Active clinical trials for "Body Weight"

Incisional hernias occur in nearly 20% of all laparotomy incisions accounting for almost 400,000 ventral hernia repairs annually in the United States. There is an even higher incidence of incisional hernia recurrence after prior repair if the patient is obese. Each subsequent hernia repair leads to increased morbidity and durability. It is not infrequent that many surgeons will advise overweight or obese patients to lose substantial weight prior to complex incisional hernia repair. However, it is quite difficult for any individual to lose more than 8 pounds a month in a safe, rapid, and sustainable fashion. This is based on losing 2 lbs. per week utilizing diet and exercise alone. Many patients with incisional hernia are physically debilitated that they cannot engage in any substantial physical activity to lose weight. Traditional laparoscopic bariatric surgery (i.e. Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB) and SG), while feasible, is a technically challenging endeavor since prior abdominal surgeries increase the amount of intra-abdominal adhesions. Furthermore, there is still a subset of patients who are not candidates for laparoscopic weight loss surgery because of inability to tolerate pneumoperitoneum due to underlying physiologic dysfunction. - Novel minimally invasive endoscopic technique may help obese patients with an incisional hernia lose weight in a safe and rapid fashion. Early case reports and small case series on gastric bypass revision utilizing such endoscopic technique have shown promise in efficacious weight loss. There have been reports of achieving nearly 20-25% excess weight loss. Abu Dayyeh and colleagues have also demonstrated that endoscopic gastric plication as a primary weight loss procedure is feasible, but their reported follow-up was only 3 months.8 Brethauer, et al. from Cleveland Clinic performed transoral gastric volume reduction for weight management in 18 patients (TRIM TRIAL). They utilized the Restore Suturing System (Restore device) and reported a mean decrease in BMI of -4.0 ± 3.5 kg/m2. Mean excess weight loss was 27.7% ± 21.9% with no reports of adverse events.9 There have also been reports of not only weight loss but improved insulin sensitivity and secretion.10 Laparoscopic gastric greater curvature plication afforded a mean 50.7% excess weight loss at 12 months.11 The intent of this study is not to demonstrate endoscopic suturing to be a primary option for weight-loss surgery. Preliminary reports have shown such procedure is technically feasible but not durable and the effects of the procedure varied widely among the study participants.12 The investigators view this technology as a bridge for morbidly obese patients, who will need subsequent surgery for another surgical disease, to improve their body habitus and decrease their postoperative morbidity and mortality. The aims of the investigators study are: Feasibility of endoscopic gastric sleeve plication Define the technical aspects of endoscopic suturing for sleeve plication Provide long-term follow-up for both weight loss and resolution of their co-morbidities Time from the endoscopic procedure to their incisional hernia repair Photographic evidence of the stomach after endoscopic plication during the incisional hernia repair There are several advantages for the proposed study. First it avoids entering the intra-abdominal cavity. Second, the procedure is performed solely with sutures obviating the need for stapling which may increase the risk of gastric leak from the staple line.13 Lastly, it avoids placing endoscopic intra-luminal devices such as intragastric balloons or duodenal-jejunal sleeves. Limiting factor of such devices is a high rate of premature device withdrawal due to intolerance. Furthermore, their effects are short-lived as most devices will need to be removed by 12 weeks and they only offer a mean 23.6% excess weight loss.13, 14 The implications of this study can be far-reaching. Once efficacy is demonstrated where enough weight loss is achieved that patients can safely and quickly undergo their incisional hernia surgery, the investigators can then conduct a retrospective case-control cross-matched study to further delineate its true benefit. If there is a true benefit, then a randomized control study can be employed in the future.

