Hijirino Koike, Japan

Bicarbonate for In-Hospital Cardiac Arrest

A Study of Population and Sex-specific Troponin Cutoffs for Ruling Out Acute Myocardial Infarction

The present use of non-sex specific diagnostic cut-off levels of troponins in the diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction (MI) leads to under-diagnostication of acute MI in women and over-diagnostication in men. The purpose of this study is to document this through a randomized nationwide clinical implementation of population and sex-specific cut-off levels. Coronary artery disease (CAD) is globally the leading cause of mortality for men and women. The latest consensus statement defines myocardial infarction as 1) a rise and/or fall in cardiac troponins with 2) at least one value above the 99th percentile upper reference limit (URL) in the context of 3) symptoms or clinical evidence of myocardial ischemia. Thus, levels of cardiac troponins play a key role in the diagnostic work-up in general. Currently, uniform manufacturer-provided URLs, defined by the 99th percentile of cardiac troponins in a healthy reference population, is applied in Danish hospitals as a diagnostic cut-off for acute MI for both men and women. Lower levels of cardiac troponins are seen in healthy women as compared to healthy men, i.e. twice as high levels are seen in men. On this basis the clinical use of one uniform 99th percentile URL for cardiac troponins - i.e. applying the same diagnostic levels for men and women - may lead to a systematic under-diagnostication of acute MI in women and potentially an over-diagnostication of acute MI in men. Accordingly, the use of sex-specific 99th percentile URL of cardiac troponins are now recommended in recent guidelines by international cardiological societies, but this remains to be introduced in clinical practice. The 99th percentile URLs for cardiac troponins currently used in Danish Hospitals are provided by the manufacturer of each specific assay based on blood samples from a healthy reference population collected by the manufacturer. Studies have shown that the 99th percentile value is dependent on patient sex as well as on the reference population selected and the definition for "healthy" used in these studies. It is well known that the 99th percentile URL should stem from a local reference population. This recommendation has never been implemented in Denmark. The overall purpose of the study is to evaluate the clinical effect of implementing population and sex-specific 99th percentile URL for cardiac troponins in Denmark. To determine the sex-specific 99th percentile URLs of troponins based on a healthy Danish reference population, blood samples from healthy Danish blood donors, were analyzed using one troponin T assay and four troponin I assays. Second, the DANSPOT study is a nationwide cluster-randomized trial with "stepped-wedge" design with participation of all 22 Danish hospital laboratories and associated departments of cardiology. With one-month intervals, each of 22 centers are randomized to shift from the presently applied uniform 99th percentile URL of troponin to our newly determined population and sex-specific 99th percentiles URLs. Each patient is followed in Danish registries for 12 months after first admission. The clinical significance of sex-specific 99th percentile URLs of troponin is poorly investigated and for the same reason not yet implemented in Denmark or many other countries. The basic hypothesis of the DANSPOT study is that the implementation of population and sex-specific 99th URLs for troponin, will ensure that the right patients receive the right treatment. The investigators expect to detect significantly more women with acute MI, theoretically resulting in a more accurate diagnosis and treatment of women and men with acute MI. This would be guideline-defining for implementing sex-specific cutoffs for cardiac troponin in Denmark as well as internationally as recommended in guidelines by professional cardiological societies.

