The aim of the study is to compare couple-based treatment to individual treatment (treatment as usual) for addiction (gambling or substance use disorder).

Immunotherapy with agents stimulating the immune system to act against cancer are now a new standard of care in various cancers as lung cancer and melanoma, but also bladder cancer, kidney cancer and head \& neck cancer. However, even though a subset of patients derives long-term benefit from these agents, depending of cancer type still at least half of patients do not respond to these new drugs. Our understanding of possible factors predicting whether a patient might actually benefit from immunotherapy is poor. Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are gases exhaled with a person's breath, which are released into the lung from blood and bacteria and therefore can give information about infections as well as inflammation and possibly cancer cells in a person's body. Breath analysis of these VOCs with special devices called electronic noses (eNose) generate a specific electric signals patterns called breathprints. There is early evidence that specific breathprints can actually help to select patients who will be likely to benefit from immunotherapy. This study is being undertaken in an effort to evaluate breathprint analysis as a potential predicting factor for benefit from immunotherapy, so that treatment selection can further be improved. This study is designed to help us identify the role of breathprint analysis to better select patients for immunotherapy.

There is a growing epidemic of the bacterial sexually transmitted infections (STIs) syphilis, chlamydia and gonorrhea worldwide; similarly concerning trends have been noted in Canada, where increases of over 160% have been seen in bacterial STIs over the last decade. In Canada, gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (gbMSM) - including those living with HIV - are disproportionately impacted by bacterial STIs5,6These dramatic increases in bacterial STIs, the potential development of serious complications including AMR, and waning effectiveness of the promotion of conventional STI prevention tools (e.g. condoms), signals the need for novel STI prevention strategies and tools to mitigate STI-related complications. A rigorous randomized controlled trial will be conducted to compare STI PrEP vs. STI PEP and definitively assess the efficacy, safety, antimicrobial resistance profiles and costs associated with doxycycline-based STI prevention.

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) represent the most common primary brain malignancy and prognosis remains poor. The most common subtype is glioblastoma which has a 5-year survival rate of approximately 5%. Despite advances in MRI techniques, accurately determining total extent of tumor remains a challenge. The result is incomplete treatment resulting in reduced survival or overtreatment resulting in avoidable treatment related morbidity. A more accurate means of assessing tumor extent is needed to guide management to improve patient survival and quality of life.

Multi-modality therapy that includes a brachytherapy implant improves outcomes in locally advanced prostate cancer when compared to other radiation-based treatments, but is also associated with more adverse side effects. The goal of the OPTiMAL trial is to reduce these side effects by using advanced imaging and biopsy techniques to locate cancer and deliver precision radiation therapy, while not compromising the unprecedented high cure rates obtained for the brachytherapy arm of the Androgen Suppression Combined with Elective Nodal and Dose Escalated Radiation Therapy (ASCENDE-RT) randomized control trial. Additionally, some applied research in genetics, pathology and medical imaging is included. Novel medical imaging methods, namely, multi-parametric magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), multi-parametric trans-rectal ultrasound (TRUS), prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) are used for re-staging of prostate cancer. This is followed by trans-perineal biopsy to locate cancerous areas of the prostate with greater precision compared to conventional biopsy. Results from imaging are compared to those from biopsy to develop image-based cancer detection methods.

The study is designed to determine whether hemorrhage within the injured spinal cord is influenced by mean arterial pressure (MAP) augmentation with vasopressors and by venous thromboembolism (VTE) prophylaxis with anticoagulants in the first two weeks following a traumatic spinal cord injury (tSCI).

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is the most common brain tumor in adults. The strikingly poor survival for patients with GBM (average survival 14-16 months following diagnosis) is due in part to limited early detection methods and an absence of effective therapeutic options. The study proposed would establish important evidence for the use of Health Canada approved drugs such as amantadine as a safe, effective and affordable way to monitor GBM. The method is based on the overproduction of a key enzyme in GBM cells called spermine/ spermidine n-acetyl transferase (SSAT1). The increased SSAT1 expression in GBM results in increased metabolism of the drug which is detected in the blood or urine of patients with GBM. The levels of acetyl-amantadine captured will be correlated with the tumor burden as seen on the MRIs of these patients. Thus, the study aims to determine the usefulness of amantadine as a diagnostic biomarker for GBM.

This study will investigate the effect of menstrual cycle (MC) and oral contraceptive pill phase on aspects of exercise physiology and athletic performance in female athletes. Specifically, this study intends to investigate the effects of circulating fluctuations in oestradiol and progesterone, experienced during the menstrual cycle and oral contraceptive pill use, on aspects of exercise physiology and athletic performance in female athletes. This research will help researchers determine if a particular hormonal profile affects physiological functioning such as muscle strength, maximum oxygen uptake and athletic performance in female athletes.

The goal of this phase 2 multicenter randomized controlled trial is to study the accuracy of second generation prostate specific membrane antigen (PSMA) positron emission tomography (PET; utilizing 18F-PSMA-1007) compared to standard of care multiparametric MRI and MRI targeted-prostate biopsy for staging in patients diagnosed with unilateral prostate cancer who are eligible for focal therapy. The main question it aims to answer is: Can PSMA PET improve diagnostic accuracy for the primary staging of Prostate Cancer for patients undergoing focal therapy thereby reducing residual and recurrence disease? Participants who are eligible by current standard of care diagnostic workup will undergo 1:1 randomization to PSMA PET scan or no further imaging. Those diagnosed with bilateral disease by PSMA PET will be ineligible for focal therapy and be referred for radical therapy. Men with unilateral disease on PSMA PET and those randomized to no further imaging will then undergo focal therapy. All men undergoing focal therapy will receive PSMA PET, MRI, and combined targeted and systematic biopsy 12 months after ablation. The primary outcome will be the detection of Gleason Grade Group 2 or higher prostate cancer in men 12 months after hemigland ablation.

This work explores the possibility of using ultrasound imaging and spectroscopy as a way of monitoring cell death, hence, tumour response to treatment. The hypothesis here is that it can be used as a way of monitoring early response to cancer treatment and predicting which patients continue on in their therapy to have a complete pathological response as a primary endpoint and tumour size decrease as a secondary endpoint. If this work is successful it could be used in the future early on in a cancer patient's treatment to predict whether or not a course of chemotherapy or radiotherapy is going to be successful. For example, in patients in which the analysis indicates a poor response the chemotherapy regimen could be changed to a more efficacious one or for those receiving radiotherapy predicted to have a poor response a radiosensitizing agent could be used to improve outcome.