Low-birth-weight (LBW) is a major adverse pregnancy outcome in resource-poor countries. About 28% of all neonatal deaths worldwide are directly attributed to LBW. Exposure to biomass fuel during cooking is associated with LBW. There is unlikely to be any significant change in the use of biomass fuels in the near future, therefore, interventions targeted to reduce the harmful effects on poor pregnancy outcomes is warranted. To address this need, the investigators proposed a locally-made inexpensive prefabricated model of the "100-dollar-kitchen"($100Kitchen) with an improved cookstove for resource-poor settings. The improved cookstove of the $100Kitchen ensure complete incineration of the biomass fuels and thus, provided safeguard to the pregnant women using these fuels. This study has been measured the impact of our '$100Kitchen and improved cookstove' intervention as to whether a pregnant woman residing in a household with a '$100Kitchen and improved cookstove' is less likely to give birth to a LBW newborn. A cluster-randomized controlled trial has been adopted in Shahjadpur sub-district in Bangladesh and 628 and 639 pregnant women at 8-12 weeks gestational age enrolled for each intervention and control area respectively and followed-up through 42-days post-delivery. Birth outcomes have been noted and the newborns have been weighted within 72-hrs of the delivery. Non-invasive maternal blood Carbon Monoxide Hemoglobin saturation (SpCO) level between the intervention and control groups have also been measured.

This study will test the effectiveness of breast milk expression discharge instructions in digital video disc (DVD) format for home use by mothers of very low birth weight infants on the dose and duration of mother's breast milk feeding in their infants compared to breast milk expression discharge instructions in printed format. The investigators hypothesize that infants whose mothers receive breast milk expression discharge instructions via DVD will receive a larger dose of maternal breast milk and for longer duration during the initial neonatal intensive care unit hospitalization than infants whose mothers receive discharge instructions in printed format.

The purpose of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) funded randomized controlled study is to develop and evaluate a text message (SMS) based weight loss intervention to 309 overweight or moderately obese English and Spanish speaking adults ages 21 - 60. The investigators propose that participants randomized to the intervention arms will lose significantly more weight than those participants randomized to the control group.

The specific aim of this study is to evaluate the efficacy, tolerability, and safety of zonisamide therapy in the prevention of weight gain associated with olanzapine treatment for psychotic or bipolar disorders.

The aim of this study is to compare the effects of flaxseed on atherogenic lipids, plasma inflammatory markers, and insulin sensitivity. We hypothesize that flaxseed omega-3 fatty acids will improve the lipid profile (decrease triglyceride, total and LDL-cholesterol and increase HDL-cholesterol). Flaxseed is the richest dietary source of lignan secoisolariciresinol diglucoside (SDG). Lignans are estrogens found in plant sources that behave similar to endogenous estrogens and have been associated with cardiovascular benefits due to their antioxidant activity. Therefore, we also hypothesize that flax-lignans will cause a significant decrease in LDL oxidation and in inflammatory markers such as C-reactive protein (CRP), interleukin-6 (IL-6), IL-1B, serum fatty acid binding protein 4 (FABP-4), and serum amyloid attached to high density lipoprotein (HDL-SAA).

Obesity results from an imbalance between energy intake and energy expenditure. There is much speculation about foods that are particularly fattening, and sugary drinks are seen as major culprits. It is hypothesized that a high intake of calories from sugary drinks would not be compensated for by reduced food intake at subsequent meals. As a result, body weight would increase. In this double-blind, long term, randomized controlled trial the effect of replacing sugar-containing beverages by low-sugar alternatives on body weight and fat mass in children will be investigated.

WaznApp study is a 12-week randomized controlled trial aimed to evaluate the feasibility and preliminary efficacy of a self-directed behavioral weight-loss intervention targeting employees of an academic institution, using two popular consumer mobile applications for weight loss. The hypothesis is that individuals assigned to the app that provides interactive feedback and proactively motivates engagement in healthy behaviors (eating healthily and being more active) will be significantly better than those who receive the comparison condition (a simple calorie tracking app).

This study will investigate if there is any difference in the amount of weight gained by participants taking olanzapine with CORT118335 compared with olanzapine with placebo (a dummy test medicine which looks like CORT118335 but contains no active medicine). Safety and tolerability of CORT118335 when taken with olanzapine will also be evaluated.

The overall goal of this study is to investigate the effects of a daily dietary supplement of brown seaweed (2 capsules of InSea2®) on body weight, glycemic control and insulin secretion in overweight prediabetic men and women in association with a moderate weight loss intervention.