All clinical trials

There is high possibility of relapse of the lower anterior teeth after orthodontic treatment. Relapse is related with the initial orthodontic anomaly, pathology of surrounding tissues, patient's age and sex and compliance and the retention protocol applied. The options for the later are various. Permanent fixed retainers are considered of the most common ones and vastly vary based of composition. There are fixed retainers distinguished for their composition (SS, β-NiTi, fiber-reinforced composite retainers) or for their shape and dimensions (round or rectangular shape and single-strand or multi-strand respectively), and/or for the teeth they are placed on (canine and canine or canine to canine). Fixed retainers may require patient's cooperation , nevertheless debond failure rate varies between 0.1-53%. The aim of this prospective randomized clinical study is to compare failure incidents and retention effect on lower anterior teeth after orthodontic finish between three different types of fixed retainers. There will be 3 arms studied in this research: a) single strand 0.016x0.022'' β-Ti canine to canine, b) 0.028'' SS canine to canine and c) 0.027'' multi-strand twistflex canine to canine. Variables such as repeatability of failures, and undesired tooth movements will be measured. Measurements will be repeated every 3 months after patient's recruitment in this study, for one year period (12 months in total). Intraoral scans will be collected during baseline (fixed retainer insertion) and after 12 months.

The aim of the study is to investigate the effects of Manual Therapy and the Cognitive Exercise Therapy Approach treatment in patients with TMD-related headaches.

Men sustain over one-third of osteoporosis-related fractures worldwide. The burden of osteoporotic fractures in older men is substantial, and men suffer significantly worse fracture-related outcomes than women. Following a fracture, men sustain greater rates of subsequent fractures, loss of autonomy, and mortality than women and the imminent risk of re-fracture is several times higher in men than in women. Functional mobility, known to predict falls and fractures, is also notably worse in men following a fracture. In the fiscal year 2007-08, the overall annual costs of osteoporosis in Canadian men was evaluated to be $910 million. Osteoporosis is primarily considered a disease of older women, and men are remarkably under-evaluated and under-treated for it. Recognition of sex and gender influences on skeletal health in men has been very slow; akin to the gap in cardiovascular diseases, where women are far less likely to receive guideline-recommended investigations and treatment. Over 85% of Canadian men who suffer from fragility fractures do not receive osteoporosis screening and/or treatment strategies. The existence of this care gap in men underscores our current struggle to overcome important barriers including: 1) men's lack of awareness of the critical impact of osteoporosis and fractures on several aspects of their lives, and of the benefits of treatment; and 2) the absence of comprehensive and accessible treatments tailored to men. Informed by the Knowledge-to-Action framework, we aim to address these barriers by adapting interventions with proven efficacy to engage men at high fracture risk in health behaviour change. The current protocol is for a pilot RCT to determine the feasibility of recruitment and retention, adherence to, and acceptability of the virtually-delivered fracture prevention intervention only. Our long-term goal is to conduct a large pragmatic randomized controlled trial (RCT) to address the research question: In older adults at high risk for fractures who self-identify as men, does anti-osteoporosis pharmacotherapy in conjunction with a virtually-delivered intervention that includes a gender-tailored strength training and balance based exercise program and nutritional counselling, improve functional mobility compared to anti-osteoporosis pharmacotherapy in conjunction with an attention control intervention.

This study is a prospective, two-center, randomized, single-blind controlled trial to enroll 200 children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). The investigators hope to further explore the effectiveness of accelerated continuous theta-burst stimulation (a-cTBS) over the left primary motor cortex (M1) to improve core symptoms in ASD children based on a previous open-label clinical trial.

The aim of the present pilot study is to investigate the acceptance, feasibility and implementation of the vagus nerv stimulation in Long COVID patients. Additionally, the effects on parameters of the autonomic nervous system as well as on symptoms of Long COVID will be described in a pre/post comparison. For this purpose, a total of 45 female Long COVID patients will participate in the randomized controlled pilot study. Patients will perform auricular vagus stimulation daily for 12 weeks. The patient collective will be randomized into three groups (A: 10 hertz, B: 25 hertz, C: 2 hertz=control group). If appropriate results are obtained, further adequately powered intervention studies are planned.

To evaluate the efficacy and safety of the combination of Gentuximab Injection and Paclitaxel Injection in patients with advanced gastric or gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma after first-line treatment failure compared with Placebo and Paclitaxel Injection.

This is a phase 1b multi-center, open-label study of HMBD-001 with or without chemotherapy in participants with advanced solid tumors harboring NRG1 gene fusions or selected HER3 mutations.

A Phase 3, Multicenter, Two-part Study with a 5-week Double-blind Part (Randomized, Parallel-group, Placebo-controlled) followed by a 12-week Open-label Extension Part, to Evaluate the Efficacy and Safety of KarXT in Acutely Psychotic Hospitalized Chinese Adult Subjects with DSM-5 Schizophrenia

The goal of this clinical trial is to assess the feasibility and acceptability of a multi-component smoking cessation intervention for individuals living with diabetes which is delivered by diabetes specialist nurses. The main question it aims to answer is: Is a diabetes specialist nurse-led multi-component smoking cessation intervention tailored for persons living with diabetes who smoke feasible and acceptable among the providers and the participants, the individuals with diabetes? Eligible individuals living with diabetes who smoke will be asked to participate in a feasibility study lasting twelve weeks. The participants will be allocated at random either to the diabetes specialist nurse-led multi-component smoking cessation intervention, or to standard care - an active referral to the Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Directorate's one-to-one smoking cessation service. The multi-component smoking cessation intervention will be provided by the diabetes specialist nurses at the Diabetes Education Unit at Mater Dei Hospital. The Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Directorate's one-to-one smoking cessation service is provided by tobacco cessation facilitators within the health centres of Mosta, Floriana, and Paola. Both interventions will help participants re-consider their smoking habits and support them to quit smoking, free of charge. Primarily the researchers will: assess the feasibility of a largescale randomized controlled trial, by analyzing the recruitment and study uptake, and the nurses' perceived challenges and facilitators to implementation; and assess the acceptability of the intervention, by analyzing the nurses' feedback and the participants' satisfaction with and perceived usefulness of the smoking cessation intervention provided, in comparison to the satisfaction with standard care - the Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Directorate's one-to-one smoking cessation service.

The goal of this randomized controlled trial is to compare preoperative intensive weight management to upfront surgery in obese patients undergoing complex abdominal wall reconstruction. The main question is will abdominal wall specific quality of life (using the HerQLes survey) for the group undergoing upfront surgery be non-inferior compared to the group in the weight management program.