Active clinical trials for "Asthma"

This research will contribute to fundamental knowledge about how young adults with asthma perceive their personal health risks to wildfire smoke, minimize their risk, and improve their health. The investigators will compare young adults who use 'Smoke Sense,' an EPA-developed smart phone application (app), with young adults who use the app plus engage in preventive activities, with young adults who do not use the app. Study aims are to: Establish the feasibility (recruitment, enrollment, retention rates), acceptability (intervention engagement, fidelity, usability, attitude) and barriers and facilitators of adopting the technology of the Smoke Sense interventions and use of portable devices in young adults with asthma; Explore the preliminary impact of the Smoke Sense interventions on lung function and asthma control. These primary outcomes will be assessed using objective measures (spirometry) and validated, self-report tools. Secondary outcomes will be anxiety, exposure reduction behaviors (e.g. stayed indoors, wore a mask), and symptom mitigating behaviors (use of medication, unscheduled health care appointments), measured via self-report and a Global Positioning System device. Outcome by group will be summarized. Preliminary evidence of treatment effect and its variance will be examined for a future clinical trial; Explore potential mediators (medication adherence, self-management skills, stress) and moderators (asthma severity/control) of the interventions to asthma outcomes. The long-term goal is to minimize asthma exacerbations from exposure to wildfire smoke. The long-term goal of the study is to minimize asthma exacerbations from exposure to wildfire smoke.

Twenty patients with a history of treatment, within the past year, of both asthma and either depression or an anxiety disorder will be recruited for this study. Patients will be recruited from their doctors and from advertisements. The investigators will randomly assign patients to two groups, using a crossover design. One group will first receive three months with four biweekly sessions of heart rate variability biofeedback treatment, and then will be followed for three months with a daily symptom diary. The other group will first be followed for three months, and then given the three months of treatment. In both treatment and following procedures, patients will receive psychophysiological testing sessions at the beginning and end of the three month period. The investigators will assess symptoms of asthma, anxiety, and depression as well as pulmonary function and will measure heart rate (from electrodes on the wrists), respiration (through a belt around the waist), end tidal carbon dioxide (through a cannula in the nose).

Contextualization: Exercise is a common triggers of bronchospasm in patients with asthma and healthy subjects. To prevent these symptoms frequently they have to use Short-Acting Beta2-Agonists. However, the cardiovascular effects of salbutamol during and after exercise remain poorly known. Objective: To evaluate the effect of salbutamol on heart rate and blood pressure during exercise in patients with moderate or severe asthma and healthy individuals. Methods: A randomized, double-blind, crossover study will be conducted which 13 individuals with moderate or severe persistent asthma and 13 healthy individuals aged between 20 to 59 years. Patients will perform a maximal effort test on 2 nonconsecutive days, with either 400mcg Salbutamol or 4 placebo puffs. The order of use of placebo or salbutamol will be drawn. During the protocol, heart rate, blood pressure, perception of exertion and peak expiratory flow will be monitored.

Asthma is a disease characterized by chronic inflammation in the airways. Recent research has demonstrated that one of the reasons for the chronic inflammatory state is an imbalance between oxidative stress and antioxidative defenses in patients with asthma. Green tea is a common beverage consumed by Chinese patients from all walks of life. Green tea contains chemical components that are thought to have immunomodulatory actions in chronic inflammation. The investigators propose to recruit 35 patients with stable asthma. Recruited subject will be given oral tablets containing Green tea extract (GTE) to be taken daily for three months. Clinical follow up and assessment will be done at baseline, on completion of GTE intake at three months, and at three months after GTE intake has been stopped. A questionnaire on their health status and the frequency of symptoms and use of bronchodilators and inhaled steroids will be completed, spirometry will be done and a venous blood sample will be taken during recruitment and during each reassessment at 3 and 6 months. Measurement of oxidants/antioxidants (GSH, GSSG, SOD, CAT and GPx) will be carried out on the blood samples. Oxidants/antioxidants will be compared and correlated with lung function results. This study would provide us with pilot data as to whether GTE, a strong antioxidant with immunomodulatory actions, has any effect on reducing the oxidative stress and improving the antioxidant status in patients with asthma and whether these changes are accompanied improvement in clinical status. Hypothesis Green tea extract (GTE) reduces oxidative stress and improves antioxidant defenses in Chinese patients with asthma

