Clinical trials

The goal of this observational study is to understand how the loss of ovarian function after oophorectomy affects the health and well being of women aged 35-50. The study focuses on four areas: 1. Quality of life and embodied experience, 2. Cardiometabolic health, 3. Central nervous system function, and 4. Adipose tissue health and cellular function. Our primary goal is to understand the effects of oophorectomy on women's health in focus areas 1 to 3. To do this, we will compare women's health before surgery with follow up assessments at 1-2 months and 12 months after surgery. Some participants may start hormone replacement therapy (HRT) during follow up as part of their routine care; this is outside the study protocol. As an exploratory aim, we will examine whether 12 month outcomes-or the change from baseline to 12 months-differ between participants who begin HRT and those who do not. Focus area 4 provides an opportunity to explore how molecular and cellular mechanisms in adipose tissue respond to the loss of ovarian hormones. These analyses are exploratory and intended to offer mechanistic insight rather than clinical endpoints. Participants will: * undergo bilateral (or unilateral, if only one ovary remains) oophorectomy as part of their clinical treatment, * complete questionnaires and physiological measurements at three time points, * a subgroup will participate in qualitative interviews about their lived experience of surgical menopause, * and a subgroup will volunteer adipose tissue samples collected during surgery.

Post-menopausal women who request to begin hormone-replacement therapy (HRT) are directed to the research team. The participants are tested before beginning HRT, after two months of HRT, and five months of HRT. Tests include strength performance, central nervous system functioning, body composition, resting metabolic rate, and vascular screening. The participants are provided a 12-week training intervention (2 x strength, 2 x endurance per week) that can be voluntarily followed between tests at month 2 and 5. Compliance with the training program is recorded. A minimum of 15 participants are needed a priori, but the investigators aim to recruit and test 20 women.

The goals of our research project are to identify factors explaining inter-individual variation in responses to resistance training (RT) and the baseline determinants underlying an individual's sensitivity to respond to RT. Moreover, investigators aim to assess whether a responsiveness to RT predicts responsiveness to endurance training (ET). Thus, investigators aim to gain a deeper understanding of exercise adaptation processes. The main questions investigators aim to answer are: * Can the physiological responses of one RT intervention be extrapolated to a subsequent RT intervention? * If so, what are the mechanisms underlying differing skeletal muscle growth responses in low, and high responders of skeletal muscle hypertrophy? * If so, do the low responders of skeletal muscle growth respond more favourably when the amount of RT is increased? * Are the high, moderate, and low responders of RT also the highest, moderate, and lowest responders to ET? To examine these main research questions, high (n=30), low (n=30), and moderate (n=30) responders of skeletal muscle growth in response to RT (intervention I, NCT05874986) are reallocated into a subsequent 12-week RT intervention (intervention II) after a detraining period. A subgroup of these participants (n=10) will engage in a 6-week control period before starting the second RT period. Additionally, after intervention II, participants will participate in an ET intervention, lasting 6 weeks. In this intervention II, reallocated participants will be: * Resistance training with supervision for 12 weeks * Consuming deuterium oxide for the assessment of muscle protein synthesis * Consuming D3-3-methylhistidine for the assessment of acute muscle protein breakdown * Consuming D3-creatine for the examination of whole-body skeletal muscle mass * Providing a spot urine sample six (6) times, and urine collection for 24 hours performed twice * Providing saliva samples (30-32 in total) for the assessment of body water enrichment of deuterium * Providing a muscle biopsy four or five (4-5) times during the study * Providing a blood sample fourteen (14) times during the study * Assessed for body composition and body volume four or five times (4-5) during the study * Participating in muscle size, maximal dynamic strength and TMS measurements four or five (4-5) times during the study * Asked to answer questionnaires related to e.g. stress, physical activity, sleep, perceived exertion, and diet * Participating in recovery measurements before and after the second-to-last and the last RT bout, and once in the days between these RT bouts, consisting of six (6) body volume measurements and six (6) maximal voluntary isometric contraction (kg) tests using horizontal leg press for the assessment of neuromuscular recovery * Participating in an acute resistance exercise (RE) after the 12-week RT intervention. Furthermore, in the ET intervention, participants will be: * Participating in a familiarization session and resting electrocardiograph measurements before the intervention * Participating in endurance testing consisting of body composition, movement economy, and incremental RAMP testing before and after ET intervention * Endurance training with supervision for 6 weeks, three times a week.

This project aims to bridge the gap between guideline recommendations and clinical practice in osteoarthritis (OA) management. By implementing a systematic, evidence-based model of care, the project seeks to improve patient outcomes, reduce healthcare costs, and provide equitable access to care. The project consists of three phases. In the first phase the current OA care is mapped through registry review and questionnaires and interviews of patients and healthcare professionals. In the second, implementation phase of the project, a plan will be created how to support healthcare professionals in delivering care according to the new model of care and training and support will be offered according to the plan. In the third phase of the project, the implementation success will be evaluated, and the costs of OA care evaluated and compared to baseline data. In addition, patient-reported data will be collected from those patients, who participate in the group-based exercise and education program.

Deficiencies in social cognition are part of the core symptomatology of psychotic disorders. And deficiencies in social cognition, the closely related concept of metacognition, and, for example, paranoid attitudes are all associated with violence. The link between social cognition and violence is also observed through rehabilitation, as both group-based Social Cognition Interaction Training (SCIT) and group-based Metacognitive Skills Training (MCT) have reduced violent behavior in patients with psychotic disorders. Thus, a better knowledge of social cognition and its rehabilitation in psychotic disorders can help to reduce risky behavior and to rehabilitate the significant social difficulties often found in psychotic disorders. This research study aims to examine factors underlying the efficacy of group-based MCT. The goal of the metacognitive skills training group developed by Moritz and partners is to strengthen the social and metacognitive skills of the patients participating in the group. The group consists of 10 sessions during which exercises and discussion are emphasized. The themes of the group sessions are, for example, jumping to conclusions -bias, empathy, and memory. Detailed information is available from the MCT website (https://clinical-neuropsychology.de/metacognitive\_training-psychosis/). Overall there is meta-analysis-level evidence for the moderate effectiveness of MCT on positive symptoms of psychotic illnesses, such as delusions. Prior studies have argued that the unique factor underpinning MCT's efficacy is its impact on various cognitive biases, and that participating in the group especially reduces patients' tendency to jump to conclusions, which is a cognitive style associated with delusions and deficits in social perception and reasoning. As delusionality is related to the risk of violence, these results form a logical link between jumping to conclusions, delusionality, and violence. But the results regarding the effectiveness of MCT are still somewhat conflicting, and studies seem to be of varying quality. Additional longitudinal research and research related to the jumping to conclusion bias are also needed. The hypothesis regarding this study is that the MCT group reduces patients' tendency to jump to conclusions. These reductions are presumed to be associated in one-year follow-up with fewer mood symptoms, delusions, paranoia, and more psychological flexibility.