Massachusetts Paid Clinical Trials

Persons with COPD have both chronic musculoskeletal pain and dyspnea that require accurate diagnosis and treatment, ultimately to optimize functional status. The investigators propose to use advanced neuroimaging techniques to understand central mechanisms of chronic pain, dyspnea, and physical activity promotion in COPD. The investigators' novel proposal to correlate subjective symptoms (chronic pain and dyspnea) with an objective central biomarker (resting state functional connectivity) and examine their changes in response to a non-pharmacological, non-addictive physical activity intervention will personalize the care of Veterans with COPD. Read Less

This is a randomized, double blind, placebo-controlled study of the effects of transdermal estradiol versus placebo on cognitive flexibility, reward processing, and eating disorder pathology in hypoestrogenemic female adolescents and young adults (ages 14-35 years) with an eating disorder characterized by extreme dietary restriction and/or excessive exercise. Subjects will be randomized 1:1 to 12 weeks of transdermal estradiol with cyclic progesterone or placebo patches and cyclic placebo pills. Study visits include a screening visit to determine eligibility and visits at baseline, 8 weeks, and 12 weeks. Study procedures comprise behavioral, neuroimaging, and endocrine assessments. Read Less

The investigators are recruiting children with Rolandic epilepsy and children without epilepsy (aged 4 years old and above) for a non-invasive brain imaging study using Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), Magnetoencephalography/Electroencephalography (MEG/EEG), and experimental tasks. The investigators hope to determine the brain circuits and brain rhythms affected in these children and ultimately identify new treatment options for childhood epilepsy patients. Read Less

Femoro-acetabular impingement is a well known cause of damage to the acetabular labrum and chondrolabral junction. Additionally, it has been proposed that disruption of hip biomechanics resulting from a labral tear causes a faster progression towards osteoarthritis (OA). This progression has been observed to begin with breakdown of the chondrolabral junction with later development of diffuse osteoarthritis. Use of hip arthroscopy has increased dramatically in recent years to treat symptomatic labral tears and potentially avoid the morbidity and cost associated with hip osteoarthritis. Correction of labral pathology presents a technical challenge and many techniques currently exist. Increased understanding of the structure-functional relationship dictated by labral anatomy has led to the development of methods aimed at restoring functional anatomy by re-establishing the labrum's native position and contour on the rim of the acetabulum. Therefore, akin to repairing a torn meniscus in the knee, restoring the anatomic footprint of a torn labrum will reconstitute normal joint biomechanics. Despite the advances in techniques for labral repair, strategies for mitigating or repairing damage to the chondrolabral junction do not yet exist. This area has been shown to consist of hyaline and fibro cartilage. Many techniques for cartilage repair exist, although most are not feasible due to technical challenges specific to the hip joint. The management of articular cartilage defects is one of the most challenging clinical problems for orthopaedic surgeons. Articular cartilage has a limited intrinsic healing capacity, and pathology frequently results in gradual tissue deterioration. Currently, the standard surgical intervention for end-stage degenerative joint pathology is total joint replacement. Early surgical interventions for symptomatic cartilage lesions including cell based therapies such as autologous chondrocyte implantation (ACI), bone marrow aspirate concentrate (BMAC) implantation, or microfracture have been suggested to restore normal joint congruity and minimize further joint deterioration. Techniques such as ACI, which have been successfully used in the knee joint, have limited application in the hip due to the technical difficulties of open procedures. Read Less

This phase II trial with a safety run-in component will evaluate whether the addition of pembrolizumab to Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy (SBRT) re-irradiation will improve the progression-free survival for patients with recurrent or new second primary Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma (HNSCC). Read Less

The Gene Discovery Core at The Manton Center for Orphan Disease Research based at Boston Children's Hospital studies families with rare, poorly understood or undiagnosed, but suspected genetic conditions. The primary goal of the research is to better understand the genes and proteins (gene products) involved in rare diseases. The researchers hope that our studies will allow for improved diagnosis and treatment of individuals with rare disease in the future. Individuals with any rare/undiagnosed condition are eligible to enroll. Enrollment includes: Providing DNA and tissue samples (when available) Access to participants' medical records Access to genomic data (when available) Samples are used for genetic analysis (primarily exome and genome sequencing or reanalysis) to identify the genetic cause for the individual's illness. Individual research results are returned to families through their health care provider after confirmation in a clinical lab. If a cause is identified, that can be reported back to the family through their health care provider and the study's genetic counselor. When possible, the investigators also collect samples from parents and full-siblings as well as any other affected family members. Read Less

Metformin modulates metabolism in multiple cell types and is currently used to reduce glucose levels and insulin resistance in diabetic patients. The investigators hypothesize that oral metformin can regulate the metabolism of CD8+ T cells, reduce their cytotoxic activity and thus serve as a novel treatment for vitiligo. Read Less

The purpose of this study is to answer: how do inflammation and anti-inflammatory skin therapies work in the skin? Inflammation is a protective response from the body's immune system to injury, disease, or irritation. It is a process by which your body's white blood cells and the things they make protect you from infection from outside invaders such as bacteria and viruses. Read Less

