All Clinical Trials in United Kingdom

The purpose of this study is to understand more about why women who have had hypertensive pregnancies may be at increased risk of high blood pressure and why these women are often at increased risk of heart and blood vessel disease later in life. Read Less

The human gastrointestinal tract harbours \~40 trillion microbial cells, far outnumbering the cell number, and therefore the genetic content of its host. How this genetically diverse bacterial (collectively referred as 'microbiota') co-resident modulates host homeostasis is largely unknown. We are increasing gaining a better understanding how the microbes modulate mucosal and systemic metabolic/immune and organ systems including the kidney, heart and the brain. Therapeutic targeting of the gastrointestinal (GI) microbiota may help improve clinical outcomes in conditions as diverse as arthritis, cardiovascular disease, and cancer. In contrast to other organ systems, studies investigating the role of the microbiota in modulating clinical outcomes in renal transplantation lags behind. The aim of the study is to examine (a) how alterations in the urinary and GI microbiota and associated metabolites impact on host immunity after renal transplantation, and (b) whether such changes are correlated with post-transplant complications, such as rejection, development of de novo donor specific antibodies, metabolic complications (e.g post-transplant diabetes) and infections. Participants will be followed before and up to twelve months post-transplantation, and, longitudinal microbial data will be correlated with in-depth immune phenotyping and clinical end-points to define the impact that changes in urinary and GI microbial ecology have on kidney transplant outcomes. Read Less

Prospective, observational cohort study looking at patients either at risk of breast cancer or have clinically suspected breast to assess the diagnostic performance of quantitative, non-contrast MRI. Read Less

This is a study developing a prehabilitation intervention and then testing the acceptability and feasibility of the intervention. Start date Aug 2022 for Focus groups and Feb 2023 Co-design workshops and feasibility study date pending Read Less

The goal of this pilot Randomized Controlled Trial is twofold: 1) To learn about the feasibility and usefulness of a mobile application for generalised anxiety symptoms (Cerina); 2) To test the preliminary effects of Cerina in reducing generalized anxiety symptoms compared to a waitlist-control group among Ulster University students presenting mild to moderate symptoms of Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) symptoms. The main research questions are: Is the Cerina app usable and feasible among Ulster University students reporting mild to moderate GAD symptoms? Is there an indication of the effectiveness of the Cerina app in reducing GAD symptoms compared to a wait-list control group among Ulster University students? * After the baseline assessment, eligible and consenting participants will be randomized to either intervention or to the wait-list control group. * Those who are allocated to the intervention group will have access to the Cerina app for 6 weeks. * Those who are in the wait-list control group will wait for 6 weeks until the intervention group finishes the intervention for their access. * The wait-list control group will have access to the services offered by the Ulster University Student Wellbeing team. * Participants in both groups will do mid- (at week 3 after their randomization) and post-assessment (At week 6 after their randomization). * All participants will also be invited to the post-assessment feedback interviews once they complete their post-assessments. The purpose is to have more in-depth information on their views of the Cerina app, the User Interface, the clinical content, the potential facilitators, and barriers to using it in daily life. Read Less

This study aims to examine if partial sleep deprivation results in alterations blood markers and subjective markers of homeostatic, and hedonic appetite, as well as provide initial data as to the impact of sleep restriction on gastric emptying. Read Less

Hip replacements are one of the NHS's highest volume procedures, with \~14,000 operations per month before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Delays to surgery can have significant implications; meaning increasing levels of pain and worsening quality of life. As of January 2021, following the initial waves of the COVID-19 pandemic, 58,000 people had waited an average of 25 additional weeks for their total hip replacement. The results of the study will hopefully help treating clinicians identify patients in whom there may be further deterioration if surgery is significantly delayed. Read Less

