Kettering

Immunotherapy with pembrolizumab targeting the T cell inhibitory PD-1 receptor has significantly improved outcomes in advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Approximately 3600 new patients are treated in the 1st line setting per year in England alone and up to 25% remain on 6 weekly pembrolizumab for 2 years. However, pharmacological and clinical trial data suggest current frequent dosing for 2 years result in overtreatment. Indeed, pembrolizumab remains bound to its target receptor for up to 100 days following a single dose and studies in multiple tumour types have found no relationship between dose and patient outcome. Moreover, anti-PD1 treated patients who respond but discontinue therapy either as planned after 2 years, or earlier because of toxicity, can either remain in remission and/or be sensitive to re-challenge with pembrolizumab. REFINE-lung will test whether reduced pembrolizumab dose frequency (9, 12, 15, 18 weeks) after 6 months of standard treatment is safe and effective. This UK study represents a unique opportunity to determine whether pembrolizumab dose frequency can be safely reduced in NSCLC, resulting in significant cost benefits to the NHS and globally, in addition to enhanced patient QoL associated with fewer hospital attendances and reduced toxicity.

The research study is being done to see if ziltivekimab can be used to treat people who were admitted to hospital because of a heart attack. Ziltivekimab might reduce development of heart disease, thereby preventing new heart attacks or strokes. Participants will either get ziltivekimab (active medicine) or placebo (a dummy medicine which has no effect on the body). Which treatment participants get is decided by chance. The chance of getting ziltivekimab or placebo is the same. The participant will need to inject the study medicine into a flat skin surface in there stomach, thigh, or upper arm once every month. Ziltivekimab is not yet approved in any country or region in the world. It is a new medicine that doctors cannot prescribe. The study will last for about 2 years.

Bowel cancer is the second commonest cause of cancer death in the UK with 16000 people dying per year. Although the NHS Bowel Cancer Screening Programme (BCSP) detects cancers at an earlier stage only 10% of all cancers are detected through screening. Currently, the only criteria for screening is age and no account is taken of other known risk factors such as smoking, alcohol, family history or obesity. Stool FIT (a new stool test which detects blood that can't be seen with the naked eye) will be introduced into the English BCSP, but there is poor evidence for its use in patients presenting with symptoms. There is also emerging data that there may be differences in the gut bacteria of people with and without cancer or pre cancerous bowel polyps (adenomas). This will be a national multi-centre study over 5-years. 10000 Patients undergoing colonoscopy as part of BCSP or due to symptoms will be recruited. Patients will be asked to fill in a health questionnaire, have their height, weight, waist circumference measured. Patients will also receive blood tests, stool tests or saliva tests depending on the indication for their colonoscopy. The results of the colonoscopy and any samples taken will be collated. Patients will receive a patient experience questionnaire or food frequency questionnaire. A further 10,000 patients from the North of England will be consented to be contacted for future studies with some of the information above collected. The aim of this study is to develop a risk prediction model to help determine which patients are at highest risk of having adenomas or bowel cancer. The investigators will also explore the significance of the gut bacteria composition in patients with adenomas or cancer to help inform this risk model. Additionally the investigators will develop a large platform of patients who consent to be contacted for future research.

