View clinical trials related to Lung Diseases.
Filter by:Although cystic fibrosis (CF) is the most common, life-threatening autosomal recessive genetic disorder of the white population, there are often delays in diagnosis and hence start of treatment. Advances of the past two decades have made CF screening feasible using routinely collected neonatal blood specimens and measuring an enzyme level followed by CF mutation DNA analysis. Our overall goal of the study is to see if early diagnosis of CF through neonatal screening will be medically beneficial without major risks. ''Medically beneficial'' refers to better nutrition and/or pulmonary status, whereas '' risks'' include laboratory errors, miscommunication or misunderstanding, and adverse psychosocial consequences. Specific aims include assessment of the benefits, risks, costs, quality of life, and cognitive function associated with CF neonatal screening and a better understanding of the epidemiology of CF. A comprehensive, randomized clinical trial emphasizing early diagnosis as the key variable has been underway since 1985. Nutritional status has been assessed using height and weight measurements and biochemical methods. The results have demonstrated significant benefits in the screened (early diagnosis) group. We are now focusing on the effect of early diagnosis of CF on pulmonary outcome. Pulmonary status is measured using chest radiographs, chest scans using high resolution computerized tomography, and pulmonary function tests. Other factors that we are looking at include risk factors for the acquisition of respiratory pathogens such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa, quality of life and cognitive function of children with CF who underwent early versus delayed diagnosis, as well as the cost effectiveness of screening and the costs of diagnosis and treatment of CF throughout childhood. If the questions underlying this study are answered favorably, it is likely that neonatal screening using a combination of enzyme level (immunoreactive trypsinogen) and DNA test will become the routine method for identifying new cases of CF not only in the State of Wisconsin, but throughout the country.
The purpose of this study is to test the hypothesis that excess, rare, functionally disruptive single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) characterize genes (e.g., the surfactant protein-B gene)(SFTPB) and gene networks (e.g., the pulmonary surfactant metabolic network or other gene networks that regulate alveolar type 2 cell function) associated with increased risk of neonatal respiratory distress syndrome (RDS).
To study work-related asthma in a low-income, urban population.
This project is part of a program project directed toward assessing cardiac effects of particulate and other ambient air pollutants. In this project active elderly adults living in the communities of Boston and Steubenville have attended 12 weekly sessions including approximately 40 minutes of Holter monitoring, blood pressure, and oximetry evaluation before, during, and after outdoor exercise. To investigate the relation of air pollution to cardiac and pulmonary rehabilitation, a second portion of this study involves abstraction of blood pressure and symptom data and downloading of available repeated measures telemetry data in two populations. These populations include: 1) 200 outpatients attending 8 to 36 repeated weekly exercise training sessions in a major hospital cardiac rehabilitation unit.
Ozone is an air pollutant formed in at ground level by the chemical reaction between oxygen and automobile emissions in the presence of sunlight. The objective of this research is to determine how lung size, chemical composition, and normal functioning of the respiratory system affect the amount of inhaled ozone that reaches internal sites of tissue irritation and damage. To infer the distribution of inhaled ozone within the respiratory system, measurements of ozone concentration and air flow are made just outside the nose and mouth of healthy subjects who breathe laboratory-generated, ozonated air for about one hour. Biochemical composition of respiratory mucus is then inferred from nasal washings made with salt water. The amount of ozone that a subject retains in one of these experiments is less than the daily exposure in a large city such as New York or Los Angeles.
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is one of the most common chronic illnesses among veterans in the adult population, and accounts for substantial morbidity and mortality in this population. Interventions that enhance symptom self-monitoring and increase understanding of COPD therapy may lead to earlier detection of clinical deterioration permitting more timely intervention by health care providers. However, such interventions are labor-intensive and expensive, and typically require patients to go to a medical facility on a regular basis. A novel means of providing such interventions is a Telephone-Linked Computer (TLC) system, a computer-based telecommunications system that can monitor, educate, and counsel patients through regular automated conversations in patients� homes. In previous studies, we have demonstrated the applicability of TLC technology in the clinical monitoring of adults with chronic disease conditions such as hypertension and hypercholesterolemia.
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is one of the most common chronic illnesses in the adult population and accounts for approximately 25,000 discharges from VA hospitals in a calendar year. In addition to the burden put on the health care system, COPD is a disabling condition that adversely affects functional status and quality of life (QOL). Several reports have suggested that exercise training programs can reduce the frequency of hospitalization for COPD; however, these reports have important methodological limitations and such programs have not been widely implemented in the VA health care system. Although the underlying lung pathology of COPD may be unalterable, physical reconditioning has been clearly demonstrated to improve cardiorespiratory status in COPD patients. These physiologic changes have the potential to substantially improve QOL and reduce functional disability. Moreover, improved cardiorespiratory reserve may decrease the utilization of health care resources during mild to moderate exacerbation of COPD.
To determine the value of contrast enhanced spiral computed tomography (spiral CT) for the diagnosis of acute pulmonary embolism (PE).
The purpose of this study is to test the effects of reducing indoor environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) on unscheduled asthma visits, asthma symptoms, airway inflammation, and exposure to tobacco smoke measured using air nicotine dosimeters, serum and hair cotinine.
To assess the population burden of occupational exposures in the prevalence and progression of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).