Diabetes Clinical Trials

Objectives: The study objective is to carry a pilot clinical assessment comparing the exciflex bandage to standard of care (SoC) for ischemic wounds and will involve participants who are Veterans with lower extremity ischemic wounds. Research Plan: The study will employ a randomized repeated measures design to assess the therapeutic effectiveness of exciflex in clinical use. Methodology: All participants with chronic ischemic wounds treated at LSCDVAMC will be potentially eligible for the study. Primary target populations will include Veterans with SCI who are inpatients or residents of the on-site Long Term Care Unit and Veterans with diabetes being followed by the Podiatry Service for wound care. In addition to meeting the general inclusion criteria noted above, further exclusion criteria relating to clinical factors include; (1)Age less than 18 years and (2)Pregnancy. Clinical Significance: Chronic ischemic wounds fail to heal normally and are a major challenge in the long-term care of many Veterans. The exciflex bandage can improve outcomes and lower cost by automatically delivering electrotherapy without disturbing the wound dressing for up to seven days, unless indicated. The overall study goal is to complete pre-market testing and evaluation of the exciflex bandage system. Read Less

The purpose of this study is to observe any changes that may occur to certain organs following a confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19 in people with and without diabetes. Read Less

It is unknown if obesity contributes to the development of heart disease in African American men and women. This study was created to determine whether there is a relationship between sex and body size and the incidence of heart disease in African American men and women. Researchers will attempt to associate obesity with the presence of heart disease risk factors. Risk factors that will be studied include; total body fat, body fat distribution, fat content of the blood (triglyceride concentration, low density lipoproteins [LDL], and high density lipoproteins [HDL]), how fast fat is removed from the blood, and how well insulin works in the body. Scientific studies have shown that obesity and increased levels of fat content in the blood are important risk factors for heart disease in Caucasian women. However, similar studies in African American women have failed to show the same correlation. In fact, it appears that African American women in all three body weight groupings, nonobese, overweight, and obese experience high death rates due to heart disease. In addition, prior research has shown that obese African American men tend to have elevated levels of fat in the blood while African American women have normal blood fat levels. Therefore, if high levels of triglycerides (fat found in the blood) are not seen in non-diabetic obese African American women, it cannot be considered a risk factor in this population. This suggests that studies conducted on Caucasian women may not provide insight into heart disease risk factors in African American women. The study will take 2000 healthy non-diabetic African American men and women (ages 18-70) and body mass index 3 subgroups; nonobese, overweight and obese. Diabetes undeniably increases the risk of heart disease. Therefore patients suffering from diabetes will not be included in the study. Candidates for the study will undergo a series of tests and examinations over 2 outpatient visits. Subjects will have body fat analyses, resting energy expenditure measurements, an EKG (electrocardiogram), and specific blood tests. Researchers believe this study will provide significant insight into the causes of obesity and heart disease in African Americans. Read Less

The planned intervention, entitled, Supporting Self-Management of Health Behaviors to Optimize Health (SMART-HABITS for Health), aims to provide support for patients with chronic kidney disease, hypertension and diabetes by providing text messages delivered as motivational reminders and support to encourage blood pressure self-monitoring through goal setting, customized task prompts via text message and feedback, leveraging social connections, and use of a gamification design. Read Less

To acquire blood samples from subjects for various purposes, including: i) determining the sensitivity and specificity of select DNA methylation markers for the detection of various types of cancer, ii) identifying benign conditions that may induce false positive or false negative results, and iii) defining the effects of potential interfering substances, such as chemotherapy drugs. Read Less