Sepsis results from overwhelming reactions to microbial infections where the immune system initiates dysregulated responses that lead to remote organ dysfunction, shock and ultimately death. Sepsis remains a significant global issue - as well as direct mortality, survivors suffer long term reductions in patient centred outcomes, with reduced quality of life and functional status. Patients with hypotension and organ hypoperfusion as a result of sepsis have poorer outcomes by dysregulated inflammation, endothelial dysfunction, immune suppression, and organ dysfunction. Current guidelines highlight the importance of early fluid resuscitation, but the association of early fluid therapy with improved outcomes is unclear. In the resuscitation phase, current practice is to give intravenous (IV) fluid and intermittent vasopressor boluses if required, before, for some patients, continuous vasopressor infusion via a central venous line in Intensive Care (ICU). An alternative, early continuous peripheral vasopressor infusion (PVI) is not routine practice in the UK. Current practice in the UK is guided by NICE Sepsis guidance and the international Surviving Sepsis Campaign (SSC) consensus recommendations. Both specify intravenous fluid administration as a central tenet of early resuscitation of patients with septic shock, with intravenous vasopressor administration recommended after intravenous fluid resuscitation. NICE recommend boluses of 500ml of crystalloid and "refer to critical care for review of management including need for central venous access and initiation of vasopressors". SSC recommend 30ml/kg crystalloid in first hour, followed by vasopressors to maintain MAP\>65. The current NICE fluid resuscitation guideline, November 2020, continues to emphasise 500ml boluses of crystalloid as usual care. A recent international survey of 100 critical care and EM physicians regarding intravenous fluid resuscitation practice, confirmed that an initial bolus of 1000ml of crystalloid, followed by 500ml boluses of crystalloid remained the most common management strategy for the initial treatment of septic shock. This persisted despite the lack of benefit demonstrated in three landmark trials of protocolised sepsis management. In recent years, there has been increasing acceptance of peripheral administration of norepinephrine, based on evidence of safety and efficacy. The Intensive Care Society published guidance on peripheral vasopressor infusion in November 2020. We have recently conducted a survey amongst ED and ICU clinicians in the UK regarding attitudes and current practice related to the use of intravenous peripheral vasopressors. Eighty two respondents provided the following answers 1. Experience of use of any intravenous vasopressor in ED was high (81%); 2. Exclusive PVI made up 23% of all vasopressor use in ED; 3. Norepinephrine (norepinephrine) was the most common vasopressor (54%); 4. Barriers to PVI were local protocols and an appropriate level of care in the destination ward for a patient on vasopressor infusion.

The COSIRA-II study is a multicenter, randomized (1:1 ratio), double-blinded, sham-controlled clinical trial.

The trial will be a phase III, randomised-controlled, multi-centre, international, open-label trial consisting of ruxolitinib versus best available therapy, where best available therapy is a choice of interferon alpha, any formulation permitted (IFN) or hydroxycarbamide (HC), and which will be elected by the Investigator prior to randomisation. There will be no cross-over either between arm A and B or between therapies on Arm B HC and IFN will be provided as best available therapy, IFN can include standard of pegylated-interferon at Investigators discretion.

COMPLETE-2 STUDY OBJECTIVES 1. To determine whether a strategy of physiology-guided complete revascularization is non-inferior to a strategy of angiography-guided complete revascularization on the efficacy composite outcome of cardiovascular (CV) death, new myocardial infarction (MI) or ischemia-driven revascularization (IDR). 2. To determine whether a physiology-guided complete revascularization strategy is superior to an angiography-guided complete revascularization strategy in reducing the safety composite outcome of clinically significant bleeding, stroke, stent thrombosis or contrast-associated acute kidney injury.

Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) that is of sufficient severity to require admission to an intensive care unit (ICU) is associated with substantial mortality. Patients with pneumonia who are being treated in an ICU will receive therapy that consists of many different treatments, as many as 20 or 30. These treatments act together to treat both the infection and its effects on the body. When treating a patient, doctors choose from many different treatments, most of which are known or believed to be safe and effective. However, doctors don't always know which treatment option is the better one, as individuals or groups of individuals may respond differently. This study aims to help doctors understand which treatments work best. This clinical study has been designed in a way that allows the information from patients already in the study to help new patients joining the study. Most studies aren't able to do that. REMAP-CAP has been designed to: * Evaluate multiple treatment strategies, at the same time, in the same patient. * Reach platform conclusions when sufficient data is accrued, rather than when a pre-specified sample size is reached * Utilise data that is already accrued to increase the likelihood that patients within the trial are randomised to treatments that are more likely to be beneficial * New questions can be substituted into the trial as initial questions are answered, meaning that the trial can be perpetual or open-ended * Interactions between interventions in different domains can be evaluated It is reasonable to presume that any pandemic respiratory infection of major significance to public health will manifest as life-threatening respiratory infection including Severe Acute Respiratory illness and severe Community Acquired Pneumonia (CAP) with concomitant admission to hospital, and for some patients, admission to an Intensive Care Unit (ICU). Previous pandemics and more localized outbreaks of respiratory emerging infections have resulted in severe CAP and ICU admission. Previous pandemics and outbreaks of emerging infectious diseases have outlined the urgent need for evidence, preferably from Randomized Controlled Trials (RCTs), to guide best treatment. However, there are substantial challenges associated with being able to organize such trials when the time of onset of a pandemic and its exact nature are unpredictable. As an adaptive platform trial that enrolls patients during the interpandemic period, REMAP-CAP is ideally positioned to adapt, in the event of a respiratory pandemic, to evaluate existing treatments as well as novel approaches.

