Clinical trials

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental condition that affects communication, behavior, and social interaction in children. Current treatments are limited and mainly focus on managing symptoms. This study aims to evaluate whether folinic acid is safe and effective in improving symptoms of autism spectrum disorder in children. Participants will be randomly assigned to receive either folinic acid or a placebo during the double-blind treatment phase. After this phase, all participants will have the option to receive folinic acid in an open-label extension. The results of this study may help determine whether folinic acid could be a potential treatment option for children with autism spectrum disorder.

Improvement in pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) supportive care has led to improvement in clinical outcomes and decreased mortality in pediatric critical illness. However, PICU survivors are at risk of long-term health sequalae. Given the increased recognition of physical, cognitive, and psychological sequelae in PICU survivors, the concept of post-intensive care syndrome-pediatrics (PICS-p) has been proposed. Besides the PICU patient/survivor, the PICS-p framework also highlights the impacts of a child's critical illness has on the family. The impact of a PICU admission extends beyond the patient and parents, potentially affecting healthy siblings who are navigating their own developmental challenges. Healthy siblings may face emotional distress, increased responsibilities, and disruptions in their daily routines, all of which can contribute to long-term negative outcomes if unaddressed. Thus, this study consists of two cohorts to understand the long-term physical, cognitive, and psychological outcomes in PICU survivors and their families, and the short-term impacts on siblings of critically ill children.

The goal of this clinical trial is to examine how daily behavioral patterns in early pregnancy, including sleep, physical activity, and meal timing, influence continuous glucose dynamics and subsequent risk of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) in pregnant women without pre-existing diabetes. The main questions it aims to answer are: 1. Do early-pregnancy chronobehavioral patterns (e.g., irregular sleep, night eating, and unstable rest-activity rhythms) relate to continuous glucose patterns measured using continuous glucose monitoring (CGM)? 2. Can early behavioral and CGM-derived measures predict glucose regulation and metabolic outcomes later in pregnancy (24-28 weeks)? 3. Does real-time self-monitoring using wearable devices and food logging improve glycemic outcomes compared to usual care? This study is a prospective, nested randomized pilot trial embedded within the ongoing Towards Optimal Fertility, Fathering and Fatherhood studY (TOFFFY) cohort (NCT06293235) at KK Women's and Children's Hospital, Singapore. A total of 140 pregnant women without pre-existing diabetes, recruited at ≤13 weeks gestation, will be randomized in a 1:1 ratio to either a pilot arm (wearable-based self-monitoring) or a control arm (usual care). Participants in the pilot arm (n=70) will undergo intensive behavioral and metabolic monitoring over a 14-day period in early pregnancy, including continuous glucose monitoring using a CGM device, wrist actigraphy to assess sleep-wake and rest-activity patterns, and an AI-supported mobile application to record meal timing and dietary intake. Participants will have real-time access to their glucose data and behavioral feedback, enabling self-monitoring and potential behavioral adjustments.

The overall objective of this study is to improve the standard of care of critically ill pediatric patients. The specific aims are to describe the clinical profile and outcomes of all admissions to Asian pediatric ICUs, determine the risk factors associated with poor outcomes, determine quality indicators for benchmarking ICU performance across sites and develop and train artificial intelligence algorithms to predict mortality, length of ICU stay and resource utilization.

This case-control study involving fertile and subfertile couples aims to identify male factors related to pregnancy likelihood, create a fertility index measure combining male and female factors to predict pregnancy likelihood, and examine how male factors relate to the semen physical and biological characteristics.

This will be a proof-of-concept randomised control trial (RCT) study, where 100 pregnant women will be recruited in the first trimester of pregnancy and followed-up until delivery. It aims to test these following hypotheses: 1. pregnancy is a window of opportunity to implement good lifestyle habits of physical activity and exercise as pregnant women are in regular contact with health professionals and are likely motivated and be more confident to carry out these activities according to the guidelines 2. this integrated programme will effective in a healthcare setting, and will bring Singapore's "Guidelines on Physical Activity and Exercise in Pregnancy" guidelines to implementation 3. with enhanced self-efficacy and motivation, the proportion of women engaging in adequate physical activity during pregnancy will increase to meet recommended guidelines.

This study seeks to develop early recognition tools specially designed for children meeting the Phoenix definition and explore implementation science aspects by investigating facilitators and barriers to adopting Phoenix sepsis criteria in clinical practice. This addresses the critical need for systemic, evidence-based approaches to paediatric sepsis identification across diverse healthcare settings in Asia.

