Healthy Paid Clinical Trials in Pennsylvania

Investigators are conducting this study to test if temporarily and non-invasively stimulating the brain will affect the emotional response to stress in healthy participants. Participants will perform a series of tasks while completing an MRI scan. After this, participants will be randomized to undergo transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) at two visits, undergoing active stimulation at one visit and undergoing 'sham' stimulation at another visit. Immediately following both stimulation sessions, participants will repeat the tasks during MRI scanning. Read Less

The goal of this study is to learn how MK-8527 moves through the healthy person's body over time. Researchers will measure for the amount of MK-8527 in breast milk that the baby will receive at many time points. Read Less

Many people, particularly small children, must take drugs in liquid form because they cannot swallow pills or capsules. The bad taste of some liquid drugs can keep patients from taking drugs they need for their health. Our main goal in this research study is find ingredients that might make drugs taste better. Participants in this research study will be healthy adults between the ages of 18 and 60 years old. Participants will taste samples (liquids or gels) containing active pharmaceutical ingredients (substances in medications that produce desired health effects). After tasting each sample participants will spit out the sample and rinse with water (no samples will be swallowed). Active pharmaceutical ingredients of current interest are: 1) tenofovir alafenamide, used to treat HIV infection and hepatitis B, 2) rifampicin, used to treat tuberculosis, 3) rifapentine, used to treat tuberculosis, and 4) levofloxacin, used to treat various bacterial infections). Other active pharmaceutical ingredients may be added as the study goes forward. Participants will be instructed to taste samples both with and without experimental flavor ingredients added and judge how the samples taste. People who volunteer for the study will be instructed to complete many repeated visits to the Monell Center (University City area of Philadelphia) for tasting sessions. Tasting visits will last between 1 and 2 hours. Read Less

Positron Emission Tomography (PET) is a procedure that uses a special type of machine to take pictures of the inside of the body after a radioactive drug is administered. The radioactive drug that is used for this study may be an FDA approved imaging drug or may be used as an investigational imaging drug as part of another study for which participants are taking part. PET using various radiotracers is useful for the diagnosis of various diseases, including cancer, brain diseases, infection, and heart or lung disease. The purpose of this study is to test a research PET machine called the PennPET Explorer long-axial field-of-view scanner. This research PET machine can image a larger section of the body than the current clinical PET scanners, allowing most of the body to be imaged at one time. This scanner is still an investigational device and is being tested in this study to collect more information about how best to use this type of whole body scanner. Read Less

High food motivation among children is trait-like and increases risks of unhealthy dietary intake and obesity. Scientific knowledge of how parenting can best support healthy eating habits and growth among children who are predisposed to overeating is surprisingly limited. This investigation will identify supportive food parenting approaches for obesity prevention that address the needs of highly food motivated children. Read Less

The goal of this clinical trial is to examine the effects of a nutrition education program on preschool children's food literacy and food acceptance, and to examine the added influence of a healthy eating curriculum and parent education on children's food knowledge and healthful food choices. The project will be evaluated with 450 children ages 3 to 5 years in center-based childcare programs serving predominantly Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)-eligible families in Pennsylvania. Outcomes for children who receive the added healthy eating curriculum will be compared to children in classrooms that only receive the nutrition education program. Read Less

The purpose of this research is to measure alterations in anxiety and brain activity associated with the use of an approved health device called Transauricular Vagal Nerve Stimulation (TaVNS) in distressed persons who work in a health care and distressed healthcare workers in the the Philadelphia, PA region. The Investigators will be using functional magnetic resonance imaging (or fMRI) to measure changes in each subject's brain function during the use of VNS. This study is designed to allow researchers to understand the changes in cerebral (brain) activity that occur when a subject uses VNS. Thus, the primary goal of the proposed study is to evaluate the ability of the TaVNS system to reduce distress and change neurophysiology among health care providers. The Investigators, hypothesize that using the TaVNS device will help reduce distress in individuals. In order to understand the mechanisms of change that occur while using the VNS study, the Investigators have added a substudy of participants who do not experience high levels of distress to evaluate the effects of the functional changes that may occur in the brain while using the TaVNS device. In addition to the primary aims of the overalll study to assess distress in workers while enrolled in a TaVNS program, a subgroup of 50 subjects will undergo functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) while using the VNS device to assess the changes in the brain including neurophysiological effects of TaVNS. The goal of this substudy is to observe the changes in the brain while using the TaVNS earbuds in the MRI to increase our understanding of the mechanisms and processing involved while using TaVNS. In this substudy, which is amendment version 3.0, the investigators have increased the number of persons to include 50 subjects who will use the device in the MRI to evaluate the neural processes and cerebral blood flow while using TaVNS. Read Less