The results from this study will be linked with the data from the DART study (also collecting data through the Lung Health Check programme) to develop new ways of using computer technology (artificial intelligence) to improve lung health care. The studies use computer programs (called 'algorithms') which can be trained to analyse medical samples. Once developed, these algorithms can be used to support doctors by increasing their speed and accuracy of diagnosing issues.

Bicuspid aortic valve is the most common congenital valvular heart anomaly in the general population, with a prevalence estimated between 0.5 - 2%. It is more common in males than females with ratios reported between 2:1 and 3:1. The prevalence of BAV shows significant differences amongst different ethnic groups. BAV sometimes associates with other, non-valvular cardiovascular phenotypes, e.g. aortic coarctation, left dominant coronary artery system and intracranial aneurysms. Presence of BAV is strongly associated with dilatation of the ascending aorta irrespective of valve function. BAV related dilatation of the ascending aorta has been reported in 56% of those aged 30 years old and 88% of those aged 80 years old. Presence of BAV can be associated with serious cardiovascular complications. In a long term observational study, the overall survival of BAV patients was equal to age and sex matched subjects from the general population, but BAV was associated with the need for surgical intervention in 27% of subjects. Additionally, cardiovascular medical events (heart failure, infective endocarditis and stroke) occurred in 33% of all subjects with BAV over that period. BAV shows strong familial clustering, indicating that it has a strong genetic basis. In an echocardiographic survey of first degree relatives of patients with BAV 36.7% of families had at least 2 members with this anomaly. In a study of 309 subjects from 48 extended families heritability of BAV was calculated at 89%.A whole genome linkage scan performed in 38 extended families (324 individuals), showed evidence for linkage with 5 chromosomal loci - 18q22, 5q21, 13q34, 9q34, 17q24. When analysed separately, the majority of families contributed only to a single locus suggesting heterogenic genetic origin of BAV. Based on these observation an oligogenic model of autosomal dominant inheritance with reduced penetrance has been suggested. Despite strong familial clustering, only few genetic loci have been associated with BAV so far. The strongest evidence exist for association of BAV with NOTCH1 gene (translocation associated protein) - the product of which is an important element in developmental control of cell fate decisions. Other candidate loci include TGFBR2 (transforming growth factor beta receptor 2 gene), GATA5 (GATA-binding protein gene) and eNOS (endothelial nitric oxide synthase gene). However, the identified loci explain only small proportion of BAV heritability. Modern DNA analysis, notably next generation sequencing, allows variants associated with disease to be identified more rapidly and with increased precision. The objective of this project is to use such technology to identify genetic variants and genes predisposing to BAV using a combination of case-control and family-based approaches. A better understanding of the genetic underpinnings of BAV could in the future help to improve the management of this valvular heart condition. This BRAVE study will recruit patients with antecedent or new diagnosis of BAV. As many relatives of the index patient as possible will be recruited to the study (family based analysis). They will be screened with echocardiography for the presence of BAV. Additional group of unrelated healthy individuals with three leaflet valves will be recruited for the purpose of case control analysis. Demographic and clinical data from all participants will be collected using purposefully designed questionnaires and by accessing their medical records. Data on imaging investigations will be obtained from the medical records or from the echocardiogram performed for the purpose of screening. Blood samples will be used for the purpose of isolation of genetic material and subsequent genetic analysis. Additional laboratory tests may be performed on the blood samples to provide supporting evidence to the results of genetic analysis. The main analyses will consist of identifying and cataloguing genetic variants for each individual from the DNA sequencing and then seeing whether any particular variant or sets of variants are more commonly present in BAV subjects versus those without BAV (case-control design) or present in subjects with BAV but not in unaffected family members (family-based approach).