All Clinical Trials

This observational study is to better understand how children and their families recover after the stress of major surgery for cancer so that investigators can create ways to improve resilience during recovery. The main questions it aims to answer are: 1. Can information obtained from patients and their caregivers wearing smartwatches and answering questionnaires be used to measure how patients are recovering from surgery? 2. Are there specific patterns in patients' circulating proteins and metabolites that are associated with stress after surgery? Participants, including pediatric patients undergoing surgery for cancer and their primary caregiver, will be asked to: * wear a smartwatch * complete questionnaires * allow for extra blood to be drawn for this research study when they are having their regular blood draws for clinical purposes These actions will occur at baseline prior to patients' surgery and then afterwards for up to one year. There are no changes to participants' clinical care or surgical care as a result of the study. Investigators will also collect participants' clinical information and cancer-specific outcomes. Participants will be remunerated for their time. Read Less

This study compares changes in P16INK4A expression and plasma proteomic signatures of specific organ age pre- and post-chemotherapy in women treated with adjuvant chemotherapy for early-stage breast cancer. It aims to determine if biological and accelerated immune aging, assessed using T cells from peripheral blood, represents aging in different organs. Patients receiving chemotherapy, especially adjuvant regimens that include anthracyclines and taxanes, often experience late development of cardiac toxicity, functional loss, and cognitive decline. Comparing baseline characteristics with organ aging before therapy might identify patients at the highest risk for chemotherapy complications. For example, this is clinically significant for patients whose therapy includes taxanes or other drugs known to cause peripheral neuropathy. Identifying aging in the neurological or vascular systems before treatment might lead to changes in regimens. Determining accelerated aging in specific organs allows for investigating interventions to mitigate organ damage. For instance, identifying patients at the highest risk of cardiac aging after treatment could lead to testing the effects of exercise, senolytics, and other strategies to reduce the risk of long-term heart disease. Read Less

The goal of this clinical trial is to learn if mindfulness meditation can improve outcomes in older adults with and without cognitive impairment. The main questions it aims to answer are: 1. How does mindfulness impact thinking and memory? 2. How does mindfulness influence brain function and structure? 3. How does mindfulness affect daily function and quality of life? Researchers will compare all outcomes to one other groups. In one group, individuals will participate in a mindfulness class intervention; in the other group, individuals will not engage in any active interventions immediately, but will be placed on a waitlist for the mindfulness intervention. Researchers will compare all outcomes between the groups groups to determine whether the mindfulness interventions leads to greater improvement compared to no intervention (waitlist group). Participants will: * Be randomly assigned to participate in the mindfulness intervention, or no immediate intervention (waitlist) * Complete paper-and-pencil cognitive testing, surveys, computerized tasks, and neuroimaging measures (EEG and MRI) before and after the intervention Outcomes will be assess at baseline, 2 months, 4 months and 6 months. Read Less

The goal of this clinical trial is to test a 6-month, twice a week, moderate intensity exercise and coaching program (an in-person group and a distance group) for adults with mild-moderate cognitive impairments living in South Carolina. The main questions it aims to answer are: 1. Is the program practical to conduct, and it is acceptable and enjoyable? The hypothesis is that it will be possible to recruit participants, obtain the desired dosage of moderate intensity fitness and strength training twice a week. 2. Are their changes at 3-months and 6-months in endurance, mobility, cognitive function and perception of cognitive function? The hypotheses are that endurance, strength and mobility will improve and cognitive measures will not decline (remain the same or improve). Participants will exercise twice a week in-person with a coach or at a distance location with coaching support for six months. Read Less

Minimal information is available regarding changes in whole-body metabolism in ovarian cancer patients, and no study has assessed whole-body lipid metabolism in this patient population. In this pilot study we will assess fasting and postprandial lipid metabolism of ovarian cancer patients before, during, and after treatment via indirect calorimetry. Read Less