The purpose of this research is to measure the extent of lung inflammation between different groups of participants using a radioactive tracer called \[18F\]NOS. A radioactive tracer is a type of imaging drug that is labeled with a radioactive tag and injected into the body. Read Less

Within few years the peritoneal membrane of adult peritoneal dialysis (PD) patients undergoes substantial morphological transformation, including progressive fibrosis, vasculopathy and neoangiogenesis. Ultrafiltration capacity steadily declines and ultimately results in PD failure. In children, peritoneal biopsies demonstrating PD associated alterations have not yet been obtained. They, however, should be particularly informative, since secondary tissue and vascular pathology related to ageing or diabetes is absent. An international, prospective peritoneal membrane biopsy study in children on PD will therefore be performed. Biopsies will be obtained at time of PD catheter insertion, on occasion of intercurrent abdominal surgery (e.g. hernia repair, catheter exchange) and at time of renal transplantation. Quantitative histomorphometry and tissue protein expression analyses will be correlated with time integrated PD treatment modalities and functional characteristics as well as inflammatory and cardiovascular comorbidity surrogate parameter. Blood will be obtained during clinical routine sampling. Biopsies will be obtained during clinically indicated operations, without substantially increasing operation time and associated surgical risks. The detailed histomorphometry of the PD membrane will give additional information, potentially impacting on the individual PD regime. 3/2018: The analyses of the pediatric PD biopsy demonstrated early and major transformation of the peritoneal membrane with neutral pH low GDP fluids, and significant vasculopathy already in children with CKD stage 5, further progressing with PD. The underlying mechanisms are partly understood, only. In view of these major findings and the numerous open questions, collection of biosamples will be continued in children and also in adult PD patients. The following questions will be addressed: Molecular counterparts of peritoneal semi-permeability, solute and water transport (beyond AQP1), pathomechanisms and molecular and functional impact of peritoneal transformation with low and high GDP fluids, and the respective pathomechanisms and molecular and functional impact of vascular disease in CKD and with different PD fluids. The impact of renal transplantation following PD will be assessed in a subgroup of patients with tenckhoff catheter removal several weeks after transplantation and a functioning graft. Read Less

The main purpose of this study is to to evaluate the safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetics (PK), pharmacodynamics (PD), immunogenicity of LAD191 in healthy adults and in adults with an autoimmune disease. Read Less

The study will evaluate the feasibility of using smartphone speakers and microphones to evaluate the caliber of the airways, detect airway obstruction, aid in airway disease diagnosis, and identify disease exacerbations. Read Less

Neuromodulation is a fast growing field that offers a wide range of applications for both understanding and treating the brain. Future research for non-invasive neuromodulation will need to elucidate the optimal frequency, duration, and intensity of stimulation for a variety of technologies and diseases. Closed loop stimulation is thus a promising research area that allows for responsive stimulation and real time symptom management. Our project is proposed to develop and test a novel noninvasive neuromodulation integrating transcranial focused ultrasound stimulation (tFUS) with electrophysiological source imaging (ESI-tFUS) to allow evidence-based neuromodulation for brain research and the management of brain conditions. Despite the recent developments and attention surrounding tFUS, relatively little is known about the mechanisms and optimal parameters of this stimulation technology. The addition of ESI neuroimaging, aimed at providing biomarkers to assess the effects of tFUS neuromodulation, could provide crucial necessary information regarding the neural response to the applied stimulation in real-time. In order for tFUS to be further developed and transformed into a robust neuromodulation technology, an integrated electrophysiological source-imaging-guided tFUS system to allow for individualized and responsive stimulation is needed. The purpose of this study is to develop and evaluate the proposed ESI-tFUS in human subjects using motor and somatosensory paradigms. Read Less