Clinical Research Directory

Staph Nasal Decolonization to Improve Function and Feeding

Radiation therapy is a type of treatment that involves using radiation beams targeted at a cancer to destroy the cancer cells or slow their growth. This type of treatment has helped many cancer patients for decades and is intended to kill cancer cells directly. Patients with head and neck cancer are commonly treated with radiation, sometimes after surgery and sometimes the radiation is delivered with chemotherapy at the same time. Radiation treatments have side effects, and the treating oncologist works with each patient to determine the best treatment and manage the side effects. It has been shown that one of these side effects of radiation is irritation or "sunburn" of the lining of the mouth and throat (radiation mucositis), which can cause difficult or painful swallowing, and pain/discomfort in the mouth/throat. These side effects can lead to dehydration, and weight loss, and sometimes can lead to hospital admissions and treatment delays. This is usually treated by the prescription of pain relievers, dietician support and, if necessary, nutrition via a tube (G-tube). Because of these symptoms involving the mouth and throat, researchers are looking to study the effect of a common ointment antibiotic used to reduce an infection known as Staphylococcus Aureus. The infection is commonly located in the front of the nose, and during treatment this infection can travel from the nose to the throat and worsen the radiation mucositis and the pain it causes. The study will measure if a course of ointment antibiotic in the nose (twice per day, 5 days on, 5 days off, repeated) can reduce your pain during treatment by reducing severe mucositis related to Staphylococcal infection. This study compares the effects of the study treatment with a "placebo," which looks the same but does not contain any active medicine. Neither you nor your doctor will know which one you are receiving until the study ends. The antibiotic used in the study arm is being used "off-label" for intranasal application (it is normally used to treat skin infections). Possible side effects include local skin irritation or allergic reactions, and in rare cases, a severe allergic response (anaphylaxis).

Subphenotype- and Complication-guided Adjunctive Fosfomycin Therapy for Staphylococcus Aureus Bacteraemia

Staphylococcus aureus bacteraemia (SAB) is a major global cause of sepsis-related mortality. Randomised trials of adjunctive antibiotics, including fosfomycin, have not shown consistent benefit, possibly due to inclusion of unselected SAB populations. The FEN-AUREUS classification enables early risk stratification based on clinical subphenotypes. The investigators aim to validate this framework in a pooled trial cohort and assess whether combining subphenotypes with IDSA-defined complicated SAB could identify patients most likely to benefit from adjunctive fosfomycin. The investigators will conduct a post-hoc analysis of individual-level data from two multicentre randomised trials-BACSARM and SAFO-evaluating fosfomycin in SAB. Participants will be classified using FEN-AUREUS into source phenotypes (A, B and C) and risk subphenotypes (1 = low-risk, 2 = high-risk). Associations between subphenotype, treatment arm, and outcomes (30/60-day mortality, 8-week treatment success) will be assessed using multivariable models. Monte Carlo simulations will explore power by subgroup. FEN-AUREUS subphenotypes combined with complication status have the potential to identify patients with SAB that could likely benefit form combination therapy with fosfomycin.

Administering NMT to Reestablish Infant Nasal Microbiome Diversity Following Intranasal Mupirocin Treatment

This protocol aims to evaluate how NMT affects pediatric nasal microbiome diversity following intranasal mupirocin treatment