Nexus Research

Dementia Research is a service which allows people to register their interest in national dementia research.

It helps people with dementia, their carers, or anyone interested in dementia research to be matched to studies. Once registered, your details will be stored securely, and will be regularly checked to see if you match to studies. Find out more here: www.joindementiaresearch.nihr.ac.uk

Bioresouce

Recruit for studies on common diseases, rare diseases and even healthy populations. Due to the specialist work needed to support COVID research we have a special section for that too. We can recall members who wish to take part in further studies. 
Find out more here: www.bioresource.nihr.ac.uk

This study aims to find out whether people with chronic kidney disease (CKD) should take daily low-dose aspirin to reduce the risk of a first heart attack or stroke (cardiovascular disease, CVD).

We want to determine whether aspirin should be given to people with CKD to prevent a first heart attack or stroke (primary prevention). As CVD is more common in people with CKD than in the general population we would expect aspirin to be of greater benefit, but the risks of bleeding may also be higher. Before we can recommend aspirin for primary prevention in people with CKD we need to be sure that the benefits outweigh the possible risks.

Although we know that supported self-management helps people live with their asthma it isn’t widely provided: fewer than 1 in 4 people who replied to an Asthma UK web survey owned an asthma action plan. There are many reasons why self-management is not more widely used. These include:

1) lack of resources available for patients

2) healthcare professionals not possessing the right skills

3) the way that asthma management is organised in the health service.

The IMP2ART programme of work has developed a new approach to target all three areas.

Multi-centre randomised controlled trial of integrated therapist and online CBT (Cognitive behavioural therapy) for depression in primary care.

Maternal vaccinations (vaccinations during pregnancy) can protect both mother and baby through the transfer of maternal antibodies. Maternal vaccinations have been recommended in the UK for the prevention of flu (since 2010), whooping cough (since 2012) and Covid-19 (since 2021), and vaccines against further infections are currently tested. Maternal vaccine uptake, however, has consistently been far below national targets and unevenly distributed across ethnic groups and regions, with lowest rates among ethnic minority groups in London.

Aminosalicylate agents have proven effective for inducing and maintaining remission in mild to moderate Ulcerative Colitis and thus are commonly used as first-line agents for patients with Crohn's Disease in remission. However, there is uncertainty regarding their effectiveness for Crohn’s Disease.

Condoms are the most effective method at reducing the risk of STIs as long as they are used consistently (every sex act, using the condom from start to finish) and correctly (the condom is put on and then removed properly).

While many interventions aim to encourage condom use through knowledge and skills promotion, most do not address the reasons for condom non-use such as negative attitudes, decreased sensation, reduced sexual pleasure, fit-and-feel problems, application issues, and erection difficulties. The HIS-UK intervention has been designed specifically to help tackle some of these reasons through the promotion of self-practice and pleasurable condom use self-awareness.

Participants randomised to one of the HIS-UK intervention arms will be offered condom and lubricant education and training either face to face by a professional (proHIS) or online (eHIS). They also receive a kit containing a variety of condoms and lubricants to test out and rate. All participants receive £50 in vouchers for taking part.

See www.his-uk.net for further information.

- Down syndrome (DS) is the genetic manifestation of the trisomy of chromosome      21. DS is associated with neuropathological alterations in both neuronal proliferation and differentiation, manifesting in alterations in cognitive and behavioural functioning across the lifespan.

DS is also associated with a range of other co-morbidities, including cardiac malformations, endocrine disorders such as hypothyroidism, mental health, vision and hearing issues.

The study of comorbidity patterns in DS will help understand the development of conditions associated with trisomy 21 during the lifespan. It is an opportunity to explore the underlying causes by which environmental factors such as lifestyle, mental health or response to stress may account for the difference in health issues between DS individuals.

The majority of women with Type 2 diabetes currently become pregnant without meeting current NICE care guidelines, putting their babies and personal health at risk. This study aims to address this problem by introducing a new care template for practices to support routine diabetes consultations with women of childbearing age. Participating practices would also be given access to a short online training programme on pregnancy care in diabetes. Following the introduction of the care templates we would monitor their impact on the delivery of the embedded care processes at regular intervals. We will also be collecting data from local hospitals to estimate the number of women presenting antenatally who meet current NICE guidelines.

Many women talk about pregnancy as a time when their weight started to ‘creep up’. Life becomes much busier for women when caring for a baby and going to weight loss groups may not work well for new mums.

Researchers have thought about other ways to help women lose weight after they have a baby that are more flexible such as a text message service. A small study to see if this might be a useful way to support weight loss after pregnancy was carried out - Women who recently had a baby helped design text messages.

One hundred mums who had had a baby in the last two years received weight management messages, or messages about child health and development, for 12 months. Women rated the messages very highly and felt they were supportive and motivating. Women receiving the weight loss messages lost more weight compared to those receiving the child health messages.

This now needs to be tested in a larger study with women from all parts of the United Kingdom (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland) to understand how well the messages work for everyone.

For this bigger study, 850 women with excess weight, will be recruited through social media, mother and baby groups and when they are in touch with health professionals.

Women will be assigned by chance to receive the weight loss text messages or text messages about child health and development for 12 months. Measures of weight and waist circumference and collection of a questionnaire at the start of the study and again after 6, 12 and 24 months will be carried out.

The researchers will also speak to women to see what they think of the text message service. Women will receive a token of appreciation for the time they have given to complete the research measures.

SHAPER-PND is an Interventional Randomised Controlled trail and participants will be randomised in either the experimental or control group.

Experimental: A 10-week singing programme for mothers and their babies delivered in community Children’s Centres or via an online platform

Control: 10 weeks during which mothers are encouraged to attend existing non-music classes in the community or online; this will be followed by the option to attend the 10-week singing programme but outside the study.

PAX-D is comparing a medicine called pramipexole with placebo for Treatment Resistant Depression (TRD) - i.e. depression that has not responded to current antidepressant medicines and/or psychological therapies. Pramipexole is licensed for Parkinson’s Disease and Restless Leg Syndrome.

TRD affects between 20% and 30% of people taking treatment for depression and is both a leading cause of suffering to individuals and costly to society in terms of, for example, working days lost. There is some evidence that pramipexole may be effective for TRD when added to current antidepressant treatment but more rigorous evaluation is needed.

Pramipexole works in a different way to conventional antidepressant medicines and may be effective in treating lack of motivation which is a key symptom of depression. In addition to assessing the effectiveness, safety and tolerability of pramipexole in the short-term (12 weeks) and longer-term (48 weeks), PAX-D will measure motivation over the first few weeks of treatment.

PAX-D is open to people who meet criteria for TRD (non-response to at least 2 courses of antidepressant medicines), are willing to continue an antidepressant medicine in addition to pramipexole or placebo, to attend a psychiatric clinic and to complete regular ratings that will indicate the effects of allocated medication. Some ratings will be completed online and some with a researcher over the phone.

Participants will be in the trial for about 50 weeks: 2 weeks pre-treatment to familiarise themselves with rating procedures and 48 weeks on allocated treatment. During the 48 weeks neither they nor their clinicians will know whether they have been allocated pramipexole or placebo. Blood samples will be taken at the start of the pre-treatment period and participants will be asked to attend a minimum of six clinic visits for the trial. At three of those visits they will be asked to complete a simple computer game.