Active clinical trials for "Body Weight"

Study to determine the safety and appropriate dosage of OPTISON in pediatric patients since OPTISON has been tested in adult patients only during the clinical development

The overall aim of this project is to investigate the clinical utility of the Andago System, a CE certified mobile bodyweight supporting walking robot, in children with neuromotor disorders. Clinical utility encompasses practicability, acceptability, appropriateness, and accessibility. In this study, the investigators would like to investigate several aspects of clinical utility that belong to the first three components.

Scant data have been reported on the effects of weight self-monitoring during weight control. The purpose of this pilot project was to consider the questions: Is it possible to assign participants to engage in daily weight self-monitoring, and are there differential effects on mood of daily versus weekly weighing?

This study is investigating the effects of 8 weeks of supplementation with Glucodia™, on glucose parameters, triglycerides and body weight as compared to a placebo. Half of the subjects will be administered Glucodia™, while the other half will receive placebo.

Delayed cord clamping (DCC, clamping after cessation of pulsations in the cord around 2-3 min after delivery) is effective in increasing (low birth weight) infant haemoglobin and iron status until six months after birth, without increasing the risk of polycythaemia or other adverse events. We hypothesize that this intervention will also benefit low birth weight infants in South Africa.

Using FitBit activity monitors, physical activity levels will be monitored in first year medical students. Body Composition will be measured as well.

This research study is a sub-study within the Behavioral Activation for Smoking Cessation and the Prevention of Post-Cessation Weight Gain main study (NCT02906787). Participants who are eligible for the main study and meet certain MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) related study criteria (i.e. conditions) may also elect to complete a series of computer tasks inside a standard, closed MRI scanner to examine changes in brain activity associated with the smoking cessation counseling that participants will receive in the main study. In total, participants will be asked to complete 2, one-hour fMRI scans: 1 before completing their first counseling session and 1 during the final 7 days of the scheduled 8-week nicotine patch treatment period.

The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of using new app-based technology to increase the level of physical activity, compared to conventional postoperative information given to patients undergoing bariatric surgery. The hypothesis is that the intervention, i.e. using the new technology, will have a greater positive effect on levels of physical activity and outcomes of weight loss than conventional postoperative information.

Recently, various sodium glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitors have been approved for the treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus. Empagliflozin is a preparation of this class of substances. SGLT2 inhibitors also lead to a reduction in body weight in addition to their blood glucose lowering effect. The basis for this is probably the calorie loss by the increased glucose excretion over the urine. However, this weight-reducing effect is lost after a few weeks of treatment and the body weight subsequently stabilizes at a lower level than before. However, patients continue to lose energy via the urine. Hence, the weight stabilization could be due to an increased energy intake as a possible consequence of a changed brain setpoint for the body weight. As the main weight loss is achieved during the first 6-8 weeks of treatment, the investigators assume that the underlying central nervous mechanisms will be present after this time. Furthermore, clinical-experimental observations show that treatment with empagliflozin promotes endogenous glucose production in the liver. This presumably compensatory mechanism also occurs after only a few weeks of treatment. The common mechanism, which could be based both on energy intake and on the endogenous glucose production effect, is still unclear. The investigators suspect that regulatory circuits in the brain contribute to these observed effects. In fact, several studies in animals as well as initial clinical studies in humans show that the brain is involved in eating behavior and peripheral metabolism. In particular, effects of the hormone insulin modulate the dietary intake via the brain, thereby affecting human body weight. Many of the experiments on the insulin sensitivity of the human brain used a specific approach to the selective delivery of insulin into the brain: the application of insulin as a nasal spray. Although this application route has no therapeutic value, this technique allows the administration of insulin to the central nervous system with little effect on the circulating insulin levels. By combining nasal insulin administration with functional MRI, regional insulin sensitivity of the brain can be quantified. The investigators recently found that the insulin action of the brain (stimulated by nasal insulin) regulates both endogenous glucose production and peripheral glucose uptake during hyperinsulinemic euglycemic glucose clamps. The signals from the brain seem to reach the periphery via the autonomic nervous system in order to modulate metabolic processes. A central brain area in this regard is the hypothalamus. This brain region receives afferents over various systems such as the autonomic nervous system and various endocrine systems (including insulin). The investigators recently characterized the hypothalamus as an insulin-sensitive brain area in humans. The hypothalamus is the key area for homeostatic control throughout the body. Since the dietary intake and the endogenous glucose production are modulated by a hypothalamic insulin effect in humans, we suspect that the observed effects of SGLT2 inhibitors on both processes could be due to altered insulin activity in the brain. Since the SGLT2 inhibition by empagliflozin modulates the autonomic nervous system in the kidneys, signals from the kidney may be transmitted to the brain via the autonomic nervous system, thereby changing specific setpoints, including e.g. insulin sensitivity of the brain. In order to test this hypothesis, a precise phenotyping of prediabetic volunteers with regard to regional brain insulin sensitivity as well as the brain effect on metabolism before and after 8 weeks of treatment with empagliflozin compared to placebo is planned.

A large body of research has demonstrated that intensive lifestyle interventions and metformin are effective treatments to prevent or delay diabetes among high-risk adults, yet neither treatment is routinely used in practice. This pilot study will develop and evaluate the Diabetes Risk Education and Communication Trial (DiRECT) intervention, which communicates information about diabetes risk and treatment options for preventing diabetes among primary care patients with prediabetes. Given that 38% of U.S. adults have prediabetes, this project has large potential to impact public health by developing a scalable intervention to promote the use of evidence-based treatments that lower diabetes risk in this population.