Clinical Research Directory

Diagnosis of Transient Ischemic Attacks in the Emergency Department

Patients presenting a Transient Ischemic Attack (TIA) and admitted to the Emergency Department should be referred to a neurovascular specialist. In recent years, several hospitals have established TIA clinics. These units are day hospitals where all the necessary examinations are performed. Access to this expertise has proven beneficial in reducing cardiovascular morbidity and mortality, particularly the risk of early recurrence. Unfortunately, this access is limited by issues of medical demographics and unequal access to the healthcare system. In practice, this ideal care is not always possible. A portion of the TIA population is at low risk, and diagnostic and therapeutic interventions are limited, not always requiring neurovascular expertise. The hypothesis of this research is that the management of a patient who has suffered a TIA (additional examinations, treatment, referral) is not linked to their cardiovascular risk and that the performance of additional examinations and therapies is incomplete.

Investigating Cardiovascular Adverse Events Related to Cancer Treatment

Cisplatin, anthracyclines, bleomycin and trastuzumab can cause severe cardiovascular or pulmonary toxicity. Why some patients are susceptible to extreme toxicity of cancer treatment is largely unknown. Unraveling extreme cardiovascular toxic responses in cancer patients may help understand the pathophysiology of cardiovascular toxicity of these agents and help in understanding the more subtle, long-term cardiovascular side effects that affect a larger part of cancer survivors. With induced pluripotent stem cells we will obtain patient-derived cells to recapitulate and mimic and study pathological (cardiovascular) responses and (cardiovascular) toxicity in vitro.

Wearables to Define Postpartum Blood Pressure Trajectories and Facilitate Evidence-based Monitoring Guidelines

To better understand postpartum blood pressure changes, the investigators are proposing a study to monitor blood pressure after delivery in 100 patients who the investigators expect to have normal blood pressure (i.e. low-risk group), 100 patients who the investigators expect to be at risk of new-onset high blood pressure postpartum (i.e. intermediate-risk group), and 100 patients who had high blood pressure prior to pregnancy (or very early, before 20 weeks in pregnancy) who the investigators know are at high risk of blood-pressure related complications postpartum (i.e. high-risk group). Patients will be given a non-invasive wearable device that monitors blood pressure continuously for 6 weeks postpartum. The investigators expect that the daily changes in blood pressure will be different between these groups, which may allow us to better predict who is at risk, how much monitoring is needed, and when to intervene before the blood pressure abnormalities cause complications. The blood pressure device that will be given to patients is the YHE® BP Doctor Med Blood Pressure Smartwatch. This is a highly-accurate medical grade device that has not received FDA clearance. As such, the device is not being used to make blood pressure management and treatment decisions, but rather to gather data on postpartum cardiovascular physiology. Safety stops are built into the protocol such that elevated readings detected by the watch will trigger clinical referrals and validation by standard blood pressure cuffs prior to determine need for treatment.

Impact of Metabolic Health Patterns And Breast Cancer Over Time in Women

Background \& Rationale: Breast cancer (BC) is the most commonly diagnosed malignancy in women worldwide (2.1 million diagnoses in 2018, 25% of new cancer cases). In Canada, early stage BC mortality rates have decreased by 48% over the past 30 years as a result of advances in prevention, detection, and treatment. However, competing risks for mortality from non-cancer causes have emerged, where cardiovascular disease (CVD) is now a leading cause of death for BC survivors. The direct toxic effects of BC treatment on the heart (cardiotoxicity) are well characterized by the investigators and many others, as a contributor to elevated cardiovascular risk. However, BC treatment and the associated lifestyle changes (i.e. physical inactivity, poor diet quality, stress) are increasingly recognized to also strongly affect metabolism negatively manifesting as insulin resistance, dyslipidemia and adipose tissue (fat) accumulation. These adverse metabolic changes are strongly linked to CVD risk and represent a currently underappreciated contributor to the elevated CVD risk among BC survivors. Preliminary data and recent publications demonstrate that regional fat accumulation occurs during BC treatment and that the fat burden in key locations is associated with poor cardiorespiratory health. A trigger of these adverse metabolic and inflammatory effects is excess fat specifically within ectopic fat (viscera, intermuscular, or hepatic) regions. In 2019, a member of the study team found that the volume of visceral and intermuscular but not subcutaneous fat at BC diagnosis were linearly associated with CVD events within 6 years, even among those with normal BMI and after adjustment for pre-existing CVD risk factors and for BC treatment type. Using MRI, investigators found that \~1 year after chemotherapy, BC survivors had significantly larger depots of visceral fat (49% larger) and thigh intermuscular fat (41% larger) compared to age and sex-matched controls, despite similar BMI and subcutaneous fat volumes in the two groups. Investigators also showed that the fat fraction within the thigh muscle and visceral fat volumes independently explained \~50% of the variation in cardiorespiratory fitness (measured by peak VO2). In particular, peak VO2 is one of the most powerful predictors of all-cause and CVD mortality and health care costs, and is the most consistently reported negative sequelae after treatment for BC. Unfortunately, there are no known therapies to recover long-term myocardial damage (i.e. cell death, fibrosis) from cancer therapies. There are several reasons to target fat as a therapeutic target in BC patients: 1) The study team have compelling preliminary data showing accelerated formation of ectopic fat during BC treatment. 2) Investigator's recent data showed that high fat content in key fat pools was associated with reduced peak VO2. 3) The burden of fat and the associated metabolic abnormalities are dynamic and malleable, and thus highly treatable. Research Question \& Objectives: The primary purpose of this study is to evaluate the effect of a behavioural intervention involving supported time-restricted eating (TRE), diet quality improvements, and reduced sedentary time versus usual cancer and nutrition care in BC patients receiving chemotherapy treatment on ectopic fat, cardiometabolic profile, and chemotherapy outcomes. The investigators hypothesize that the intervention will attenuate the growth of ectopic fat during chemotherapy and reduce chemotherapy symptoms.

Akkermansia Muciniphilia and Metabolic Side Effects of ADT

The overriding objectives of this study are: 1. Primary outcomes: 1. To confirm that administration of oral acetate increases the proportion of A. muciniphilia in the stool samples of patients with metastatic, castration-sensitive prostate cancer compared to a standard of care arm. 2. To confirm tolerability and assess for side effects of oral acetate supplementation. 2. Secondary outcomes: 1. To determine if increased counts of A. muciniphilia correlate with improved metabolic parameters and improved bone health.

A Hospital-Based Registry of Preventive Cardiology Clinics

More research is needed to articulate the most effective ways to use these tools as screening tests in cardiovascular risk assessments and how they ultimately affect CVD mortality and morbidity outcomes. Clinicians are encouraged to continue sharing decision-making with patients to combine their unique cardiovascular risk factors and develop a comprehensive, effective treatment plan.

Arterial Stiffening as a Predictor for Diastolic Cardiac Dysfunction and HFpEF

Patients at risk for developing heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) will undergo a structured clinical assessment, transthoracic echocardiography and pulse-wave analysis to investigate the association of arterial stiffening and the development of cardiac diastolic dysfuntion and HFpEF.

Assessment and Digital-health Based Intervention on Subclinical Organ Damage and Cardiovascular Risk in Chinese

To comprehensively evaluate subclinical organ damage of Chinese adults and its association with future cardiovascular disease and events. To observe the significance of intervention based on digital health in preventing the onset and/or progression of subclinical organ damage and cardiovascular disease and events.