Active clinical trials for "Respiratory Tract (Lung and Bronchial) Diseases"

The goal of this clinical research study is to evaluate whether thermal imaging (recording body temperature) can be used to check the body's response to cancer therapy. Primary Objective: The primary objective of this study is to establish techniques and methodologies of quantifying thermal signatures and their changes for cancer patients undergoing chemoradiation therapy. Secondary Objective: The secondary objective is to evaluate correspondence between changes of thermal signature of a normal organ, e.g. lung or esophagus, versus the toxicity of that organ from chemoradiation therapy.

The aim of investigator´s clinical trial is to investigate 52 patients aged three to five years with viral-induced asthma and 52 patients aged three to five years with allergic asthma. Over a time-span of 5 years the investigators will explore lung function and bronchial responsiveness. The investigators plan to evaluate long-term clinical history of moderate to severe bronchial hyperresponsiveness in preschool children with asthma. Therefore factors like atopy in children, parental atopy and bronchial hyperresponsiveness will be explored.

Pneumonia, or lung infection, is usually treated with antibiotics targeted against the organisms that the physician guesses are causing the problem. The determination of the exact cause of a patient's pneumonia is difficult. The problem is that the two major causes of community-acquired pneumonia are not easily distinguished on clinical grounds and are best treated by different antibiotics. The investigators hypothesize that antibiotic therapy can be targeted and improved by doing polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing of nose swabs to identify probable implicated organisms and their antibiotic resistance patterns. This pilot study will be important to ensure that the laboratory testing is functional and that the emergency department-laboratory communication is optimal prior to doing a full-fledged randomized clinical trial.

This research proposal has two main objectives. The first is to increase understanding of the underlying physiological interactions that occur between the cardiovascular, pulmonary, and ANS during transition between positive pressure mechanical ventilation (MV) and spontaneous breathing. The second is to determine if heart rate variability, (HRV) a reflection of autonomic nervous system (ANS) activity, and autonomic information flow (AIF), a set of nonlinear measures derived from HRV, both measured in the intensive care unit (ICU) can predict patient outcomes including successful weaning and in-hospital recovery time after an episode of cardiopulmonary compromise requiring MV. Hypothesis 1. Transitions between mechanically supported ventilation and spontaneous breathing will disturb cardiovascular synchrony, altering the relationship of HRV, AIF, respiratory rate, and blood pressure; Hypothesis 2. More normal HRV and AIF values, measured during baseline MV and sedation awakening (a period immediately prior to SBT when sedative medications are discontinued) will be associated with easier weaning, and shorter intensive care unit (ICU) and hospital lengths of stay; more abnormal measurements will be associated with longer lengths of stay; Hypothesis 3. AIF is a more sensitive predictor of successful weaning from MV than HRV.

Cigarette smoking causes an increase in inflammation in the lungs. In about 20% of smokers this inflammation leads to damage in lungs including making holes in the lung tissue. This damage can not be repaired and these people find it very difficult to breathe. One of the problems with this disease called chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD for short, is that by the time patients visit their doctor with symptoms, the damage has already been done. At the moment, there is no way to predict which smokers will go on to develop COPD. The aim of this research is to look at smokers who breathe normally and use an imaging technique called a CT scan, to look at their lungs in more detail. Some of these people will have spots on their scan which may be caused by inflammation. We want to look at the cells at these spots to see if they make more proteins and enzymes that cause lung damage when compared to people that do not have these spots. We would then be able to predict which smokers are likely to develop COPD and treat them early before they have damaged their lungs.

This research studies protein in tumor samples from patients with non-small cell lung cancer. Finding specific proteins in tumor tissue samples from patients with cancer may help doctors tell what type of lung cancer a patient has and plan better treatment.

Development of a new MS-based biomarker for the early and sensitive diagnosis of Maroteaux-Lamy disease from blood

Development of a new MS-based biomarker for the early and sensitive diagnosis of Pompe disease from blood (plasma)

This study aims to evaluate cardiopulmonary interactions in patients with heat failure

This study is being done to determine if the bacteria found in your mouth (oral flora bacteria) in children admitted to the intensive care unit who need to be on a breathing machine is different from the oral flora in healthy children undergoing anesthesia for their dental caries. Children in the intensive care unit with a breathing tube are at a higher risk for getting a lung infection due to the bacteria in the mouth slipping into their lungs past the breathing tube over several days. This means that bacteria are found in the child's lung when this is normally not the case. If the bacteria in the mouth have changed from normal then they may get a pneumonia.