Food nutritional labels are one way to support people to make more informed, healthier food choices. However, there is limited evidence from trials showing that nutrition information on food or drinks is changing the food purchasing or food/beverage consumption behaviours. Many people do not understand the meaning of kilocalories (kcals, calories) or grams of fat displayed on food labels, and often underestimate the number of calories when labelling is not provided. An alternative or complementary approach to current nutrition labelling, is to provide calorie information with a clear interpretation of what the calorie content of the food item/meal or beverage means in terms of energy expenditure. This approach has been called physical activity calorie equivalent (or expenditure) labelling (PACE), which aims to show the public how many minutes (or miles/kilometres) of physical activity (e.g. walking or running) are equivalent to the calories contained in food/beverages. For example, "the calories in this chocolate bar require 95 minutes of walking to burn off". One context in which the public consume a lot of calories is from vending machines. We hypothesise that providing consumers with PACE information on hot beverage vending machines will reduce the average number of calories per transaction dispensed from the vending machines compared with when no PACE information/labelling is presented on vending machines. The study will adopt what is called a stepped wedge randomised controlled trial design involving 42 hot beverage vending machines in 27 buildings (clusters). Clusters will be randomly allocated to one of eight sequences across 24 weeks, which will dictate the time (weeks) at which clusters display the vending machine PACE labelling intervention. Weeks one to four will constitute a baseline period, during which the data will be collected from all vending machines without PACE labelling in place. This will be followed by 20 weeks during which the PACE labelling intervention will be introduced and maintained at each building according to a stepped wedge design (Figure 2). Specifically, every two weeks, three or four clusters will move to the intervention condition. The number of transactions from the vending machines will be collected over the study period and we will compare the number of transactions in the weeks when the PACE labelling is displayed compared to when it was not. Read Less

This project will involve administering a multi-strain probiotic supplement to investigate the capacity to improve exercise performance and/or recovery. This will be done by assessing physiological measures (e.g. performance and muscle soreness), biochemical measures (e.g. oxidative stress and inflammation), and microbial diversity (i.e. associations with bacteria present in the gut). Participants will be well-trained, recreational exercisers and will visit the laboratory a total of eight times, including an 8-week probiotic vs placebo supplementation period. Read Less

Background: Staffing in intensive care units (ICU) has been in the spotlight since the pandemic. Having enough nurses to deliver safe, quality care in ICU is important. However, what the skill mix should be (how many should be qualified nurses or have an ICU qualification) is unclear. Very little research has been done to look at which nursing staff combinations and mix of skills works best in ICU to support patients (described as 'staffing models').Research shows that there is a link between the quality of nurse staffing and poor patient outcomes, including deaths. Aim: Our research plans to look at different staffing models across the UK. This study aims to examine new staffing models in ICU across six very different Trusts. This study will use a research technique called Realist Evaluation that examines what works best in different situations and help to understand why some things work for some people and not others. The design of this approach will help to better understand the use of different staff ratios across different ICU settings. This study will examine what combinations of staff numbers and skills result in better patient care and improved survival rates. The aim is to produce a template that every ICU unit can use. To do this, this study will compare staffing levels with how well patients recover, and seek to understand the decisions behind staffing combinations. Methods: This study will: 1. carry out a national survey to understand the different staff models being used, comparing this against the current national standard (n=294 ICUs in the UK including Scotland) 2. observe how people at work in 6 hospitals (called ethnography), watching how they make decisions around staffing and the effect on patients. The investigators will also conduct interviews (30 interviews plus 30 ethnographic observations) to understand staffing decisions. 3. look at ICU staffing patterns and models, and linked patient outcomes (such as whether people survive ICU) over 3 years (2019-2023) in those hospitals, including with a very different combination of staffing). The investigators will then carry out some mathematical calculations to understand the best possible staffing combinations, and how this varies. Read Less

This research aims to improve the way of deciding whether a lump in soft tissue such as fat or muscle is a type of cancer called a soft tissue sarcoma, or if it is benign (non-cancerous). To do this the investigators will use routine clinical MRI scans, additional quantitative MRI scans and artificial intelligence. The aims of this research are: To develop AI algorithms that can accurately classify soft tissue masses as benign or malignant using routine and quantitative MR images. To classify malignant soft tissue masses into their pathological grade. Compare different AI models on external, unseen testing sets to determine which offers the best performance. Participants will be asked if they can spend up to a maximum of 10 extra minutes in an MRI scanner so that the extra images can be acquired. A small subset of participants will be invited back so the investigators can check the reproducibility of the images and the AI software. Read Less

This research project incorporates a series of studies to investigate the relationship between physical performance (e.g. tests of strength, balance and walking distance) and physical activity (activity measured in day to day life) in people with COPD and other chronic lung diseases. Read Less