Lifestyle, activity, and feeding behaviours during early childhood set the foundation for subsequent lifelong metabolic health as an adult. The investigators have developed a digital tool, called Feeding, Lifestyle, Activity Goals (FLAGs) to assess lifestyle and feeding behaviours of young infants, simultaneously providing guidance and tailored advice for parents on ideal practices specific to their children. The investigators aim to assess its usability, acceptability, and feasibility , before proceeding to determine efficacy of the FLAGs intervention through conducting a randomized controlled trial, enrolling 440 infants from KK Women's and Children's Hospital. Half of them will receive standard routine infant care, whereas the other half will additionally receive the digital FLAGs assessment and advisory tool, complete with mobile nudges. The follow-up period will be over 12 months, with the main outcomes being i) indicators of good feeding and lifestyle behaviour at 12 months old, and ii) physical growth trends, body fat proportions. Demonstrating the benefits of using FLAGs will underscore the importance of integrating this digitalized tool into the screening and evaluation of well children, with the potential to be upscaled and adopted across hospitals, primary care, and community-based health programmes.

The goal of this clinical trial is to learn if telemedicine exercise programme can improve the cardiorespiratory fitness (how well your body delivers oxygen to muscles and organs) and insulin resistance in Asian children with low cardiorespiratory fitness levels. The main questions it aims to answers are: * Does telemedicine exercise programme improve the number of 20-metre laps the participant is able to run? * Does telemedicine exercise programme improve the insulin sensitivity using the Homeostatic Model Assessment for Insulin Resistance (HOMA-IR) formula? Researchers will compare the telemedicine exercise programme to current active lifestyle programme (e.g., daily step count monitoring) to see if telemedicine exercise programme is more effective in improving cardiorespiratory fitness. Participants will: * participate in weekly telemedicine exercise programme or adhere to current active lifestyle recommendations through daily step count reporting for 10 weeks * visit the clinic for pre- and post-programme cardiorespiratory fitness assessments and blood taking

The goal of this clinical trial is to study the effect of twice-daily saline enema (SE) in the treatment obstruction of prematurity (MOP) in infants with the birth weight ≤1.25kg. The main questions, the trial aims to answer are 1. To validate the finding of our pilot study which had shown that twice-daily SE reduces the time to reach full enteral feeds in premature infant as compared to premature infant treated with Glycerine Suppository (GS), in a larger cohort. Infant with MOP fails to pass meconium in the first 48 hours of life and develop symptoms and signs like abdominal distension and feed intolerance. 2. The other aims of this study are to test whether the intervention is 1. Effective treatment for MOP 2. Reduce the duration of ICU stay 3. Reduce the rate of necrotizing enterocolitis, sepsis, Total Parenteral Nutrition (TPN) days and number of intravenous catheter days 3. The study also wants to explore the impact of this intervention on the gut microbiome, gut-brain interaction and immune response of the new-born.

Electroencephalographic (EEG) monitoring during general anaesthesia (GA) is not typically part of standard care during GA. The recent availability of non-invasive commercial EEG monitors for children has made EEG monitoring more popular. Several studies have shown that monitoring EEG while under GA allows customization and titration of GA. However, the usefulness of EEG monitoring in children have not been established. It is a relatively new technology for some and will involve additional costs. The investigators aim to understand the perceptions of participants regarding EEG monitoring during paediatric anaesthesia care by administering a survey before and after GA.

This study aims to test the following hypotheses in a single-arm observational study in 70-100 healthy pregnant multi-ethnic women who will be followed-up from the first trimester of pregnancy to the third trimester of pregnancy. Aim 1: To assess the applicability, acceptability and compliance with the use of a wearable smart ring together with smart digital devices (e.g., smart phone) during pregnancy. Hypothesis 1: The investigators hypothesize that participants will respond favorably to the use of the smart ring to monitor their physical activity and sleep during pregnancy. Aim 2: To assess the association between maternal characteristics (age, pre-pregnancy BMI, pregnancy weight gain, stress, anxiety and depression symptoms) with physical activity markers (energy expenditure, and step count) and sleep markers (duration, quality, sleep onset latency, wake after sleep onset, time in bed and heart rate variability) collected from the smart ring in the second trimester of pregnancy. Hypothesis 2: The investigators hypothesize that specific maternal characteristics will be associated with physical activity markers (energy expenditure, and step count), as well as sleep markers (duration, quality, sleep onset latency, wake after sleep onset, time in bed and heart rate variability).

