All Clinical Trials

This study plans to learn if creative arts programs that include visual, musical, written, or physical expression can reduce symptoms of burnout syndrome, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), depression, and anxiety in critical care healthcare professionals. This study also explores if creative arts can enhance the connection to the purpose of work, the development of adequate coping skills, while providing time to connect with peers. Read Less

The primary purpose of this protocol is to create a registry of older (≥50 years old) patients with Hematologic Malignancies. Our main objectives include: To understand the prevalence of frailty and geriatric impairments among patients aged ≥50y and above diagnosed with a hematologic malignancy at UAB and to gather information that would lend support for future research in this vulnerable population. Read Less

Short sleep duration confers high cardiovascular and metabolic risk, but lifestyle factors and molecular mechanisms that contribute to increased blood pressure and poor glucose control during short sleep are not completely understood. Habitual short sleepers are constantly eating, the proposed studies will evaluate if this behavior contributes to heightened cardiovascular and metabolic risk. The study will evaluate if restricted eating duration (8 hours/day) could improve cardiovascular and metabolic health in habitual short sleepers. Read Less

Pediatric patients are susceptible to show signs of fear. One of the scenarios that have always been a source of fear is undergoing a dental procedure. Fear of undergoing dental procedure has been addressed as "dental fear", which can lead to avoidance of receiving dental care and may result to a decline in proper oral hygiene. Fear stimulates multiple cerebral responses and can be often related to an increased stress level. Stress level fluctuations during dental procedures can be examined by blood and salivary biomarkers. Given accessibility and minimal invasiveness, the collection of saliva samples constitutes an easy and cost-effective diagnostic method to investigate a variety of oral and systemic conditions. Cortisol and alpha amylase are present within the saliva and their levels are supposedly influenced by stress. In contrast, salivary IgA is not known to be influenced by stress level and can be used in comparison as a non-stress salivary biomarker. Fear of dental appointments is a well-known cause of stress and activation of the sympathetic nervous system in adolescents undergoing dental procedure. However, the examination of stress and stress-related factors in young individuals attending their first dental appointment compared to young individuals who present for an orthodontic application is largely understudies. Therefore, the aims of the study are: 1) to measure stress salivary biomarkers in pediatric patients before undergoing dental and/or orthodontic procedures; 2) assess whether subjective stress to dental treatment (as measured by dental anxiety, stress, and dental fear) is associated with objective stress measurements (as measured by collection of stress salivary biomarkers). Read Less

The purpose of this study is to examine how effective rituximab or tocilizumab are in treating side effects for people who are receiving immunotherapy treatment requiring prolonged steroid use. Immune-related side effects are caused by the activation of the immune system. Because rituximab and tocilizumab have been shown to effectively in treating other diseased that involve immune system activation, this study seeks to evaluate how effective they will be in treating immune-related side effects in people receiving immunotherapy treatment for cancer. Read Less

This protocol will characterize the effects of deep brain stimulation (DBS) location (both adverse and beneficial) on motor signs in people with Parkinson's disease (PD). This information can be used to inform future DBS protocols to tailor stimulation to the specific needs of a patient. If targeted dorsal GP stimulation is shown to significantly improve motor features that are typically resistant to dopamine replacement therapy, these experiments will likely have major impact on clinical practice by providing a potential strategy to these medically intractable symptoms. Read Less

The standard treatment for participants whose cancer has returned after breast conserving surgery is radiation given twice daily (separated by at least 6 hours) for a total of 30 treatments. The purpose of this study is to find out if giving radiation once a day for 15 treatments after repeat breast conserving surgery works as well as giving it the standard way. Read Less