Several studies have reported that diabetic subjects have lower plasma vitamin C concentrations than non-diabetic subjects. Although urinary vitamin C loss in diabetic subjects was reported to be increased in two studies, these are difficult to interpret due to lack of controlled vitamin C intake, inadequate sampling, lack of control subjects, or methodology uncertainties in vitamin C assay and sample processing. Consequently, it is unclear whether diabetic subjects truly have both low plasma and high urine vitamin C concentrations. We propose that low plasma vitamin C concentrations in diabetic subjects are due in part to inappropriate renal loss of vitamin C in these subjects but not in healthy controls. We will study vitamin C concentrations in patients with type 1 and type 2 diabetes and in matched healthy research subjects. Vitamin C concentrations in plasma, neutrophils (as a proxy for tissue concentrations) and in urine will be measured in outpatients. In those willing to be admitted to the Clinical Center, we will measure 24-hour urinary excretion of vitamin C while on a vitamin C free diet, and creatinine clearance, a measure of glomerular filtration rate. On day 2 of the inpatient study, subjects will receive a single 200mg dose of oral vitamin C and we will measure vitamin C concentrations in frequent blood and urine samples to determine the renal threshold and relative bioavailability for vitamin C. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) will be determined in genomic DNA responsible for the two proteins mediating sodium-dependent vitamin C transport, SVCT1 and SVCT2. If low plasma and high urine vitamin C concentrations are found in diabetic subjects, further studies will be needed to explore mechanisms and to determine recommended dietary allowances for this patient population. Read Less

Despite the overwhelming focus on genetic and genomic causes of human disease over the past two decades, it has been estimated that genetics is currently known to explain only 20% and 40% of the etiology of common disease. Thus, it is becoming increasingly apparent that human disease is a consequence of both genetic susceptibility and environmental exposures. Importantly, while individuals cannot change their genetic composition, we do have the ability both personally and as a society, to influence our environment, promoting health and decreasing the risk of disease. The Personalized Environment and Genes Study (PEGS) aims to determine how the environment and gene-environment interactions can inform our understanding of human health and disease. As science has evolved, so too has the science of this project. This evolution was reflected in a change in the title of this project from the Environmental Polymorphisms Registry (EPR) to the Personalized Environment and Genes Study (PEGS) to more accurately reflect the science that can be conducted. PEGS is a unique resource because of the depth of environmental phenotyping which includes extensive information from exposome surveys, as well as whole genome sequencing on a significant number of participants in the cohort. While it is small relative to genomic cohorts, none of these have the extensive environmental data that is present in PEGS. In addition, other cohorts with deep environmental data lack the depth of genomic data that is present in PEGS. Importantly, PEGS has already provided important analytic advances that are of great interest to and can be confirmed in larger cohorts such as All of Us. The Personalized Environment and Genes Study (PEGS) aims to provide a resource for environmental health translational research by examining gene-environment interactions in health and disease. PEGS is an extension of two previous efforts where it began as a pilot study, the Environmental Polymorphisms Study (EPS; IRB# 02E9004) and was approved subsequently as a full protocol titled the Environmental Polymorphisms Registry (EPR) (IRB #04-E-N0053 and transitioned to its current ID# 04-E-0053). The EPR was envisioned as a phenotype-by-genotype registry of participants who had donated DNA samples, and who had agreed to be contacted for follow-up clinical translational studies based on their DNA genotypes. At the time, the only information available was a participant s age, sex, race, and ethnicity. Further phenotyping of a participant and/or any biospecimens obtained were investigated during a follow-up translational clinical study on participants recruited based on their genotype (hence phenotype-by-genotype) and the PEGS was the first recruit-by- genotype study at the NIH. Following a period focused on recruiting approximately 15,000 participants to enable genotyping of rare (approximately 1% minor allele frequency) single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), the PEGS Consortium Project was undertaken in 2010- 2011 to examine, using the DNA of nearly 4,000 participants, approximately 700 SNPs in approximately 80 environmental response genes that work in concert with environmental exposures to elicit a phenotype. Several clinical follow-up studies, genotype-phenotype association studies, and publications have resulted from the PEGS Consortium Project. To expand phenotype information available to researchers, the Health and Exposure Questionnaire was administered between 2013-2014. In 2017, a more detailed Exposome Questionnaire which includes questions relating to the external and internal exposome was administered. This was an important resource through which to integrate exposures with genotype-phenotype association studies. Whole genome sequencing has now been performed on approximately 4700 participants who were reconsented for this purpose, as indicated above. Questionnaire data was fully adjudicated and combined in a robust and searchable database. With the increased power of the data available, the project was renamed as the Personalized Environment and Genes Study (PEGS) and rolled out in Sept. 2021. Read Less