Postoperative sore throat (POST) after laryngeal mask airway (LMA) insertion is prevalent and unappealing. A significant cause of POST is mechanical injury to the airway mucosa during airway instrumentation, leading to mucosal injury and inflammation. The Difflam Forte Anti-Inflammatory Throat Spray (Difflam) contains benzydamine hydrochloride, a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory agent with topical analgesic properties. This study will randomize 106 women undergoing gynaecological surgery under general anaesthesia with LMA use at KK Women's and Children's Hospital (KKH) in 1:1 allocation ratio of study (Difflam spray) and control (usual practice; no intervention) groups. Demographic and intraoperative airway data collection will be conducted in perioperative period. Those allocated to study group will receive Difflam spray when awake in the post-anaesthesia care unit (PACU). The primary aim to determine if patients undergoing general anaesthesia with LMA use with the Difflam spray in PACU will have a lower incidence of POST in the immediate and 4 hours postoperative recovery period, as compared with those in the control group. Other outcome measures include the severity of pain of sore throat as measured by the visual analog scale, and incidence of side effects associated with the Difflam spray. This proposal will determine whether the use of Difflam spray is suitable to be implemented in local clinical setting and improve perioperative care.

This study aims to test the following hypotheses in a randomized controlled trial of post-partum women with a history of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) that will be followed up for up to 4 years: 1. Post-partum pregnancy is ideal for behavioural modification and adopting a healthy lifestyle. Using the continous glucose monitoring (CGM) sensor and an exercise tracker will promote self-motivation and awareness by positive reinforcement and behavioural changes to improve diet, control body weight and increase physical activity in this group of post-partum women who are at high risk for developing Type II Diabetes. 2. The use of the continous glycose monitoring (CGM) sensor and exercise tracker will motivate women to modify their dietary food intake and physical activity over time, reducing their cardiovascular risk factors for developing metabolic syndrome by lowering their baseline blood pressure, BMI, reducing their waist circumference and body fat mass, glycaemic levels and fasting lipids within the targeted healthy range. 3. There will be an increase in the quality adjusted life years (QALYs) gained based on improvements in HbA1C and other proximal outcomes at the end of the trial.

High anxiety levels may lead to negative outcomes, and previous studies have shown that music listening could reduce periprocedural anxiety and depression. Recent evidence suggests that a lower heart rate variability (HRV) may be associated with anxiety and depression disorders, but the association of these HRV parameters with preoperative mood in the procedural settings are less defined. In this prospective cohort pilot study, the study team will investigate the association between HRV and psychological vulnerability (anxiety, depression) in the presence of music listening before procedures. A total of 120 patients about to undergo procedures (surgery, procedures) will be recruited in three healthcare institutions in Singapore (KK Women's and Children's Hospital, Singapore General Hospital, Changi General Hospital). Patients will be asked to have their ECG readings recorded before, during, and after music listening. Preprocedural information (e.g., demographic, clinical) and psychological scores will be collected.

The aim of this study is to evaluate the clinical effectiveness, feasibility and acceptability of a novel home-based noninvasive neuromodulation therapy (AscenZ-IV Stimulator) that utilizes transcranial Pulse Current Stimulation (tPCS) and Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation (TENS) for children and adolescents with cerebral palsy as a community-based intervention by families and healthcare providers.

Medical termination of pregnancy (mTOP) generally involves using either a combined regimen consisting of mifepristone and misoprostol, or a misoprostol-only regimen. Complete abortion rates of first trimester mTOP with the use of misoprostol-only regimen varies between 74-88%. With the addition of mifepristone as pre-treatment drug, this improves success rates to 93-97%. Mifepristone, an anti-progesterone, is relatively expensive and is subject to stringent regulations for usage in addition to restricted access in many countries. Therefore, there is a need to find a cheaper and more readily available, yet effective alternative. The use of letrozole (an aromatase inhibitor) in mTOP is postulated to suppress estradiol levels (an important factor in the maintenance of early pregnancy), therefore enhancing the effect of misoprostol in inducing abortion. Studies have shown that pre-treatment with letrozole achieves a complete abortion rate of 77-98%, similar to that in mifepristone-Misoprostol studies. The investigators hypothesise that letrozole is equivalent to mifepristone for the pre-treatment of mTOP and propose to conduct a randomised, non-inferiority trial for mTOP up to 10 weeks gestation with two arms as detailed below: 1. Oral letrozole 10mg daily for 3 days, followed by vaginal misoprostol on Day 3 (Intervention group) 2. Oral mifepristone 200mg once on Day 1, followed by vaginal misoprostol 800mcg on Day 3. Then, 4 hours later, another dose of 400mcg PV misoprostol if no signs of abortion (Control group - current practice). The investigators aim to include a total of 144 patients, 72 in each arm, to detect a non-inferiority margin of 15% with a power of 80% at 5% significance. The investigators primary outcome will be rate of complete abortion by Day 21-28 of mTOP. This pilot RCT will provide preliminary data and preparation for larger grant application which will provide necessary evidence to enhance the care of women undergoing mTOP, with enhanced cost-savings and availability.

