All Clinical Trials

Addressing health disparities, especially in the face of coronavirus pandemic, requires an integrated multi-sector equity-focused, community-based approach. This study will examine the impact of Harlem Strong Community Mental Health Collaborative, a community-wide multi-sectoral coalition in which a health insurer works with a network of community-based organizations, medical providers, and behavioral health providers to engage in a network-wide implementation planning process to: (1) problem-solve financing, access, and quality of care barriers, (2) support capacity building for mental health (MH) task-sharing for community health workers, (3) facilitate coordination and collaboration across MH/behavioral health, primary care, and a range of social services, including case management, housing supports, financial education, employment support, and other community resources to improve linkages to services, and (4) identify a set of common MH, social risk, and health metrics and strategies to integrate these metrics into data systems across the network for continuous quality improvement of the system. The long-term goal of our study is to develop sustainable model for task-sharing MH care that will be embedded in a coordinated comprehensive network of services, including primary care, behavioral/MH, social services, and other community resources. Read Less

The goal of this clinical trial is to test the effects of an expressive writing intervention for caregivers of persons with cancer. The main questions the study aims to answer are: 1. Does participation in a group-based, videoconference-delivered expressive writing intervention improve mood and quality of life for caregivers of persons with cancer? 2. Is greater improvement associated with writing that is more emotionally expressive or personally revealing, or with group-based sessions characterized by certain linguistic features such as greater emotionality? 3. Is benefit greater for certain subgroups of caregivers, such as those who are younger or who identify as female in gender? Participants will be asked to join four videoconference-delivered, group-based expressive writing sessions. This will be done in groups of 4-8 caregivers and led by a trained facilitator. During each session, participants will write about their deepest thoughts and feelings about their loved one's cancer and their experiences as a caregiver. They will then discuss as a group any reactions to the writing process. Participants will be randomly assigned to either active intervention (receiving the intervention as soon as a group is formed) or waitlist control. Researchers will compare active and waitlist control participants on to pre- to post-intervention changes in mood and quality of life. Read Less

HPIV3 and HMPV are viruses that can cause breathing problems in children. The goal of this clinical trial is to look at the safety of 2 experimental HPIV3/HMPV vaccines in HPIV3-seropositive children ≥ 24 months to \< 60 months of age. Children will receive B/HPIV3/HMPV-PreF-A vaccine, B/HPIV3/HMPV-F-B365 vaccine, or placebo, and participants will not know which study product they have received. The main goals of the study are to find out whether these vaccines are well-tolerated and infectious in HPIV3-seropositive children. The general procedures include daily temperature measurements and daily contact with the participant for the first 28 days, giving a single dose of one of the 2 study vaccines or placebo delivered by nasal sprayer, about 9 in-person visits, a physical examination, 7 clinical assessments, 2 blood samples, 9 nasal swabs and monthly contacts with the participant between Days 29-180. Additional visits may occur if the child has a respiratory illness, fever, or ear infections. The illness visit will include a nasal swab and a clinical assessment. Read Less

The purpose of this pilot study is to evaluate the effects of 4 weeks of daily consumption of encapsulated N-trans-caffeoyl tyramine (NCT) and N-trans-feruloyl tyramine (NFT) at a dose of 120 mg/d on measures of fat oxidation in women with overweight or obesity. The hypothesis is that fat oxidation at rest (measured via indirect calorimetry) and over a 24 h period (measured via d31-palmitic acid stable isotope tracer) will be higher in the group receiving the active study product compared to the control product at the end of the 4-week consumption period. Read Less

Perimetry is an essential component in the diagnosis and monitoring of glaucoma. Since the advent of Standard Automated Perimetry (SAP), one of the clinical standards has been the Humphrey Field Analyzer (HFA, Carl Zeiss AG, Oberkochen, Germany). Visual field (VF) testing provided by the HFA is standard-of-care in glaucoma clinics and other ophthalmology and optometry practices. However, the HFA is a large device that does not allow for examination outside the clinic and can be uncomfortable for patients with limited mobility. This study aims to evaluate a novel head-mounted perimeter against the HFA as an alternative method of VF testing. This new perimeter uses a Virtual Reality (VR) headset and a gamified version of VF testing to assess the visual function of healthy eyes and patients. The results of this study will potentially serve as pilot data for the design of a larger study that involves the full assessment of the VR headset and its VF test, based on various testing strategies. Read Less