NORDTREAT Prospective Study on Inflammatory Bowel Disease

The primary aim is to identify molecular markers (e.g. in the blood and stools) for discrimination between individuals diagnosed with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) inclusive Crohn's disease (CD), ulcerative colitis (UC) and inflammatory bowel disease unclassified (IBD-U), and those without (non-IBD). Participants with suspected IBD at baseline, with various disease pathways, will be evaluated again using a 1-year cohort study. Diagnosis and clinical outcome will be evaluated at referral and after 1 year of observation. The secondary aims are, in addition to the molecular information, to investigate whether the inclusion of information on clinical and lifestyle factors as well as combination hereof (e.g. gene-environment interaction analyses) can improve the predictive potential of identifying IBD and distinguish the prognosis. Study design: A prospective Nordic multicenter study on prognostic factors for the diagnosis and characterization of IBD among patients referred to the hospital on suspicion of IBD. A panel of possible prognostic biomarkers for diagnostic purposes will be applied to all participants. Setting: All patients referred due to a suspicion of IBD to the departments of gastroenterology in Odense University Hospital, Svendborg Hospital, Vejle Hospital, Esbjerg Hospital and potentially Hospital of Southern Jutland, Aabenraa will be invited to take part in the study. Participants will be included from January 2022 for a 1-year period or until 800 participants in the Nordic study (up to 400 in Denmark) have been included. The follow-up period is one-year including visits and questionnaires and an additional nine years of follow-up by the use of register data. Biological material will be obtained four times for participants with IBD, at week-2/0, and 12, 26 and 52 after the diagnosis has been established. Participants where IBD is not established (non-IBD) will only have biological material obtained at baseline (that is visit -2/0) and will have a clinical interview after 52 weeks. All participants are treated according to standard clinical practice by the clinical departments. Clinical data consist of personal data, data on health and disease, lifestyle, laboratory measures, and disease activity scores including patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs), clinical assessments, and laboratory data. Each participant will fill out validated questionnaires on disease activity, quality of life, and lifestyle using electronic links. Data management: Study data registered by clinicians, study nurses and technicians will be stored in the web-based case report form (eCRF) Viedoc (Viedoc™, Uppsala, Sweden) or REDCap (Open Patient data Explorative Network (OPEN) at Odense University Hospital) for the diet questionnaire. The questionnaires are in Danish and the participants will have access to the questionnaires via an electronic link sent to their personal, electronic mailbox (REDCap) or via an investigator provided link to MyViedoc. All data will be stored in secure research storage facilities. Statistical methods: We will develop multivariable prediction models relating multiple predictors for a particular individual to the probability of or risk for the presence (diagnosis of IBD at baseline) or future occurrence (prognosis) of a particular outcome such as severe IBD within the first year. Predictors such as biomarkers are covariates, explored as prognostic factors (independent variables). The primary hypothesis is that the final biomarker will define the participant population into two groups each consisting of 50%: a biomarker positive group whereof 80% will be diagnosed with IBD and a biomarker negative group whereof 20% will be diagnosed with IBD. For a comparison of two independent binomial proportions using the likelihood ratio statistic with a Chi-square approximation with a two-sided significance level of 0.05, a total sample size of 800 assuming a ratio biomarker positivity-to-negativity of 1 to 1 has an approximate power of 100% when the proportions of being diagnosed with IBD are 0.8 and 0.2. If we assume that we will have 800 study participants, we will potentially ("rule of thumb") be able to build a statistical model with as many as 80 covariates in the multivariable model. The associations of the suspected important biomarkers with other variables will be tested with non-parametric tests: with Spearman rank correlation (rs) for continuous variables, and the Wilcoxon rank-sum test or Kruskal-Wallis test, including a Wilcoxon-type test for trend across ordered groups where appropriate, for categorical variables. In general, logistic regression models will be used with individual marker as the exposure variables and the clinical response as the outcome (dependent variable). The analyses will be adjusted simultaneously for sex, age, and prescribed targeted therapy. Potential interaction between biomarker status (positive/negative) and specific drug type will be analyzed. Covariates (biomarkers) consist of various measures within genetics, transcriptomic, microbiomes, and proteomics. Sample size considerations: Assuming that biomarker positivity constitutes 50% of the individuals enrolled at baseline, if our event rate is 10% on average, a total sample size of 800 patients (i.e. 400 biomarker positive) we will have a very good statistical power (99.7%) to detect a difference between proportions having surgery of 10% points (15% and 5%, respectively). If we decide to split the data set into two (2×400 individuals), in order to first build the model, and subsequently validate it in the second independent dataset, we will have 91.8% statistical power to detect a difference between groups. If the prognostic value of our biomarkers is not that effective separating the number of patients with severe IBD at week 52, we will still have more than 90% power to detect a difference between biomarker groups of 6% points (e.g. 10% and 4%, respectively). Another consideration is the number of events (individuals having severe IBD at week 52) per variable (EPV) considered for inclusion in the multivariable model. For logistic regression modelling the EPV should be at least ten times the number of potential prognostic variables that could be included in the model. As a consequence of this logic, our expected sample size of 800 individuals (having 80 events) will, with reasonable confidence, allow us to create a multivariable model with up to 8 covariates simultaneously. Project organization: NORDTREAT is part of a larger Nordic project (DK, SE, NO and IS) where regular meetings will be held between the partners. Collaborative research and material transfer agreements will be conducted with the national and international collaborators. In addition to the scientific reporting of results, major findings with translational implications will be communicated to health professionals, patient organizations, public health policy makers, and to the general public through various media and news activities.

Influence of Nociception Level Monitor (NOL) Guided Analgesic Delivery on Robot-assisted Colorectal Surgery