In this proposed research study, the investigators plan to assess the efficacy of gametes' (egg and sperm) treatment on fertilization as well as pre- and post-implantation embryo development. Read Less

The objective of C2R is to promote the rapid initiation and completion of enrollment in the CREST-2 randomized clinical trial (clinicaltrials.gov ID NCT02089217). Patients with severe symptomatic and asymptomatic carotid artery occlusive disease will be treated with carotid artery stenting (CAS) performed by experienced and skilled interventionists. Interventionists' eligibility will be determined by a multi-specialty Interventional Management Committee (IMC). Patient eligibility will include patients with standard or high-risk, symptomatic or asymptomatic carotid artery disease. Patients will be followed for the occurrence of post-procedural complications. The primary safety and quality endpoint will be the occurrence of any stroke or death within the 30-day period following the stenting procedure. The safety and quality results from C2R will guide selection of interventionists for participation in the CREST-2 randomized clinical trial. Enrollment into C2R will begin in 2015 and continue until publication of the primary results of the randomized trial. Read Less

After surgery to remove the eye, either by enucleation or evisceration, patients have variable levels of pain for several postoperative days. Some patients have almost no discomfort while others require significant amounts of oral narcotics and report pain of 10 out of 10 on a numerical rating scale. The current operative standard is to infiltrate the eye socket with 0.5% bupivacaine during surgery leading to several hours of postoperative analgesia. In 2011, Pacira Pharmaceuticals released a bupivacaine liposomal injectable suspension (Exparel, 1.3%) which offers sustained release of bupivacaine giving postoperative pain control for up to 72 hours. This medication has been used in numerous surgeries including inguinal hernia repair, hemorrhoidectomy, bunionectomy, breast reconstruction, and orthopedic surgery, and the literature reports improved pain control, decreased use of oral opioids, and increased patient satisfaction. There are no reports of the use of Exparel in the ophthalmic literature. The investigators propose a randomized, controlled trial to compare the postoperative pain control offered by sustained release bupivacaine to that offered by standard plain bupivacaine after enucleation or evisceration. Read Less

While the maternal-newborn exchange of airway microbiota is well-documented, no studies have examined within-subject relationships among the mouth, sinuses, nasopharynx and lungs and the relative abundance of bacterial taxa at those sites. Recent evidence suggests the oral cavity may serve as a reservoir for pathogens that translocate to non-oral locations; oral-associated microbes infect most other body sites as evidence by 16S sequencing. By using a combination of oral and throat swabs, together with nasal suction of mucus samples, the investigators will use metagenomic sequencing to characterize the composition of bacterial communities at each anatomical site. Beginning at birth, a time-series of swabs will be collected from each subject, and monitor changes in the development of microbiota over time. By doing so, our studies will illuminate airway trafficking of both beneficial and pathogenic microbes and may represent an essential pathophysiological step towards shifting the balance between airway health and disease. Read Less

This study proposes a randomized prospective study comparing the Kono-S anastomosis to the standard side-to-side anastomosis.This will be a multi-center randomized prospective trial. Patients with Crohn's ileitis or Crohn's ileocolitis requiring resection will be randomized to undergo either the Kono-S anastomosis or the side-to-side functional end anastomosis. Read Less

Our goal is to investigate the use of 89Zr-trastuzumab as a HER2 imaging agent to determine which patients are likely to respond to targeted HER2 agents as single agent therapy. We are proposing to perform a pilot study with goals of demonstrating the feasibility of imaging breast cancer patients with 89Zr-trastuzumab-PET/MRI, evaluating the relationship between tumor 89Zr-trastuzumab uptake and in vitro positivity of HER2, assessing the relationship between 89Zr-trastuzumab uptake and response to HER2 therapy. Read Less

Patients are randomized into two arms. Arm A patients will receive Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy (SBRT) and Arm B patients with receive conventional concurrent chemotherapy and radiation therapy. Read Less