View clinical trials related to Communicable Diseases.
Filter by:Patients referred to internal medicine wards are becoming increasingly complex and fragile. Despite deep knowledge of their specific disorders, steps are required to improve overall management of their acute and chronic conditions. The main objective of the study is to identify demographic, clinical, laboratory and radiological markers of disease severity and activity in patients with diseases treated at general medicine wards (respiratory disease, immune-mediated disease, sepsis, metabolic disease, rare disease, frailty, pregnancy pathology) in order to improve their diagnosis, monitoring and treatment processes.
The microbiome, the collection of microorganisms that live in our gut, plays an important role in maintaining our health, proper nutrient absorption, nutrient turnover and immunity. After birth, a symbiotic relationship develops with the strains of bacteria that colonise our gut, and the presence and proportion of bacteria is individualised and highly variable. A healthy bacterial flora is essential for the cells of the intestinal mucosa. Glycoproteins in the cell surface mucus coat are important nutrients for bacteria, while some bacterial strains supply mucosal cells with nutrient molecules (e.g. short-chain fatty acids) that are their essential energy source. An abnormal change in the proportion of bacterial strains that make up the microbiome, dysbacteriosis, in which pathogenic bacteria proliferate at the expense of members of the normal flora, can cause a number of pathologies. Nutrient supply to the cells of the mucosa is reduced, making them more vulnerable and leading to various pathological conditions. The microbiome and the essential nutrients they produce have also been found to play an important role in wound healing. A decrease in the diversity of the microbiome, an increase in the relative number of pathogenic bacteria and a decrease in the proportion of 'beneficial' bacteria increases the risk of surgical complications of infection and suture failure.
H. pylori is transmitted from individual to individual and causes chronic active gastritis in all infected people. H. pylori infection can result in gastroduodenal ulcers, atrophic gastritis (AG), gastric carcinoma, and gastric MALT lymphoma. More than 90% of gastric carcinomas are linked to H. pylori infection that causes chronic AG. A long course of the disease leads to the loss of gastric glands (chronic AG) followed by gastric intestinal metaplasia (GIM), dysplasia, and cancer. This defines two cancer prevention strategies: primary that consists of detection and eradication of H. pylori and secondary that focuses on endoscopic screening for pre-neoplastic lesions and follow-up. Primary prevention planning requires reliable information on the H. pylori prevalence in the population. To design secondary prevention measures, an understanding of the age-sex structure of precancerous changes in the gastric mucosa (the prevalence of atrophic gastritis) is necessary. H. pylori eradication is the basis of primary prevention of gastric cancer (GC). Approximately 36,000 new cases of GC are registered in the Russian Federation each year, and more than 34,000 patients die from the disease. Men get sick 1.3 times more often than women, the peak incidence occurs at the age of over 50 years. The poor outcomes reflect the late stage of diagnosis of this potentially preventable and treatable cancer. The lack of up-to-date data on the H. pylori prevalence in Moscow hinders developing of measures for the detection and timely treatment of this infection as well as the reduction of GC morbidity and mortality.
The goal of this observational study is to evaluate the protective effect of immune barrier on secondary infection after COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) vaccination or COVID-19 virus Omicron B A. 5.2 strain infection by dynamically monitoring the COVID-19 antibody titer, cellular immune function and the occurrence of secondary infection of healthy participants, mainly medical staff in our hospital, to understand the cross protective effect of COVID-19 antibody on different variants of Omicron, and explore the best time to use COVID-19 vaccine to strengthen immunity after Omicron mutant infection.
This is the protocol that formalizes the establishment of the TROPICA-BIOBANK biobank
Objectives: Efficacy of a meningococcal vaccine against Neisseria gonorrhoea (NG) infection among men who have sex with men (MSM). Design: Parallel randomised double-blind placebo-controlled trial. Setting: A teaching hospital in Hong Kong. Participants: 150 adult MSM at risk of gonorrhoea infection (condomless sex with more than one man within the last six months, history of sexually transmitted infection [STI] diagnosis, inclination to have condomless sex, and other PrEP-eligible criteria) would be recruited into the trial, with half allocated to intervention and control group each. Intervention: Intervention and control group would receive, one month apart, two doses of meningococcal vaccine and normal saline, respectively. Main outcome measures: Safety and efficacy of vaccine against gonorrhoea (time to first gonorrhoea infection and incidence), and behavioural change after vaccination. Expected results: NG incidences in two groups would be compared. Efficacy of vaccine against gonorrhoea would be determined after controlling confounding variables. Characteristics of participants with incident NG would be distinguished from those without incident infections. Change of frequency of sexual activities and networking would be noted. Implications: Strategies on STI screening and vaccination could be informed. Reduced STI burden post-vaccination could be measured with surveillance system.
Guaranteeing access to safe drinking water is still a challenge in rural households in developing countries, and unsafe water sources are responsible for millions of deaths each year around the world. Coupons for free dilute chlorine solution are a cost-effective and effective way of ameliorating child health and reducing diarrhea incidence. It is still an empirical challenge, however, to see if the positive health effects will be maintained when the program is implemented at scale. In this study, investigators conduct a randomized controlled trial (RCT) at scale to study the impacts of a chlorine coupon program implemented at health clinics on child health, including self-reported diarrhea, fever, and cough incidence in the previous two weeks. Investigators further investigate the pathway of the impact, such as self-reported and objectively measured use of chlorine and frequency of visits to health clinics.
