Active clinical trials for "Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive"

Patients with COPD are often admitted to the hospital with an exacerbation. It is the most common cause for admissions to medical wards. The patients are often readmitted. This is har great impact on health economy and is a significant factor to medical beds. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of telemedicine consultations between respiratory nurses at the hospital and COPD patients in their homes after a discharge from the hospital, which was caused by an exacerbation.

Cigarette smoking is the main risk factor for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The cells lining the lung airways (epithelium) and the cells on the surface of the epithelium (alveolar macrophages) of healthy smokers develop characteristic gene expression changes that are different from that of nonsmokers. These gene expression changes include up- and down-regulation of genes in functional categories known to be relevant to the development of COPD. Administration of anti-inflammatory medications (inhaled steroids) in combination with long acting medications that open the airways (bronchodilators), are known to decrease the rate of acute exacerbations and improve the quality of life of individuals with COPD; however, the mechanisms underlying these beneficial effects of are poorly understood. This study will assess the effect of traditional therapy for COPD (inhaled corticosteroids, an anti-inflammatory medication, plus a bronchodilator, a medication that helps open the airways) on smoking-induced gene changes in airway epithelium and alveolar macrophages. Volunteer subjects will be evaluated by bronchoscopy to sample lung cells at 0, 7 and 14 days, with the therapy given at day 1 through day 7. The bronchoscopy aspects of this study will be covered by approved Weill-Cornell IRB protocol # 0005004439 (see below.) To participate in this protocol, the research subject will first be enrolled in Weill-IRB protocol #0005004439 entitled "Evaluation of the Lungs of Normal (Smokers, Ex-smokers, Non-Smokers) Individuals with Segmental Bronchopulmonary Lung Lavage, Bronchial Brushing, and Bronchial Wall Biopsy", fulfilling the inclusion/exclusion criteria of that protocol. They will be invited to participate in this protocol only if they meet the additional inclusion/exclusion criteria of this protocol.

GSK233705 is a high-affinity specific muscarinic receptor (mAChR) antagonist which is being developed for the treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. This is a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, dose ascending, parallel group study to examine the safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of twice daily inhaled doses of GSK233705B for 7 days, in COPD subjects.

The purpose of this study is to determine whether water based or land based group training is more effective for people with COPD.

This clinical trial will include healthy volunteers, COPD patients and asthmatic patients who will breathe He/O2 78:22, He/O2 65:35 and medical air consecutively in a randomised order.

This is a randomised, double blind, placebo-controlled, 2-parts study to investigate the safety, tolerability, and pharmacokinetics of single and repeat inhaled doses of GSK233705 from a novel dry powder device in healthy Japanese male subjects.

This study looks at the effect of two drugs (carvedilol and metoprolol) which are used for patients with CHF (chronic heart failure). These agents are beta-blockers and, although effective in heart failure, may cause increases in airways tone and thus limit air getting into the lower parts of the lungs. Carvedilol is more active at blocking the receptor that opens up the airways and therefore theoretically may be more likely to reduce airways tone than metoprolol, although this has never been studied in patients with heart failure, and that is the purpose of the present study. We are looking to enrol 45 patients with heart failure and mild obstruction to the flow of air in their lungs. Patients will be randomised to either carvedilol or metoprolol (standard doses). Following a minimum of 2 weeks of therapy of study medication the patient will undergo a study day involving an assessment of their lung function, an assessment of their heart failure, a "living with heart failure" questionnaire, blood tests and blood pressure and heart rate readings. Patients will then be crossed over to the alternate medication. Following 2 weeks on the target dose the patient will undergo their second study day which will be the same as the first. The results obtained from each study day will be compared.

Some patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) take nebulised treatments to ease the symptom of breathlessness, including the drug ipratropium. Nebulised bronchodilator drugs are taken up to 4 times through the day, and this can take up to 15 minutes each time. Although the treatment isbe effective, patients report that the time taken to set-up and use the nebuliser can be a disincentive to regular use. By contrast, an inhaler device is easy to use following appropriate instruction, and takes only a few seconds to administer. Inhaled tiotropium is a once daily treatment taken by inhaler which has been shown to be effective in COPD. We wish to assess whether inhaled Tiotropium as effective as nebulised ipratropium in patients with stable chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a chronic disease that significantly affects an individual's lung function. Antibiotic medications have been proven effective at reducing Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PA) infection, which is one of the main causes of death in individuals with CF. The purpose of this study is to compare the effectiveness of treatment based on quarterly culture results versus consistent quarterly antibiotic treatment at reducing PA infection in children with CF.

The study has two objectives/aims: Aim 1: To test the efficacy of the intervention among adult smokers with cardiovascular disease, pulmonary disease and diabetes mellitus related illnesses (later modified to Chinese adults with and without diseases); and Aim 2: To examine a set of measures (background, general health, psychosocial, and smoking process) that are associated with smoking cessation at 6 and 12 months