Clinical Research Directory

Dietary Nitrate and Nitrite Intake and Phosphate Biomarkers and Risk of Chronic Diseases

Nitrate, nitrite, and phosphate (NO3, NO2, P) are at all age stages ubiquitous in our everyday foods, including naturally occurring and as food additives, and in our drinking water. These compounds are essential in maintaining human well-being and health, but they have also been linked to detrimental health effects including contribution to cancer initiation and artery calcification, making it difficult to evaluate their overall health impact. Therefore, the overarching aim of this project is to shed light on the potential dual effect of these compounds on a variety of chronic diseases (cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, gastrointestinal cancers) at different life stages and to further elucidate on the molecular mechanisms suggested to underly the pathogenesis of these disease outcomes. This will be achieved by using prospective, longitudinal population-based cohorts linked to comprehensive databases of NO3 and NO2 and using a biomarker of P while also integrating omics data on inflammatory and cardiometabolic biomarkers as well as the microbiome and urine bacterial metabolites. The project will be led by the PI and conducted by a team of PhD students and postdoc in close collaboration with relevant experts. It will be initiated early on and continued throughout a 4-year study period. With this research, the investigators attempt to provide the strongest scientific evidence with etiologically more relevant exposure-disease associations and to shape future health risk assessments.

Digital Inhaler Use in Obstructive Lung Disease Care

This is a pilot study to evaluate the role digital inhaler technology on patients with obstructive lung disease in preventing admissions and exacerbation, as well as improving symptom control. The primary objective is to evaluate feasibility of study protocol, patient recruitment, and patient retention with goal recruitment of 20 participants, 60% recruitment success, and 60% retention rate for 6 months duration. The secondary objectives are the evaluation of patient admission rate, exacerbation rates, and symptoms control with use of digital inhaler technology The subject population will be patients with physician diagnosed obstructive lung disease.

Make Every Step Count: Personalised Music Feedback to Walking for People Living With COPD

Pulmonary Rehabilitation (PR) is an evidence-based intervention to effectively manage the physiological and psychological effects of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). The aims of PR are to improve symptoms of COPD, increase exercise capacity, increase independency, improve overall behaviour related to health (like exercising more), and enhance quality of life. The cornerstone of PR programmes is aerobic exercise prescription. Typically, walking exercise is used, and the prescription is individualised for each patient based on their maximal walking exercise capacity. However, adherence to walking exercise is challenging for service users, particularly when unsupervised at home. The use of music during exercise shows promise as a tool to decrease the perception of fatigue and increase motivation, but the integration of music via smartphone applications to support walking exercise adherence during PR has not been explored. This project aims to assess if a new mobile application BeatClearWalker (BCW) intervention is practical, acceptable, and effectively used by people living with COPD. The app is designed to help people living with COPD attending PR adhere to their prescribed walking pace during exercise. The BCW app provides real-time, personalised music feedback through music degradation to optimise the dose of walking exercise.

Seoul National University Airway Registry

This is a multicenter, prospective observational cohort study, in which patients with chronic airway diseases including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease(COPD), asthma, asthma-COPD overlap syndrome (ACOS) will be recruited.