There are about 201 clinical studies being (or have been) conducted in Kazakhstan. The country of the clinical trial is determined by the location of where the clinical research is being studied. Most studies are often held in multiple locations & countries.
Residents of certain villages in Kazakhstan were exposed during childhood to radioactive fallout from nuclear tests conducted at the Semipalatinsk Nuclear Test Site (SNTS) between 1949 and 1962. Radiation doses to the thyroid from external and internal (i.e., ingested) radiation sources deposited as fallout are of interest because they may be jointly and differentially associated with increased risk of thyroid disease in this population. Objectives: To collect information about factors influencing radiation dose to the thyroid gland in children of two ethnic groups who were exposed to radioactive fallout from nuclear tests at the SNTS between 1949 and 1962. The two groups are Kazakhs (historically nomadic herders) and Europeans (typically descendants of Russian and German farmers). Eligibility: Women 70 years of age and older who had children or provided care to children during the 1950s. Men age 70 and older who were engaged in farming and care of dairy animals at the time of the nuclear tests. Design: In focus group format, participants are interviewed to collect information on the following at the time of nuclear tests: - Dairy consumption; - Source, storage and availability of milk and milk products; - Time that children of different ages and ethnic groups spent indoors; - Building material of houses and schools; - Herding, grazing and supplemental feed of dairy animals.
This is an observational study with a drug called Nebido, a new testosterone replacement therapy, which is available for the treatment of male hypogonadism. The benefit and safety of Nebido have already been thoroughly evaluated through well controlled clinical trials. The main purpose of this observational study is to confirm the established safety profile of Nebido in daily clinical practice.
We propose to study the prevalence of thyroid nodules and cancer in relation to radiation dose, in a defined cohort of Kazakhstan residents exposed as children to radioactive fallout from atomic bomb tests at the neighboring Semipalatinsk Test Site (STS). The population near the STS is believed to have received radiation doses from fallout that were much higher than that experienced by any population of comparable size in the US. The study population is a defined cohort of 20,000 residents, half of whom, in 1960, resided in heavily-exposed villages; the other half lived in lightly-exposed villages. The population is rural, with a diet that was and is heavily dependent upon fresh milk from household or local cows and therefore likely to have led to ingestion of radioactive iodine from fallout. The study is two parts. The first part involves a cytogenetic assay for radiation biodosimetry purposes of peripheral lymphocytes obtained from blood samples donated by 40 cohort members with individuals radiation dose estimates. Blood samples will be collected from 25 putative high-dose and 15 low-dose cohort members and processed or cytogenetic assay using fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) for stable chromosome aberrations in peripheral lymphocytes. This biodosimetric validation assay, will be carried out by Nailya Chaizhunusova, chief of cytogenetics at the Scientific research Institute for Radiation Medicine and Ecology, in collaboration with Dr. Tracy Yang at the NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. It should be possible to detect gamma radiation doses as low as 150 mGy. The second part will involve thyroid screening by ultrasound in selected villages. The population to be screened will comprise 100-1500 members of the study cohort exposed as young children to high fallout levels, and equal numbers of comparable ages exposed to little or no fallout. Fine needle aspiration biopsy will be performed, under separate informed consent, if the palpation and ultrasound results suggest presence of a tumor. Presence and malignancy of tumor will be determined by cytopathology. Subjects with evidence of thyroid disease will be referred to thyroid specialists at the Semipalatinsk State Medical Academy. Finger stick blood samples will be obtained to assess thyroid function using RIA methods with coated tube technology for T4 and TSH. The most sensitive statistical comparisons are expected to be dose-response analyses with respect to prevalence of thyroid nodules, which are common and known to be associated with radiation dose. Comparisons in terms of thyroid cancer, and benign and malignant neoplasms combined, are likely to be less sensitive but of acceptable power if risks associated with chronic radiation in this population are similar to those associated with acute exposure to X-ray or gamma radiation in other populations.
Immune globulin is effective about 85% of the time in preventing hepatitis A in people who have been exposed, if it is given within 14 days of exposure. Several lines of evidence suggest that hepatitis A vaccine might also be effective in this setting, and vaccine has the advantage of providing long term protection. In this study, we compare how well immune globulin and hepatitis A vaccine work in preventing clinical hepatitis A in household contacts of persons with the disease. The study's hypothesis is that the the proportion of exposed household contacts who receive hepatitis A vaccine within 14 days of exposure and develop hepatitis A disease will be similar to the proportion of exposure household contacts who receive immune globulin within 14 days of exposure and develop hepatitis A disease.