Active clinical trials for "Disease Progression"

The aim of this study is to evaluate the relation among cholesterol uptake capacity which measure HDL functionality, neoathrosclerosis and target-lesion revascularization.

The presence of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in the blood of prostate cancer patients has been shown to be an important indicator of metastatic disease and poor prognosis. Additionally, changes in CTC number throughout treatment have been demonstrated to reflect therapy response. However, the CellSearch® (Menarini-Silicon Biosystems) is the only FDA- and Health Canada-cleared CTC platform available at the present time, and is thus considered the current "gold standard" for clinical CTC analysis. Notably, CTCs are undetectable in ~35% of metastatic CRPC patients. This suggests that either CTCs are truly not present in >1/3 of patients with advanced metastatic disease; and/or that CTCs are present but not detectable as they do not meet the standard CellSearch® definition of CTCs. Given the accumulating evidence that prostate cancer cells can lose epithelial characteristics as they evolve towards a more metastatic phenotype, the investigators believe the latter scenario is most likely. The epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a critical process during embryonic development and cancer metastasis. Although the role of androgen receptor (AR) signaling in EMT is poorly understood, studies have also demonstrated that EMT may be facilitated by androgen deprivation, castration-resistance, and/or disruption of androgen signaling. Importantly, several clinical studies have demonstrated that CTCs with a purely mesenchymal phenotype are undetectable by CellSearch®, but that the presence of mesenchymal marker expression on CTCs with a hybrid epithelial-mesenchymal phenotype is indicative of poor prognosis. In addition, previous pre-clinical data from the Allan laboratory has demonstrated that in animal models, prostate cancers with a mesenchymal phenotype shed greater numbers of CTCs more quickly and with greater metastatic capacity than those with an epithelial phenotype. Notably, the clinically-used CellSearch®-based assay captured the majority of CTCs shed during early-stage disease in vivo, and only after the establishment of metastases were a significant number of undetectable CTCs present. This suggests that current clinical assays may be limiting ability to capitalize on the full potential of CTCs, and that a greater understanding of CTC biology is necessary in order to guide future technology development and translation to the clinic.

The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) emerged in December 2019, and in mere months has spread to more than 104 countries, resulting in an outbreak of viral pneumonia worldwide. Current local quarantine policy in Hong Kong for individuals suspected for COVID-19 requires daily self-reported symptomatology and body temperature, given the intermittent nature and the high dependency of self-discipline undermine the practicality of the approach. To date, the advance in sensor technology has made possible to continuously monitor individual physiological parameters using a simple wearable device. Together with the mobile wearable technology that allowing instantaneous, multi-directional, and massive data transfer, remote continuous physiological monitoring is made possible. The Cardiology division, the Univeristy of Hong Kong has been in collaboration with Biofourmis to implement such technology for remote heart failure management. Similar digital therapeutic system can be applied to remotely monitor physiological parameters of large number of quarantined or suspected COVID-19 at home or in quarantine facility. It is purposed to allow the monitoring team to effectively and remotely monitor COVID-19 quarantined and patients, manage and evaluate the disease progression.

Background: Taiwan is one of the area with the highest prevalence of chronic hepatitis B (CHB), and many patients die of hepatitis B virus (HBV)-related cirrhosis or liver cancer that have been the leading causes of death in Taiwan for many years. For effectively treating CHB, antiviral therapy for CHB has been reimbursed by the National Health Insurance in Taiwan since 1998, and nucleos(t)ide analogues (NAs) can be used for patients with active hepatitis B and high viral load in a maximum duration of three years. However, there is a significant proportion of patients suffering from hepatitis B recurrence after discontinuation of NA therapy, and hepatitis B recurrence may result in liver cirrhosis and liver cancer. To the best of current knowledge, in what conditions that the NA therapy can be successfully discontinued without hepatitis recurrence remain largely unclear. Therefore, this study is designed to evaluate the clinical and virological changes of CHB patients after stopping NA therapy, and finding the prognostic indicators may be an important basis for stopping NA therapy in CHB patients in the future. Objectives: To access the clinical and virological changes after stopping NA therapy To determine important prognostic indicators for stopping NA therapy Methods: In this prospective cohort study, the investigators plan to recruit CHB patients who are indicated for stopping NA therapy in the outpatient clinics according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria of this study, and clinical and virological data will be collected during routine clinic visits after stopping NA therapy. Prognostic factors will be analyzed according the following data: Patient characteristics: including age, sex, height, weight, waist circumference, history of alcohol drinking, antiviral therapy history, hepatitis history, and drug history. Blood tests: During routine clinic visits and blood tests every 12 weeks or at hepatitis flare in the first 2 years after stopping NA therapy, liver function and virological status tests will be conducted for analysis.