The goal of this clinical trial is to is to test the safety of a new way to deliver a commonly used drug (amiodarone) used in heart surgery by placing a patch containing the drug directly on the heart instead of in an IV (vein). Participating subjects must be 20-85 year old males or females. Up to 80 participants having cardiac surgery at the University of Louisville will be involved in this study. The main questions this study aims to answer are: 1. Is the patch safe? 2. Does the patch lower the rate of atrial fibrillation (irregular heart rhythm) after cardiac surgery? Researchers will compare up to 3 different doses of the amiodarone patches (low, medium and high) to the usual treatment (Standard of Care) to see if there are differences (increases or decreases) in heart rhythms after cardiac surgery across study groups. Participants will be placed in one of 4 study groups: * Standard of Care (20 participants) * Low dose patch (20 participants) * Medium dose patch (20 participants) * High dose patch (20 participants) Participants will be monitored closely by their doctor(s) during the study and would: * Agree to participate after having their doctor, or a member of the team, explain the study in detail and allowing them to ask any questions they would like. * Sign an Informed Consent Form which will describe the study and tests in full. * Agree to have their doctor and his/her research team record your medical information, draw blood, and perform electrocardiograms, or EKGs (quick, painless test that measures the electrical activity of the heart) and echocardiograms (image of heart) to monitor their heart. * Agree to receive training on the portable EKG recorder and to use it at home approximately 30 days and 6 months after their surgery to monitor their heart. * Agree to return to the hospital approximately 30 days and 6 months after their surgery for a study visit. Participant involvement will be approximately 7 months total. Read Less

The objective of the current study is to compare non-healing colonic ulcers in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) with iatrogenic colonic ulcers (biopsy sites) in healthy control patients and patients with rheumatoid or psoriatic arthritis. Patients will be biopsied at baseline and again at a follow-up visit in a "biopsy of the biopsy" approach. These biopsies will be used to reveal patterns about gene expression and mitochondrial function during ulcer healing. Read Less

The investigators' goal is to show that in hypertensive men and women with left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) treatment with a mineralocorticoid receptor (MR) antagonist, versus a thiazide-like diuretic, will improve coronary microvascular function and cardiac efficiency, which will associate with improvements in LV structure and function. The investigators will achieve this through a randomized, controlled, basic experimental study involving humans (BESH). Read Less

The goal of this research study supported by the HEAL Initiative (https://heal.nih.gov) is to investigate the effects transcutaneous auricular neurostimulation (tAN), as delivered through the Sparrow Ascent device, on helping people with co-occurring posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and opioid use disorder (OUD) start and continue buprenorphine treatment. The main questions it aims to answer are: * Does the tAN help participants with OUD and PTSD remain in buprenorphine therapy for three months after starting use of the device (i.e., randomization to treatment condition)? * Do participants find the Sparrow Ascent device to be acceptable and use it? * Do participants find the Sparrow Ascent device to be tolerable and comfortable to use? * Do participants find the Sparrow Ascent device to be easy to use with their buprenorphine therapy? * Do participants follow the minimum recommended dose schedule for the Sparrow Ascent device most of the time? Participants will complete a baseline assessment to make sure that they are eligible to participate in the study. The assessment captures information about demographics, substance use and treatment history, opioid withdrawal symptoms and craving, difficult life experiences and PTSD symptoms, mental health and treatment history, quality of life, and recovery resources. After the assessment is complete and the participant has been inducted on buprenorphine as part of standard care, they are randomized to one of two treatment conditions: active tAN and placebo. Participants are trained on how to use the device and return for 12 weekly research visits to check on recent substance use and craving, PTSD symptoms, and their experience using the device. After 12 weeks of using the device, participants will complete a post-active treatment assessment that is nearly identical to the baseline assessment to see if there have been changes in these areas. Researchers will access the medical record to determine whether there is a current prescription for buprenorphine at three months and six months after randomization. Read Less

This study aims to evaluate the feasibility, safety, and tolerability of an innovative approach to treating Major Depressive Disorder (MDD), particularly in cases where patients have not responded well to traditional therapies. Specifically, the objective is to evaluate the antidepressant effects of a Dose-Optimized and Spaced Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (DOS-tDCS) protocol in participants with treatment-resistant depression (TRD) compared to spaced tDCS only and sham tDCS in a 3-arm randomized controlled trial (RCT). The proposed method involves applying low-intensity electrical currents through the scalp in a manner that is both more intense and more frequently spaced than standard treatments. This approach is hypothesized to lead to a significant reduction in depressive symptoms. Participants in the study will be randomly assigned to one of three groups: the experimental group receiving the DOS-tDCS treatment, a group receiving spaced tDCS only, or a control group receiving a sham (placebo) treatment. Outcomes will be measured over a period of six weeks. The study's goal is to offer a potentially more accessible and effective treatment option for individuals who have not benefited from existing MDD therapies. Read Less