There are about 173942 clinical studies being (or have been) conducted in United States. 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.
Chronic abdominal pain is the most common persistent pain condition in children and adolescents, affecting 10-15% of children at any given time. One of the most often diagnosed types of abdominal pain is functional dyspepsia (FD). FD is an abdominal pain or discomfort (e.g., nausea, bloating) in the upper abdomen that does not get better by going to the bathroom. For some people it appears that stress can make FD worse. In adults, stress can cause the release of a hormone called corticotropin releasing hormone (CRH). The release of CRH can cause abdominal pain by affecting how fast things move through a person's stomach and intestines. This makes the organs in the abdomen more sensitive to pain, causing tenderness of the inside lining of the stomach and intestines. Different people react differently when the body releases CRH. Some people have abdominal pain without feeling any stress or anxiety while other people who have a lot of stress or anxiety don't have any abdominal pain. Some people have neither stress, anxiety, or abdominal pain when CRH is released into the body. In order to see how the bodies of children with functional dyspepsia and those without functional dyspepsia react to CRH, we will do a CRH stimulation test. A CRH stimulation test is routinely done in endocrine patients. It is not routinely done for patients with functional dyspepsia or for patients who do not have functional dyspepsia. Part of the CRH stimulation test is giving a synthetic type of corticotropin, Acthrel® (brand name for Corticorelin), as injection. Acthrel® has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use. The purpose of this research study is to see if there are differences in how the bodies of children with functional dyspepsia react to CRH versus children who don't have functional dyspepsia. Being in this study involves one clinic visit where an IV placed and a CRH stimulation test. In this test the child will be given an injection of CRH and then observed for one hour. During that hour the child will have five blood draws through the IV and will be asked questions about their anxiety and abdominal pain. This visit will take about 4 hours. The following things will happen: - Your child will be asked to come to the clinic between 8a.m. and 10a.m. fasting. This means your child will have had nothing to eat or drink for 8 hours before coming to the clinic. - If your child is a female ten years of age or older, or has started having periods, a urine pregnancy test will be done before receiving the CRH infusion. - You and your child will each be asked to complete a survey that measures your child's anxiety. - Your child will have a biofeedback session that will measure your child's stress. In a biofeedback session, sensors are placed on your child's fingers, wrists and forehead. These sensors are connected to a computer that monitors your child's heartbeat, skin temperature and electrical pulses on your child's skin. - Your child will have an IV inserted into a vein in his/her arm. Your child may have a cream put on their arm to help with the pain of the IV insertion. The IV will be used to inject the CRH and draw blood. If the IV stops working and blood samples can no longer be drawn from it, your child may have another IV started or blood samples may be drawn by needle stick. - Your child will then have 30 minutes to relax. - Your child will then have CRH infused through the IV over one minute. - Your child will have blood drawn through the IV five times; right before the CRH stimulation test begins and 15, 30, 45 and 60 minutes after the CRH infusion. The total amount of blood drawn for the study will be about 2 ½ tablespoons. - Your child will be asked about their abdominal pain, nausea, bloating, stress and anxiety at three separate times during the 60 minutes. - Your child's heart rate will be measured throughout the CRH stimulation test.
The purpose of this study is to determine the effectiveness of hydroxyzine in the treatment of meal-related anxiety in adolescents and young adults 8 to 25 years of age diagnosed with an eating disorder who are underweight. The investigators want to find out if hydroxyzine given before meals will improve meal-related anxiety compared to no hydroxyzine.