This research study is to investigate the safety, feasibility, and possible therapeutic benefits of a technology called Low Intensity Focused Ultrasound (LIFU) in patients with obsessive- compulsive disorder (OCD). The device used in this study transmits high frequency sound waves to a particular region of the brain called the Ventral Striatum (VS). LIFU is a non-invasive form of stimulation, which can be used to stimulate deep regions of the brain. In this study, the investigators will administer LIFU to activate the VS area of the brain while also observing this brain stimulation with an MRI machine. Other aims of this study include learning more about the patterns of brain activity associated with OCD and seeing if brain activity changes as symptoms of OCD change over time during the two weeks of LIFU stimulation. Participants in this study will be asked to perform computer administered behavioral tasks -- similar to simple computer games -- to examine whether certain features of OCD (e.g., avoidance of feared triggers) change over the course of LIFU stimulation. The treatment phase of this research study is expected to last two weeks with three weekly (total of 6) treatment sessions all carried at the MRI brain imaging center at Baylor College of Medicine. There will be at least one additional screening visit before treatment starts and a series of follow up visits over a six-month period. Read Less

The current standard of care for diagnostic of SARS-CoV-2 infection involves sample collection which is then prepared and measured via real time-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). This process is time consuming and dependent on expensive instrumentation and trained technicians to perform both the sample preparation and assay. In many cases, sample turn-around times can take hours to several days. There are no established monitoring nationwide protocols for COVID-19 prevention of infection. Due to the lack of such protocols, this study will provide the proper experience to design a safe monitoring schema of asymptomatic cases of COVID-19. Self-testing using currently available RDT has a high specificity and relatively high sensitivity to identify individuals with a high probability of contagiousness. Therefore, we intend to use these RDT (Rapid diagnostic tests) for other use. There are several studies that point to the importance of the use of RDTs to monitor COVID-19 (3). The recent metadata indicate that the performance of the antigen test is crucial for obtaining good results to detect positive cases. We have already validated in the laboratory and using relevant clinical samples several different labels of antigen tests and we have compared them with already approved USA FDA antigen tests to confirm their performance prior to using them in this study. This project aims to monitor once a week the presence of SARS CoV-2 antigens using anterior nares (AN) swab self-process, executing the test and recording of the result, immediately after. The lack of affordable diagnostic tests which can detect the presence of SARS-CoV-2 in the general population which can give near real-time results is one critical missing control intervention in USA for the control of the pandemic and the spread of this disease. As public health restrictions begin to ease and people return to normal activities, while the COVID-19 pandemic is still a threat, a rapid diagnostic assay that does not require the sophisticated laboratory equipment and techniques could provide a significant advantage to screen asymptomatic individuals. The routine use of such rapid tests is a key element to show efficacy of protocol. We adjusted to once a week testing based on the medium to low risk of the elderly population of this study. The list of rapid nucleoprotein tests utilized in the current study are: NETO Corona test, Novir INSTA-TM COVID-19 Rapid Antigen test, COVICHEK COVID-19 Ag Test, SpectraBiotech COVID-19 track antigen test, Blandford Biotech AS-15™ Rapid Antigen Detection Kit SARS-CoV-2 Test (Colloidal Gold Method), Abbott BinaxNow tests. BACKGROUND The SARS-CoV-2 Direct Antigen Rapid Test ("Lateral flow") is an immunoassay developed for the qualitative detection of SARS-CoV-2 viral particles/secreted protein in anterior nasal swabs and/or saliva samples from both asymptomatic and suspected participants with COVID-19 infection. Lateral flow strips are printed with a monoclonal antibody that binds the signature SARS-CoV-2 viral particles/protein (Test line) and a control antibody (Control line) for quality control. A second monoclonal antibody is attached to gold nanoparticles (conjugate) and quencher buffer, and mixed with the nasal sample. The SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid protein attach to both antibodies resulting in a visual line on the test strip within 15 minutes. Prior experience in the detection of virus and viral proteins via antibody binding using lateral flow have been done through IDx20, Inc. The Housing Authority and the Public Health Department of the City of Chelsea will be overseeing this study. Read Less

This 3-year Hybrid Type 1 study will randomize 208 people with co-occurring substance use and mental health disorders (COD) referred from the Worcester Hub. This study seeks to evaluate the effectiveness of MISSION, a multi-component team approach, versus linkage with a Peer Specialist on improving outcomes among individuals with CODs. We expect that individuals receiving MISSION versus linkage only will show greater improvement in treatment engagement, substance use, and mental health outcomes. This study will also concurrently conduct a process evaluation to inform sustainability and future implementation of such interventions. Read Less

There are few applications available in the community to help teenagers manage pain after surgery. The focus of this study is to better understand the pain experience of children after having surgery and to design a Smartphone app called "iCanCope with Post-Operative Pain" (iCanCope PostOp), to help children and parents to better manage pain at home after surgery. The app will help keep track of pain, provide information about the teenager's surgery and provides "in-the-moment" advice wherever and whenever the patient needs it. Read Less