Active clinical trials for "COVID-19"

The purpose of this study is to develop a safe, easily scalable, and simple method to split a single ventilator for use amongst two or more patients, thus serving as a capacity bridge to save patient lives until manufacturers can produce enough ventilators.

Rationale: The investigators hypothesize that genetics and the nasal epithelial response to SARS-CoV2 are critical determinants of the immune response to viral infection, and predict clinical outcome in COVID-19 patients. Objective: The main objective is to assess whether genetic background and/or the nasal epithelial gene expression in response to SARS-CoV2 is different in patients with mild, severe or very severe disease. The secondary goal of this study is to investigate a) the role of the ACE2-AngII system during SARS-CoV2 in relation to outcome b) the long-term consequences of mild, severe, and very severe COVID-19 infection c) the association between mild, severe and very severe COVID-19 with clinical & molecular markers of disease progression d) whether the faeces microbiome, virome or metabolomics profile predicts clinical outcome in COVID-19 patients and e) to investigate whether pre-existing antibodies towards other coronaviruses play a role in severe disease development. Study design: Prospective open label clinical observational study. In this study samples will be collected from 150 COVI-19 patients ( 50 mild (group 1), 50 severe (group 2) and 50 very severe (group 3) ). Blood, nasal brushes and stool will be collected for all groups at hospital admission and 3 months after recovery, and for groups 2 & 3 at day 3, at day 14, and before detubation Study population: A total of 150 patients diagnosed with COVID-19 will be included. The investigators aim for 50 patients per group, divided over 3 groups: Group 1 Patients with mild disease who tested positively for SARS-CoV2 infection, but only experience mild symptoms and do not need hospitalization. Group 2 Patients with severe disease admitted to hospital, without the need to be admitted to the intensive care. Group 3 Patients with very severe disease admitted to intensive care, who require mechanical ventilation. Main study parameters/endpoints: The primary endpoint of this study is the identification of genes, pathways and cell populations that associate with clinical outcome and disease progression in mild, severe and very severe COVID-19 patients.

Severe sepsis and septic shock are some of the leading causes of mortality in intensive care unit (ICU) admitted COVID-19 patients. The main cause of early mortality is the uncontrolled release of inflammatory mediators leading to cardiovascular failure. CytoSorb, a recently developed, highly biocompatible hemadsorption device has been tested, which can selectively remove inflammatory mediators from the circulation. This device is currently commercially available, and in Europe, it has been approved for clinical use. Based on experience to date, this adsorption technique may influence the immune function; removing inflammatory mediators from the blood may improve organ functions and even increase the chances of survival. CYTOAID is an observational, non-interventional study to assess the effectiveness of early cytokine adsorption therapy in critically ill patients who have been admitted to the ICU because of COVID-19 infection. Data on the applied therapy on COVID-19 patients in ICU will be collected and analyzed. The patient's examination and therapy will be applied according to the current regulations at the clinics and the current professional standards. The study does not require any additional examination or intervention.

To date, the diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 infection is made by identifying the viral RNA in samples collected through a nasopharyngeal swab or other respiratory samples but this technique, has several limitations for its application in a mass screening. Recently, it has been developed a new method of acquitting the occurrence of severe Sar-COV-2 infection, detecting the early rise in leukocyte levels which has a characteristic set of ratios of leukocyte types, which identify the pathogen. Primary aim of the Diagnostic Accuracy study is to validate the use of the point-of-care characteristic Differential Leucocyte Count (CLDC) device and algorithm to detect SARS-CoV-2 infection as a preliminary approach to a mass screening program. Secondary aims are to define if CLCD methods is able to detect SARS-CoV-2 infection earlier as compared to swab molecular testing. Subjects at low and high risk of Sar-Cov-2 infection will be tested, at the same time of the nasopharyngeal swab procedure in the morning, each recruited subject will be also tested using CLDC device and algorithm. On a voluntary base, subjects will also undergo blood drawing (3 ml) for hematological cytometric analyses, research personnel will administer a questionnaire on COVID 19 symptoms and risk factors and for contact traicing. Subjects testing positive on either CLDC test but negative at the swab will undergo on a voluntary basis new swab testing after two, 5 and possibly 8 days if still negative. It estimates to find between 150 and 200 positives in a population of 1000 subjects at different risk of infection.

An increased proportion of deaths occur in the intensive care unit (ICU). Some amenable factors such as end-of-life practices may contribute to complicated grief. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, visitor restrictions in health care facilities have been implemented. Families were also unable to implement usual funerals. The investigators hypothesize that these policies and practices may impact grief during covid-19 pandemic. The aim of this study is to evaluate the prevalence of complicated grief after death of a relative in the ICU during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Complex practical basic life support (BLS) training have been stopped all over the world due to coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic in 2020. While launching the new Simulation Centre at Medical Faculty of Masaryk University in Brno, Czech Republic, teachers and students have been dealing with the risk of COVID-19 transmission during the simulation training. One of the highest risks for the transfer of COVID-19 between the medical students is during the mouth-to-mouth ventilation training in BLS. It has been assumed that rescuers during BLS simulation training with use of breathable nanofiber respirator with layers with accelerated copper can provide efficient mouth-to-mouth rescue breaths to the mannequin in compliance with safety rules.

The need for large-scale testing for COVID-19 has been highlighted by both the World Health Organization (WHO) and the UK government. Immunity to coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) infection can be determined by detecting the presence of antibodies to the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Immunoglobulins (Ig) to the SARS-CoV-2 develop during the second and third week of COVID-19 disease and can be detected by analyses conducted using laboratory tests. Accurate and scalable point-of-care testing (POCT) for the diagnosis of COVID-19 immunity would allow community diagnostic to be upscaled enormously. POCT for COVID-19 antibodies is possible using small disposable kits. POCT immunity testing using disposable kits will be imperative for effective surveillance and vaccinations programmes. The study aims to test a novel, rapid antibody testing kit (IgG and IgM) in order to confirm its accuracy in a healthy volunteer population. The antibody testing kit intended for use in the study has already been CE marked for this purpose.

This study is being conducted to assess the performance of the BD Veritor™ Plus System for Rapid Detection of SARS-CoV-2, used in serial testing, in identification of infectious, asymptomatic individuals. This information may be used to inform development of an effective testing strategy by policy makers.

With the recent worldwide outbreak of the COVID-19 infection and the huge impact it has had upon lives in the UK, it is key to increase knowledge on the impact of the virus on the body. Certain aspects of the virus' characteristics are also poorly understood: The reason behind the variation in response between individuals, and the long-term impacts of infection upon the body. It is already known from previous research that muscle-health plays an important role in health, with other illnesses known to have an impact upon muscle health. A large number of studies have investigated the relationship between muscle and health, with an increasing focus upon the impact upon the mitochondria within the muscle cells. Mitochondria are the energy-producing component of a cell and are vital not just for the muscle-cells but for the body as a whole. The researchers hope that by investigating the impact of COVID-19 infection upon human skeletal muscle, the question of why individuals have different responses to the infection and the mechanism of the longer-term impact of infection can be answered. This added knowledge will then, hopefully, be able to guide therapy targets in the future.

This is a monocentric retro-prospective observational study that will be conducted on all COVID19 positive patients hospitalized at the S. Gerardo Hospital in Monza.