Title Promoter Affiliations Abstract "The SERENA study: Semaglutide for the treatment of glucose intolerance in women with prior gestational diabetes: a double blind RCT" "Katrien Fouzia Benhalima" "Clinical and Experimental Endocrinology" "The incidence of gestational diabetes (GDM) is rising with prevalence rates around 9-12% in Flanders.GDM is an important contributor to the increasing prevalence of type 2 diabetes (T2DM). Women with glucose intolerance in early postpartum are a particularly high-risk group with about 50% whowill develop T2DM within 5 years after the delivery. Moreover, women with a history of GDM progress more rapidly to T2DM compared to women with similarly elevated glucose levels. Early interventionafter the index pregnancy is therefore crucial to prevent T2DM. With the SERENA project, we aim therefore to reduce the risk to develop T2DM with the long-acting GLP-1 agonist semaglutide inwomen with a recent history of GDM and glucose intolerance in early postpartum. Semaglutide is currently the strongest once-weekly GLP-1agonist available with greatest potential to reduce the riskto develop T2DM and the long-term cardiovascular risk. Prevention of T2DM and early diagnosis of T2DM before the development of complications, has been shown to be cost-effective. Prevention ofT2DM in this high-risk population, has therefore a high potential for important cost savings for the Flemish and Belgium health care system." "Incontinence- Associated Dermatitis: Pathophysiological and histopathological research, development and validation of a core set for outcome reporting in IAD clinical trials, and an RCT to test a 3-in-1 protocol for IAD prevention." "Dimitri Beeckman" "Department of Public Health and Primary Care, Department of Public health" "IAD is a type of irritant contact dermatitis caused by incontinence. The etiology is complex, the pathophysiology and histopathology are largely understudied. There is limited knowledge about prevention and treatment. The objectives are (1) to study the pathophysiology and histopathology, (2) to develop a core set for outcome reporting, and (3) to perform a RCT and health economic analysis for IAD prevention." "The SERENA study: Semaglutide for the treatment of glucose intolerance in women with prior gestational diabetes: a double blind RCT" "Katrien Fouzia Benhalima" "Clinical and Experimental Endocrinology" "The SERENA study (Semaglutide for the treatment of glucose intolerance in women with previous gestational diabetes: a double-blind RCT), is a collaboration with 12 centers (UZ Leuven, UZA, UZ Brussel, AZ Groeninge Kortrijk, AZ Delta Roeselare, Jessa hospital Hasselt , ZNA, OLV Aalst-Asse, AZ St Niklaas, Center Hospitalier Mouscron, CHU Liège and Erasme). The aim is to randomize about 206 women with prediabetes (based on the OGTT 6-24 weeks postpartum after a pregnancy with gestational diabetes) 1/1 to Ozempic (semaglutide) or placebo at a maximum of 1.5 years of age. The study is powered on the prevention of type 2 diabetes and the follow-up is up to 3 years. There is a study visit every 6 months (with alternating fasting 75g oral glucose tolerance test)." "Evaluation of the ICLEAR-EU intervention to integrate palliative care in the treatment of people with advanced COPD and their family caregivers: An international stepped wedge cluster RCT in six European countries." "Kenneth Chambaere, Kim Beernaert" "Department of Public Health and Primary Care" "Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is a devastating life-limiting lung disease with a high personal and societal burden. Worldwide, COPD is the third leading cause of death. The symptom burden of people with COPD is as severe and burdensome as the symptom burden of people with lung COPD. While palliative care in many countries is available for people with lung COPD, palliative care and good end-of-life care for people with COPD are not well integrated into their treatment by respiratory hospital teams in Europe. The EU PAL-COPD project is a multidisciplinary, interprofessional, international and intersectoral project aiming at evaluating the clinical and cost-effectiveness of the ICLEAR-EU intervention for people with advanced COPD in different healthcare systems in Europe. ICLEAR-EU is a person-centred and family-centred non-pharmacological service intervention in which respiratory teams in the hospital collaborate with interdisciplinary palliative care teams and with primary care to promote shared decision-making and advance care planning, improve symptom treatment and comfort care, and prevent rehospitalization after an exacerbation. ICLEAR-EU is based on an existing intervention developed and pilot tested in the UK. In EU PAL-COPD, the effectiveness of ICLEAR-EU will be assessed with a stepped wedge cluster RCT in 1,224 people with advanced COPD in 18 hospitals across six European countries. It is hence the first large-scale international trial on systematic integration of palliative care in respiratory care for people with advanced COPD. Cost-effectiveness, robust mixed methods subgroup analyses and in-depth process and implementation evaluations are also included. EU PAL-COPD will improve the well-being and empowerment of people with COPD and their families and advance the state of the