Background: - Imaging tests, such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), can provide information about heart and blood vessels. The tests let doctors can see the amount of blood vessel narrowing and vessel wall thickness. This information may help diagnose and treat heart disease and other conditions that lead to heart attacks. Better MRI methods are needed to improve heart disease diagnosis, especially by avoiding the use of radiation. Researchers are testing new techniques to improve the quality of heart MRI, compared with more complex studies like catheterization or angiography. Objectives: - To compare heart MRI techniques with other tests used to diagnose heart disease. Eligibility: - People at least 18 years of age who either have or may have heart disease, or are healthy volunteers. Design: Participants will be screened with a physical exam, medical history, and blood tests. They will have an angiography to study the inside of blood vessels. This test is an x-ray study of the blood vessels. It will be done either separately or as part of a set of tests to diagnose possible heart disease. Participants will have at least one and up to five MRI scans. The scans will involve different methods of studying the heart and blood vessels. Participants may also have a computed tomography scan to confirm the findings of an MRI scan. No treatment will be provided as part of this protocol. Read Less

The purpose of the study is to learn about the best way to enhance pharmacy-related care for diabetes self-management. This research is being done because we want to improve use of medicines and diabetes management among Black and Hispanic adults with type 2 diabetes and find out which of type of support may improve diabetes self-management for Black and Hispanic adults. Participants will be assigned to one of 4 groups, and will either: receive care as usual; or, receive added medicine management support from a pharmacist; or, receive support from a Community Health Worker (CHW) to address life challenges; or, receive both the pharmacist medicine management and the CHW support Read Less

This is an omnibus protocol for studying patients with cystic fibrosis. The main purpose of the study is to obtain samples and data collected during standard clinical care for future research to expand knowledge of the natural history, clinical manifestations (phenotypes) and the genetic variants (genotypes) of cystic fibrosis.... Read Less

The proposed study, NC Works4Health (NCW4H), builds on the strengths of long-standing academic-community research partnerships between this UNC at Chapel Hill (UNC) team of investigators and key stakeholders across health, social service, employment, and economic development sectors. The overall goal of this study is to test the effectiveness of a multilevel intervention that can be readily adopted by communities to reduce chronic disease risks in socioeconomically disadvantaged populations by (a) embedding prevention efforts in DSS-E programs at the individual level, and (b) enhancing supervisor supports for DSS-E hires at the employer level. Interventions at each level, and their joint effects, are designed to mitigate the psychological, behavioral, and clinically relevant risks for chronic disease onset, morbidity, and comorbidity that accrue with unemployment and the employment-entry transition. Read Less

Though the Mississippi Delta has a rich agricultural history and some of the nation's most fertile soil, residents have experienced the legacy of slavery and economic exploitation through food insecurity and poverty for generations. This project focuses on Bolivar, Washington, and Sunflower, contiguous counties in the Delta that are designated as health disparity populations. Over 65% of the 100,000 residents are Black/African American and ~30% live at or below the poverty level. Obesity rates are high and the rate of diabetes is almost double the national average. Tufts University received a grant from the National Institute of Minority Health and Health Disparities to develop, test, and evaluate a Food is Medicine program in Mississippi. The Delta Growing a Resilient, Enriching, Equitable, Nourishing food System (GREENS) Food is Medicine (FIM) Project, is a collaborative project in Bolivar, Washington, and Sunflower counties in Mississippi. The intervention involves regularly distributed fruit and vegetable produce boxes as well as nutrition education materials to the intervention group. The control group will receive produce boxes later, after they complete study activities. The project's primary goal is to improve health outcomes by creating a FIM intervention. The Delta GREENS FIM Project aims to become a model for promoting nutrition security and management of chronic conditions in varied communities nationwide. Read Less