View clinical trials related to Inflammation.
Filter by:Patients undergoing non-cardiac surgery frequently experience perioperative cardiac complications that may be due to excess inflammatory reactions. Lipid lowering drugs called HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors or statins, have anti-inflammatory effects. Although favourable evidence suggests these drugs could also prevent perioperative cardiac complications, definitive evidence of anti-inflammatory effects and benefit is lacking. The purpose of this study to measure the impact of a atorvastatin on patients undergoing surgery. It will attempt to determine the speed of drug effect as measured by the impact the drug has on the levels of the inflammatory mediator called C-reactive protein after surgery. It is hypothesized that the perioperative use of atorvastatin will safely reduce the postoperative rise in CRP levels at 48 hours after elective vascular surgery. This effect, would then translate into a reduction of adverse perioperative complications including reduction in postoperative myocardial ischemia episodes (as measured through Holter monitoring).
Despite improvements in perioperative care, non-cardiac surgery remains associated with significant and costly complications. Analysis of perioperative deaths in the United Kingdom suggests that roughly 80% are directly attributable to infectious and cardiovascular complications. The best available evidence suggests that medical optimization is the preferred strategy to reduce cardiac risks but there has been no novel strategy to reduce nosocomial infection rates in over 20 years. Emerging evidence in both the non-operative and operative setting suggest that statin drugs may prevent both infectious and cardiac events. The mechanism(s) of action are not entirely clear but appear to independent of lipid lowering effects and are often referred to as pleiotropic effects. Two key elements of the pleiotropic effects of statins appear to be their anti-inflammatory properties and improved endothelial vascular reactivity. The statin dose required to maximize these effects is unknown. A large observational trial suggests a contradictory dose effect with higher doses associated with reduced infectious complications and lower doses associated with fewer cardiac complications. Doctors therefore still have many unanswered questions about the use of statins in the perioperative setting. Should they be routinely started on all or only certain surgical patients? What dose of statin should be used? If a patient is already on a statin, should their dose be altered perioperatively? The latter question is particularly relevant in light of the marked increase in statin use. Recruitment logs for an ongoing trial demonstrate that over 70% of patients undergoing high-risk surgery were taking a statin but at markedly variable doses. This population presents an ideal opportunity to determine if there is a dose response relationship between statins and pleiotropic effects. We therefore propose an observational study that will determine anti-inflammatory and endothelial effects in high-risk surgical patients on varying doses of a perioperative statin drug. Atorvastatin diminishes the rise in C-reactive protein (CRP), measured 48 hours after elective vascular surgery, in a dose dependent fashion. Secondary Hypotheses: Atorvastatin reduces endothelial dysfunction after elective vascular surgery, as measured by brachial artery ultrasound, in a dose dependent fashion.
The purpose of this research study is to test whether certain compounds in tomatoes will help reduce factors in the subject's blood associated with disease risk. The investigators want to know if the tomato-associated compounds will lower or improve the status of these factors, like cholesterol and inflammation. In this research study, the subject will be asked to consume high fat test meals on two separate occasions. The investigators want to see how the subject's body responds to a standard high fat meal, one meal with tomato products and one meal without tomato products. The investigators will measure the subject's blood throughout the study period to determine if consumption of tomato products reduces factors in their blood associated with disease risk.
In HIV patients, statin therapy will attenuate plaque inflammation, thus, making plaques less vulnerable, will deter plaque progression, and improve endothelial function. In addition to known cholesterol-lowering and C-reactive protein lowering effects, immunomodulatory effects of statins will lead to a shift from pro-inflammatory monocyte and T cell subsets to less atherogenic subpopulations.
The diagnosis and monitoring of clinically-significant pathologies of the knee remains challenging, and it is unknown why only some injuries become painful or respond to surgical intervention. The limitations of diagnostic magnetic resonance imaging result in arthroscopy that is not always beneficial. Elucidation of biochemical pathways underlying pain in this condition may aid patient selection for surgery and provide pharmacotherapeutic targets. Cytokines or a novel yet uncharacterized protein may be involved in pain following meniscus injury and diagnostic cytokine assay may help physicians differentiate patients that may benefit from arthroscopy from those that may not. Additionally, evaluating post-operative biochemical profiles may provide a method of monitoring surgical outcome and understanding post-operative continuation or remission of pain.
This trial is conducted in North America. The aim of this clinical trial is to investigate the safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetic and signs of bioactivity of increasing single doses of AGS-009 in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).
The purpose of this study is to determine if intravitreal infliximab is a safe and effective treatment for macular edema secondary to uveitis.
Randomized, double-blind placebo controlled trial of fish oil to decrease inflammation in pregnancy.
Asthma is a chronic airway inflammation which involves the interplay of different types of inflammatory cells and cytokines in the airway. The presence of systemic inflammation and oxidative stress in asthma suggests that it has a propensity to develop cardiovascular morbidity. Recent small scale studies have demonstrated that asthma severity may be associated with both airway and systemic inflammation. The investigators' study aims at linking asthma severity to airway and systemic inflammation, and subsequently to cardiovascular morbidity if a significant association of the aforementioned is present. The role of airway inflammation in contribution to systemic inflammation , and potential interaction between these two conditions will also be studied.
People who are overweight are at increased risk of heart disease. Being overweight and having heart disease are linked in that both involve inflammation. Inflammation refers to the body's first line of defense against infection and injury. Metabolic changes in cholesterol, triglycerides (fat in the blood) and sugar in the blood caused by inflammation are similar to that in some people who are overweight. The investigators wish to examine the effects of inflammation on these metabolic changes that may lead to heart disease.