art by providing an innovative service model to the complex palliative and end-of-life care needs. User and stakeholder involvement is crucial throughout the project. " "Supramaximal exercise training in patients with COPD: preparation and performance of a multi-center RCT" "Chris BURTIN" "Rehabilitation Research Center, Umea University" "The Research Council of Hasselt University approved the stay of dr. Jana De Brandt (Umeå University, Zweden). During this stay, dr. Jana De Brandt will perform research in cooperation with the research group REVAL." "Supramaximal exercise training in patients with COPD: preparation of multi-center RCT" "Chris BURTIN" "Rehabilitation Research Center, Umea University" "The Research Council of Hasselt University approved the stay of dr. Jana De Brandt (Umeå University, Sweden). During this stay, dr. Jana De Brandt will perform research in cooperation with your research group REVAL." "Preventing Relapse After Successful ECT for Depression– A randomized controlled trial on lithium as add-on to personalized maintenance ECT." "Didier Schrijvers" "Collaborative Antwerp Psychiatric Research Institute (CAPRI)" "Although electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is an effective treatment for depression, preventing relapse after successful ECT remains a major challenge. In the PRASED-study, a large multicentre RCT, we evaluate the effectiveness of three strategies to reduce relapse: an algorithm-based symptom-driven form of maintenance-ECT (M-ECT), with antidepressants, with or without lithium. In the four treatment centers, patients that are referred for ECT for depression will be screened for eligibility. In phase 1 300 patients are treated with an acute course of brief pulse ECT, combined with open label nortriptyline or venlafaxine. Patients that achieve remission, are considered eligible for phase 2 of the study. In this continuation phase, open label antidepressants are continued and algorithm-based, symptom-driven M-ECT is started for the next six months. Patients will be randomized to receive either lithium or not. After six months, patients enter phase 3, a naturalistic follow-up of mood at 3 and 6 months after completion of phase 2. The combination of antidepressants, personalized M-ECT and lithium has been studied in an elderly population and proved to be very effective, but the efficacy in a severely depressed population of all ages has never been assessed. This project holds great promise for reducing relapse rates after successful ECT, thereby being of potential impact for a vulnerable group of patients with an often recurring and debilitating major depressive disorder. Apart from a significant positive medical impact, reducing relapse rates eventually also has a socio-economic impact by reducing health care costs." "Preventing Relapse After Successful ECT for Depression - A randomized controlled trial on lithium as add-on to personalized maintenance ECT." "Pascal Sienaert" Neuropsychiatry "The current project is designed to study some promising relapse prevention strategies in a well-designed but challenging RCT." "HAVANA-project: IUC Cross-Cutting Initiative: Training for use of ICT in Education (Organisatie van een training omtrent gebruik van ICT in het onderwijs aan de Universidad Central Marta Abreu de Las Villas (CUBA) ikv VLIR-jaarprogramma voor institutionel" "Georges Eisendrath" "Educational Science" "ICT EDUCATION" "Preventing Relapse After Successful ECT for Depression– Arandomized controlled trial on lithium as add-on to personalizedmaintenance ECT." "Didier Schrijvers" "Collaborative Antwerp Psychiatric Research Institute (CAPRI)" "Although electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is an effective treatment for depression, preventingrelapse after successful ECT remains a major challenge. In the PRASED-study, a large multicentreRCT, we evaluate the effectiveness of three strategies to reduce relapse: an algorithm-basedsymptom-driven form of maintenance-ECT (M-ECT), with antidepressants, with or without lithium.In the four treatment centers, patients that are referred for ECT for depression will be screenedfor eligibility. In phase 1 300 patients are treated with an acute course of brief pulse ECT,combined with open label nortriptyline or venlafaxine. Patients that achieve remission, areconsidered eligible for phase 2 of the study. In this continuation phase, open label antidepressantsare continued and algorithm-based, symptom-driven M-ECT is started for the next six months.Patients will be randomized to receive either lithium or not. After six months, patients enterphase 3, a naturalistic follow-up of mood at 3 and 6 months after completion of phase 2.The combination of antidepressants, personalized M-ECT and lithium has been studied in anelderly population and proved to be very effective, but the efficacy in a severely depressedpopulation of all ages has never been assessed. This project holds great promise for reducingrelapse rates after successful ECT, thereby being of potential impact for a vulnerable group ofpatients with an often recurring and debilitating major depressive disorder. Apart from asignificant positive medical impact, reducing relapse rates eventually also has a socio-economicimpact by reducing health care costs."