This non-interventional retrospective chart review study aims to evaluate the clinical outcomes of patients with RRMM receiving lenalidomide/dexamethasone (Len/Dex) treatment at 1st relapse and the treatment patterns following progressive disease as part of the routine clinical practice in Greece.

The purposes of this study are to test the hypothesis that elimination or reduction of dietary animal proteins leads to an improved prognosis in tumor patients to estimate the effect size and thus to enable sample size calculations for further studies to test the feasibility and tolerance of different diets, especially a vegan diet, in cancer patients and to proof that a vegan diet does not lead to a deterioration of health, tumor progression or to malnutrition to test the online platform as a study platform to test validity of self reported and online generated data

The objective of the study is to assess the effect of motor, non-motor and genetic factors on the progression of Parkinson's disease as well as its impact on complications rates. A large sample of Mexican subjects with Parkinson's disease attending several referral centers will be included. Data collected will include disease severity and motor scales, non-motor scales as well as genotyping for monogenic forms of the disease. Assessments will be performed every 6 months for two years.

The purpose of this study is to perform exploratory analyses to evaluate rates of functional and structural change in glaucoma, to identify predictors of rapid progression in patients with glaucoma and to identify possible genetic factors and biomarkers associated with the disease.

The purpose of this study for children with a new diagnosis of Crohn's disease is to identify biomarkers found in the blood or stool to help predict which children are at risk of developing complications.

End-stage renal disease is a global epidemia with an estimated incidence of 7% per year and high morbidity-mortality rate. Early detection of chronic kidney disease (CKD) and intervention for CKD complication is important to retard renal progression. However, "traditional uremic toxin" or "small water-soluble molecules" are poorly correlated with the renal function, uremic symptoms and outcomes of CKD patients. Putative protein-bound solute, p-cresol, is accumulated in ESRD patients receiving dialysis therapy. This uremic solute was associated with endothelial dysfunction, immune dysregulation and can predict outcome in hemodialysis patient. P-cresol inhibits endothelial cell proliferation and endothelial response to inflammatory cytokines. In vitro, p-cresol decreases leukocyte transendotherliar migratory function and inhibit production of phagocyte reactive species. Clinically, p-cresol plays a pathophysiological role in the uremic toxicity. High free serum level of p-cresol is associated with mortality in hemodialysis patients. Information of p-cresol in CKD patients is not available. The investigators hypothesized p-cresol can be accumulated in early CKD and have a positive correlation with the morbidity- mortality of CKD patients. Value of p-cresol in different stages of CRF is still unknown. Information of p-cresol in CKD patients is not available. The investigators hypothesized p-cresol can be accumulated in early CKD and have a positive correlation with the morbidity- mortality of CKD patients. The principal aim of this prospective cohort study is to investigate the association between total serum levels of p-cresol and the glomerular filtration rate. The correlation of level of p-cresol and morbidity-mortality in CKD patients will be also evaluated. To determine the relationship, patients of nephrology clinic with a diagnosis of CKD were enrolled in this prospective study and follow-up for 1-year period. The association between total and free serum levels of p-cresol and the glomerular filtration rate were evaluated in CKD patients. The p-cresol level was correlated with other many inflammatory markers (white blood cell counts, ferritin, hs-crp, leptin) and also with the hospitalization rate secondary to cardiovascular and infectious event. The renal outcome and all-cause mortality was assessed. Determination of this relationship can help to establish an accurate marker for early detection of CKD and also its prognostic role in CKD patients.