Inflammation Clinical Trials

Aerobic exercise has emerged as an effective treatment to reduce sport-related concussion symptom severity, yet existing work lacks rigor regarding the precise exercise volume and intensity required to elicit therapeutic effects, how exercise can alter concussion-related pathophysiology, and whether exercise can prevent the development of secondary sequelae. Our objective is to examine if a high dose exercise program (higher volume than currently prescribed at an individualized, safe intensity level) initiated within 14 days of concussion results in faster symptom resolution, altered physiological function, or reduced secondary sequalae. Findings from this research will lead to more rigorous and precise rehabilitation guidelines and improved understanding about how exercise affects neurophysiological function among adolescents with concussion. Read Less

The purpose of this study is to use an experimental inflammatory challenge to examine whether older adults with symptoms of anxiety experience loss of pleasure or loss of motivation when they are exposed to inflammation. Loss of pleasure or loss of motivation will be evaluated using self-report questionnaires, computer tasks, and during a brain scan. Read Less

Sleep disturbance has a range of negative effects on psychosocial and biological processes important for academic and social success as well as mental and physical health among adolescents and young adults. Limited, inconsistent, and poor quality sleep lead to anxiety, depressive feelings, loneliness, and fatigue over time. These symptoms, in turn, interfere with the ability to get a good night's rest. Sleep disruption can also upregulate inflammatory processes during the years of adolescence and young adulthood in ways that can create risk for the development of chronic health conditions (e.g., diabetes, depression, cardiovascular disease) in later adulthood. Sleep, however, is also a modifiable health behavior, leading many institutions to embark upon efforts to improve the sleep of their students. The challenge is to identify programs and interventions that can simultaneously improve sleep, be delivered at scale, and be easily completed by students. UCLA has developed and validated a group-based mindfulness intervention, Mindful Awareness Practices (MAPs), that has demonstrated beneficial effects on sleep in adults and may offer a promising, scalable approach for reducing sleep disturbance and improving associated psychological and biological outcomes in college students. However, this approach requires validation in this population relative to sleep education programs, which increasingly dominate the college landscape. To address this important public health problem, the investigators propose to conduct a single site, two-arm, parallel group randomized controlled trial to test the efficacy of the validated, group-based, six-week MAPs intervention vs. sleep education, an active time and attention matched control condition, for first year undergraduate students who report poor sleep at this critical transition year. The investigators are aiming to enroll approximately 240 participants. Participants will complete questionnaires, provide blood samples for immune analysis and will be provided with wrist actigraphs to wear for 7 days, in order to collect objective measurements of sleep at pre- and post-intervention visits, and at a 3-month follow-up visit. Additional follow-up assessments will take place at 6-month, and 12-month post-intervention to evaluate persistence of effects. Read Less

HIV infection, as well as exposure to opioids (including heroin), are associated with systemic immune activation including increased microbial translocation from the gut. The overall objective of this study is to define the impact of long-term mu-opiate receptor stimulation or blockage with medication for opiate use disorder (i.e, methadone, buprenorphine/naloxone, or extended-release naltrexone) on the kinetics and extent of immune reconstitution on HIV-1 infected people who inject opiate and initiating antiretroviral therapy. Read Less

The goal of this clinical trial is to evaluate cardiometabolic and inflammatory parameters in kidney transplant recipients after transitioning to a plant-based diet (PBD). The main aims of the study are as follows: * To test the feasibility of transiting renal allograft recipients who are \> 3 months post-transplant to a PBD * To study the effect of a PBD on cardiometabolic parameters in kidney transplant recipients * To assess the effect of a PBD on peripheral blood Th17/Treg ratio and systemic inflammation in kidney transplant recipients Participants will be asked to: * Complete a 2-week investigator-designed PBD transition program * Follow a PBD for a minimum of 16 weeks * Consent for blood draws, urine samples, and fecal samples along with physical exams * Complete intermittent food frequency questionnaires and quality of life questionnaires * Periodically meet with investigators and other study participants Researchers will compare baseline measurements with future measurements for each participant. Read Less

Investigators propose to study youth across the spectrum of body mass index (BMI) and dysglycemia. This approach will allow investigators to disentangle the relationship of key features of type 2 diabetes (T2D) risk (e.g. obesity) with intermediary physiologic changes (e.g. insulin resistance, inflammation, β-cell dysfunction and dysglycemia) that pose a risk for the brain. Investigators will determine which of these factors are most associated with differences in brain structure and function among groups, over time, and how these effects differ from normal neurodevelopment. Read Less

