There are about 3194 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.
PURPOSE: To evaluate the effect of the vitreous in response to intravitreal (IV) injections of ranibizumab 0.5 mg/0.05ml (Lucentis; Genentech, South San Francisco, CA) for the treatment of diabetic macular edema (DME). METHODS: Prospective, observational, multicenter study, conducted at Centro Hospitalar e Universitário do Porto, Portugal. Best-corrected visual acuity and central foveal thickness will be evaluated at baseline and every month until the end of follow-up. OCT biomarkers such as retinal layers thickness will also be analyzed. A p value of 0.05 or less will be considered to be statistically significant. HYPOTHESIS: Vitrectomized patients will improve less than non-vitrectomized patients.
Colonoscopy is currently accepted as the gold standard in screening, surveillance and prevention for colorectal cancer (CRC), and therefore, its quality is a major priority. The quality of colonoscopy is greatly dependent on the quality of the bowel preparation, which can be limited by stool, foam, bubbles and other debris. In fact, colonic bubbles are described in 30 to 40% of colonoscopies, possibly undermining the quality of the exam, impairing the endoscopists view, demanding the further use of water or simethicone and eventually increasing fatigue and costs, while diminishing diagnostic accuracy. Although previous attempts, to date no endoscopic scale is validated regarding the presence of bubbles and most widely accepted and already validated scales do not include the presence or absence of bubbles in their definition, leading to the use of different home-made scales in randomized trials and impairing any solid meta-analysis conclusion. As so, the goal of this study is to develop and validate a new colonic bubble score (Colon Endoscopic Bubble Scale - CEBuS).
Vitamin D deficiency has been linked to hypertension, autoimmune, infectious and cardiovascular diseases which are risk factors for COVID-19. Moreover, COVID-19 patients have a very high prevalence of hypovitaminosis D (Turin data). Taken together, we aim to investigate whether genetic variants in vitamin D-related genes contribute to a poor COVID-19 outcome, particularly in hypertension and CV patients, proposing thus a personalized therapeutics based on vitamin D supplementation in order to reduce the severity and deaths.
This study aims at investigating handwashing behavior during COVID-19 pandemic. It was hypothesized that social-cognitive and emotional predictors as well as COVID-19 morbidity and mortality rates within the country would be associated with handwashing behavior in the general population of adults in 14 countries.
This study will investigate colon pathology in patients with HER2-positive breast cancer treated with neratinib. Colonoscopy will be performed after eligibility has been confirmed, prior to administration of the first dose of neratinib, and after 28 days of neratinib treatment.
Elderly, hypertension, diabetes and cardiovascular diseases are risk factors for COVID-19 morbility and mortality. However, the real reason for this is not yet understood. It is well documented that gut microbiota has a critical role in health, particularly in the immune system and therefore, we propose that gut microbiota composition could affect vulnerability and disease outcomes of COVID-19.
The aim of this study was to compare the influence of the abutment height and insertion timing on early marginal bone loss (MBL) in posterior mandibular partial implant-supported restorations. Material and methods: The study was planned as a prospective, randomized, controlled parallel group including subjects in need of two implants for the restoration of an edentulous posterior mandibular area. Data were gathered on age, gender, attached gingiva height, bleeding on probing (BoP), smoking habits and previous periodontitis. The patients were allocated into three groups: Group A implants were immediately connected to 2 mm height abutments; Group B implants were immediately connected to 1 mm height abutments; Group C implants were left to heal in a sub-mucosal position and 2 mm abutments were inserted in a second stage surgery. Peri-apical radiographs were taken at the implant surgery (baseline), 4 weeks after surgery (T1), 16 weeks after implant placement at the final restoration delivery (T2) and 1-year after implant placement (T3).
The primary purpose of this study is to evaluate the efficacy of flexibly dosed esketamine nasal spray compared with quetiapine extended-release (XR), both in combination with a continuing selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor/serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor (SSRI/SNRI), in achieving remission in participants who have treatment-resistant major depressive disorder (MDD) with a current moderate to severe depressive episode.
This is a pragmatic, non-inferiority clinical trial, enrolling heart failure patients who will be randomized to a 12-week exercise training program either centre-based or home-based with telemonitoring. The impact of this intervention will be assessed on established surrogate markers in HF such as maximal exercise capacity, plasma biomarkers and quality of life. The cost-effectiveness and overall satisfaction with the treatment will also be studied. In addition to measure the clinical and economic impact of this innovative way of delivering exercise, it is intended to unravel new molecular pathways and assess a pool of biomarkers that provide a wide mechanistic picture underlying the clinical effects of exercise.
A pathological complete response (pCR) after surgery occurs in approximately 20% of rectal cancer patients submitted to neoadjuvant chemotherapy, with apparent survival benefit. This group could, potentially, be spared the morbidity of surgery. The diversified response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy (nCRT) amongst tumors suggests a complex relationship between tumor biology and response possibly due to a number of genetic or molecular pathways that might regulate chemoradiosensitivity. Accumulating evidence indicated that circulating cell-free nucleic acids can be a promising biomarker of response, in liquid biopsy, for rectal cancer. The concentration of baseline plasma cell-free DNA (cfDNA) appears significantly higher in responders compared to non-responders. The objective of this study is to investigate the potential role of cfDNA as a marker of pCR (or partial response) to nCRT as well as a marker of outcomes (overall survival and disease-free survival). The investigators are conducting a prospective, observational, cohort, non-randomized study of consecutive patients with locally advanced rectal cancer submitted to nCRT, followed by surgical excision 6-12 weeks later. Patients are assigned to groups according to their pathological response to nCRT. A total of 20 patients with complete pathological response, 50 partial response and 50 non-responders will be selected over a year and followed for another year. Participants will be observed and examined during the entire course of treatment and the follow-up period. Serial analysis of cfDNA through liquid biopsies will be performed in consecutive patients at specific time points (pre-nCRT, post-nCRT and postoperative week 1), incorporating analysis of concentration, dimension of DNA fragments, % of mutation frequency (CIN, APC, p53, MSI, KRAS, BRAF, EGFR, cKIT) and next-generation sequencing of tumour biopsy and surgical specimens. This study will serve as the feasibility of a larger, comparative study.