Patients with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and respiratory disease commonly require protease inhibitors (PIs) and orally inhaled corticosteroids. Inhaled corticosteroids alone do not generally cause systemic adverse effects because of low systemic bioavailability, but the combination of inhaled fluticasone and various PIs has led to increased systemic fluticasone levels and multiple cases of secondary adrenal insufficiency. A study in healthy volunteers showed > 350-fold increase in fluticasone area under the curve when ritonavir (RTV) 100mg twice daily was coadministered with intranasal fluticasone compared to intranasal fluticasone alone. The mechanism of this drug interaction is presumably secondary to PI inhibition of cytochrome P450 3A4, the enzyme responsible for fluticasone metabolism. As a result, inhaled fluticasone is not recommended in combination with most PIs unless the benefit outweighs the risk. One possible alternative to fluticasone is inhaled beclomethasone, which has not been studied in combination with PIs. Although beclomethasone also undergoes metabolism via CYP3A4 in vitro to its more active metabolite, beclomethasone-17-monopropionate, it appears to be largely hydrolyzed by esterases in vivo. Furthermore, the pharmacokinetic properties of beclomethasone-17-monopropionate, such as relatively short half-life, low maximum plasma concentration, and low volume of distribution, suggest that systemic accumulation leading to significant adverse effects is unlikely even in the presence of a CYP3A4 inhibitor such as a PI. In this open-label study, 46 subjects will receive inhaled beclomethasone for 6 weeks from Days 1 to 42. Subjects will be randomized into 1 of 3 groups, such that from Days 15 to 42, 18 subjects will add no additional study drugs, 14 subjects will add RTV 100mg twice daily, and 14 subjects will add DRV/r 600/100mg twice daily. Pharmacokinetic sampling for beclomethasone and beclomethasone-17-monopropionate levels will occur on Days 14 and 28. Pre-cosyntropin cortisol levels and a low-dose adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) stimulation test will be performed on all subjects on Days 1, 14, 28, and 42. Data from this investigation will determine whether RTV and/or DRV/r, potent CYP 3A4 inhibitors, alter the pharmacokinetics of beclomethasone and its active metabolite, beclomethasone-17-monopropionate (primary objective), and whether or not a possible increase in systemic bioavailability of beclomethasone and beclomethasone-17-monopropionate alters pre-cosyntropin cortisol levels and responses to ACTH stimulation test over a 4-week period (secondary objective). Results from this investigation will provide pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic data to assist clinicians in determining whether inhaled beclomethasone is an appropriate option in HIV-infected patients requiring concomitant therapy with an inhaled corticosteroid and PIs.

In this clinical study we aim to determine the effect of allergy immunotherapy in decreasing asthma and allergy related disease in children who had multiple episodes of wheezing and who are at high risk for developing persisting asthma. These risks include a history of asthma in the parents, allergies to environmental allergens (such as dust mite, cockroach or mouse) and other allergic diseases such as eczema or food allergies. Allergy Immunotherapy is not new and has been practiced for many years to treat asthma and environmental allergies in older children and adults, but has not yet been systematically studied in young children.

This study will evaluate the correct use of sequential formoterol and budesonide inhaler capsule treatment via Aerolizer and patient satisfaction in adult asthmatics.

This study will evaluate the safety and efficacy of QAX576 against asthma attacks in adults with moderate persistent allergic asthma

The purpose of this study is to assess the safety and effects (good and bad) of golimumab therapy in patients with severe, persistent asthma.

Asthma is a major health problem in preschool children. Infections by pneumococci a the most frequent cause of airway infections, which tend to cause worsening of asthma. Vaccination against pneumococci is recommended by scientific boards and the medical community, in order to reduce the burden of disease. Data on the immunogenicity and safety of pneumococcal immunization in preschool asthmatics are scarce.