During anesthesia for surgical procedures, anesthetic and muscle relaxant drugs can be meticulously administered using Bispectral Index (BIS) and neuromuscular monitors. However, analgesic drugs are still dispensed using poor surrogate parameters such as heart rate and blood pressure. This subjective dosing of analgesic drugs may invariably lead to inappropriate intra-operative consumption. This may result in tachycardia, hypertension, and postoperative pain due to e.g. insufficient analgesia, or hypotension, bradycardia, respiratory depression and Post-Operative Nausea and Vomiting (PONV) secondary to excessive analgesia. These effects may be detrimental to the patients especially those with multiple comorbidities with limited vital organ reserves such as patients classified to III or IV by the American Society of Anaesthesia classification (ASA) Similarly, immediate postoperative recovery may also get delayed due to pain, unstable hemodynamics, nausea and vomiting. In that context, there has long been search for a monitor which can guide meticulous administration of analgesics. Recently, a Nociception Level monitor (NOL) based on advanced software algorithms using multiple physiological parameters has been developed. It offers an objective score (NOL Index) which relates to the level of intra-operative pain. NOL technology has been validated and found superior to existing pain indicators in peer-reviewed publications. The NOL monitor may offer interesting observations in perioperative nociception levels and appropriate analgesic consumption in diverse surgeries, including robot-assisted surgery. These observations may supplement the current efforts towards further advantages in rapid restitution. Therefore, the investigators are planning a trial where intra-operative analgesics are guided using an NOL monitor.

COS-P for Parents of Children Referred to Child Psychiatric Services

DANHEART (H-HeFT and Met-HeFT)

Minimally Invasive Right Colectomy Anastomosis Study

MIRCAST study is an observational, prospective, parallel cohorts, international, multi-center to compare robotic assisted and laparoscopic minimally invasive right colectomy, and intracorporeal anastomosis versus extracorporeal anastomosis. The research is coordinated by Marcos Gómez Ruiz MD PhD from Hospital Universitario Marqués de Valdecilla in Santander, Spain; the sponsorship is performed by Fundacion Instituto de Investigación Marqués de Valdecilla (IDIVAL). The European Society of Coloproctology (ESCP) endorses MIRCAST Study and will run a quality audit/independent monitoring of the study. The objectives of study are to compare of the peri-operative complications after robotic assisted and laparoscopic minimally invasive right colectomy with intracorporeal anastomosis versus extracorporeal anastomosis. To Identify potential benefits of robotic assisted procedures for right colon resections.

Organizational Skills Training for Children With ADHD

Organizational skills training (OST) is a behavioral intervention that has been increasingly used to address difficulties with time management and organization of materials in children with ADHD, that tend to persist despite medication and behavioral treatments. This randomized clinical superiority trial is going to investigate the effect of Organizational Skills Training, a group treatment approach for parents and children. The program is also involving a computerized program, vTime, that will help the children manage time more effectively. A total of 98 children with ADHD aged 6-13 years is expected to be randomized to either intervention or control group in a single blind design. Both groups will receive treatment-as-usual. The intervention group is going to participate in a group training for parents and children for 10 weekly sessions.

Monitoring of Arrhythmias in Patients Treated With Antipsychotics

Aims and objectives To estimate frequency of potential malign arrhythmias and cardiovascular outcome in a population with patients treated with antipsychotic drugs compared to healthy controls. Background Life expectancy is about 20 years shorter for patients with mental illness compared to the general population. Increasing evidence suggest that antipsychotic drugs can cause cardiac arrhythmias and hence sudden death. However, the evidence as well as the incidence of rhythm disturbances in patients treated with antipsychotic drugs is insufficient reported. Prolonged monitoring with external portable monitors is difficult for practical and technical reasons. In addition, long-term consistent and structured timing of clinical visits is often a challenge in this vulnerable patient group. In recent years, patients who have been suspected of rarely occurring arrhythmias, have been offered long-term monitoring using an 'implantable loop recorder' (ILR). However, no study has evaluated the arrhythmic burden in patients treated with antipsychotic drugs using ILR. Methods and materials The study is a national joint project between departments of psychiatry and cardiology across Denmark. After written informed consent and a baseline evaluation including echocardiography, ecg and biochemistry, an ILR will be implanted. During follow-up, arrhythmias will be monitored at regular clinical visits. Cardiovascular endpoints will be monitored using Danish national registries. Expected outcome and perspectives The present study is the first to reveal arrhythmias among patients treated with antipsychotics using consistent long-term monitoring. The results will give valuable insights into possible mechanism of the observed early death and risk of sudden death in patients treated with antipsychotics.