This study is a 6-month randomized controlled trail of diet modification designed to reduce chronic inflammation and reverse metabolic dysfunction among obese individuals with one or more polyps found at a colonoscopy screening. We also will recruit an at least overweight partner, who lives in the same household. To be eligible, participants will be apparently disease-free, obese AAs or EAs who have self-identified a partner who is at least 9 years, with whom they live and who also is at least overweight. Each index participant will: 1) Be AA or EA by self-report; 2) Be ≤55 years old; 3) Have undergone a colonoscopy screening and found to have ≥1 polyp(s); 4) Be free of co-morbid conditions or other factors that would limit participation in this trial; 5) Have a BMI ≥30kg/m2; 6) Be willing to commit to investing the time and effort required to participate in this trial (i.e., willing to complete all assessments and provide biological samples as specified in the consent); and 7) Have no recent antibiotic use. Their partner needs to: 1) Be at least 9 years old; 2) Live in the same household and consumes meals together; 3) Be at least overweight; 4) Agree to all study procedures, including provision of biological samples, body measurements, and self-reported dietary and other assessments; and 5) Have no recent antibiotic use. Read Less

This study's investigators previously demonstrated the potential utility of non-invasive carotid ultrasonography to calculate carotid intima media thickness (cIMT) and stiffness (as measured by the three parameters, carotid cross-sectional distensibility \[cCSD\], carotid cross-sectional compliance \[cCSC\], and carotid incremental elastic modulus \[cIEM\]) in people with mucopolysaccharidoses (MPS). Investigators also studied arterial gene expression in animal models of MPS, and identified upregulation of a number of markers potentially tied to atherosclerosis and inflammation. These include the atherosclerotic marker known as Clusterin (CLU), Cathepsin S, Elastin, and the inflammatory cytokines interleukin 1-α, interleukin 1-β, interleukin 2, and interleukin 6. Other studies have identified elevation in circulating tumor necrosis factor-α correlating with pain and physical disability in certain mucopolysaccharidoses. Since these studies are cross sectional, and not longitudinal, this study aims to annually measure these previously studied biomarkers (carotid measurements, circulating cytokines, cathepsin S, elastin, and CLU) in a large cohort of MPS patients. This study is a 3-year, prospective, anonymized, longitudinal assessment of cardiovascular structure, function, and circulating biomarkers in patients with mucopolysaccharidoses. Read Less

Obesity is pro-inflammatory, impairs metabolism, and physically limiting. Specifically, muscle in obese persons does not synthesize proteins normally. This further increases metabolic and physical dysfunction. As such, obesity programs should not only focus on weight loss, but muscle metabolic health. Dairy nutrients have anti-inflammatory and anabolic properties, but mostly evaluated in isolation and/or pre-clinical designs. Also, it is unknown if the circulating benefits extend to the muscle. We hypothesize that dairy full-fat milk will improve these obesity characteristics. Read Less

Dietary incorporation of pulse crops may be an effective way to lower unhealthy elevations in serum bile acids. These elevations play a direct role in promoting obesity-related diseases estimated to be present in about one third of the US adult population, including non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and type 2 diabetes. The overarching hypothesis for this study is that pulse consumption increases bile acid secretion and excretion, which will decrease toxicity linked to excess accumulation of bile in the liver, improve metabolism, and lower resulting levels of bile acids in the serum. In direct alignment with the USDA-AFRI Food, Safety, Nutrition, and Health priority to address obesity and related chronic disease with increased fruit and vegetable consumption and also with the American Pulse Association call to investigate the impact of regular pulse consumption on human physical well- being, the long-term research goal of this study is to establish effective and practical therapeutic strategies utilizing dietary incorporation of pulse crops to prevent or reverse obesity driven diseases. The specific objectives in this proposal are to: 1. determine the impact of acute lentil ingestion on serum postprandial bile acid responses and composition in a human cohort with obesity, and 2. determine the impact of daily lentil consumption for 12 weeks on serum fasting and postprandial bile acid concentrations and composition in an overweight or obese cohort with elevated postprandial triglycerides. This proposal is being submitted in response to the American Pulse Association commodity board sponsored topic of investigating the impact pulse crop consumption on health. Read Less