The research team is creating a foundational infrastructure in order to develop a precision medicine approach for geriatric patients who require surgery with anesthesia. The team plans to build the first of its kind comprehensive database of demographic and risk factor questionnaire responses, biobanked blood specimens, intraoperative electroencephalography (EEG), and inclusive cognitive testing throughout patient interaction starting at the preop appointment until a year later. This will be used to create a predictive model of periooperative neurocognitive disorders. Read Less

High intensity focused electromagnetic (HIFEM) technology induces deep pelvic floor muscle contractions designed to deliver the equivalent of 11,200 Kegel exercise over 28 minutes, with the intention of increasing neuromuscular tone of the pelvic floor. This study will have looking at treatment of the two of the most common pelvic floor disorders: stress or stress predominant urinary incontinence and urge or urge predominant urinary incontinence. Read Less

Brown fat is a type of fat, found in both children and adults, which can produce heat and regulate the body's metabolism and energy use. White fat is the more common type of fat which is used to store extra calories. Understanding more about differences between brown and white fat may allow us to develop new approaches to improve the body's metabolism. Read Less

This open label, non-randomized, multi-center, pragmatic study aims to establish whether patients with rare tumors can benefit from matched molecular therapy as dictated by their next-generation sequencing (NGS) results. Read Less

This study is designed as a single center, prospective, open label, single-arm therapeutic trial with both surgical and non-surgical cohorts. Read Less

The study protocol is a single-arm, open label pilot study designed to evaluate the impact of PCSK-9 inhibition on coronary blood flow in patients with stable coronary artery disease. Patients with stable coronary artery disease will be recruited from the BWH Cardiovascular Medicine clinic and/or from the BWH Nuclear Cardiology Laboratory. A target sample size of 50 participants will undergo imaging with N-13 ammonia or Rubidium-82 positron emission tomography (PET) and coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA) before and after 12 months of PCSK-9 inhibition with Evolocumab to assess changes in myocardial blood flow, and plaque volume. To help account for physiological changes that may occur in myocardial blood flow and inflammatory biomarkers during the study period, we will also recruit a parallel control group of stable CAD patients who will undergo similar baseline and 12-month imaging and biomarker assessment. We plan to recruit 15 patients in the parallel control group. Read Less

Safety Run-in Cohort (cohort 1): 10 patients will be treated with IT injection of VG161 in the cohort 1 at dose level of 1.0x10E8 PFU x 3 days. Monotherapy Cohorts (Cohort 2 and 3) Cohort 2 (HCC) This part is a single-agent, single one-dose level and single-arm design. Approximately 39 subjects will be enrolled in the study to receive VG161. In the first stage, 21 subjects will be enrolled. If there is only 1 or fewer subjects has been observed with objective response and no more than 12 (\<13) subjects have PFS longer than 3 months, the trial will be stopped. Otherwise, this study will continue to enter the second stage, and 18 additional subjects will be added, and the total number of trial subjects will reach 39. Cohort 3 (ICC) This part is a single-agent, single one-dose level and single-arm design. The trial will be carried out in two periods. In the first period, a total of 20 subjects will be enrolled. If there is only 1 or fewer response case in the 20 subjects, the trial will be stopped to investigate the efficacy of the IP, otherwise, subjects will continue to enter the second period, and 13 additional subjects will be added, and the total number of trial cases will reach 33. Cohort 4 (ICC and HCC) Combination with Nivolumab Combination cohort and subjects will receive VG161 at the same schedule as the monotherapy cohorts and 240 mg of intravenous Nivolumab on days 8 and 15 of each treatment cycle. The Nivolumab dose can be changed to 480 mg every 4 weeks after cycle one based on investigator's discretion. Read Less