Accurate preoperative tumor detection and staging are fundamental for treating patients with pancreatic adenocarcinoma. Patients with unresectable tumors can benefit from being spared an extensive operation associated with substantial morbidity and mortality, cost, and pain. On the other hand, patients with localized disease, which is amenable to surgical removal, have the option of operation. Therefore, accurate staging of pancreatic cancer requires the detection of the tumor, and evaluation of its size, its relationship to major peri-pancreatic vascular structures and portal venous system, locoregional lymph nodes, and distant metastases. Multiple imaging techniques have been used to evaluate the pancreas. Although, at this point, no consensus exists as to the best staging algorithm, multidetector (MD) computed tomogrophy (CT) and Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) provide sufficient information for the management of most patients. Patients with a tumor larger than 3 cm are characterized as non-surgical. CT sensitivity in detecting small pancreatic tumors of less than 2 cm is low. Multiple methods have been suggested to increase the sensitivity of CT. The sensitivity of CT increases with using multidetector CT which now has an accuracy rate of about 95-97% for initial detection and approximating that of 100% for staging. Secretin (a natural hormone produced by the duodenal mucosal cells) is known to increase blood flow to the pancreas. The principal use of secretin in imaging today is in exocrine function of the pancreas or morphological evaluation of the pancreatic duct under ultrasound or MRI. Theoretically, pancreatic contrast enhancement should also increase after secretin administration. This would imply that tumor conspicuity might also be increased if contrast enhancement of the normal pancreas increases. Secretin CT has been advocated by other centers to improve depiction of the ampulla and periampullary/duodenal diseases and to improve contrast enhancement. O'Connell et al, used secretin in patients suspected or with known pancreatic mass and concluded that administration of intravenous secretin leads to greater enhancement of the pancreas with greater tumor conspicuity, than imaging without secretin. MRI of the pancreas has undergone a major change because it can provide noninvasive images of the pancreatic ducts and the parenchyma. MR cholangiopancreatography (MRCP) enables detection of anatomic variants such as pancreas divisum. Although contrast material-enhanced CT is still considered the gold standard in acute pancreatitis and for the detection of calcifications in chronic pancreatitis, MR imaging and secretin-enhanced MRCP are useful in evaluating pseudocysts and pancreatic disruption. The role of MR is still debated in pancreatic neoplasms except the cystic lesions where MR imaging provides critical information regarding the lesion's content and a possible communication with the pancreatic ducts. Although some articles have shown that MRI was equivalent to CT in diagnosis and staging, others have shown the opposite. Nishiharu et al. found comparable tumor detection but a benefit with CT, notably for peripancreatic and vascular invasion. Comparing CT, echoendoscopy, and MRI, Soriano et al. demonstrated that CT showed the highest level of precision in primary tumor staging, local-regional staging, vascular invasion, distant metastases, Tumor, node, metastasis (TNM) staging, and tumor resectability. MRI retains its originality in imaging the parenchyma, the pancreatic and biliary ducts, and vascular structures; however, in many institutions, CT remains the reference imaging choice for diagnosing and staging pancreatic cancer. Other than CT's advantages for the tumor, its excellent spatial resolution also provides detailed reconstructions in all planes and arterial mapping and therefore makes it possible to search for surgical contraindications such as celiac trunk stenosis. MRI is still used today as a second-intention tool when there is doubt or when CT and echoendoscopy are not sufficiently conclusive; it is not currently recommended to use MRI in first-intention diagnosis of pancreatic cancer. The aim of this pilot study is to determine whether the administration of intravenous secretin before contrast-enhanced CT and MRI improves pancreatic enhancement and pancreatic tumor conspicuity and to evaluate which technique is more appropriate for pancreatic tumor detection, staging and evaluation of resectability.
In this research study, the investigators are looking to determine the safety and efficacy of an investigational drug, STA9090 alone and in combination with dutasteride for the treatment of castrate resistant prostate cancer. STA9090 may cause the growth of cancer to slow down or shrink by targeting proteins required for the cancer to grow. The investigators are also looking to determine whether the use of dutasteride to lower male hormone levels will enhance the effect of STA9090 in the treatment of castrate resistant prostate cancer.