Childhood obesity in Singapore is rising with a record prevalence of 13% in 2017 (1). Given that 70% of overweight children remain so into adulthood (2), this will further increase the public health epidemic of diabetes among Singaporeans. Early intervention is thus critical to improve the weight trajectory of overweight children and foster life long healthy lifestyle habits. Family-based interventions combining dietary, physical activity and behavioural interventions are currently recommended as the best practice in the management of childhood obesity in children younger than 12 years old (3-7). Our pilot study on family-based intervention in the tertiary setting demonstrated feasibility and short-term effectiveness. However, its outreach and sustainable results are limited. Currently, school-based screening, weight management clinics and community recreational facilities are operating in silos with limited effectiveness. Here, the investigators will integrate our family-based intervention into a school, clinic and community partnership to achieve an impactful and sustainable outcome for families with overweight children. The community Lifestyle InTervention for Everyone (LITE) program is a structured, group family-based multicomponent lifestyle intervention. Community LITE program will introduce various exercise programs within the family based online sessions to reduce perceived barrier and promote self-efficacy of community sports facilities to increase physical activity. Children have minimal control over their food and physical activity choices especially in current obesogenic environment (8). Parents are the most important influencers(9) to impose interventions for childhood obesity through parental practices and parenting style(10). Therefore, they are the main focus of the community-based intervention program.

Phase 1 (started in July 2019): Central Sensitization Inventory (CSI), Fear-Avoidance Components Scale (FACS), pain-pressure threshold are factors associated with chronic post-hysterectomy pain (CPHP), but a complete understanding on the development of CPHP is lacking. The study aims to identify clinically-relevant factors for CPHP that can be reliably assessed preoperatively. === Phase 2 (anticipated start May 2022): In addition to above factors, the association between heart rate variability (HRV) parameters, anxiety level, anticipated pain, and anticipated analgesia requirement with significant postoperative pain and CPHP will be investigated.

Nipple sparing mastectomy is oncologically safe and has a good cosmetic outcome. However, nipple sparing mastectomy was conventionally performed with reconstruction. Minimal scar mastectomy (MSM) is a novel technique which could allow women, with non-ptotic breasts, who do not want reconstruction, to conserve their nipple areolar complex (NAC) and avoid the transverse scar associated with modified radical mastectomy. This is the first study on the oncologic and surgical outcomes of MSM.

This study aims to assess whether an integrated continuum of care from the preconception period, across maternity until the first 18 months of life, can promote maternal metabolic and mental health, as well as offspring health, among overweight and obese women.

In this proposed study, the investigators hope to assess the quality of recovery after delivery in a local population that would take into account physiological and psychological parameters to better understand the recovery process after delivery. The investigators will identify risk factors, especially those that are modifiable and associated with a poorer ObsQoR score and hence a poor quality of recovery after delivery. This data may then be used to educate women and manage expectations in the postpartum period, and help develop potential therapeutic interventions.

A novel epidural delivery regimen was developed: Variable volume automated mandatory bolus (AMB) (VVAMB) will advance individualisation of labour epidural analgesia, by which a larger volume of bolus may contribute to better spread of the local anaesthetics within brief period and thereby reduces the chances of motor blockade that could reduce instrumental deliveries.

Neuraxial ultrasonography has been shown a safe and effective technique to enhance the overall success rate of lumbar puncture and reduce the number of injection attempts. However, the current blind palpation landmark technique is known to be highly inaccurate and may increase the risk of multiple insertion attempts, patient suffering and complication rates such as spinal cord injury. Various clinical studies have confirmed the effectiveness of ultrasound imaging compared with the traditional palpation method. However, none of the present system can achieve real-time guidance. The overall aim of this proposal is to develop an ultrasound guided automated spinal landmark identification with real-time neuraxial needle insertion system (uSINE) to improve patient safety and efficacy of neuraxial procedure needle insertion success. This will be achieved in 4 phases of technology development and clinical trial phases. The investigators will recruit 20 subjects in a prospective cohort study to investigate the spinal needle first attempt success rate as a clinically relevant outcome. The secondary aim is to develop an automated spinal landmark identification algorithm using image processing to identify spinal landmarks in 50 obese patients. Third phase objective will be to obtain clinical data, and evaluation and annotation of the clinical data of spinal ultrasonography in 65 obese patients (BMI \> 30kg/m2), whereas the fourth phase will measure the uSINE identification accuracy and first-attempt puncture success rate of uSINE in a clinical study of 65 obese patients (BMI \> 30kg/m2).

The use of music to relieve pain has been studied in many forms of medicines and has been proven to reduce anxiety, pain and analgesic use in the perioperative setting. However, music listening as an inexpensive and duplicable method has not been investigated and implemented in the local context. The investigators hereby propose a prospective study to recruit patients undergoing surgery to evaluate the effectiveness of music in pain relief and post-operative recovery; as well as the implementation and operational readiness of music listening.