The oral cavity is an easily accessible anatomical site that accurately reflects the health of the individual. The mouth is considered an early indicator of biological aging, leading to the identification of oral biomarkers predictive of future alterations. Current data show that the oral health of high level athletes is globally altered with an increase in cariogenic indexes, an increased incidence of periodontitis, dental trauma and dry mouth syndromes. Few studies have focused on the oral microbiota compared to mouthguards used in rugby or boxing which seem to induce dysbiosis, a recent study shows an effect of ketogenic diet on bacterial changes in the mouth of endurance athletes. This project focuses on the impact of intensive sport practice on oral health and the identification of oral biomarkers associated with physical activity. The objective of this study is to investigate the impact of the amount of endurance sport practice on oral microbiota and oral health in young adults. the hypothesis is that a sedentary lifestyle and high-level sport induce depletion and/or changes in the oral microbiota compared to regular physical activity.
The goal of this observational study is to evaluate new non-invasive passive surveillance technologies, Level 42 AI imPulse™ Una and TOR devices for the detection of COVID-19, Flu, and/or RSV in asymptomatic and symptomatic individuals over age of 18 undergoing COVID-19, Flu, and/or RSV screening and testing at BAMC Ft Sam Houston, TX; with and without COVID-19, Flu, and/or RSV. The hypotheses are: (H1) The imPulseTM Una and the imPulseTM TOR e-stethoscopes have at least a similar discriminative and detection ability among symptomatic and asymptomatic COVID-19 carrier versus those not infected compared to gold standard RT-PCR. We will operationalize and deploy both the imPulseTM Una and imPulseTM TOR e-stethoscope into DoD use-cases and compare their usability between the devices. (H2) Identify if the imPulseTM Una and the imPulseTM TOR e-stethoscopes have at least a similar discriminative and detection ability among symptomatic and asymptomatic Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV), Influenza and Long COVID carriers versus those not infected compared to gold standard Rapid RSV and Flu Antigen Tests, or RT-PCR and molecular assays. We will operationalize and deploy both the imPulseTM Una and imPulseTM TOR e-stethoscope into DoD use-cases and compare their captured traces in the early identification of disease/illness analyzed by the devices built in algorithms. (H3) In the mid to long-term, this approach will also be explored as a diagnostic system to explore pursue the physical (structural and mechanical) properties of cells and tissues that maintain normal cell behavior (motility, growth, apoptosis), and the critical importance of the ability of cells to sense and respond to mechanical stresses, which will be operationally critical for assessment of both traumatic and unconventional exposures in austere environments. Participants will: - Be consented; - Be screened for COVID-19, Flu, and/or RSV symptoms according to BAMC's current screening procedures; - Have study data collected; - Complete a symptoms questionnaire; - imPulseTM Una and TOR e-stethoscopes examination will be conducted; - Participants will be compensated for completing all study requirements. (Active-Duty personnel must complete the study procedures while off-duty in order to receive compensation.)
Rationale: Early diagnosis of sepsis in neonates is complicated as the signs and symptoms are nonspecific. Although blood culture is the gold standard for the diagnosis, false-negative results and long incubation period of 36-72 hours limits the use of blood culture to rule out sepsis at initial suspicion. Since delay in diagnosis may lead to progressive deterioration, antibiotics are often started empirically at initial sepsis suspicion, awaiting results of the blood culture. Consequently, uninfected infants are often unnecessarily exposed to empirical antibiotics. To reduce unnecessary treatment of non-infected infants, an early, sensitive and specific diagnostic tool would be helpful to guide clinicians faster when to discontinue antibiotics. Molecular Culture (MC) via IS-pro is a novel, advanced, molecular culture technique which is able to culture bacteria within 4 hours after blood sampling. MC might thus be a potential diagnostic tool to detect or rule out sepsis in infants quickly, however data on MC for diagnosis of sepsis in this population is limited. Objective: The aim of this study is to evaluate whether MC is of additive predictive value for the diagnosis sepsis in this vulnerable group. Study design: Prospective observational cohort study. Study population: All infants suspected for neonatal sepsis of both early and late onset will be eligible for study participation. They will be treated according to the standard local guidelines. Intervention (if applicable): In case of a suspicion of sepsis at birth, blood will be collected for a conventional blood culture as part of standard care. Additionally, a blood sample will be collected from the umbilical cord for MC. In case of a suspicion of sepsis not directly postpartum, an additional blood sample will be taken for MC analysis, directly following sampling for conventional culture, implying no extra phlebotomy. Main study parameters/endpoints: The main study parameter is the discordance in positive and negative outcomes of MC compared to outcomes of conventional blood culture. As the diagnostic accuracy of the conventional blood culture (the current gold standard) is being questioned, the predictive value of MC versus conventional blood culture towards clinical sepsis will also be tested.