is expected to elicit comparable BP changes to RS considering that it imposes similar physical and physiological demands. However, the effects of RF on BP and other cardiovascular markers have not been previously investigated in participants only with controlled arterial HT. Furthermore, acute BP changes and double product elicited by this exercise modality were never described. Therefore, the main purpose of this study is to assess if RF is an effective coadjuvant intervention for BP control in adults with controlled arterial HT. Secondary purposes are: i) to determine the impact of RF on other cardiovascular markers; ii) to describe the acute BP changes and the double product elicited by RF; and iii) to assess the impact of 1 month of detraining on BP and other cardiovascular markers (4 months).
A retrospective study to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of 1L polyethylene glycol (PEG)+ Ascorbic acid given for bowel preparation before colonoscopy.