In this study, the investigators propose using negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT) to aid in wound healing along the lines of closure for lower extremity amputation and complex abdominal wounds. This study is designed to be a prospective, randomized clinical trial to evaluate the effectiveness of NPWT versus accepted standard surgical dressings on these wounds. Study participants will be randomized to one of the two treatment groups (NPWT vs. standard dressing) prior to surgery, and will be followed in the post operative period to monitor the effects on their surgical closures. The experimental group will consist of participants receiving NPWT and will have a Vacuum Assisted Closure (V.A.C., KCI inc.) device placed intra-op along the line of closure. The control group will receive a standard surgical dry sterile dressing. The surgical closures will be assessed after three days of treatment as well as the first outpatient post-op visit and any subsequent visits through the following 6 months. By doing so, the investigators hope to demonstrate the utility of NPWT on difficult, at risk surgical closures. Additionally, the investigators hope to show a difference in clinical outcome of incisions treated by NPWT over our current standard technique. All patients in the principal and co-investigators practice who are scheduled to undergo lower extremity amputation or complex abdominal closure will be eligible for enrollment in this prospective randomized study. There are no exclusion criteria. Informed consent will be obtained pre-operatively. Data collection will include basic demographic data, disease history, past medical and social history as well key data relating to wound healing (infection, wound dehiscence or breakdown) and hospital course (length of stay, operative complications). The investigators will use simple statistical methods (ANOVA and chi-squared analysis) to compare surgical wound healing between the two populations. The only deviation from current standard of care in these populations includes utilizing a V.A.C. system on the closure line of the experimental group versus the standard dry sterile dressing.
The purpose of this study is to assess whether JNJ-31001074 taken for 7 days reduces the urge to drink alcohol in alcohol-dependent study participants who are not seeking treatment.
Transforming Growth Factor Beta (TGF-β) is a protein that controls proliferation, cellular differentiation, and other functions in most cells. TGF-β levels play a major role in the pathogenesis of Marfan syndrome, a disease characterized by disproportionate height, long extremities, lens dislocation in the eyes and heart complications such as mitral valve prolapse and aortic enlargement increasing the likelihood of aortic dissection. While the underlying defect in Marfan syndrome is faulty synthesis of the glycoprotein fibrillin I, normally an important component of elastic fibers it has been shown that the Marfan syndrome phenotype can be relieved by addition of a TGF-β antagonist in affected mice.
It is hypothesized that using methylnaltrexone in addition to pain killer narcotics (opiates) in patients will result in increased tube feeding rates with more frequent nutrition at goal calorie rate.
This is a treatment protocol designed to accompany the ongoing institutional 124I PET/CT pilot imaging study for patients with invasive breast cancer. Women whose tumors express NIS [Na+I- symporter, sodium iodide symporter] and demonstrate radioiodide uptake on 124I PET/CT scans will be eligible for 131I treatment if, (1) tumor dosimetry calculations yield a cumulative radiation dose of at least 30Gy in target tumor, (2) estimated cumulative thyroid irradiation is less than 500 cGy and, (3) the therapeutic dose of 131I is in the range of 25 to 100 mCi.
Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a chronic multi-system autoimmune disease impacting the physical, social, psychological health and quality of life of patients. Fatigue and pain are aspects of SLE patients which affect their health related quality of life (HRQOL). The purpose of this study is to determine the effect of milnacipran on fatigue in SLE patients with widespread pain (WSP) or fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS). A secondary objective will be to determine the effect of milnacipran on pain and quality of life measurements. Fifty SLE male and female patients, 18 years and older, will be recruited for a 15-week study, in which patients will be receive 14 weeks of milnacipran 50-100 mg twice a day or placebo. Measurements of fatigue, pain, and HRQOL will be compared between the milnacipran and placebo groups at the screening visit, baseline visit, week number 6, and week number 14. Milnacipran has been shown to be an effective treatment for pain, fatigue and physical function in FMS patients. To date, no clinical trials have demonstrated efficacy for the treatment of fatigue in SLE patients with concomitant WSP or FMS. The investigators hypothesize, based on FMS studies, that the milnacipran treated patients will have less fatigue than those in the placebo group. In addition, compared to control arm, those treated with the study drug will have less pain and improved quality of life.