Stratified clinical treatment interventions meeting patient-specific efficacy (pharmacodynamics) while at the same time lowering the risk of emergence of drug resistance (EDR) and minimizing adverse effects are particularly needed in Hospital-acquired and Ventilator-Associated pneumonia [HAP/VAP] where morbidity, mortality and health care costs remain high.
The management of cardiovascular stability in shock patients is of paramount importance in critical care. New, cutting edge knowledge is necessary to overcome the shortcomings of available therapies, in order to cope with the challenges that anesthesiologists, intensive care specialists and emergency physicians face when dealing with shock patients.
Prevalence of liver disease is c6% (29 million people) in the EU with mortality rates from chronic liver diseases estimated at 14.3 per 100.000 in the EU-25 in 2004. Most liver diseases have a significant inflammatory component that underpins liver damage and fibrogenesis, yet current therapies have limited effectiveness. Safe novel anti-inflammatory therapies would satisfy a large unmet need for inflammatory liver conditions such as primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC).
Aggression is a basic physiological trait with important roles throughout evolution, both in defence and predation. When expressed in humans in the wrong context, aggression leads to maladjustment, social impairment and crime. Despite this, knowledge about aggression aetiology is limited and current treatment strategies are insufficient.
Amputation of a limb may result from trauma or surgical intervention. The amputation traumatically alters the body image, but often leaves sensations that refer to the missing body part. In 50-80% amputees, neuropathic pain develops, also called phantom limb pain (PLP). Both peripheral and central nervous system factors have been implicated as determinants of PLP. Also, PLP may be triggered by physical (changes in the weather) and psychological factors (emotional stress).
The overall goal of InterConnect is to establish a global network that will facilitate the co-ordination of population research on the interaction between genetic and environmental factors in the aetiology of obesity and diabetes. We aim to establish mechanisms for identification and classification of studies and the data that they hold and create a forum for harmonization of methods as a foundation for optimizing the use of existing data for the study of gene-environment interaction.
THALAMOSS is aimed at development of universal sets of markers and techniques for stratification of ²-thalassaemia patients into treatment subgroups for (a) onset and frequency of blood transfusions, (b) choice of iron chelation, (c) induction of fetal hemoglobin, (d) prospective efficacy of gene-therapy. At present, no framework exists to guide therapeutic decisions and personalised treatment of ²-thalassaemia.
The project aims to contribute to building the evidence base to increase the effectiveness of diabetes self-management education in the EU Member States, as part of a comprehensive diabetes strategy at EU level. To that effect, it will perform a systematic and comparative content analysis of the national diabetes strategies and frameworks across the 27 EU MS, establish a compendium of diabetes self-management education programs in the MS, and assess the costs of diabetes education at present on a per person basis at a national level.
Long-term side-effects of radiotherapy impact on the quality-of-life (QoL) of cancer survivors. These side-effects could be reduced if predicted in advance. Previous work identified clinical and biological predictors but a major, coordinated approach is needed to validate them so they can be used clinically. The EU has ~17.8 million people living with a prior diagnosis of cancer of whom ~7 million received radiotherapy.
Our sortium will focus on the integration of four novel trol components in a low-tech (no power source, no need for CO2) and cheap mosquito tamination device (MCD) that will a) lure malaria mosquitoes to an attractive point source, b) infect them there with a fungus as a slow-killing agent, and c) expose them to a juvenile hormone analogue with which they will taminate their breeding sites and kill mosquito larvae. This is unique because it will be the first vector trol tool that targets both adult and larval mosquito stages simultaneously with environment-friendly trol agents.