Scandinavian Humeral Diaphyseal Fracture Trial

We will conduct a pragmatic multicenter, randomized, controlled, outcome assessor-blinded, clinical superiority trial. The objective is to compare surgical fixation of humeral shaft fracture to non-surgical treatment with early identification and treatment of delayed union by a patient-reported outcome after 52 weeks. . Null-hypothesis: The DASH score at 52 weeks after surgical treatment is not superior to non-surgical treatment with the option of early crossover surgery in patients with humeral shaft fractures The trial population is divided in two age-groups due to the changes in DASH score by age. The definition of delayed union differs in the young and elderly population to consider dissimilarity in bone healing rates: 1. SHAFT-Y for the young with an age cut-off of 18 to 64 years. The early identification and treatment of delayed union is set to 6 to 12 weeks 2. SHAFT-E for the elder with an age cut-off +65 years. The early identification and treatment of delayed union is set to 12 to 26 weeks Sites from Denmark, Sweden and Norway have been recruited and spans from academic level I to level III trauma centers 287 patients (n=163 for SHAFT-Y, n=124 for SHAFT-E) with a humeral shaft fracture will be equally randomized to surgical treatment or non-surgical treatment in each group. Patients admitted to the emergency department in one of the trial sites and fulfil the eligibility criteria, will be invited to enroll into the trial. They will be given time to consider and be scheduled for a consultation with a trial worker within 10 days. If written consent is obtained at the consultation, randomization will occur immediately after. Treatment will be performed within 14 days after injury - Surgical treatment. The specific treatment is decided by the treating surgeon/department - Non-surgical treatment with the option of early secondary surgery from 6-12 weeks for SHAFT-Y and 12-26 weeks for SHAFT-E Patients can be offered to undergo early crossover fixation with a surgical procedure of the surgeon's choice, if one of these criteria are met: - Unacceptable pain experienced by the patient - Severe pain with gross instability of the fracture site assessed by: - Unable to en bloc elevate the arm due to clear fracture instability - Gentle manipulation of the fracture site. Gentle manipulation should respect the risk of callus breakage - Severe problems tolerating the brace, e.g. discomfort, skin irritation, wounds, hygiene problems. The patients that undergo early crossover surgery will have the reason for crossover thoroughly noted. We anticipate the surgical procedures will be similar to the ones previously mentioned with the possible addition of bone graft. A computerized database software, Research Electronic Data Capture (REDCap) will be used to generate an irreversible random allocation sequence and perform block randomization with selected block sized of 2 and 4, which will be stratified on site and age (18-64 and +65). Patients will be assigned to the trial with an allocation of 1:1 to either surgical treatment or non-surgical treatment. The trial worker acquires the allocated treatment from the central coordinator with randomization rights to REDCap. The trial worker then initiates the treatment, either by scheduling the surgery date or applying the chosen non-surgical method. The two groups (SHAFT-Y and SHAFT-E) require individual sample size calculations. Two standard deviations (SDs) were obtained from the data of the FISH trial(13) and were separated in age groups of 18-64 years and 65 years and above. By the distribution-based approach, one half a SD corresponds to the minimal important change (MIC). The calculations are powered to detect a MIC of 7 points in the young and 10 points in the elderly group in DASH, respectively. Two independent means sample size calculation were performed. For SHAFT-Y the following data were included: Mean difference= 7.0, SD= 14.91, α= 0.05 and power= 0.8. For SHAFT-E the following data were included: Mean difference= 10.0, SD= 18.59, α= 0.05 and power= 0.8. Based on the preceding assumptions and including an attrition of 15%, the total sample size is estimated to 163 patients for SHAFT-Y and 124 patients for SHAFT-E. Primary analysis Descriptive statistics will be used to report demographic data. Demographic data and outcome measures will be tested visually and statistically (i.e. Shapiro Wilks test). Numeric variables will be summarized by means, standard deviations and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI). Median and interquartile ranges will be used when normal distribution is not met. Categorical variables will be summarized by frequency and proportion. For group comparison with numerical data, a student's t-test will be used if data is normally distributed, otherwise a non-parametric test will be used. For categorical data a Chi-square test will be used for group comparison. An intention-to-treat (ITT) analysis of the primary outcome will be conducted by univariable linear regression, including all patients that do not meet the withdrawal criteria and will be conducted to minimize bias within results. A sensitivity analysis will test the effects of non-adherence to protocol by conducting a per-protocol analysis and includes only patients who comply with the protocol. For missing data points in an outcome measure, a multiple imputation analysis using predictive covariates (age, sex, smoking, alcohol, UCLA activity, ASA grade)(50-52) will be conducted to deal with nonresponse bias. For comparison we will carry out a sensitivity analysis excluding all the missing values. Data will be considered statistically significant if p-values < 0.0471. Secondary analysis In order to validate data a linear regression analysis will be computed with DASH score as the dependent variable and treatment modality as the independent variable. Additional regression analysis will be carried out between the early crossover group and the primary treatments. A multivariate regression analysis will be conducted to adjust for potential confounders. Variables adjusted for are: age, sex, smoking, alcohol, UCLA activity, ASA grade. Furthermore, we will analyze the longitudinal observations by applying a linear mixed effects regression model, including modality and time as well as a modality-time interaction as fixed effects and a random intercept for each patient. Data will be summarized as coefficients with 95% CIs and variance will be summarized as r-squares, adjusted r-squares, predicted r-squares, standard errors. Coefficients will be considered statistically significant if p-values < 0.05. Outcome timepoints Subjective and objective outcome measures will be obtained at following time points: pre-injury, baseline, 6 weeks, 12 weeks, 26 weeks, 52 weeks, 2 years and 5 years.